Just one of Pittsburgh’s screwy intersections

I am not caught up.


Pittsburgh

Homelessness

Hallie Lauer and Rebecca Spiess, “City Council launches new initiatives to combat homelessness in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 24, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2022/08/23/pittsburgh-city-council-initiatives-combat-homelessness-shelter-transitional-housing-redevelopment-affordable/stories/202208230098

Infrastructure


Fig. 1. Intersection of Forbes Avenue and South Dallas Avenue, with surrounding intersections, screenshot from Google Maps, August 24, 2022, fair use.

Pittsburgh has a number of really screwy intersections and screwy intersections are always especially dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians because motorists have too much to watch even before you add non-motor traffic to the mix. The one (figure 1) under discussion in Hannah Wyman’s article[1] is one of them.

I’m not sure what they mean by a “slip ramp”[2] but if you look at the map (figure 1) just to the east of Forbes Avenue and South Dallas Avenue there is this weird shortcut from Beechwood Boulevard to Forbes Avenue. The reality of this is that there’s hardly any room even to stop at that intersection with Forbes Avenue and Forbes Avenue is a pretty busy street. I certainly see the hazard there.[3]

The entire area is problematic from a traffic flow perspective. Beechwood Boulevard is here, not at its other end, relatively—only relatively—quiet, but Beacon Street hooks up with a main route through Schenley Park and thence, via Greenfield Road, to the other, much busier, end of, yes, Beechwood Boulevard and thus the Parkway East (Interstate 376). South Dallas Avenue connects with Penn Avenue, which is a main east-west thoroughfare through Pittsburgh and which itself hooks up with the Parkway East via a ramp from Ardmore Boulevard, which is also where U.S. Highway 30 breaks off from the Parkway, proceeding east. Then of course there’s Forbes Avenue itself. There’s a lot of fucking traffic here mostly on relatively narrow roads and a lot of it trying to get between Beacon Street and South Dallas Avenue.

The main commercial district of Squirrel Hill is to the west, along Forbes Avenue and Murray Avenue. On the way to all that other stuff, Beacon Street crosses Murray and so is also a main route to that commercial district. Frick Park is almost immediately to the east.

Squirrel Hill itself is what they call a “desirable” neighborhood. If money were no object and I were to remain in Pittsburgh, this neighborhood would certainly be one I might consider. (But if money were really no object, I’d probably be looking at Sewickley Heights, northwest of the city.)


Fig. 2. The area where I think there should be a traffic circle. It would occupy most of this space. Screenshot from Google Maps, August 24, 2022, fair use.

I think my solution for this would probably be a large traffic circle occupying most of the area shown in figure 2. The American Legion Memorial Gardens could, I presume, be relocated to the center of that circle, but one of an appropriate size would require taking some expensive private property through eminent domain and impinge on the cemeteries on the north side of Forbes. You’d have to move some graves. I don’t know how feasible all this would be.

Hannah Wyman, “Ed Gainey hears from residents on unsafe intersections by Fern Hollow Bridge,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 24, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/08/23/ed-gainey-residents-unsafe-intersections-fern-hollow-bridge-listening-session-infrastructure-squirrel-hill-bike-pedestrian-paths/stories/202208230114


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

There is a new blog post entitled, “It is now even more urgently orange jumpsuit time.”

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/

Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/

Cat Zakrzewski, “Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement,” Washington Post, August 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/19/fbi-social-media-law-enforcement/

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Amy B. Wang and Tom Hamburger, “Sen. Graham gets temporary reprieve in testifying before Ga. grand jury,” Washington Post, August 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/21/lindsey-graham-trump-grand-jury-georgia/

Jon Swaine et al., “Files copied from voting systems were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers,” Washington Post, August 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/08/22/election-system-copied-files-trump/

Igor Derysh, “‘Lawyers are giggling’: Legal experts scratch their heads at Trump’s ‘very strange’ new DOJ lawsuit,” Salon, August 23, 2022, https://www.salon.com/2022/08/23/lawyers-are-giggling-legal-experts-scratch-their-heads-at-trumps-very-strange-new-doj/

