LetMyPeopleVote
LetMyPeopleVote's JournalJudge's ruling could doom Trump's bid to prosecute Comey
The case against Comey is very weak and relies on some material illegally obtained from one of Comey's former lawyers. Without the materials illegally seized from one of Comey's lawyers, there is no case. This is in addition to the fact that the statute of limiations has run on any prosecution. The ruling delivered another setback to the Justice Department’s rapidly foundering effort to prosecute one of Trump’s chief foes.
https://x.com/BarbMcQuade/status/1999923584907481409
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/12/judge-evidence-justice-department-james-comey/
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered the FBI to return emails and other electronic communications it seized from Comey confidant Daniel Richman roughly five years ago as part of a separate investigation that did not result in charges.
Those records had formed the backbone of the case the Justice Department filed against Comey in September, and without them prosecutors maintained they were “effectively enjoined … from investigating or prosecuting Comey.”
Kollar-Kotelly faulted authorities for failing to obtain new search warrants before using the old Richman material as part of the Comey investigation. She described that lapse as a fundamental violation of Richman’s rights.
“When the Government violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures by sweeping up a broad swath of a person’s electronic files, retaining those files long after the relevant investigation has ended, and later sifting through those files without a warrant to obtain evidence against someone else, what remedy is available to the victim of the Government’s unlawful intrusion?” she wrote.
The lawyers handling this case are really bad
Trump Admin Intensifies Military Probe Against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, Launches Command Investigation
trump is determined to prosecute Senator Kelly
https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/2000733548190339407?s=20
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-admin-intensifies-military-probe-against-democratic-sen-mark-kelly-launches-command-investigation/
The escalation marks a significant shift. While the administration has not filed charges against Kelly, the act of placing a sitting senator under a Command Investigation for speech critical of the president represents a dangerous departure from democratic norms.
A Command Investigation is a formal military fact-finding process ordered by a senior commander to determine whether misconduct occurred and what, if any, action should follow. Unlike the Pentagon’s earlier preliminary review — which was largely an internal legal assessment — a Command Investigation authorizes an investigating officer to gather evidence, conduct interviews under oath and produce official findings and recommendations.
The Pentagon confirmed the move in a statement provided to reporters.
“The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War’s Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.), to an official Command Investigation,” a Pentagon official said. “Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.”
If this goes further at some point, the Kelly team will get to use the tapes of Hegseth and the pleading of Bondi where they both make the exact same statement
Trump Admin Intensifies Military Probe Against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, Launches Command Investigation
Source: Democracy Docket
The Trump administration escalated its effort to punish a sitting U.S. senator for protected political speech Monday, formally converting the Pentagon’s review of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) into an official Command Investigation under military law.
The escalation marks a significant shift. While the administration has not filed charges against Kelly, the act of placing a sitting senator under a Command Investigation for speech critical of the president represents a dangerous departure from democratic norms.
A Command Investigation is a formal military fact-finding process ordered by a senior commander to determine whether misconduct occurred and what, if any, action should follow. Unlike the Pentagon’s earlier preliminary review — which was largely an internal legal assessment — a Command Investigation authorizes an investigating officer to gather evidence, conduct interviews under oath and produce official findings and recommendations.
The Pentagon confirmed the move in a statement provided to reporters.
“The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War’s Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.), to an official Command Investigation,” a Pentagon official said. “Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings.”
Read more: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-admin-intensifies-military-probe-against-democratic-sen-mark-kelly-launches-command-investigation/
https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/2000733548190339407?s=20
Coast Guard enacts policy calling swastikas, nooses 'potentially divisive'
A new workplace harassment manual that downgrades the definition of such symbols quietly went into effect this week.
Coast Guard enacts policy calling swastikas, nooses ‘potentially divisive’
— Freedom Writers Collaborative (@fwcollaborative.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T20:03:34Z
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/16/coast-guard-swastikas-nooses/
The new policy went into effect Monday, according to written correspondence that the Coast Guard provided to Congress this week, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post. The manual is posted online and makes clear that its previous version “is cancelled.”
Spokespeople for the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the military service, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The symbols issue is expected to come up at a House committee hearing Tuesday.
The Post was first to report on the Coast Guard’s plan to revise its workplace harassment policy last month. The Trump administration called the article “false,” but within hours of its publication the service’s acting commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday, issued a memo forcefully denouncing symbols such as swastikas and nooses, and emphasizing that both remain prohibited......
The Coast Guard’s policy softening the definition of swastikas — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the Nazis’ extermination of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — comes as antisemitism is on the rise globally. At least 15 people were killed over the weekend at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.
The trump administration is full of Nazis and fascists. That is why trump is mad at Anti-fa
Coast Guard enacts policy calling swastikas, nooses 'potentially divisive'
Source: Washington Post
The U.S. Coast Guard has allowed a new workplace harassment policy to take effect that downgrades the definition of swastikas and nooses from overt hate symbols to “potentially divisive” despite an uproar over the new language that forced the service’s top officer to declare that both would remain prohibited.
