Lorraine Evanoff's Blog, page 14
July 25, 2021
The Tom Barrack can of worms
From old-timer Mitch McConnell to green-behind-the-ears Madison Cawthorn and every crooked Republican in between, when they had an iron grip on power, they thought it would never end. But they played a risky hand and were dealt the cards they deserved on November 3, 2020, and January 5, 2021, with nothing up their sleeves, losing the Presidency, House, and Senate. Most of these power mongers clinging to their perceived invincibility thought they would get away with unprecedented corruption indefinitely. That’s the only way to explain their arrogance and corruption that continues today.
But when legitimate businesspeople got sucked in, they played along until they saw the deck running out and folded early. Enter, Thomas Barrack. Back in when it was revealed that Michael Cohen sent a $130,000 wire to Stormy Daniels from an account set up at First Republic Bank, it was also revealed that Thomas Barrack was one of the bank’s board members. Barrack has been a respected executive closely tied to First Republic Bank, having orchestrated taking the bank private and being a longtime board member. His close friend James Herbert, founder of First Republic Bank, prides himself on running a business that is politically agnostic and diverse, and he is an avid patron of the arts.
Many of us here in Hollywood who appreciate the bank’s personal banking style were shocked when Barrack’s ties to the Stormy Daniels scandal made national headlines in 2018. I personally considered taking the company accounts out of the bank, but my contacts there assured me that the bank had no connection to the scandal. Although he seemed to disappear from scrutiny, the arrest of Tom Barrack this week shines a new spotlight on banking, even as his name disappeared from the First Republic Bank board member list.
Barrack’s arrest threatens to open a Pandora’s Box for the banking industry and its shadier clientele. It signals renewed attention on the 2018 whistleblower reports that accompanied the Stormy Daniels scandal and other Trump-related suspicious activity. Going back to August 2011, Rolling Stone reported a whistleblower inside the SEC who came forward to Congress with testimony that the SEC had been, “systematically destroying records of preliminary investigations once they’re closed.”
It had been standard operating procedure for the SEC to destroy Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) for decades, impairing the SEC’s ability to make connections related to fraudulent activity. “By whitewashing the files of the nation’s worst financial criminals, the SEC has kept an entire generation of federal investigators in the dark about past inquiries into insider trading, fraud and market manipulation against companies like Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and AIG.”
This practice is equivalent to a police department deleting criminal records so perpetrators of new crimes cannot be traced back to their old crimes or removing fingerprints. These next few months will be fascinating indeed. Should we expect more news about Deutsche Bank and others?
July 20, 2021
The best justice system money can buy
A friend from Europe once quipped that the United States has, “The best justice system money can buy.” It was one of those jarring cynical remarks because at first you think it means we have the best, but then you realize we have one of the worst, at least when it comes to impartial criminal justice. Take for example, Missouri, covered this past weekend on CBS Sunday Morning. It featured two men of color currently languishing in prison with life sentences, despite being proven innocent and the real perpetrators serving their own sentences, all because they had run out of appeals. Nor can they benefit from a presidential pardon because of state charges.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson has the power to pardon both men but has declined to do so. Anyone who knows me, knows that injustice makes me angry. But I’m not alone, just search Wikipedia about Cutting in line. Injustice in the U.S. seems epidemic, and it’s making us sick and tired. Then you have those who handle injustice with grace. DNC Chair Jamie Harrison in a wonderful homage on the one-year anniversary of Congressman John Lewis’s death wrote, “There was not a shred of bitterness or frustration in him for what he endured.” The same grace and strength of character showed on the faces of those wrongfully imprisoned men in Missouri, as they told their tragic stories of unjust incarceration.
Contrast that with the smug sniveling boors on Fox “News,” or TFG, or the insurgents, all who appear to have never had to face any consequences for their actions. Or if they have, they justify it, or continue to deny, deny, deny. Just this weekend we saw the horrifying anti-trans protests in Los Angeles where far-right protesters returned chanting baseless claims about a trans-friendly spa, using slogans taken up by QAnon conspiracy theorists. Inexplicably, the LAPD lined up in riot helmets and used less-lethal weapons against counter-protesters even after a judge’s ruling against LAPD’s use of projectile launchers. It turns out Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show put the spotlight on the spa in June inciting the first antitrans protest, and it’s not even clear if any transgender customers were even present in the spa. So, Fox New is once again behind this hateful violence.
Meanwhile, those of us on the left continue to take our cues from heroes like John Lewis, and President Biden, intelligently planning and legislating, respecting the rule of law, showing patience as the criminal prosecutions slowly make their way through the system. When necessary, like the legislators in Texas, make Good Trouble.
