RSN: Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner | Toddler In Chief
10 September 22
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Mine, mine, mine, mine
“Me, me, me, me...”
“My, my, my, my...”
“Mine, mine, mine...”
He has gallivanted through a life made possible by his daddy’s money (nevermind the shadows under which it was accumulated). He has exploited a business and social structure designed to cater to, indulge, and excuse men like him. He is driven only by quenching his basest desires.
And over and over again, Donald Trump has gotten away with it — like a young child who has been given (and has taken) everything without ever being told “no.”
Now he is being indulged by an entire political party. And like a misbehaving toddler, his disruptive antics have spread to others. They mimic his temper tantrums. Chaos escalates.
Except this is not a preschool classroom, it is a nation.
Petulance is not measured in hoarded blocks and broken crayons but in the demise of our democratic order.
“My top secret documents...”
“My judges...”
“My people...”
Trump sees a simplistic binary world where everyone is either there to serve his needs or they are the enemy. Material possessions are to be accumulated and used however he sees fit — according to the metric of personal benefit.
The way our system of government aspires to work is that the law applies evenly to all citizens. Sadly, history has shown time and again how far from that reality we often are as a nation. But the principle of “equal justice under the law” is fundamental to the American ideal, and we as a people overwhelmingly believe in striving for it.
Trump and his acolytes do not even pay lip service to it. There is no “my fellow citizens,” no commonality. He expects to exist in an alternate universe. By his formulation, the law applies only to “thee” as in us, and never to “me,” as in him.
This mindset was destructive enough when it drove the decision-making in the Oval Office. Since Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, the danger in some ways has escalated. The truth is that the president of the United States is afforded many special privileges and powers. But they reside in the office and not the person. Donald Trump is no longer president. And yet the court ruling from a judge he appointed runs roughshod over this democratic principle.
Trump's motives for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago are unknown. Recent reporting that they contained some of this nation’s most sensitive secrets raises very disturbing ramifications. But regardless of what Trump was doing, one thing we can say for certain is he believes the rules don’t apply to him.
He believes he can lose a free and fair election and meet that fate with lies — the first president in American history to not accept defeat.
He believes he can foment violence without consequence to himself.
He believes he can blow up our institutions of governance with impunity.
And if you judge by his legions of apologists and lackeys, he is correct. They are happy to excuse his behavior or just look the other way. It’s why people like Senator Marco Rubio are eager to blame federal law enforcement for what he deems the minor infraction of a private citizen keeping highly classified documents in an insecure location for who knows what motive. “I don't think a fight over the storage of documents is worthy of what they've done,” he said recently. The storage of documents? Is that really what we’re talking about? Of course not. And of course Rubio had a very different take when we were talking about Hillary Clinton for a far less serious infraction.
We have seen some version of the same excuse each and every time Trump has blown past what had been the limits of accepted behavior. Because it’s Trump, they say it’s okay. Everything he does is okay.
We saw it in the run-up to the 2016 election. We’ve seen it in the lies too numerous to count, the unstable actions, and the pernicious divisiveness. Heck, we saw it with two impeachment trials. It’s happened over and over again. It’s like a preschool teacher saying, in effect, “Oh that’s just Donnie being Donnie.” Except every preschool teacher or responsible parent I know understands you can’t do that.
Actions must have consequences if order, rules, and laws are to hold. The Department of Justice and other prosecutors can say, “No, you can’t do that.” Juries, including grand juries, can, too. And so can voters. Elections, after all, also have consequences.
Redacted pages from the affidavit by the FBI in support of obtaining a search warrant for former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. (photo: Jon Elswick/AP)
In a new court filing, the DOJ said that federal judge Aileen Cannon's order issued Monday, temporarily stopping its review of all of the records retrieved by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago in an August 8 search, presented a national security risk and requested access to them be restored.
Barring the DOJ from viewing the hundreds of classified documents retrieved, prosecutors said, "could impede efforts to identify the existence of any additional classified records that are not being properly stored — which itself presents the potential for ongoing risk to national security."
The DOJ said it was limiting its request to a set of 100 classified documents retrieved from Mar-a-Lago, which Trump under no circumstance has a right to retain.
"This motion is limited to ... the seized classified records because those aspects of the order will cause the most immediate and serious harms to the government and the public," the department said in its court filing.
