QOTD -- Wide-scale Affronts To The Rule Of Law

 

"It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform.  

"Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity.

"We have seen attempts at wholesale dismantling of departments and entities created by Congress without seeking the required congressional approval to change the law. There are efforts to dismiss employees with little regard for the law and protections they merit, and social media announcements that disparage and appear to be motivated by a desire to inflame without any stated factual basis. This is chaotic. It may appeal to a few. But it is wrong. And most Americans recognize it is wrong. It is also contrary to the rule of law.  [snip]

"These actions do not make America stronger. They make us weaker. Many Americans are rightly concerned about how leaders who are elected, confirmed or appointed are proceeding to make changes. The goals of eliminating departments and entire functions do not justify the means when the means are not in accordance with the law. Americans expect better. Even among those who want change, no one wants their neighbor or their family to be treated this way. Yet that is exactly what is happening..."  from a statement issued yesterday by William R. Bay, president of the American Bar Association.  Though it will land on the deaf ears and empty heads of MAGAland, it's important to know and appreciate who's standing up as one Constitutional crisis after another is visited upon us by the Malignant Fascist and President Musk.

MAGAts Threaten Judges, Prosecutors

 

The frothing fascists are out in force, and their target is once again the American justice system:

Jesse Binnall, an appellate attorney for Donald Trump, warned that a "real" Department of Justice would federally prosecute Colorado State Supreme Court justices who voted to remove the former president from the state's primary ballot.

During an appearance on Real America's Voice on Wednesday, Binnall slammed the court's decision to disqualify Trump based on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents anyone who participated in an insurrection from holding office.

Binnall told the conservative network that there was a way a future Department of Justice could punish the Colorado justices with federal prosecution and civil rights laws. He suggested a "real" DOJ would take action against the Colorado justices and "other judges" if Trump won the 2024 election...  (our emphasis)

And,

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said Wednesday she is “extremely concerned” about fanatical supporters of Donald Trump becoming violent in response to the state Supreme Court ruling that Trump is ineligible to appear on Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.

“I’ve been concerned about violence and threats of violence since Donald Trump incited the insurrection,” Griswold, who has been Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state since 2019, said in an interview. “I’ve received hundreds if not thousands of threats at this point.”

She’s faced an astounding uptick in threats amid the lawsuit over Trump’s eligibility to appear on the state ballot, even though she has nothing to do with it. The case, which was brought in September by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was filed by six unaffiliated and Republican voters in Colorado.

“I filed it because I’m the secretary of state. I did not bring this case,” Griswold said. “Within three weeks of it being filed, I received 64 death threats and over 900 non-lethal threats of abuse. I stopped counting after that.”

“So yes, I’m extremely concerned,” she added. “It just underlines that Donald Trump is a major threat to American democracy, elections and stability. He uses threats and intimidation against his political opponents. When he doesn’t win elections, he tries to steal them. He is a dangerous leader for this country.”...  (our emphasis)

And,

In the 24 hours since the Colorado Supreme Court kicked former President Donald Trump off the state's Republican primary ballot, social media outlets have been flooded with threats against the justices who ruled in the case, according to a report obtained by NBC News.

Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that conducts public interest research, identified "significant violent rhetoric" against the justices and Democrats, often in direct response to Trump's posts about the ruling on his platform Truth Social. They found that some social media users posted justices' email addresses, phone numbers and office building addresses.

"This ends when we kill these f--kers," a user wrote on a pro-Trump forum that was used by several Jan. 6 rioters. 

"What do you call 7 justices from the Colorado Supreme Court at the bottom of the ocean?" asked another user. "A good start."

Posts — whose images and links were included in the report — noted a variety of methods that could be used to kill those perceived as Trump's enemies: hollow-point bullets, rifles, rope, bombs.

"Kill judges. Behead judges. Roundhouse kick a judge into the concrete," read a post on a fringe website. "Slam dunk a judge's baby into the trashcan."... (our emphasis)

And,

A government official was forced to flee his home after one former President Donald Trump’s supporter shared his address online, according to information revealed in an unredacted gag order issued Wednesday.

The new version of Judge Tanya Chutkan’s partial gag order was released by a federal appeals court in Trump’s Washington D.C. election interference case, the Messenger was first to report.

The original 68-page order, issued by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 8, included three pages with blacked out information, the Messenger notes.

Multiple state and local officials faced security threats after they were targeted by Trump or his supporters, the new version shows.

That blacked-out portion also details a state official who decided to stop making public comments after Trump tweeted about him because it was “the safest thing to do.”

These anecdotes were presented to the panel as they considered whether or not to uphold the judge's October gag order against Trump, which they ultimately decided to do... (our emphasis)

Now, consider what the threat level will be when/ if their cult leader Malignant Loser is found guilty in any of his criminal trials.

We hope that every one of the MAGAt fascists making these threats will be caught, charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  As with the prosecutions of the January 6 insurrectionists, the process would take time and resources, and may only catch a fraction of the MAGAt morons making these threats.  But, however long it takes, they need to be called to account by the very system and the rule of law they're intent on destroying.