July 15, 2021
The Trump-GOP Endgame
Writing this on the return flight from the 4th of July festivities at The National Mall, I feel gratitude for the renewed sense of normalcy in DC. Friends admonished me to be careful, as the insurrectionists might be back. I said I’d be sure to document everything, which I did excitedly when we happened to be on the corner where Biden’s motorcade was arriving at the White House. With the friendly but diligent Capitol Police and Secret Service calmly containing the crowd, I captured video of Biden reverently waving to us cheering onlookers. I couldn’t contain my happy tears.
But this normalcy belies the continued need for vigilance against dirty GOP tactics. Since July 4th, Republican follies have escalated. A CPAC dumpster fire with GOP crazies blatantly propagating the Big Lie and Anti-vaccine stupidity aired on Fox “News” surprisingly with disclaimers. Two former Trump attorneys are on the verge of being sanctioned and possibly disbarred. Trump removed his indicted CFO from dozens of his companies in a futile effort to distance himself. Republicans continued their orchestrated countrywide assault of voting rights in Texas.
Very interestingly, another former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis announced she’s leaving the GOP, possibly signaling a 3rd-party Trump candidacy for POTUS? Remember in July 2016 when the GOP changed its party platform to be more Russia-friendly, and then in 2020 completely eliminated their platform? Make no mistake, the GOP under Trump has a platform. That platform is anti-platform, anti-government, anti-rule of law. They install candidates who refuse to get anything done for the people. The likes of mindless puppets MTG, Cawthorn, Boebert, and newly Trump-endorsed challenger to major Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, all serve one purpose.
To use an American football analogy, they are like offensive linemen whose primary job is to block opponents and protect their quarterback. In this case, the quarterback is carrying a toxic bomb detonated to destroy all U.S. political norms. The real goal concisely stated by Noam Chomsky is “implementing policies for the benefit of his primary constituency of great wealth and corporate power while conning the victims into worshipping him as their savior.”
Lawlessness has been the ultimate goal of the GOP and global oligarchs since the 1980s break-up of the former Soviet Union. With his indebtedness to Putin, Trump was obligated to dismantle the rule of law here in the U.S. clearing the way for continued pillaging of the world’s resources and consolidating of wealth and power.
Biden and Democrats hold our hopes of stability and normalcy by a thread. Every time we regain control, we strengthen our grasp. Every time the GOP gains control, they weaken it. We cannot let them retake the reins in 2022 and 2024.
July 3, 2021
It’s all finally coming out
As I write this on a flight from LAX to DCA for the 4th of July festivities on The National Mall, I feel gratitude. We visit DC regularly and I’m not ashamed to say that on my first return there after November 8, 2016, as we drove past the hallowed monuments and government buildings, I quietly sobbed. Now I return in happy anticipation of restored independence from a dangerous presidential administration and GOP-controlled Congress.
We booked our reservations well in advance not sure if there would even be a celebration. But DC Mayor Bowser announced on June 15th fireworks are a go! This is such a far cry from cancellations one year ago due to COVID, or in 2018 when eight Republican senators dashed off to Moscow for a meeting on July 4th to “strive for a better relationship” with Russia. Their inept bungling of the optics still boggles the mind. What did Putin say to get them there on that date? We need to know everything. And it’s all finally coming out.
There will be no repeat of the post GW Bush-Cheney administration when they actually did get away with it all. The GOP, clearly emboldened by that lapse in justice, went too far this time. Like when you get over a cold or get a vaccine and your immune system is fortified, they continue trying to test our weaknesses, but we built up antibodies. They strategically attacked every political norm and we countered with even smarter tactics. Voters learned more about how our government and courts work than any Polysci, 1L, or even 2L law school classes. To quote JFK, “There is work to be done, obligations to the truth, to justice…” The courts will air GOP dirty laundry and set us free. They seem to know it too, their public statements becoming more crazed by the day.
This weekend at a Los Angeles event, I mentioned to friends my excitement about the 4th of July DC festivities, and they became alarmed, admonishing me to be careful as the insurrectionists would be back. I said I’ll be sure to take plenty of video and photos. The GOP overplayed their hand there too, the Pentagon, with Biden as DC Commander in Chief, is prepared. This time, I’ll be crying tears of joy.
June 23, 2021
Want to win in politics? Focus on what works.
Every day, I wake up and thank God for Joe Biden’s decisive election win – by over 7 million votes – and subsequent confirmation as President. It still feels like a miracle, or perhaps a mystery, certainly a thriller. So, how did we win? It should be obvious, right? We won the vote.
