Trump has a habit of ripping up all of his paper — his own "filing system" of sorts. Officials working in records management spend their days taping them back together to avoid violating Presidential Records Act https://t.co/SxhurtBzmC
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) June 10, 2018
This means that when historians write about this presidency, they'll have a constant reminder of his childishness in the evidence they use and, as a result, in the accounts they write. https://t.co/wTS3xuu6cH
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) June 10, 2018
And the WH staff is under instruction not to let him have matches, or he’d set fire to the drapes…
Solomon Lartey spent the first five months of the Trump administration working in the Old Executive Office Building, standing over a desk with scraps of paper spread out in front of him.
Lartey, who earned an annual salary of $65,969 as a records management analyst, was a career government official with close to 30 years under his belt. But he had never seen anything like this in any previous administration he had worked for. He had never had to tape the president’s papers back together again.
Armed with rolls of clear Scotch tape, Lartey and his colleagues would sift through large piles of shredded paper and put them back together, he said, “like a jigsaw puzzle.” Sometimes the papers would just be split down the middle, but other times they would be torn into pieces so small they looked like confetti.
It was a painstaking process that was the result of a clash between legal requirements to preserve White House records and President Donald Trump’s odd and enduring habit of ripping up papers when he’s done with them — what some people described as his unofficial “filing system.”
Under the Presidential Records Act, the White House must preserve all memos, letters, emails and papers that the president touches, sending them to the National Archives for safekeeping as historical records.
But White House aides realized early on that they were unable to stop Trump from ripping up paper after he was done with it and throwing it in the trash or on the floor, according to people familiar with the practice. Instead, they chose to clean it up for him, in order to make sure that the president wasn’t violating the law…
Lartey, 54, and Young, 48, were career government officials who worked together in records management until this spring, when both were abruptly terminated from their jobs. Both are now unemployed and still full of questions about why they were stripped of their badges with no explanation and marched off of the White House grounds by Secret Service…
(Incidentally, while I am not a medical professional, a nurse friend referred to puffy, flushed, water-retaining old-man mitts like those in the photo as “heart patient hands”.)
Giving this a cutesy frame like “his own filing system” is like focusing on the clever way a shoplifter saves on his grocery bill.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) June 10, 2018
Future generations of scholars going through boxes of taped together presidential papers will wonder how we let this absolute lunatic get so far into his term.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 11, 2018
But seriously, historians use those details — Ike wrote something in the margins, JFK underlined this passage, Nixon crossed out that paragraph — to add context and nuance to our stories.
The takeaways from "Trump ripped everything up" is hard to miss.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) June 10, 2018
I don’t think, given everything else that we know they’ve done, that it’s conspiracy theory-esque to wonder if firing the career White House staffers who taped together Trump’s ripped up papers was part of n effort to obstruct justice.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) June 11, 2018
Baud
Hillary would have scanned the papers and then emailed them to her private server. #DodgedThatBullet
Roger Moore
It doesn’t seem that outlandish to me, either. When somebody who is under investigation destroys records, even when they’ve been told it’s illegal, it’s hard not to conclude they’re doing it for a reason.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Elizabelle wants to rechristen Hurricane Bud to include a vowel.
Corner Stone
He was getting ripped off. Unless he just enjoyed playing with puzzles instead of doing actual records management.
Raoul
When a nation is being ‘run’ by a narcissistic rageaholic, the whole damn country needs to get on a tough-love, al-anon program ASAP.
Also, too, if the fucker can’t handle documents, then don’t let him have them. He hates to read anyway, so read them out loud to him (slowly, and preferable with pictures held up like story time) and then just put them in those old fashioned vacuum shuttle thingies (eta: capsule pipelines, the internets tell me) and whoosh them direct to Mueller. Problem solved!
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: Who is Abud?
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: Well, it is predicted to cool off and peter out. So…seems about right.
