Those Purloined Files at Mar-a-Lago

While pundits want to speculate about indicting Trump, or not -- as if that's all that matters! -- I'm just not ready yet to cut to the chase. Consequently, I still want to know who the people were that decided what not to take and what to take from the White House to Mar-a-Lago? Trump didn't do that alone.

So, I want to know about that process. After the decisions were made, who then physically gathered up the stuff that filled all those boxes that ended up in Florida? 

By the way, now I can't help wondering if all that "stuff" actually went straight to where the FBI found it on August 8th. Truth be told, we don't know all of what has happened to that sort of "stuff" since Trump first started stealing souvenirs and secret documents, to squirrel away and occasionally show off  ... whenever that was.

Thus, I need to know who secreted the stuff to the cars, or the helicopters, etc. Then who carried the purloined files into Trump's home/headquarters/club -- Mar-a-Lago? Then let's know, for sure, how many files have been photographed, or simply removed from those boxes and rented, or sold, to the highest bidder? 

All of which reminds me of an old saying about an ancient game, a highfalutin pastime that distills a war waged by kings and their courts into a board game -- chess.

Dig it: There would be no game of chess if the pawns refused to play.

 

VCU Men's Basketball Non-Conference Schedule

From VCU:

The VCU Rams will kick off their 2022-23 campaign on Mon., Nov. 7, when they will host Manhattan at the Siegel Center. That season-opener is the first of a nine-game non-conference home slate, which includes a first-ever visit from Vanderbilt, as well as road trips to Memphis, Temple and the Barclays Center. 

Additional home contests with Morgan State (Nov. 12), Kennesaw State (Nov. 26), Vanderbilt (Nov. 30), Jacksonville (Dec. 7), Radford (Dec. 14), Northern Illinois (Dec. 17) and Navy (Dec. 21) are on the schedule. Note: An opponent for one non-conference home date, Dec. 11, will be announced at a later time.

Vanderbilt will be making its first appearance at the Siegel Center. The Rams scored a 48-37 victory at Vandy last season in Nashville, Tenn. A pair of VCU’s 2022-23 home opponents, Jacksonville and Navy, are coming off 20-win campaigns in which they reached their conference championship game in the Atlantic Sun and Patriot League, respectively.

At the Barclays Center, VCU will return to the Legends Classic, presented by Old Trapper, Nov. 16-17, in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Rams are set to face Arizona State on Nov. 16 at 8:30 p.m. Then, the next day (Nov. 17), VCU will face either Michigan or Pittsburgh (ESPN2).

The Rams will also make high-profile road trips to Memphis (Nov. 20) and Temple (Dec. 3). It will be VCU’s eighth all-time meeting with Memphis.

Led by sixth-year Head Coach Mike Rhoades, VCU is coming off a 22-10 campaign, which culminated with the second round of the Postseason NIT. Last season's starting point guard, Ace Baldwin Jr. -- who was named to the A-10's all-conference second team -- returns to lead a veteran Rams squad that has added six newcomers, including three transfers.

More basic info about game times, TV networks, etc., will be released at a later date. The A-10 will announce the Rams’ league schedule in the coming weeks.

Note: VCU season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting VCUAthletics.com/tickets or by calling the VCU Ticket Office at 804-828-RAMS.

-- Logo art from VCU.

The 14th Amendment's Text

Note: The 14th Amendment was passed by Congress on June 13, 1866, which was a little over a year after the end of the Civil War. On July 9, 1868, once it had been ratified by the necessary 28 of 37 states, the 14th amendment became part of the law of the land; its text is displayed below.

AMENDMENT XIV

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

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The Big Why

We've all heard countless times about the Big Lie -- the falsehood that in 2020 Biden stole the presidential election and Trump actually won. But what about the Big Why?

OK, now Trump is claiming the FBI seized his passport(s) during their August 8 visit to Mar-a-Lago. Which means it's possible that it could be true, partially true, or totally untrue. And, if it's true, it does make sense to wonder why the FBI took his passport(s). In context, that's just one of many Little Whys.

Meanwhile, now that I think about it, why would anybody assume that all of the stuff the FBI hauled away from a basement in Trump's clubhouse that day was put there at the same time -- on January 20, 2021? It seems to me that for any number of nefarious reasons Trump could have been squirreling away sensitive government documents during his entire time as president. Plus, we don't know the FBI found all the stuff it hoped to find.

So, now this FBI search and seizure story reminds me that I have always wondered why Trump moved his principle residence from New York to Florida, when he did, in 2019. To me, it never was explained satisfactorily. Could it  be that Trump decided it would be better to store and market the purloined secrets at Mar-a-Lago than any of his other pads?

Maybe it's all connected?  

Which, of course, circles us back to the Big Why – in the first place, why did Trump steal those particular records?

Anyway, at this point, we do all know why Trump is now being called, "Benedict Donald." 

