Wednesday, August 31, 2022
August 31, 2022 Justice Department Opposes Any Special Master and Alleges That “Obstructive Conduct Occurred” at Mar-a-Lago by Jonathan Turley
Last night, Department of Justice Tuesday filed in opposition to the appointment of a Special Master in Florida. It used the filing to add new facts and allegations to the public record, including the statement that “obstructive conduct occurred” at Mar-a-Lago by concealing or moving documents. The Department makes many of the same claims that it used to opposed the release of a redacted affidavit, claims shown to have been misleading and exaggerated after the magistrate ordered the release. Notably, this filing contained details that were likely redacted in the affidavit but just released on the public record.
In the most direct challenge to the former President’s public claims, the Justice Department claimed that he and his staff had failed to turn over classified material and that the Department had no choice but to search areas outside of the storage room. Indeed, it says that it found three classified documents in Trump’s desk without indicating the level of classification or subject matter.
It also said that the Trump staff barred the FBI from looking at documents in the storage room after turning over classified information to them.
The filing also adds new disclosures on past claims of declassification by Trump. It states that “[w]hen producing the Fifteen Boxes, the former President never asserted executive privilege over any of the documents nor claimed that any of the documents in the boxes containing classification markings had been declassified.” That was in January 2022. It then alleges that, in the June 3, 2022 meeting, “neither counsel nor the custodian asserted that the former President had declassified the documents or asserted any claim of executive privilege.” It is not clear if or when the Trump team made the declassification claim.
The filing also includes this notable allegation:
The Justice Department told the court that it was vindicated in its suspicions and that
It is not clear from the filing if the FBI has evidence of intentional acts of concealment as opposed to negligence in keeping track of such material.
The main point of the filing was to address the court’s indication that it wanted a special master appointment. I have supported such an appointment, even at this late date. Indeed, I felt that this was one of the four failures of Attorney General Merrick Garland in not taking proactive steps to assure that public that this was not a pretextual raid to collect sensitive material for other investigative purposes. It would still have considerable value in the case.
The special master could divide these documents in classified material, unclassified but defense information, and unclassified material outside of the scope of the alleged crimes. The last category would then be returned. That accounting could also offer basic descriptive information on the material without revealing their precise content or titles. The special master could describe material as related to national defense or nuclear weapons (as was previously leaked government sources). The government has already leaked that there was nuclear weapons material being sought. Confirming such general details can be done without giving details on the specific information or even titles for the documents to protect national security. In national security cases, including cases where I have served as counsel, such indexes and summaries are common.
Notably, this filing includes the picture which is being widely distributed. It can, however, leave an obviously misleading impression.
The picture could be seen by many that secret documents were strewn over the floor when this appears the method used by the FBI to isolate classified documents. It also seems entirely superfluous in releasing this one picture. The picture is Attachment F and the textual reference on page 13 simply says
It is curious that the DOJ would release this particular picture which suggests classified material laying around on the floor. The point is to state a fact that hardly needs an optical confirmation: the possession of documents with classified cover sheets. Indeed, the top of roughly half of the documents are redacted in photo. The government could simply affirmatively state the fact of the covered pages and would not likely be challenged on that point without the inclusion of this one photo. For critics, the photo may appear another effort (with prior leaks) to help frame the public optics and discussion.
The arguments raised by the Justice Department are not just familiar but transparently weak. The government argues that Trump lacks standing because the records belong to the United States, not him. However, that is the point. The court is trying to determine who has a right to these documents. The Justice Department itself recognizes that it may have gathered some attorney-client privileged documents in this ridiculously broad search. It allowed the seizure of any box containing any document with any classification of any kind — and all boxes stored with that box. It also allowed the seizure of any writing from Trump’s presidency.
Moreover, the court itself has ample authority to appoint a special master to help sort through such material.
