September 12

SUMMER VACATION WITH YOUR CLASSIFIEDS & MATTHEW COLE SCOTT

In spite of Queen Elizabeth‘s third great-grandfather being mad King George III, whose forces the American colonies battled for independence, this country maintains its fascination with British royalty. Upon the queen’s death this week, the media launched a blitz of canned documentaries recounting the 70-year reign of her majesty, all of which were lapped up wholeheartedly by the public as the spectacle of commentators, reporters, and interviews of British citizens on the street filled any lapses between the few commercial breaks.

Unbeknownst to most were the clandestine efforts of the former US president to gain whatever advantage he could from this transformative historical event. Calls to attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell to demand a recount before Parliament fell by the wayside, either from the lack of interest by the two, or from doubts that he would reimburse them their expenses upon return to the States. Of course, the hammer fell when Charles was declared king, well before Rudy got a return call from Four Seasons Total Landscaping to arrange a press conference announcing their intent. Can t-shirts with visages of the queen and the Lord of Orange be on the horizon?

Trump daughter, Ivanka, refused to take further phone calls from her dad, when he attempted to enlist her help in getting an invite to the funeral at Westminster Abbey, with his usual demands for special seating. Husband, Jared, finally answered the persistent ringing of the cell phone to tell his father-in-law that Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud would probably allow him to join the Saudi entourage, as long as he dressed appropriately in the traditional Arab thaub and headdress, and perhaps carry a ceremonial-looking sword made by Mattel. And, his custom Italian shoes would absolutely not be appropriate.

But for The Donald, the clocks of the many pending lawsuits are ticking away, and he should probably stick close to home, and pay more attention in order to learn how many orange jumpsuits he will be issued, even if he doesn’t understand the why. He could have benefitted early on from Queen Elizabeth’s bon mot, “Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom,” but, Mr. T had other monopolies in mind, wisdom being far down the list of priorities.

Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, by granting his legal team’s request to appoint a special master for resolution of the dispute over the 10,000 documents removed from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, has muddied the waters of the DOJ’s investigation into Trump’s criminality. She blithely suggested that her action should not put unnecessary delay into the proceedings since, after all, he only took EMPTY Top Secret folders, or that DJT plunked his Magic Twanger and declassified them as they exited the White House (he claims – the law team isn’t backing this lie); but, that was quickly quashed when the two sides selected their disparate lists of potential legal experts for the review, and disagreement about which of the documents such a person should review. Both sides agree on shortening the 21-day period allowing for legal review, and for objecting to the special master’s subsequent recommendations; also, they agree that the special master should be able to request and hire a support staff.

The Department of Justice is opposed to Trump’s legal team contention that the former president has executive privilege and that the classified documents should be part of the review, and that much may be protected by attorney-client privilege along with his status as a former president. Payment for the special master and staff is another sore point, which is ultimately Judge Cannon’s decision. Trump’s team wants the tax payers to foot half the bill, while the DOJ believes that Trump and team should pay 100% since they initiated the action. The two sides revealed they will inform the judge of their positions and selections for special master by Monday, 9/12, and now the fireworks are in the air as you read this. As expected, a Monday morning filing by Trump’s legal team suggests the documents in question may not be classified and the client has a right to retain them, as they object to any pause in Judge Cannon’s previous ruling. So, what is DOJ supposed to do? Reveal just one secret to Team Trump to prove the validity of their claim? Listen! Do you want to know a secret? Closer! Can you whisper in my ear? Do you promise not to tell?

Judge Cannon, after her decision to allow a special master, was bombarded with heavy criticism from the legal community about the amateurishness, the apparent lack of knowledge, and the danger to our national security exhibited in her pronouncement. Even former attorney general, William Barr, resurfacing like Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, had a few choice comments, and like the rest of us, is wondering why Trump took classified documents belonging to the government, saying he is in legal jeopardy.

In an appeal to Judge Cannon, who ruled that the government would be barred from using the seized material as part of its criminal investigation until assessment from the special master, the Department of Justice is appealing for a partial stay on the ruling, arguing that a special master shouldn’t be allowed to review classified materials, and that investigators would be able to use these sensitive materials immediately in their probe. And, if that isn’t enough for Cannon to chew on, DOJ says it will file an appeal of the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta where cooler heads may prevail, suggesting that Cannon may not be Supreme Court material after all, as some MAGAts are suggesting…just another lawyer who voluntarily jumped in front of the Trump bus. Jokesters are now saying that MAGA stands for Making Attorneys Get Attorneys…soon to be MAGAMAGAMAGAMAGA!