Yutsano
@Corner Stone: To be fair, he wasn’t exactly hired to pick up the pieces of the Dolt45 administration records especially. But I hoe he enjoyed his commute from Delaware, since that’s about the only place he could have possibly afforded.
ruemara
this day is testing my desire to focus on peaceful solutions & John Wick 3 coming out next year.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: And also note that the White House was unable/unwilling to give the staffers an actual reason as to why they were being fired. Normal administrations, you might give them the benefit of the doubt, but that ship has well and truly sailed as far as this group of maniacs is concerned.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Budo’s brother.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
And his base? They’ll tell us it’s no big deal, and besides, Hillary Clinton was worse. I don’t understand these people.
SpotWeld
I’m pretty convinced that Trump has no persistence of memory. Reality, to him, is what ever he believes it to be at that moment with no certain connection to prior events or future plans.
The tearing up of paper is probably the only way he can convince himself he’s accomplished anything since he cannot recall if he’s actually read anything and won’t trust what anyone tells him.
I did a thing, see there’s piles of paper on the floor
randy khan
As others have pointed out, trying to destroy all written records of what you do is more than a little consistent with criminal behavior. Put it together with his aversion to email, and it’s about as easy to paint the picture as if it were color by number.
debbie
If this is illegal, why aren’t there lawsuits? I assume this has gone on since the beginning, so it’s been more than one year. There’s been plenty of time to stop this, so why not?
The Dangerman
Optimism!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):
Blantantly breaking the law is no big deal? The Presidential Records Act is pretty cut and dried; don’t tear up documents for pretty obvious reasons. The White House staff shouldn’t have tried protecting him. Let him break the law and fail. This alone should be grounds for impeachment, but isn’t because one of the two major political parties in America has lost its collective mind.
We have to win to save the rest of the world from these people, not just ourselves. Imagine a fascist nuclear armed state with our resources? That’s my greatest fear. America, since the end of the 19th century, has always been a major world power.
This is all compounded by the fact that presidential power has grown over the centuries, exacerbated by the realities of the Cold War. Our system is breaking down under the strain of multiple forces. It’s a true wonder we lasted this long, since many presidential systems have fallen to despotism; look to Latin America to see how that has worked out for them, even without our interventions.
Aleta
“other times they would be torn into pieces so small they looked like confetti”
“throwing it in the trash or on the floor”
No ridicule intended to pw dementia, but this also reminds me of a coping strategy of a dementia patient. One way to cover up their confusion. Or try to stay on top of things. Avoid being told they read the same page 5 times already. Illogical way to stop people from saying “don’t you remember this right here.”
germy
@debbie: Good question.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie:
Hmmm, wonder where Judicial Watch is?
Ruckus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):
You might be thinking about it too much. They aren’t really human. Does that help at all?
Their entire life structure is build around hate. They don’t understand anything/anyone different than the distorted picture in their tiny little minds, they don’t want to understand anything/anyone different than the distorted picture in their tiny little minds. How’d they get this way? Endless repetition of a lot of people around them, their friends, their religion, their politics. It’s a self feeding cycle of hate. They are tough because they hate, they are religious because their religion honors hate, they are patriotic because they all hate the same thing.
lgerard
@dmsilev:
It seems they weren’t fired, but “forced to sign resignation letters”, which is something quite different
trollhattan
Stuff that makes you go “Urmmm.”
Mike in NC
No sign of a wedding ring on any of those pudgy fingers.
MisterForkbeard
Schooley
✔
@Rschooley
10 Jun
Replying to @Rschooley
Let me rewrite this tweet: Trump continues to show lawless disregard for even the simplest of norms, causing headaches and extra work for non-political government workers. pic.twitter.com/IeX4KjHV2x
This isn’t norm breaking. It’s explicitly illegal. This should really illustrate how hard it is to demonstrate just how lawless and awful Trump is, if our own good writers and allies can’t consistently paint the right portrait.
JGabriel
Politico via Anne Laurie @ Top:
Trump is so crooked, he’s made criminality a habit. Not our first criminal president perhaps, but our first habitually criminal president.
dm
I don’t know, I think I’m more disturbed by the report that he sometimes throws the bits on the floor for someone to pick up.
As to puzzle solving, DARPA took care of that a few years ago: http://archive.darpa.mil/shredderchallenge/
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Where’s the IG?