The Justice Department also makes the same type of arguments used to oppose the release of a single line of the affidavit in redacted form. It claims that both its investigation and national security would be harmed. That is even less compelling here. A special master would be reviewing documents in a secure facility and would presumably have a clearance. Many of us who have handled national security cases have been cleared for TS/SCI material.
How exactly would a special master review materially undermine national security as opposed to the same review conducted by the Justice Department’s own taint team? The special master is an extension of the court. This is simply a court review in camera of documents.
The use of such arguments after the release of the redacted affidavit only undermines the arguments further. The Justice Department insisted that the court should not release a single line of the affidavit and that any substantive disclosure would unleash a parade of horribles, from damaging national security to sacrificing witnesses.
For those of us who have litigated cases against the Justice Department, it was an all-too-familiar claim by a department notorious for over-classification and over-redaction arguments. For a week, media pundits mouthed the same exaggerated claims and challenged those of us who argued that it was clearly possible to release a redacted affidavit; liberals suddenly shuddered at the thought of doubting the Justice Department. Then the government produced a redacted version that cause no such harms while confirming important facts in the case.
Notably, some of the details in this filing on meetings before the August raid may have been part of the affidavit but redacted.
The Department also claims that it does not need to return personal material to the former president because the evidence of “commingling personal effects with documents bearing classification markings is relevant evidence of the statutory offenses under investigation.” That is again transparency weak. The government has recorded or documented such intermingling and make a record for any trial without refusing to return material that is neither classified nor otherwise subject to government confiscation or removal.
The Department also makes other incomplete or dubious arguments. For example, it asserts that no executive privilege claim can be made by a former president: “The former President cites no case—and the government is aware of none—in which executive privilege has been successfully invoked to prohibit the sharing of documents within the Executive Branch.” That is because this issue has not been fully litigated. It has been a long debate over the ability of former presidents to claim privilege. Indeed, under the Presidential Records Act, such assertions are honored over documents in its possession.
What is clear from this filing is that Merrick Garland will not change his refusal to seek modest steps to assure the public that this investigation is neither pretextual nor political. Instead, he is “all in” on these sweeping and untenable claims of the need for absolute control and secrecy. What is missing is real leadership to address the deep concerns of millions of Americans over the past record of the Department and its current investigation. Instead, Garland has required courts to force the release of a redacted affidavit and the possible appointment of a special master.
What is clear is that Garland’s “trust us” mantra has done little to assuage concerns. Indeed, that seems almost comical to many people, given the Crossfire Hurricane debacle and the fact that this investigation is being handled by the same section.
The court should reject the arguments against the appointment of a special master and allow for an independent review of these documents.
Here is the filing: doj-response-to-trump-special-master
MT Adventures: Taylor-Hilgard High traverse
Biden’s World, and How it Ends - LewRockwell LewRockwell.com
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
How healthy is your club? BY DAN KB6NU
I just got back from HamXposition in Marlboro, MA. The ARRL had a booth there and were passing out these Radio Club Health Check checklists. The checklist includes the following items:
Meetings
- Regular meetings
- Presentations
- Welcome new members
- Building projects
Classes
- New license class
- Upgrade class
- Skills training
- VE sessions
Mentoring
- New hams mentoring
- Skills mentoring
- Net operation mentoring
- Digital skills mentoring
- Radio operation skills
Events
- ARRL Field Day
- Public service events
- Special event stations
- Member recruiting
- POTA
- SOTA
- Fox hunts
EmComm
- ARES nets
- ARES drills
- CERT training
- AUXCOMM
Youth & School Programs
- School presentations
- Demonstrations
- ARISS
- Scouts
- General youth outreach
Outreach
- Public service events
- Hamfests
- Morse Code training
- Community displays and demos
- Repeaters
Contesting
- ARRL contests
- DX contests
- Inter-club contests
- Digital contests
One could quibble about some of the items—I’m not so sure that a club has to participate in contests to be a healthy club, for example—but, in general, I like this list. It serves as a reminder of some of the things that your club can do to make it a more vibrant and engaging organization.
