Damn. I remember reading about FDR, possibly as gov of NY, in talks with some "bad guy," i.e., known mafioso or Nazi, who was in big trouble, and they were negotiating some plea deal. FDR negotiated this guy to the end of the ropes, and then, against convention, reneged on their deal and let the guy rot. Anyone know of this? I cannot find via Google. Anyway, Merrick probably needed to read it.
I hear you but until Democrats have an internal reckoning I'm not sure that donating more money to the party will help anything. They had their chance at the beginning of Joe's first 2 years and even though their majority was thin, it was a majority and like Garland and Biden they mostly dithered with good intentions and blew it. I say that as a regular 4-5 figure D Party donor in presidential years. Whatever we are doing, with Kamala's massive war chest as a consideration, it didn't work. Time to regroup IMO, maybe start a common sense straight talk media platform or two, start steering the conversation away from the RW arsonists. FWIW.
The Dem leaders have failed us, repeatedly, and for nine years now. We need to bring back the show but with an entirely different cast, like on White Lotus or True Detective.
The power belongs to the people. However power takes different forms as do people.
MAGA-oids are the small majority of the people who exercised that power and installed the imbecile back into the Oval. What does that say about the rest of us? Are we Garlands, useless fools? Certainly some of us are fervent supporters of the great experiment, democracy. But not enough of us. A friend recently disclosed how upset she was with her son and his spouse. They decided to sit out this election, said they hated both candidates. Personality was more important than democracy vs stupidity.
Yes Garland is a useless fool, Joe a bitter disappointment. But how do we analyze people like my friend's son? Perhaps inexplicable is the answer as sad as that is. Did they exercise a form of power? The power to let destruction happen. Power goes both ways, sadly.
Thanks, Old Man. All good points. Young people always do dumb, self-defeating stuff like that. I know I did. The election depended on that not happening, and Gaza destroyed any hope of that. They will learn -- in a harder way than. did.
Interesting point about young people. Currently in London exploring a return to what was our home for 25 years, mostly to be near our daughter who lives here. When the "experts" examine why Brexit, near the top of the list or at the very top, failure of the young to vote, they were heavily against Brexit. Guess who today moans the loudest and most frequently about Brexit, the young. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot, more like poking out one's eye.
He would’ve made a decent SC justice, but AG (generals fight right?) requires a willingness to engage & in that he failed spectacularly. History will pin much of the next four years’ insanity on him.
You know, all things considered, I think he would have sucked as a justice, too. He would be one of those middle-road ones who annoy the hell out of everyone with some vapid, tone-deaf ruling that speaks to the letter and not the spirit of some arcane statute. But at least on SCOTUS we would have been spared watching him cry all the time.
Amazing writing with spirit and facts. I think you agree, Merrick Garland acted not in the interest of anyone other then himself when he clung to his fucking myopic views of what his job was and insinuating that “don’t worry we will be judged righteous because we took the high road”. Sadly he won’t and neither will Joe. Let the battles begin
FWIW, I don't think Garland was corrupt or ideological or that FEDSOC influenced him at all. I think he is a myopic, old-fashioned, tone-deaf, arrogant guy who didn't understand, and was incapable of understanding, the assignment.
Thanks, Richard. Yes, I think there was a lot of ego in how he behaved, and there was a lot of ego in that speech. It felt very subtext/mansplainy to me. He can take his pride in his DOJ. That and a few dollars will buy him a cup of coffee.
Amazing as always Greg. Thank you for your wisdom and moral clarity in a sea of degeneracy, chaos and frankly evil. No other word but evil can really describe where we are.
I see Herbert Hoover in the far right of the Roosevelt inaugural picture. He was “man” enough to be there after his “ass kicking” as you say. To think we would return the man baby who failed to attend the inauguration last time tells you clearly what Trump thinks about “norms.” And I did not even mention he and his minions orchestrated a wide ranging coup from the day he lost to the day he left Washington. And yet we chose him again. What a pathetic and messed up country.
