Althouse: "I now assume that any prosecution or regulatory attack on a business not overtly aligned with the Democrats is undertaken for partisan political reasons."

June 18, 2024

"I now assume that any prosecution or regulatory attack on a business not overtly aligned with the Democrats is undertaken for partisan political reasons."

A Glenn Reynolds rule of thumb.

37 comments:

Leland said...: SBF had to lose billions of other people’s money before anybody tried to remove him from his company, but then SBF gave heavily to Democrats.; 6/18/24, 6:20 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: “Now”? I thought this was common knowledge since the illegal IRS crackdowns on TEA Party and Voter ID groups way back in Obama’s first term.; 6/18/24, 6:40 AM
Big Mike said...: He now assumes? I saw this back when Obama was President. Elon Musk needs to fire a warning shot across the Democrats’ bow, say by dumping a billion dollars into the RNC and announcing that there’s more where that came from.; 6/18/24, 6:44 AM
John henry said...: One of the hallmarks of of fascist, national socialist, communist and other totalitarian regimes is the early morning knock on the door by the goons who come to take you away.

It was 6AM when the ATF goons murdered Bryan Malinowski in Little Rock AK. He was airport manager and was allegedly involved in some shady shit at the Bill and Hillary Clinton airport.

Apparently he was selling firearms without a license. "Apparently" because there were no charges against him, just a search warrant for his house.

10 years ago I would have assumed that this was just another law enforcement operation gone bad. Stupidly bad, because they broke down the door at 6AM and Malinowski thought it was a home invasion. I would not have thought it murder by the state.

Now, absent evidence to the contrary, I wonder if it is.

There was some shady shit going on at Little Rock airport in the 90s and 00s. Drug running and CIA ops, allegedly. Perhaps it is still ongoing? Perhaps Malinowsky knew something he should not have? Was refusing to cooperate? Was causing worry he might go public?

John Henry; 6/18/24, 6:56 AM
John henry said...: Why is the Little Rock Airport the "Bill and Hilary Clinton Airport"?

I can understand the William J Clinton Airport, or even the Bill Clinton Airport. He was governor and president. But why is Hilary's name on it? She was a senator, but from New York, not AK. The Hilary Clinton Airport might be fitting for Utica NY, but why Little Rock?

John Henry; 6/18/24, 7:00 AM
narciso said...: I remember when that was a conspiracy theory i guess since they released americsn made; 6/18/24, 7:09 AM
JRoberts said...: About 20 years ago, I used to fly into Little Rock regularly to connect with suppliers. I always referred to the airport as the "BillHilly Airport". Like others above, I also wondered why her name was attached to that airport. Is there anyone in the history of the U.S. who has received so much credit for so little actual accomplishment than Hilary Clinton?; 6/18/24, 7:24 AM
Sebastian said...: "I now assume that any prosecution or regulatory attack on a business not overtly aligned with the Democrats is undertaken for partisan political reasons."

Correct. When Dems screech about the "rule of law," they mean rule by lawfare.; 6/18/24, 7:27 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: All Biden voters support corruption. Mob-like corruption - and the Authoritarian Soviet take over of the Democrat party.; 6/18/24, 7:43 AM
Mr Wibble said...: Is there anyone in the history of the U.S. who has received so much credit for so little actual accomplishment than Hilary Clinton?

Hillary Clinton was the avatar of the managerial class: over-credentialed, arrogant, entitled, and incompetent. It's why the left took Trump's victory so hard: they saw her loss as a rejection of their right to rule and a rejection of themselves as a class.; 6/18/24, 7:49 AM
Aggie said...: Now that police departments have been militarized with surplus DOD equipment, the pre-dawn blitzkreig no-knock warrants have become popular. And of course, they've become very popular with the lawfare teams. I don't know what Malinowski was up to, it sounds like he was generating income from gun-show sales, potentially illegally. But I'm pretty sure they could have arrested him during the day, at work, and searched his home peacefully with their warrant. Instead they turned on the flashing lights outside, pounded his door down after yelling and screaming, and then shot him in the house - all in 28 seconds, before dawn. How many here are wide-awake alert and thinking clearly when waking to an onslaught like this one, at this time of day? There is a distinction between a search warrant and a staged execution.; 6/18/24, 8:10 AM
Rocco said...: John henry said...
“Why is the Little Rock Airport the ‘Bill and Hilary Clinton Airport’?”

Two for the price of one!; 6/18/24, 8:11 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Feds killed a man who worked at that BillHilly airport.

I'm sure it's just a happy coincidence.; 6/18/24, 8:38 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: Is this a rebuttable presumption? I can easily imagine left wing bureaucrats going after a particular person or group because it is deemed to have the wrong politics. Look at the IRA targeting scandal under Obama. That was around 10 years ago too. I only imagine it has gotten worse in that time period in most agencies. But even given that, I find it hard to imagine ALL instances of someone who is perceived to have politics incongruent with the Democrats facing prosecution or regulatory review because of political motivations by the Left.

