42 judges, 51 intelligence officers, is there no bottom to the swamp? Fire all the commissars who think they can run the country with group letters and groupthink. They should have no power over our lives and have no clue what free speech is.
“However, as public health advocates, we do not condemn these gatherings as risky for COVID-19 transmission. We support them as vital to the national public health and to the threatened health specifically of Black people in the United States. We can show that support by facilitating safest protesting practices without detracting from demonstrators’ ability to gather and demand change. This should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-home orders.”
We should NEVER forget this. And we cannot forget the fact that we all had to be vaccinated while they let millions of unvaccinated people pour across the border. Those of us who saw this hypocrisy were severely castigated--or worse.
I didn't get vaccinated. I am certainly not alone. Now, I totally understand your point because there are many people that went along due to their own personal circumstances and commitments, but I hope those people learned a valuable lesson. NEVER rely on an outside party for your personal well being. Especially a government.
I understand why this made you angry. I hope you will keep your eyes open to the transgressions of this administration, which, incidentally, instituted Operation Warp Speed paving the way for the pharma companies to produce vaccines without typical protective protocols.
What was Trump supposed to do? In 2020, if he doesn't take the gloves off re: FDA approvals for covid shots, he's killing grandma. Fauci is standing there telling the world Trump is standing the way of science (and Tony's multimillion dollar payday). In an election year? that's really stupid...
What he was supposed to do was see through the bs and be what his supporters wanted him to be. Instead he turned the government over to the covid charlatans and went along with wrecking the US economy and delivering Americans to the poisoner's needle. That's why he lost the election-by being weak. Maybe if he had been strong and done the right thing he wouldn't have lost. In any case it turned out fortuitous for him to lose because it gave the people space to appreciate how messed up the democrats could really be and set the stage for his glorious return. He gets a second chance, but once again due to his inherent weakness he has turned the government over to nefarious agents and imperiled the citizens who believed in him.
It's easy to find fault in hindsight. Even the schemers like Fauci didn't know the full extent of what they had done. All they knew for sure is they were complicit in the release of the virus and they needed to cover their tracks.
A LOT of people in both parties made public comments that didn't age well. I don't find fault, except where they were bald-faced hypocrites- accusing those in the other party of not being clairvoyant while they themselves were telling the public to go out and enjoy Chinese New Year celebrations, or locking down the areas they govern while going out to dine in upscale restaurants.
Like in this video of governor Phil Murphy of NJ: "Murphy, is that you? You're such a dick!" Hilarious.
As I recall, the media was so anxious about Trump being able to take credit for Operation Warp Speed that they begged Big Pharma not to release any statements prior to the election.
I understand your point about Trump, but keep in mind, this term is different. Trump is different. He was in the lion's den in his first term and didn't handle many things well, but nobody else who is not in lock step with the swamp would have either. I am not a Trumper, nor an anti-Trumper. I will applaud the good things he does, laugh at his trolling, but keep a close eye on concerning things he is doing. At present I don't have much to complain about, but I am not naive. It ain't all roses.
I fully support everything RFK Jr. is doing - which is one of the examples of how this term and this Trump is different.
I hope your memory is open to Biden and Harris saying they would not take Trump’s vaccine. Well, who knows, maybe they didn’t but they sure loved mandates and nasty threats around the unvaccinated. Lack of efficacy was already demonstrated by the time Biden assumed office. He had a great opportunity to call the vaccine a Trump mistake and to walk away from it. He didn’t. Wonder why?
Many if not most health care workers had contracted Covid during 2020, pre-vaccine; they had no need for a Covid vaccination. Natural infection immunity was shown by Gazit et al (based on a large number of Israelis in a medical database) to be about 25-fold more effective than the Pfizer double jab in preventing symptomatic Covid. Original Antigenic Sin indicates that those with natural infection immunity were much better protected from the ever-mutating SARS-CoV2 virus than the vaccinated. (We still don't know if the vaccines interfered with natural infection immunity.)
As a health care worker who had Covid in 3/20 and waited til 9/21 on the last week our health dept had the non-MRA Johnson& Johnson to get a vax and save the job...I just want to say that many of us made the best calculated bad-choice-left. Wasn't worth losing a position in the fight to make a stand benefitting no one.
But by now it is obvious that countries that could not afford the Covid mRNA vaccines did much better than the West with the virus and consequent non-Covid excess deaths. Not just most health workers exposed to the very contagious Covid strains in 2020, but also cities throughout the world with international airports which had their worst outbreaks early on, likely had superior natural infection immunity before the mRNA vaccine rollouts. An extreme case was Jay Bhattacharya's findings that Santa Clara, California had 53,000 people with antibodies to SARS-CoV2 (and likely excellent immunity to Covid) although hospitals and clinics reported only ~1200 cases there.
Well, wait a minute. The April 2020 population of New York City is 8.8 million people. If 24.7% of them have covid antibodies, haven’t we missed roughly 2,175,000 “cases” of covid IN NEW YORK CITY ALONE?
And those missed cases DRASTICALLY change the math. Since the hospitals are testing everybody who goes to the hospital (or dies), they’re likely to be catching the SEVERE cases of covid, but not the mild ones. With this rough estimate, New York City was missing roughly 12 cases of covid for every one they caught — roughly in line with early CDC estimates.
That puts the actual infection fatality rate — even for an area that threw covid patients into nursing homes — at about 0.8%.
This week in Free Speech history: US Supreme Court case Gitlow vs. New York recently turned 100 years old.
In a landmark ruling the Court allowed state laws criminalizing advocating the violent overthrow of the US government, pretty much following precedent that existed at the federal level.
However, for the first time the Court "incorporated" the First Amendment to the state level - the Bill of Rights is not explicitly binding on state governments in its text, and thus on plain reading those amendments only restrict the Federal government. However, this was the first time ever the Court used what became known as "incorporation" using the newer due process clause of the 14th Amendment, which did explicitly bind the states as well, to pull in protection of a right guaranteed by the first ten amendments. They said that the states couldn't pass laws resricting free speech either.
One by one or part by part over the years, the Court pulled in the other Bill of Rights Amendments as well after that point, so that state and local governments are now most bound by all of the terms in the bill of rights, with minimal exceptions, the only really notable being that states can choose their own rules on jury trials for civil cases. From the First Amendment, freedom of the press and freedom of religion each had their own separate cases that did this.
Sounds like the “12 Days of Christmas” has turned cancerous and metastasized into the “51 Days of Threats to Our Democracy”.
🎼 On the 51st Day of Trump’s threats to our democracy, the Fake News sent to me, 51 former intelligence officers…42 former judges…33 screaming RINOs…8 retired generals…7 former admirals…FIVE LATE NIGHT HOSTS!…and a Brennan with a “Company” Laptop”🎼
The judges have a first amendment right to speak their minds. It is good to see their names and exactly where they stand.
More serious is the fact that 1,400 January 6th protesters, who also supposedly have first amendment rights-- "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"-- were charged with federal trespassing, a misdemeanor for which many spent weeks in jail. In contrast, Kevin Clinesmith the FBI lawyer who pled guilty to felony forgery charges for falsely changing Carter Page's status on a FISA application from CIA asset to a probable Russian agent, not only didn't spend a day in jail but is still practicing law in DC, unusual for a convicted felon.
The two-tiered American justice system in (political) action.
If only the fundamental issue were Comey's perjurious statements. But these are just symptoms--as is the stupid letter under discussion--of a much more profound rot. Comey's verdict will be just one more drop in the noisome swamp that we have permitted and enabled over the past thirty years to fester to this point of endangering the polity. The Trump administration is doing its best to whack away at many of its manifestations, but until the majority of us fearlessly support tearing it out root and branch, it will continue to produce Comeys and amoral "retired judges."