Garland for sure and yes Biden, too failed our country miserably and likely fatally. Trump should have been promptly arrested, tried and imprisoned with all his henchmen with the same speed that the rioters were. Yes, it might have triggered civil unrest, violence and even civil war. But the failure to do so gave us what we have now and for the days to come. I think we will see suffering, cruelty and destruction we can only imagine.
But boy, Garland kept those DOJ norms intact. So proud of him for that!!! How long did those norms survive? Until noon on January 29, 2025……..God help us. We need it.
Thanks Greg, I needed your edge to help me begin to process four years of disgust about Merrick Garland. I am sick to my stomach about him. Your historical helps a bit, especially when you write this truth - "Failing to exercise power when it's needed is also an abuse of power."
How did such a weak person even advance so far? Garland was helped at each step by Jamie Gorelick. Just one note - she was the ethics lawyer for Jared [Kushner] and Ivanka [Trump] - nuff said. The inside game is always in full swing. Biden was not the leader we needed for this moment. I salute his service. He got a lot of important things done but chose not to take on the most important. Could any one leader have taken on covid and the coup? I believe the answer is yes, but he and his team chose infrastructure and trusted it would make the difference. But he wasn't FDR. He did the projects without inspiring hearts.
Thanks, Joel. Biden did a lot, a whole lot, of amazing things, but he was never much good at communication. That's what his administration, and the DOJ in particular, and the Dems in general, lack: effective communication. They almost always come off badly. And when they find someone who is good at this -- AOC -- they sideline her.
AOC, Katie Porter and her blessed white board, Pete Buttigeig (to a lesser degree) Ben Wikler, Tammy Baldwin, Amy Klobuchar even Liz Warren was uncharacteristically quiet this term around. There's a pattern...
May be one of your best. Certainly forceful, honest words needing to be said. A clarion call to be shouted from the rooftops. You cannot swear enough for my taste. Yesterday was so brutal that I alternated between the Hallmark Channel (do not judge me!), ESPN, and TruTv (new WNBA league). Let me know when MSM moves from a cross between Nero and Madame DeFarge to their sacred Fourth Estate duty.
I hope Trump doesn't continue his encroachment on our pleasures. He inserted himself into the NFL, Broadway, other pop culture last time. I need, we all need, safe spaces away from him.
LOL. Took me a few days to read this. But thanks for the "fuck yeah." Especially since things just keep getting more and more FUBAR. Here's to more successful court challenges.
Norms. Remember those? Yeah, me neither. It's "norms" that says the DOJ can't indict a sitting president, leaving aside, of course, the idea that a legitimate, ACTUAL president would never need to worry about such a thing.
Norms also brought us the idea that in the course of our lives here in America, when people were convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison sentences, that they served out those sentences until they were released according to the calendar of "norms." If you're good, you get some credit and are released earlier than the full time of the sentence, but if you're not so good, you stay and are denied early parole. At very RARE times, you might catch the attention of the president and receive a pardon because by the standard of "norms," you are imprisoned for unjust reasons. None of that was true yesterday, and yet over 1,500 seditionists are now free to roam the streets until they are next called up to "stand back and stand by" from the man to whom they are beholden for their freedom. They can probably get a brown shirt in the UPS store and just remove the logo and they'll be all set.
Elon Musk made a Nazi salute TWICE yesterday, in public, from a stage during the festivities of a US presidential inauguration. "Norms" says he should have been pulled off the stage and hidden away while someone else attempted to "normalize" the celebration again and distract from the embarrassment and disgust that an audience of people expecting "norms" would feel, to get through the rest of their day. But Elon just kept talking as if nothing happened. The seals in the audience just kept clapping and bleating.
"Norms" states that all the living former presidents and their first ladies should be at every presidential inauguration, and the only one that wasn't this time was Michelle Obama. She broke with "norms," and I SALUTE her for it. Every single one of the former presidents, vice presidents, and first ladies should have quietly LEFT the Capitol once the Beast was inaugurated again, but they stayed, as far as I know (I didn't watch ANY of it that wasn't on my local news, and even THAT was too much). They STAYED through the lying inaugural speech, the Nazi salutes, and whatever other fucking norm-breaking rituals happened yesterday -- because "NORMS."
