The Russian Orthodox have a lovely Easter greeting and response:
Greeting: Christ is risen. Response: Truly, He is risen.
Thanks for minding the store all weekend, Alan. The New Republic article put things into perspective. Makes a person ashamed to call herself a Democrat.
Hi, Cat. It WAS getting a little lonesome around here, but there are eggs to hunt, and other things going on. I am hopeful that the young 'uns are going to finally drag the Democratic Party back to something like what I remember, and what my parents told me about; I sure hope the party doesn't need to spend another four years in the wilderness. Heaven knows the party has enough things in its past that are ignoble. Even in the New Deal era, if it hadn't been for Huey Long [Click] FDR's program would have been farther to the right than it was; and in order to get the required support of southern Democratic senators, it had be designed to pretty much benefit "white" people only.
I can certainly see the logic of having Dear Leader (and his enablers) die a political death of a thousand cuts, and those investigations can easily take a couple of years. People have been impatient, but I am impressed by how rapidly Mr. Mueller completed his task. From the Watergate burglary to Nixon's abdication was two years and two months and resulted in indictments of 69 people; Mueller's investigation took 23 months and has so far directly produced 34 federal indictments with more to come, plus at least three dozen investigations passed on to other agencies, both state and federal. One thing that I find interesting (albeit not surprising) is that so few people seem to understand that actions by a public official need not be an ordinary crime to constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors." Maladministration is a classical example, and I should think that perjury of oath most certainly ought to be another.
Back from Minicon and ready to post again. The two things I found particularly interesting about the Mueller report are point legal points.
1. I have wondered how the people involved in the Trump Tower meting thought they could get away with what they planned. Or indeed, why the fact they intended to accept valuable information from the Russian government was not itself a crime, even though it turned out no such information was available. But it seems that in this case ignorance of the law IS an excuse. They had no clue that it is illegal for a campaign to accept anything of value (including information) from anyone who is not a US citizen or legal permanent resident. So their clear incompetent cluelessness saved them from jail.
2. Something constitutes obstruction of justice only if that is the primary intent of the action. Trump did a lot of things that look like obstruction of justice, but there were enough other possible motives that Mueller was not confident intent to obstruct justice could be proven.
Robert Reich: Trump's moral squalor, not impeachment, will remove him from power [Click]
ReplyDeletePete Buttigieg on the presidency as a "moral office" [Click]
Peter Beinart: U.S. Trade Hawks Exaggerate China’s Threat [Click] “Democrats and Republicans echo Trump’s anti-Beijing rhetoric, but escalating tensions could leave Americans far worse off.” Could?
Happy Easter, everyone!
ReplyDeleteThe Russian Orthodox have a lovely Easter greeting and response:
Greeting: Christ is risen.
Response: Truly, He is risen.
Thanks for minding the store all weekend, Alan. The New Republic article put things into perspective. Makes a person ashamed to call herself a Democrat.
Hi, Cat. It WAS getting a little lonesome around here, but there are eggs to hunt, and other things going on. I am hopeful that the young 'uns are going to finally drag the Democratic Party back to something like what I remember, and what my parents told me about; I sure hope the party doesn't need to spend another four years in the wilderness. Heaven knows the party has enough things in its past that are ignoble. Even in the New Deal era, if it hadn't been for Huey Long [Click] FDR's program would have been farther to the right than it was; and in order to get the required support of southern Democratic senators, it had be designed to pretty much benefit "white" people only.
DeleteI can certainly see the logic of having Dear Leader (and his enablers) die a political death of a thousand cuts, and those investigations can easily take a couple of years. People have been impatient, but I am impressed by how rapidly Mr. Mueller completed his task. From the Watergate burglary to Nixon's abdication was two years and two months and resulted in indictments of 69 people; Mueller's investigation took 23 months and has so far directly produced 34 federal indictments with more to come, plus at least three dozen investigations passed on to other agencies, both state and federal. One thing that I find interesting (albeit not surprising) is that so few people seem to understand that actions by a public official need not be an ordinary crime to constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors." Maladministration is a classical example, and I should think that perjury of oath most certainly ought to be another.
Easter Joy to all!
ReplyDeleteSorry to be so much away. Will explain when I can. LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGG week, but also lots of sweet moments.
Cat, the Episcopal version is:
Greeting: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Response: The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
(as the people ring bells)
Back from Minicon and ready to post again. The two things I found particularly interesting about the Mueller report are point legal points.
ReplyDelete1. I have wondered how the people involved in the Trump Tower meting thought they could get away with what they planned. Or indeed, why the fact they intended to accept valuable information from the Russian government was not itself a crime, even though it turned out no such information was available. But it seems that in this case ignorance of the law IS an excuse. They had no clue that it is illegal for a campaign to accept anything of value (including information) from anyone who is not a US citizen or legal permanent resident. So their clear incompetent cluelessness saved them from jail.
2. Something constitutes obstruction of justice only if that is the primary intent of the action. Trump did a lot of things that look like obstruction of justice, but there were enough other possible motives that Mueller was not confident intent to obstruct justice could be proven.