Despite relentless GOP sabotage and attempts to overturn our free, fair, and legitimate election. Even with swing state numbers too close for comfort, more than 60 GOP-packed court challenges including the GOP-rigged Supreme Court, dozens of audits and recounts, 120 GOP senators voting to reject the election results, SCOTUS gutting the Voting Rights Act in 2013, mail-in voting sabotaged by DeJoy, insurrectionists attacking our Capitol intent on murdering our representatives, Biden is POTUS. Even Republicans can’t believe it because they know how hard they tried to rig it. And yet, we won.
There are mostly good, honest people in the government and the courts, insistence to the contrary by anti-government Federalists and MAGAs notwithstanding. The GOP did everything in their power to recreate 2016. But we were ready, we put in the work, we educated voters, and we turned out to vote. So, let’s focus on what worked. Voting and education. Because that’s where the GOP will attack next.
They have already begun sabotaging the vote, drafting hundreds of voter disenfranchisement bills. Now, Florida suddenly banned teaching Critical Race Theory, even though it wasn’t even taught in their schools. If they could, they would ban teaching Critical Thinking in schools. These evil jerks learned that indoctrination starts early from the cigarette industry and the NRA. Starting with their puppet, Ronald Reagan guided by Ailes and Murdock, they want American children to be “educated” by Fox “News” and not by teachers.
I am the poster child for GOP indoctrination, having grown up working class, in the extremely red DuPage County, IL, land of Henry Hyde. My first time voting at 18 was for Reagan. The only one of six kids and two parents to graduate public high school, I put myself through college, then moved to Paris where I finally learned what Right and Left meant. I was outraged to learn the Right’s trope, Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, was a Big Lie designed to keep the poor and uneducated just that. I learned it was the Left that fought for safety nets. The epiphany of that doctrine betrayal is why I’m still so angry at Republicans.
Back then, during a family barbeque, I got into an argument with a childhood friend who was in the Army. I explained my reason for changing parties was that I had gotten an education and learned what the parties meant. He looked me in eyes and said, “That’s the problem.” The GOP lie and cheat to retain power. Let’s start with what works. Let’s educate and vote.
June 8, 2021
Something stinks about the Pentagon and the January 6th Capitol attack
Pentagon officials can’t get their stories straight about the January 6th insurrection. First, their excuses for taking three and a half hours to send help during the attack on the Capitol. To preface, D.C. is not a state so the President functions as commander in chief – like governors of other states – and assigns control of the Pentagon to the Defense Secretary and the Army secretary.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy claimed the Pentagon hesitated to send help on January 6th because after the June 2020 events, “we had to put much tighter limits of these types of activities.” He was referring to limits Congress put on use of military forces after the Pentagon’s overly aggressive response to June 2020 protests over racial discrimination and police violence when uniformed D.C. Guard members forcibly cleared crowds and flew a helicopter dangerously low over protestors.
Then, Pentagon officials claimed their inaction during the January 6th insurrection was due to inadequate planning, blaming Capitol Police and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) for not requesting assistance beforehand. Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) countered that even though the insurrection was planned, in advance, in plain sight on social media, and the FBI and DOJ have a duty to warn of domestic terrorist threats, the Pentagon claimed to be unprepared.
Perhaps the foulest excuse came from former Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller, (who was required to sign off on dispatching D.C. Guard members after the sudden firing of Mark Esper), when he testified in May 2021 that he wanted to avoid a deadly 1970 Kent State University style shooting.
Second, the Army falsely denied that three-star Army Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn attended a tense call with agencies pleading for the D.C. National Guard to intervene in the deadly attack of the Capitol. Days later, Charles Flynn himself admitted that he had, “entered the room after the call began and departed prior to the call ending,” believing a decision was imminent from the Army Secretary McCarthy. Charles Flynn is the brother of Michael Flynn, who in December 2017, pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition from the Obama administration to the Trump administration. Michael Flynn had not yet been sentenced and served no jail time when Trump issued him a pardon in November 2020. On January 5th Michael Flynn met with insurrectionists who were preparing to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. On June 4, 2021, Charles Flynn was promoted to four-star general.
So, three questions come to mind: Why did the Pentagon keep changing its story about its response to the insurrection? Why did the Army deny Charles Flynn attended the phone call? Why was Charles Flynn promoted to four-star general? The answers to the first two questions are anyone’s guess. For the third, Trump’s November 2020 nomination for Charles Flynn’s promotion was confirmed by the Senate in December 2020. It all stinks.