In a separate court filing last week, the DOJ released an inventory of items it had taken from Mar-a-Lago on August 8, including 48 folders with classified markings that were empty, sparking concern among national security experts.
The DOJ is investigating whether Trump wrongly took government records, including highly classified information, to his Florida resort after leaving office.
Trump has claimed he declassified the records before leaving office, and also that some are shielded from prosecutors under executive privilege rules, which protect some private presidential communications.
On Monday, Cannon agreed to Trump's request for an independent official, or special master, to be appointed to review documents retrieved by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago in its August 8 search and for the FBI to stop its examination of the records. This is to establish, Cannon said, if any should be held back under executive privilege rules.
The DOJ said that if Cannon did not restore access to the classified documents, it would appeal against the special master ruling.
A Russian soldier stands in front of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in territory under Russian military control. (photo: AP)
UN nuclear watchdog says blackout due to shelling ‘compromises safe operation’ near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant.
“Shelling has caused a complete blackout in [Erenhodar] and compromised the safe operation of the nearby Zaporizhzhia [plant],” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi tweeted on Friday, calling it a “dramatic development”.
“This is completely unacceptable. It cannot stand,” he said, calling for “the immediate cessation of all shelling in the entire area”.
“Only this will ensure the security of operating staff and allow the durable restoration of power to Energodar and to the power plant,” he added.
The Zaporizhzhia plant is Europe’s largest nuclear power facility.
It was occupied by Russian troops in March and has been shelled in recent weeks, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other for the attacks, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.
Grossi said he learned of the shelling on Friday from IAEA staff on the site.
The shelling of the switchyard at Energodar’s thermal power plant has led to a “complete power black-out” in the city, where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located, he said.
“No running water, no power, no sewage,” he said.
‘Significant risk’
Plant operators and others living in Enerhodar faced “increasingly dire circumstances”, with a “significant risk” there would no longer be enough essential staff at the plant.
And there was “little likelihood of re-establishing reliable offsite power” given the increased and continued shelling, he added.
“As a result, the IAEA understands that the operator, having no longer confidence in the restoration of offsite power, is considering shutting down the only remaining operating reactor,” he said.
The plant in recent days has relied on this reactor for the power it needs for cooling and other safety functions.
“The entire power plant would then be fully reliant on emergency diesel generators for ensuring vital nuclear safety and security functions,” Grossi warned.
Russia said it backed Grossi’s call.
“We fully support the appeal and demand of the #IAEA Director General that shelling of the town of Enerhodar and the #ZNPP must stop immediately,” its ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter.
The IAEA called on Tuesday for a security zone to be set up around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying the current situation was “untenable”.
The IAEA sent a 14-person team to the site last week. Two members are remaining there on a permanent basis to ensure the facility’s safety.
Kyiv on Wednesday called for an international mission to be set up at the plant and for the population to evacuate the area amid fears of a nuclear disaster.
"Under Alabama's chemical endangerment law, women who test positive for drugs while pregnant in Etowah County can be held until they attend a drug rehab facility and pay the county $10,000 in cash bail." (photo: Tinnakorn Jorruang/EyeEm/Getty Images)
Several pregnant women have been held for weeks and months on end in the Etowah County, Alabama, jail on suspicion of drug use.
Under Alabama’s chemical endangerment law, which was interpreted in 2013 to protect fetuses, women who test positive for drugs while pregnant in Etowah County can be held until they attend a drug rehab facility and pay the county $10,000 in cash bail.
However, Emma Roth, a staff attorney for the National Advocates for Pregnant Women who is representing the women, says it’s not really that simple.
A combination of lack of space at these rehab facilities, lack of cash to pay $10,000 upfront, and in some cases not qualifying for in-patient rehab, has left these pregnant women stuck in jail for months.
Ashley Banks, 23, was detained in Etowah county after admitting she’d smoked pot the day she found out she was pregnant, according to reporting from AL.com. Because Banks didn’t qualify for drug rehab, she spent the next three months of her pregnancy in jail.
Because of overcrowding in her cell, Banks slept on the floor throughout her high-risk pregnancy, according to AL.com. She also told the news outlet that she bled for five weeks straight while in jail and suffered from hunger and fainting spells.