The new policy went into effect Monday, according to written correspondence that the Coast Guard provided to Congress this week, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post. The manual is posted online and makes clear that its previous version “is cancelled.”
Spokespeople for the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the military service, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The symbols issue is expected to come up at a House committee hearing Tuesday.
The Post was first to report on the Coast Guard’s plan to revise its workplace harassment policy last month. The Trump administration called the article “false,” but within hours of its publication the service’s acting commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday, issued a memo forcefully denouncing symbols such as swastikas and nooses, and emphasizing that both remain prohibited......
The Coast Guard’s policy softening the definition of swastikas — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the Nazis’ extermination of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — comes as antisemitism is on the rise globally. At least 15 people were killed over the weekend at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/16/coast-guard-swastikas-nooses/
Coast Guard enacts policy calling swastikas, nooses ‘potentially divisive’
— Freedom Writers Collaborative (@fwcollaborative.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T20:03:34Z
NYT-Trump's Top Aide Acknowledges 'Score Settling' Behind Prosecutions (gift link)
In interviews with Vanity Fair, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, said President Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality,” called JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist” and concluded that Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” the early handling of the Epstein files.
https://x.com/tripgabriel/status/2000926715024171375
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/us/politics/trump-susie-wiles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9E8.mltx.fCsMdwY7YC_y&smid=tw-share
Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, told an interviewer that she forged a “loose agreement” with Mr. Trump to stop focusing after three months on punishing antagonists, an effort that evidently did not succeed. While she insisted that Mr. Trump is not constantly thinking about retribution, she said that “when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”
Ms. Wiles made the comments in a series of extraordinarily unguarded interviews over the first year of Mr. Trump’s second term with the author Chris Whipple that are being published Tuesday by Vanity Fair. Not only did she confirm that Mr. Trump is using criminal prosecution to retaliate against adversaries, she also acknowledged that he was not telling the truth when he accused former President Bill Clinton of visiting the private island of the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Over the course of 11 interviews, Ms. Wiles offered pungent assessments of the president and his team: Mr. Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Vice President JD Vance has “been a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and his conversion from Trump critic to ally was based not on principle but was “sort of political” because he was running for Senate. Elon Musk is “an avowed ketamine” user and “an odd, odd duck,” whose actions were not always “rational” and left her “aghast.” Russell T. Vought, the budget director, is “a right-wing absolute zealot.” And Attorney General Pam Bondi “completely whiffed” in handling the Epstein files.....
She attributes her ability to work for Mr. Trump to growing up with an alcoholic father, the sportscaster Pat Summerall. “High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink,” she said. “And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities.” While Mr. Trump does not drink, she said he has “an alcoholic’s personality” and operates with “a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”
This is an interesting article that confirms many things that we all knew about trump.
My ex-wife passed away Friday night
We got divorced back in 2005 or so but have been in contact. At one point, my ex was living with me at my home for 10 or so months when she moved back from Baltimore. The kids joked that there was it was more likely that we would kill each other than get back together again. The kids all told the Rabbi that no money changed hands on that wager.
My ex did not take care of herself and a number of physical issues including diabetes which was not under control, both knees replaced, heart issues, breathing issues, high blood pressure and a couple of strokes. Most recently she had a stroke in the brain stem that she survived. I got a text on Wednesday of this week that her blood pressure was 176 over 95 and she was dizzy.
My ex would send me a ton of amusing texts (we had a similar sense of humor) and call me on some issues including a lawsuit that she had with a contractor and a claim against her insurance company. I saw that I had 12 or so calls from her on some days. I was trying to help with her lawsuit/legal issue and was trying to help her with our children. My ex had called me a couple of hours before she died and I had not called her back because I was eating dinner with my youngest.
My ex was living with a former boyfriend while she was trying to move back to her home. My ex evidently went into bathroom and was found collapsed about 30 minutes.
I still remember my ex got me to the take the CPA exam after I got out of law school and was practicing. I was accepted to law school and so never took the CPA review course. I got credit for the business law part of the exam and passed the audit part when we took the test the first time. The second time we both passed the remaining parts of the exam and she threaten me because we got the same envelope for the accounting board. She had taken a semester long CPA review course at the accounting department and I studied for two weeks using a CPA review book five years after my last accounting course. In the early 1980s, when you passed the Bar you got a post card and when you passed the CPA exam you got a thick envelope with a take home ethics exam. We both got the same thick envelope.
The funeral was yesterday. I was shocked to see 50 or 60 people attend the grave side service. Under Reform Jewish tradition, the funeral is within three days. I had called my ex-wife's accounting firm on Saturday and a good number of people from that firm showed up including all of the senior partners. My kids and I were expecting a small handful of people to attend. My ex-wife was sort of a mother at her firm to the younger staff members. I had a number of staff members come up and tell us that my ex-wife will be missed. A couple of people from my ex's prior firms showed up. I was busy going through my rolodex and got a hold of a good number of people.
One of my many cousins and his wife came in from Austin. His mother/my aunt was great to us a long time ago. My ex and I took the CPA exam twice in San Antonio and stayed at my aunt's house. It meant a great deal for my cousin to come to this grave side. Since my cousin and my middle child both live in or near Austin, we will get together in the future.
