Book Discussion: Hatchet Man

 

The C-Span program Book TV broadcast a discussion by author Eli Honig about his 2021 book, Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor's Code and Corrupted the Justice Department. Honig is a former federal and state prosecutor, and now an expert commentator for CNN.

This discussion is useful to (1) help people recall what Barr did as US Attorney General (AG), and (2) why and how he was, as Honig describes it, so deceptive. Yes, Barr was deceptive, but a special kind of deceit describes it more precisely, he was a liar. Lies were often a key part of his deceit tactics. 

What Barr was hiding not just political corruption of the DoJ to serve the interests of the ex-president. We was also hiding the fact that he was and still is a hard core anti-democratic authoritarian Christian nationalist. He was also hiding his own personal agenda. Barr’s Christian fundamentalism and its hostility to secularism and non-heterosexuality came out in Honig’s research on speeches Barr gave in the 1990s. In my opinion, Barr was and still is an elite Republican Party Christian nationalist fascist.

Garland’s and Biden’s fatal flaw

Honig argues that Barr’s legacy was infliction of serious, long-lasting structural damage to the DoJ. Specifically, Barr attacked and undermined both the credibility and the independence of the DoJ. He argues that Barr damaged the DoJ in that way to serve his own deeply-rooted, extremist legal and personal (Christian fundamentalist) beliefs.

Honig also argues that Merrick Garland’s approach to fixing the DoJ is too weak. Garland is crippled by a desire to avoid political conflict or controversy whenever possible. That is presumably driven by Garland’s, and in my opinion Biden’s, tragically mistaken belief that conflict avoidance will somehow lead Republicans to be more trusting and more democratic. In other words, Garland is deeply flawed by the same false belief that his boss, Joe Biden probably has. Neither of them understands that the Republican Party is irreparably anti-democratic and irreparably morally corrupt. That leaves Garland’s and Biden’s efforts to fix the damage the GOP and the ex-president caused to the federal government to be too little and maybe too late.

Honig argues that people “better” than ones like Barr and his ilk are necessary in the DoJ to fix the damage and repair its broken pro-democratic institution status. Unfortunately, Honig doesn't use the word moral. Instead he just leaves it at better. IMO, that is a mistake.

Barr & the Mueller Report

Two matters related to the Mueller report that Honig discusses at length about obstruction of justice by the the ex-president are worth remembering.

• Barr was corrupt and mendacious from the start. His first significant act as AG was to distort the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller on (1) obstruction of justice by the ex-president, and (2) the role of Russian significant efforts to throw the election to T**** (which really did happen, but the GOP and T**** still deny to this day). Mueller himself had written an accurate summary of his own report for the public, but Barr refused to release it. Instead, Barr wrote and released his own summary of Mueller’s findings. Barr’s summary falsely asserted that the Mueller investigation had exonerated the ex-president. Lies of omission underpinned that propaganda. Barr received a public rebuke for his lies to the public from both Mueller himself and a federal judge. Barr also directly lied to congress when asked if anyone “from the Mueller team” disapproved of how Barr distorted (lied about) the Mueller report. He said nope. A couple of days after that lie to congress, Mueller’s letter of disapproval became public. Barr was hauled back into congress to explain his lie. Mueller’s defense was insulting nonsense: He said to congress that Mueller himself was not part of “the Mueller team.” Because of that, he did not lie to congress when he said that no one “from the Mueller team” disapproved of how Barr distorted and lied to the public about the Mueller report.

• When Barr released to the public his own summary of the Mueller report with his lies in it, that was just the first half of his propaganda and lies plan. The second half was brilliant. It was about as effective as mendacious, immoral mind manipulation can be. What Barr did after publicly lying about what the Mueller report contained and concluded, he withheld the report from the public for 28 days. Why did he delay releasing the truth? Those 28 days gave the public time to come to believe that the Mueller report exonerated the ex-president. Barr defended the 28 day delay as time needed to redact the report, but Honig argues that should have taken no more than a week at the very most. Worse, public release of the Mueller report should have been timed with the release of a summary. That unjustifiable time gap left plenty of time for the ex-president, Republican elites and their propaganda Leviathan to keep saying over and over and over that the Mueller report exonerated the ex-president. By the time the redacted Mueller report was released with an explicit statement that the ex-president was not exonerated, tens of millions of minds rejected that factual truth as a Democratic lie.

Barr really was a hatchet man. Honig argues that Barr was the worst AG in US history. He managed to convince tens of millions of Americans that the Mueller investigation exonerated a sitting president of obstruction of justice, despite an investigation that did not say any such thing. 

Barr also corrupted the DoJ’s independence and credibility. The loss of credibility seems to apply to some extent to both sides in American politics-culture wars. Many liberals, and independents like me, are now less trusting of DoJ motives and its professionalism. Many conservatives distrust the DoJ partly because they falsely believe that the ex-president committed no crimes, when in fact he did. 

