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Justice Sotomayor warns the Supreme Court is doing âextraordinaryâ favors for Trump
The Trump regime thinks the court is its personal fixer. The court isnât doing much to disabuse it of this idea.
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THIS
It was chaos, and then a real lawyer showed up
The real excitement came, however, after the media decided it was all chaos and Democrats had accomplished nothing. Democratsâ counsel Barry Berke got 30 minutes to question Lewandowski and made the most of it.
Hereâs what he accomplished:
Berke forced Lewandowski to acknowledge that when he said on national television multiple times he would âvoluntarilyâ appear before special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, that was false. Berke demonstrated Lewandowski also lied when he said on TV he had not been asked to testify. Lewandowski asserted he had no obligation to tell the media (and the public) the truth.
Berke made plain that Lewandowski took the Fifth and refused to testify for the special counsel unless granted immunity. He also showed Lewandowski clips of him publicly stating that when you take the Fifth, youâve done something wrong.
Berke established that before asking Lewandowski to take a message to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the White House just so happened to dangle a White House job before him.
Berke established that Lewandowski was absolutely loyal to Trump yet never deliveredthe message.
Berke also established that Lewandowski wanted to have a private meeting with Sessions so there would be no record.
In short, Berke made perfectly clear that Lewandowskiâs actions (refusing to deliver Trumpâs instructions, demanding immunity, lying on TV, creating no record) demonstrated he knew he was being asked to do something wrong or illegal.
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Wow. This just made me angry and depressed. Hey, CNN, donât tell us how we feel. Do you think weâre going to let one arrogant punk stand in the way of justice?
Cite Lewandowski for contempt. He cannot claim âexecutive privilege.â Heâs flat out obstructing justice â a performance obviously orchestrated by the very person being investigated. We need more of these hearings. America needs to see, first hand, Trumpâs co-conspirators obstructing justice. Donât let them pretend they are being âpersecutedâ â they are covering up the Presidentâs crimes.
Show some guts, Democrats, and hit the beaches.
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Profile of a impeachment tableau. I really enjoyed this piece.
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The Incredible Belief That Corporate Ownership Does Not Influence Media Content
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Publisher of NYT makes an impassioned plea to this administration and everyone to defend journalists around the worldâŚand defend the freedom of the press.
Those of us leading The Times find it hard not to worry, knowing we have colleagues on the ground where war is raging, disease is spreading and conditions deteriorating. But weâve long taken comfort in knowing that in addition to all our own preparations and all our own safeguards, there has always been another, critical safety net: the United States government, the worldâs greatest champion of the free press.
Over the last few years, however, something has dramatically changed. Around the globe, a relentless campaign is targeting journalists because of the fundamental role they play in ensuring a free and informed society. To stop journalists from exposing uncomfortable truths and holding power to account, a growing number of governments have engaged in overt, sometimes violent, efforts to discredit their work and intimidate them into silence.
This is a worldwide assault on journalists and journalism. But even more important, itâs an assault on the publicâs right to know, on core democratic values, on the concept of truth itself. And perhaps most troubling, the seeds of this campaign were planted right here, in a country that has long prided itself on being the fiercest defender of free expression and a free press.
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Around the world, the threat journalists face is far more visceral. Last year was the most dangerous year on record to be a journalist, with dozens killed, hundreds imprisoned and untold thousands harassed and threatened. Those include Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered and dismembered by Saudi assassins, and Maksim Borodin, a Russian journalist who fell to his death from the balcony of his apartment after revealing the Kremlinâs covert operations in Syria.
The hard work of journalism has long carried risks, especially in countries without democratic safeguards. But whatâs different today is that these brutal crackdowns are being passively accepted and perhaps even tacitly encouraged by the president of the United States.
This countryâs leaders have long understood that the free press is one of Americaâs greatest exports. Sure, theyâd complain about our coverage and bristle at the secrets we brought to light. But even as domestic politics and foreign policy would change, a baseline commitment to protecting journalists and their rights would remain.
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How to run a business that supports your employees:
This CEO raised the minimum salary of his employees to $70k and now heâs doing it again
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from May. Must read, even if itâs just a pipe dream. Iâd really enjoy seeing the return of the Sargent at Arms to a more prominent public position, as intended by our constitution. 
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___________________________________________________________________
Bloomberg
A Special Counsel Must Investigate Rudy Giuliani and Bill Barr
The whistle-blowerâs complaint raises serious allegations about the presidentâs personal lawyer and his attorney general.
By
Noah Feldman
September 27, 2019, 4:00 AM PDT
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Believe it or not, itâs time for a new special counsel investigation.
Not targeting Donald Trump himself: Congress can and will investigate the president in the course of its impeachment inquiry.
