Books and Felonies

Bolton’s Room: Former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s book still hasn’t been published, but everyone in the press has seen it and even though the Justice Department is still trying to prevent its  formal release, the details are out and they are quite damning which explains why Trump and company were and still are trying so hard to stop its official release.  For the record, Bolton is no hero, he refused to testify during the House impeachment hearings and is now blaming House Democrats for not trying harder to force his hand, and even though they knew, or more likely because they knew that he had lots of implicating things to say, the Republican controlled Senate opted not to call him in, even after he said that he would be willing to show up for them.  Well, assuming what Bolton has written in his book is true, and it’s fair to assume that it is because why else would it be freaking the White House out so much, he knew many things that we all should have heard sooner although it’s not clear that they would have altered the outcome of the impeachment vote because as Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who is viewed as one of the more moderate Republicans, told a reporter yesterday, the new revelations wouldn’t cause him to rethink his decision because he already knew that Trump did what he was accused of doing, he just didn’t think that any of it was impeachable.  As to Bolton’s revelations, some are truly disturbing, others are just silly.  Among other things he says that Trump asked China to help him with the 2020 election, that he signed off on President Xi imprisoning his Uyghur population in harsh detainment camps, that most of his actions were motivated by self-interest, that he didn’t expect to get any nuclear concessions from Kim Jong un but saw personal value in the press surrounding their meetings and was obsessed about getting an Elton John CD that he rather than the famed musician had signed into the Little Rocket Man’s hands to prove that the insulting moniker wasn’t mean, that he didn’t know that the UK had nukes, that he tried to halt criminal investigations to help “dictators that he liked,” that Secretary of State Pompeo though he was full of sh-t,  and, my personal favorite, that he didn’t know that Finland was an independent country, he thought it was part of Russia.  Last night the Justice Department filed another injunction to prevent the book’s distribution which Simon and Schuster, the book’s publisher called a “frivolous, politically motivated exercise in futility,” while noting that it would do nothing as hundreds of thousands of copies of the book are already in the hands of book distributors.  And because everything in Trumpland is good for lawyers,  Ellen Knight, the NSA official who signed off on the book’s contents before the White House decided that it was still chock full of “secrets,” has now hired her own lawyer in anticipation of being called in to testify.  For his part, Trump wants us all to know that Bolton is a washed up liar.  Trump, by the way, knows lots about lying.

Driving While Black:  Before the Bolton book took over yesterday’s news cycle, the focus was on police reform.  Surrounded by his face masked(!) colleagues, Tim Scott, the Republican’s one Black Senator, took to the microphone to describe the Republican proposed reform legislation.  Senator Scott who didn’t acknowledge that there is much in the way of inherent police racial bias began by discussing the way too many times that he’s been stopped for driving while Black, including a recent time when he was actually stopped for failing to flip his turning signal “sufficiently” in advance of his turn, making it clear that he has been the victim of that bias that he won’t admit is rampant.  Though the Republican legislation doesn’t go far enough for most Democrats, it doesn’t include all of the things proposed by Democratic Senators Booker and Harris in their proposal, doesn’t address lifting qualified immunity, and falls short of what’s being proposed in the House, it’s a start, although if you believe Scott and Senate Majority Leader McConnell, it’s as far as the Republicans plan to go, a statement which is probably more a negotiating position than anything else.  Anyway, McConnell now says that he wants to get legislation passed before the July 4 break, but not before he gets two more of his unqualified, extremely conservative judges confirmed proving that regardless of the trauma the country is facing McConnell has his priorities.  Curiously enough, Senator Susan Collins announced yesterday that she plans to vote against the confirmation of one of those judges, Justin Walker who currently serves as a district judge in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky.  Walker has been nominated to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the second highest court.  It’s not clear that Collins’ vote will matter, so far no other Republicans have joined her, but since she’s taking heat for Justice Kavanaugh’s vote against LGBT rights, she probably felt that she had to do something.  Whatever.  Getting back to the trauma, yesterday the Fulton County District Attorney announced charges against the two now ex-police officers involved in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, the Black man who was shot after falling asleep in his car outside of a Wendy’s.  The DA disclosed additional information about the killing that makes it fairly clear that the police acted with wanton disregard for Brooks’ life. Garrett Rolfe, the officer who shot Brooks faces 11 charges, including felony murder, with prosecutors revealing that after he shot Brooks he kicked him as he was lying in a pool of blood but still breathing. The other officer, Devon Brosnan, who stepped on Brooks after he was shot instead of trying to help him, is facing three counts including aggravated assault.  He appears to be cooperating with the DA’s office, though his lawyer wants it to be known that while he’s telling the “truth” he’s not testifying against his fellow policeman because that’s the kind of thing that could get him and his family hurt which says a lot about the problem at hand.

Viral Musings:  The coronavirus is still running rampant, Trump is still planning to go off to Tulsa to see what he can do to make things worse and, when asked about the risk to his fans, Trump’s press secretary said so what, life is full of risks.