Consistent with the theme of today’s great it’s-all-theater post at Bad Cattitude: We now have the unredacted inventory of the stuff the FBI seized at Mar-a-Lago.
I was going to comment that it looks like Trump kept some reading material in some photos, but your comment makes me wonder if I read the wrong document.
I didn't download the pdf, but the 2 shown in the article pretty much said just that. Magazines. Lord help me if they come here and confiscate my collection of magazines. (NO, they're not porn.)
Is it farfetched to assume that the 200 or so magazines are basically every issue of every magazine that featured him or his name or his wife or his kids, either positively or negatively? I think they got his personal fame documentation collection. Maybe they'll make a scrapbook.
I, as a tax paying citizen of these United States, demand to know what book? Stephen King? Danielle Steele? John Grisham? Dammit man! The republic depends on it!
Well, to be quite honest, the more society implodes in on itself (and every day is somehow a new low) the more I find myself turning to basement-level-15-year-old-boy level humor to keep me going. Don’t ever apologize. I’m here for it.
"1 book" and "4 empty folders"...wow, talk about a titillating bonanza! It's not that the folders were empty, it's what he "could" have put in the empty folders that's important.
Chris I read the PDF, it says Classified docs in example Item 13. Now 1) I don’t believe that and 2) Every President is authorized classified docs aides and secure storage and handling facilities, so...? But most people don’t know that and 3) Those may well have been declassified.
There are documents with classification markings. We'll see. But mostly boxes of clothes and press clippings, sprinkled with empty folders. POTUS has inherent declassification authority, so my best guess is that they flatly were declassified. It looks to me like he baited them.
And let's be real, no one can bait better than him. I doubt they'd admit it, but prolly every one of those empty classified folders had a pic of the Donald's junk. At least I hope so.
This whole fracas is Russiagate 2.0. I actually hate the man. However, right and wrong are right and wrong, period. The Dems are shitting themselves over 2024. Anything that they, and the GOP, can do to keep him off the field is ok. In fact, Hilary Clinton possessed/destroyed far more sensitive documents and it was Trump’s DOJ that called it “a careless mishandling of documents.” As soon as that happened Trumpers should have abandoned any notion of change. That was one promise I was actually looking forward to. She has infinitely more blood on her hands than he does. Fact.
I wouldn't call it Trump's DOJ. More like the deep states DOJ headed by a Trump appointee who wouldn't rock the boat for fear that it might disturb the crazies in the back drilling holes through the hull.
Trump backed off to appease squishes in the Republican party who showed their appreciation by stabbing him in the back.
Love him or hate him the only person who has any chance of righting the ship at this point is Trump. He's the only one with the balls to do it and will be in a position to do so politically if a large number of his endorsed candidates win this November and in 24.
All I can say is--WTF?? Seriously, though, it's good to know that our FBI is doing something constructive with their time and our resources! I know I feel better knowing this.
You challenge us not to laugh out loud. Okay, I lost that challenge, although it was more of a funny-sounding semi-guffaw than a "real" haha. BUT perhaps we should challenge you to come up with an even partially cogent account, even if Trump "baited" them, as to why they "took" the bait, why the Court is, to the extent it is, playing along, etc. etc. Make it short: are your ready to propose that somebody is "winning" the game? (And if so, who do you day is winning and what "prize?")
I make no proposal about the state of the game, though I acknowledge it's a game. I very much intend a representation about the **depiction** of the game -- I wish Substack had italics for comments -- and the frantic cable news discussions about, for example, Trump stealing America's nuclear weapons secrets. The newspapers just carried a photo of TOP SECRET folders spread out on the carpet at Mar-a-Lago, to show that THEY CAUGHT HIM RED-HANDED!!!!!!! Then we get the inventory, and the inventory says the boxes were full of empty folders.
The depiction is a joke. The discussion is a joke. (A politicized joke, I should add.) I suspect this means the whole production is a joke, but I don't pretend I can prove that, anymore than Morning Joe can prove any of that daily insane wishcasting.
