Politics Plus

Yesterday, I went to see Virgil, arriving about 11:00 am and staying until visitation was over at 3:30.We enjoyed each other’s company, and Virgil returns all greetings. This facility is ony about 35 miles away, mostly on the nterstateand Sundat traffic isn’t bad, so it was not difficult going or coming back. There was a rainstorm on the way back … some of it was heavy, but all of it was brief. They say in Colorado if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes, but I think it’s more accurate to say move 5 miles. I’ve known a co-worker to have dry weather at home, while the weather is dry at th e workplace, and still not be able to get to work because, inbetween, there was impassible snow. But I digress. I got home safely, but found myself fresh out of energy.  I did just manage to place a grocery delivery order and that was about it.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The New Yorker – The Dangers of Trump-Prosecution Syndrome (opinion)
Quote – The legal process that the case is following illustrates the procedures in American jurisprudence that help to insure that prosecutors proceed methodically and fairly…. Legal experts and former Justice Department officials told me that, based on the publicly known evidence, prosecuting Trump for mishandling classified documents appears simpler than bringing criminal charges against him for his role in the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol. [Stephen] Gillers[, a professor of legal ethics at New York University,] [said] that, fairly or unfairly, prosecuting a former President requires meeting a higher legal and political threshold. “It has to be one-hundred-per-cent irresistible as a matter of law,” he said. “There can be no fact, no event, no piece of evidence that could support any room for ambiguity.”
Click through for full article. I was thinking myself even before i started reading that the insurrection was far more obviously harmful but much harder to prove his criminal intent, whereas the mishandling of documents is easier to prove, but possibly harder to generate interest in. (The dates of his speaking with Putin, sending something in writing to Putin – delivered, I believe, by Rand Paul – and the daytes of our highest and most qualified agents starting to die off could possibly be coincidental – though I would not believe that for an instant.) I do think he should be charged for both, if for no other reason, because then the coase would not necessarily be tried in the federal district in which the crime was committed – since they are different.

The New York Times – Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants
Quote – The message, in an unusual top secret cable, said that the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Although brief, the cable laid out the specific number of agents executed by rival intelligence agencies — a closely held detail that counterintelligence officials typically do not share in such cables. The cable highlighted the struggle the spy agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world in difficult operating environments. In recent years, adversarial intelligence services in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the C.I.A.’s sources and in some cases turning them into double agents.
Click through – it is not paywalled, but is a gift link, so you will be able to read it in full with the possible exception of Lona – though she is good with VPNs. These events, not this specific article is what I was referring to in my comment on the other short take.

Food For Thought