There are four big stories today. The first is that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has confirmed that it found classified documents among those its staff recovered from former president Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.
The news this week is overwhelming and it is refreshing to read this, distilled to the heart of the matter. A side note: I’ve known several people with fairly high government security clearances over the years. If anyone of them had taken nationally classified documents home, they’d already be in custody.
NARA is responsible for the preservation *and access* of records. As with other agencies which interface directly with the public - IRS, USPS, Social Security - Republicans have hobbled Archives services to frustrate the public with government and to get us to push for privatization.
Of course, with the Trump administration, Republicans have had an additional incentive to actively prevent access. For several years Freedom of Information Act requests have been backed up. Now that Trump's presidential papers irregularities have metastasized to possible criminal cases, the situation created by Trump and his Republican co conspirators is taking a disproportionate percentage of limited resources. This does not only obstruct research and reporting - ie government transparency.
Recently Rep. Jared Golden (D, Maine CD2) a combat veteran of our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, who now serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee, wrote to NARA about the plight of veterans, who because they cannot access their records, which can only be accessed through NARA, they cannot receive their essential and emergency benefits.
The harm Trump and the Republicans do ripples out across the nation. Much of it irreparable for many of us.
Four compelling stories to digest, Heather! Thank you for picking up on the most authentic points in all your communications.
A note of thanks to Judge Mehta as well for his ruling on tfg's role in the insurrection and his meticulous reading of all the evidence.
Such a great deal to be proud of tonight: a presidential president, a most effective and efficient US intelligence service, and while "[w]e do not know where the next several days will lead, of course, but it is notable that the solidarity of the countries allied against authoritarianism, strengthened by U.S. diplomacy, is holding strong."
Of all the important stories coming at us, one is of searing personal interest to me. My husband, Mark, was born in Odessa, Ukraine. It is a seaport in the south-west of the country, on the shore of the Black Sea. Mark was less than a year old when his family left Ukraine to come to the USA. It was a long journey without any guaranty that the family would be able immigrate here. Now we wait as more than 44 million Ukrainians prepare for war.
Those people are not simply a mass of strangers in a far away land. They have been building a democracy after living for many, many years under one tyranny after another. We can begin to know Ukraine as we anticipate what its people will be going through.
The first link opens with a mother and son in the USA visiting the homeland.
'Ukraine is more than a sphere of influence. Our staff writer Franklin Foer, whose family has roots in the country, has found himself “swept up in the nation’s struggle to free itself of corruption, authoritarianism, and its dark past.” He offers a plea to remember the people who live there.' (AtlanticMagazine)
The second link takes you to Donbas, a historical, cultural, and economic region in south-eastern Ukraine,[5][6] some of whose territory is occupied by two unrecognized separatist states. This is a digital presentation by the Washington Post, which I hope you'll all be able to see.
The next two links provide understanding of the conflicts that have been part of Ukraine;s history. When you hear news of the country, you will be able to have some sense of what is at stake for them and for us.
trump should go to prison first of all for his mishandling and theft of classified materials from the white house to mar-a-lago. If he gets away with that with a slap on the wrist, it's a massive insult to the many thousands of military and civilian employees who have handled top secret material so responsibly.
Many years ago, I was in the Army and worked with classified material. All the men and women in my unit had top secret clearances with crypto access. I was told by an NCO that speaking ONE word about what we did could land us in prison for 20 years; and that's Ft. Leavenworth not some Club Fed. And that non-disclosure agreement lasted for 20 years after we left service. And trump took boxes of classified material home to mar-a-lago.
I'll bet trump was selling classified material to foreign governments or certainly some type of quid pro quo. Also, Jared Kushner was granted ultimate security clearance when he lied on the application form, and some 35+ security advisors and lawyers advised trump not to give that clearance. If we don't straighten this whole thing out, we're in even worse trouble than imagined.
Unfortunately I didn’t even know Biden was giving a speech today and I imagine many other Americans were u aware of this as well. One of the unfortunate consequences of the proliferation of media we have available is that we become siloed. When I was a child we have a choice of five or six TV stations and when the President have an important address, all programs were preempted. That’s no longer the case and unless one is listening or watching live media we might not know about events of importance.
Thank you for this amazing recap. Yes, a lot has been happening in the last few weeks. Trying to maintain perspective on it all. I hadn’t thought about the fact, till you noted here, that perhaps President Biden was speaking again from the US as the leader of the free world -that would be a welcome return of international standing.
It seems to me a search warrant for Mar-A-Lago and all electronic devices owned by Trump, his family, and staff, including copy machines, is justified and should be carried out immediately. We should assume that copies of the material in question now reside in a secure file cabinet in the Kremlin.
And Donald J. Trump should be under arrest for violation of espionage laws.
All together now; “Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!”
I was irritated with the reporters who were complaining about verification of the US intelligence claims. Once burned, and all that [Colin Powell]. But to me, it was all for an audience of one, Mr. Putin. As Tony Blinken quickly reminded folks, we’re trying to STOP a war, not start one. Neutralizing the disinformation and exposing the cyber warfare and false flagging may hobble the roll-out.