We spent over an hour and half with the Rabbi the day before the grave side service and she use the material for a wonderful tribute to me ex-wife. The Rabbi described the family's conversion to Judaism after my ex and I went to temple for the bat mitsvahs of my mentor's daughters. Judaism was a major part of my ex's life and the rest of the family. My kids all went through religious school and my oldest was the first Eagle Scout for the Temple's boy scout troop. The Rabbi did a great job and all of my kids were crying during the sermon. I had some tears also. I have known the Rabbi for a very long time. She knew all three kids from religious school, and I was on the board of trustees with her for 10 years and that was 24 years ago. I and all three kids were moved by the ceremony.
Under Jewish tradition, we light a candle after the service that will stay lit for 7 days called a yahrzeit candle. My oldest has lit his candle when we got to his house after services. My youngest and I lit our candle as soon as we got back from the funeral.
One of my law partners attended (he is a past president of our temple) and he teased me that he does not want to see me at the office for the next week. I am exhausted and doubt that I will be going into the office for a while.
I am so proud of my oldest child. He did the arrangements with Temple, the Cemetery and the funeral home. This was tough but he stepped up.
We have the yahrzeit candle on the mantle above the fireplace. I had a tear in my eye when I saw this candle this morning.
MaddowBlog-Declining tariff revenue creates a significant new headache for the White House
The problem for Trump is that he has already made firm commitments to spend the money he doesn’t have.
Oh dear. Who woulda thunk? 🙄
— Robyn D (@koparafallskid.bsky.social) 2025-12-15T05:34:00.645Z
Declining tariff revenue creates a significant new headache for the White House
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/declining-tariff-revenue-creates-a-significant-new-headache-for-the-white-house
The problem, however, isn’t limited to the apparent fact that the president doesn’t know how much a trillion is. Complicating matters further is the fact that tariff revenue still isn’t anywhere close to what he pretends it is. NBC News reported:
For the first time since President Donald Trump rolled out his sweeping global tariff program in April, month-over-month customs receipts declined in November. Last month, the U.S. government collected $30.75 billion in import duties. This was down from $31.35 billion collected in October.
Over the last few months, the monthly increase in tariff money collected by customs has slowed, but November’s total was the first month that collections were lower than the previous month.
The obvious takeaway from that data is that there’s an enormous gap between Trump’s rhetoric and his policy’s reality. Tariffs are bringing in money — that’s not surprising, since tariffs are for all intents and purposes taxes, and taxes generate revenue — but the suggestion that the policy has produced “in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars” is absurd......
In recent weeks, the president has even gone so far as to suggest more than once that tariff revenue will be so robust, he might eventually be able to use the money to eliminate federal income taxes altogether.
There’s an old accounting joke that “you can’t spend the same dollar twice.” Under Trump, it’s tempting to revise the line to “you can’t spend the same dollar five times, especially when you don’t have that dollar.”
In late July, Trump boasted online, “[O]ur Country is doing very well and can afford just about anything.” It’d be nice if that were true.
The Borowitz Report-Republicans Finally Unveil Healthcare Plan: 'Americans Must Move to Canada'
Republicans Finally Unveil Healthcare Plan: ‘Americans Must Move to Canada’
— justfara (@justfara.bsky.social) 2025-12-13T16:24:47.758Z
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/republicans-finally-unveil-healthcare
“Under this plan, the American people will gain full access to the doctors, hospitals, and medications they deserve,” House Speaker Mike Johnson declared. “They just need to wear lots of layers.”
The proposal drew widespread support from Americans, a majority asserting that they had already considered implementing such a plan since January of this year.
But it sparked a strong pushback from Canadians, who called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to build a wall.
Maddowblog-House Republicans made matters even worse for Trump on his day from hell
The president has suffered through plenty of awful days this year, but few could compete with Thursday’s events.
Thursday was brutal for Trump on multiple fronts — Indiana, Letitia James, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, AP poll, et al. — but don’t sleep on the House passing the Protect America’s Workforce Act.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-12T18:14:44.153Z
It’s the first time this year the Republican-led House has voted to undo a Trump executive order.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/house-republicans-federal-unions-bargaining
As days in the White House go, this one was pretty rough for the hapless incumbent.
At least Trump can still count on the sycophantic and obedient House Republican conference to make his days a little brighter, right? Wrong. NBC News reported:
The House approved a measure Thursday to reinstate collective bargaining rights to federal workers, a step toward restoring labor union protections for nearly 1 million federal employees.
The rare bipartisan vote, 231-195, marks the first time the House has voted to nullify an executive order from President Donald Trump this term.
,,,,,As a substantive matter, the vote was a big victory for federal workers, but as a political matter, this was the first time all year in which the GOP-led House approved legislation to reject one of Trump’s directives.
In the process, House members made Trump’s dreadful day just a bit worse, while simultaneously making Johnson look even weaker.
The Protect America’s Workforce Act now heads to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain fate.
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