Dr. Chris -- No worries. I can't tell you how much I agree with you to the effect that things shown/depicted/described/presented by many media/reporters/"officials" etc. are absurdly misdescriptions/ phonies/caricatures/absurdist, etc. etc.
Admittedly, I am, among other things, on a bit of a "jag," in that I can't quite "get over" how often this stuff is stupid/sour/counterproductive-all-the-way around/generally debillitating.
To me, at some level the absurdity is funny. But at some other level, we're not actually doing so well as a nation at the moment in quite a few ways. (Ask Chris Bray who will tell you about the preference in some part of CA for creating little 'socializational bureacratisms' rather than just, say, fixing the streets.) There are a lot of things we collectively don't understand... e.g what a mess the Iraq war made, or why selling the US petroleum reserve to foreigners at this point became necessary but is in fact unhelpful....
So - I'll be plain about it - I can laugh a little at FBI / Trump / Media draaama and pontificating and posturing about the Espionage Act ... but it is also a lot of pathetic at a time when we've already got quite a bit of hopeless/hapless/helpless going on....
A total of 31 Confidential, 46 Secret, 17 Top Secret, and 11,177 US government documents with no classification markings on them, interspersed in boxes with hundreds of newspapers, magazines, a few books, and one article of clothing… 94 classified documents in all, out of 11,271 documents in all. This looks like contents of file cabinets were dumped randomly into boxes and taken to Mar-A-Lago, rather than deliberate espionage, it was carelessness in the handling of classified documents.
Compare and contrast to:
”Over the course of the investigation, the agents found thousands of emails that contained information that should have been treated as government secrets, Comey said Tuesday, including eight messages that had Top Secret information in them. All those messages had been sent or received through unsecure, unclassified channels on Clinton’s private e-mail network. And while agents found no direct evidence that the network was hacked, the FBI thinks it is possible some “hostile actors” may have done so. That combination of facts led Comey to declare Tuesday that Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
Technically speaking, that conclusion could have put Clinton in legal jeopardy. The laws regarding handling of classified information don’t authorize punishing government officials for carelessness, but they are written so broadly they come close. One section of the Espionage Act, 18USC793(f), for example, says anyone authorized to handle secrets who “through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.” Other laws controlling government secrets are similarly broad, especially with regard to Top Secret material.
In practice, however, law enforcement officials have set a high bar for prosecuting violations of those laws, looking for clear criminal intent, which Comey said was absent in the Clinton case. Because the government is awash in secrets, they are regularly mishandled unintentionally. In 2013, according to the National Archives, which tracks classification, executive branch agencies created more than 77 million documents with secrets in them, including 46,800 with newly created secrets. The FBI receives dozens of referrals of leaked classified information every year, according to Justice Department declarations to Congress.” https://time.com/4394178/hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation/
Just the fact that the search warrant was for EVERY item connected to the entire 4 years of his presidential term is insane.
I would be pretty blasé about the whole episode if it was for JUST classified documents. That means it's about more than classified records despite their protestations that it has nothing to do with Jan 6. I call BS
Well since we non-mass formationers are all terrorists anyway, be prepared to have your non-classified documents and books taken. All for the good of the democracy.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the government will prove that this man possessed empty folders."
I was going to comment that it looks like Trump kept some reading material in some photos, but your comment makes me wonder if I read the wrong document.
I didn't download the pdf, but the 2 shown in the article pretty much said just that. Magazines. Lord help me if they come here and confiscate my collection of magazines. (NO, they're not porn.)
"Clear evidence of espionage -- the subject possesses numerous issues of something called Spy magazine."
More like Spy vs Spy.🤣
Note the gover5thugs stuffed the empty folders with socks so they'd look big and irresistible in the photos.🤣
Is it farfetched to assume that the 200 or so magazines are basically every issue of every magazine that featured him or his name or his wife or his kids, either positively or negatively? I think they got his personal fame documentation collection. Maybe they'll make a scrapbook.
Kinda what I was thinking. 😏
A porn MAGAZINE? Hello, the 1910s called - they want their daguerrotypes back!