Hali Burns, a mother of two, was arrested six days after the birth of her son after testing positive for methamphetamine and Subutex, which is used to treat pregnant women with opioid addictions. Burns is challenging the drug test, saying it was a result of nasal medication she took.
According to AL.com, Burns said she was denied access to pads and new underwear despite bleeding for days after giving birth. Burns has also been separated from her children and newborn for months.
Etowah County Deputy District Attorney Carol Griffith stands by the county’s decision to keep Burns detained because of her failed drug test.
“This is an individual who desperately needs the help we are offering here today,” Griffith told AL.com.
On Aug. 19 Etowah County Circuit Court Judge Sonny Steen sided with the county and denied the petition for Burns’ release, according to AL.com.
“The purpose of bond in any criminal case is not only to ensure a Defendant’s appearance at trial but also to protect the community,” Steen wrote in his order. “The court has a duty to consider the safety of the children and others within our community. It is undisputed that the petitioner needs substance abuse treatment; she would have been placed in said treatment facility on Aug. 18, 2022, but for her positive drug tests the day prior.”
From Roth’s perspective, what’s happening in Etowah County is just plain wrong.
“Not only is that illegal from a constitutional standpoint, because the constitutional purposes of bail and bond are not punishment or encouraging somebody getting into treatment,” says Roth. “It just belies all public and scientific evidence… that these kinds of punitive responses to pregnancy and drug use actually harm both maternal and neonatal health.”
A doctor and patient. (photo: Rawpixel/Getty Images)
Men walk along a flooded road with their belongings in Sohbatpur, Pakistan. (photo: Amer Hussain/Reuters)
Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in northern mountains have triggered floods that have killed more than 1,391 people, sweeping away houses, roads, railway tracks, bridges, livestock and crops.
Huge areas of the country are inundated, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. The government says the lives of nearly 33 million have been disrupted. Pakistan estimates the damage at $30 billion, and both the government and Guterres have blamed the flooding on climate change.
The U.N. secretary-general landed in Sindh province on Saturday, before flying over some of the worst-affected areas en route to Balochistan, another badly hit province.
"It is difficult not to feel deeply moved to hear such detailed descriptions of tragedy," Guterres said after landing in Sindh, according to a video released by the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
"Pakistan needs massive financial support. This is not a matter of generosity, it is a matter of justice."
A video released by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb showed Guterres seated next to Sharif viewing flood-damaged areas from an aircraft window. "Unimaginable," Guterres said, surveying the damage.
In July and August, Pakistan got 391 mm (15.4 inches) of rain, or nearly 190% more than the 30-year average. The southern province of Sindh has seen 466% more rain than average.
Guterres said on Saturday the world needed to understand the impact of climate change on low-income countries.
"Humanity has been waging war on nature and nature strikes back," he said.
"Nature strikes back in Sindh, but it was not Sindh that has made the emissions of greenhouse gases that have accelerated climate change so dramatically," Guterres said. "There is a very unfair situation relative to the level of destruction."
The Washburn Fire near Yosemite National Park's southern entrance in Wawona, California. National Parks Service. (photo: Stephen Lam/SF Chronicle)
The fierce weather comes with a risk of flash floods and gusts that could fuel wildfires burning across the state
After days of record-breaking heat that tested California’s energy capacity, baked moisture out of the drought-stricken landscapes and spurred the spread of deadly fires , the arrival of Tropical Storm Kay produced heavy rains that caused flash floods and threatened more trouble for the state’s electric grid.
Showers hit the San Diego area early on Friday afternoon, and more rain is expected as the storm moves north throughout the day and into the weekend. Kay made landfall as a category 1 hurricane along the coast of Baja California, Mexico, before it was downgraded to a tropical storm.
The storm whipped up gusts of 109mph in the San Diego mountains, according to the National Weather Service, as high winds sent trees and power lines tumbling, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The storm came during a week of extreme weather in California and across the American west, as several dangerous events overlapped.
“This is the time of year where we get a lot of these features – just not necessarily all at once,” said Mike Wofford, a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles. Along with rising temperatures that can occur at this time of year, “the fire threat is always there”, he added, noting that the duration of this heatwave – 10 days – was particularly intense.
“Individually those are things we deal with this time of year. It just so happened that in this case we had the hot temperatures very quickly followed by this tropical system,” he said. “That’s the way it worked out and it makes for a really crazy time.”