Whatever it is that Garland thinks he is doing, it is not reassuring to to least some Americans. Honig’s argument that Garland is ineffective in repairing the damage to DoJ credibility is convincing. However, Honig does argue that Garland’s effort to rebuild DoJ independence is significant and deserves credit. 

But the question all of this raises is obvious: If one authoritarian president appoints one authoritarian AG, what is to stop them from doing the same to DoJ independence and credibility that T**** and Barr did? The precedent for Christian fascism to neuter the DoJ has been set. T**** and Barr set that precedent. It will never go away.

The United States is not on the verge of civil war

 Repeat - not!

I have been a harsh critic of the Right for quite some time (no kidding!) but have to admit the hyperbole on the Left about another Civil War coming is kind of over the top. In my humble opinion of course.

So the following article tackled this question and I highlighted a few snippets that I believe to be true. Though I believe the statements made to be true, YOU can disagree with the premise if you want.

https://www.wamc.org/commentary-opinion/2022-08-26/the-united-states-is-not-on-the-verge-of-civil-war

Snippets:

The right wing lie machine has recently expanded its scope. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act by Congress, they have seized on increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service that will lead to the hiring of 87,000 agents --- (half of which will go to replace immanent retirements). To hear the liars at Fox News and too many Republican members of Congress, these agents, armed with machine guns, will be invading the homes of small business owners in search of unpaid taxes. In fact, very few of them will be in the armed enforcement units. Most IRS auditors work in offices at computers and most audits are conducted by mail or on line.

However, despite the outrageous and dangerous misbehavior of the right-wing echo chamber, right-wing pundits and too many members of Congress, a note of caution is in order. Talk is cheap and rhetoric is not the same as action. So far, there has been ONE --- repeat --- ONE attempt to physically harm FBI agents in the wake of the widespread anger stoked by Trump and his minions.

Polling data shows that about 20 percent of Americans believe that violence is justified to protect “our freedom.” Twelve percent said they themselves were willing to be violent.
Of that group, do you think every one of them is really ready to start shooting? I would venture to guess that a large percentage of that group are what the Texans call, “All hat and no cattle,” In other words – big talkers.

Agree or Disagree? Example: no mention of Jan. 6. BUT over 800 arrests. Nothing changed, and now the Capitol has more security. So the wannabees didn't accomplish much. My opinion. BUT could something worse be in the making? OR, as I prefaced, is the rhetoric just "over the top?"

PS; I am NOT talking about other threads to America's democracy, but strictly about the notion that there will be another civil war.

Climate change and the Republican Party’s open support of it

By now it is clear that the US has limited options to deal with climate change. That is despite recently passed legislation that has some anti-climate change measures in it. That legislation was opposed by 100% of Republicans in congress. The Repub Party (RP) has made it explicit and clear that it opposes all meaningful attempts to use government to deal with the problem. The RP says it like this in a recently released political document (quote shown above):

The weather is always changing. We take climate change seriously, but not hysterically. We will not adopt nutty policies that harm our economy or our jobs.

That is reasonably interpreted to be explicit statement that the RP intends to fight all government measures intended to deal with climate change. It is only in that sense that the RP takes climate change seriously. 

It is now also clear that the RP also opposes companies who want to try to deal with climate change. The reason for that is unclear. One possibility is that the RP sees climate change as ordained by God and not something that humans have any business trying to do anything about. 

One article comments on RP attacks on companies making efforts to deal with climate change:

How an Organized Republican Effort Punishes Companies for Climate Action

Legislators and their allies are running an aggressive campaign that uses public money and the law to pressure businesses they say are pushing “woke” causes.

Across the country, Republican lawmakers and their allies have launched a campaign to try to rein in what they see as activist companies trying to reduce the greenhouse gases that are dangerously heating the planet.

“We’re an energy state, and energy accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue for us,” said Riley Moore, the West Virginia state treasurer. “All of our jobs come from coal and gas. I mean, this is who we are. This is part of our way of life here in the state. And they’re telling us that these industries are bad.”

“We have an existential threat here,” Mr. Moore said. “We have to fight back.”

In doing so, Mr. Moore and others have pushed climate change from the scientific realm into the political battles already raging over topics like voting rights, abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. issues. In recent months, conservatives have moved beyond tough words and used legislative and financial leverage to pressure the private sector to drop climate action and any other causes they label as “woke.”

“There is a coordinated effort to chill corporate engagement on these issues,” said Daniella Ballou-Aares, chief executive of the Leadership Now Project, a nonprofit organization that wants corporations to address threats to democracy. “And it is an effective campaign. Companies are starting to go into hiding.”