It seems every time you turn around, another scandal is uncovered so I agree that we need a majority to fearlessly support tearing it out root and branch. I wish I knew how long it will take us to get to that majority.
It's a sad state of affairs isn't it? When judges allow politics to affect their judgement, they are not longer judges but simple patriarch's in the church of whatever political party they are aligning themselves with.
This sentence sums it all up very nicely: "There is no “free speech absolutist” alive who’d count perjury and classified leaks as protected First Amendment activity."
Forgive me for belaboring what I think is the obvious. Isn't it serendipity that in one case 42 somehow coalesced quickly to make their case. Similarly the same thing happened with 51. Call me something but isn't it equally likely a fraternity already existed to make this happen.
The swamp is deep and deadly. There can be no mercy shown as it’s drained. It has to be sterilized and made unfit for life. Otherwise it will come back.
That's how it sounds to me--these letters from dozens of experts. Fifties TV advertising--all delivered in Joe Biden's raspy old voice. White coats and poster board graphs. Comey even looks like a Fifties TV announcer.
It's the American Bubble. This was an inevitable consequence of persistent growth in government. The big question is "will there be real accountability this time?"
Comey's consistent denial and general lack of good faith in this whole saga is telling in that he is just one cog in this machine. We have thousands more just like him in our government. Yes, just about everyone currently employed in every agency and Dept. needs to be fired and perhaps sued for back pay. It's utterly disgraceful.
Then again, this is just human civilization in 2025. Has it ever been any different?
Why Matt wouldn’t bother is obvious: the optics of Trump unambiguously attacking the family of one of his political enemies is so discrediting of the MAGA movement that for Matt to acknowledge it would surely cost him subscribers. Matt would prefer to appear to be a coward than lose $.
You don't think she deserved being fired? I wouldn't say she was fired because of her dad, she was fired because she did a piss-poor job in two high profile prosecutions for very dubious reasons. Clearly partisan reasons. The same partisan reasons her dad is currently in the crosshairs for.
You won't get a lot of support for your position simply because people are sick of the swamp and will put even a flawed human like Trump in the WH in order to "crack some shells," as it were.
And who cracks Trump’s shell? Th guy is the most outrageously venal and corrupt politician in 100 years, and yet you pretend to care about “the Swamp”.
Can we start rejecting the BS letters signed by x many of such and such out of hand? This is a BS tactic to create a sense of authority when there really is none. It is just a bunch of partisans. I am sure Trump can get 50 former this or that to sign a letter saying Comey is an asshole. So what? 400 of Jimmy Kimmel's friends think he is just great. So what? 51 liars sign letter lying about Hunter Biden's laptop. 1000 scientists say polar ice melted ten years ago. BS. Like this comment and I can say x number of super smart people think I am right! Ha Ha!
As a former prosecutor, I volunteer to sign that “Comey is an ass” letter.
That judges would sign and publish this letter frightens me. It is unethical for them to weigh in on a pending case. And do you doubt any of these honorable leaders of the judiciary will hesitate to send any of us to the camps when given a chance? Not a good omen.
As someone who has worked in the DC sphere too long, I am just so weary of this stuff. 1) Get people to sign letter supporting your position. 2) release letter to friendly press to write article. 3) Cite articles and letter as support of your position. It is just one more "tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth" type tactic. And as far as judges go, ultimately only 5 of 9 matter in most of these instances.
DC may as well stand for District of Cult since it seems that retaining one's status within the society of said cult is the primary motivator for these followers.
I could give a long speech in support of your statement. I will keep it short- "Inside the beltway" is and has been a real thing. A largely humorless bunch of climbers with b rate intellects motivated by power, greed, and money. There are a few bright lights but far fewer than when I arrived on the scene in 1995.
Yeah, Thomas Massie is one really bright spot that comes to mind for me. There are others, like Rand Paul, Jim Jordan, and such in the Legislative that I also like. It's just an unfortunate side effect of being human, that there are always going to be those amongst us that are exclusively in it for themselves and the power structure that supports them.
Those are some good names for sure! I would add JD Vance when he was there. I always think why any of these guys like Schumer and Pelosi stay there till their dying day. I'd rather be fishing or one of my other hobbies or with my daughter or my nieces and nephew. These people have enough money and a sweet pension. But they live for the power and adulation. I forget who wrote it but it was one of those satirists for a conservative publication who said of Robert C Byrd that if he wasn't a U.S. Senator, he'd be at Denny's at 4 PM for the early bird special or something to that effect. A bunch of blowhards who lost the plot about being public servants years ago.
PS- I think that is why it is former judges. Makes the letter even more BS. Even then they should not weigh in. I should have added that this trend of political judging which I think coincides with advocacy journalism is as destructive to the rule of law as advocacy journalism is to journalism. It used to be that judges of all stripes would throw up their hands and say "the law is the law" essentially. I think a lot of the outrage at the Supreme Court is they are not putting up with judicial activism and the abuse of power by all too many lower-level judges. This whole Comey saga is a microcosm of a broader trend. I only wish the President was more circumspect in his commentary. The evidence that Comey and others were up to no good appears to be there, he should let the investigators and prosecutors do their jobs and not give PR ammo to the opposition.
"I only wish the President was more circumspect in his commentary."
Trump has never been circumspect about his commentary during the time I have been familiar with him, which started with his first presidential campaign. He doesn't constrain his words much at all, as far as I can tell. I just love it, because the Democrats have become so incredibly tight assed and controlling about what can be said to whom, when, and in exactly what words. As far as Trump measuring up to normal standards of comportment, there is no chance of that happening. I am no longer sure if this is an indication of his weaknesses or his strengths.
Absolutely agree. Former judge status means nothing since they are still, no doubt, members of the bar AND will be deployed to serve on the courts set up by the next censorship regime.
I know, I generally like it too, but it is not helpful in these legal cases because it helps make the defense argument that this is malicious prosecution. It gives the judge an out that he or she would not have had he just kept his mouth shut.
As usual the establishment is "weighing in" early so as to anchor the narrative. They will capture the majority of people and only the few free thinkers will be left to hear the whole story.
How do you investigate an obviously corrupt major party Presidential candidate who was OPENLY colluding with Russians for decades and continued through TWO terms as President separated by four years?
How do you think an honest FBI Director would have investigated Nixon to uphold his oath to protect and defend the Constitution against ALL enemies?
Hasn’t the SCOTUS ruled it’s ok for criminal investigators to lie to criminal suspects?
It's hard to say how much of that is really legitimate too. I am not even sure Adam Carolla would sign that (maybe he did) and he clearly is a friend of Kimmel's. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some of these actors were "paid" for their signature, in the form of future roles or an invite to the next party.
I think you should do it! Or, Racket should. “(Fill in the blank number) of Racket News commenters who love 1A opine that Comey is an ass . . .” The New York Post might cover it.
It's not about right and wrong with these people. It's about winning.
Today JB Pritzker is demanding that the 25th Amendment be invoked against Donald Trump after his whole party refused to invoke it against Joe Biden, who much more clearly deserved it. The same rationale applies.
Yeah, these Dems are always bleating about finding Republicans to stand up to Trump. I can count on one finger the number of Democrats who called out Biden's unsuitability to serve a second term - that would have been Dean Phillips
Our entire country and culture, from politics to sports to movies to lame late-night TV shows, revolve around the same axis: the cold civil war taking place throughout the entire West between the Globalist/neoliberal managerial/ownership class and the Nationalists, who comprise more or less everyone not on the other team from Christian conservatives to libertarian tech bros.
Nothing else matters: judges and generals and bureaucrats and journalists and professors etc will do or say anything—journalists against free speech, judges against the Constitution, professors against free thought (debate is violence!) etc—that is required at any moment to help and support their own side and attack and wound the other side.
It is a waste of time and energy to keep sniffing out hypocrises or inconsistencies or violations of oath or duty, and certainly a waste of time to parse truth and fact from lies—all these standards and claims are dead and buried.