Now Everyone is Afraid of Jerome Powell by Tom Luongo
Back in January I wrote a piece called, “Who’s Afraid of Jerome Powell?” Then I discussed the incipient wailing and gnashing of teeth coming from those terrified of a hawkish Fed. Our entire society has become so addicted to cheap dollars and easy credit that it created a “Ballers” mentality society wide.
Ballers is all about the corruption money brings to those few thousand people in the NFL and their organizations because of the millions of people who spend too much money on a passing fancy, entertainment.
The NFL, like all pro sports, is nothing but a money funnel with a Federal Reserve sized Hoover attached to it. It’s the ultimate corruption of e pluribus unum. From many to one.
Take a little bit from all of us, time and again to help us relieve the stress of the shitty world they’ve built. Give some of it to the rubes who play the game, who blow it on hookers, high end cars, and drugs, while the lion’s share gets sucked right back up into the same oligarch class that created it in the first place.
But it’s no different than you or me, buying shit we don’t need on credit, self-medicating with pro sports, alcohol, video games, day-trading cryptos on Robinhood, yelling at racists on Twitter or my personal favorite, a ridiculous board game collection.
We’re all ballers to one degree or another, spending easy money on distractions rather than facing the reality that the most unsustainable thing about our society is the money which makes it all happen.
Here we are eight months later and Powell has done exactly what I’d hoped he’d do, aggressively raise rates and begin shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet once his second term as FOMC chair was confirmed.
After July’s second 0.75% rate hike in as many meetings the talk was all about the ‘hints’ embedded in Powell’s demeanor and presser that the Fed was on the verge of pivoting and reversing rates. This talk has been going on since before the first 0.25% rate hike in March.
It reached a fever pitch after the July meeting because of a number of factors which have almost nothing to do with US domestic economic data or the needs of the US as a country. As I’ve discussed ad nauseum, the group most exposed to an aggressive Fed is not the US economy, which is what the headlines are now focusing on, but the European Union and the ECB.
I never expected Powell to indicate any kind of pivot talk at Jackson Hole last week. His nine-minute speech was the exact opposite of that. It was a complete dispelling of the illusion that the Fed has any mind to change course any time soon.
Powell explicitly addressed that this policy will lead to a prolonged recession. Moreover, he admitted that the current problem is a sincere mismatch between supply and demand. And, in the shock of all shocks, admitted what myself and a few others have been saying for months now, the Fed’s tools are not capable of dealing with the supply side of the economy, only demand.
In short, we have an oversupply of economic activity that supports the Baller lifestyle of the past and a deficit of things that support that lifestyle. All the Fed can do at this point is restore lost credibility with the markets and protect its future.
This, in my opinion, is exactly what they are doing.
The question is who is the Fed trying to protect itself from? It has been my contention for months that the Fed is no longer on board with coordinating Central Bank policy globally to suit the needs of foreign actors, in particular the European Union and the ECB.
By refusing to fold to the pressure earlier in the year and going forward with hiking farther and faster than anyone (including myself) thought they would or could the Fed has placed the ECB into a bind. Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole tightened that bind to the breaking point.
Since most of our prominent politicians are on Team Davos the wailing will never stop. It took Elizabeth Warren all of twenty minutes to find a microphone to screech into:
“Do you know what’s worse than high prices and a strong economy? It’s high prices and millions of people out of work. I am very worried that the Fed is going to tip this economy into recession,” Warren told CNN on Sunday.
Yes, of course the Democrats are 1) still denying that we’re in a recession and 2) that it’s not their fault. But Warren, being the good destructionist she is, refuses to admit that there comes a point where you can no longer spend money to prop up an economy with these levels of imbalances.
This was precisely Powell’s point in his speech at Jackson Hole. And if Warren or any other so-called leader we have on Capitol Hill was willing to stop bitching and listen they would see what is clear to everyone.
The Baller Days are behind us.
