(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog’s Favorite Living Canadian.)
The former president*, as we all know by now, had a very bad week, lawyer-wise. The D.C. Court of Appeals hit him with a 10-pound sledge as far as his ability to keep his documents locked up in the National Archives.
On the record before us, former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents. Both Branches agree that there is a unique legislative need for these documents and that they are directly relevant to the Committee’s inquiry into an attack on the Legislative Branch and its constitutional role in the peaceful transfer of power.
More specifically, the former President has failed to establish a likelihood of success given (1) President Biden’s carefully reasoned and cabined determination that a claim of executive privilege is not in the interests of the United States; (2) Congress’s uniquely vital interest in studying the January 6th attack on itself to formulate remedial legislation and to safeguard its constitutional and legislative operations; (3) the demonstrated relevance of the documents at issue to the congressional inquiry; (4) the absence of any identified alternative source for the information; and (5) Mr. Trump’s failure even to allege, let alone demonstrate, any particularized harm that would arise from disclosure, any distinct and superseding interest in confidentiality attached to these particular documents, lack of relevance, or any other reasoned justification for withholding the documents. Former President Trump likewise has failed to establish irreparable harm, and the balance of interests and equities weigh decisively in favor of disclosure.
These are words wrapped in cement and then dunked in poison. They are the Appeals Court telling the former president* that he is, in fact, a former president, and as such, he has no claim of privilege, because the country has only one president at a time and it’s...not him. He can still take this to the Supreme Court, and I realize I’m going way out on a limb here, but I don’t think the Roberts Court wants any part of this. It has to take any opportunity to demonstrate its “independence,” especially from the former president*. And this case doesn’t touch any of the Court’s demonstrated enthusiasms: unregulated capitalism and restrictions on the franchise for Roberts, anti-choice for the Catholic justices. This is a case that they could easily give a good leaving-alone for their own institutional purposes. For the first time in a while, I’ve started to believe that the former president* can’t run out this clock because he’ll run out of time first.
Weekly WWOZ Pick To Click: “Papa St. Nick” (Beausoleil): Yeah, I pretty much love New Orleans.
Weekly Visit To The Pathe Archives: Here, from 1937, are full-service Czechoslovakian Christmas decorators, felling huge trees to line the streets of the cities. There also is a very uninterested dog for whom I have no ready explanation. Perhaps he looks upon those felled trees as wasted opportunities. History is so cool.
As much as I have mocked the Baseball Hall of Fame and its voters in the past—and I missed lifetime eligibility as a voter by one year, dammit—they did good service this week. Tony Oliva, the bane of my youthful Red Sox fandom, was voted in, as was his teammate on those great Minnesota teams of the 1960s, pitcher Jim Kaat. Best of all, about two decades too late, the late Buck O’Neil finally gets his plaque in upstate New York. Buck was a walking blessing of a human being, and I’m eternally grateful that I got to talk to him at length once about Cool Papa Bell. Here’s Buck singing, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame.” With style.
Is it a good day for dinosaur news, AP? It’s always a good day for dinosaur news!
So you think humans and dinosaurs co-existed, as my old friend Ken Ham down at the Creation Museum believes? You think those little humans could have run away from those big galumphing predators? Think again, Bunky.
An analysis of dinosaur tracks from 120 million years ago unearthed in Spain adds to growing evidence that these meat-eating prehistoric beasts belonging to the same group as T.rex could be highly agile. The findings, published Thursday in Scientific Reports, reveal one of the fastest known sets of fossilized dinosaur footprints. These tracks join the ranks of other speedy sets found in Utah and Texas, one of which shows dinosaurs running at speeds over 30 mph. The Spanish footprints showed speeds of nearly 28 mph.
Jaysus, I don’t drive that fast to get to the grocery store. I wouldn’t have lasted an hour. Constant mysteries are our friends, the dinos, who lived (and ran) then to make us happy now.
I’ll be back Monday as the government scrambles toward Christmas and prepares to stiff all those people who asked Santa for voting rights this year. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line. Wear the damn mask. Get the damn shots, even the damn booster.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