BONUS:  This --

 

"It's a bad idea to keep Trump off the ballot because he might respond by leading his supporters in a violent insurrection" strikes me as both a reasonable point and very much a statement of the problem.

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) December 20, 2023

(Photo:  MAGAt morons' shirts saying the quiet part loud / Reuters)

Navy Secretary Fired; Trump Order Violated "Good Order And Discipline"

What's this?! A person with a shred of integrity in the regime of nitwit crime family boss Donald "Cadet Bone Spurs" Trump?!

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer submitted his letter acknowledging his termination as Secretary yesterday by Trump stooge, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.  Trump had interfered in the court martial of accused war criminal Navy SEAL CPO Edward Gallagher. Secretary Spencer was fired because he opposed Trump's intention to reinstate Gallagher in the SEALs.  Here's an excerpt from the letter, which can be read in full at the link:

The rule of law is what sets us apart from our adversaries. Good order and discipline is what has enabled our victory against foreign tyranny time and again, from Captain Lawrence's famous order "Don't Give up the Ship", to the discipline and determination that propelled our flag to the highest point on Iwo Jima. The Constitution, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, are the shields that set us apart, and the beacons that protect us all. Through my Title Ten Authority, 1 have strived to ensure our proceedings are fair, transparent and consistent, from the newest recruit to the Flag and General Officer level.

Unfortunately it has become apparent that in this respect, I no longer share the same understanding with the Commander in Chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline. 1 cannot in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took in the presence of my family, my flag and my faith to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Before joining the Trump regime, Spencer had a long business career and served as a Marine aviator, rising to the rank of Captain, which we believe outranks a Cadet with bone spurs.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links to read the full articles/ op eds.

As we continue to note, the treasonous behavior of Putin puppet and weak Man Baby Donald "Rump" Trump is becoming harder to ignore, as is his ignorance of how international trade and trade balances work:

The United States had been working on an agreement with the European Union nations, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, but that effort was abandoned after Trump won the presidency. Japan and Canada are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multi-country pact that Trump pulled out of after taking office. 

“The whole purpose of T-TIP was to open the U.S. market to Europe and vice versa. Now that’s been thrown under the bus along with TPP,” said Monica de Bolle, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 

She said Trump wrongly cites trade balances with individual countries, a largely meaningless metric, to attack trade deals. “Trade is a web. It’s not a buy-sell thing. It’s a web," she said. "The stupidity of this is hard to exaggerate.”  (our emphasis)

Not if you've ever followed Rump's career it isn't.

Here's a teaser from a letter from 29 European Union Ambassadors to the U.S., debunking Rump's nitwit notions on trade (h/t P.E.C.):

There has been a lot of talk recently about the trade and investment relationship between the European Union and the United States. Who wins? Who loses? 

The fact is, we are both winning and have been for years. Claims to the contrary, including that the United States is at the losing end of this relationship, deserve to be debunked. Because the United States makes more money doing business with the E.U. than with anyone else.

Make America Go it Alone!

Ruth Marcus on the Rump regime's continuing efforts to take health care away from our fellow Americans:

A continuing challenge of covering the three-ring circus that is the Trump administration is not letting the outrageous antics and statements of the president and his allies distract attention from the outrageous policies being implemented on his watch. 

One example, unfolding right now in the midst of the president’s various rhetorical wars — with our Group of Seven partners, with the special counsel, with his own attorney general — is the administration’s remarkable move not to defend the constitutionality of key parts of the Affordable Care Act. 

This is a huge deal. First, if the administration’s position prevails, millions of Americans will lose the protections they thought they had against being denied coverage if they suffer from preexisting conditions. Second, and perhaps even scarier, the administration’s behavior sets a dangerous precedent about the obligation of this and future presidents to follow their constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress.

While anything is possible, most legal experts are highly dubious about the prospects for the underlying Republican lawsuit.  With this self- own by the Rump regime (combined with higher premiums due to Republican sabotage) health care is back full force as an issue in the 2018 mid- terms:

“No issue is more personal than health care, and this is a perfect storm of two of the most personal aspects of health care coming together: skyrocketing premiums and the loss of protections for people with pre-existing conditions,” Tyler Law, the national press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), told TPM. “We know voters are paying close attention to this, because there is not a district in the entire country where health care is not a major issue.”

At the "summit" (nadir?) between Rump and Kim Jong-un, one thing won't be on the table, and one thing will:

When Trump meets Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday, he will be sitting down with the leader of one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in modern history — a country that has committed "unspeakable atrocities" on a vast scale in a manner reminiscent of Nazi Germany, according to a 2014 United Nations investigation. 

But two administration officials tell NBC News the U.S. has decided not to bring up human rights at the summit. And Trump has made clear he would be willing to offer security guarantees and financial aid to Kim if he gives up his nuclear arsenal... (our emphasis)

Human rights?  Psshew!  A little bribery?  Rump's business model. America comes down another notch or ten.

We conclude with our recommendation to check out Infidel 753's excellent link round- up. If you can't find anything funny, interesting or new there, you may want to have your pulse checked!