I don't know where we go from here, but I do know that the Rule of Law is toast, and CERTAINLY, the Rules of Norms is gone. I'm not even sure, at this point, that we'll recover. Justin Trudeau is gone, so there will be some kneejerk right-wing asshole elected in his place and that will only strengthen Trump's power because no one, it seems, learned a fucking thing from the Neville Chamberlain story.
Call me Paula Pissed-Off this morning! I got nothing more.
To your point: the media, and the Dem party, including Joe demanded that we all stick to the norms even when the other side was blowing up the norms every day. Sometimes there's an emergecy and you gotta break the glass. Sometimes a fire extinguisher isn't enough to put down the blaze. Sometimes you have to run around the pool.
It’s TUESDAY🎉 One day closer to the midterms.
This made me chuckle and smile. Thanks so much.
The Midterms [TM]: Brought to You By Meta
Damn. I remember reading about FDR, possibly as gov of NY, in talks with some "bad guy," i.e., known mafioso or Nazi, who was in big trouble, and they were negotiating some plea deal. FDR negotiated this guy to the end of the ropes, and then, against convention, reneged on their deal and let the guy rot. Anyone know of this? I cannot find via Google. Anyway, Merrick probably needed to read it.
I think LB covers that on World Beneath. Yes, he ratfucked them, ha ha ha.
We needed more ratfucking these last four years, but, hey, let's remember and move forward!
Another fine analysis and history lesson.
My personal plan is to donate $ to the Democratic Party. Vote often. And shout out once in a while. Billserle.com
I hear you but until Democrats have an internal reckoning I'm not sure that donating more money to the party will help anything. They had their chance at the beginning of Joe's first 2 years and even though their majority was thin, it was a majority and like Garland and Biden they mostly dithered with good intentions and blew it. I say that as a regular 4-5 figure D Party donor in presidential years. Whatever we are doing, with Kamala's massive war chest as a consideration, it didn't work. Time to regroup IMO, maybe start a common sense straight talk media platform or two, start steering the conversation away from the RW arsonists. FWIW.
The Dem leaders have failed us, repeatedly, and for nine years now. We need to bring back the show but with an entirely different cast, like on White Lotus or True Detective.
The power belongs to the people. However power takes different forms as do people.
MAGA-oids are the small majority of the people who exercised that power and installed the imbecile back into the Oval. What does that say about the rest of us? Are we Garlands, useless fools? Certainly some of us are fervent supporters of the great experiment, democracy. But not enough of us. A friend recently disclosed how upset she was with her son and his spouse. They decided to sit out this election, said they hated both candidates. Personality was more important than democracy vs stupidity.
Yes Garland is a useless fool, Joe a bitter disappointment. But how do we analyze people like my friend's son? Perhaps inexplicable is the answer as sad as that is. Did they exercise a form of power? The power to let destruction happen. Power goes both ways, sadly.
New word, he's a Garland = useless fool.
Thanks, Old Man. All good points. Young people always do dumb, self-defeating stuff like that. I know I did. The election depended on that not happening, and Gaza destroyed any hope of that. They will learn -- in a harder way than. did.
Useless fool! Perfect.
Interesting point about young people. Currently in London exploring a return to what was our home for 25 years, mostly to be near our daughter who lives here. When the "experts" examine why Brexit, near the top of the list or at the very top, failure of the young to vote, they were heavily against Brexit. Guess who today moans the loudest and most frequently about Brexit, the young. Talk about shooting oneself in the foot, more like poking out one's eye.
One of your best. Pirate ship of one reporting for duty.
Thanks, Cate. We do need to think in more piratical terms, for sure. We cannot let them control the seas.
