Smoke Gets In Your Eyes #238
By Hank Silverberg
It is purely coincidental that smoke from the climate change affected Canadian forest fires covered much of the northeast and central states this past week--the same week where former President Donald J. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury.
Trump's criminal case will now put a hazy cloud over much of the 2024 presidential race as he tries to campaign for another term while on trial for, among other things, sections of the Espionage Act.
First, let's remember, the indictment (a charging document) was issued by a Grand Jury composed of ordinary citizens who live in a state, Florida, that Trump carried by 4 points in 2020.
Those jurors thought there is enough evidence to charge him with 37 criminal counts.
What surprised me the most about the developments this week was not large number of charges. It was not the pictures included in the indictment showing some classified documents in a Mar-a-largo bathroom or on stage in an open ballroom. That's the arrogance of Donald Trump who actually thinks the documents are his rather than government property.
What surprised me was the reaction to all this from so-called conservative Republicans who have bought into the "weaponization" of the Justice Department theme while totally ignoring the national security implications of it all.
Think just for a moment. Take the politics out of it and use logic. We have the pictures now in the indictment for every American or anyone else to see and read if they care to. It's online all over the place.
There were classified documents, some of them top secret, sitting in the open in an unsecure area of a ballroom that Trump often rents out to wedding parties. Anyone could have read those documents.
There were more than 150 events in that ballroom with thousands of people during the time some of the documents were stored there. And there are more than 150 employees of Mar-a-largo who also had daily access.
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| (Page one of the indictment) |
(Read more about this indictment and the actual document here: trump-indictment.pdf (d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net)
This is dangerous for our national security.
Some examples:
Among the documents were plans to attack what has been described as "Country A" in the indictment. According to several media reports, it was a battle plan for a potential war with Iran. I am sure the Mullahs in Tehran are taking notes.
Also included were evaluations of several country's military capabilities and where they are vulnerable. That included our own military. Putin obviously would like those. So would the Chinese.
There were also documents on the nuclear programs and capabilities of the United States and other nations.
That's just a few of the most obvious national security implications. It's likely there are several other similar items we haven't heard about yet. Some of these documents were not mentioned in the indictment because they are still top secret.
So where is the outrage from the GOP leadership about national security? Why are they not concerned that Trump's behavior could have helped our adversaries?
Instead, they ask, "what about Hunter and Joe? What about Hillary's private server?" They are irrelevant to the case against Trump.
So now comes the big question. Will Trump ever go on trial? And will he be convicted in Florida--a state where he is still popular?
I am reminded of this comment made by Trump in Iowa, at the beginning of his first campaign in 2016:
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"
Maybe not voters. His cult of personality is still strong among those who Trump himself now calls "MAGAdonians."
But what impact might that have on the judge and jury in federal court?
I have faith in a duly sworn jury of his peers if he gets to trial, but you never know.
The Data is Mixed
So, what does the general public think of all this? There's a poll on it, of course.
But before you get into the numbers, please note CBS only polled Republican primary voters--a small percentage of the electorate.
(full poll here) CBS News Poll: After Trump indictment, most see security risk, but Republicans see politics - CBS News
That's right, you read the graphic correctly. The poll indicates that a large majority (76%) of likely GOP Primary voters think the indictment was politically motivated, and only a small number (12%) think the documents were a national security risk.
The poll also indicates a startling 80% think Trump should still be able to be president if he is CONVICTED.
But those same voters don't want to hear Trump talk about the investigations against him (61%) or what happened in 2020 (68%).
The poll may also have a message for Ron DeSantis and others running against Trump in the primaries. Only 26% want to hear about limits on transgender rights, and only 29% support a national abortion ban.
They want to know more about a candidate's plans to lower inflation (90%) and a plan to lower taxes (78%).
To put this in a more informative perspective: there are 210 million registered voters in the United States. Approximately 38.8 million of them are registered Republicans. About 49 million are registered as Democrats. But a number of states don't collect party affiliation when you register, and in many states, you can't vote in a primary if you are not registered with a party. (Some states allow you to declare your party on primary day just to vote in a primary.)
The bottom line: if you look at the numbers, the poll may be good news for Trump at the moment. But it does NOT reflect the electorate as a whole.