But as a result of the whistle-blower complaint, a separate investigation does need to get underway immediately. The Department of Justice must investigate Rudy Giulianiâs potential crimes in trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election. It also needs to investigate whether White House officials criminally covered up evidence of Trumpâs call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
And because the whistleblower complaint alleges that the top law enforcement official in the federal government, Attorney General William Barr, âappears to be involvedâ in these events, a special counsel must be appointed. Barr obviously must recuse himself: He has a conflict of interest and, more to the point, he is a potential target of the criminal investigation.
To be clear, Congress should not wait on the results of this special counsel investigation to continue its own inquiries. Thatâs unnecessary, because Congress is appropriately focused on whether Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors, not on whether anyone else may have committed a federal crime. It would also obviously be absurd to put a hold on the congressional inquiry to wait for a Department of Justice investigation to conclude.
But a special investigation is needed because Congress does not have the expertise or the jurisdiction to go after criminal conduct by Giuliani, a private citizen. Nor could it investigate Barrâs conduct in any context other than the separate impeachment inquiry into Trump.
These investigations need federal prosecutors and FBI agents. And they need them right now.
Begin with Giuliani. The whistleblower complaint alleges that in January and February of 2019, Giuliani met with Yuriy Lutsenko, who was then Ukraineâs prosecutor general. These meetings preceded Lutsenkoâs initiative in March to publish articles in The Hill in which he aired the allegations that Trump eventually asked Zelensky to investigate â allegations about Joe Biden and his son Hunter, as well as about the supposed origins of the allegation of the Trump campaignâs collusion with Russia in 2016.
A special counsel investigation is needed to determine first whether Giuliani suggested the topic of these articles to Lutsenko, or whether Lutsenko pitched the ideas to Giuliani. Regardless, it seems likely that Giuliani, who was already representing Trump in a personal capacity, was engaged in some form of coordination with Lutsenko. That could easily give rise to a criminal charge of conspiracy to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.
Subsequently, Giuliani had many further contacts with Lutsenko and other Ukrainian officials, according to the whistleblower complaint. All of these need to be investigated, too.
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As for the cover-up investigation, I explained yesterday that the whistleblower complaint includes at least three separate acts taken by unnamed White House officials to suppress information about the Trump-Zelenskiy call. Those must be investigated by a special counsel to determine if they constituted criminal obstruction of justice.Barr cannot be involved in this investigation, nor can any special counsel be answerable to him. The whistleblower complaint suggests that Barr âappearsâ to have been involved in the whole affair. On its own, that allegation would be enough to require recusal.
But thereâs much more to it than that. We know that Trump himself invoked Barr repeatedly in his call with Zelenskiy, linking Giulianiâs efforts to an investigation he claimed Barr was undertaking. When the president of the United States tells the president of a foreign government that the attorney general is involved something, in the course of a phone call in which he appears to abuse the public trust, the attorney general canât be involved in the investigation.
It isnât sufficient for Barr to say that he wasnât engaged in any investigation on Trumpâs behalf. Nor would it suffice for Barr to say that he was conducting a perfectly lawful investigation into the origins of the allegation that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. A prosecutor who is implicated in a crime canât refuse to recuse himself by simply asserting that heâs innocent. Thatâs not how recusal works. Even if Barr were completely innocent, he would have to recuse himself to preserve the appearance of impartiality.
Even though the target of this special investigation would not be Trump, itâs entirely possible that such an investigation might find evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the president. Under current Justice Department guidelines, no prosecution could take place while Trump was in office. Nevertheless, Trump will eventually no longer be president, whether by impeachment and removal, losing an election, or finishing a second term in office. Any then, any criminal findings by the special counsel with respect to Trump would be very much open for prosecution.
Barr has had plenty of time to recuse himself from this matter, but has not done so. That is shameful and, IMO, makes him look guilty of being part of an ongoing cover up. Or as Pelosi put it, âA cover up of the cover up.â
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John Solomon, who started the false Biden accusations, exits The Hill - Colleagues ashamed of him
The one âjournalistâ that Trump and Giuliani keep referencing to prop up their lies about the Bidens has resigned in disgrace from his post at The Hill.
The takeaway from this article is that Solomonâs resignation was forced by management. In other words, he was allowed to save face by not being fired, but he had no choice except to leave. There was a virtual revolt in the newsroom â anger directed at him for his shoddy reporting combined with shame for being associated with him.
Beltway-centric newspaper The Hill employs a team of dozens of journalists from a variety of backgrounds. But only one has managed to alienate many of his colleagues, fuel the paranoia of Fox News viewers, and inadvertently play a key role in the whistleblower complaint and President Donald Trumpâs potential impeachment.
Over the past several years, John Solomon, a long-time journalist with bylines at the Washington Post , the Associated Press, and Newsweek/The Daily Beast, has pivoted to becoming the Trumpian rightâs favorite âinvestigative reporter.â
And now, thanks to several mentions in the whistleblowerâs complaint, his work has come under intense scrutiny following the revelation that a series of his stories about Ukraine, along with his Fox News appearances promoting them, may have led to the president asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to team up with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate the Biden family.