MomSense
I find this disturbing. What is Kelly doing about this? He knows the regs – at least he should know what is required by law.
kindness
Fired for no reason huh? Sounds like there is a group of employees out there badly in need of Union representation.
The Dangerman
@trollhattan:
Followed by President Pence (the above is a bridge too far even for Republicans, who would also impeach and convict, or Trump would have already done it).
randy khan
For what it’s worth, ripping up Presidential papers might or might not be illegal (depending on whether you consider that to be destroying them), but throwing them away definitely would be. The article says more or less that the staff understood that throwing the papers away would be illegal and therefore collected the pieces so that the law wouldn’t be violated. Piecing them together more or less ensures that you can’t even argue that they were destroyed by being ripped to bits.
Either way, it’s really strange.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
Today feels like a good day to take up kickboxing, sport of the future. ?
Corner Stone
@kindness:
Where is Steve in the ATL when he is so desperately neede-…oohhhh, that’s right.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@randy khan:
Again, people who should know better, were protecting him. People who somehow think they’re “holding the line”.
hitless
@The Dangerman: Dude, Trump could fire Mueller and a Republican House will not impeach him. A lot will line up behind Trump and claim is cost too much money and found nothing and was a partisan witch hunt that had to end. The hardline law and order conservatives will say that it was a very unfortunate action for the president to have taken. And do nothing.
JGabriel
@MomSense:
Kelly is the one who collects the White House wastepaper baskets and sends them to the Old Executive Office Bldg. to be pieced back together again, like Humpty-Dumpty.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: Started that in 2014. My roundhouse kick even while convalescing is… surprisingly effective.
JPL
@randy khan: Do we know if someone if taping the pages together? Someday someone might find bags of confetti.
chopper
@JGabriel:
dickory dock, motherfuckers.
trnc
@SpotWeld:
Maybe we’re lucky he doesn’t eat it and poop it out.
Dorothy Winsor
I blogged about how to deliver backstory.
debbie
@MomSense:
Yes, Kelly’s inaction is inexplicable.
trnc
@hitless: Yup. I’m not sure what has held him back at this point, but it sure as hell isn’t the fear of being impeached.
trnc
@JPL: Given the incoherency of his babblings, I think putting all the pieces together in a bag without taping them would be an appropriate physical manifestation of the “ideas” contained within them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trnc: There’s a reason there’s no paste in the Oval.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Kelly is in on it. Always has been. He has broken every oath he ever swore to protect our Constitution, and he did it out of racism.
Adam said from the start that Kelly had a very specific view of people from Latin America based on when he was in charge of that region, and now we know what that view is: Kelly despises them and will do anything to keep them down, including betraying his oaths.
Mnemosyne
@Dorothy Winsor:
Ugh. Backstory. I apparently swing between information dumps and being too parsimonious without a lot of middle ground, and nobody seems to be able to tell me what the “right” amount is. ?
MomSense
@debbie: @Mnemosyne:
I agree with Mnemosyne. Kelly will not let his oath of office or the law stand in the way of his racist ambitions. He’s disgusting.
LongHairedWeirdo
Help me out here: does this actually say “the President is violating the law, but his people are covering for him”? I mean, most laws aren’t entirely passive-voiced (e.g, “the records are to be maintained”) and often charge each individual with positive or negative duties (“retain the records”/”do not destroy the records”).
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@hitless: Yep. Republicans will just laugh at us over this. Pardons for all.
debbie
@MomSense:
I don’t doubt Kelly’s racist proclivities, but precise record-keeping is an intrinsic part of the military’s DNA and I can’t imagine he’d look the other way and still consider himself to be serving the country.
Or maybe I’m just overly giddy because Kay’s back!
JPL
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Why because he would eat it?
Major Major Major Major
My coworker is I guess having a bad day. He keeps sighing deeply. I guess this is what it’s like to sit near me a lot of days!
@Mnemosyne: My instinct in general is to explain only what’s strictly necessary, which can end up being too little for some readers. Whenever I intentionally try to restrict it–trying for subtle or mysterious or doesn’t-need-to-be-explained glosses–people complain. I’ve filed all that under my “Don’t Be Clever” rule now.
