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No Normalizing Trump’s Criminality

Dear Editor: Every American should be troubled, attentive, and very concerned about the mishandling of classified documents by the former president discovered by the FBI during their lawful investigation at Trump’s resort in Florida. Politics aside, the slow but steady erosion of respect for state secrets and the uneven prosecution of those who willfully violate long-standing laws governing security of classified material; in particular, the coddling of the powerful and the harsh punishment of subordinates creates the inevitable extension of our seriously broken system. In 2003, on two separate occasions, Samuel (Sandy) Berger entered the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and stole sensitive government documents, …

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It Takes Two to Tango, and a Couple Hundred to Overturn An Election

If only all our problems could be solved by jailing #45…. Even if the roll call at Leavenworth were to include the name of a former President in 2024, that would hardly assure that the nation had returned to normal operations. Equally-deranged replacements seem to be springing up like poisonous mushrooms after a toxic rain. On Wednesday, the nerds at fivethirtyeight.com reported that “From the Carolinas to California, Montana to Florida, election denialism has spread across the country. Candidates who support former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen will appear on ballots in nearly every state this fall.” After reaching …

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The Self-Exonerating Tyrant

A 2013 glossary of military slang defines a “self-licking ice cream cone” as a “military doctrine or political process that appears to exist in order to justify its own existence, often producing irrelevant indicators of its own success. For example, continually releasing figures on the amount of Taliban weapons seized, as if there were a finite supply of such weapons. While seizing the weapons, soldiers raid Afghan villages, enraging the residents and legitimizing the Taliban’s cause.” Military historian Norman Friedman coined the term to describe certain weapons systems during the Gulf War of 1991-1992. Astute readers, though, will readily see that it could accurately have …

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Sat, Sept 10

2008—Lehman Brothers execs say the firm has all the capital it needs, five days before it declares bankruptcy. 2001—Donald Rumsfeld admits the Defense Department can’t account for about $2.3 trillion dollars. One day later, no one remembers—or cares. 1980—“Approximately eighty percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation,” says GOP candidate Ronald Reagan. 1977—One-legged Tunisian pimp Hamida Djandoubi is the last man to die by a French guillotine. 1969—The AEC fires off a nuke beneath Grand Valley, Colo., to “liberate large quantities of gas.” It worked, but no one wanted radioactive natural gas. 1945—In Fruita, Colo., Lloyd Wilson chops the head off …

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Fri, Sept 9

2013—Two out of of three lanes to the George Washington Bridge are closed without warning in Fort Lee, N.J., delaying commuters and emergency personnel. 2009—As President Obama addresses Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yells at him, “You lie.” 2008—Lehman Bros., the nation’s fourth largest investment bank, loses 45 percent of its value. 2005—“You know,” says Glenn Beck, “it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims families…When I see a 9/11 victim family on television…I’m just, like ‘Oh, shut up.’ ” 1999—Louis T. “Moondog” Hardin, American composer, street musician, and blind, Viking-helmet-wearing eccentric, dies at 83 in Germany. 1988—Dan Quayle, who got …

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