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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGoodbye, Bill Barr
Goodbye, Bill Barr
By MARK JOSEPH STERN
In just two years, Attorney General William Barr transformed the Department of Justice into a sleazy, third-rate law firm devoted to shielding Donald Trump and his friends from the consequences of their crimes. A coterie of attorneys with prestigious law degrees and sterling résumés joined Barrs crusade to place Trump above the law. The attorney generals tenure played out as a natural experiment: What happens when the embodiment of the right-wing Federalist Society becomes the nations chief law enforcement officer? The answer has been a ghastly disaster for the rule of law.
Now that Trump has lost reelection, Barr will soon step down. His departure will not undo the immense damage that he inflicted upon the Justice Department, which is supposed to enforce federal law fairly, impartially, and independently from the presidents whims. He has turned the principle of prosecutorial independence into a farce. It will take years to persuade Americans that the attorney general is anything more than a glorified bag man for the president.
Barr anointed himself the spiritual leader of the Federalist Society, a powerful group of conservative attorneys backed by a lavishly funded dark money network. In a speech to the Federalist Society that drew continual applause, Barr accused Democrats of seeking to destroy America. He claimed that progressives are on a holy mission to use the coercive power of the State to remake man and society in their own image, using any means necessary to gain a momentary advantage in achieving their end. Trumps political opponents were borderline terrorists engaged in a war to cripple the president. Barr insisted that the executive is effectively a monarch who endures unfair harassment and encroachment from the other branches. In terms only slightly more academic than Trumps, Barr told a room of Federalist Society that the presidentthis president, Donald J. Trumpshould be allowed to do whatever he wants to destroy his political enemies, avoid prosecution, and own the libs. His audience responded with a rapturous standing ovation.
Barrs most nauseating moment may have come during the racial justice protests that erupted across the country this summer. The attorney general infamously abetted the gassing of protesters for a presidential photo-op. He flooded D.C. with unmarked federal agents who refused to state which law enforcement agency (if any) they work for. These officers looked, to all the world, like a paramilitary squad. Barr sent federal officers into other cities, where they threw protesters into unmarked vans without any apparent legal justification. He created his own personal battalion by drawing officers from different federal agencies and deploying them to crush demonstrations. He also aggressively charged protesters, urging prosecutors to bring sedition charges and consider prosecuting elected officials.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/goodbye-attorney-general-bill-barr.html
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)In Memphis & St. Louis recently that I know of. Talking to police.
River Front Times has an excellent article about his bs lies!
https://m.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2020/10/16/barr-brought-his-bs-to-st-louis
pandr32
(11,562 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Scum!
MyOwnPeace
(16,920 posts)the song "Two out of Three Ain't Bad"........
Trump and Barr will be gone - now to figure out how to add Moscow Mitch...........
c-rational
(2,589 posts)MyOwnPeace
(16,920 posts)Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)Sogo
(4,986 posts)He'll be 78 by then....I don't see how he lasts with how unhealthy he is.
MyOwnPeace
(16,920 posts)Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,008 posts)True Blue American
(17,981 posts)Then jail for his crimes.
2naSalit
(86,336 posts)That whole gang are guilty of crimes against humanity on a grand scale. If we don't have what it takes to convict them, the ICC probably will.
At this point, I almost don't care exactly what they are locked up for, I just want them all locked up. I hear there's plenty of room at GITMO.
seta1950
(932 posts)GB_RN
(2,337 posts)Barr lied to Congress. He lied when he said he knew nothing about any Reichwing terrorist threats going on (when the FBI was actively investigating the cases in Michigan). He lied about the Mueller investigation. And Im sure he lied in other occasions.
dalton99a
(81,406 posts)McConnell has to be removed from his position of power as well
BSdetect
(8,995 posts)SpankMe
(2,957 posts)zentrum
(9,865 posts)more harm before he leaves. They will all leave as much damage as they can.
gab13by13
(21,264 posts)onetexan
(13,024 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)Obama appointee
I think the FCC, like a few other agencies, (FAA ) carries over into the next admin. Biden can appointee vacancies. I guess if someone is a crook, they can get the boot, but Pai has not done anything illegal.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)olegramps
(8,200 posts)I consider it treasonous to attempt to transform the presidency into a virtual dictatorship or pseudo kingship in which they are above law and that challenges the primary bases of the separation of powers that the nation was founded on. In my estimation he is in violation of the oath that I took to serve in the U.S. Army Forces that I would protect the Constitution from both foreign and domestic enemies. Their bizarre interpretation of the Second Article of the Constitution should be formally challenged by the Congressional Democrats.
leftieNanner
(15,068 posts)I recall an interview where he was asked how history would view his tenure at DOJ, and he smirked and said that history is written by the winners.
Yeah. Good luck with that asshole.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)It's seeming more and more plausible.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,560 posts)So I say it for me, and this will have to do.
Don't let the bars hit you in the ass on the way in.
DallasNE
(7,402 posts)This article points to the Federalist Society as being the head on the beast. It is not. A main message of the Federalist Society is that America is not a secularist nation. That makes the Federalist Society an arm of the beast. The head head of the beast then is the religious cult called the Mater Dei -- breakaway sect within the Catholic Church of which Barr is a member. And so are half of the members on the Supreme Court. You see it in decisions like Hobby-Lobby and the cake decorator and florist decisions that permit refusal of service based on "strongly held" religious views. Today one presumes blacks could be refused service at lunch counters based on those same strongly held religious views.
Skraxx
(2,969 posts)He can say goodbye to the levers of power he has corrupted and say bellow to the scales of justice which will hopefully deal with him in good measure.
DFW
(54,302 posts)LeftInTX
(25,146 posts)Can't wait til Biden cans him
Blue Owl
(50,287 posts)ESAD, Barr