Law, Power, and Justice

Friday 11 August 2023

A few Issues I’m thinking about today:

Iran

• The US has made an agreement with Iran to free American hostages they are holding.  In exchange, the US is going to free up some of their money that has been frozen due to sanctions.
• While commentators are grateful that prisoners are going to be released, Activist Masih Alinejad commented on MSNBC that she considered the deal a “betrayal.”  The fear is that even though there are limitations on how the released funds should be spent, she is sure that once the money gets in the hands of the Iranian government, it is going to be used to further oppress people.
• Diaz-Balart pointed out and Alinejad agreed that Iran has been making drones and other weapons and transferring them to Ukraine to kill people.  Why would we want to fund this kind of government.

RICO

• I felt like I had been given a gift last night when the MSNBC news programs started to be more and more sure that Fanni Willis was going to charge Donald Trump and others under the RICO statute.
• This Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act was passed federally primarily to go after drug cartels, but it has been used for a number of other cases.  Put simply, instead of charging the defendant with one crime, the prosecutor is allowed to prosecute an “organization” and the people involved in it for activities that benefit the organization illegally over time.  Usually, the organization has been the Mafia, or a particular mafia family. 
• Fanni Willis has successfully used the RICO statute to prosecute educators who conspired and colluded to change standardized test scores in Atlanta. 
• I am delighted, delight that she is seriously thinking about using the Georgia RICO statute for Trump.  My only hope is that the Republican Party will be the “criminal organization.”  The designation of the organization will be fascinating.
• Because I used to write about the war on drugs and state crime, I have written about the RICO statute and how it was used to impose stiff punishments on drug-involved individuals.
• According to Alex Wagner’s (MSNBC) show last night, the Georgia RICO statute is even more broad and comprehensive than the federal RICO.
• For example, in federal RICO the organization must have been operating for a certain amount of time.  In Georgia RICO, however, this requirement is narrower.  So, a recently formed group would fit under Georgia RICO where it might not under federal RICO.
• According to Wagner, white good-ole-boys in the Georgia legislature were looking at the increases in black crime in Atlanta in 1979.  All they could think about was imprisoning blacks and imprisoning them for a long time.  So, they wrote a draconian RICO statute for the purpose.
• Well, now, hopefully that will come back to haunt their sorry asses as we see Donald Trump and others (Stone, Guilliani, Powell for example) prosecuted as members of a criminal enterprise.  I love it.

The Media

• The corporate media is full of people who are now, after the indictment, saying what they should have been saying since 2016 but were too afraid to.
• The problem with MSNBC (which I watch most often) is that they stock their shows and make “MSNBC Contributors” people who are conventional, governmentally involved and dependent on government for their careers. 
• Andrew Weissmann, for example, is a career government worker.  He has been in some government positions or other for essentially his entire adult career.  He is not going to seriously criticize the Justice Department (DOJ).  And, true to form, he has consistently over the past few years refused to really call out Merrick Garland for his profound irresponsibility in not charging Donald Trump and his co-conspirators the month after he left office.  But you can see how someone who has worked for DOJ and probably depends on DOJ recommendations for future work, is not going to risk alienating the DOJ, no matter what they do or do not do.
• Harry Litman is another example.  Career government worker, never going to take on the criminal irresponsibility of Merrick Garland.
• This “part of the system” mentality has led people like the seemingly reasonable nice principled Barbara McQuade to say that Trump should not be imprisoned because it would be “inconvenient” for the Secret Service.  I thought my head would explode.
• Then, another former official argued that Trump should be provided with a SCIF because it would be “cheaper” than making him go and look at discovery documents. 
• So, we should pay to build a secure room in Mar-a-lago for Donald Trump after he stole and then probably distributed and sold, classified information.
• I don’t care if it’s “inconvenient” or “cheaper” to treat Donald Trump like he’s a King.  He is a criminal defendant, and he should be treated just like any working of lower-class defendant.  In fact, Donald Trump’s crimes are worse.  He’s a rich, privileged, spoiled man who has been exploiting the cracks in the legal system for decades. 
• We can afford to enforce democracy.  If we can’t, if we are too cheap or too lazy to enforce democratic norms, we should admit that we don’t really care about accountability.

Well, as Keith Olbermann says, I’ve done all the damage I can do today.