Jennifer Rubin, “Trump’s risk of indictment for his document snatch just skyrocketed,” Washington Post, August 23, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/23/trump-documents-indictment-risk-skyrocket/

Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley, “Trump Tells His Lawyers: Get ‘My’ Top Secret Documents Back,” Rolling Stone, August 23, 2022, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-tells-lawyers-get-my-top-secrets-documents-back-1234580501/


  1. [1]Hannah Wyman, “Ed Gainey hears from residents on unsafe intersections by Fern Hollow Bridge,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 24, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/08/23/ed-gainey-residents-unsafe-intersections-fern-hollow-bridge-listening-session-infrastructure-squirrel-hill-bike-pedestrian-paths/stories/202208230114
  2. [2]Hannah Wyman, “Ed Gainey hears from residents on unsafe intersections by Fern Hollow Bridge,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 24, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/08/23/ed-gainey-residents-unsafe-intersections-fern-hollow-bridge-listening-session-infrastructure-squirrel-hill-bike-pedestrian-paths/stories/202208230114
  3. [3]Hannah Wyman, “Ed Gainey hears from residents on unsafe intersections by Fern Hollow Bridge,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 24, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/08/23/ed-gainey-residents-unsafe-intersections-fern-hollow-bridge-listening-session-infrastructure-squirrel-hill-bike-pedestrian-paths/stories/202208230114

Merrick Garland really needs to grow a pair. Seriously.

Ukraine

It seems that Vladimir Putin kept even folks who were supposed to be negotiating on his behalf in the dark about his decision to invade Ukraine.[1]

Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Surprise Triumph of the Will,” Puck News, August 23, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-surprise-triumph-of-the-will/

Ishaan Tharoor, “The global politics of Russia’s notorious nationalist ideologue,” Washington Post, August 23, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2022/08/23/ideology-alexander-dugin-global-far-right/


Gilead

Competitive authoritarian regime project

Jon Swaine et al., “Files copied from voting systems were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers,” Washington Post, August 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/08/22/election-system-copied-files-trump/

White Christian nationalism (Trumpism)

Ishaan Tharoor, “The global politics of Russia’s notorious nationalist ideologue,” Washington Post, August 23, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2022/08/23/ideology-alexander-dugin-global-far-right/

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Both Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post and Igor Derysh at Salon are saying much the same thing: That Donald Trump rifled through records as he was resisting handing them over while the National Archives and Records Administration was still being polite is all the proof a prosecutor needs that Trump knew he was holding classified materials. Oh, and that lawsuit Trump filed to try to get the records back is a joke.[2] It’s all one less excuse for Merrick Garland to avoid prosecuting Trump.

I still think Garland is too chickenshit. That dithering over whether even to order the search[3] is really pretty conclusive for me. But we can all certainly hope I’m wrong.

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/

Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/

Cat Zakrzewski, “Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement,” Washington Post, August 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/19/fbi-social-media-law-enforcement/

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Amy B. Wang and Tom Hamburger, “Sen. Graham gets temporary reprieve in testifying before Ga. grand jury,” Washington Post, August 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/21/lindsey-graham-trump-grand-jury-georgia/

Jon Swaine et al., “Files copied from voting systems were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers,” Washington Post, August 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/08/22/election-system-copied-files-trump/

Igor Derysh, “‘Lawyers are giggling’: Legal experts scratch their heads at Trump’s ‘very strange’ new DOJ lawsuit,” Salon, August 23, 2022, https://www.salon.com/2022/08/23/lawyers-are-giggling-legal-experts-scratch-their-heads-at-trumps-very-strange-new-doj/

Jennifer Rubin, “Trump’s risk of indictment for his document snatch just skyrocketed,” Washington Post, August 23, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/23/trump-documents-indictment-risk-skyrocket/


  1. [1]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Surprise Triumph of the Will,” Puck News, August 23, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-surprise-triumph-of-the-will/
  2. [2]Igor Derysh, “‘Lawyers are giggling’: Legal experts scratch their heads at Trump’s ‘very strange’ new DOJ lawsuit,” Salon, August 23, 2022, https://www.salon.com/2022/08/23/lawyers-are-giggling-legal-experts-scratch-their-heads-at-trumps-very-strange-new-doj/; Jennifer Rubin, “Trump’s risk of indictment for his document snatch just skyrocketed,” Washington Post, August 23, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/23/trump-documents-indictment-risk-skyrocket/
  3. [3]Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

The cosmopolitan and the anti-cosmopolitan

There is a new blog post entitled, “The false dichotomy of mythologies that underlies political polarization.”