The progressive aristocrats who consider themselves the rightful owners of "Our Democracy" have no interest in anything but destroying their political opponents and stripping them of social power.
Social Justice vs MAGA is the only game in town and "Whose side are you on?" is the only question. The postliberal post-literate tribal future is here and the 21st century resembles the first scene of Kubrick's "2001": Two bands of ugly apes screaming threats and slinging shit at each other. This is the real right side of History.
"Social Justice vs MAGA is the only game in town and "Whose side are you on?" is the only question."
Sadly, too true. And it seems those who choose to view things objectively and without bias, who make solid arguments against this tribalism, are attacked by BOTH sides, because "if you ain't with us, you're against us."
"Kubrick's "2001": Two bands of ugly apes screaming threats and slinging shit at each other. This is the real right side of History."
Humans haven't really changed very much, and least too many of us!
Once again, a wonderfully conceived and well-written piece.
True, true, and.... true. One side (mine, of course) has a more justifiable claim to sanity, but there are entrenched, potentially destructive interests on both sides.
Forget right or left, what we need is much, much less, where the left and elements of the right (i.e. most of congressional Republicans) want more, more, more. What may sound "libertarian" is more readily identified as "Originalist."
In summary, most of our leaders, obsessed with greed, don't care if they sit atop ruins, as long as they are on top.
i think this is more or less the same as it's always been except for the fact that our rulers are now global(ists) and thus have severed the bond bw rulers and ruled. You can't lead people if you're apart from them. Make noblesse oblige great again!
We didn't have mass media until the printing press and then it took a while until a majority of people could read. And then it took until the Crimean with telegraphy that there could be "on the ground" reporting ( instead of what the rulers wanted people to know).
So in the history of humans the opportunity for everyday people to have any idea of what the rulers were up to is a blink. They want back that power.
Big money doesn't think or act locally and even (actually, especially) shithole countries have gated communities. Let's be honest, a middle class demands higher wages and was a temporary anomaly. Lords and serfs are the natural order of things. Why struggle?
I always enjoy reading your comments - this one immediately brought to mind this (excellent) essay, which I just reread. It struck a chord with me that's still ringing years later. Highest recommendation!
America has reverted to type, bands of humanoids fomented to ferocity by the most unstable and vengeful. Turns out the mysterious black monolith was the laptop, the slab of rage.
Reminds me of that old Sam Kinnison joke - "Rock against drugs? That's like Christians against Christ."
"Social Justice vs MAGA is the only game in town and "Whose side are you on?" is the only question."
Nope There is a pretty sizable slice of "none of the above", as "Social Justice" found out the hard way last election. And anyway, it's D donors vs R donors if you want to be accurate.
It used to be capital versus labor. Now it's capital versus capital. Pallets of bricks will be delivered mysteriously free of charge for both side's convenience.
I am glad you put "social justice" in quotes since I feel like it is one of those Orwellian terms that has more of a doublespeak connotation to it than it would seem. Social justice wouldn't even be a concept if our laws were simply applied evenly and fairly to every human being, regardless as to their status (wealth, race, sex, religion, creed, etc.) . The only way for this to happen is for every single adult to enforce the objective moral and ethical basis for these laws. That of course is a pipe dream, for the very same 'status' reasons.
"Two bands of ugly apes screaming threats and slinging shit at each other. This is the real right side of History."
LOL!!!
Maybe our species will rise, flourish, degenerate, devolve and collapse instead of moving forever forward as has always been predicted. By us, that is.
So the $64000 question, Mr Taibbi. Why, after everything you just wrote that is obviously and painfully true. Does it not have any effect on the democrat voter or their leaders?
The only thing I can come away with is, they have no honor.
Sounds like you haven't spoken to any of them. I have. They are impervious to logic, reasoning, facts or common sense. They live in a world defined for them by corporate media propaganda, rage-inducing political hyperbole and outright lies.
As to why they are like this? Either Covid PTSD or they are the weak-minded among us susceptible to brainwashing. I believe the latter but there is strong correlation with the former.
"They live in a world defined for them by corporate media propaganda, rage-inducing political hyperbole and outright lies."
Agreed! And some still cling to anachronisms like "Democrats are for the little guy", and all Republicans are greedy shills from corporate America. They can't see beyond their programming
All the more reason to resist our own versions of groupthink. Thinking critically is vital to restoring any kind of civility to our society. Uncritically accepting mistakes and malicious actions on our side would be fatal.
"The only thing I can come away with is, they have no honor."
That question perplexes me too! (See also Trump Derangement Syndrome). Not sure if it's lack of honor, lack of vision, or just the tribalist brainwashing being too effective. Too many simply believe what they want to believe and refuse to examine or believe evidence to the contrary. It's easier to attack a messenger than evaluate the validity of the message. Many are bigoted in the truest sense of the word. (See also MAGA haters.) And let's not forget, it's easier to fool someone than convince them they've been fooled.
I’ve always heard IQ defined as “the ability to learn”. I don’t know what quotient defines the willingness to learn. Whatever that may be, it’s lacking in a large part of the population.
Democrats share a willful ignorance. Their self worth depends on deception of self, perhaps even more than the deception of others. I feel safe in the assumption that Matt is not on the reading list of the bubble dwellers.
In 1963, my parents bought a newly built, brick, mid-century ranch style house on a corner lot in a brand new subdivision for $19K. The same house has a current estimated value of $282K.
The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Contestants answered general knowledge questions, earning money which doubled as the questions became more difficult. The final question had a top prize of $64,000 (equivalent to $750,000 in 2024), hence the "$64,000 Question" in the show's title.
The democratic voter question is easy. It's all 24/7 Public Relations for almost all of the very few "faithful" remaining. No one believes a word of what they say anymore--except for the potential shooters.
The real question is: It takes only fifteen minutes researching RussiaGate to see that the republican party is equal partners with the democrats to remove Trump by all means necessary--and this is ongoing.
So the exact same formula applies to the republican "faithful" that remain.
Because they have no interest in this article. It’s pure tribalism. They’ve spent a decade screaming “Russia Russia Russia” — they are pot committed at this point.
What a great write up Matt.. The Wall Street journal had comey's number many many years ago, unfortunately they don't hammer it home enough anymore, but he has been a sleaze ball for decades. How anybody can read what you wrote and think this person is worth listening to at all is mind-boggling. These judges are just simple-minded partisan hacks feebly trying to hang on to whatever patronage they needed to get their positions. I remember watching Comey testify on his investigation of Susan Rice laptop, (I have investigative experience) and I looked at my partner and said - we wouldn't have let a probationary patrolman get away with such a horseshit investigation, and here's the head of the FBI bragging about the job he did. It just shows how he was so untethered from reality. What concerns me as we approach the fall is Congress is again slow walking investigations and I don't know why. you and your colleagues have given them more than enough information to zealously investigate.All those people who took the fifth back in June should have been immunized the next day and dragged back in to testify, and nothing has happened. You have to wonder why Comer and the rest of these guys run out the clock on Trump? Have they already been bought?
The rank narcissism of Jim Comey is endless. I’m thinking he got his professor friend to round up all those asshole judges to write their letters to appease the whiny Comey. “Trump is picking on me!”
Reminds me of the group of professors who came out STRONGLY in 2016 in defense of free speech. I'm not sure what happened to them during the Biden years, but I bet you they're out there screeching about free speech again today.
Edit -- found the article I was thinking of, it was writers, not professors:
PEN America, a literary and human rights organization, decided to respond by taking a public stand in defense of free expression. On Wednesday, the organization unveiled a pledge to defend the First Amendment that is cosponsored by Daily Kos, The Nation, People for the American Way and a number of progressive entities.