MisterForkbeard
@randy khan: Oh, I can argue that Trump *attempted* to destroy the papers, easily. This isn’t a “I fidget with some papers” thing, it’s a “I methodically destroy paper evidence given to me”.
The fact that his subordinates can reconstruct much (of all) of it doesn’t make it better. Trump is still violating the law, and his subordinates who fix those papers are following it.
randy khan
@JPL:
Until recently, the two guys who were fired were doing it. I don’t know what’s happening now.
eclare
@MomSense: Thirded, disgusting piece of human garbage.
MisterForkbeard
@debbie: Wait, Kay is back? I hadn’t commented on her disappearance at all because I was really saddened by it. This makes today an AWESOME day, at least until Trump inevitably fucks up “The Summit” in 4 or 5 hours.
What else makes it awesome? We Nintendo Owners are getting a backdoor Starfox game. Bam. Any other Switch owners here kind of giddy about Starlink?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: Yes.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
My problem is that I have a strong mystery element in this book, and figuring out how to dole it out in the right amounts has been really frustrating.
Tokyokie
That observation goes doll-hand in doll-hand with the indentation Macron left when he shook der Trumpenführer’s hand. Looks like +2 edema to the upper extremities (and his ankles, no doubt, look worse). All of which points to congestive heart failure. And I’d be very much surprised if he’s compliant with his medication regimen since, after all, he’s declared himself to be the healthiest president in history.
randy khan
@MisterForkbeard:
There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s attempting to destroy the papers. But if it’s not a crime (and lots of laws that say you must do something – here, preserve the records – also don’t make it a crime if you don’t do it), then attempting to destroy the papers wouldn’t be a violation. (I know that sounds strange, but the reason that attempted murder is a crime is that it’s specified as a crime in the criminal code.)
Aleta
from Politico
MJS
@debbie: Kelly is a fascist. That’s it. There is no mystery surrounding his actions.
jacy
I need somebody to talk me off the ledge. It look like the ex is going to try for custody again with our one remaining child. (the other just turned 18 and now lives with me full time and will attend LSU in the fall). We have joint custody and the question is where he goes to high school. At a Catholic school an hour away or at a public school 10 minutes from me. (The Catholic school is an hour away from where I live and an hour away from where his father works, but his father maintains an apartment in that town and counts it as his residence.)
I think I have the facts on my side, but it’ll be back up in front one of the judges the ex’s mistresses’ family owns. (They own all three family court judges that could possibly hear the case) They have decided every case in my ex’s favor — even one that flabbergasted the District Attorney when the judge ruled that I couldn’t get child support because I had verb ally declined it to my husband. I”m not joking, when I say it’s crooked. I think I could win if I had a decent lawyer, but I have no money for even a not-decent lawyer. This decided the next four years of my youngest child’s life and I can’t lose again. I think it would kill me. And I feel completely helpless to stop it.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: Have you tried not being clever? :P
eclare
@Tokyokie: Interesting observation, and CHF has a brutal medication regime.
Jeffro
Can we just present the GOP with a list of the top 100 things we fully expect them to be a-okay with when a Democrat next assumes the presidency? HERE IS WHAT WE’LL BE DOING SINCE IT’S APPARENTLY OKAY WITH YOU MOFOS:
– golfing every 3-4 days…at his/her own course
– tearing up papers and records
– not divesting from his/her businesses, then cutting deals with other countries that benefit those businesses
– using his/her lawyer as a cut-out for hush payments to porn stars he/she has banged
– increasing tariffs left and right without rhyme or reason
– Tweeting about jobs reports after tipping off his/her buddies in advance
– banging on private companies (aka Amazon) in order to damage their stock price
and on and on
That doesn’t even include shit that is now a-okay for presidential spouses (disappear for a month after ‘surgery’), cabinet officials (first-class travel, Chik-fil-A-gate) and more.
Also I don’t want to hear shit about whomever President Democrat decides to give a security clearance to – maybe every African American NFL player, for starters, so they can all waltz right into the Oval Office and line up to take a knee on DJT’s Time cover or something.