Wokeness causes is something that the RP document quoted above mentions:

The Democratic Party and their Big Tech allies are not merely secular; they have virtually created a new religion of wokeness that is increasingly hostile toward people of faith, particularly Christians and Jews. They are determined to drive all mention of God out of public view.

Their bizarre policies are intentionally destroying our values, our culture, and the beliefs that hold us together as a nation. They want to replace our culture with government and rewrite history. They are also busy destroying the greatest economy in the world – perverting it into an old, socialist-style system. Our nation can’t survive this combination of wokeness, socialism, and globalism.

Based on wokeness being associated with Christianity in the political document and climate change in the news article, it may be the case that the RP sees climate change as good because it is ordained by God. In that case, the RP could believe that climate change is not something humans should try to deal with or even worry about. 

Or, religion might underpin little or only some of with the hostility. RP lust for the power and wealth that continues to flow from continuing to support pollution as usual could also be a significant factor.

With the modern RP, either or both fundamentalist Christianity and brute capitalism are possible explanations. Other reasons, e.g., protecting jobs, seem unlikely. Those feel like a deflection from the real but unspoken reason(s) for RP’s all-out opposition to dealing with climate change.

THEY NEVER GIVE UP, DO THEY?

 

Arizona GOP candidates lose bid to ban ‘exploitable’ voting machines

The judge called the supposed evidence speculative and noted no actual harm has occurred.

PHOENIX (CN) — A federal judge in Arizona dismissed a suit Friday seeking to ban electronic voting machines ahead of the November midterm election, brought by Republican candidates who claim the machines may have security flaws.

In the suit, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem claimed an injunction to stop the use of voting machines was necessary since the "voting system does not reliably provide trustworthy and verifiable election results." Former President Donald Trump — a frequent purveyor of baseless election fraud claims — has endorsed Lake and Finchem in their respective races.

Lake and Finchem claimed that voting on paper ballots and hand-counting those votes was the only efficient and secure method for proceeding in November.

In arguments, the pair contended that contractors found some concerns after completing a partisan audit of the 2016 presidential election. Chiefly, the contractors allegedly found cybersecurity best practices weren’t used, antivirus software patches were neglected, computer logs were cleared, and some files were missing from the election management system.

U.S. District Judge John Tuchi on Friday found the supposed evidence conjectural and not concrete.

“Ultimately, even upon drawing all reasonable inferences in plaintiffs’ favor, the court finds that their claimed injuries are indeed too speculative to establish an injury in fact, and therefore standing,” wrote Tuchi.

Tuchi wrote that in previous election fraud cases, courts have ruled in favor of the plaintiffs when actual fraud had occurred. In Curling v. Kemp, Georgia voting machines had been hacked and the secretary of state refused to act. Tuchi said the plaintiff’s case is nothing like that case.

“Here, as the secretary points out, a long chain of hypothetical contingencies must take place for any harm to occur— (1) the specific voting equipment used in Arizona must have “security failures” that allow a malicious actor to manipulate vote totals; (2) such an actor must actually manipulate an election; (3) Arizona’s specific procedural safeguards must fail to detect the manipulation; and (4) the manipulation must change the outcome of the election,” Tuchi wrote.

None of that has occurred, Tuchi found.

Additionally, Tuchi said if he had entertained the abstract claims for injunctive relief, he would violate the Purcell principle, barring courts from ordering changes to election rules in the period just before an election. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 ruling in Purcell v. Gonzalez established the principle.

“In applying Purcell, courts have made clear that it stands for more than just the proposition that federal courts should avoid changes in law that may cause voter confusion,” wrote Tuchi. “The county defendants are correct to assert that courts applying Purcell also ‘caution federal courts to refrain from enjoining election law too close in time to an election if the changes will create administrative burdens for election officials.’ The injunctive relief plaintiffs seek would not just be challenging for Arizona’s election officials to implement; it likely would be impossible under the extant time constraints.”

According to Scott Jarrett, an expert witness during oral arguments and the director of elections for Maricopa County, switching to a hand-only count would devastate the county’s ability to conduct business. The county would require thousands more workers even as they already struggle to maintain enough at a paltry wage. Jarrett also said they’d need much more real estate to conduct a hand count.

Tuchi additionally dismissed motions by the plaintiffs to supplement the record, post-arguments, with video allegedly showing unauthorized individuals accessing the electronic management server (EMS) room without authorization. According to the plaintiffs, the video would discredit expert testimony from Jarrett that the room was secure.

“The request is extraordinarily and inexcusably untimely, and in any event does not remedy the speculative nature of plaintiffs’ claims,” Tuchi wrote. “Plaintiffs initiated this action according to their preference. The court set the hearing by an order issued well in advance, and plaintiffs had ample time to prepare their evidence.”

https://www.courthousenews.com/arizona-gop-candidates-lose-bid-to-ban-exploitable-voting-machines/

Damn those liberal judges!! 😎 Appointed by Barack Obama no less!