The pledge, which has been signed by Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, Nicole Krauss and all living past U.S. poets laureate, calls out Trump’s pattern of threatening speech toward members of the media and disenfranchised groups since his presidential campaign commenced.
The most disheartening part to this latest "threat to democracy" panic is that it's yet another example of how dishonest and partisan "impartial" judges and the judiciary have become. When I was growing up, if somebody claimed they were falsely accused of something, they were promised, "Well, you'll have your day in court." Now, the prospect of going before a corrupt, partisan hack judge is no comfort. Corrupt politicians are destroying this country, and the equally corrupt judiciary is their backstop.
Don't forget the partisan district attorneys who decide which crimes to bring before a judge and which to ignore. Tribalism runs deep in Homo sapiens, especially in that special, bright-eyed monkey, Homo politicus. "Have you noticed how the Neanderthals bury their dead? They call those grave goods! I'm not saying they should die out but give me a break."
When I listen to some of our present judges, I am completely floored by their interpretation of events. It's as if they've never read the Constitution or Bill of Rights AND as if they are living inside bunkers that only allows access to MSNBC, the Bulwark, NYT, and CNN as long as that one animated, happy dude is on at the time. I hate to even imagine what retired judges do with their time. For all we know, they could be living in home care facilities like Robert Mueller has been for quite a while.
I love the gall of the lawyers to intone "For the first time in American history". You've gotta have a dysfunctional cranium not to imagine that, at some point in the last quarter-millennium of American chicanery, there hasn't been a SINGLE case of abrogation in speech rights. Certainly no Sedition act of 1918, criminalizing disloyal speech about the government and the army.
My goodness, four seconds of Googling (old fashioned! not even LLM AI slop!) finds: "Throughout the war, newspaper reporters and editors were arrested without due process for opposing the draft, discouraging enlistments in the Union army, or even criticizing the income tax." -- https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/civil-war-u-s/
UNPRECEDENTED! OUTRAGE OUTRAGE OUTRAGE FASCIST ORANGE HIMMLER &c &c back to work everyone
Of course. But this was written by lawyers, so triple-check for weasel words and assume you still missed some.
Note: "the bedrock First Amendment right of American citizens to disagree with their president and their government". They'll likely weasel about with regards to, say, `public safety' in regards COVID censorship, and claim that criticism of the government is different and special and UNPRECEDENTED OVERREACH OVERREICH FASCIST HIMMLER &c. &c. I agree about the misdirection, but like cockroaches, you gotta stomp 'em where they run to, not just where you first noticed them.
Ah yes, Free Speech, that fragile orchid progressives only remember to water when James Comey needs a halo. The same folks who wrote a group love letter turning Comey into a First Amendment folk hero apparently just discovered that "disagreeing with the president" covers… signing off on dodgy FISA apps, leaking to the press, and then giving Congress the "by the book" shrug. Spare me. Comey’s actually under indictment -this isn’t fan fiction,and the panic machine is already screaming "End of Democracy" at a pitch only dogs and MSDNC can hear. 
Where was this tear-soaked reverence for speech when Daniel Hale got 45 months for exposing the drone program, when FBI agent Terry Albury got 48 months for showing how the Bureau actually operates, when CIA officer John Kiriakou got 30 months, or when Chelsea Manning was hammered with a 35-year sentence before an eleventh-hour commutation. No open-letter aria for them. Because their speech inconvenienced power, not protected it. 
And this "speech" they’re defending? Let’s talk specifics. The DOJ Inspector General found the Steele material “pushed [the FISA proposal] over the line,” and congressional findings have repeatedly described that dossier as “central and essential” to the Carter Page warrants—the same warrants Comey personally certified three times. Steele, meanwhile, was terminated “for cause” after unauthorized media contacts, yet the renewals rolled on. That’s not noble dissent. That’s weaponized process dressed up as principle. 
Also rich: the sudden, burning love for free expression from the crowd that spent 2020–2022 applauding “content moderation” like it was a national sport. Meta’s own CEO has now said the White House leaned on them about Covid posts, and Google/YouTube’s posture with political speech and Covid “misinformation” is under House scrutiny. Funny how jawboning the platforms offstage was “safety,” but questioning Saint James of Comey is tyranny. 
So yes, by all means, let’s protect dissent. But spare us the cosplay. When whistleblowers bled for telling the public what its government was doing, the same people clutching pearls for Comey were busy sharpening the knives, or looking the other way while the platforms did it for them. Free speech isn’t your boutique boutique that opens only when your guy needs a lawyer and a lighting crew.
I believe the use of the First Amendment to cover-up crimes is a deep state operation just like its opposite, the use of the Espionage Act to prosecute the deep state enemies, is.
42 judges, 51 intelligence officers, is there no bottom to the swamp? Fire all the commissars who think they can run the country with group letters and groupthink. They should have no power over our lives and have no clue what free speech is.
"Health care workers"
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/05/health/health-care-open-letter-protests-coronavirus-trnd
“However, as public health advocates, we do not condemn these gatherings as risky for COVID-19 transmission. We support them as vital to the national public health and to the threatened health specifically of Black people in the United States. We can show that support by facilitating safest protesting practices without detracting from demonstrators’ ability to gather and demand change. This should not be confused with a permissive stance on all gatherings, particularly protests against stay-home orders.”
We should NEVER forget this. And we cannot forget the fact that we all had to be vaccinated while they let millions of unvaccinated people pour across the border. Those of us who saw this hypocrisy were severely castigated--or worse.
I didn't get vaccinated. I am certainly not alone. Now, I totally understand your point because there are many people that went along due to their own personal circumstances and commitments, but I hope those people learned a valuable lesson. NEVER rely on an outside party for your personal well being. Especially a government.
I understand why this made you angry. I hope you will keep your eyes open to the transgressions of this administration, which, incidentally, instituted Operation Warp Speed paving the way for the pharma companies to produce vaccines without typical protective protocols.
What was Trump supposed to do? In 2020, if he doesn't take the gloves off re: FDA approvals for covid shots, he's killing grandma. Fauci is standing there telling the world Trump is standing the way of science (and Tony's multimillion dollar payday). In an election year? that's really stupid...
What he was supposed to do was see through the bs and be what his supporters wanted him to be. Instead he turned the government over to the covid charlatans and went along with wrecking the US economy and delivering Americans to the poisoner's needle. That's why he lost the election-by being weak. Maybe if he had been strong and done the right thing he wouldn't have lost. In any case it turned out fortuitous for him to lose because it gave the people space to appreciate how messed up the democrats could really be and set the stage for his glorious return. He gets a second chance, but once again due to his inherent weakness he has turned the government over to nefarious agents and imperiled the citizens who believed in him.
It's easy to find fault in hindsight. Even the schemers like Fauci didn't know the full extent of what they had done. All they knew for sure is they were complicit in the release of the virus and they needed to cover their tracks.
A LOT of people in both parties made public comments that didn't age well. I don't find fault, except where they were bald-faced hypocrites- accusing those in the other party of not being clairvoyant while they themselves were telling the public to go out and enjoy Chinese New Year celebrations, or locking down the areas they govern while going out to dine in upscale restaurants.
Like in this video of governor Phil Murphy of NJ: "Murphy, is that you? You're such a dick!" Hilarious.
https://www.tmz.com/2020/11/23/new-jersey-governor-phil-murphy-family-accosted-while-dining-out/
As I recall, the media was so anxious about Trump being able to take credit for Operation Warp Speed that they begged Big Pharma not to release any statements prior to the election.
Yep. If you listened to the media, the vaccine being "ready" before the end of 2020 was "misinformation."
I understand your point about Trump, but keep in mind, this term is different. Trump is different. He was in the lion's den in his first term and didn't handle many things well, but nobody else who is not in lock step with the swamp would have either. I am not a Trumper, nor an anti-Trumper. I will applaud the good things he does, laugh at his trolling, but keep a close eye on concerning things he is doing. At present I don't have much to complain about, but I am not naive. It ain't all roses.