JPL
A month or so ago when I had my car being serviced an elderly gentleman, which means a few years older than me, sat next to me and picked up the remote for the tv and put on FOX. They were talking about the border and he added his two cents, which was they come in illegally and get welfare. Pretty calmly I said I don’t know that. I do know that the Supreme Court ruled that all children are entitled to a public education. I then spoke about the fact about what it was be like to live in a country that if you stay, your children might be killed, and said I didn’t know what I would do. It must be a horrifying decision. Anyway, I read my book for the rest of the time and ignored Fox news. He left before me, but did say I’m so glad we talked.
MisterForkbeard
@Aleta: Yeah, but she’s also not drawing a White House salary, so she’s obviously altruistic.
eclare
@jacy: I’m so sorry for what you are going through.
JPL
@Jeffro: You do know it’s only okay if you are republican. Whatever happened to our deficit?
Lapassionara
@jacy: ouch. Just take it a step at a time. We care
eclare
@Jeffro: Word.
John Revolta
Nah. Seems to me he’s finally found a suitable job for the son-in-law.
JPL
@jacy: I lived in LA although decades ago. When we were living in IL the boys pediatrician’s daughter was going through a divorce in LA, and she (the doctor) quizzed about their laws which are archaic to say the least. Can you suggest a new judge? Ask your attorney to see if he can change that. I feel so sorry for you, because it has to be difficult.
MisterForkbeard
@jacy: Ouch – my deepest sympathies, that’s awful. Just hang in there, and let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.
Immanentize
@jacy: I’m very sorry when the system stops being “blind” if it ever was.
Do you have a lawyer?
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Ugh. I wish I had some words of wisdom for you, but I don’t. Is it at least a Jesuit school, or a different order? If it was Jesuit, you could at least rationalize it as a really excellent education despite the religious component.
All I have to offer is {{{hugs}}} and the knowledge that it’s only 4 years until you never have to have any dealings with this asshole ever again.
Duane
I just heard that the two dictators are meeting tonight. Kim has announced he’ll go back to North Korea later tonight. Seems the Great White Hype will have little to show for all his talk.
MJS
@jacy: I’m sorry you have to deal with this. I don’t know that I have any advice other than 1) put your arguments in writing and, if possible, submit them to the judge. This will remove some of the natural emotions and nervousness speaking in court produces and 2) regardless of outcome, this will not kill you. You will make it through whatever happens because your kid needs you to.
Josie
@Dorothy Winsor: Thanks for this. It is something I am struggling with in writing about the Mexican Revolution – how much and when? Your suggestions are very helpful.
West of the Rockies
Trump voters will deny the validity of the story. When confronted with incontrovertible proof, they will say, “Let Trump be Trump!” Or “He’s not PC, isnt that awesome!”
They see him as some tough guy scamp.
Oh, and then they’ll say, “Yeah, well, Obama liked Dijon mustard, so neener-neener!”
Roger Moore
@MomSense:
What Kelly- and everyone else in the White House- is doing is enabling. They’re doing everything they can to protect Trump from his mistakes, like taping shredded documents back together so they can claim he didn’t violate the Presidential Records Act. Nobody as dysfunctional as Trump is can survive for as long as he has without a bunch of enablers.
debbie
@jacy:
Step back from the ledge. Your kid needs you.
P.S. I hope somewhere along the line, they ask your child what he/she wants.
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Also, too — and this is something to discuss with your therapist in detail — your narcissist ex-husband knows full well that this is the very last hold he has over you, and once your youngest turns 18, he will no longer be able to control your actions. That means that he is going to ramp up the pressure in the next 4 years because he can’t stand the realization that soon both you and your children will be out of his control and can tell him to go fuck himself. He is enraged by this realization and will be doing even more crazy shit to retaliate against you and your kids for daring to become adults. Be very cautious.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Duane: The news reports that I saw said Trump was leaving early because the staff level meeting had accomplished so much, that’s not the way it usually works.
