Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Cut Down The Ivy That Hides Criminals
I don't think I ever read anything about Rod Rosenstein before he was nominated to be the Deputy Attorney General a few weeks back, looking at his background, I'm not surprised to find that he is an Ivy product, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law. Pretty much everyone who you can name in such a position is going to be trailing ivy behind him, I am never surprised to find someone who does something sleazy like firing the head of an investigation into a sleazy president right after he asked for more resources because investigating possible crimes and even treason needs more resources. I have a feeling that if every person who did something that is illegal or should be illegal in an honest country were prosecuted and convicted for it, the Ivy League universities would have a higher percentage of criminals than the most deprived and benighted inner-city high school.
I believe it was Senator Mark Warner who last night or this morning said he wished he could take back his vote to confirm Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General. At the very least he has to be brought before someone who can get him under oath to answer questions about what he did and what role Jeff Sessions played in it, what role Donald Trump played in it. I don't have any confidence that Rod Rosenstein will appoint someone to be a special prosecutor and anyone he might appoint will start out under a cloud. The sleaze in the Sessions Justice Department and its parent Trump regime makes everything that comes from it suspect.
As always happens with anything that happens in official Washington, you can find lots of good old boys in the Ivy League network to say nice things about anyone from one of their schools - rather hilariously, one of the experts so testifying is the ultra-sleazy Michael Mukasey (Columbia-Yale)who, along with his step-son, are up to their eyes in Republican sleaze in and around Rudy Giuliani.
If I were in the Senate, I think I'd have a blanket policy against voting for the product of the prep-school-Ivy League system, they've produced too much sleaze.
Update: In case you wonder who the prescient six Senators who voted against Rosenstein's confirmation as Deputy Attorney General they were, Cory Booker (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.). Who were right.
Update 2: Gee, I didn't go looking for a prime example of Ivy propping up Ivy but I found that Leon Neyfakh published an article in Slate about how poor, good Rod Rosenstein was used by Trump and Jeff Sessions, taking advantage of his goodness and uprightness and integrity, to dupe him into writing a report coming up with a non-Russia espionage with possible Trump collusion reason to can him, right after he asked Rosenstein for more resources with which to do a more thorough investigation.
In a piece last week, I asked whether the sober-minded Rosenstein could be a check on the politicization of the DOJ under Sessions, or whether his judiciousness would be squelched. The role the deputy attorney general played in Comey’s firing suggests a third way: Trump and Sessions will let the DOJ’s No. 2 man think he's acting on his principles but deploy him in such a way that those principles help them accomplish what they want to accomplish.
Geesh, I'm not a graduate of, not one but two Ivy League universities, in Rosenstein's case the U. of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (he was Sum Cum) and Harvard Law (Editor of the Law Review) a clerk for one of the most connected and influential judges in the Country, a member of the DC Circuit, Douglas Ginsburg (almost become a Supreme but it was back in the days Nina Totenberg still did reporting and found out he'd been a pot-head back when that mattered) a 27 year employee of the DoJ, with more experience and honors and praise than I'm intrested in going through..... and this is the guy we are supposed to believe was punked by Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump! Punked because his sense of rectitude blinded him to the inevitable firestorm of scandal it was no doubt bound to bring? I mean, the guy has worked in the Department of Justice for the past 27 years, lots of that time in friggin' Washington DC and he was too innocent and naive to understand what he was doing AND THAT HE WAS BEING PLAYED? He didn't understand the possible motives of both Trump and Sessions - who, lest it be forgotten, during the Trump campaign met at least twice with Russian officials and who lied about it, under oath, during his confirmation hearings - Maybe Rod Rosenstein was too busy polishing his halo when that was in the news.
Um, hum. I see.
In case you wanted to understand my point, the guy who wrote that is a Harvard product, he wrote for the Crimson. They are always looking for another fellow's back to get.
If Rosenstein is that naive he should resign immediately.
I believe it was Senator Mark Warner who last night or this morning said he wished he could take back his vote to confirm Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General. At the very least he has to be brought before someone who can get him under oath to answer questions about what he did and what role Jeff Sessions played in it, what role Donald Trump played in it. I don't have any confidence that Rod Rosenstein will appoint someone to be a special prosecutor and anyone he might appoint will start out under a cloud. The sleaze in the Sessions Justice Department and its parent Trump regime makes everything that comes from it suspect.
As always happens with anything that happens in official Washington, you can find lots of good old boys in the Ivy League network to say nice things about anyone from one of their schools - rather hilariously, one of the experts so testifying is the ultra-sleazy Michael Mukasey (Columbia-Yale)who, along with his step-son, are up to their eyes in Republican sleaze in and around Rudy Giuliani.
If I were in the Senate, I think I'd have a blanket policy against voting for the product of the prep-school-Ivy League system, they've produced too much sleaze.
Update: In case you wonder who the prescient six Senators who voted against Rosenstein's confirmation as Deputy Attorney General they were, Cory Booker (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.). Who were right.
Update 2: Gee, I didn't go looking for a prime example of Ivy propping up Ivy but I found that Leon Neyfakh published an article in Slate about how poor, good Rod Rosenstein was used by Trump and Jeff Sessions, taking advantage of his goodness and uprightness and integrity, to dupe him into writing a report coming up with a non-Russia espionage with possible Trump collusion reason to can him, right after he asked Rosenstein for more resources with which to do a more thorough investigation.
In a piece last week, I asked whether the sober-minded Rosenstein could be a check on the politicization of the DOJ under Sessions, or whether his judiciousness would be squelched. The role the deputy attorney general played in Comey’s firing suggests a third way: Trump and Sessions will let the DOJ’s No. 2 man think he's acting on his principles but deploy him in such a way that those principles help them accomplish what they want to accomplish.
Geesh, I'm not a graduate of, not one but two Ivy League universities, in Rosenstein's case the U. of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (he was Sum Cum) and Harvard Law (Editor of the Law Review) a clerk for one of the most connected and influential judges in the Country, a member of the DC Circuit, Douglas Ginsburg (almost become a Supreme but it was back in the days Nina Totenberg still did reporting and found out he'd been a pot-head back when that mattered) a 27 year employee of the DoJ, with more experience and honors and praise than I'm intrested in going through..... and this is the guy we are supposed to believe was punked by Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump! Punked because his sense of rectitude blinded him to the inevitable firestorm of scandal it was no doubt bound to bring? I mean, the guy has worked in the Department of Justice for the past 27 years, lots of that time in friggin' Washington DC and he was too innocent and naive to understand what he was doing AND THAT HE WAS BEING PLAYED? He didn't understand the possible motives of both Trump and Sessions - who, lest it be forgotten, during the Trump campaign met at least twice with Russian officials and who lied about it, under oath, during his confirmation hearings - Maybe Rod Rosenstein was too busy polishing his halo when that was in the news.
Um, hum. I see.
In case you wanted to understand my point, the guy who wrote that is a Harvard product, he wrote for the Crimson. They are always looking for another fellow's back to get.
If Rosenstein is that naive he should resign immediately.
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