Putin wants to prove to Ukrainians that NATO cannot protect them and wants to crush their democratic movement. And he wants to take back territory once controlled by the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union.
Just as Hitler resented the Trianon treaties at the end of WW1, Putin resents the treaties at the end of the Cold War.
If Trump were in office, you can be darn sure he and his Republican facilitators and synchofants would have the FBI taking Bill and Hillary Clinton into custody if NARA found boxes of Whitehouse and classified records at their private home.
Just like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, we have a world of double standards. One set of, or more correctly no set of standards for bullies, law breakers and people of privilege, and a well defined, enforceable and enforced set of standards for everyone else. We see this throughout our Jim Crow South. We see this with white privilege. We see this with "pro-life" people with guns. The examples are endless, and they are promoted on social media, by talking heads like Joe Rogan, by FOX. We live in a very dangerous time where all of our resources are spent navigating this jungle rather than providing for people and our shared future.
"NARA “has also learned that some White House staff conducted official business using non-official messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts,”
Reporting on this goes back to 2017 and through 2019. "The New York Times had reported that at least six officials, including former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, former strategist Steve Bannon, and aides Stephen Miller and Gary Cohn, had used personal accounts for at least some official business."
Members of Trump's administration and family - bit of an overlap there - ignored NSA guidelines and negligently and purposefully by-passed official servers which automatically archive communications.
"It's pretty remarkable how far the US intel community has come in counter-active measures efforts in the last few years. The analysis paralysis of the past has been replaced by an intentional workstream declassifying intel to expose plans before they're set in motion. Kudos.
February 18th 2022". Chris Krebs' tweet. How many are the "last few years"? If that means "since 2017", it's no surprise to hear that there was "an analysis paralysis". It was noticeably enforced - the paralysis, that is. The truth, even shredded, is now being carried out in boxes.
And through all of this, the Republicans fail to mention that both George W and DJT had personal servers just like Hillary's and that GWB DELETED over 1/2 a million emails from that server. With DJTs penchant for destroying documents and his socialmediaaccounts, how many did he delete. AND Hillary's have all been pored over, sanitized and declared a non-issue by all the top security agencies 'lo these many years. AND they probably cost her the election. What did it cost GWB or tRUMP?
The news this week is overwhelming and it is refreshing to read this, distilled to the heart of the matter. A side note: I’ve known several people with fairly high government security clearances over the years. If anyone of them had taken nationally classified documents home, they’d already be in custody.
Thank you for your insights.
NARA is responsible for the preservation *and access* of records. As with other agencies which interface directly with the public - IRS, USPS, Social Security - Republicans have hobbled Archives services to frustrate the public with government and to get us to push for privatization.
Of course, with the Trump administration, Republicans have had an additional incentive to actively prevent access. For several years Freedom of Information Act requests have been backed up. Now that Trump's presidential papers irregularities have metastasized to possible criminal cases, the situation created by Trump and his Republican co conspirators is taking a disproportionate percentage of limited resources. This does not only obstruct research and reporting - ie government transparency.
Recently Rep. Jared Golden (D, Maine CD2) a combat veteran of our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, who now serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee, wrote to NARA about the plight of veterans, who because they cannot access their records, which can only be accessed through NARA, they cannot receive their essential and emergency benefits.
The harm Trump and the Republicans do ripples out across the nation. Much of it irreparable for many of us.
https://golden.house.gov/media/press-releases/response-severe-backlog-veterans-records-requests-golden-joins-call-full
https://golden.house.gov/sites/golden.house.gov/files/Bentz.Keller.RMBost-Letter%20to%20Fully%20Reopen%20NPRC%201.24.22.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
https://www.archives.gov/veterans
Four compelling stories to digest, Heather! Thank you for picking up on the most authentic points in all your communications.
A note of thanks to Judge Mehta as well for his ruling on tfg's role in the insurrection and his meticulous reading of all the evidence.
Such a great deal to be proud of tonight: a presidential president, a most effective and efficient US intelligence service, and while "[w]e do not know where the next several days will lead, of course, but it is notable that the solidarity of the countries allied against authoritarianism, strengthened by U.S. diplomacy, is holding strong."
Of all the important stories coming at us, one is of searing personal interest to me. My husband, Mark, was born in Odessa, Ukraine. It is a seaport in the south-west of the country, on the shore of the Black Sea. Mark was less than a year old when his family left Ukraine to come to the USA. It was a long journey without any guaranty that the family would be able immigrate here. Now we wait as more than 44 million Ukrainians prepare for war.
Those people are not simply a mass of strangers in a far away land. They have been building a democracy after living for many, many years under one tyranny after another. We can begin to know Ukraine as we anticipate what its people will be going through.
The first link opens with a mother and son in the USA visiting the homeland.
