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Why the Flynn Pardon Matters https://t.co/RQ6Wclo7Z6 @benjaminwittes via @lawfareblog

 Trump has long loved the pardon power, though not because of the good a president can do with it. He loves it because of the unchecked power it offers to make statements, make constituencies happy, give out goodies to friends and anger enemies.
As Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic has written, the pardon power works the way Trump wishes the entire presidency works.
For this reason, the Flynn pardon is likely to be the first trickle of what will ultimately be a flood of postelection clemencies—a flood composed mostly of controversial actions designed to energize core Trump supporters and irritate others.
Look for this flood to include a number of different categories of pardon:

The “own the libs” pardons. These serve chiefly to anger Trump’s political opponents by rewarding someone who both flatters him and represents some value or set of values offensive to liberal opinion.
The “own the intelligence community” pardons—pardons designed to offend and punish the intelligence agencies for their professionalism over the past several years and the inconveniences that professionalism has caused to Trump.
The reward pardons—the handouts the president can give to those who stuck with him, flattered him, or otherwise served his interests and ask nothing more in exchange than absolution for federal crimes.
Roger Stone is the template here. And again, the pardon for Flynn—who reneged on his cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and has become an enthusiastic participant in right-wing conspiracy theories—partakes of a certain amount of this type too.
The self-protective pardons—those given to people who might be inclined to cooperate with law enforcement in the future and whose cooperation could be damaging.
[T]his category . . . overlaps significantly with a category of what we might call “preemptive” pardons—that is, pardons of people who have not yet been charged but who might fear law enforcement action some time in the future.
All of these categories merge in the self-pardon, of course, which combines owning the libs with self-protection and preemption.
The main tool of discipline Trump is using to keep Republicans in line is fear, but carrots are useful too, a reminder that the Godfather can make good things happen for those who are loyal, as well as make bad things happen for those who stray.
Ben delves into an analysis of Judge Sullivan's dismissal of the Flynn case - what Sullivan had to say about it, what Flynn REALLY did, and how that matters. Definitely take the time to dig in a read.
For this concise gem: Flynn was likely to escape his conviction by one means or another anyway, it being exceedingly difficult to force the government to prosecute someone it is willing to lie to vindicate.

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— Thread
(requested by followers)

1. Leverage

Most poor people don't leverage. Trying to get everything done yourself will limit you to only how much you can do.

Get more hands working for you, and find a way to pay or show them what's in it for them.

2. Trust

When doing business, poor people would require collateral from strangers, but excuse those close to them because they *trust* them.

That's how you get scammed.

The unspoken rule is to know your safety net whenever you're not taking collateral.

Never need to trust.

3. Morality

Never seen a very successful businessman say "This is not a good thing, it's evil."

It's either good for business or bad for business. Its either effective or ineffective.

Morality will only limit you.

4. Reciprocity

Expecting someone to help you because you helped them in the past is ludicrous.

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@The_Rumpus is open for essay submissions until February 28, so here’s a #RumpusEssays thread in which our amazing editors share what they would like to see in submissions. Give them a follow and send your essay our way via @submittable

Features Editor @happiestwerther is “still (forever) in love with the researched essays that teach me something about a subject while I also learn about a narrator.” #RumpusEssays

Assistant Features Editor @sarahkasbeer would like to see “essays with unexpected engines / innovative structures / emotional and intellectual depth / good ole narrative tension.” #RumpusEssays

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Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, launched the organisation that now runs SFFN.
The CEO Imran Ahmed worked closely with a number of Labour figures involved in the campaign to remove Jeremy as leader.

Rachel Riley is listed as patron. https://t.co/nGY5QrwBD0


SFFN claims that it has been “a project of the Center For Countering Digital Hate” since 4 May 2020. The relationship between the two organisations, however, appears to date back far longer. And crucially, CCDH is linked to a number of figures on the Labour right. #LabourLeaks

Center for Countering Digital Hate registered at Companies House on 19 Oct 2018, the organisation’s only director was Morgan McSweeney – Labour leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. McSweeney was also the campaign manager for Liz Kendall’s leadership bid. #LabourLeaks #StarmerOut

Sir Keir - along with his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney - held his first meeting with the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). Deliberately used the “anti-Semitism” crisis as a pretext to vilify and then expel a leading pro-Corbyn activist in Brighton and Hove
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The characteristic Pete thought is: wait a minute, this whole area is dominated by an assumption that no one seems to be questioning, and I've got two options to express that: i) outline the logic of the issue in a quick and compressed way, ii) write a small book with references.

The discipline seems to want something in between these poles every single time, and this makes me extremely anxious because I feel (with good reason) like any partially referential engagement with the issue will get instantly torpedoed by anyone outside its referential remit.

To repeat something I've said before: I'm actually quite good at being *concise*, I just find it very hard to be *brief*, because most of the thoughts I have don't permit brevity. Consider what your (referential) reactions are to this brief piece:

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