The yacht’s trashed, the caterer left, the punch bowl empty and the credit cards maxed. Oh, and now there isn’t even a new contract on the table. There’s no money left for trillions in giveaways to buy votes from people with no skin in America’s game.
But, since Lizzie works for those trying to destroy the US, of course she’s worried for the future. Where are her checks going to come from?
While the Fed has the magic money tree, even it, sometimes has to be watered and fertilized with something that looks like savings.
This is why everyone was afraid of Powell in January. They had rightly guessed that he was serious about the job of bringing back credibility to not just the Fed but the US as well.
The real pivot wasn’t the one that everyone wanted from Powell in some nebulous future. The real pivot occurred back in July when the ECB raised rates and announced their newest program to shuffle deck chairs, the TPI — Transmission Protection Instrument.
There ECB President Christine Lagarde announced she would defend internal European credit spreads to manage the risks within the EU as it now was being forced to raise interest rates.
Lagarde never wanted to raise rates. But, as far behind the curve as Powell was in January, Lagarde was on a different track in July. This was her Mario “We will do whatever it takes” Draghi Moment and it fooled the markets for about a month.
And then the old trends reasserted themselves. The euro bounced to $1.04 and collapsed to a new low. German-US 10 year spreads blew out to 1.966% and has since contracted… hard.
So, while Lagarde is furiously trying to keep things under control in Europe, relative to the US it is losing ground now daily quickly. The US/German spread is a bet on the relative ‘safe haven’ status within each of these economic zones.
It doesn’t help that the EU is continuing to commit economic and political hara-kiri by engaging in idiotic energy policy across the continent in order to punish Russia for Europe’s crimes in Ukraine.
The WEF midwits put in charge of the EU to effect this policy refuse to change course.
I wrote when it happened that I thought Powell’s aggressive rate policy indirectly was responsible for the collapse of the Draghi government in Italy.
You know I believe the Fed is working to re-establish US primacy over its own monetary and fiscal policy, which tracks with the way Powell has raised rates and caused heart attacks within the Eurodollar system.
Moreover, when you look at the failures of the Biden administration to get any traction globally to isolate Russia you see a Davos agenda that is failing completely.
It then tracks that weak newcomers to the Italian Swamp, like those in M5S, may have finally been given enough assurance that the situation has changed. July’s 9.1% US CPI print was enough to really begin breaking things.
The Anti-Davos factions within the US are strong enough now for them to throw off the Davos yoke, as represented by Draghi, Mattarella and former PM Matteo Renzi, and begin Italy’s bid for independence.
The Fed responds to Davos taking out {The UK’s Boris} Johnson by taking out Draghi and putting the EU on a path to disintegration. The euro broke parity with the US dollar on this news. Now the ECB is staring at a vortex of higher rates as the Fed is clear to raise another 75-100 bps in two weeks.
Less than two weeks later, Draghi was gone, the ECB raised 50 bps and began crushing credit spreads while the Fed hiked another 75 bps.
But the ECB can never admit this or it destroys the idea of it being any kind of independent agent. Remember, central banking rests on the dubious idea that these people are apolitical and make their decisions only with respect to their domestic needs.
If Lagarde were to publicly attack Powell’s policy she would be admitting the ECB is subordinate to the whims of the Fed and that the only thing she’s good at is picking out neck scarves to wear at public speeches.
The pressure on the EU from their catastrophic energy policy now has them openly calling for an end to the Union’s political arrangement. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz just called for an end to single country veto power on fiscal and foreign policies. This is a naked power grab by Germany to enforce its will on the whole EU, ending any pretense of national sovereignty.
It’s not like this wasn’t expected. It’s always been the plan by Davos to consolidate power in Brussels under the direction of German Greens. The excuses of Climate Change and the need to punish Russia is now their twin casus belli against any opposition to their rule.
“Where unanimity is required today, the risk of an individual country using its veto and preventing all the others from forging ahead increases with each additional member state,” the German chancellor said.