HILFY
@Roger Moore: Once the trumpsters had fired the “experienced records managers”, how do we know they were replaced by honest people who would continue with the scotch taping? It is more likely that trump would rather have his papers in a burn bag.
satby
@jacy: Where does your son want to go to school? At his age the courts will often consider the kid’s wishes too. Ask your lawyer to request a guardian ad litem to represent your son’s interests.
Even if you lose, you’ll end up winning if your son is forced by his father to move and go to a school he doesn’t want to, because nothing alienates a kid more than their parent using them as an obvious pawn to hurt the other parent. I’m sorry you’re going through this too. But you aren’t going to die, you have to hang on for your son and you’ll get through this too.
Let us know if you need help.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@HILFY: At least we avoided that lady with the private email server designed to get around the federal records act. Dodged a bullet there.
Dorothy Winsor
@Mnemosyne: I love backstory that’s about characters’ internal issues. When I have a mystery element, I tend to be too obvious, which sounds like the opposite of what your beta readers are complaining about. Then I have to go back and take hints out.
@Josie: Writers of historicals have real problems, IMHO. That is HARD.
Dorothy Winsor
@jacy: I am so sorry you’re going through this. How’s the kid doing with it?
rikyrah
Let us look at the demographics of Dolt45’s judges
https://twitter.com/JoshuaGreen/status/1006289611872784385?s=20
Matt McIrvin
@LongHairedWeirdo: The article goes on to say that the guy who used to do it was suddenly fired one day for no stated reason. I’m guessing somebody didn’t like that he was trying to obey the records law, and that he was replaced by nobody.
SiubhanDuinne
@kindness:
The bit from the Politico article that perplexes me is:
That word “forced” is doing some heavy lifting. I don’t doubt for a second that they felt forced to sign, and I’m totally on their side and think they were very badly treated throughout this sorry saga, but how do you actually force a long-term civil servant to sign his own termination letter short of holding a loaded gun to his head?
Hyperbole? Or am I missing something?
TenguPhule
Only way he leaves the office is with cold dead little hands.
JPL
@satby: This is so true. You don’t win by taking a heavy hand, and Jacy needs to know we are here for her. When I lived in Louisiana we didn’t even bother writing a will because the state laws would determine transfer of wealth.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Demanding the rest of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh, I can picture plenty of ways, like, If you don’t sign, we’ll fire you and say we did it for cause, and you’ll have to fight to get your pension like McCabe is. Do you want to put your family through that? Can you afford a lawyer to do that for you?
McCabe was fired the way he was to provide an example for other federal employees of what would happen to them if they refused to resign.
TenguPhule
@The Dangerman:
People keep saying this and Republicans still keep building that bridge to nowhere.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: Oh good, I was concerned.
TenguPhule
@debbie:
You misspelled inexcusable.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I wish I was joking.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule:
The kid jumped off the one here.
trollhattan
@jacy:
Shit, you’re living in a Grisham novel. I’ve got nuttin’ other than perhaps a couple strategically placed gators. Good luck!
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
It seems to have worked.
TenguPhule
@randy khan:
At this point I assume they set it on fire.
hugely
@Aleta: my mom would throw everything away. Objects like hair dryers and candles. Its no joke, we had better have 25th amendment remedy toot suite
Gvg
People who hold government jobs, or even private jobs, often want to obey the law. IMO it’s not protecting Trump, it’s protecting themselves as they have responsibility also. I would also feel that my fellow citizens are entitled to those records. Not saving those records would make them complicit.
tamiasmin
All that stuff Mr. Mueller is compiling, and they’ll finally get him for ripping up a note that says: Hey Don, Great Meeting! Hope to see you again real soon. Justin
Irony rules.
Dev Null
@trollhattan: I don’t think Chait or whoever thought this through. (I forwarded this link this morning to my lists, and am too lazy to check the author again.)
Repugs are bailing on Pruitt. He’s too corrupt, even for Repugs. (I know, I know … I will eat my words…)
But when? Before the midterms? 210 days is 7 months, or hmm, January. The next Congress starts 3 or 4 January 2019.