Press Freedom on Trial
All journalists and anyone who cares about the First
It started on Christmas night 2021, when the reporters, Mellissa Bliss and Veronica Coit, showed up at a local park to cover police evictions of the homeless as the park closed for the night.
The reporters, who identified themselves as reporters more than once, were arrested for trespassing along with a number of people advocating for the homeless.
Bliss and Coit worked for the left-leaning Asheville Blade, which had been critical of the police department in the past.
A judge convicted them of trespassing and fined them $25.00, but the appeal this week will go to a jury.
Also at issue is the confiscation of Bliss' cellphone, which she did not get back for 74 days. Police got a warrant on the phone allegedly looking for evidence of the trespassing, but also allegedly used it to search for evidence for another unrelated case in what the defense says was a violation of federal law.
The issues are massive. First, why were they arrested at all? They were clearly working, not trespassing.
Second, was that arrest retaliation for their newspaper's critical coverage of the police?
Third, was the search of the reporter's cell phone for details of another case legal?
North Carolina has a "shield law" that is designed to protect journalists from prosecution in such instances if they are working at the time. It also protects reporters from disclosing their sources.
Of note, the police body cam footage does show officers asking the two reporters to leave the park several times before they were arrested, but the cellphone seizure makes it a much bigger issue.
This case has attracted the attention of the ACLU, the Society of Professional Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders along with several news organizations in the region.
A decision could have a major impact on press freedom and how you as a citizen get information.
Ocean Plastics!
I have written before in this blog about the continuing pollution of the world's oceans. An estimated 150 million tons of plastic are circling around our oceans from one-use plastic bags, plastic bottles and other plastic items. More than 11 million more tons end up in the sea each year, including the Arctic. It takes 100 to 300 years for such plastic to break down under normal conditions. But as the result of the pollution, microplastics have been found in tap water, beer and salt. Most plastic contains carcinogens known to cause cancer.
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| (Ocean plastic pollution) |
Whales, fish, turtles, sea birds and other types of marine life have ingested plastic fibers, putting the ocean's ecosystem in jeopardy and damaging a big part of the world's food supply.
There are laws in many places against dumping directly into the ocean, but many plastics find their way into the Earth's oceans as runoff from rivers, streams, beaches and sewars.
Modest cleanup efforts are underway even though there are very few places where the retrieved plastic waste can then be disposed of.
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| (The Ocean Plastic Bag) |
This week I got a pleasant surprise at Costco, when I saw a product
made completely from that recovered ocean plastic.
For just five bucks my wife and I picked up two such bags made by a company called "Out of the Ocean."
Out of the Ocean is part of a larger company called "Keep Cool". The company website Out of the Ocean | Made from 100% Ocean Plastic® says they have been using post-consumer waste as raw materials for their products for more than 20 years. But the ocean plastic bags are relatively new.
We have been shopping with reusable bags for quite some time, since plastic bags are now banned in many places and most stores make you pay extra for paper. As a result, reusable bags have once again become the norm for many people as they were before the use of plastic in general exploded back in the 1970s.
Anyone older than 50 can probably remember when all bags at the grocery or department store were made of paper. But before that, reusable cloth bags were prominent.
I don't usually endorse a product, but I will praise anything that helps us clean up ocean plastics. So, you might want to pick up a few of these very durable bags made from ocean plastic. It's a small thing, but a good one.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
Reaction to Trump's indictment from Republican office holders varied a bit. But the statement from affable, but out of touch, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin gets this week's nod as the dumbest quote of the week.
Like many Republicans, he had to comment on the indictment. So, he tweeted:
"These charges are unprecedented and it’s a sad day for our country, especially in light of what clearly appears to be a two-tiered justice system where some are selectively prosecuted, and others are not,"
Well, that part is standard GOP ridiculousness. But then he added this line:
"Parents in Virginia know firsthand what it’s like to be targeted by politically motivated actions."
He was, of course, trying to somehow connect it all to that parent/school curriculum theme that helped him get elected in 2021, but it was a big stretch and a poor connection.
I am not the only one who thinks so.
This is a tweet from well-respected University of Virginia political analysist, Larry Sabato:
Youngkin has the political savvy of a first-year political science student trying to run the student government. We are lucky here in Virgnia. By law he can only serve one term.
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