Mar-a-Lago raided
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Just as a personal political opinion:
The Resident's party is doing everything they can, both politically and through their advocacy arm, the MSM, to blunt the Red Wave in November. They've had some success.
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They passed the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, which doesn't reduce inflation, but sounds good. Contained within the act are provisions which keep the Wall Street types happy. There's also that EV money, that the automakers immediately sucked up through price increases. Of course, they'll proudly point out that the act authorizes a huge drilling lease sale (without saying anything about actually letting anybody put pipe in the ground).
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They've managed to wound some of the GOP Senate candidates, such as Walker and Oz.
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They're pushing Cheney right now, mostly for the January 6th narrative. Most of the country no longer gives a rat's ass about the Capitol Riot, but the Beltway is still obsessed. I think they're trying to invigorate their base and bring some in the middle back to the fold, but I just think the issue doesn't resonate broadly enough.
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Trump. The Resident is so far in the crapper, the GOP is trying to take advantage and nationalize the Congressional elections. Dems are desperately trying to make the election about Trump. Again, the emphasis on January 6th, but it's also why the Whitehouse leaned on Garland to raid Trump's home (yeah, they say they didn't know and I have this bridge...).
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COVID. The Dems are finally figuring out most of the country has moved ahead of them. They will no longer pay for vaccines in a country where 95% of people have been vaxxed or have natural antibodies, especially since current vaccines are markedly less effective. They've also quit scaring people with mortality numbers...They know that is no longer a winning strategy. Plus, the CDC has publicly said they are overhauling procedures, since they fucked up by the numbers. Watch for vaccine mandates to end in Federal agencies.
It's going to be interesting to see what the Dems will do between now and November. Throw money around trying to buy votes, lie about the economy, play "look at the shiny object" politics, just anything to tread water and keep their losses to a minimum.
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@Mik said in Mar-a-Lago raided:
It makes no sense whatsoever that if there were something that rises to the level of espionage, why would you wait,
I don't know . . . firstly, Washington never does anything fast. Second, 100 lawyers would weigh in on the meaning of "rises to the level of espionage" versus Trump's rights. Meetings, confabbing.
Third, what acts of espionage are they thinking about, talking about? Nuclear secrets can mean many things. What acts might have already been committed? What is possible? What is probable? How much of it is even real versus media/social bullshit? More
ditheringmeetings.I'm not defending anybody. I'm saying nothing is ever simple in Washington. Most relevant where thee and me are concerned, we will never know a fraction of it.
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@Catseye3 said in Mar-a-Lago raided:
@Mik said in Mar-a-Lago raided:
You kind of have to wonder if he didn't orchestrate the whole thing.
That has occurred to me. As he said, "I always find a way to win."
And he'll never give up.
Maybe he wanted to get one up on Putin with a “genius” move on his own?
“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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We shall see.
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Appears to be lot’s of Op-Eds about “whether this”or “whether that”. As I wrote earlier in response to Kluurs post, it is a murky business.
Still, given the American system’s reputation for checks and balances on executive power, it is inconceivable for me to imagine that there are no prescribed procedures for the POTUS to declassify documents of national security.
Only time will tell how this all shakes out.
“Little by little I am learning the art of being quite content by doing very little slowly” ~ Lionel Hardcastle
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@jon-nyc said in Mar-a-Lago raided:
Seems like PR, since it’s a red herring.
The espionage act doesn’t require that the documents be classified. Indeed the act predates our classification system.
Man, nobody would want that can of worms. Nobody.
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@Renauda said in Mar-a-Lago raided:
till, given the American system’s reputation for checks and balances on executive power, it is inconceivable for me to imagine that there are no prescribed procedures for the POTUS to declassify documents of national security.<
I know. But apparently it's so. This from Verifythis.com, truncated: "A 2009 executive order directs the head of a government agency that originally deemed information classified to oversee its declassification, and sets some rules for that process. But those protocols outlined in the executive order don’t apply to the president, McClanahan said. (Italics mine.)
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@George-K said in Mar-a-Lago raided:
Trumps people are claiming that the FBI seized privileged attorney-client documents. If there were such a claim, DOJ should appoint a "special master" to determine what's privileged and what is not.
FBI - "Nope, not gonna happen."
Trump filed a lawsuit Monday seeking the appointment of a special master to review the materials seized by the FBI earlier this month.
Mr. Trump is also seeking a more detailed inventory of the items taken from his home in Mar-a-Lago, as well as the return of any items seized that weren’t within the scope of the search warrant.
“To date,the government has failed to legitimize its historic decision to raid the home of a President who had been fully cooperative,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers said in the civil complaint, titled Trump v. United States Government.
A special master is a third party, usually a retired judge, who reviews evidence to determine whether it is protected by attorney-client privilege or similar legal doctrines. A special master was used to review evidence taken from the home and office of Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and other felonies in 2018.
Earlier on Monday, a federal judge in Florida said again that he is inclined to make public at least part of an affidavit detailing the evidence that led the FBI to search Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, saying it would “promote public understanding of historically significant events.”
In a written order memorializing comments he made from the bench last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart agreed with the government that revealing too much of that document could expose witnesses and jeopardize the continuing investigation into the former president’s handling of classified information. But he rejected officials’ effort to keep the entire document–which would provide details about how the FBI established probable cause for its search–under seal and to argue that any effort to redact it placed an onerous burden on the government.
“Particularly given the intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former President’s residence, the Government has not yet shown that these administrative concerns are sufficient to justify sealing,” Judge Reinhart wrote. He gave the Justice Department until noon on Thursday to suggest portions of the document that should remain secret.
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