He would’ve made a decent SC justice, but AG (generals fight right?) requires a willingness to engage & in that he failed spectacularly. History will pin much of the next four years’ insanity on him.
You know, all things considered, I think he would have sucked as a justice, too. He would be one of those middle-road ones who annoy the hell out of everyone with some vapid, tone-deaf ruling that speaks to the letter and not the spirit of some arcane statute. But at least on SCOTUS we would have been spared watching him cry all the time.
Amazing writing with spirit and facts. I think you agree, Merrick Garland acted not in the interest of anyone other then himself when he clung to his fucking myopic views of what his job was and insinuating that “don’t worry we will be judged righteous because we took the high road”. Sadly he won’t and neither will Joe. Let the battles begin
Yea instead of a rock and a hard plAce. It's become the Opus Dei and the Federalists Society
FWIW, I don't think Garland was corrupt or ideological or that FEDSOC influenced him at all. I think he is a myopic, old-fashioned, tone-deaf, arrogant guy who didn't understand, and was incapable of understanding, the assignment.
Thanks, Richard. Yes, I think there was a lot of ego in how he behaved, and there was a lot of ego in that speech. It felt very subtext/mansplainy to me. He can take his pride in his DOJ. That and a few dollars will buy him a cup of coffee.
Amazing as always Greg. Thank you for your wisdom and moral clarity in a sea of degeneracy, chaos and frankly evil. No other word but evil can really describe where we are.
I see Herbert Hoover in the far right of the Roosevelt inaugural picture. He was “man” enough to be there after his “ass kicking” as you say. To think we would return the man baby who failed to attend the inauguration last time tells you clearly what Trump thinks about “norms.” And I did not even mention he and his minions orchestrated a wide ranging coup from the day he lost to the day he left Washington. And yet we chose him again. What a pathetic and messed up country.
Garland for sure and yes Biden, too failed our country miserably and likely fatally. Trump should have been promptly arrested, tried and imprisoned with all his henchmen with the same speed that the rioters were. Yes, it might have triggered civil unrest, violence and even civil war. But the failure to do so gave us what we have now and for the days to come. I think we will see suffering, cruelty and destruction we can only imagine.
But boy, Garland kept those DOJ norms intact. So proud of him for that!!! How long did those norms survive? Until noon on January 29, 2025……..God help us. We need it.
Was gonna say, you gave the norms 8 more days, ha ha.
Thanks, Rick. Yes, this is evil. They are evil, doing evil things. Evil exists in harming other people willingly and eagerly for one's own benefit.
Hoover, poor guy. He's Garland-y. Stuck to his own principles, even when evidence that he was wrong was thrown in his face everywhere every day.
January 20 of course!!!! My phone fingers failed me. Thanks again, Greg, amazing work today, sir….
Thanks Greg, I needed your edge to help me begin to process four years of disgust about Merrick Garland. I am sick to my stomach about him. Your historical helps a bit, especially when you write this truth - "Failing to exercise power when it's needed is also an abuse of power."
How did such a weak person even advance so far? Garland was helped at each step by Jamie Gorelick. Just one note - she was the ethics lawyer for Jared [Kushner] and Ivanka [Trump] - nuff said. The inside game is always in full swing. Biden was not the leader we needed for this moment. I salute his service. He got a lot of important things done but chose not to take on the most important. Could any one leader have taken on covid and the coup? I believe the answer is yes, but he and his team chose infrastructure and trusted it would make the difference. But he wasn't FDR. He did the projects without inspiring hearts.
Thanks, Joel. Biden did a lot, a whole lot, of amazing things, but he was never much good at communication. That's what his administration, and the DOJ in particular, and the Dems in general, lack: effective communication. They almost always come off badly. And when they find someone who is good at this -- AOC -- they sideline her.
AOC, Katie Porter and her blessed white board, Pete Buttigeig (to a lesser degree) Ben Wikler, Tammy Baldwin, Amy Klobuchar even Liz Warren was uncharacteristically quiet this term around. There's a pattern...