I fully support everything RFK Jr. is doing - which is one of the examples of how this term and this Trump is different.
I hope your memory is open to Biden and Harris saying they would not take Trump’s vaccine. Well, who knows, maybe they didn’t but they sure loved mandates and nasty threats around the unvaccinated. Lack of efficacy was already demonstrated by the time Biden assumed office. He had a great opportunity to call the vaccine a Trump mistake and to walk away from it. He didn’t. Wonder why?
They had no idea they were writing their own obituary. Couldnt have happened to a nicer bunch of cowardly conformists.
Good thing for them that they're all FORMER judges. Also good thing for them that it's only a letter and not a sworn statement.
Many if not most health care workers had contracted Covid during 2020, pre-vaccine; they had no need for a Covid vaccination. Natural infection immunity was shown by Gazit et al (based on a large number of Israelis in a medical database) to be about 25-fold more effective than the Pfizer double jab in preventing symptomatic Covid. Original Antigenic Sin indicates that those with natural infection immunity were much better protected from the ever-mutating SARS-CoV2 virus than the vaccinated. (We still don't know if the vaccines interfered with natural infection immunity.)
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
In addition, many of these workers "jumped the line" and got the shot in front of the only group that the shot may have actually saved.
Early 2020: "We love our healthcare workers. They are literally angels walking among us!"
Early 2021: Health care workers who refused the jab - "She's a witch! Burn her!"
As a health care worker who had Covid in 3/20 and waited til 9/21 on the last week our health dept had the non-MRA Johnson& Johnson to get a vax and save the job...I just want to say that many of us made the best calculated bad-choice-left. Wasn't worth losing a position in the fight to make a stand benefitting no one.
Understood.
But by now it is obvious that countries that could not afford the Covid mRNA vaccines did much better than the West with the virus and consequent non-Covid excess deaths. Not just most health workers exposed to the very contagious Covid strains in 2020, but also cities throughout the world with international airports which had their worst outbreaks early on, likely had superior natural infection immunity before the mRNA vaccine rollouts. An extreme case was Jay Bhattacharya's findings that Santa Clara, California had 53,000 people with antibodies to SARS-CoV2 (and likely excellent immunity to Covid) although hospitals and clinics reported only ~1200 cases there.
By April 2020, roughly 25% of NYC had antibodies.
That's MILLIONS of missed cases in that city alone.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/screaming-invictory
Well, wait a minute. The April 2020 population of New York City is 8.8 million people. If 24.7% of them have covid antibodies, haven’t we missed roughly 2,175,000 “cases” of covid IN NEW YORK CITY ALONE?
And those missed cases DRASTICALLY change the math. Since the hospitals are testing everybody who goes to the hospital (or dies), they’re likely to be catching the SEVERE cases of covid, but not the mild ones. With this rough estimate, New York City was missing roughly 12 cases of covid for every one they caught — roughly in line with early CDC estimates.
That puts the actual infection fatality rate — even for an area that threw covid patients into nursing homes — at about 0.8%.
This week in Free Speech history: US Supreme Court case Gitlow vs. New York recently turned 100 years old.
In a landmark ruling the Court allowed state laws criminalizing advocating the violent overthrow of the US government, pretty much following precedent that existed at the federal level.
However, for the first time the Court "incorporated" the First Amendment to the state level - the Bill of Rights is not explicitly binding on state governments in its text, and thus on plain reading those amendments only restrict the Federal government. However, this was the first time ever the Court used what became known as "incorporation" using the newer due process clause of the 14th Amendment, which did explicitly bind the states as well, to pull in protection of a right guaranteed by the first ten amendments. They said that the states couldn't pass laws resricting free speech either.
One by one or part by part over the years, the Court pulled in the other Bill of Rights Amendments as well after that point, so that state and local governments are now most bound by all of the terms in the bill of rights, with minimal exceptions, the only really notable being that states can choose their own rules on jury trials for civil cases. From the First Amendment, freedom of the press and freedom of religion each had their own separate cases that did this.
To quote the great James Taranto, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
10/03/25: Who writes this SH*T?! An "Ebonics AI software program"?
Sounds like the “12 Days of Christmas” has turned cancerous and metastasized into the “51 Days of Threats to Our Democracy”.
🎼 On the 51st Day of Trump’s threats to our democracy, the Fake News sent to me, 51 former intelligence officers…42 former judges…33 screaming RINOs…8 retired generals…7 former admirals…FIVE LATE NIGHT HOSTS!…and a Brennan with a “Company” Laptop”🎼
Can I please screenshot this comment for sharing? ❤️
Sure 👍🏻
hahahah love it.
The judges have a first amendment right to speak their minds. It is good to see their names and exactly where they stand.
More serious is the fact that 1,400 January 6th protesters, who also supposedly have first amendment rights-- "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"-- were charged with federal trespassing, a misdemeanor for which many spent weeks in jail. In contrast, Kevin Clinesmith the FBI lawyer who pled guilty to felony forgery charges for falsely changing Carter Page's status on a FISA application from CIA asset to a probable Russian agent, not only didn't spend a day in jail but is still practicing law in DC, unusual for a convicted felon.
The two-tiered American justice system in (political) action.
“The judges have a first amendment right to speak their minds.”
Ok. But that doesn’t men speaking their minds does not violate a duty to neutrality. Rather it confirms it.
Further, in speaking as they did any number of the cannons of judicial ethics may have been breached.
So, yay! For those judges sworn to impartiality signing their name to a document certifying that they are partial!!
What if they were conservative justices would you defend them?
Hell no.
You have the mind of a child seeking instant gratification.
How will we ever get a “fair” trial in east Virginia? Comey is going to walk, and the Deep State will chalk up another win.
After all of your work, Matt, we will be worse off. I want to believe justice is blind.
If only the fundamental issue were Comey's perjurious statements. But these are just symptoms--as is the stupid letter under discussion--of a much more profound rot. Comey's verdict will be just one more drop in the noisome swamp that we have permitted and enabled over the past thirty years to fester to this point of endangering the polity. The Trump administration is doing its best to whack away at many of its manifestations, but until the majority of us fearlessly support tearing it out root and branch, it will continue to produce Comeys and amoral "retired judges."
It seems every time you turn around, another scandal is uncovered so I agree that we need a majority to fearlessly support tearing it out root and branch. I wish I knew how long it will take us to get to that majority.
I, too, want to believe in an honest judiciary. I also want to believe in Santa Claus, but that ship has sailed.
It's a sad state of affairs isn't it? When judges allow politics to affect their judgement, they are not longer judges but simple patriarch's in the church of whatever political party they are aligning themselves with.
Hopefully the prosecution, should it occur, will remind the jury about how Comey’s private server announcement helped sink Hillary in 2016.
That said, I share your concerns.
Maybe if the court reminds the jury about Hillary he will..
This sentence sums it all up very nicely: "There is no “free speech absolutist” alive who’d count perjury and classified leaks as protected First Amendment activity."
Forgive me for belaboring what I think is the obvious. Isn't it serendipity that in one case 42 somehow coalesced quickly to make their case. Similarly the same thing happened with 51. Call me something but isn't it equally likely a fraternity already existed to make this happen.
This. The Narrative.
The swamp is deep and deadly. There can be no mercy shown as it’s drained. It has to be sterilized and made unfit for life. Otherwise it will come back.
4 out of 5 dentisits? 57 favors?
That's how it sounds to me--these letters from dozens of experts. Fifties TV advertising--all delivered in Joe Biden's raspy old voice. White coats and poster board graphs. Comey even looks like a Fifties TV announcer.
Same thoughts here, the deep state doesn’t know when to shut the f—-k up. They are the “constitutional crisis “the Democrats rant about!
We are a banana republic.