Were Trump to fire Sessions and replace Sessions with Pruitt, then a) the act influenzas the midterms, and b) there’s a good chance that the result would be a slight Dem majority in the Senate.
I just can’t see Trump putting Pruitt in as AG before the midterms, absent a death wish.
Wait, wut?!?
Oh, right … never mind.
PS: I hope I’m wrong. You go, d00d!
Gelfling 545
@jacy: Surely even “owned” judges will have to ask the child his/her preferences? Is there appeal to a higher level in family court? Also, if it comes to the worst, some Catholic schools are pretty decent and are accustomed to dealing with kids of not RC upbringing in a non-proselytizing manner.
I attemded my 50 th reunion from my Catholic girls’ school last month. By tradition the 50th reunion women greet the new graduates ( as they process in behind the piper,) It was really heartening to see how very diverse the student population has become.while I’m sure they are not all like this, many have accomodated to the 21st century realities.
jacy
@Immanentize:
I don’t currently have a lawyer. We haven’t been to court in nearly two years. Things are monetarily really tight right now. The last legal battle ate up all of my cushion, and because I’m a freelancer, I haven’t been able to build it back. Hell, I still owe a couple thousand in medical bills from the cancer 3 years ago, that I’m paying off $25 a month. I’m going to try and find a lawyer in the next week or so, and see what kind of payment plan they’ll take.
Dev Null
@dm: Astonished that at any time in the past 30-odd years DARPA considered this a “DARPA-hard” problem.
I2O?
Srsly?!?
Shows what I know …
jacy
@debbie:
The last time were in court the older child was nearly 16, and the judge said his views were irrelevant because he was not legally an adult. Same judge I’ll be likely to have again.
Aleta
@jacy: Horrible, and I’m sorry. I wonder if, out of the numbers in this list, a 5-10 min call to one might bring suggestions of lawyers who will give an initial consult for free. Or else might recommend a reputable child advocate who could be hired for less than a lawyer, to report or help prepare your presentation to the court. I wouldn’t hesitate to call as part of information gathering. In my experience some of these groups are there for, willing to speak to, all kinds of situations and families. If one is too busy to talk, another might help instead.
Or, as mere information gathering, a call to the LSU women’s studies dept. or LSU women’s center to ask about info on lawyers or legal aid, since sometimes lawyers who teach at universities are also connected to community legal resources. Or there could be someone working there who knows about other support in your area.
Sounds like you have the facts well organized and are already experienced with court, which must be a big plus. (Previous negative experiences in the local courts would affect my nerves for sure though.)
Hope you’ll post this in other threads and keep updating.
jacy
@Gelfling 545:
In Louisana, family court judges have total discretion as to what to allow.
And it’s a shitty school. I know because my other son just graduated from it.
Shana
@randy khan: I suppose it’s optimistic to think this, but do you suppose “the staff” are first making copies of whatever he’s given so he can continue to tear documents up and they still have a copy they don’t have to have two (!) staffers spending their days taping back together?
satby
@jacy: can’t remember where in LA you are but can these folks help?
Shana
@jacy: If you can’t afford to hire a different lawyer could you go to a local law school’s legal aid clinic? I don’t know where you live so that may not be a possibility.
jacy
@Dorothy Winsor:
He’s miserable — and he’s been miserable for the past two years. We were under the impression that his father was going to let go when he graduated middle school, but it appears not. We are meeting with his therapist on Wednesday, and she has said that Nick should get to choose where he goes to school. BUt the ex has already told me that nothing she says is going to change his mind.
And he really wants to attend BR Magnet, because it’s a performing arts school and that’s what he wants to pursue. It’s literally the perfect school for him.
Dev Null
@Jeffro: d00d, where have you been?!?
IOKIYAR.
Not if you’re a Dem.
jacy
What I need to do, I think, is challenge first. I have to find a lawyer. Thank you all for your good suggestions. I just needed to vent because it’s too overwhelming.
Gelfling 545
@jacy: Is there a law school near you that has a legal clinic?
Gelfling 545
@jacy: Ah. Well that sucks.
Shana
@jacy: Please know you can vent to us all you want or need to.
