Democrats Have Abandoned Civil Liberties

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

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The Blue Party’s Trump-era Embrace of Authoritarianism Isn’t Just Wrong, it’s a Fatal Political Mistake

Matt Taibbi

 

Emmet G. Sullivan, the judge in the case of former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, is refusing to let William Barr’s Justice Department drop the charge. He’s even thinking of adding more, appointing a retired judge to ask “whether the Court should issue an Order to Show Cause why Mr. Flynn should not be held in criminal contempt for perjury.”

Pundits are cheering. A trio of former law enforcement and judicial officials saluted Sullivan in the Washington Post, chirping, “The Flynn case isn’t over until a judge says it’s over.” Yuppie icon Jeffrey Toobin of CNN and the New Yorker, one of the #Resistance crowd’s favored legal authorities, described Sullivan’s appointment of Judge John Gleeson as “brilliant.” MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner said Americans owe Sullivan a “debt of gratitude.”

One had to search far and wide to find a non-conservative legal analyst willing to say the obvious, i.e. that Sullivan’s decision was the kind of thing one would expect from a judge in Belarus. George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley was one of the few willing to say Sullivan’s move could “could create a threat of a judicial charge even when prosecutors agree with defendants.”

Sullivan’s reaction was amplified by a group letter calling for Barr’s resignation signed by 2000 former Justice Department officials (the melodramatic group email somberly reported as momentous news is one of many tired media tropes in the Trump era) and the preposterous “leak” of news that the dropped case made Barack Obama sad. The former president “privately” told “members of his administration” (who instantly told Yahoo! News) that there was no precedent for the dropping of perjury charges, and that the “rule of law” itself was at stake.

Whatever one’s opinion of Flynn, his relations with Turkey, his “Lock her up!” chants, his haircut, or anything, this case was never about much. There’s no longer pretense that prosecution would lead to the unspooling of a massive Trump-Russia conspiracy, as pundits once breathlessly expected. In fact, news that Flynn was cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller inspired many of the “Is this the beginning of the end for Trump?” stories that will someday fill whole chapters of Journalism ***** Up 101 textbooks.

 

 

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/democrats-have-abandoned-civil-liberties

 

It's a really long read by Matt Taibbi, but also very good. 

[Dashinka 24,591]

I am amazed that Sullivan is all of the sudden turning a federal criminal court into a court of public opinion. Quite a few interesting legal precedents could be set by this political hack and his appointed partner that wrote his own OpEd a few days earlier that was completely political.  Whatever, I do wish the leftist media would actually put aside their complete hatred for one person for just a minute and really take a look at what is going on. 
 

As to the predictable 2000 or whatever number of former prosecutors that write a letter, don’t they realize their political opinion does not matter one iota?  Btw, are these 2000 all members of the Obama Alumni Association?  😂

[Burnt Reynolds 5,058]

Trump stepped on the toes of all the right people. These groups believed they were the gatekeepers to American democracy, information, and political path rather than the voters. Trump and his voters (to their credit) put them in their place and they can't stand it. 

 

It also exposed the fraudulent nature of the media's opposition to Bush and neocons. While for many of us it was authentic issues with the war, with Bush spying, his AG saying Americans have no right to habeas corpus, for the media, they were fans all along, playing the part of opposition. When actual opposition arrives, they teamed up with these very neocons utilizing connections they had all along.

 

On these very forums way back when I told people I gave Obama a chance, because the guy literally ran on opposition to Bush spying which I was totally on board with.. I knew the guy was a fraud before the election when partying with the AT&T people who were involved in massive lawsuits partnering with the NSA in spying. Was confirmed when he defended the spying in court when President, signed the retroactive immunity bill, and in this very article, what do we have here:

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Anyone who bothers to look back will find hints at how this program might have been misused. In late 2015, Obama officials bragged to the Wall Street Journal they’d made use of FISA surveillance involving “Jewish-American groups” as well as “U.S. lawmakers” in congress, all because they wanted to more effectively “counter” Israeli opposition to Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.  This is a long way from using surveillance to defuse terror plots or break up human trafficking rings.

 

With all the **** that happened under Obama, that any deranged lefty can say scandal free or anything similar, is just hilarious. Some of us saw it coming.. the left clearly have a problem with people who are honest, which is why they lash out at Greenwald, Taibbi, and co. when they exercise their integrity.

 

The left and their fellow neoliberal brethren on the left end of the spectrum are the only ones acting out of character, changing rapidly all due to Trump. The thing is, these other people, they've not really changed, they've just become less relevant, which is why they are lashing out. The latter here is just insanely predictable. The entire political industry relies on predictability because it translates to control. It's nothing more than a contest to rebrand the same poop every 2/4 years and these business industry level methods of psychological rebranding is how its done. 

 

Which leads me to people like Graham, Sessions, etc., who all sat there doing **** all and allowing it to happen. When I told you the Senate largely was comprised of that "swamp" simplification, that's exactly what I meant. It was obvious they knew what was going on and just hoped it went away. Because they're involved in these same connections, that's why they wouldn't let Trump get his own cabinet people in there, making him settle for their approved ones. Now they don't have a choice and are going to have to capitulate to Trump's cabinet. I really hope Trump gets re-elected, he's going to totally clean house. We know how pathetic the Democrats and media have been but its going to seriously embarrass the Republicans too. I love it. Send this political elite into "learn to code" land.

Edited May 16, 2020 by Burnt Reynolds