I’m thinking hard lately about the question, in terms of places to live, how I can reconcile what I can tolerate with what I can afford. On my recent trip west, my arrival in Sante Fe, New Mexico, felt like a breath of fresh air. There was a feeling of, to me, normalcy there that I haven’t felt since I moved to Pittsburgh.

If I could even live between the forks of the Ohio, in Pittsburgh, it would be better; this area, often populated by college students, is distinctly more cosmopolitan, which I see I need. But I also need forest, woods, and it seems like most rural areas are distinctly anti-cosmopolitan and intolerant. Cosmopolitan areas are also more expensive than, as long as I am stuck driving for Uber with no apparent alternative, anti-cosmopolitan ones.

It seems like there is no tolerable compromise, no concession in this life to any of the important things I really need.


Ukraine

I don’t know how I tell you to read this remarkable article[1] without ruining it for you without just telling you to read it. So fucking read it. If you’re even remotely interested in history, it’ll be completely worth it.

Ted Widmer, “Russia-Ukraine: five lessons from the 19th-century Crimean war,” Guardian, July 21, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/21/russia-ukraine-five-lessons-crimean-war-ted-widmer


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/

Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/

Cat Zakrzewski, “Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement,” Washington Post, August 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/19/fbi-social-media-law-enforcement/

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Amy B. Wang and Tom Hamburger, “Sen. Graham gets temporary reprieve in testifying before Ga. grand jury,” Washington Post, August 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/21/lindsey-graham-trump-grand-jury-georgia/


  1. [1]Ted Widmer, “Russia-Ukraine: five lessons from the 19th-century Crimean war,” Guardian, July 21, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/21/russia-ukraine-five-lessons-crimean-war-ted-widmer

It’s all coming together and not in a good way

I’ve had projects this morning, including pulling together the Russia investigation page. I am not caught up.


Gilead

It’s all coming together and not in a good way.[1]

We’re getting to a point where if the Trumpist faction wins, I think we’ll see sustained extremely high levels of violence for the foreseeable future. And if they lose, I think it’ll be worse.[2]

Violence lies at the core of what anarchists call “illegitimate authority;” it is a final means of ‘persuading’ an intractable opponent.

When we have decided to resort to violence, we have decided that the ends justify the means, that the harm done is less important than what we think will be achieved. It appears a lot of people, especially white Christian nationalists, have reached this point.[3] And pretty much, they’re the ones with guns, which threatens to make it a rather one-sided contest.

White Christian nationalism (Trumpism)

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Competitive authoritarian regime project

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Right-wing militias

Military

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Police White supremacist gangs

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

Donald Trump

Russia investigation

Meg Kinnard, “Russia probe memo wrongly withheld under Barr, court rules,” Associated Press, August 19, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-donald-trump-william-barr-obstruction-of-justice-992952614b7619681df0e1109548a27f

Coup attempt

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/

Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/

Cat Zakrzewski, “Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement,” Washington Post, August 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/19/fbi-social-media-law-enforcement/

Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war


  1. [1]Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war
  2. [2] Rachel Kleinfeld, quoted in Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war
  3. [3]Chris McGreal, “US political violence is surging, but talk of a civil war is exaggerated – isn’t it?” Guardian, August 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/20/us-political-violence-civil-war

White Christian nationalists gone wild

Pennsylvania

2022 election

I remember thinking it couldn’t get much stupider than Sarah Palin, but it’s hard to imagine a much better example of white Christian nationalist epistemology[1] than arch-Trumpist[2] Doug Mastriano:

[W]ith less than three months remaining before Election Day, [Doug] Mastriano continues to be haunted by … Doug Mastriano.