Over the past several months, and with the benefit of substantial airtime from Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity, Solomon has peddled a series of Ukraine-based conspiracy theories and allegations that have primarily taken aim at two of Trumpworldâs biggest targets: Biden and Hillary Clinton.
In the process, his questionable reporting, which often seems specifically tailored to stoke the flames of right-wing paranoia, has enraged many of his colleagues at The Hill who have for years seen his tactics and reporting as overtly ideological, convoluted, and often lacking in crucial context.
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The Washington Post reported that more than a dozen staffers wrote a memo specifically criticizing Solomonâs handling of the story about Trumpâs alleged harassment victims, which they said omitted the important context that seeking donor support is neither a new practice nor is it unique to one political party. The staffers also expressed dismay about other stories, including the Uranium One deal, and noted that Solomonâs work often negatively colored the way some important sources viewed engaging with The Hill .
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Earlier this month, Solomon announced that he will leave The Hill to create his own start-up media firm. âŚ
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Americaâs Real Divide Isnât Left vs. Right. Itâs Democracy vs. Oligarchy
When oligarchs fill the coffers of political candidates, they neuter democracy
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Spot on commentary by Robert Reich, Clintonâs Secretary of Labor. Heâs one of my âheroes of democracy.â He always speaks sensibly, thinking through issues and using facts to back up logic. I wish in future he could reprise his role as a Cabinet member.
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Trump canât name a single corruption investigation heâs requested that isnât about a political rival
To hear President Donald Trump tell it, his desire to get foreign governments like Ukraine and China to open investigations into the Biden family is all about principled corruption concerns, not politics.
âI donât care about Bidenâs campaign, but I do care about corruption,â Trump told reporters outside the White House Friday. âI believe there was tremendous corruption with Biden ⌠we are looking at corruption, we are not looking at politics.â
Trump went as far as to insist âthis is about corruptionâ or a close variant of that statement six times in less than 40 seconds.
But all it took was one question from CNBCâs Eamon Javers to destroy his talking point.
âHave you asked foreign leaders for any corruption investigations that donât involve your political opponents?â Javers asked.
The answer, it quickly became apparent, was no â even if Trump didnât want to admit it.
âYou know, we would have to look, but I tell you â what I ask for, and what I always will ask for, is anything having to do with corruption with respect to our country,â Trump said, dissembling. âIf a foreign country can help us with respect to corruption, and corruption probes â I donât care if itâs Biden or anybody else.â
Bottom Line: Trump claims heâs pushing foreign governments to dig up corruption everywhere, not just on his political rivals. Yet he canât name one case, not even one, where he is investigating corruption that does NOT involve the Bidens.
And, BTW, there is absolutely no evidence that the Bidens did anything wrong â itâs much more likely that Trump wants foreign governments to fabricate corruption charges against the Bidens â in exchange for favors from U.S. taxpayers.
Watch Trump reveal his âIâm-investigating-corruption-everywhereâ lie in the first 30 seconds of this CNN panel:
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The title says it all. Last week, we found out Trump was assisting Putin by delaying military aid to Ukraine, a country that Russia has placed under siege. This week Trump hands Syria to Russia, while betraying the Kurds who have made untold sacrifices in the fight against ISIS.
President Trump has clearly been itching to leave Syria for months, once dubbing it nothing but âsand and death.â As Trump himself was at pains to point out, he was elected on a promise to get out of âthese ridiculous endless wars.â
But the speed of his decision to withdraw US forces from northern Syria threatens to wreck almost every goal the US has in the Middle East just now.
Firstly, the sudden withdrawal of US forces â designed to leave their erstwhile allies the Syrian Kurds as exposed to a Turkish advance as possible â comes just as a regrouping by ISIS was taking shape.
ISIS was founded in a vacuum â the turmoil of Syriaâs civil war â and in a vacuum it will return.
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Secondly, Trumpâs decision will be a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Before joining the US coalition against ISIS, the Syrian Kurds have long had an easy accommodation with Damascus. As Trump has long telegraphed his desire to leave the region, they presumably have regime officials in Damascus on speed-dial, knowing this moment would someday come.
Indeed, US officials have recently noticed Russian-backed patrols around Manbij, a city to the west, perhaps testing the waters.
The Syrian regime has long sought to recapture Deir Ezzor, a former ISIS bastion in northeast Syria held by Kurdish-led forces. The departure of US forces, and the concurrent loss of essential air cover they provided, will leave Damascus and Moscow with a gentle choice between striking a political deal with the Syrian Kurds, or just wearing them down with military pressure until they fall in the face of superior Russian firepower.
Thirdly, Iran will also benefit.