May be one of your best. Certainly forceful, honest words needing to be said. A clarion call to be shouted from the rooftops. You cannot swear enough for my taste. Yesterday was so brutal that I alternated between the Hallmark Channel (do not judge me!), ESPN, and TruTv (new WNBA league). Let me know when MSM moves from a cross between Nero and Madame DeFarge to their sacred Fourth Estate duty.
I'm back to watching only black and whites ...with morals like Andy Griffith ,Munsters , Adams Family , Lucy and of course Beaver .
Casablanca on repeat!
Thanks, Sue. Fuck yeah, Roger that!
I hope Trump doesn't continue his encroachment on our pleasures. He inserted himself into the NFL, Broadway, other pop culture last time. I need, we all need, safe spaces away from him.
LOL. Took me a few days to read this. But thanks for the "fuck yeah." Especially since things just keep getting more and more FUBAR. Here's to more successful court challenges.
In all fairness [dons sarcasm hat], Garland did aggressively go after Ticketmaster!
🤣thanks
That and a ticket gets you a seat at a Nickelback concert... ; )
Norms. Remember those? Yeah, me neither. It's "norms" that says the DOJ can't indict a sitting president, leaving aside, of course, the idea that a legitimate, ACTUAL president would never need to worry about such a thing.
Norms also brought us the idea that in the course of our lives here in America, when people were convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison sentences, that they served out those sentences until they were released according to the calendar of "norms." If you're good, you get some credit and are released earlier than the full time of the sentence, but if you're not so good, you stay and are denied early parole. At very RARE times, you might catch the attention of the president and receive a pardon because by the standard of "norms," you are imprisoned for unjust reasons. None of that was true yesterday, and yet over 1,500 seditionists are now free to roam the streets until they are next called up to "stand back and stand by" from the man to whom they are beholden for their freedom. They can probably get a brown shirt in the UPS store and just remove the logo and they'll be all set.
Elon Musk made a Nazi salute TWICE yesterday, in public, from a stage during the festivities of a US presidential inauguration. "Norms" says he should have been pulled off the stage and hidden away while someone else attempted to "normalize" the celebration again and distract from the embarrassment and disgust that an audience of people expecting "norms" would feel, to get through the rest of their day. But Elon just kept talking as if nothing happened. The seals in the audience just kept clapping and bleating.
"Norms" states that all the living former presidents and their first ladies should be at every presidential inauguration, and the only one that wasn't this time was Michelle Obama. She broke with "norms," and I SALUTE her for it. Every single one of the former presidents, vice presidents, and first ladies should have quietly LEFT the Capitol once the Beast was inaugurated again, but they stayed, as far as I know (I didn't watch ANY of it that wasn't on my local news, and even THAT was too much). They STAYED through the lying inaugural speech, the Nazi salutes, and whatever other fucking norm-breaking rituals happened yesterday -- because "NORMS."
I don't know where we go from here, but I do know that the Rule of Law is toast, and CERTAINLY, the Rules of Norms is gone. I'm not even sure, at this point, that we'll recover. Justin Trudeau is gone, so there will be some kneejerk right-wing asshole elected in his place and that will only strengthen Trump's power because no one, it seems, learned a fucking thing from the Neville Chamberlain story.
Call me Paula Pissed-Off this morning! I got nothing more.
Excellent comment, Steve. Excellent.
To your point: the media, and the Dem party, including Joe demanded that we all stick to the norms even when the other side was blowing up the norms every day. Sometimes there's an emergecy and you gotta break the glass. Sometimes a fire extinguisher isn't enough to put down the blaze. Sometimes you have to run around the pool.
Great column.
My only response today is from a author and columnist pal.
"WERE SCREWED"
The future: 18 years from now,
A Trump requires loyalty oaths from ALL or death shall decend upon you.
From the book of Trump found in The Foundation.
Your pal,
Hari
Barron, specifically.
The woman in the HAT
was Bo Derek.
Melinija Knauss was meeting with her current Handler. Valdimir.