“Book”
I, as a tax paying citizen of these United States, demand to know what book? Stephen King? Danielle Steele? John Grisham? Dammit man! The republic depends on it!
"How to use the Swedish-made Penis Enlarger Pump: This Sort Of Thing IS My Bag, Baby," signed by Mr. Austin Powers.
OK, NOW it makes sense!
Hahaha, this was the laugh I needed this morning....thank you!
I never, ever thought I would quote Austin Powers again in my adult lifetime. Thank you, Brandon, for making me dig deep.
And you quoted him twice. Dark Brandon FTW!
Well, to be quite honest, the more society implodes in on itself (and every day is somehow a new low) the more I find myself turning to basement-level-15-year-old-boy level humor to keep me going. Don’t ever apologize. I’m here for it.
It's your duty to do so.
Heh, I said dooty.
See? That made me giggle. They can crush my faith in humanity, but they can’t make me stop laughing at fart jokes.
With the accompanying tome, "That's No Woman! That's a Man, Baby!"
Coloring book.
... one Swedish made penis enlarger pump, property of Mr. Austin Powers...
Don’t forget the Umbrella
That made me LOL out loud!
"1 book" and "4 empty folders"...wow, talk about a titillating bonanza! It's not that the folders were empty, it's what he "could" have put in the empty folders that's important.
The Orange Man is in trouble now...fer sure!
Chris I read the PDF, it says Classified docs in example Item 13. Now 1) I don’t believe that and 2) Every President is authorized classified docs aides and secure storage and handling facilities, so...? But most people don’t know that and 3) Those may well have been declassified.
This is all nonsense. But what does the PDF say?
There are documents with classification markings. We'll see. But mostly boxes of clothes and press clippings, sprinkled with empty folders. POTUS has inherent declassification authority, so my best guess is that they flatly were declassified. It looks to me like he baited them.
And let's be real, no one can bait better than him. I doubt they'd admit it, but prolly every one of those empty classified folders had a pic of the Donald's junk. At least I hope so.
Amazing junk -- the best junk, incredible high-class junk, trust me.
Fantastic junk
I agree he didn’t have classified unsecured (Ex-Presidents get aides to handle classified ).
It’s nonsense.
LOL nooooooooo! Seriously, I would have looked better on the FBI if the folders read gotcha
Or at least a solid “Rick Roll”
This whole fracas is Russiagate 2.0. I actually hate the man. However, right and wrong are right and wrong, period. The Dems are shitting themselves over 2024. Anything that they, and the GOP, can do to keep him off the field is ok. In fact, Hilary Clinton possessed/destroyed far more sensitive documents and it was Trump’s DOJ that called it “a careless mishandling of documents.” As soon as that happened Trumpers should have abandoned any notion of change. That was one promise I was actually looking forward to. She has infinitely more blood on her hands than he does. Fact.
I wouldn't call it Trump's DOJ. More like the deep states DOJ headed by a Trump appointee who wouldn't rock the boat for fear that it might disturb the crazies in the back drilling holes through the hull.
Trump backed off to appease squishes in the Republican party who showed their appreciation by stabbing him in the back.
Love him or hate him the only person who has any chance of righting the ship at this point is Trump. He's the only one with the balls to do it and will be in a position to do so politically if a large number of his endorsed candidates win this November and in 24.
All I can say is--WTF?? Seriously, though, it's good to know that our FBI is doing something constructive with their time and our resources! I know I feel better knowing this.
Trump is guilty as charged of 'messy narcissistic behavior.' Lock him up!!
Well I didn't laugh, was there a prize for that? But at least now I understand why the DOJ is so opposed to a special marshal.
You challenge us not to laugh out loud. Okay, I lost that challenge, although it was more of a funny-sounding semi-guffaw than a "real" haha. BUT perhaps we should challenge you to come up with an even partially cogent account, even if Trump "baited" them, as to why they "took" the bait, why the Court is, to the extent it is, playing along, etc. etc. Make it short: are your ready to propose that somebody is "winning" the game? (And if so, who do you day is winning and what "prize?")