The tiny US presence in northern Syria, and the aerial surveillance that came with it, acted as a block to one of Tehranâs most useful acquisitions in past years â an almost clear run of friendly territory from its borders to its allies in Lebanon.
That gap will now fill with Iranian backed militia, friendly Syrian regime forces, and Russian mercenaries. This outcome may not have occurred to Trump in his late-night chat with Erdogan, but it may be the longer term consequence of his decision.
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This article talks about the mental bias by which we tend to weigh things that are secret, or that weâre told are secret, more heavily than things that are widespread or public knowledge, and how it relates to Trumpâs recent public cries for China to investigate the Bidens.
The Two Psychological Tricks Trump Is Using to Get Away With Everything
His brazen attempts to redefine the norms of acceptable conduct work for a reason.
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Study: U.S. Gun Deaths Surge, Except for Two States With Restrictive Gun Laws
A thread:
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The NYT Editorial Board strikes again with a full condemnation of âMr. Trumpâs administration continues to make decisions that are bad for most Americansâ
Every single Obama-ruling (with the exception of ACA-Obamacare) T has tried and in effect eliminated demonstrating again a ruthless disregard for some common welfare of this nation.
EnoughâŚ
Opinion piece in fullâŚ
Making America Worse
As impeachment commands the spotlight, the Trump administration continues to gut the rule book to hurt millions.
The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.
On the campaign trail in 2015, Donald Trump said it was âdisgustingâ that a big corporation could escape taxation by using bookkeeping tricks to shift profits out of the United States.
Now the Trump administration is thinking about making it easier to play those tricks. Bloomberg reported this week that the Treasury Department, in a development sure to gladden the hearts of the corporate class, was considering a rollback of rules written by the Obama administration to prevent the very kinds of shenanigans Mr. Trump once condemned.
While Congress focuses on the question of whether to impeach Mr. Trump, the potential change in tax policy is a reminder that the wheels of the government grind on â and that Mr. Trumpâs administration continues to make decisions that are bad for most Americans.
In recent months, the Agriculture Department has decided to reduce inspections at the slaughterhouses that process the nationâs pork; the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to let farmers and factories dump toxic chemicals into thousands of acres of previously protected wetlands; and the Labor Department has ruled that states can perform drug tests on applicants for unemployment benefits, allowing Texas, Mississippi and Wisconsin to begin efforts to curtail aid for people who need help.
These changes in regulatory policy are part of a clear pattern. The Trump administration has worked assiduously to reduce federal protections for consumers, workers and the environment, making the United States a dirtier and more dangerous place in which to live.
The Trump administration also continues to flout its obligation to comply with existing law.
A federal judge said this week that the Education Department, under the leadership of Betsy DeVos, had committed 16,000 violations of a court order by improperly seeking to collect student loan payments, including docking paychecks and confiscating tax refunds.
Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim of the United States District Court in San Francisco described the departmentâs behavior as âdeeply disturbing,â adding, âIâm not sending anyone to jail yet, but itâs good to know I have that ability.â
The Obama administration erased the debts of thousands of former students of Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit company that went out of business in 2015, under a policy that forgives the loans of students who are the victims of a fraud. Under Ms. DeVos, however, the department began to grant only partial debt relief to Corinthian students, prompting a lawsuit. Judge Kim ordered the government to suspend its collection efforts while the case winds through the courts. She said she was âastoundedâ by the failure to comply.
Meanwhile, the department has finalized a new rule making it much harder for future student loan recipients to get relief from the government even if they are victims of fraud.
The Trump administrationâs regulatory policy can generally be summarized as marching to the orders of the businesses it regulates. Indeed, the administration has pushed so hard to reduce regulation that even companies have sometimes expressed reservations: Four major automobile manufacturers have refused to embrace Mr. Trumpâs campaign to prevent California from reducing air pollution, instead striking a deal with California to meet stricter emissions standards.
Mr. Trump also has an obsession with erasing rules written under President Barack Obama.
The potential rewrite of the tax rules governing corporate profits is an example of both tendencies. Corporations dislike the Obama-era rules, which cracked down on the practice of sending profits to a foreign branch, lending the money back to the home office and then writing off the interest expense. Under the rules, the government can prevent companies from treating those transfers as loans, and thus from claiming the resulting tax benefits.
Corporations argue that the current rule is broad, burdensome, and no longer necessary because the 2017 tax law limited the incentive for profit-shifting by reducing the tax rate on corporate income. But that overstates the effect of the law, which still leaves room for companies to hide profits in other jurisdictions. There is simply no good reason to weaken the Obama-era rule.
The administrationâs penchant for this kind of petty vandalism does not add one whit to the case for Mr. Trumpâs impeachment. It is instead a reminder that if Mr. Trump does stand for re-election in 2020, Americans can improve their lives by voting for someone else.
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