druidity33
druidity33's JournalEveryone is talking about Smirnov when we should be talking about Weiss.
There are other threads that go further back into this mess, but here is something to chew on courtesy of Dr. Wheeler (re: the indictment):
It describes that after Pittsburgh closed their assessment (something Bill Barr has public disputed), the FBI interviewed Smirnov again, and he lied again.
It doesnt describe that after Smirnov changed his story, and days after (in October 2020) Donald Trump yelled at Bill Barr about Hunter Biden, Richard Donoghue ordered David Weiss to accept a briefing on the FD-1023.
And the timing of the claimed investigation stinks.
It claims that some time in July 2023, the FBI asked David Weiss to help investigate the source that Weiss had been ordered to integrate into his investigation years before.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/02/15/the-gaps-in-leo-wises-belated-indictment-of-alexander-smirnov/
But Wait! There's more!
Now, perhaps its a good thing that David Weiss didnt know he was (at least per Ziegler, who bizarrely has more credibility than the people who have a stack of warrants and lots more metadata) falsely claiming that this picture depicted cocaine. Perhaps that means he didnt breach Hunters privileged communications with Ablow and read what the then still-licensed psychiatrist had to say to his client.
But he has just made the competence of his teams forensic analysis an issue, and done so in a filing in which Derek Hines appears to be claiming they dont need any expert forensic reports.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/02/14/export-reports-when-david-weiss-claimed-keith-ablows-sawdust-was-hunter-bidens-cocaine/
Weiss was trying to be a Comey! By outing this spy he's actually saving his own skin! (see first link)
If you don't know Emptywheel... it's all in the weeds legal commentary and analysis. Thorough as fuck. I never comment because it's all mostly over my head. But a great reference point if there's a big legal case in the news... as there often is these days.
On edit, here's Josh Marshall at TPM picking up the ball:
The interplay between Special Counsel David Weiss prosecutions of Hunter Biden and Alexander Smirnov is going to take a lot of unpacking. Bidens attorneys began to do some of that in filings yesterday, claiming that it had been Smirnovs bogus allegations that undid the plea deal Biden had agreed to last summer.
The suggestion from the Biden camp is that Weiss seized on Smirnovs claims well after the fact and hoped to use them to prosecute Biden, which is why prosecutors suddenly could no longer promise that the plea deal would extinguish all of Bidens outstanding criminal liabilities.
Eventually Smirnovs claims proved false, but Biden is still facing criminal charges on both coasts that would have been resolved but for Weiss being initially duped by Smirnov. At least thats the argument.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/russias-staggering-success-in-duping-willing-republicans-and-right-wing-media
Who should take over Twitter when it collapses?
Can the government claim it as a public resource? Maybe a non-profit funded by transparent foundations? Can it somehow be made open source? Maybe make it a cooperatively owned business? A worker owned coop? A worker owned non-profit coop? A Union worker owned non-profit coop?
Just thinking ahead...
Do we really want to control the house by only one seat?
The more i think about it the worse it feels. Several Manchins in the caucus would wreak havoc on any policy agenda. If we don't get things done the backlash in '24 might lose us the Presidency. If Republicans have the one seat advantage and can't get their shit together, or if they try and pass things (involving SS and Medicare) that causes division among their caucus... all to the better outcome for '24. Thoughts here?
Here's Josh at TPM thinking these thoughts too?:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/yes-she-might-still-be-speaker-in-january
"Let me add one sort of odd note here. Theres actually a pretty good argument that its in Democrats political interests not to get the majority here.
Ive said repeatedly that the coming debt ceiling fight is the whole thing. Its everything. It is. But there are also liabilities to holding a narrow majority. When you control everything in Washington or appear to, every problem is on you. Every election at least defaults to a referendum on how you did rather than a choice between two options. As weve just seen, it doesnt always end up that way. But thats the default. You also build up a certain thermostatic, partisan pressure for a shift in power. If Democrats hold both houses of Congress, you go into 2024 with Republicans shut out of power in Washington for four years. And as weve discussed, 2024 is the big deal. Thats when everything will be on the line. Not just the Congress but the White House too."