A New Yorker Daily Cartoon this week shows a yellow-haired defendant sitting at a table before the courtroom’s judge, while his defense attorney is saying, “Before we send an innocent man to prison, shouldn’t we let him choose his own judge, bury the evidence, and set the entire system aflame?” Surely, a Judge Cannon inspired creation. This whole scenario seems to be so cut-and-dried…why are the courts letting the tail wag the dog? Just get on with it!!

One story that has been circulating tells of a Trump visit to Paris, and while in the residence of our ambassador to France, the prez spots several pieces of artwork he fancies, perfect for the White House! Taking them back to D.C. wasn’t a crime, since the ambassador’s place is government property, and the diplomat’s role is to serve the president. But Trump’s action was a breach of protocol and basic courtesy, a lack of respect to just take something because HE likes it. I, ME, ME, MINE, MINE, MINE! It would never occur to him that anyone would object and displease him over such an incident, because that’s been his modus operandi for his entire existence. Remaining in the room is the elephant named WHY? Why did Trump take the documents upon leaving Washington? Several opinions suggest that perhaps the purloined government material at Mar-a-Lago contains embarrassing or incriminating facts from the presidential years; or, he planned to sell or trade them for preferential treatment or get leverage at some point; or, they were showpieces for his visitors, both foreign and domestic; or, they bolstered his claim, in his own mind, that he is still president; or, that the material will be needed when (heaven forfend!) he is once again seated in the Oval Office. Some have asked why didn’t he destroy the remaining documents after he voluntarily turned over a trove of boxes to the National Archives earlier in this whole fiasco? And since White House staff members saw no hesitancy in his regularly doing so, tossing them in a wastebasket (or flushing down the toilet) in violation of the law, he obviously wanted the ones he took…MINE, MINE, MINE! It never occurred to his cockamamie mind that he shouldn’t do this, because you know, he’s Donald John Trump, the only one who can fix this…or anything!

Lawrence O’Donnell, on his MSNBC show, marveled at how The Don could leave behind the documents when he vacated Mar-a-Lago for his summer stay in New Jersey. Why didn’t he take the classified material with him, just as the rest of us do when we go away for the summer? Oh well, it made for good reading material for those unfortunate enough to be left behind.

A minor addendum to an ongoing story about a Florida school district’s refusal to accept a donation of dictionaries from the local Rotary Club, as the volumes await approval from the office of the state board official, a position which doesn’t exist as far as we know: Merriam-Webster just announced the addition of 370 new words to their dictionary for September! Imagine how far behind this will leave students, especially if M-W adds even more words by the time Florida’s word czar has read one of the quarantined dictionaries; and who knows when the print date of the suspect wordbooks might be…could be late ’21 or early ’22! Losing ground as we speak! New word additions such as adorable, or laggy will languish in the shadows as Florida’s schools fall further into the dark ages of the DeSantis regime. What can we expect when we have GOP leaders focused on banning books, banning abortion, punishing LGBT teachers, and suppressing the vote, rather than serving the electorate?

Typical Republican behavior was on display this week, when outgoing Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas presented an honorary American flag which had flown above the US Capitol, along with an official certificate, to Dr. Simone Gold upon her release from prison after serving time for her participation in the J6 Insurrection, inflaming rioters through a megaphone in Statuary Hall. Louie termed Gold a ‘political prisoner’ – “Something I never thought I’d see here in the United States of America,” he whines. Poor Louie! He will be out of office well before he can lay his hands on more official flags to bestow upon the +125 rioters who have been convicted, or the 875 who have been charged for their actions. Perhaps gathering flags flown at US jails and prisons would be more appropriate, ya think?

Closing out with a local angle, attention needs to be turned to the plight of Matthew Cole Scott, who was in a motorcycle accident on July 1, sustaining a traumatic brain injury. Matt graduated from Santa Cruz High in 1988, is an artist, an avid disc golfer, and an avid cycler, and was a familiar face working at the Farmer’s Market for years. His “Question on the Street” selections for The Santa Cruz Good Times newspaper have been seen by their wide readership.

His hospitalization since Day One ends on September 15th, but his need for 24-hour care will be a necessity for at least two months or so. Matt’s social page on Facebook: Love for Matt Scott, is available for all to follow his progress, and if people would like to chip in to a worthy cause for a Santa Cruz icon, they can do so at: Matthew Cole Scott’s Journey to Recovery, organized by Jove Shapiro, on GoFundMe.