As an aside, if Trump wins and assuming the statute of limitations hasn't run, prosecuting Lois Lerner would be great to send a message to the DC bureaucrats that the times are changing.; 6/18/24, 8:43 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: oops IRA should have been IRS.; 6/18/24, 8:44 AM
JRoberts said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/18/24, 8:54 AM
JRoberts said...: "As an aside, if Trump wins and assuming the statute of limitations hasn't run, prosecuting Lois Lerner would be great to send a message to the DC bureaucrats that the times are changing."

Better yet, repeal the 16th Amendment, replace the income tax with something more simple/fair and shut down the IRS completely.; 6/18/24, 8:56 AM
Louise B said...: Why should a statute of limitations protect Lois Lerner from prosecution? Haven't we learned that those are just inconvenient paperwork obstacles? Override any statute and prosecute away!!; 6/18/24, 9:04 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Musk is a centrist, but any deviation from the "party Line" results in lawfare and an attempt to destroy by the MSM and Biden Administration.; 6/18/24, 9:14 AM
MadTownGuy said...: John henry said...

"Why is the Little Rock Airport the "Bill and Hilary Clinton Airport"?"

Maybe the airport administrators were as afraid of Hillary as Bill is?; 6/18/24, 9:34 AM
MadTownGuy said...: """I now assume that any prosecution or regulatory attack on a business not overtly aligned with the Democrats is undertaken for partisan political reasons.""

Brings to mind the raids on Gibson Guitars.

Judge Napolitano Slams DOJ Over Gibson Guitar Raid: ‘Unjustifiable, Use Of Force Was Criminal’

"Judge Andrew Napolitano told Megyn Kelly on America Live that the issue has resurfaced because “this administration has a penchant for seeking vengeance against those who want to speak out, and the owner of Gibson did so verbally by endorsing Republican candidates and financially by endorsing them as well.”

The judge said he’d like to know who in the Department of Justice gave the okay on the military-style raid. “The raid was unjustifiable. The use of force in the raid was criminal.”

After the government seized Gibson’s wood and effectively shut down their business for a month, the company now has $2.5 million in legal fees. Napolitano noted that Gibson still hasn’t received its wood back, nor have they been compensated for it as federal law requires of seized assets.

“It’s not the same as manufacturing methamphetamine,” he said. “If it was improperly imported, that is a civil wrong. It’s not a criminal one.” "

More on NPR about both>raids that took place:

Why Gibson Guitar was raided by the Justice Department

Long article, but in the preface to the interview transcript is a old correction from Andrea Johnson, the interviewee:
"UPDATE: September 6, 2011 1:45 p.m.: Andrea Johnson, director of forest programs for the Environmental Investigation Agency, wrote to NPR to express concern over two points in this story. First, the word "verify" more accurately reflects the requirements placed on end users of endangered wood. The Lacey Act, Johnson wrote, "does not require any 'certification' at all per se. In the forestry world, 'certify' implies independent third-party certification, or government stamps, neither of which the US government recognizes as 'proof' of legality."

Johnson also says she mis-spoke when she said that Gibson "was on the ground in Madagascar getting a tour to understand whether they could possibly source illegally from that country."

"I used 'illegally' when I meant 'legally' in talking about the trip to Madagascar," she writes. "I didn't realize I'd done this until I was listening to the piece. I really wanted to be clear: the objective of that trip's organizers was to look into whether there were opportunities for 'good wood' sourcing, and in the end after seeing the risks, only Gibson continued to purchase."; 6/18/24, 9:58 AM
Jupiter said...: "... and supposedly, this honorable court -- or let me rephrase that, this court ..."

Heh.; 6/18/24, 10:23 AM
Joe Smith said...: The powers that be are all over making Musk's life difficult.

They can only go so far as he is the only one who can reliably send rockets into space.

If Boeing and NASA get their shit together, they will go after him hard.; 6/18/24, 10:32 AM
gspencer said...: No longer any need to assume.; 6/18/24, 10:33 AM
Dude1394 said...: " Instead they turned on the flashing lights outside, pounded his door down after yelling and screaming, and then shot him in the house - all in 28 seconds, before dawn. How many here are wide-awake alert and thinking clearly when waking to an onslaught like this one, at this time of day? There is a distinction between a search warrant and a staged execution."

28 SECONDS!!!! from knock to death. The cartel couldn't have done a better job.

The ATF/FBI needs to be completely torn to the ground.; 6/18/24, 11:01 AM
Dude1394 said...: And they covered his doorbell cam so that he could NOT see them or their badges. For all he knew it was a home intruder.; 6/18/24, 11:21 AM
Big Mike said...: If Boeing and NASA get their shit together, they will go after [Elon Musk] hard.

Then he has nothing to worry about. This isn’t the Boeing that designed and built the 707, the (original) 737, and the 747. And NASA isn’t the same agency where Werner Von Braun hand-picked the scientists and engineers for the space program without worrying about who checked which boxes.; 6/18/24, 11:36 AM
Rob C said...: Dude it was even worse than that.