Whether it’s a thesis he wrote 20 years ago warning of a left-wing “Hitlerian Putsch,” or a since-deleted Facebook video he posted this spring about the state’s “deceitful” GOP establishment and its secret “disdain for veterans,” the Republican nominee for governor can’t seem to get out of his own way.

The post-primary hits keep on coming. This week? A 2018 radio interview resurfaced in which Mastriano claims that climate change is an academic fabrication (it’s not) and that Islam isn’t compatible with the U.S. Constitution (it is, as Thomas Jefferson himself acknowledged).[3]

And there’s a lot more where that came from. Mastriano is right up there with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

William Bender, “Doug Mastriano’s comments on Islam and climate change resurface, the latest hit for his campaign,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 19, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-islam-global-warming-2018-governor-pennsylvania-20220819.html


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

I will tell you flat out that it will take a lot more than a crackdown on or by social networks[4] to ameliorate the threat of right-wing violence. What we still don’t know is how many folks posting violent messages are actually prepared to carry out their threats. What we do know is that some very likely will.

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/

Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/

Cat Zakrzewski, “Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement,” Washington Post, August 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/19/fbi-social-media-law-enforcement/


  1. [1]David Benfell, “A theory of conservative epistemology,” Not Housebroken, August 6, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/06/a-theory-of-conservative-epistemology/
  2. [2]Associated Press, “State Sen. Doug Mastriano opens Pennsylvania election audit plan,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 7, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-state-sen-doug-mastriano-opens-election-audit-plan/; Marley Parish, Stephen Caruso, and Cassie Miller, “Pa. GOP lawmaker — and Trump ally — Mastriano initiates ‘forensic investigation’ into state elections,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, July 7, 2021, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/pa-gop-lawmaker-and-trump-ally-mastriano-initiates-forensic-investigation-into-state-elections/; Andrew Seidman, “A top GOP candidate for governor campaigned at an event promoting QAnon and conspiracy theories about 9/11,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 27, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-teddy-daniels-qanon-conference-gop-candidates-20220427.html
  3. [3]William Bender, “Doug Mastriano’s comments on Islam and climate change resurface, the latest hit for his campaign,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 19, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-islam-global-warming-2018-governor-pennsylvania-20220819.html
  4. [4]Cat Zakrzewski, “Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement,” Washington Post, August 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/19/fbi-social-media-law-enforcement/

Get your ‘thoughts and prayers’ ready for California’s Bible Belt

Climate Crisis

Y’all understand the Central Valley is California’s Bible Belt, right? Get your “thoughts and prayers” ready, because it looks like a whole bunch of white Christian nationalists, unfortunately among others, are heading for flooding of biblical proportions.[1] I’m just not thinking Noah’s Ark—they do have one, right?—will be big enough.

[S]uch an episode could transform “the interior Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys into a temporary but vast inland sea nearly 300 miles in length and [inundate] much of the now densely populated coastal plain in present-day Los Angeles and Orange Counties.”[2]

[J]ust one of these mega-storm events — dubbed Biblical “ArkStorms” — could kill untold numbers of Californians, displace millions of others, close major highways for weeks and lead to $1 trillion in economic losses.[3]

Unfortunately, Sacramento, which has a number of good vegan restaurants, could be among the affected places.[4] And it might not be such a bad idea for my stepsisters to get their butts out of Stockton and Marysville.

Matthew Cappucci, “A ‘megaflood’ in California could drop 100 inches of rain, scientists warn,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/12/megaflood-california-flood-rain-climate/

Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html


Gilead

Donald Trump

Finances

More than a few folks had thought the Manhattan District Attorney was effectively dropping the case against Donald Trump,[5] and indeed they had persuaded me that he had, but it appears he might be putting it all together after all.[6]

Appearing in a Manhattan courtroom, [Allen] Weisselberg, 75, acknowledged his part in the scenario [concealing certain financial compensation as part of what they called a years-long scheme to avoid paying taxes] outlined by prosecutors — and agreed to testify, if called, at a pending trial for the company. As part of his plea agreement, Weisselberg, Trump’s close and trusted associate for decades, would spend five months in jail, followed by five years of probation. . . .