According to Scholz, “the principle of unanimity only works for as long as the pressure to act is low,” citing the example of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, which has challenged the way the EU approaches policymaking.
The German leader also wants the EU to switch to majority voting in areas such as taxation and foreign policy, adding that he knows “full well that this would also have repercussions for Germany.”
This is a direct consequence of their losing multiple political battles here in the US and it is forcing them to go for the gold now versus in the future. Powell’s Fed is forcing this moment to its crisis point and the Eurocrats of Davos are not letting that crisis go to waste.
At the same conference they are now talking about price caps on energy the same way the G-7 did this summer. So, nothing has changed in Europe. They will go it alone if they have to in saving the world from Climate Change and Russians.
You rock on guys, winter is coming, after all. The only people who are against a hydrocarbon-fueled future are the ones without any significant reserves of hydrocarbon fuels. Let that sink and that should tell you what you need to know about European policy. The US is about power, but we have the natural resources to sustain our lifestyle.
Europe got so used to living a Baller lifestyle on cheap Russian gas, they thought they could do so forever and dictate terms to the world to subsidize it. It was so cheap Credit Suisse’s Zoltan Poszar calculated it as “$2 Trillion Of German Value Depends On $20 Billion Of Russian Gas.” And I guess they weren’t satisfied with that. It had to be more than 100x leverage, apparently.
They have to do this now because they are terrified of what Powell said on Friday. As is everyone else.
The virtuous cycle of infinite credit expansion is over.
I found this article at Zerohedge discussing the ECB’s shenanigans during Powell’s speech particularly illuminating. It seems Europe was trying to create a 1000 point drop in the Dow to ‘bad mouth’ Powell and manufacture consent that he’s the villain in this new psychodrama they have planned for us.
But it’s simply not going to work. With each new headline out of Europe no matter how much they try to play the victim of US imperial ambitions the reality is that Europe did this to themselves.
You can’t virtue signal yourself out of a depression of your own making. Those with money will simply abandon you. And those who you thought were your friends were really just guys who wanted free chicken wings, beer and a nice place to crash. It certainly beat starving in Africa.
They had a clear choice, just as we had decades ago. They chose poorly.
And now we get to watch their quest for fire and material pursuit of power for its own sake come to naught. The orgy of debt is over. And the best part is that Misters Powell and Putin didn’t even have to ask the Germans to turn out the lights before they left, they did that themselves.
Sunday, August 28, 2022
Thursday, August 25, 2022
How Do Mountains Make Their Own Weather? by Philip Werner
If you’ve ever hiked in the mountains, you’ve probably experienced the localized effect that a mountain range can have at elevation compared to the surrounding valleys and countryside. Now, the mountains don’t actually make the weather, but they create a physical barrier that affects how the wind, humidity, and temperature interact in ways that are very different than lower elevations.
For example, when the air mass is blown into the side of a mountain, it’s directed upward into cooler air. The humidity in the air mass has a harder time evaporating in cooler weather, resulting in a localized increase in cloud cover and potentially rain or thunderstorms. The higher the elevation, the cooler it becomes causing the clouds to release precipitation in the form of rain or snow.
This can affect the climate on either side of the mountain, with the windward side (facing the wind) being more moist and verdant, while the leeward side is drier and arider. These climate differences tend to be quite stable because prevailing winds direct the airflow.
It can also affect the types of cloud formations that form over the mountains. For example,
- A long cloud parallel to the crest of a mountain range is called a “foehn wall.”
- Saucer-shaped clouds called “lenticular clouds” form on the leeward side of mountains.
- Saucer-like clouds that form over mountain summits are called “cap clouds”, a special form of a lenticular cloud.
Implications for Hiking
If you hike in the mountains, you’re probably aware that the temperature at higher elevations is cooler than at the mountain’s base. What you need to realize is that there is an increased potential for precipitation at higher elevations due to this interplay of wind, temperature, and humidity. Depending on the season this can mean that you’ll be hit by rain or thunderstorms or in winter with snow squalls and decreased visibility. Whatever the case, it pays to be prepared with the proper clothing and survival gear needed to weather whatever weather arises in the higher terrain.