Fire risks are mounting as tens of thousands have already been forced to flee from fast-moving flames. Both the Mosquito fire burning in the northern part of California and the Fairview fire to the south exhibited erratic and dangerous fire behavior including large plumes, swirls and rapid spread, as they left destruction in their wake. The blazes show no signs of slowing until critical conditions change.
Strong winds with gusts above 40mph complicated containment efforts on the Fairview fire which had surged across more than 27,463 acres by Friday morning. With just 5% containment, officials warned that the conditions were creating risks of long range spotting, where flames can jump more than a mile ahead.
Two people died while fleeing flames on Monday and at least 12 structures have been destroyed. More than 18,000 homes still lay in its path, officials said in an update Thursday evening.
To the north in the Sierra Nevada, the Mosquito fire also continued to burn out of control, scorching at least 29,585 acres nd threatening 3,600 homes in Placer and El Dorado counties, while blanketing the region in smoke. By Friday morning the blaze was still 0% contained.
Flames jumped the American River, burning structures in the mountain hamlet of Volcanoville and moving closer to the towns of Foresthill, home to about 1,500 people, and Georgetown, population 3,000. Fire spokesperson Chris Vestal called the fast-moving blaze an “extreme and critical fire threat”.
Stefani Lake evacuated her hilltop home near Georgetown on Thursday after sheriff’s deputies knocked on doors telling people to get out. “The dogs are in the back of the car, I’ve got a room for the night, so I’m ready to leave,” Lake told the Sacramento Bee.
“Wow, & yikes, are all I’ve got to say,” climate scientist Daniel Swain said on Twitter of the fire, sharing photos of the intense smoke formations emanating out of the blaze. “Explosive wildfire plumes like this – which resemble, from meteorological perspective, volcanic eruptions or nuclear explosions – are all too common these days. I hope everyone in Volcanoville makes it out.”
The Mosquito fire’s cause remained under investigation. The utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) notified California’s Public Utilities Commission that the US Forest Service placed caution tape around the base of a PG&E transmission pole but that no damage could be seen. PG&E said unspecified “electrical activity” occurred close in time to the report of the fire on 6 September.
After a milder-than-expected summer, California officials are now bracing for an intense autumn, when fire risks typically mount. Parched and overgrown landscapes are now primed to burn after extreme heat left already-dried plants with devastatingly low moisture levels.
While big blazes are a natural and important part of the California climate, rising temperatures and a history of land management policies that left high-risk areas overgrown, have shifted conditions, intensifying blazes and the harm they cause.
Fire threats are lingering across the American west this week, prompting the National Interagency Fire at Center to boost the country’s preparedness level to 4, indicating that more than half of all available resources had already been deployed as need grows.
With months of the highest risks still ahead, nearly 6.5m acres have already burned across the US this year. Dozens of fires are burning in several states, including Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
In Oregon, utility companies shut down power to tens of thousands of customers on Friday as dry easterly winds swept into the region in the hopes that it would lessen the risk of wildfires in extremely dry and hot conditions.
Several areas were also blanketed in a thick haze as smoke spread across the region, creating unhealthy air quality and straining energy supplies. Wildfire smoke and the cloud cover created uncertainty about solar power production in afternoon hours when temperatures rise toward their peaks, said Elliot Mainzer, president and CEO of the California Independent System Operator.
Operators of California’s power grid issued another “flex alert” call for voluntary cuts in use of electricity and expanded the period by two hours, 3pm to 10pm. Storm and wind conditions associated with the approaching hurricane were likely to create a new set of risks for power shortages in southern California, Mainzer noted.
Though California’s energy supply was strained for days amid the searing heat, the state has avoided ordering rolling power outages. Residents jumped into action, conserving their use when emergency alerts were issued. But there’s more heat ahead.
“The seemingly endless heatwave that has been plaguing California will finally becoming to an end across at least southern California, but not before two more very hot days and very warm nights,” the Los Angeles-area weather office wrote.
Meteorologist Mike Wofford noted that even as temperatures drop off, aided by the incoming storm, humidity may be an issue. “It is still going to be very warm,” he said. “It is going to be tropical so to a lot of people it won’t offer a lot of relief.”
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