'Ukraine is more than a sphere of influence. Our staff writer Franklin Foer, whose family has roots in the country, has found himself “swept up in the nation’s struggle to free itself of corruption, authoritarianism, and its dark past.” He offers a plea to remember the people who live there.' (AtlanticMagazine)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/defending-ukraine/622063/
The second link takes you to Donbas, a historical, cultural, and economic region in south-eastern Ukraine,[5][6] some of whose territory is occupied by two unrecognized separatist states. This is a digital presentation by the Washington Post, which I hope you'll all be able to see.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/ukraine-russia-donbas-dpr-war/
The next two links provide understanding of the conflicts that have been part of Ukraine;s history. When you hear news of the country, you will be able to have some sense of what is at stake for them and for us.
https://www.vox.com/22917719/russia-ukraine-invasion-border-crisis-nato-explained
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine
trump should go to prison first of all for his mishandling and theft of classified materials from the white house to mar-a-lago. If he gets away with that with a slap on the wrist, it's a massive insult to the many thousands of military and civilian employees who have handled top secret material so responsibly.
Many years ago, I was in the Army and worked with classified material. All the men and women in my unit had top secret clearances with crypto access. I was told by an NCO that speaking ONE word about what we did could land us in prison for 20 years; and that's Ft. Leavenworth not some Club Fed. And that non-disclosure agreement lasted for 20 years after we left service. And trump took boxes of classified material home to mar-a-lago.
I'll bet trump was selling classified material to foreign governments or certainly some type of quid pro quo. Also, Jared Kushner was granted ultimate security clearance when he lied on the application form, and some 35+ security advisors and lawyers advised trump not to give that clearance. If we don't straighten this whole thing out, we're in even worse trouble than imagined.
Unfortunately I didn’t even know Biden was giving a speech today and I imagine many other Americans were u aware of this as well. One of the unfortunate consequences of the proliferation of media we have available is that we become siloed. When I was a child we have a choice of five or six TV stations and when the President have an important address, all programs were preempted. That’s no longer the case and unless one is listening or watching live media we might not know about events of importance.
Thank you for this amazing recap. Yes, a lot has been happening in the last few weeks. Trying to maintain perspective on it all. I hadn’t thought about the fact, till you noted here, that perhaps President Biden was speaking again from the US as the leader of the free world -that would be a welcome return of international standing.
It seems like a big turning point day. Keep breathing, everyone!
It seems to me a search warrant for Mar-A-Lago and all electronic devices owned by Trump, his family, and staff, including copy machines, is justified and should be carried out immediately. We should assume that copies of the material in question now reside in a secure file cabinet in the Kremlin.
And Donald J. Trump should be under arrest for violation of espionage laws.
All together now; “Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!”
I was irritated with the reporters who were complaining about verification of the US intelligence claims. Once burned, and all that [Colin Powell]. But to me, it was all for an audience of one, Mr. Putin. As Tony Blinken quickly reminded folks, we’re trying to STOP a war, not start one. Neutralizing the disinformation and exposing the cyber warfare and false flagging may hobble the roll-out.
Putin wants to prove to Ukrainians that NATO cannot protect them and wants to crush their democratic movement. And he wants to take back territory once controlled by the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union.
Just as Hitler resented the Trianon treaties at the end of WW1, Putin resents the treaties at the end of the Cold War.
If Trump were in office, you can be darn sure he and his Republican facilitators and synchofants would have the FBI taking Bill and Hillary Clinton into custody if NARA found boxes of Whitehouse and classified records at their private home.
Just like the Russian aggression against Ukraine, we have a world of double standards. One set of, or more correctly no set of standards for bullies, law breakers and people of privilege, and a well defined, enforceable and enforced set of standards for everyone else. We see this throughout our Jim Crow South. We see this with white privilege. We see this with "pro-life" people with guns. The examples are endless, and they are promoted on social media, by talking heads like Joe Rogan, by FOX. We live in a very dangerous time where all of our resources are spent navigating this jungle rather than providing for people and our shared future.
"NARA “has also learned that some White House staff conducted official business using non-official messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts,”
Reporting on this goes back to 2017 and through 2019. "The New York Times had reported that at least six officials, including former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, former strategist Steve Bannon, and aides Stephen Miller and Gary Cohn, had used personal accounts for at least some official business."
Members of Trump's administration and family - bit of an overlap there - ignored NSA guidelines and negligently and purposefully by-passed official servers which automatically archive communications.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/politics/jared-kushner-whatsapp.html
"It's pretty remarkable how far the US intel community has come in counter-active measures efforts in the last few years. The analysis paralysis of the past has been replaced by an intentional workstream declassifying intel to expose plans before they're set in motion. Kudos.
February 18th 2022". Chris Krebs' tweet. How many are the "last few years"? If that means "since 2017", it's no surprise to hear that there was "an analysis paralysis". It was noticeably enforced - the paralysis, that is. The truth, even shredded, is now being carried out in boxes.
There once was a salty historian
Who found documents one could but glory in
But that didn't measure
Up to the pleasure
From driving her time-trav'lin' DeLorean
And through all of this, the Republicans fail to mention that both George W and DJT had personal servers just like Hillary's and that GWB DELETED over 1/2 a million emails from that server. With DJTs penchant for destroying documents and his socialmediaaccounts, how many did he delete. AND Hillary's have all been pored over, sanitized and declared a non-issue by all the top security agencies 'lo these many years. AND they probably cost her the election. What did it cost GWB or tRUMP?