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
How Government Hurts Poor People by Dan Mitchell
As an economist, I can immediately think of several ways that big government is bad news for poor people.
- Redistribution programs that trap poor people in dependency
and produce inter-generational poverty. - Government schools that do an awful job of providing education to children from low-income families.
- Fiscal policies that hurt growth and lead to lower incomes and fewer job opportunities for the less fortunate.
But that’s only a partial list. Today, let’s peruse a report from a few weeks ago in the New York Times.
Authored by Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, it shows how poor people are routinely victimized by greedy and grasping government in Alabama.
In states like Alabama, almost every interaction a person has with the criminal justice system comes with a financial cost. If you’re assigned to a pretrial program to reduce your sentence, each class attended incurs a fee. If you’re on probation, you’ll pay a fee to take your mandatory urine test.
If you appear in drug court, you will face more fees, sometimes dozens of times a year. Often, you don’t even have to break the law; you’ll pay fees to pull a public record or apply for a permit. For poor people, this system is a trap… I asked almost everyone I met — gas station attendants, Starbucks baristas and grocery store clerks of all races — if they knew anyone who had been affected by court fines and fees. Many told me stories of family and friends who had. Some had themselves.
The story includes several anecdotes about people who get nailed by endless fees and charges.
Here’s just one example.
Niaya Williams…began driving hours each day back and forth from her job at McDonald’s and his day care. …she started getting ticketed quite frequently. She remembers that one day, she got her first set of tickets for, among other things, not stopping long enough at a stop sign. … ticket for not having a license, a ticket about switched tags that she didn’t fully understand and a ticket because the officer said Mercury was buckled incorrectly. She recalled being given at least three tickets every time she was pulled over. …She was…arrested because of just traffic infractions and missed court dates, Mrs. Williams said. She was, in essence, guilty of little else than being too poor to pay off her fines.
Echoing what I wrote back in 2015, the author notes that this is not a problem unique to Alabama.
States found fines and fees to be an expedient source of revenue, operating under the radar as what some scholars call nontax taxes. …A 2019 Governing magazine study of cities, towns and counties with significant revenue from fees and fines showed that nearly 600 jurisdictions relied on fines and forfeitures for more than 10 percent of their revenue and 80 relied on fines and forfeitures for over half their revenue. …“Fees are not about public safety,” said Lauren-Brooke Eisen of the Brennan Center for Justice. “They’re about raising revenue.”
Unfortunately, there is a big logical flaw in the story.
Ms. Kaiser-Schatzlein wants readers to think that Alabama is pillaging poor people because of low taxes and small government.
Alabama has one of the cruelest tax systems in the country. Taxes on most property, for example, are exceptionally low. …millions of others in the state live in the wreckage of a system starved of funding: The state has chronically underfunded schools, bad public transit, a dearth of well-paying jobs, little affordable child care and a diminishing health care system. …Most places have a simple and effective method for quickly ameliorating these problems: They raise property or income taxes. But Alabama often refuses to do so or makes it exceptionally difficult, dooming many to living standards unthinkable for a country as rich as the United States.
Too bad she didn’t do any research on this part of her story.
She could have looked at the latest edition of the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index and learned that Alabama actually has one of the nation’s greediest tax systems.
And if Ms. Kaiser-Schatzlein had spent a few minutes looking at data from the Census Bureau, she would have learned that Alabama is hardly a beacon of limited government.
I crunched the numbers two years ago and found that spending by state and local governments in Alabama was way above average when measured as a share of state income. And it was about average when measured on a per-capita basis.
I’ll conclude by observing that there are many states that have very low tax burdens and relatively low levels of government spending, way below Alabama. Including other southern states such as Florida and Texas, not just places like South Dakota and New Hampshire.
If such policies are a recipe for hurting the poor, why are so many Americans of all income levels migrating to those places?