June 1, 2021
Savvy move by President Biden against Putin
With all the breaking news this week, Biden’s move to cancel sanctions against the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline barely made a blip in the media. There was plenty of hand ringing over concerns that this is a sign Biden may be doing a “reset” with Russia, by the left, and by the right (sigh). It’s worth noting that Obama’s attempted reset didn’t work out well for anyone except Russia. Putin brazenly invaded Ukraine which Russia continues to occupy since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and two years after that, Russia interfered with the 2016 U.S. elections effectively installing a suspected Russian asset to the U.S. presidency.
Granted, despite Obama’s reset, he signed the Magnitsky Act into law in 2013, under pressure from both parties, thanks Bill Browder’s tireless efforts to impose sanctions against criminal Russian oligarchs. But, even after the shocking results of the 2016 elections, Obama went silent about Russian interference, and Hillary Clinton conceded almost immediately, despite strong evidence and grounds for disputing the results. Even Mitt Romney who, during his 2012 presidential run, said Russia was America’s greatest geopolitical foe remained mostly silent during Trump’s term.
Ongoing lenience with Russia is baffling and needs to be addressed. As I summarized in my April 7, 2021 piece, Ukraine is crucial to Russian dominance following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Yet, during Putin’s invasion of Crimea, the U.S. looked the other way, despite the promise to defend Ukraine from foreign attacks under the same protections given to Japan and Germany since 1945. Much of the world tends to shrug off this Russian aggression under the mistaken belief that Ukraine used to be a Russian territory, and that Russia existed before Ukraine, when the opposite is true. Putin is given free rein to subjugate Ukraine, resume drilling in the Arctic, and other abuses of power.
So, the question remains, is Biden really doing a “reset” with Russia? Probably not. Although, as Vice President, Biden famously called for a reset with Russia, he has long since lost any illusions that Putin would be an ally. Biden has been against the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline from the beginning, but the project is too far along to impose direct sanctions now and it is more important to restore relations with Germany which were greatly damaged under Trump.
Instead, it appears that Biden is looking to impose sanctions on two Russian ships involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s construction that have ties with shadowy shell companies. There are no magic wands, so instead of rushing to the conclusion that Biden is giving in to Putin, it’s far more likely that he’s looking to make a very intriguing and savvy move.
May 25, 2021
Stupid Move
If you’re an American woman like me (or man for that matter), the announcement this week that SCOTUS will review a restrictive Mississippi abortion law got your blood boiling. All experts agree this will likely greatly diminish Roe v Wade. The fact that corrupt Mitch McConnell, who is more suited for a prison term than another Senate term, broke precedent to install Amy Coney Barrett to a lifetime SCOTUS position compounds my outrage. Barrett could be likened to the anti-feminist character Serena Joy in The Handmaid’s Tale who made a high-profile career out of arguing that women shouldn’t have high-profile careers and actively sought to create a forced-birth hellscape. In 2016, Barrett opined that, “Specifics on access and state-sanctioned restrictions [to abortion] could change.” During her 2017 confirmation, she withheld information that she signed a 2006 Right to Life Michiana advertisement that stated, “It’s time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children.” She is a member of the controversial religious group People of Praise that calls its male community leaders “heads” and their female counterparts “handmaids.”
It’s bad enough that the lack of universal healthcare in the U.S., which many developed nations have, has a direct adverse effect on life expectancy here. But reversing Roe v Wade would place the U.S. with developing countries like El Salvador, the Vatican, Chile and Nicaragua with the harshest anti-abortion laws in the world. In France, termination of pregnancy is legal on demand up to 12 weeks after conception. The French system requires a Planned Parenthood tutorial prior to the procedure but it is not the invasive kind many red states here have tried to instate, but rather it discusses prevention. The procedure is covered by their universal healthcare called Social Security under safe excellent conditions.
For the French and other developed nations, early termination of pregnancy is a healthcare issue. In the U.S. it is somehow a Constitutional issue, which, much like the separation of church and state, in a practical sense, leaves it vulnerable to abuse. A reported 1 in 4 women will have an abortion by age 45 and a majority of people in the U.S. support a person’s right to obtain an abortion, regardless of political or religious affiliation.
This GOP hypocrisy on abortion will backfire on them. McConnell stole a progressive SCOTUS seat from RBG right before the November 2020 elections resulting in massive democratic voter turn-out and GOP loss of the senate and presidency. SCOTUS will likely announce its decision about the Mississippi case right before the 2022 midterms, which will only spur greater voter turn-out by democrats to the 2022 midterms to gain more seats in the House and Senate. It will take time to undo the damage, but we will expand the Supreme Court and enact sensible and safe legal protections for American women.