It's the American Bubble. This was an inevitable consequence of persistent growth in government. The big question is "will there be real accountability this time?"
Comey's consistent denial and general lack of good faith in this whole saga is telling in that he is just one cog in this machine. We have thousands more just like him in our government. Yes, just about everyone currently employed in every agency and Dept. needs to be fired and perhaps sued for back pay. It's utterly disgraceful.
Then again, this is just human civilization in 2025. Has it ever been any different?
They did this administration a favor, outing themselves as co-conspirators.
Think Taibbi is ever going to mention the firing of Maurene Comey?
why would he bother? she displayed clear, obvious incompetence in both the diddy and epstein cases.
Why Matt wouldn’t bother is obvious: the optics of Trump unambiguously attacking the family of one of his political enemies is so discrediting of the MAGA movement that for Matt to acknowledge it would surely cost him subscribers. Matt would prefer to appear to be a coward than lose $.
she’s an incompetent either witless or deliberate and completely unworthy of articles by anyone.
You don't think she deserved being fired? I wouldn't say she was fired because of her dad, she was fired because she did a piss-poor job in two high profile prosecutions for very dubious reasons. Clearly partisan reasons. The same partisan reasons her dad is currently in the crosshairs for.
You won't get a lot of support for your position simply because people are sick of the swamp and will put even a flawed human like Trump in the WH in order to "crack some shells," as it were.
And who cracks Trump’s shell? Th guy is the most outrageously venal and corrupt politician in 100 years, and yet you pretend to care about “the Swamp”.
Arrest these charlatans
This comment would be even better if you could write it with a deep Russian accent!
"Comrades..."
Republicans in the House should put those 4 judges at the top of their lit for impeachment proceedings.
Can we start rejecting the BS letters signed by x many of such and such out of hand? This is a BS tactic to create a sense of authority when there really is none. It is just a bunch of partisans. I am sure Trump can get 50 former this or that to sign a letter saying Comey is an asshole. So what? 400 of Jimmy Kimmel's friends think he is just great. So what? 51 liars sign letter lying about Hunter Biden's laptop. 1000 scientists say polar ice melted ten years ago. BS. Like this comment and I can say x number of super smart people think I am right! Ha Ha!
As a former prosecutor, I volunteer to sign that “Comey is an ass” letter.
That judges would sign and publish this letter frightens me. It is unethical for them to weigh in on a pending case. And do you doubt any of these honorable leaders of the judiciary will hesitate to send any of us to the camps when given a chance? Not a good omen.
As someone who has worked in the DC sphere too long, I am just so weary of this stuff. 1) Get people to sign letter supporting your position. 2) release letter to friendly press to write article. 3) Cite articles and letter as support of your position. It is just one more "tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth" type tactic. And as far as judges go, ultimately only 5 of 9 matter in most of these instances.
Almost like a ponzi scheme of verification. Each element relying on the other for credibility none have independently.
Kind of like academic peer review
Circle jerk comes to mind.
DC may as well stand for District of Cult since it seems that retaining one's status within the society of said cult is the primary motivator for these followers.
I could give a long speech in support of your statement. I will keep it short- "Inside the beltway" is and has been a real thing. A largely humorless bunch of climbers with b rate intellects motivated by power, greed, and money. There are a few bright lights but far fewer than when I arrived on the scene in 1995.
Yep... exactly. Sociopaths, nearly every one :)
Yeah, Thomas Massie is one really bright spot that comes to mind for me. There are others, like Rand Paul, Jim Jordan, and such in the Legislative that I also like. It's just an unfortunate side effect of being human, that there are always going to be those amongst us that are exclusively in it for themselves and the power structure that supports them.
Those are some good names for sure! I would add JD Vance when he was there. I always think why any of these guys like Schumer and Pelosi stay there till their dying day. I'd rather be fishing or one of my other hobbies or with my daughter or my nieces and nephew. These people have enough money and a sweet pension. But they live for the power and adulation. I forget who wrote it but it was one of those satirists for a conservative publication who said of Robert C Byrd that if he wasn't a U.S. Senator, he'd be at Denny's at 4 PM for the early bird special or something to that effect. A bunch of blowhards who lost the plot about being public servants years ago.
PS- I think that is why it is former judges. Makes the letter even more BS. Even then they should not weigh in. I should have added that this trend of political judging which I think coincides with advocacy journalism is as destructive to the rule of law as advocacy journalism is to journalism. It used to be that judges of all stripes would throw up their hands and say "the law is the law" essentially. I think a lot of the outrage at the Supreme Court is they are not putting up with judicial activism and the abuse of power by all too many lower-level judges. This whole Comey saga is a microcosm of a broader trend. I only wish the President was more circumspect in his commentary. The evidence that Comey and others were up to no good appears to be there, he should let the investigators and prosecutors do their jobs and not give PR ammo to the opposition.
"I only wish the President was more circumspect in his commentary."
Trump has never been circumspect about his commentary during the time I have been familiar with him, which started with his first presidential campaign. He doesn't constrain his words much at all, as far as I can tell. I just love it, because the Democrats have become so incredibly tight assed and controlling about what can be said to whom, when, and in exactly what words. As far as Trump measuring up to normal standards of comportment, there is no chance of that happening. I am no longer sure if this is an indication of his weaknesses or his strengths.
Absolutely agree. Former judge status means nothing since they are still, no doubt, members of the bar AND will be deployed to serve on the courts set up by the next censorship regime.
Circumspect? No thank you. I love it when Trump goes scorched earth on political opponents.
I know, I generally like it too, but it is not helpful in these legal cases because it helps make the defense argument that this is malicious prosecution. It gives the judge an out that he or she would not have had he just kept his mouth shut.
As usual the establishment is "weighing in" early so as to anchor the narrative. They will capture the majority of people and only the few free thinkers will be left to hear the whole story.
while i agree with the sentiment, i think they are all retired
Yes- they are. It makes it even more irrelevant.
How do you investigate an obviously corrupt major party Presidential candidate who was OPENLY colluding with Russians for decades and continued through TWO terms as President separated by four years?
How do you think an honest FBI Director would have investigated Nixon to uphold his oath to protect and defend the Constitution against ALL enemies?
Hasn’t the SCOTUS ruled it’s ok for criminal investigators to lie to criminal suspects?
Trump is a criminal through and through.
I'd be shocked if Kimmel had 40 friends, nevermind 400
Me too, I was referencing his Hollywood pal free speech letter.
It's hard to say how much of that is really legitimate too. I am not even sure Adam Carolla would sign that (maybe he did) and he clearly is a friend of Kimmel's. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some of these actors were "paid" for their signature, in the form of future roles or an invite to the next party.
Thank you Matt. Wish your voice could be heard on MSM.
"we" can. but "they" won't
why look at that….you have 51 “likes”!!
I am working on my Comey is an asshole letter as we speak...
I think you should do it! Or, Racket should. “(Fill in the blank number) of Racket News commenters who love 1A opine that Comey is an ass . . .” The New York Post might cover it.
I'd prefer a "Comey Must be Found Guilty" letter, signed by former judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, summarizing the evidence against him.
Spot on.
It's not about right and wrong with these people. It's about winning.
Today JB Pritzker is demanding that the 25th Amendment be invoked against Donald Trump after his whole party refused to invoke it against Joe Biden, who much more clearly deserved it. The same rationale applies.
Yeah, these Dems are always bleating about finding Republicans to stand up to Trump. I can count on one finger the number of Democrats who called out Biden's unsuitability to serve a second term - that would have been Dean Phillips
Adam Kinzinger stood up to Trump, and the IL Dems rewarded him by gerrymandering him out of a seat (abuse which he seems to have accepted).
not to mention obama. any dem that has any little criticism falls off a treadmill or goes up in flame.
When the other team is evil, of course it's OK to cheat. The other guys did it, so lets watch our country go Third World.