Seven Rules for Surviving the Media's Election Mania...
https://newrepublic.com/article/168271/midterms-2022-polls-ad-buys-democratsTake a deep breath folks... and keep working at getting Democrats elected!
snippet:
"Remember That Polling May Be Broken in Ways That We Will Only Understand After the Election
Political mavens have grown increasingly sophisticated about how they consume polls. Over the past decade, we have witnessed the rise of survey averages such as the ones at RealClear Politics and intricate polling models such as the one pioneered by Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.
Polling averages and models remain a better snapshot than any one individual survey. But this could be a year when all these corrective efforts collapse under the weight of flaws in the underlying polling itself. As Jenn Ridder, who was swing-state director for Joe Bidens 2020 campaign, said in an interview, The data isnt telling us enough anymore. Its too scattered and too confusing.
My candidate for town clerk won by 1 vote yesterday!
Your vote REALLY MATTERS! Especially in local elections. We had a contested election for town clerk. 3 candidates. The vote count was 98-97-95. A really tight race! My wife and I brought our candidate over the line! Go Democracy!
WaPo opinion article worth a read...
...if you can get past the paywall that is
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/07/goldberg-rogan-ben-and-jerrys-commentators-who-dont-know-what-theyre-talking-about/
If Rogan is, by his own admission, a moron and not a respected source of information, then why he is granted one of the biggest megaphones in America? The same question might be asked about Goldberg and Ben & Jerrys. That anyone would pay any attention to what they say about public policy is a damning indictment of our society.
...
We are the land where every covid crackpot says, Im doing my own research which usually consists of googling the views of other crackpots. Why not listen, instead, to the scientific experts? Because, in our idiocracy, entertainment is more important than expertise. Lack of knowledge is practically a prerequisite for influence. Knowing things makes you suspect as a snooty, out-of-touch elitist.
Thats why a former reality TV show host became president, and a former cage-fighting commentator became the top podcaster in America. We are paying a significant price for the lack of gatekeepers and the resulting surfeit of ignoramuses in both our politics and our media.
My whole kitchen crew is on quarantine...
except me, my supervisor and 1 dishwasher. That's 8 people out, our whole night crew and half our day people. One person tested positive on Tuesday and another on Wednesday. They will all be getting sick hours from the covid relief fund. Here's the kicker though... the reason me, my supervisor and that one dishwasher (from Tibet btw) are still working? We are the only 3 who were vaxxed and boosted (and asymptomatic). I have burned down my sick hours (even some vacation hours) because of lack of daycare or being super cautious about household members having any symptoms. I feel like I'm being punished for being responsible. I have an unvaccinated toddler at home... and speaking of which he is demanding my attention. Not sure where i'm going with this... except that i've been disgruntled about this all day and needed to vent. Also i have a slight tickle in my throat and damned if that isn't slightly worrying.
We need a National Referendum on Abortion.
I'd like to know how much the will of the people will be subverted by this conservative SC! I would think close to 70% of this country favors Abortion rights... maybe more. Other than the vote for President, why don't we ever have referenda? Is there a "state's rights" law against it or something?
Concise psycho social analysis...
poached from a dKos thread:
"Embarrassment, guilt, and shame, assume normal emotional responses and normal moral frameworks.
Trumps inner circle is a narcissist/sociopath symbiosis: a powerful narcissist (Trump) surrounded by sociopaths (Miller, Manafort, Stone, etc.). They feed off each others pathologies.
McMoscow isnt a narcissist or sociopath as far as I can observe, hes just merely the pinnacle and paradigm of corruption.
Sociopaths and corrupt actors have this in common:
They have no morals.
The GOP has become the locus and epicenter of moral nihilism in America, and the normalization of moral nihilism.
This is actually deeply troubling to a lot of people on the Republican side of the fence, but they go along to get along, just as the proverbial good Germans did in the early Nazi era, until it was too late to get out.
If we start making serious noise about moral values, we could reach a lot of those voters and further energize a lot of our own voters."
Full thread here:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/12/2030181/-Lincoln-Project-Springs-Trap?utm_campaign=trending#comment_80924877
I would argue that we need to "make serious noise" about the current ABROGATION of moral values... or DISDAIN of them even. We've already been making noise about their hypocritical morals.
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