Political Theatre category archive
Backfire 0
At Above the Law, Liz Dye takes a deep dive into what’s happening with the case of the documents that Donald Trump stole from the government. A snippet:
(snip)
But now that US District Judge Aileen Cannon has appointed Judge Dearie as special master, the former president finds himself in the position of the dog who caught the car: staring at the prospect of actually sinking his teeth into the bumper or getting run over.
Follow the link for her reasoning.
Aside:
I find it pretty clear what Trump was trying to do. He was trying to do what he has always done with his bankruptcies and unpaid creditors: tie things up in court hoping that his foes would eventually just go away or, at worst, settle for pennies on the dollar.
I’m sure he failed to consider the implications of the special master.
I don’t think he does implications.
(Slightly reworded 2022-09-23 22:05)
The Rule of Flaw 0
Emma and the crew discusses Donald Trump’s bizarre assertion of dictatorial powers as regards classified government documents.
Trump Attorney Tried To Stop the Steal 0
Yet Trump stole the documents anyway.
The Rosy Thinker 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier finds some straws at which to grasp amid the warning signs of dire.
(Textual error correxted.)
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy is back from vacation.
Bipolar 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Leonard Hitchcock considers the causes and effect of our increasing polarized polity. Among other things, he suggests that far too many of our citizenry now base their positions on issues on party (what the Founders called “faction”), rather than on the facts surrounding the issues and the merits of proposals themselves.
It is a thoughtful and reflective piece which I commend to your attention. I cite one bit, which comes after his discussion of causes:
“But It’s the Only Possible Explanation” 0
At The Roanoke Times, retired professor Fred Waddell offers a theory as to why people fall for conspiracy theories gain acceptance. He identifies four operative factors; here’s one of them (emphasis added):
Follow the link for the other three.
(Spellink erorr correxted.)
A Pillow of the Community 0
Seth takes a closer look at the FBI seizing the phones of two Trump aides and issuing 40 subpoenas as the Justice Department intensifies its various investigations of Trump and his allies, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
The Loose Cannon 0
At Above the Law, Liz Dye dissects the government’s latest moves regarding the documents that Donald Trump stole from the U. S. Government and Judge Cannon’s farcical ruling mandating a special master. It is a complex and fascinating read. Here’s a tiny bit of it, indicating the degree of stupid being invoked (emphasis added).
But if Donald Trump insists on playing this silly game, and if the court insists on letting him, the government would like to remind all parties that there can be no executive privilege in documents which have been declassified and converted to personal property via magical incantation done behind closed doors in direct contravention of the procedures set out in the Presidential Records Act.
Of course, this farce is completely in keeping with Donald Trump’s tactics throughout his career. Whenever he’s been backed against the wall by bankruptcy and business failures, he has resorted to tying his opponents up in court proceedings until they settle for pennies on the dollar or, sometimes, just give up and go away.
Associationism 0
Here in Virginia Beach, local elections are by city charter non-partisan. In other words, candidates are not supposed to display their party affiliation (though I can attest that at lesast one candidate this year has displayed his party affiliation on a campaign sign, ensuring that I would not vote for him on a bet, but that’s another story) and candidates are not identified by party on ballots.
In a time of shrinking newspapers and superficial coverage of local elections in broadcast news, finding information about local candidates’ positions and policy has become increasingly difficult. Indeed, when candidates knock on your door, they sometimes become very vague when asked specific questions about their positions. (The particular candidate of whom I heard a first-hand account of such behavior turned out, natch, to be a right-wing nutjob.)
At our recent DL gathering, one of our attendees said that he practices what I would call “associationism” in trying to figure out who to support and, perhaps, more importantly, who to shun.
He looks at campaign signs in persons’ yards. If one of the signs endorses a candidate he finds repugnant, he considers that an indication he should look askance at the others represented by signs are in that yard.
Methinks he is onto something.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Dennis Clausen explores the toxic effects of violent rhetoric. Here’s how he starts his article; follow the link for the rest.
“The Politics of Pouting” 0
Daniel Ruth returns to the pages of the Tampa Bay Times to protest the pettiness and puerility of Florida’s junior Senator and Medicare fraudster. A snippet:
What an inspiration, Scott was, managing to find the time to pull himself away from the poop deck on a luxury yacht he happened to be vacationing on off the coast of Italy to castigate Biden for going to Delaware, which is a mere 111 miles from Washington.
Judicial Rebuke 0
Judge ridicules Donald Trump’s trumped up RICO suit against Hilary Clinton.
Here’s a bit from the report:
Follow the link for said distillation.