Our entire country and culture, from politics to sports to movies to lame late-night TV shows, revolve around the same axis: the cold civil war taking place throughout the entire West between the Globalist/neoliberal managerial/ownership class and the Nationalists, who comprise more or less everyone not on the other team from Christian conservatives to libertarian tech bros.
Nothing else matters: judges and generals and bureaucrats and journalists and professors etc will do or say anything—journalists against free speech, judges against the Constitution, professors against free thought (debate is violence!) etc—that is required at any moment to help and support their own side and attack and wound the other side.
It is a waste of time and energy to keep sniffing out hypocrises or inconsistencies or violations of oath or duty, and certainly a waste of time to parse truth and fact from lies—all these standards and claims are dead and buried.
The progressive aristocrats who consider themselves the rightful owners of "Our Democracy" have no interest in anything but destroying their political opponents and stripping them of social power.
Social Justice vs MAGA is the only game in town and "Whose side are you on?" is the only question. The postliberal post-literate tribal future is here and the 21st century resembles the first scene of Kubrick's "2001": Two bands of ugly apes screaming threats and slinging shit at each other. This is the real right side of History.
"Social Justice vs MAGA is the only game in town and "Whose side are you on?" is the only question."
Sadly, too true. And it seems those who choose to view things objectively and without bias, who make solid arguments against this tribalism, are attacked by BOTH sides, because "if you ain't with us, you're against us."
"Kubrick's "2001": Two bands of ugly apes screaming threats and slinging shit at each other. This is the real right side of History."
Humans haven't really changed very much, and least too many of us!
Once again, a wonderfully conceived and well-written piece.
Thanks!
True, true, and.... true. One side (mine, of course) has a more justifiable claim to sanity, but there are entrenched, potentially destructive interests on both sides.
Forget right or left, what we need is much, much less, where the left and elements of the right (i.e. most of congressional Republicans) want more, more, more. What may sound "libertarian" is more readily identified as "Originalist."
In summary, most of our leaders, obsessed with greed, don't care if they sit atop ruins, as long as they are on top.
i think this is more or less the same as it's always been except for the fact that our rulers are now global(ists) and thus have severed the bond bw rulers and ruled. You can't lead people if you're apart from them. Make noblesse oblige great again!
We didn't have mass media until the printing press and then it took a while until a majority of people could read. And then it took until the Crimean with telegraphy that there could be "on the ground" reporting ( instead of what the rulers wanted people to know).
So in the history of humans the opportunity for everyday people to have any idea of what the rulers were up to is a blink. They want back that power.
Big money doesn't think or act locally and even (actually, especially) shithole countries have gated communities. Let's be honest, a middle class demands higher wages and was a temporary anomaly. Lords and serfs are the natural order of things. Why struggle?
Lol!!
I always enjoy reading your comments - this one immediately brought to mind this (excellent) essay, which I just reread. It struck a chord with me that's still ringing years later. Highest recommendation!
https://newcriterion.com/article/leninthink/
Thanks!
(I love Morson)
I had a feeling you might be familiar with it, lol cheers
great essay. thanks for posting!
My pleasure - very happy that you read it!
America has reverted to type, bands of humanoids fomented to ferocity by the most unstable and vengeful. Turns out the mysterious black monolith was the laptop, the slab of rage.
https://x.com/sgrmidolov/status/1118730128278859777
"Great minds think alike, fools seldom differ."
"...journalists against free speech..."
Reminds me of that old Sam Kinnison joke - "Rock against drugs? That's like Christians against Christ."
"Social Justice vs MAGA is the only game in town and "Whose side are you on?" is the only question."
Nope There is a pretty sizable slice of "none of the above", as "Social Justice" found out the hard way last election. And anyway, it's D donors vs R donors if you want to be accurate.
It used to be capital versus labor. Now it's capital versus capital. Pallets of bricks will be delivered mysteriously free of charge for both side's convenience.
Pallets of gold bars these days, apparently
I am glad you put "social justice" in quotes since I feel like it is one of those Orwellian terms that has more of a doublespeak connotation to it than it would seem. Social justice wouldn't even be a concept if our laws were simply applied evenly and fairly to every human being, regardless as to their status (wealth, race, sex, religion, creed, etc.) . The only way for this to happen is for every single adult to enforce the objective moral and ethical basis for these laws. That of course is a pipe dream, for the very same 'status' reasons.
"Two bands of ugly apes screaming threats and slinging shit at each other. This is the real right side of History."
LOL!!!
Maybe our species will rise, flourish, degenerate, devolve and collapse instead of moving forever forward as has always been predicted. By us, that is.
oot!! :)
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
Groucho Marx
Group letters are awesome. It makes it much easier to identify creatures hiding in the swamp.
So the $64000 question, Mr Taibbi. Why, after everything you just wrote that is obviously and painfully true. Does it not have any effect on the democrat voter or their leaders?
The only thing I can come away with is, they have no honor.
Sounds like you haven't spoken to any of them. I have. They are impervious to logic, reasoning, facts or common sense. They live in a world defined for them by corporate media propaganda, rage-inducing political hyperbole and outright lies.
As to why they are like this? Either Covid PTSD or they are the weak-minded among us susceptible to brainwashing. I believe the latter but there is strong correlation with the former.
"They live in a world defined for them by corporate media propaganda, rage-inducing political hyperbole and outright lies."
Agreed! And some still cling to anachronisms like "Democrats are for the little guy", and all Republicans are greedy shills from corporate America. They can't see beyond their programming
All the more reason to resist our own versions of groupthink. Thinking critically is vital to restoring any kind of civility to our society. Uncritically accepting mistakes and malicious actions on our side would be fatal.
Agreed!
But but, most of them have college degrees!
"The only thing I can come away with is, they have no honor."
That question perplexes me too! (See also Trump Derangement Syndrome). Not sure if it's lack of honor, lack of vision, or just the tribalist brainwashing being too effective. Too many simply believe what they want to believe and refuse to examine or believe evidence to the contrary. It's easier to attack a messenger than evaluate the validity of the message. Many are bigoted in the truest sense of the word. (See also MAGA haters.) And let's not forget, it's easier to fool someone than convince them they've been fooled.
I’ve always heard IQ defined as “the ability to learn”. I don’t know what quotient defines the willingness to learn. Whatever that may be, it’s lacking in a large part of the population.
But still, after this long and all these "moments"
Democrats share a willful ignorance. Their self worth depends on deception of self, perhaps even more than the deception of others. I feel safe in the assumption that Matt is not on the reading list of the bubble dwellers.
Okay, I'll bite. Why $64,000
Isn't it funny that some one decided in the 1950s that $64,000 was a huge amount of money?
For perspective, my parents first house in the 50s was $6000.
In 1963, my parents bought a newly built, brick, mid-century ranch style house on a corner lot in a brand new subdivision for $19K. The same house has a current estimated value of $282K.
It's a fairly large sum of money now.
O agree but I guess it seemed like a million dollars in the 1950s.
It would change my life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_%2464%2C000_Question
The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Contestants answered general knowledge questions, earning money which doubled as the questions became more difficult. The final question had a top prize of $64,000 (equivalent to $750,000 in 2024), hence the "$64,000 Question" in the show's title.
Thanks Commander
I've always used the expression and never knew its origin.
That's probably because you're just not old like the rest of us, LOL.
I was born when the show was on ('57). I didn't watch much TV those first few years. Or anytime after.
See, Quiz Show, a movie starring Robert Redford, about the corrupt game show business.
He didn't star in it (Ralph Fiennes and Rob Morrow did), but he did direct it.
Thank you!
The democratic voter question is easy. It's all 24/7 Public Relations for almost all of the very few "faithful" remaining. No one believes a word of what they say anymore--except for the potential shooters.
