Imagine if you were the head of the country whose information was breached ...

(re-posted from the Breaking News Thread):

... and so egregiously mishandled, and you have no idea who has seen it, who has had access to it, who might be using it right now. Imagine the panic thinking that an enemy now has information on your military capabilities and schemes, your nuclear capabilities, etc. The security of your nation is compromised.

Then imagine watching as the thief who fucked over your country is still free to keep compromising your military (because he may have made copies), and he's even free to keep having his hate rallies. He's free to keep selling your information. He's laughing because he can do whatever he wants with your country's information and no one is stopping him.

Imagine watching as America - who may even be an ally - is doing nothing about your military secrets being sold and exposed to fuck knows who all.

It's not just that other countries no longer have reason to trust us because this motherfucker exposed their secrets, it's that America evidently doesn't give a shit about your country because they are doing nothing about this.

For the sake of international relations alone, this motherfucker needs to be arrested NOW. For the sake of WORLD PEACE AND SECURITY he needs to be arrested NOW.

Well, this is an interesting take on a possible second term - the 22nd Amendment

Hey republicans! Over here!

Now that I've got your attention,

FUCK YOUR FEELINGS!


Damn snowflakes all whiny that President Biden told the truth. Suck it up, Buttercup. You're all despicable, so fuck your feelings.








I just needed to get that out.

Trump may threaten to reveal state secrets to manipulate legal proceedings if he's indicted: reporte

Source: Raw Story

Former President Donald Trump appears to have a weak defense if he's prosecuted for taking classified documents to Mar-A-Lago, but he may be able to hold the court hostage by threatening to reveal some of that top-secret information.

The FBI found boxes of highly sensitive materials in Trump's office and other areas of his private resort, and his attorneys have asked for them back, or at least an inventory of what was taken -- which NBC News reporter Marc Caputo told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" signaled his possible strategy.

"I'm being led to believe it's not detailed, it's not the stuff we'll want to see," Caputo said. "We'll want to see, like, okay, which foreign leaders potentially were in these classified documents he allegedly had or whatever. However, it's going to be more detailed. How much? We have no clue. The judge yesterday said she would start to unseal it after the court hearing, today is technically after the court hearing -- we'll see."

"I think a broader issue here is what you're also going to see in cases, again, if there's a prosecution, of something called graymail, which is where a defendant in a case where there's classified information tries to push the release of that classified information, knowing the government doesn't want it released," Caputo continued, "and that can sort of psych the government out of wanting to release that highly classified or sensitive information. Now there is a Classified Information Procedures Act, which allows for the courts to kind of go through and handle these issues and release redacted information. But the fact of the matter is we've never had a former president and future presidential candidate, likely future presidential candidate, on trial, especially over stuff like this regarding issues related to his presidency or his past presidency, so, we're, as I said, we're in uncharted waters."

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-graymail/

A Justice Department Show of Force in the Mar-a-Lago Case

The Justice Department’s filing Tuesday evening in former President Trump’s federal court effort to slow the Mar-a-Lago investigation presents a remarkable show of strength and confidence in the ongoing probe.

The document’s legal arguments are not particularly engaging, as they respond to uninteresting, meritless legal challenges from the former president. Its factual summary, by contrast, is a rip-roaringly great read, one in which the department tells the story of its investigation in some detail. Some of this story it has told before, but some it has not. There are a lot of new details in here, and nearly all of them are bad for the former president.

Some of these flesh out the volume and nature of the classified material Trump hoarded at Mar-a-Lago. But other details, more importantly in our view, flesh out questions of intent and mens rea that are key to all of the statutes at issue in the warrant. While the document goes out of its way not to discuss Trump’s personal behavior, it also includes material specifically suggestive of the degree to which the department has collected material incriminating Trump personally.

All of which suggests some preliminary answers to key questions: How big a problem is the Mar-a-Lago investigation for Trump? How long is this going to take? Specifically, as we shall explain, it suggests that the investigation is a very big problem for Trump, one in which he appears to have a great deal of exposure. But it also suggests that the investigation is going to take a while—a point on which a careful reading of the filing leaves little doubt.

The release of this damaging material by the Justice Department is almost entirely a result of Trump’s own actions—or at least those of his legal team. At each stage of this investigation, including the search itself, the Justice Department has been careful to resist releasing additional information about the probe—only for Trump to open the door for the department to weigh in by complaining about the investigation. This one is no exception.

Have the corrupt treasonous republicans formed a defense to this latest atrocity yet?

I've been too busy at work this morning to see what sort of ethical gymnastics they need to contort themselves in order to defend the nation's most secret documents strewn on the floor of a hotel.

Trump adds former Florida solicitor general to legal team working Mar-a-Lago probe

Source: Politico

Former President Donald Trump has hired Chris Kise, Florida’s former solicitor general, to represent him in the criminal investigation related to the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in early August.

Kise’s hiring comes at a critical juncture for the former president, whose legal team has faced criticism for its handling of the case in the Southern District of Florida, including its struggle to handle basic administrative tasks and make timely requests of the court. Trump’s team has tried to argue that the former president has the ability and right to declassify documents, that as a former president he is not bound to the same laws regarding the handling of classified materials, and some of the materials are covered by executive or attorney-client privilege. Trump has also sought to frame the dispute as a bookkeeping matter over presidential records, requiring negotiation with the National Archives, not criminal proceedings.

The Archives spent months attempting to recover the highly classified materials housed at Mar-a-Lago and grew alarmed when Trump resisted permitting a Justice Department review of the files Trump had agreed to return earlier in the year, leading the agencies to suspect there were additional documents Trump had not returned.

Kise joins Evan Corcoran and Jim Trusty in advising Trump on the Florida probe, one of several the former president faces across multiple venues. His hiring, which was confirmed by three people familiar with Trump’s legal team, was first reported by NBC News.


Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/30/trump-florida-solicitor-general-mar-a-lago-probe-00054219

LOCK HIM UP

Federal judge says Texas can't ban 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns

Source: Texas Tribune

A federal court in Fort Worth on Thursday struck down a Texas prohibition that limited adults under 21 from carrying handguns.

Texas law bars most 18- to 20-year-olds in the state from obtaining a license to carry a handgun or carrying a handgun for self-defense outside their homes. Two plaintiffs, who fall within that age range, and the Firearms Policy Coalition Inc., filed a lawsuit against the state to challenge the statute. The suit says the Texas law prevented the plaintiffs from traveling with a handgun between Parker, Fannin and Grayson counties, where they lived, worked and went to school.

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman wrote that the Second Amendment does not specify an age limit and protects adults under 21 years old.

“Based on the Second Amendment’s text, as informed by Founding-Era history and tradition, the Court concludes that the Second Amendment protects against this prohibition,” Pittman wrote in the ruling.



Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/25/federal-court-texas-21-handguns/

White House shines light on Republicans who are criticizing student debt cancellation after getting

Source: NBC News

The White House hit back at Republicans in an uncharacteristic manner Thursday by using its Twitter account to go after GOP lawmakers who are bashing President Joe Biden's move to cancel some student debt after they personally benefited from having Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven during the Covid pandemic.

In a series of tweets, the White House highlighted several congressional Republicans — Reps. Vern Buchanan of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, and Markwayne Mullin and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma — who it said had six- and seven-figure PPP loans forgiven as part of a federal program intended to help those harmed by the coronavirus.

Like many of their GOP colleagues, the lawmakers have blasted Biden over his student loan decision.

Greene, who said on Newsmax that “it’s completely unfair” for student loans to be forgiven, had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven, according to the White House.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-shines-light-republicans-are-criticizing-student-debt-canc-rcna44904