I’ll try to include some additional coverage this week.
The first thing that jumps out to me is about the EPA:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ap-exclusive-toxic-waste-sites-flooded-epa-scene-49584579
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I don’t think you can tell people to change their minds, just like you can’t tell people to stop being angry. Rather, I think you gotta let people arrive at the obvious conclusions on their own – just like allowing children to learn from their mistakes.
Part of why I went with such a direct name for What The Fuck Just Happened Today was that it drew a clear line in the sand – you either got it and with us, or you didn’t and you’re not. No sense in trying to appease everybody, ya know?
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Centralize to organize. The “movement” is too decentralized and difficult for the “normal” person to get involved. Like, I struggle to know how to involve myself with the, like, 12 different Indivisible groups in the Seattle area, each with their own action plans.
Also: stop calling yourself “the resistance.” I think labeling yourself is just othering yourself and making it more difficult for real people to get involved with the political process. It’s unapproachable.
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I’m not aware of any timeline or constraints on the investigation that would derail it. Then again I’m not super knowledgable on the legalities of a special counsel.
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I guess hiring John Kelly is trending in the “right” decision. I like that Baron is allowed to dress like a kid.
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Nah. I’ve been asked this a lot. I honestly don’t really understand why anybody is interested in seeing this.
Somebody asked this in another thread here and here’s my response:
- I don’t think trying to curate and make sense of the partisan media ecosystem really makes, well, sense. Partisan media is proactively curating their worldview as it is, framing and re-contextualizing a set of facts to fit an agenda (however noble or reprehensible). That doesn’t really serve the people – it just serves to further confirm your worldview. This was weaponized during the election (and I’ll argue it was weaponized long before that, but it was far less egregious or impactful).
- I simply don’t have the time. I’m just one dude trying to make this all work. I’m aggressively burning the candle at both ends right now trying to get things into a stable place so I can bring some people in and make this a sustainable project for however long this is necessary, both financially as well as emotionally.
- And finally, I’m not sure I agree with the premise that WTFJHT is an echo chamber. Yes, it’s not “fair and balanced” – it’s inherently biased as it’s one person’s view of the world from a skeptical-trying-to-make-sense-of-it-all viewpoint. It’s also not comprehensive – WTFJHT tracks the daily White House news. That’s it. It has never tried to do anything other than that. If you’re using WTFJHT to replace your world, national, and local news, you’ve made a mistake.
Fundamentally, I see WTFJHT as no different than a local news beat reporter. Instead of reporting specifically on high school football, I’m covering the White House. That’s it.
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No! Do you know one? I’d love to do an annual yearbook and somebody do a complete volume of this period.
I also think it’d make for a great Kickstarter project, so if anybody has experience running KS campaigns and knows the ins and outs of self-publishing, LET ME KNOW!
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Hey, thanks.
I was political and entrepreneurial from a very early age. I grew up listening to punk and hardcore. I ran a shitty record label out of my bedroom when I was 15. Later, I ran my college radio station and wrote for the local newspaper and alt weekly. I worked in media for a long time. I guess this is just a natural extension of who I am. Hella DIY and a rabble rouser.
I’m here as long as the community wants to support me, which I outlined here.
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lol this question is great.
I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” True story. I was a shy, introverted kid and “doctor” or “fire fighter” never agreed with me.
I was in 4th or 5th grade when I discovered punk music and with that I discovered the DIY ethic. I’ve always gravitated to making things and doing things that nobody else was doing. I always knew I wanted to run my own business. I just didn’t expect it to be a blog/newsletter. So I guess what I do today is an expression of who I wanted to be.
I would love to parlay what I’ve learned from running WTFJHT into a fellowship or a research project to help solve the issues surrounding local news. Local news is vital to democracy and so many local newspapers and alt weeklies have died, leaving the checks and balances, uh, unbalanced. Could a freemium membership model like WTFJHT work at the local level? I don’t know, but I’d like to find out.
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…and I think that’s that. Thanks to everybody to wrote in with a question. These were really fun to answer and look forward to continue the conversation in the member forum.
-Matt
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Terrific idea. This is my first foray into the forum, but when you mentioned it in the newsletter, I knew I wanted to check out what you had to say. I didn’t ask a question but thought the ones that were asked were mostly things I wanted to know. I’m a fan and keep thinking I want to participate more in this enterprise. Maybe this is the first step.
I’m actually part of team of people who run a small collaborative press which assists writers in self-publishing. I’ve also run a successful Kickstarter project. However, I don’t regard myself as an expert in either. Still, if you start pulling together a team to work on either or both of these, I will be paying attention to see if I can fit in.
Good work, Matt. As each day moves toward late afternoon, I start anticipating WTFJH.
Patricia
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Thanks for all of your interesting replies Matt.
I think I’m going to need more than a few glasses of wine to continue reading that link to the Musk quote. The reply thread is unsurprisingly depressing.
It’s given me a good starting off point to investigate deeper. I think a lot of us just think that Trump has the nuclear football with him at all times and if he gets pissed off he could just open it up and start pressing buttons.
I agree about “centralize to organize” completely. I don’t see anything wrong with “resistance” because that’s what it is. You even had quotes around “movement”. It has to be able to be referred to as something, something that isn’t labeled by political party. What would you call it? I think many people do identify with resistance. But that’s the only thing I disagree about. The rest of your advice is very solid. I believe we have to let go and compromise about some of our inclusive values and concentrate on fighting this administration and its worst crimes. We definitely don’t need what you describe in Seattle.
