The endless dithering of Merrick Garland

benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. Department of Justice photograph of seized materials, reportedly partially redacted, via the Washington Post, August 31, 2022,[1] public domain.

Merrick Garland, who dithered for weeks before deciding to retrieve improperly secured and highly classified materials from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence,[2] still can’t make up his mind and so has appointed a special counsel to lead investigations into Trump and decide whether or not to prosecute.[3]

Some former Justice Department officials and prosecutors have said such an appointment [of a special counsel] wouldn’t do much to allay criticism of the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and Justice Department by Mr. [Donald] Trump and his supporters. Others said the appointment sets an unnecessary precedent of appointing outsiders for high-profile investigations and sends a message that the Justice Department can’t be trusted to make decisions in politically sensitive matters.[4]

This is nothing short of absolutely asinine and what it actually is, is that Garland can’t trust himself to make brain-dead obvious decisions regarding Trump. Garland is nothing but an absolute disgrace.

Hannah Knowles, Marianna Sotomayor, and Colby Itkowitz, “Republicans narrowly win House, ending full Democratic control of Congress,” Washington Post, November 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/16/republicans-win-house-majority/

Bryan Pietsch and Amy B. Wang, “Rep. Lauren Boebert race too close to call, with margin inside recount threshold,” Washington Post, November 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/17/boebert-colorado-election-adam-frisch/

Kaleigh Rogers, “Why Lauren Boebert’s Race Is So Close,” FiveThirtyEight, November 17, 2022, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-lauren-boeberts-race-is-so-close/

Katy Stech Ferek, “Adam Frisch Concedes to Lauren Boebert in Colorado House Race,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/adam-frisch-concedes-to-lauren-boebert-in-colorado-house-race-11668798633

Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Jack Smith Named Special Counsel to Lead DOJ Probes of Donald Trump,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/garland-to-name-special-counsel-to-determine-whether-trump-should-face-charges-11668796152

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[5] fair use.

Faiz Siddiqui and Jeremy B. Merrill, “Musk issues ultimatum to staff: Commit to ‘hardcore’ Twitter or take severance,” Washington Post, November 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/16/musk-twitter-email-ultimatum-termination/

Joseph Menn, Nitasha Tiku, and Faiz Siddiqui, “Hundreds said to have opted to leave Twitter over Musk ultimatum,” Washington Post, November 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/17/twitter-musk-easing-rto-order/

Johana Bhuiyan, “Elon Musk summons Twitter engineers amid mass resignations and puts up poll on Trump ban,” Guardian, November 18, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/18/elon-musk-twitter-engineers-workers-mass-resignation

James Clayton and Peter Hoskins, “Twitter locks staff out of offices until next week,” British Broadcasting Corporation, November 18, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63672307

Annie Gaus, “Twitter Teeters as Offices Shut Down, Employees Flee,” San Francisco Standard, November 18, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/twitter-teeters-on-collapse-as-offices-shut-down/

Elon Musk, “How do you make a small fortune in social media? . . .” Twitter, November 18, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1593415171149791232

Sky News, “World Cup risks knocking out Twitter after staff exodus, industry expert warns,” November 18, 2022, https://news.sky.com/story/twitter-reportedly-closes-offices-over-sabotage-fears-as-more-employees-resign-12749959

Faiz Siddiqui, Drew Harwell and Isaac Arnsdorf , “Elon Musk restores Trump’s Twitter account,” Washington Post, November 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/19/trump-musk-twitter/

Pennsylvania

2022 election


Fig. 1. John Fetterman as mayor of Braddock, photograph uncredited and undated, via Next Pittsburgh,[6] fair use.

As usual, and completely consistent with conservative epistemology,[7] the suits challenging Pennsylvania election results in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races (Democrats won[8]) offer absolutely no evidence in support of their claims.[9]

I’m a human scientist and as such, alternative ways of knowing deserve my respect. But the epistemology of the legal system relies on written law,[10] arguments, and evidence. This epistemology’s relationship to positivism is obvious. It should be unethical for lawyers to accept cases such as this and those who do should be subject to sanctions by the court.

Rich Cholodofsky, “Lawsuits request hand recounts of votes for governor, senator,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 18, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/lawsuits-request-hand-recounts-of-votes-for-governor-senator/

  1. [1]Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. says Trump team may have hidden, moved classified papers,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/↩
  2. [2]Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Trump worker told FBI about moving Mar-a-Lago boxes on ex-president’s orders,” Washington Post, October 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/12/maralago-witness-trump-boxes-moved/; 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↩
  3. [3]Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Jack Smith Named Special Counsel to Lead DOJ Probes of Donald Trump,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/garland-to-name-special-counsel-to-determine-whether-trump-should-face-charges-11668796152↩
  4. [4]Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Jack Smith Named Special Counsel to Lead DOJ Probes of Donald Trump,” Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/garland-to-name-special-counsel-to-determine-whether-trump-should-face-charges-11668796152↩
  5. [5]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  6. [6]Kim Lyons, “Braddock Mayor John Fetterman keeps on truckin’ in his quest for the Senate,” Next Pittsburgh, March 11, 2016, https://nextpittsburgh.com/features/the-challengers-braddock-mayor-john-fetterman-keeps-on-truckin/↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “A theory of conservative epistemology,” Not Housebroken, August 19, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/06/a-theory-of-conservative-epistemology/↩
  8. [8]Kris Maher, “Democrat Josh Shapiro Wins Pennsylvania Governor Race Over Doug Mastriano,” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/election-midterms-2022/card/democrat-josh-shapiro-wins-pennsylvania-governor-race-over-doug-mastriano-rdDSLqwHlckU7Q5yZYF2; Aaron Zitner, “John Fetterman Wins Key Senate Race in Pennsylvania, Defeating Mehmet Oz,” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/election-midterms-2022/card/oW3cFfkuo97s4Fa2Q9Sl↩
  9. [9]Rich Cholodofsky, “Lawsuits request hand recounts of votes for governor, senator,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 18, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/lawsuits-request-hand-recounts-of-votes-for-governor-senator/↩
  10. [10]R. H. Helmholz, Natural Law in Court: A History of Legal Theory in Practice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2015).↩

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