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: hey, I fully support the right of employees to be in a union if they so desire. As well as their right not to be in a union if they so desire. And typically employers who have unions have them because they deserve them.
And I hope these two get well taken care of.
Dev Null
@jacy: No first-hand knowledge, but have you thought about crowdfunding?
I would contribute, and know peeps who would.
JPL
@Steve in the ATL: How are you and your wife doing?
satby
@jacy: well, it sucks that his father is such a bastard that he would disregard the kid’s own desires, but kids have survived worse than going to a high school they hate. For his sake, you have to not let this turn into Mom vs Dad Deathmatch 2018. If he can’t go to a performing arts high school, he can work toward getting into a performing arts college. Keep both of you focussed on the thought that the window is closing on your ex’s ability to fuck with all of you.
I remember that my ex took me to court every two years from 1992 to 2005 to try to get out of child support, and to drain my bank account as a side benefit in his mind. Despite court orders and even arrest warrants, he would just leave the state. It was a nightmare, so I relate. And his kids today barely speak to him because they know perfectly well from him what he did. And he’s 66 and now paying back child support out of his SS payments.
Get a pro bono lawyer if you can, fight what you can, and have faith that karma will someday hit that motherfucker like a train.
JPL
@Dev Null: me too..
burnspbesq
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Comedian, you are.
jacy
@Dev Null:
I’ve been considering a fundraiser. I could do pet portraits or other art for a donation. I’m not sleeping, so I have all the time in the world for art. I’m thinking on it.
jacy
@Gelfling 545:
LSU has a law school. And my son is an incoming student, and my S/O works there. I can see if they can help me figure out what I need to do.
stinger
@Dorothy Winsor: Excellent points! Thanks for the link!
philbert
@Dev Null: “influenzas the midterms” You win for the day!
randy khan
@Shana:
Honestly, if I were in that position, it’s what I would do – always have an extra copy and associate the torn up bits with the copy. It’s a lot quicker and easier. Of course, if Trump or anyone else writes something on the document after it’s copied, the copy wouldn’t be complete, but it’s a good place to start.
jacy
I think all I need to start is a lawyer who can craft a change of custody petition, then I can get in first before he does.
Dev Null
@jacy: Keep us posted.
Speaking only for myself, the win would be knowing that I’ve helped push back against unreason. I don’t need artwork. (The Spousal Unit is in decluttering mode, so …)
Dev Null
@philbert: You are too kind. And I am a sucker for horrible puns.
Dev Null
@burnspbesq: +1
Steve in the ATL
@JPL: I’m doing fine, thanks! Wife is actually improving a bit. The pancreatitis pain is almost entirely gone, so we are back at the point of trying to determine what caused the pain that led to the procedure that gave her pancreatitis. Emory has again told us that they don’t know and can’t figure it out so just go back to mayo. Thanks, Emory!
On the plus side, I have enjoyed a few glasses of vino with Subaru Diane.
andy
I can’t believe The Leader signs things with a fucking Sharpie™.
Steve in the ATL
@Shana: hopefully they are like my paralegals, who live by the rule of “never give Steve an original document!”
Shana
@Steve in the ATL: You and my husband would get along well I think….
JPL
@Steve in the ATL: Hopefully soon your wife will join you two.
Fair Economist
@jacy: That is really rough. One way to look at it is that an extra hour a day of commuting for 4 years is not the end of the world, and Catholic schools aren’t that harmful – all my cousins went to them, and they came out fine (and not too devout, even the ones that still attend services).
I doubt I can make suggestions you haven’t already considered, but can you get the press involved? If your youngest doesn’t want to go, I expect that they can get themselves out of Catholic school as well.
Brutusettu
@randy khan: it could be simply just a sign of dishonest behavior. Where he wants to freely lie or break his word and deny everything. But you think it’s criminal, your TDS is noted. j/k
J R in WV
@jacy:
I’m sorry you and your kids are involved involuntarily with their father, and that said father is an ass. Evil vindictive ass, to be more precise.
We’ll do what we can to help out.
And feel free to vent on the ass right here, every day.
momus
Shredding the evidence is a deeply ingrained habit.