Let me know when you have a “Pre-Sale.” Let’s raise the funds to make it happen. My niece just helped a friend get an album released. Maybe I can get her to figure out how to get the wheels rolling on this. See if anyone else volunteers, and if not, I’ll initiate the contact.
Please do! I’ve always been curious about this, seeing as how it can been a barrage of information all at once.
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For what it’s worth, I know Fred Hicks of Evil Hat/FATE success stories on Kickstarter, plus another friend who’s funded a novel or three that way. I can do an introduce on FB or something if you want sometime.
That’s an interesting question I was also very curious about. This is what I found:
We can only guess what Mueller is doing based on who he has hired so far—top expert lawyers (16 and counting) on criminal fraud, foreign bribery, cybersecurity, etc.
The top mandate is to investigate Russia’s impact on the 2016 presidential election; then whether members of Trump’s campaign collaborated with Russia in any way; and whether Trump obstructed justice when firing Comey. Additionally, Mueller can pursue any leads on suspected crimes that may arise directly from these areas of focus during the fact-finding process.
Mueller has likely already looked at information in the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) database, possibly in relation to Trump’s businesses, casinos, and real estate deals (or if not related to Trump himself yet, certainly for any number of shady people like Paul Manafort, Felix Sater, etc.)
As of a few days ago, news reports revealed Mueller also enlisted the help of the IRS Criminal Investigations Unit that specializes in financial crimes like tax evasion and money laundering.
I don’t think there are any fixed time limits for the investigation, per se. The parameters and boundaries of Mueller’s investigation must be approved by the Attorney General (in this case, Deputy AG).
This is Rosenstein’s letter (PDF) appointing Mueller as Special Counsel. It seems Mueller has been given a lot of leeway.
That being said, firing Mueller (or potentially any Deputy Attorney General who refuses to do his bidding) has crossed Trump’s mind before. Trump might be the most proximal threat to the investigation’s time table. Whether or not Trump would actually fire him, Mueller has likely prioritized investigative matters keeping that possibility in mind. Indeed, last month several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee with similar concerns introduced bills to try to prevent firing of a Special Counsel without judicial review.
Another possibility that could cut the investigation short is if some Republican lawmakers try to curb it. Rep DeSantis (R-FL) has recently floated the idea of restricting the investigation’s duration to 180 more days and isolating its scope to events after June 2015 when Trump announced his run for president.
Restricting funds seems to be a common way lawmakers try to kill projects, agencies, committees, investigations, and other agendas they don’t like.
Per FactCheck.org:
How big of a staff will Mueller get, and who decides that?
The federal code does not specify how large a staff the special counsel is afforded. It says only that a special counsel “shall be provided all appropriate resources by the Department of Justice.” The code notes that special counsels may request the assignment of Justice Department staff to assist them, and that such employees will be supervised by the special counsel. Special counsels also may request additional staff from outside the Justice Department, and “[a]ll personnel in the [Justice] Department shall cooperate to the fullest extent possible with the Special Counsel.” The special counsel’s proposed budget is subject to approval by the acting attorney general. The length of the investigation is not mandated, but federal code requires the special counsel to make a budget request each fiscal year, at which point the acting attorney general “shall determine whether the investigation should continue and, if so, establish the budget for the next year.”
Per CBS News, funding for Mueller’s team comes from a permanent Treasury Department account with indefinite appropriations (subject to DOJ oversight):
The money to fund the investigation will come out of the government’s “permanent indefinite appropriation” fund which is allocated specifically to pay for all necessary expenses of investigations and prosecutions by independent counsels.
Mueller will submit his budget to the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Administration Lee Lofthus. Lofthus says there is no real limit, and Mueller will get any funds he deems necessary, subject to the approval of the deputy attorney general.
Some pundits have speculated Mueller is still in the somewhat early stages of his investigation, about 20-25% complete.
Robert S. Mueller III was appointed as Special Counsel on May 17, 2017. Up through today (September 3, 2017), his investigation has lasted 110 days and counting.
For comparison,
- 1861 Joint Committee investigating the Civil War lasted 1260 days
- 1941 Special “Truman Committee” investigating defense industry corruption during World War II (until Senator Truman’s resignation to launch his campaign for Vice President) lasted 1252 days (and then continued for 4 more years until 1948)
- 1945 Joint Commitee investigating the Pearl Harbor Attack lasted 288 days
- 1963 Warren Commission investigating JFK’s assassination lasted 301 days
- 1973 Watergate investigation lasted 506 days
- 1976 Select Committe investigation into JFK’s and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassinations lasted 896 days
- 1986 Iran-Contra Affair hiring of Independent Counsel through final report lasted 322 days
- 2002 Commission to investigate 9/11 terrorist attacks lasted 604 days
- 2005 Hurricane Katrina investigation into failures of preparation and response lasted 154 days
- 2014 Select Committee to investigate Benghazi attack in Libya lasted 783 days
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Thanks for answering my question! Have a nice Sunday and a good week!
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There’s also Blurb, which is very reasonable, especially if you take pre-orders and buy in bulk.
(Full disclosure: I worked at Blurb 10 years ago but have no financial incentive to support them now.)
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