All of this stuff is sitting in a nice little package tied up with a pretty ribbon and Barr's finger is holding the knot.

All of it, Epstein, Putin, and the whole stinking underbelly of the world's plutocracy, rotten men made rich and convince they are rich because they are god's anointed and not subject to the inconvenient laws of god or man.

I'll bet if you stick a pin in Barr's belly, the malodorous pus would come flying out of there. He needs to be indicted, tried, and convicted. I suppose we'll have to wait until after we win the election for that to happen (fingers crossed).

I never thought of myself as particularly law and order, but having seen a class that thinks it is above such petty concerns, I'll settle for it.

hesitate to probe other than Republican campaigns. The stealing and cheating is on it's way.

Quit investigating wrong doing, and the crime rate drops like a rock!

If he's not gone before next year, we may not have the opportunity to fight back if Trump should "win" again and gives Barr even more power than he has now. All bets will be off. It wouldn't surprise me if they started throwing opponents in prison or worse.

This is where we are heading, and we need to find a way to stop it, like VOTING!

day by day.

for what's happening to democracy here and elsewhere. Totalitarianism is on the rise.

behavior is escalating. They seem to be inching closer and closer to cancellation of an election in November. They can accomplish multiple layers of harm in the next 6 months.

Open house on investigations into Democratic candidates.

Parties that might take away GOP votes? Look out.

investigate foreign interfetence with elections does not stop Congress (House) and investigative reporters from looking into it. Journalists can publicly report on what they hear from their sources, e.g. investigating agencies in other nations. Example headline: UK MI5 Reports massive interference in British and US Elections by Russia.

House can hold hearings to investigate.

Last edited Tue Jan 14, 2020, 04:12 PM - Edit history (1)

My first reaction to Barr's proclamation is that it seems unconstitutional.

a department of government its obligations to perform its duties, especially when it is done to cover up the crimrs of the executive branch. This order from Barr also interferes with the duty of Congress to be a balance of power and oversight branch of government since they rely on DOJ investigations and reports.

But we can circumvent this step on the path to fascist dictatorship through the first amendment right of journalists to report what their investigations find. And Congress can hold hearings to question people with knowledge of the news reports.

In those cicumstances, though, I would recommend that the journalists hire good body guards.

Yes and it's disturbing that it's coming down to this.

I just mentioned body guards in an earlier conversation re: Bolton. His testimony is now probably the best route to bringing tRump to impeachment and justice. He shouldn't meet with some "accident." At this point I'm not putting anything past tRump and his use of thuggish Russian tactics.

there are the Trump rallies in which he aroused hostility in his followers toward the media. Plus his numerous comments and threats about media in general and singling out of some specific ones, not to mention his refusal to criticize the Saudis over the murder of Khashoggi.

Re: testimony from Bolton. I don't believe we will ever get it. If we do, though, I do not believe it will tell us anything. Bolton has met with Moscow Mitch recently. He is in line with what Trump is currently doing with Iran and Iraq. I think he will say nothing that might seem critical of Trump. If anything, his meeting with MM was probably a rehearsal for what to say and how to say it to put Trump in the best light.

And it's damn scary.

Sounds unconstitutional. Once a Democrat is president, whoever the attorney general is should open an investigation into Barr’s actions while working for Trump.

easy, but then it's not easy now. Potential witnesses ignore subpoenas.

What I'm suggesting is that investigative journalists can use their contacts in other countries as well as the US to make suspected election interference known. The US is not the only country targeted by Russia. Journalists who report on election interference in other countries can point out how it works and whether it "could" be done like that in the US, as well as quoting any knowledgeable, credible sources who say that it is happening in the US.

The House can then request (no warrants) that the sources testify at a hearing. Some of these sources are willung to say what they know, at least about what happens abroad and whether it lukely to be a problem in the US. Remember, Steele is a retired British intel agent.

The goal us to keep the public aware of what is happening even though no investigations are allowed to be done by the FBI. Let the public demand investigstions. At the very least, people will know what is happening.

