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Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

 
 
hightor
 
  2  
Reply Mon 23 Dec, 2024 01:27 pm
Elon Musk is ‘unofficial president’ of the US, Netanyahu says
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hightor
 
  2  
Reply Mon 23 Dec, 2024 01:35 pm
The Trumpian Attitude at the Heart of the Gaetz Report

Quote:
There is so much repellently sleazy behavior documented in the House Ethics Committee report about Matt Gaetz that a reader has to stop every few pages to look away and focus on what still seems astounding: This is the man that Donald Trump wanted to be the attorney general of the United States, the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the land, the leader of the Department of Justice.

Trump wanted to give that position to a man who paid at least half a dozen women for sex, according to the report, which was made public on Monday. And the violation of Florida’s prostitution law isn’t even the real depravity; the committee took pains to detail the underlying implication of his actions: “Representative Gaetz took advantage of the economic vulnerability of young women to lure them into sexual activity for which they received an average of a few hundred dollars after each encounter.”

Trump wanted to give the Justice Department to a man the committee says committed the statutory rape of a 17-year-old girl. A man who is accused of setting up a phony email account at his office in the House to buy illegal drugs and who then used the drugs to facilitate sexual misconduct. A man who accepted impermissible gifts and plane trips, according to the report, and who used the power of his office to help a woman with whom he was having sex. A man whose conduct, according to his own colleagues of both parties, “reflects discreditably upon the House.”

And of course, on Trump himself.

Nonetheless, when you read through the details, you can see the commonality between the two men, and the reasons Trump held Gaetz in high esteem. It’s not just the contempt for women as disposable commodities for hire or plunder; it’s the contempt for the law.

Gaetz fought the committee’s investigation at every turn, and the report’s appendices are full of letters from him dripping with disdain at the process, completely indignant that he should even be asked to account for his actions. He blames his enemies in Washington for his plight, he blames the press, he says Democrats have done much worse, and he just lies and lies, denying allegations that are fully documented elsewhere in the text.

The report says Gaetz refused to supply the committee with the exculpatory evidence that he claimed he had and refused to respond to subpoenas. His assertions “were nothing more than attempts to delay the committee’s investigation,” the report said. And then there were his attempts to bully witnesses against him. “The committee had serious concerns that Representative Gaetz might retaliate against individuals who cooperated with the committee,” the report said.

Does that sound familiar? It’s a summary of the conduct we’ve seen from the president-elect for years, whenever the law tries to make him responsible for his conduct. In many ways, these two men think the same way about authority, and in that sense, Gaetz would have been an ideal attorney general for the next administration.

nyt
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georgeob1
 
  1  
Reply Mon 23 Dec, 2024 01:37 pm
@blatham,
An instant flash of delight on seeing this message, but quickly returned to earth with the last clause. Still delighted to see you very much your self. Thanks.

I hope all is well for you on Vancouver island - a beautiful area I remember well.

San Francisco is slowly recovering from the steep decline of the last several years. Boarded up shops on Union Square have reopened, the extent & squalor of the drug infested encampments in the city is a bit reduced, and a few of the closed restaurants reopened. Still far short of what it once was.

I attended a small lunch for former Mayor Willie Brown last week, a guest of his former DA, a close friend. He made me think of the Irish Dailey family that once ruled Chicago. An amiable guy, remarkably without pretense or affect, who now lives alone in a condo in the city. Ever the realist, he said Kamila was flying high, well above her ceiling. Our Governor, Gavin Newsome, succeeded Willie as mayor, but is now starting to see some, so far small reverses in California politics. Willie saw political trouble ahead for him as well. Things may be changing here.
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