I make no proposal about the state of the game, though I acknowledge it's a game. I very much intend a representation about the **depiction** of the game -- I wish Substack had italics for comments -- and the frantic cable news discussions about, for example, Trump stealing America's nuclear weapons secrets. The newspapers just carried a photo of TOP SECRET folders spread out on the carpet at Mar-a-Lago, to show that THEY CAUGHT HIM RED-HANDED!!!!!!! Then we get the inventory, and the inventory says the boxes were full of empty folders.
The depiction is a joke. The discussion is a joke. (A politicized joke, I should add.) I suspect this means the whole production is a joke, but I don't pretend I can prove that, anymore than Morning Joe can prove any of that daily insane wishcasting.
Dr. Chris -- No worries. I can't tell you how much I agree with you to the effect that things shown/depicted/described/presented by many media/reporters/"officials" etc. are absurdly misdescriptions/ phonies/caricatures/absurdist, etc. etc.
Admittedly, I am, among other things, on a bit of a "jag," in that I can't quite "get over" how often this stuff is stupid/sour/counterproductive-all-the-way around/generally debillitating.
To me, at some level the absurdity is funny. But at some other level, we're not actually doing so well as a nation at the moment in quite a few ways. (Ask Chris Bray who will tell you about the preference in some part of CA for creating little 'socializational bureacratisms' rather than just, say, fixing the streets.) There are a lot of things we collectively don't understand... e.g what a mess the Iraq war made, or why selling the US petroleum reserve to foreigners at this point became necessary but is in fact unhelpful....
So - I'll be plain about it - I can laugh a little at FBI / Trump / Media draaama and pontificating and posturing about the Espionage Act ... but it is also a lot of pathetic at a time when we've already got quite a bit of hopeless/hapless/helpless going on....
Yeah, I feel that.
A total of 31 Confidential, 46 Secret, 17 Top Secret, and 11,177 US government documents with no classification markings on them, interspersed in boxes with hundreds of newspapers, magazines, a few books, and one article of clothing… 94 classified documents in all, out of 11,271 documents in all. This looks like contents of file cabinets were dumped randomly into boxes and taken to Mar-A-Lago, rather than deliberate espionage, it was carelessness in the handling of classified documents.
Compare and contrast to:
”Over the course of the investigation, the agents found thousands of emails that contained information that should have been treated as government secrets, Comey said Tuesday, including eight messages that had Top Secret information in them. All those messages had been sent or received through unsecure, unclassified channels on Clinton’s private e-mail network. And while agents found no direct evidence that the network was hacked, the FBI thinks it is possible some “hostile actors” may have done so. That combination of facts led Comey to declare Tuesday that Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
Technically speaking, that conclusion could have put Clinton in legal jeopardy. The laws regarding handling of classified information don’t authorize punishing government officials for carelessness, but they are written so broadly they come close. One section of the Espionage Act, 18USC793(f), for example, says anyone authorized to handle secrets who “through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.” Other laws controlling government secrets are similarly broad, especially with regard to Top Secret material.
In practice, however, law enforcement officials have set a high bar for prosecuting violations of those laws, looking for clear criminal intent, which Comey said was absent in the Clinton case. Because the government is awash in secrets, they are regularly mishandled unintentionally. In 2013, according to the National Archives, which tracks classification, executive branch agencies created more than 77 million documents with secrets in them, including 46,800 with newly created secrets. The FBI receives dozens of referrals of leaked classified information every year, according to Justice Department declarations to Congress.” https://time.com/4394178/hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation/
these things always backfire. but tell me honestly, did someone really type "Miliary Aide"?
Just the fact that the search warrant was for EVERY item connected to the entire 4 years of his presidential term is insane.
I would be pretty blasé about the whole episode if it was for JUST classified documents. That means it's about more than classified records despite their protestations that it has nothing to do with Jan 6. I call BS
I think the DOJ will arrest and perp walk DJT to the strains of Wagner, especially after the vitriolic ravings of last evening.
Well since we non-mass formationers are all terrorists anyway, be prepared to have your non-classified documents and books taken. All for the good of the democracy.