Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. A Tweet -since deleated – by Marjorie Taylor Greene @mtgreenee Congresswoman for GA-14, Christian, Mom, Small Business Owner, Proud American 100% Pro-Life Pro-Gun Pro-Trump.
If I wanted to bolster the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, I would encourage my allies on the bench to take fewer bribes — just because they can get away with it legally doesn’t make it good public relations. Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias Slow Boring. Bloomberg columnist.
Linda Melton asked me what I thought about the young man who posted intelligence secrets on social media. I’ve been thinking about the question, off and on, ever since.
What I said at the time was Wow, I haven’t thought about it very much. My bias is usually antimilitary and pro-leaker, so there is that. The poor son of a bitch; Jack Teixeira, E-3/Airman First Class 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. How can he be that stupid, reckless, and/or thoughtless, and that needy for affirmation. I think he has done a lot more damage to himself than to the country. South Korea knows we spy on them, Russian intel, below toady level, knows we have embedded informers. No names were exposed. We over classify anyway. When I was in Korea, back in the film days, I took a color picture of the inside of the Battery Control Central [which was classified as Secret]. It was all lights and radar displays in the dark [so, with ASA 25 Kodachrome, no real information was exposed], but I was afraid to get the film developed.
I still pretty much feel that way, except that, Airman First Class Jack Teixeira is not a very sympathetic character. It turns out that Jack is a racist and an antisemite who keeps a small arsenal of guns in his closet. He leaked information to impress his online friends who presumably were also racists and antisemites. I think that intent is relevant. Most may be wrong here, but lots of might be better – leakers are acting as whistleblowers or think they are. Daniel Ellsberg and Chelsea Manning leaked documents to expose governmental actions they thought were immoral and probably, illegal. Jack Teixeira released documents, as Linda put it, just trying to impress his chums. I’m glad that both Ellsberg and Manning are not in prison, even though it was because the Nixon Administration bolloxed the whole thing by spying on Ellsberg and Chelsea Manning was pardoned by President Obama. Still, I would be OK with Teixeira going to jail for a long time.
Regarding liars, my cousin-in-law, Marion, asked what I thought of the FOX/Dominion settlement, which disappointed her. The fact that FOX was lying and bagging about it is surprising even to me, and I would love to see FOX put out of business. Still, I am OK with the settlement.
I don’t really understand Libel laws in the United States – or elsewhere, as far as that goes – except that if the defamation is verbal, it is slander, and the First Amendment, which includes freedom of speech, complicates the issue. Also, it was going to be a Jury trial, and juries are unpredictable, especially in a politically charged environment. On the Dominion side, a $787.5-million settlement is a lot of money; they are spending oodles of money on lawyers every day, and they have gotten good PR for themselves and an admission of guilt from FOX, so taking the money and running is their best bet. For FOX, a $787.5-million settlement plus their legal fees is also a lot of money but, $1.6 billion-plus all legal fees are even bigger and they don’t have to admit guilt on the air.
I want to say that I’m shocked about the revelation that Clarence Thomas has a sugar daddy, Harlan Crow – a name straight out of Justified – but it does seem in character, so I shouldn’t be. Mildly surprised would be more accurate. However, I’m also mildly surprised that I still thought Supreme Court Justices wouldn’t take bribes. Despite all the evidence, I somehow thought these guys were all thoughtful and impartial; it makes me feel sort of foolish.
I could go on and on about this, writing about everybody from Chief Justice Robert’s wife being paid $10.3 million in commissions by law firms who have argued cases in front of the court to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s private trip to Israel paid for by billionaire Morris Kahn – who, of course, has had cases heard by the Court – but I’ll leave it to the great Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to have the last word.
Just another well composed and written post. Food for though but I may have to stay away from the news for a while…it’s all so frightening. The Republicans with their out right cheating and gerrymandering…
The gerrymandering worries me, too.
Keep it coming, Steve. AOC said it well re: the Supremes. Now that Pence has testified do you think Donny can slip out of the Dems’ ever-tightening noose? He’s managed to lie and buy his way out of treasonous crimes up til now; will his MAGA base all grab their AR-15s and fire into the night sky in his defense? Crazy time.
Trump has an uncanny ability to stay out of jail. I’m not sure if that is good for the country or not. It is a crazy time, but better, I guess, than the 50s when we all hid under our desks.