Dem member of the House and Senate should be loudly denouncing the Barr decision as a coverup and obstruction of justice. And every Dem in the country should be repeating everywhere what a coverup this is.

Think of the field day he and Trump will have when they have access to all their rival's cellphone data.

a pre-coverup

Trump has his fixer. He could post Russian soldiers at voting places to prevent Democrats from voting and Barr would okay it as protecting voting security. And Barr just told Russia that they can interfere with no worries about investigations and or repercussions. We have now entered the lawless zone when the Attorney General of the United States personally declares himself as the sole decided of whether a crime can be investigated.

well past the Fail Safe point.

The U.S. may have to fully rely on European intelligence services.

and we are supposed to believe it?!

They really want a revolution, don't they?

including reports on the ground of voting machine irregularities. Inform the public of what is going on even if DOJ is not permitted to investigate.

We cannot give up without a fight. I prefer a peaceful fight via media reporting and public refusal to let this hijacking of democracy to happen.

Yes, they do want a revolution and they are in the process of carrying out a fascist one through an election coup..

We are so fucked.

every poster here at DU agrees with me on this.

I don't think we have much time before all of the avenues out of this takeover are closed.

should a Democrat win.

by foreign governments at the direction of the republican party.

Rosenstein opened a possible criminal investigation. That investigation in turn snared a number of people working for Trump. They did not say let's look for dirt on Trump and opened an investigation of the Trump campaign. Huge difference.

I feel... despair. I don't understand why our candidates and their supporters are making all these attacks on fellow Democrats when one of them IS going to be our nominee.

It was one thing when we knew that America would keep going, for better or worse, regardless of which party was in power. But this is existential. We are going to become a fully owned subsidiary of Russia and the oligarchs, with the full support of Barr and the Justice Department and the GOP, if we don't knock this shit off and Trump wins again.

I don't know whether I'll feel this way tomorrow or if it's just because of the Bernie-Elizabeth thing getting so ugly.

That is why I am completely avoiding GD Primaries and pretty much staying away from news about the Democratic race. I pretty much know their positions and their personalities, but I can't stand the infighting. Honestly, I am not really excited about any of them and not particularly hopeful. I keep hoping some dark horse will show up at the 11th hour who will energize all Democrats and undecideds to get out and vote, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

I will vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is, but I must admit, I'm not excited. Obama was probably the only candidate in my adult life that I have ever felt really hopeful about.

Where's Gort when you need him? Gort nix Barrata!



This is all part of the gradual conditioning of the public for the ensuing authoritarian Fascism which is their real end game. Just watch and connect the dots. It is well beyond norms and slowly normalizes the transition they are creating. It's a plan.

Barr serves at the pleasure of the next president who can kick barr out of office. I can't wait. I hope all of trumps appointees get kicked out of office.

If a Den wins in November, she/he will pick their own appointees during the transition and they will take over their offices at inauguration, though they still need Senate confirmation.

I see comments on DU quite often about impeaching Barr. My question is- Can he really be impeached? If so, by who? (Whom?) Boy howdy, if that nasty pile of garbage can be impeached-bring it on!

Impeachment in the Constitution includes "civil officers of the United States" as part of the clause. One cabinet member has been impeached, back during the Grant presidency. Typically if a cabinet member is caught being so corrupt as to warrant impeachment, they'll be fired or resign, so it's not really something that happens.

Personally, I think Barr makes a good case for a treason or espionage investigation. Unfortunately, the two party system we have, and the extreme rarity of impeachment, severely undermines the impeachment clause as the original authors intended it to work. We also have a populous where too many are more concerned with maintaining a two sides centerist status quo than actually confronting the substance of what is happening.

The false equivalence of both sides being equally bad prevents us from going in hard on corruption, and finding real solutions. That small group of dumbass swing voters command too much attention.

Been doing its job.

spot as a sidekick on the lap of the fuhrer dummy?

and you can shove yer bagpipes, drones, wet reeds and all, too.

That's the all clear signal.

possible) of this unethical, depraved excuse for an AG.

Is a stain on the American Justice system. What an oaf.