The Coldest Warrior

Note: The piece below this note is an OpEd I wrote for Richmond.com 23 years ago; did the Nixon illustration back then, too. It was published to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Nixon's resignation. So the anniversaries mentioned in the first graf date from 1999.

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August 9, 1999: August is usually a slow month for news, especially political news. So we are spoon-fed anniversaries to contemplate: Hiroshima’s 54th; Woodstock’s 30th; it was 25 years ago that Pres. Richard M. Nixon took the fall. The entire culture shifted gears the day Nixon threw in the towel.

The brilliant strategist, the awkward sleuth, the proud father, and the coldest of warriors had left the building. August 9, 1974 was a day to hoist one for his enemies, many of whom must have enjoyed his twisting in the wind of Watergate’s storm. It was the saddest of days for his staunch supporters, whose numbers were still legion.

Either way, Richard Nixon’s departure from D.C. left a peculiar void that no personality has since filled in anything close to the same way. For the first time since his earliest commie-baiting days, in the late-‘40s, Dick Nixon suddenly had no clout. 

Upon Nixon's departure, concern for social causes went out of style for a lot of young Americans. It was time to party. Soon what remained of the causes and accouterments of the ‘60s was packed into cardboard boxes to be tossed out, or stored in basements.

Watergate revelations killed off the Nixon administration’s chance of instituting national health insurance. On top of that, many people have forgotten that he was also rather liberal on environmental matters, at least compared to the science-doubting Republicans who have followed. Although he was a hawk, Nixon was moderate on some of the social issues.

Nixon's opening to China and efforts toward détente with the Soviets are often cited as evidence of his ability to maneuver deftly in the realm of foreign affairs. No doubt, that was his main focus. Still, at the bottom line, Nixon is remembered chiefly as the president who was driven from office. And for good reason.

Nixon’s nefarious strategy for securing power divided this country like nothing since the Civil War. Due to his fear of hippies and left-wing campus movements, Nixon looked at ex-Beatle John Lennon and instead of a sarcastic musician, in his view Nixon saw a raw power to galvanize a generation’s anti-establishment sentiments. Fearful of that imagined potential, the sneaky Nixon administration did everything it could to hound Lennon out of the country.

Nixon deliberately drove a wedge between fathers and sons. To rally support for his prosecution of the Vietnam War, he sought to expand the division between World War II era parents and their baby boomer offspring. The families that never recovered from that time's bitterness were just more collateral damage.

However, Nixon’s true legacy is that since his paranoia-driven scandal, the best young people have no longer felt drawn into public service. Since Watergate the citizens who’ve gravitated toward politics for a career have not had the intellect, the sense of purpose, or the strength of character of their predecessors. We can thank Tricky Dick for all that and more.

So weep not for the sad, crazy Nixon of August, 1974. He did far more harm to America than whatever good he intended.

Some commentators have suggested that he changed over that period, even mellowed. Don't buy it. The rest of us changed a lot more than he did. On top of that, Nixon had 20 years to come clean and clear the air. But he didn’t do it. He didn't even come close. In the two decades of his so-called “rehabilitation,” before his death in 1994, Nixon just kept on being Nixon.

So, spare me the soft-focus view of the Nixon White House years. Tricky Dick's humiliating downfall should be a lesson to us all -- he surely got what he deserved.

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The Kidnapping of Brittney Griner

 

In a way, Russia has kidnapped Brittney Griner. News reports say the Biden administration is working to arrange a trade to gain her release. No doubt, swapping violent gangsters for famous athletes surely must be a tricky business.

Officially, Griner's jailers say she broke their drug laws. Now she has to pull nine years. Like millions of people in lots of places, I hope Griner is released from imprisonment soon and comes home safely. 

Still, there's a trend in motion that isn't helping that cause. Her captors already know America wants its All-Star basketball player back much more than the Russian bosses want to hold her prisoner. Right now, with Griner's victimhood story at the top of the news, her celebrity status is being enlarged. Moreover, that's only making the ransom price go up.

Maybe the best thing the professional news business could do to help Griner's cause is talk about something else for a while. For the time being, we know Boss Putin and his drinking buddies are reveling in glee as they watch the pain this whole matter is inflicting on the USA. That goes double for how it is making Americans get pissed off at Biden for being unable to free Brittney. 

Meanwhile, it looks to me like a new crime wave is coming: The kidnapping of particular people -- especially well known Americans -- in order to extract a ransom of some sort, is going to be a bigger and bigger problem in the future. After all, it's not hard to do on a low budget. Even easier when the kidnappers are professionals working for/in cooperation with an authoritarian government. 

Rogue nations and other audacious mobster organizations are bound to use kidnapping for ransom more and  more. Hey, why wouldn't they? It's a crime older than dirt. And, naturally, the media will probably go on helping to promote the kidnappers' work.

Bottom line: Don't go to Russia.  

-- Photo: NPR