May 16, 2021
Why it’s more important than ever that we free Reality Winner
The case of Reality Winner is one that reverberates with many of us. Her epic name seems to have preordained her symbolic importance. According to a Washington Post article, in an audio recording of Reality Winner’s arrest obtained by filmmakers through a Freedom of Information Act request, voices of FBI agents can be heard blindsiding her and failing to inform her of her Miranda Rights. She was indicted under the Espionage Act and pleaded gIn the wake of Trump’s pardons of flagrant criminals on his way out of office, Biden issuing a pardon for Reality Winner would go a long way in allaying much of our outrage over Trump’s flouting of the justice system. uilty to one felony count. She was given the longest sentence ever for leaking classified information to the media. For example, in 2015 David Petraeus, the former CIA director who disclosed reams of classified information to his biographer, was punished with only probation and a fine.
When indicted, 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner was fluent in Farsi and other languages spoken in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a decorated Air Force veteran working as a contractor for the NSA. She had become alarmed by classified documents on Russia’s efforts to hack into U.S. election-related websites and voter-registration databases. She felt the public should know and reported it anonymously to news sources. The information was linked back to her by the FBI who took her into custody, when she failed to seek legal counsel.
Winner’s indictment was in the wake of James Comey’s vow to Trump that he would pursue those who gave inside information to the media. The only reason Reality Winner was so harshly sentenced was to suppress the narrative that Trump was elected with the help of Russia. Yet, Winner was powerless to make a public-interest defense because of the Espionage Act and has been silenced. It’s only a few months before the end of her sentence, and it would have been better if Biden had pardoned her immediately after his inauguration. But it would still be symbolically important if he pardoned her now.
Biden has a lot on his plate, and he has done more in his first 100 days as President than any other in recent history. But this is one gesture that could make a big impact. There are other cases such as that of Crystal Mason, the woman convicted of illegally voting even though she didn’t know she was ineligible when she went to the polls in 2016. Her five-year sentence was upheld by a Texas appeals court. But Biden cannot pardon Chrystal Mason because this was not a federal case. Only Greg Abbott the governor of Texas can pardon her, and he will never do so.
In the wake of Trump’s pardons of flagrant criminals on his way out of office, Biden issuing a pardon for Reality Winner would go a long way in allaying much of our outrage over Trump’s flouting of the justice system.
April 30, 2021
The Latest Desperate Measures
If you’re like me, you suffered emotional trauma after the 2016 “election” of Trump and took up the fight to save our country and our sanity. In addition to volunteering, donating, and spreading actual facts, a great way to stay sane was to inform myself, research the truth, reassure myself that Trump, McConnell, and the like did not have a magic wand. Another therapeutic activity for me was reading the writings of truth purveyors like the Palmer Report and Greg Olear every day, which I still do.
Now, witnessing the GOP panic after losing control of the Presidency, the House, and the Senate, it appears they are also losing control of their minds. The problem is, while Democrats worked hard and smart, never cheating or further destroying the foundations of our democracy to rebalance power, the GOP are sinking to new desperate measures to regain power. They continue using unconstitutional and criminal tactics in their efforts to overturn a free and fair election, spreading the Big Lie, and even conspired to attack the Capitol. Now, despite losing over 60 legal challenges to the 2020 election around the country, their latest move is an election “audit” of the 2020 ballots from Arizona’s largest county where Biden won by more than 2 percentage points.
Even after multiple Maricopa County audits were conducted that found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs certified the election results, they are still perpetuating this insane lie. Arizona Republicans hired Cyber Ninjas, a shadowy company whose CEO deleted his Twitter account after spreading the Big Lie, to oversee the audit. By using this company, the Republicans have reduced transparency and, according to Secretary of State Hobbs, a Democrat, “are making it up as they go along,” hand counting ballots, reviewing voter machines, and door-knocking to match ballots to those individuals who believe they have cast a vote. The 2.1 million unprotected ballots and 400 tabulation machines were transported to an unsecured site. These tactics are so clearly unconstitutional and beyond the scope of the 2020 election, there is no chance the polluted results would stand up in court.
More importantly, with the election already having been certified in every state, even if the “audit” were to find any credible evidence of fraud or misconduct, the most Republican lawmakers in Arizona and other states could do is use those results in their ongoing attempts to dramatically change how voting happens in their states. That’s a big if.