The plea agreement “directly implicates” the Trump Organization in a “wide range of criminal activity,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

“Furthermore, thanks to the incredibly hard work and dedication of the team prosecuting this case, Weisselberg will spend time behind bars,” Bragg said. “We look forward to proving our case in court against the Trump Organization.”[7]

Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/

Coup attempt

Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court

Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/

Molly Jong-Fast, “The People Who Can’t Stop Making Excuses for Trump,” Atlantic, August 18, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/wait-what/62fd7788da4cea0020f4345e/trump-fbi-search-rand-paul-espionage-act/


  1. [1]Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html
  2. [2]Matthew Cappucci, “A ‘megaflood’ in California could drop 100 inches of rain, scientists warn,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/12/megaflood-california-flood-rain-climate/
  3. [3]Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html
  4. [4]Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, “California is at risk of a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities prepared for it?” Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article264571831.html
  5. [5]William D. Cohan, “The Billion-Dollar Trump-Wall Street Mystery,” Puck News, April 6, 2022, https://puck.news/the-billion-dollar-trump-wall-street-mystery/; Jane Mayer, “Why Does New York’s Criminal Investigation of Donald Trump Appear All But Over?” New Yorker, February 24, 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-does-new-yorks-criminal-investigation-of-donald-trump-appear-all-but-over; Corinne Ramey and Deanna Paul, “Two Prosecutors in New York Investigation of Donald Trump Resign,” Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-prosecutors-in-new-york-investigation-of-donald-trump-resign-11645650257; Corinne Ramey and Deanna Paul, “Ex-Manhattan Prosecutor Who Resigned Said He Believed Trump Committed Numerous Felonies,” Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-manhattan-prosecutor-who-resigned-said-he-believed-trump-committed-numerous-felonies-11648087035
  6. [6]Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/
  7. [7]Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/

It is way, way, way too difficult to suspend a driver’s license in Pennsylvania

Ukraine

Lawrence Freedman, “Russia is still underestimating Ukraine,” New Statesman, August 16, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/08/russia-underestimating-ukraine-attrition

Shane Harris et al., “Road to war: U.S. struggled to convince allies, and Zelensky, of risk of invasion,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/interactive/2022/ukraine-road-to-war/


Pennsylvania drivers

It is hard, really ridiculously hard to suspend a driver’s license in Pennsylvania.[1] I come here from California, and what is routine here would be reckless in my home state. I don’t know that the California Highway Patrol can really suspend licenses on the spot, not even allowing drivers to drive home, but that’s what I tell people because the difference in enforcement—at least as long as you’re an old white guy like me—is so stark.

Hannah Wyman, “PennDOT offers drivers facing license suspension a shot at redemption,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/08/17/penndot-offers-drivers-facing-license-suspension-shot-redemption-pennsylvania-points-suspension-record-convicted/stories/202208170072


Gilead

Abortion

Susan Rinkunas, “This Abortion Boat Sounds Fishy,” Jezebel, August 17, 2022, https://jezebel.com/this-abortion-boat-sounds-fishy-1849420727

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Jan Murphy and Charles Thompson, “FBI delivers subpoenas to several Pa. Republican lawmakers: sources say,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, August 10, 2022, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/08/fbi-delivers-subpoenas-to-several-pa-republican-lawmakers-sources-say.html

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246

Amber Phillips, “What could the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/what-is-presidential-records-act-how-did-trump-violate-it/

Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court

Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

David Klepper, “Trump’s angry words spur warnings of real violence,” Associated Press, August 16, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/ghislaine-maxwell-social-media-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-31741bb13f708ee68b523592623341eb

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/

Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, and David Weigel, “Trump’s dominance in GOP comes into focus, worrying some in the party,” Washington Post, August 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/17/trump-cheney-wyoming-republicans/

Jordan Libowitz and Lauren White, “Secret Service held onto Pelosi threat until after insurrection,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/

Jordan Libowitz and Sara Wiatrak, “The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 17, 2022, https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/


  1. [1]Hannah Wyman, “PennDOT offers drivers facing license suspension a shot at redemption,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/08/17/penndot-offers-drivers-facing-license-suspension-shot-redemption-pennsylvania-points-suspension-record-convicted/stories/202208170072

Dying for ego

For my mother, whose birthday it is today:

Fig. 1. “F Minus” comic by Tony Carrillo for August 17, 2022, via GoComics, fair use, maybe?