The real question is: It takes only fifteen minutes researching RussiaGate to see that the republican party is equal partners with the democrats to remove Trump by all means necessary--and this is ongoing.
So the exact same formula applies to the republican "faithful" that remain.
Think about it.
I like that, and sorry, I'm stealing it. "It's all 24/7 public relations for the faithful remaining".
Because they have no interest in this article. It’s pure tribalism. They’ve spent a decade screaming “Russia Russia Russia” — they are pot committed at this point.
Comey has the kind of face you'd like to grind a grapefruit into. Where's James Cagney when we need him?
He’s a weasel, pure and simple, a man of many feces, and not to be sanctified.
Yes, he was a dog s**t excuse for the nation's top lawman. He continually spewed bulls**t to justify his horse s**t investigation.
Yep. He's as full of shit as he can be.
feces?
yuk
What a great write up Matt.. The Wall Street journal had comey's number many many years ago, unfortunately they don't hammer it home enough anymore, but he has been a sleaze ball for decades. How anybody can read what you wrote and think this person is worth listening to at all is mind-boggling. These judges are just simple-minded partisan hacks feebly trying to hang on to whatever patronage they needed to get their positions. I remember watching Comey testify on his investigation of Susan Rice laptop, (I have investigative experience) and I looked at my partner and said - we wouldn't have let a probationary patrolman get away with such a horseshit investigation, and here's the head of the FBI bragging about the job he did. It just shows how he was so untethered from reality. What concerns me as we approach the fall is Congress is again slow walking investigations and I don't know why. you and your colleagues have given them more than enough information to zealously investigate.All those people who took the fifth back in June should have been immunized the next day and dragged back in to testify, and nothing has happened. You have to wonder why Comer and the rest of these guys run out the clock on Trump? Have they already been bought?
The rank narcissism of Jim Comey is endless. I’m thinking he got his professor friend to round up all those asshole judges to write their letters to appease the whiny Comey. “Trump is picking on me!”
Reminds me of the group of professors who came out STRONGLY in 2016 in defense of free speech. I'm not sure what happened to them during the Biden years, but I bet you they're out there screeching about free speech again today.
Edit -- found the article I was thinking of, it was writers, not professors:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/authors-and-organizations-sign-pledge-to-protect-free-speech_n_583fa9c2e4b0c68e047ee640?ec_carp=3371340871770294810
PEN America, a literary and human rights organization, decided to respond by taking a public stand in defense of free expression. On Wednesday, the organization unveiled a pledge to defend the First Amendment that is cosponsored by Daily Kos, The Nation, People for the American Way and a number of progressive entities.
The pledge, which has been signed by Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, Nicole Krauss and all living past U.S. poets laureate, calls out Trump’s pattern of threatening speech toward members of the media and disenfranchised groups since his presidential campaign commenced.
https://babylonbee.com/news/dems-warn-someday-conservatives-will-find-out-what-its-like-to-be-canceled
https://babylonbee.com/news/dems-outraged-by-unprecedented-political-prosecutions-of-people-not-named-trump
Amazing
disenfranchised groups?
The most disheartening part to this latest "threat to democracy" panic is that it's yet another example of how dishonest and partisan "impartial" judges and the judiciary have become. When I was growing up, if somebody claimed they were falsely accused of something, they were promised, "Well, you'll have your day in court." Now, the prospect of going before a corrupt, partisan hack judge is no comfort. Corrupt politicians are destroying this country, and the equally corrupt judiciary is their backstop.
Don't forget the partisan district attorneys who decide which crimes to bring before a judge and which to ignore. Tribalism runs deep in Homo sapiens, especially in that special, bright-eyed monkey, Homo politicus. "Have you noticed how the Neanderthals bury their dead? They call those grave goods! I'm not saying they should die out but give me a break."
When I listen to some of our present judges, I am completely floored by their interpretation of events. It's as if they've never read the Constitution or Bill of Rights AND as if they are living inside bunkers that only allows access to MSNBC, the Bulwark, NYT, and CNN as long as that one animated, happy dude is on at the time. I hate to even imagine what retired judges do with their time. For all we know, they could be living in home care facilities like Robert Mueller has been for quite a while.
I love the gall of the lawyers to intone "For the first time in American history". You've gotta have a dysfunctional cranium not to imagine that, at some point in the last quarter-millennium of American chicanery, there hasn't been a SINGLE case of abrogation in speech rights. Certainly no Sedition act of 1918, criminalizing disloyal speech about the government and the army.
My goodness, four seconds of Googling (old fashioned! not even LLM AI slop!) finds: "Throughout the war, newspaper reporters and editors were arrested without due process for opposing the draft, discouraging enlistments in the Union army, or even criticizing the income tax." -- https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/civil-war-u-s/
UNPRECEDENTED! OUTRAGE OUTRAGE OUTRAGE FASCIST ORANGE HIMMLER &c &c back to work everyone
U.S. Office of Censorship, 1941-1945.
Executive Order 8985 established the U.S. Office of Censorship on December 19, 1941.
https://kathleenmccook.substack.com/p/us-office-of-censorship-1941-1945?
Well of course, because narcissists believe history begins with MY birth! ;)
It's also meant to deny the gross First Amendment violations of the very recent past under the Covid mass censorship regime.
Of course. But this was written by lawyers, so triple-check for weasel words and assume you still missed some.
Note: "the bedrock First Amendment right of American citizens to disagree with their president and their government". They'll likely weasel about with regards to, say, `public safety' in regards COVID censorship, and claim that criticism of the government is different and special and UNPRECEDENTED OVERREACH OVERREICH FASCIST HIMMLER &c. &c. I agree about the misdirection, but like cockroaches, you gotta stomp 'em where they run to, not just where you first noticed them.
Ah yes, Free Speech, that fragile orchid progressives only remember to water when James Comey needs a halo. The same folks who wrote a group love letter turning Comey into a First Amendment folk hero apparently just discovered that "disagreeing with the president" covers… signing off on dodgy FISA apps, leaking to the press, and then giving Congress the "by the book" shrug. Spare me. Comey’s actually under indictment -this isn’t fan fiction,and the panic machine is already screaming "End of Democracy" at a pitch only dogs and MSDNC can hear. 
Where was this tear-soaked reverence for speech when Daniel Hale got 45 months for exposing the drone program, when FBI agent Terry Albury got 48 months for showing how the Bureau actually operates, when CIA officer John Kiriakou got 30 months, or when Chelsea Manning was hammered with a 35-year sentence before an eleventh-hour commutation. No open-letter aria for them. Because their speech inconvenienced power, not protected it. 
And this "speech" they’re defending? Let’s talk specifics. The DOJ Inspector General found the Steele material “pushed [the FISA proposal] over the line,” and congressional findings have repeatedly described that dossier as “central and essential” to the Carter Page warrants—the same warrants Comey personally certified three times. Steele, meanwhile, was terminated “for cause” after unauthorized media contacts, yet the renewals rolled on. That’s not noble dissent. That’s weaponized process dressed up as principle. 
Also rich: the sudden, burning love for free expression from the crowd that spent 2020–2022 applauding “content moderation” like it was a national sport. Meta’s own CEO has now said the White House leaned on them about Covid posts, and Google/YouTube’s posture with political speech and Covid “misinformation” is under House scrutiny. Funny how jawboning the platforms offstage was “safety,” but questioning Saint James of Comey is tyranny. 
So yes, by all means, let’s protect dissent. But spare us the cosplay. When whistleblowers bled for telling the public what its government was doing, the same people clutching pearls for Comey were busy sharpening the knives, or looking the other way while the platforms did it for them. Free speech isn’t your boutique boutique that opens only when your guy needs a lawyer and a lighting crew.
I believe the use of the First Amendment to cover-up crimes is a deep state operation just like its opposite, the use of the Espionage Act to prosecute the deep state enemies, is.