What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[grumbler]

Navy upholds firing of Crozier, the Cpt of the Theodore Roosevelt.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/19/navy-fires-brett-crozier-aircraft-carrier-coronavirus-329716

How does it work, isn't Trump the C-i-C? If he orders his removal can they even refuse?

If he makes it a formal order, no.  If he tweets it, like his does so many of his orders, then they don't have to follow it.

This was an interesting "investigation."  The CNO wanted to restore him, but the chairman of the JCS wanted an investigation run until it found enough evidence to justify permanently removing him.  Chairmen of the JCS generally don't get involved in the decisions by the services as to who commands what.  Services are jealous of their prerogatives when it comes to personnel assignments.

[grumbler]

Over here Spanish authors looking at that mostly had the same finding, which was "Wait, they are getting paid in advance???".

Seems to be the norm in anglo-saxon publishing, books&music.  Not that artists receive anything after their album tops the charts in foreign countries, since there are so many, many expenses not covered by their contract...  Don't know how it is for others, but the advance being the last payment they ever received was the norm for video game developpers back in the early 2000s.

Authors and artists who sign for a share of net rather than gross are just asking to get screwed.  Obviously, they are less screwed if they get an advance that represents their predicted total first-run royalties, but advances are very rare in book publishing. 

15% of gross is much more than 25% of net.

[jimmy olsen]

Trump's red triangle campaign was pulled by Facebook.

https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-let-trump-campaign-run-ads-inverted-red-triangle-infamous-nazi-symbol





And they ran 88 ads on June 17th, because of course they did.

That opening sentence also has 14 words

[The Brain]

What's the meaning of 14? Adolf Ditler?

[Syt]

What's the meaning of 14? Adolf Ditler?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words

[The Brain]

What's the meaning of 14? Adolf Ditler?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words

Thanks.

[Tonitrus]

Numerology is silly.

[celedhring]

Numerology is silly.

Indeed. Nationalists are addicted to it for some reason though. Catalan ones have a host of magical numbers too.

[The Larch]

Numerology is silly.

Indeed. Nationalists are addicted to it for some reason though. Catalan ones have a host of magical numbers too.

What was that with the Catalan health minister getting mad about a shipment of masks during the pandemic due to the precise number of them on the lot? 

[celedhring]

Numerology is silly.

Indeed. Nationalists are addicted to it for some reason though. Catalan ones have a host of magical numbers too.

What was that with the Catalan health minister getting mad about a shipment of masks during the pandemic due to the precise number of them on the lot? 

They were shipped 1.714.000 masks. 1714 is one of their sacred numbers (year Barcelona fell during the War of Spanish Succession). He said Madrid was mocking them - actually it was the result of divvying up the number of available masks according to the population of each region (the math checks out, in case you wonder).

When the Barcelona city council was last ran by nationalists they erected a Catalan flag with the mast measuring exactly 17.14 meters, they also increased the price of the most used metrocard to 10.30€ (1714 pesetas) in the year of the 300th anniversary (2014). During every Barça home game separatist fans chant "Independence" exactly at 17:14 minutes. And much more obsessive silliness.  It's hilarious.

[jimmy olsen]

Law talkers, what say you?

https://mobile.twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1274341980940587016

https://mobile.twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1274341982358302721

https://mobile.twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1274341983801106437

https://mobile.twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1274341985235513344

https://mobile.twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1274341986690977792

Thread:  here's where I think we are.  It's pretty exquisite.  Berman is court appointed and under 28 USC §546 his appointment lasts until there is a presidentially appointed and confirmed US Attorney.

OLC opinion from 1979 says under 546 the AG can't fire someone -- i.e can't trump so to speak the court's choice -- but that President can.  That rule has never been tested in court however.

So for starters, needs to be Trump who issues the order.  Can't imagine why he wouldn't.  Barr will threaten to resign otherwise.  By temperament and circumstance, he has to go the wall here.

Assuming Trump does order, Berman will proffer 546.  DOJ's argument on behalf of Trump I think has to be 546 is unconstitutional as applied to extent prohibits Trump from firing someone.  Myers v US.  I actually think that this is a strong argument.

But we're back in the setting in which the law may be less important than the practical question of how long the court system takes, i.e the shoe may be really on the other foot.

Expect rushes to courthouses -- DC and SDNY -- and all manner of dueling orders, marshals etc.  But the pivotal point will be whether the first court that gains jurisdiction is persuaded to grant a preliminary injunction on behalf of Trump and disturb the status quo --

Take Berman out while the case is pending.  And now a factor has to be the DOJ's and Trump's massive bad faith over a range of cases and situations.  The courts --  and certainly SNDY -- not likely to be well disposed, and for practical purpose all they need to do is

not oust Berman while they consider the legal actions.  That likely translates into more than enough time -- maybe the rest of the Administration -- for SDNY to move triple time, as they already must be doing -- to develop the cases that Barr and Trump fear and loathe

also possible Berman can move for discovery.  he'll have some account of the discussion he had with Barr in NY yesterday that will make Barr look high-handed.  Legally speaking it's like a 4-dimensional mobius strip -- totally head bending --

but in practice if Berman can hold on while court decides the constitutional claim, Trump loses.  END

[celedhring]

So odd to see an administration at war with itself.

[11B4V]

That DA should say, Fuck you to those tools as long as he can.

[The Minsky Moment]

Law talkers, what say you?

Under the statute, the AG can appoint a US Attorney vacancy for up to 120 days, after that the district court can continue the appointment indefinitely, which is what happened with Berman.

I agree with the analysis that in this scenario AG Barr can't fire Berman. He's been court appointed to serve out the vacancy until the new US Attorney is confirmed by the Senate.

However, the statute also says unequivocally that the President can fire a US Attorney. So President Trump can fire Berman.  I don't think there is a reasonable argument to the contrary.

But what that means is that President Trump, and only President Trump, has to issue the order.  He can't hide behind Barr's rumpled suit or delegate some underling to do the dirty deed as per his usual SOP. 

So I read this a Berman's ploy to force Trump to personally take direct responsibility for this obvious corrupt action.

However, if Berman instead intends to try to stay in place even if Trump personally fires him, IMO he has overstepped his bounds.

That's my take.

[Sheilbh]

So it seems like the President has fired him - through Trump:

Trump fires federal prosecutor investigating his own inner circle, attorney general says
    Chris Riotta
    New York @chrisriotta
    5 minutes ago

Attorney General William Barr has sent a letter to Geoffrey Berman stating that he requested Donald Trump to fire the US attorney, escalating a tense standoff between the Justice Department and one of the most powerful investigative offices in the nation.

The attorney general's letter comes after Mr Berman — who is spearheading investigations into the president's inner circle — said he had not resigned from his post and would remain in the position, following a sudden announcement from Mr Barr on Friday that claimed the US attorney was stepping down.

"I was surprised and quite disappointed by the press statement you released last night," the attorney general wrote to Mr Berman on Saturday. "As we discussed, I wanted the opportunity to choose a distinguished New York lawyer, Jay Clayton, to nominate as United states attorney and was hoping for your cooperation to facilitate a smooth transition."

He added: "Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service. Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the president to remove you as of today, and he has done so.

An extraordinary standoff was triggered over the war of words during the weekend, with Mr Berman releasing his own statement shortly after the attorney general's, indicating he had not resigned.

"I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate," he said. "Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption."

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

I feel like you have to query the timing on this - it seems odd.