I am not yet caught up.


Ukraine

But let us start with the maps from the past four months of fighting. What is most striking is how little territory has changed hands. The Russians completed the capture of Mariupol and moved forward with an enormous effort in Luhansk, while Ukraine has been nibbling away at their positions in the Kharkiv and Kherson Oblasts, and pushed the Russians off Snake Island in the Black Sea. Other than that, not much. So far in this war defence has been dominant. This could be seen when Russia failed to take Kyiv and then withdrew from northern Ukraine. . . .

With defences dominant and not much territory changing hands, this is a war of attrition. Attrition is normally described as an alternative to a war of manoeuvre, which offers the more enticing prospect of a decisive battlefield victory. The only prospect of victory in an attritional war is through a series of encounters that have the cumulative effect of leaving the enemy depleted and exhausted. . . .

[A]ttrition is disparaged as an inferior and undesirable form of warfare, requiring patience and an ability to absorb pain – without necessarily offering a plausible route to victory. It is often the result, as in this case, of the aggressor failing to achieve an early victory through manoeuvre. It is chosen largely because it is the only alternative to acknowledging defeat.[1]

Lawrence Freedman goes on to point out that the binary between maneuver and attrition is too sharply drawn, that attrition can be a means to maneuver. The trouble is that doesn’t seem to be what’s actually happening. The less evil news is that the tide seems to be shifting achingly slowly in Ukraine’s favor.[2]

“For Moscow, the war may now be all about denying Nato the satisfaction of a Ukrainian victory and saving [Vladimir] Putin’s blushes,”[3] or, perhaps more precisely, delaying Putin’s humiliation and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s satisfaction. Which is another way of saying that people are dying for ego.

Lawrence Freedman, “Russia is still underestimating Ukraine,” New Statesman, August 16, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/08/russia-underestimating-ukraine-attrition


Elon Musk

Mike Murphy, “Elon Musk jokes about buying Manchester United — but it may not be funny to the SEC,” MarketWatch, August 17, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/elon-musk-says-hes-buying-manchester-united-but-if-its-a-joke-the-sec-is-unlikely-to-laugh-11660698588


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

There is a new blog post entitled, “The really, really, really wild wildcards in the 2022 and 2024 elections.”

Jan Murphy and Charles Thompson, “FBI delivers subpoenas to several Pa. Republican lawmakers: sources say,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, August 10, 2022, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/08/fbi-delivers-subpoenas-to-several-pa-republican-lawmakers-sources-say.html

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246

Amber Phillips, “What could the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/what-is-presidential-records-act-how-did-trump-violate-it/

Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court

Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Isaac Arnsdorf et al., “Trump is rushing to hire seasoned lawyers — but he keeps hearing ‘No,’” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/trump-lawyers-fbi-raid/

Natalie Andrews, “Liz Cheney Concedes to Trump-Backed Challenger in Wyoming Primary,” Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/liz-cheney-faces-uphill-fight-in-primary-against-trump-backed-opponent-11660642201

Matt Ford, “Trump’s Republican Defenders Inexplicably Forgot To Expect the Worst,” New Republic, August 16, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/167422/gop-response-mar-a-lago-search

Lauren Gambino, “Judge to consider unsealing Trump search affidavit as legal worries mount,” Guardian, August 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/16/donald-trump-search-affidavit-legal-cases

Julia Ioffe, “The C.I.A.’s Trump Deja Vu,” Puck News, August 16, 2022, https://puck.news/the-c-i-a-s-trump-deja-vu/

Maria Sacchetti, “Homeland Security watchdog Cuffari faces rebukes from lawmakers in missing texts case,” Washington Post, August 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/16/missing-secret-service-texts-cuffari/


