Claims And Issues

BOB MUELLER, SDNY, AND THE WAY THINGS REALLY ARE.

(Brennan Linsley / Associated Press)

 

I am reading Elie Honig's book, Untouchable / How Powerful People Get Away With It.  He started off his book with a "behind-the-scenes" story of how the Grievance Boy got off without being charged by what was once known as "the Sovereign District of New York," really "the Southern District of New York" or SDNY.

The story has already been told by Geoffrey Berman, who was the U.S. Attorney supposedly in charge of SDNY at the time.  He was appointed by the Grievance Boy and used to be Rudolph Giuliani's law partner.

Berman went into detail about how the SDNY fought Bill Barr and the Grievance Guy's other minions.  Honig comes more or less straight to the point:  SDNY caved.  The Grievance Guy was never charged.

Actually, Honig points out that SDNY caved twice.  The failure to charge was one.  The other time was when the SDNY filed a sentencing memo for the sentencing of Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty you will recall to the campaign violations Cohen did for the Grievance Guy.

In the sentencing memo, SDNY had the chance to put in all the details that Barr and the other minions had insisted be taken out of the indictment; SDNY did not ask Barr's permission on the sentencing memo as they did with the indictment.  They just went ahead and filed the sentencing memo without asking permission or running it by the minions in Washington, D.C., according to Honig.

When SDNY filed their sentencing memo, they put in a total of one (1) sentence about the Grievance Boy's involvement and they famously called the Grievance Boy "Individual Number 1."

That was all SDNY did.  Then they closed their case.

Once upon a time, the P.R. story behind SDNY was that it was independent and aggressive in pursuit of crime families and their heads.  That may have been true once, back in the day a long, long time before now.

We thought that Bob Mueller, the ex-Marine, the ex-Director of the FBI,  would protect us and more than that, protect our country.  We also thought that SDNY would prosecute crimes without fear or favor.  We thought they all cared more about our country than they did about their incomes, their job security, their career advancements.

We know better now.

The people who caved when we needed them to stand up and be independent, to be aggressive in the face of mob terror, took all that away.  When the people who work at SDNY caved, they made it the Supine District of New York.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FEAR OF BEING SUED. TRY THIS: DON'T HISS THEM OFF.

The news is reported with a lot of fear these days.  So it seems to me and many other people.  I have personally heard many explanations for this state of affairs, and those explanations tend to blend with other explanations of poor reporting such as blaring headlines, failure to give context, and just simple sensationalism.

I can relate.  I write two blogs (the one you are reading is one of them).  While I can sometimes give my opinions and reporters are not supposed to, I try to be accurate and factual in everything I write.   Accuracy and truth are not always reached in my writing, I have to say, but that is because sometimes I make mistakes.  It is not because of my business model.

My constant companion in my thoughts while I am writing, my mantra if you will, is this (which I have cleaned up for you):  "Don't hiss them off."  I constantly re-write and edit to do this or perhaps I should say, not to do this. 

If you don’t hiss them off, they almost certainly will not be bothered enough by what you write, to sue you.  People often react from emotion – anger, for example – rather than from thinking.  I am not saying that people are stupid, far from it; just don't hiss them off and they won't bother with you.

Not hissing off the people you write about is different from pretending that they have done something that is really in the mainstream or normal or good.  In my experience, you don't have to do pretend any of those things.  You just have to not hiss them off.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

SO NOW FOOTBALL GAMES ARE WON BY not SCORING TOUCHDOWNS?

The Super Bowl last Sunday was really well-played.  There were two superb quarterbacks, two good offenses, two fine defenses, and receivers that were unfairly discounted before they showed up to the game with a lot of talent.

The Super Bowl was really well-played, to say again.  For the whole game except for the last 1:20 or 1:30.  Then it lost its way.  This being a Super Bowl, it super lost its way, big time.

With about 1:30 left to play, a Kansas City ball carrier was on his way to the end zone on First Down.  He most likely would have scored and put K.C. ahead.  At about the 3 yard line he fell to the ground and slid like a baseball player.  The play stopped of course where he hit he ground.

On Second Down and again on Third Down, the Chiefs all took a knee.  That kept the clock running down.

With about 8 seconds left on the clock, Kansas City kicked a field goal.  This 3-pointer would turn out to be the winning margin and winning was clearly the whole point.  It would not be enough to score a touchdown, not with something like a Minute and A Half left to go, during which time Philadelphia would get the ball back.  They might (horrors!) have scored in that amount of time, this being football and the NFL, which means they might have gone ahead.  It was not certain that the Eagles would score once they got the ball back.  The Chiefs were frightened of the risk only. 

And that fear of the risk was enough for the Kansas City ball carrier to hit the ground and slide like a baseball player instead of finishing the run in the end zone with a score.

So now football games are won by not scoring a touchdown.

Wow.  Super Bowl 57 was incomparable, in its own way.  Many people, me included, will remember it only for the final Minute and A Half and the way that it was won.

By not scoring a touchdown.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY" …

(Photo by Jabin Botsford / Washington Post)

WAKE UP GEORGIA,

AND OHIO,

AND ONE DISTRICT IN COLORADO!

How we gonna keep them down on the farm, now that they've seen TV?

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

Prompt:  "I don't mean to sound unreasonable, but . . ."   

The Department of Social Services where I worked was divided into Sections and Teams.  Each Team was assigned a number.

    I worked on Day Care Team 50.  We placed children in day care homes with women (and they were all women) who were licensed day-care providers.  This was in New York, which required people caring for children to be licensed.

    Jane Raven was the Supervisor of Team 50.  She was an M.S.W. which means she had a Master's of Social Work degree.  She was highly respected within Social Services for her skills as a social worker.  That's probably what should count in any Department called Social Services, but it wasn't everything.  I don't mean to sound unreasonable, but Jane was also known throughout the Department for not being a good bureaucrat.

    I think that changed, and the needle moved a bit toward the direction of bureaucracy, when the Department put in a requirement for a new form of paperwork.  Please do not kid yourself.  This was not the first time we were given paperwork to do.  We used to have to do more paperwork in the Department of Social Services than in the Army.  I know.

    We had to justify our existence to the taxpayers.  I know, I know, there is a myth that government workers have never been accountable to anyone.  Again, I don't want to sound unreasonable, but that is a cow patty.

    Anyway, when we got this new paperwork to fill out, Jane made it clear to us in Team 50 that it had to be filled out.  No ifs, ands or buts, or it would be her butt and ours if we didn't do it.

    We did it.  Then we didn't have to do it after a while because after a while, the Department stopped requiring it.  Jane's butt was no longer in danger of being in a sling.

    For one final time here I don't want to sound unreasonable but, it may have been just as important to us that our own butts were no longer in danger of being in a sling.

P.S.

When I started writing this piece, I was going to tell you the amazing story of how Day Care Team 50 fought child abuse and neglect with far more families than even the underworked workers of the understaffed Child Protective Services unit did.  One of Team 50's parents fried her son's face in a frying pan on a hot stove, but there were many other stories Team 50 could tell.  I don't want to sound unreasonable, but we'll save those for another time.

(-30- The End.)