Day: February 20, 2020

The surprise that anyone is surprised

benfell

There is a new blog post entitled, “A tipping point.”

Michael Bloomberg

I think what I find most surprising is that anyone is surprised by what happened to Michael Bloomberg last night. A close second would be that Elizabeth Warren was so disproportionately a heavy hitter in the attack.[1]

Amy Davidson Sorkin, “A Very Bad Night For Michael Bloomberg in a Chaotic Democratic Debate,” New Yorker, February 20, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-very-bad-night-for-michael-bloomberg-in-a-chaotic-democratic-debate

Roger Stone

Jennifer Rubin praises U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s sentencing of Roger Stone effusively,[2] but neglects that the sentence Jackson handed down fell within the range specified in the Department of Justice’s revised recommendation.[3]

Jennifer Rubin, “Roger Stone’s sentencing shows what the ‘rule of law’ is all about,” Washington Post, February 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/20/roger-stones-sentencing-shows-what-rule-law-is-all-about/

Paul Waldman, “Roger Stone just got 40 months. Get ready for what Trump will do next,” Washington Post, February 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/20/roger-stone-just-got-40-months-get-ready-what-trump-will-do-next/

Rachel Weiner et al., “Roger Stone sentenced to three years and four months in prison, as Trump predicts ‘exoneration’ for his friend,” Washington Post, February 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/roger-stone-sentence-due-thursday-in-federal-court/2020/02/19/2e01bfc8-4c38-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html

  1. [1]Amy Davidson Sorkin, “A Very Bad Night For Michael Bloomberg in a Chaotic Democratic Debate,” New Yorker, February 20, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-very-bad-night-for-michael-bloomberg-in-a-chaotic-democratic-debate↩
  2. [2]Jennifer Rubin, “Roger Stone’s sentencing shows what the ‘rule of law’ is all about,” Washington Post, February 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/20/roger-stones-sentencing-shows-what-rule-law-is-all-about/↩
  3. [3]Rachel Weiner et al., “Roger Stone sentenced to three years and four months in prison, as Trump predicts ‘exoneration’ for his friend,” Washington Post, February 20, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/roger-stone-sentence-due-thursday-in-federal-court/2020/02/19/2e01bfc8-4c38-11ea-9b5c-eac5b16dafaa_story.html↩

Pro tip: When you intend to argue that a prosecution is not politically motivated, don’t do this

benfell

Julian Assange

We are in the tricky position here of assuming that just because Donald Trump is a serial liar, everything anyone who contradicts him might say is true, but it seems that Dana Rohrabacher conveyed a pardon offer from Trump to Julian Assange. Assange, who has already denied—apparently almost no one in U.S. intelligence believes him[1]—that the Russians were behind “Gucifer 2.0,” who leaked “stolen” emails exposing Democratic National Committee favoritism for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primaries, was to receive a pardon for doing so.[2] We actually still don’t really know, but merely “believe,” that the Russians were behind it.[3] We do know that Clinton had indeed taken over the DNC.[4]

John Simpson, “Trump ‘offered deal to pardon Julian Assange,’” Times, February 20, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/trump-offered-deal-to-pardon-julian-assange-zhtcfc2ld

  1. [1]Mark Mazzetti and Katie Benner, “12 Russian Agents Indicted in Mueller Investigation,” New York Times, July 13, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/mueller-indictment-russian-intelligence-hacking.html↩
  2. [2]John Simpson, “Trump ‘offered deal to pardon Julian Assange,’” Times, February 20, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/trump-offered-deal-to-pardon-julian-assange-zhtcfc2ld↩
  3. [3]Philip Bump, “What we know — and don’t know — about WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and the 2016 campaign,” Washington Post, April 11, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/11/what-we-know-dont-know-about-wikileaks-julian-assange-campaign/↩
  4. [4]Donna Brazile, “Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC,” Politico, November 2, 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774↩