  1. [1]Lawrence Freedman, “Russia is still underestimating Ukraine,” New Statesman, August 16, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/08/russia-underestimating-ukraine-attrition
  2. [2]Lawrence Freedman, “Russia is still underestimating Ukraine,” New Statesman, August 16, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/08/russia-underestimating-ukraine-attrition
  3. [3]Lawrence Freedman, “Russia is still underestimating Ukraine,” New Statesman, August 16, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/08/russia-underestimating-ukraine-attrition

‘Interrupting’ violence before it happens

Pittsburgh

Unauthorized violence

It’s a job that even with the best of intentions, I could never do:

Helmed by Richard Garland, director of the Violence Prevention Initiative at Pitt’s [the University of Pittsburgh] Center for Health Equity, the new initiative [the Healthy Village Learning Institute] seeks to address the violence in McKeesport by treating it as a disease – one that can be transmitted among a community and, with tireless effort and the right individuals involved, perhaps interrupted. Among the freshly minted crew of “interrupters” is [Keith] Murphy, who operates the Healthy Village as a “place of hope, health and healing,” and supervises the team’s day-to-day operations.[1]

It’s dubbed a “public health” approach and apparently it’s had enough success that people have experimented with it in a few places.[2]

Of course the only thing a bunch of people around Pittsburgh can think of, with their thin blue line signs and their thin blue line flags, is the police, white supremacist gangsters. But even if we ignore that any approach these gangsters may take to any given situation will be colored by their possession of and authority to use weapons as coercive authority, which inherently tend to escalate situations through the fear they inspire, these gangsters are reactive.

The Public Source article describing the Healthy Village Learning Institute program opens with an investigation of a shooting; white supremacist gangsters arrive after violence has already occurred and is indeed so much a part of the fabric of a community that it is nonchalantly expected. “Another shooting?” asks a driver passing by.[3] And that’s a major difference with the “public health” approach, which seeks to stop violence before it happens using people who have credibility within their communities, communities that face the problems often associated with poverty, with people within those communities who have turned their lives around.

Of course we can hope these programs like this succeed. My concern is with poverty, with its despair, its hopelessness, its frustration, as itself a cause of violence. We need to be meaningfully addressing that as well, but that would mean challenging the power relations of rich over poor, and you know we can’t have that.

Quinn Glabicki and Amelia Winger, “‘Change the narrative’: A new crew of ‘interrupters’ aims to curb the violence in McKeesport,” Public Source, August 15, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/gun-violence-prevention-pennsylvania/


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

The impression I had of Merrick Garland as dithering[4] in the face of sometimes violent white Christian nationalist backlash[5] is confirmed in a Wall Street Journal article. Garland dithered for weeks over whether to authorize the search at Mar-a-Lago and is still dithering over whether to bring charges against Donald Trump.[6] In accepting responsibility for the decision to search Trump’s residence, Garland had said, “Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor.”[7] But this very much has the look of a man terrified of Trump and his supporters, of a man who can use the impending midterm elections as an excuse to dither further.

Jonathan Capehart, “Liz Cheney is the Obi-Wan to Trump’s Darth Vader,” Washington Post, August 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/08/liz-cheney-obi-wan-kenobi-trump-darth-vader/

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump says FBI conducting search of Mar-a-Lago estate,” Associated Press, August 8, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-9e8d683afe87389407950af7ccfdbdd6

Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search

Devlin Barrett et al., “Mar-a-Lago search appears focused on whether Trump, aides withheld items,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/trump-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/

David Frum, “Stuck With Trump,” Atlantic, August 9, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-republicans-loyalty/671084/

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/

Jan Murphy and Charles Thompson, “FBI delivers subpoenas to several Pa. Republican lawmakers: sources say,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, August 10, 2022, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/08/fbi-delivers-subpoenas-to-several-pa-republican-lawmakers-sources-say.html

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246

Amber Phillips, “What could the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/what-is-presidential-records-act-how-did-trump-violate-it/

Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court

Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292

Tom Hamburger and Eugene Scott, “Giuliani is target in Ga. criminal probe of 2020 election, lawyer says,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/


  1. [1]Quinn Glabicki and Amelia Winger, “‘Change the narrative’: A new crew of ‘interrupters’ aims to curb the violence in McKeesport,” Public Source, August 15, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/gun-violence-prevention-pennsylvania/
  2. [2]Quinn Glabicki and Amelia Winger, “‘Change the narrative’: A new crew of ‘interrupters’ aims to curb the violence in McKeesport,” Public Source, August 15, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/gun-violence-prevention-pennsylvania/
  3. [3]Quinn Glabicki and Amelia Winger, “‘Change the narrative’: A new crew of ‘interrupters’ aims to curb the violence in McKeesport,” Public Source, August 15, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/gun-violence-prevention-pennsylvania/
  4. [4]David Benfell, “In Alice’s Wonderland, or, rather, its Gilead equivalent, a bluff is not a bluff,” Not Housebroken, August 16, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/12/in-alices-wonderland-or-rather-its-gilead-equivalent-a-bluff-is-not-a-bluff/
  5. [5]Farnoush Amiri and Michael Balsamo, “Jan. 6 panel puts Garland in ‘precarious’ spot, ups pressure,” Associated Press, April 1, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-merrick-garland-donald-trump-f70143880cb9be8a0610edcad1ed18e8; Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral
  6. [6]Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292
  7. [7]Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Why Donald Trump won’t be charged under the Espionage Act

Pittsburgh

Unauthorized violence

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Man shot, dies in Lincoln-Lemington,” August 14, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/man-shot-dies-in-lincoln-lemington-sunday-night/


Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Reading Marcy Wheeler’s article from yesterday[1] feels to me like coming into a conversation somewhere in the middle. I would need to read back on her blog to try to catch up and I haven’t done this. The article does not stand on its own.

That said, she’s been at this for a while and she has a good reputation. There are a couple points I would glean from her effort:

  1. The Department of Justice is likely to try to settle any charges relating to the Espionage Act against Donald Trump out of court. Prosecution would expose classified material.[2] We are unlikely to ever learn the full contents of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago, but more seriously, it seems to me that the negotiations around a settlement may be protracted. Which would be par for the course with Trump.
  2. Trump appears more concerned with a possible charge of obstruction of justice.[3] This possible charge was also highlighted by Renato Mariotti.[4]

It’s also worth noting again that none of this likely precludes Trump from resuming the presidency if he wins in 2024[5] and it is awfully hard to imagine a Trump Justice Department continuing to press charges against him.

I would also, on general principle, caution against getting ahead of the evidence, which I suspect Wheeler of doing. The prospect of an end to this nightmare within a nightmare is certainly enticing and I yearn for it.[6] But I have learned to expect unexpected twists and turns along the way and we are not at the end of this particular road yet.

Jonathan Capehart, “Liz Cheney is the Obi-Wan to Trump’s Darth Vader,” Washington Post, August 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/08/liz-cheney-obi-wan-kenobi-trump-darth-vader/

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump says FBI conducting search of Mar-a-Lago estate,” Associated Press, August 8, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-9e8d683afe87389407950af7ccfdbdd6

Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search

Devlin Barrett et al., “Mar-a-Lago search appears focused on whether Trump, aides withheld items,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/trump-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/

David Frum, “Stuck With Trump,” Atlantic, August 9, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-republicans-loyalty/671084/

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/

Jan Murphy and Charles Thompson, “FBI delivers subpoenas to several Pa. Republican lawmakers: sources say,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, August 10, 2022, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/08/fbi-delivers-subpoenas-to-several-pa-republican-lawmakers-sources-say.html

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246

Amber Phillips, “What could the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/what-is-presidential-records-act-how-did-trump-violate-it/

Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court

Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/

Eugene Scott, “Graham must testify in Ga. probe of effort to overturn 2020 election, judge rules,” Washington Post, August 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/15/trump-2020-election-georgia-investigation/


  1. [1]Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/
  2. [2]Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/
  3. [3]Marcy Wheeler, “Trump's Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege,” Empty Wheel, August 14, 2022, https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/14/trump-claims-the-ssa-receipt-includes-privileged-materials/
  4. [4]Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584
  5. [5]Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search
  6. [6]David Benfell, “I cannot yet tell you my 2024 forecast was wrong,” Not Housebroken, August 13, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/13/i-cannot-yet-tell-you-my-2024-forecast-was-wrong/