They also
1) cut power to the house
2) put tape over the ring doorbell camera

All of this which could have been handled by an ATF agent visiting him for a talk at the airport or raiding the house when they knew both of them were out (they knew their schedules). In fact, I believe they called off an earlier raid when they found out he wasn't there.; 6/18/24, 11:36 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: The Connecticut Bar Ass'n is sad about Glenn's attack on the integrity of our justice system. It's bad form to notice corruption. Worse than the corruption itself.; 6/18/24, 11:59 AM
cfs said...: "The powers that be are all over making Musk's life difficult."

---

Have you noticed the reporting at WSJ? They have three or four negative Elon Musk articles each week. Sometimes more than that. The WSJ has become noticeably worse in their reporting since the British female editor took over the paper. She reportedly wants more "for clicks" articles--or fluff, more hit pieces on Trump, and less reporting on Biden. She also wants less reporting on China and less on D.C. politics.

Articles at WSJ (front page) today, "There’s a New Golden Rule for Style: The Widest Pants Win" and "Have a Boring Task at Work? Don’t Just Plow Through It". I've seen no reporting there on the end of the Saudi Arabia petro-dollar agreement. You would think that would be a subject of an in-depth report at the WSJ. If they did an article on it, it was nicely hidden. So, I guess she is getting the changes she demanded.

How low can they go?; 6/18/24, 12:31 PM
John henry said...: Blogger Aggie said...

Now that police departments have been militarized with surplus DOD equipment

In this case it was the federal ATF, not local police. It is an ATF agent who will not be charged with murder.

I have mixed feelings about the donations of military equipment to local police forces. Yes, I take your point about it being overused.

But what happens if a revolution/insurrection comes? That equipment is under local, not federal, control. How much of it will wander off into the hands of the insurrectionists?

Is that a good or a bad thing?

John Henry; 6/18/24, 12:33 PM
John henry said...: Blogger Dude1394 said...

The ATF/FBI needs to be completely torn to the ground.

Congress tried to do this in 1908 (116 years ago) with FBI. Roosevelt set it up as a political spy/enforcement agency. Congress tried to prevent it. TR said "FU" to Congress and did it anyway.

It did not and, apparently, still does not have any legislative basis for its existence.

President Trump can shut it by executive order. I doubt he will find it possible to do that, though.

John Henry; 6/18/24, 12:38 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: So if you're a law and order person who dropped Trump when he posted that the Constitution should be ignored after he lost an election, and you weren't going to vote (Vote Biden? Hahaha Please. I said this was a law and order voter.), and now you're seeing this relentless lawfare from Democrats, what are you to do? What is the law and order vote or non-vote?; 6/18/24, 1:50 PM
KellyM said...: Light dawns over Marblehead. Poor Glenn - took him a while but he got there.; 6/18/24, 2:04 PM
Leland said...: Blogger Joe Smith said...
If Boeing and NASA get their shit together, they will go after [Elon Musk] hard.

Blogger Big Mike said...
Then he has nothing to worry about. This isn’t the Boeing that designed and built the 707, the (original) 737, and the 747. And NASA isn’t the same agency where Werner Von Braun hand-picked the scientists and engineers for the space program without worrying about who checked which boxes.

By the 1990s, Boeing's 737 had several rudder issues related to the jack screw freezing resulting in 2 confirmed crashes, 1 other potentially related crash, and 2 other near-misses. True, the early 737-100 and 200 were reliable until Boeing started changing internal systems on them.

As for NASA, I was at Lockheed Martin when it won the CEV contract to build NASA new orbiter capsule in 2006. The capsule is now called Orion. To date, Orion has yet to have a crewed flight. It is meant to fly onboard the Space Launch System, which was initially funded in 2011, based on the Ares V initially funded in 2005. SLS first flew in 2022 with no crew onboard. It won't fly again NET September 2025, expect it to slip especially if "The Resistance" runs NASA again. And then every 2 years, with none of the combined SLS/Orion system expected to be reusable. NASA has not launched a crew on a vehicle it designed since July 2011, and that vehicle was designed in the 1970s.; 6/18/24, 2:26 PM
John henry said...: A couple of people have mentioned Boeing in one context or another. They have certainly had their woes this year.

One thing I have not see anywhere, here or elsewhere, is mention that Boeing's union contract is up in September.The union is also unhappy that Boeing built a plant in South Carolina that is mostly non-union. They have been unhappy for a while, though I've not seen any mention of that, one way or the other in the past couple years.

I had no idea what one (Union) had to do with the other (plane problems). It could be a coincidence them happening together but that just didn't feel quite right.

A few minutes ago I was reading Zero Hedge about the Boeing CEO testimony to congress. TL;DR the whole thing but one thing I did see was the CEO saying that they were going to bring more manufacturing in-house and rely less on outsourcing.

And the penny dropped.

Unions always want less outsourcing. Always have and it is almost always in their interest to reduce it.

This is pure speculation on my part. But I wonder if the various Boeing incidents are being promoted more heavily than they would be to try to force Boeing to bring more (union) work in-house?

John Henry; 6/18/24, 3:55 PM
Josephbleau said...: "This is pure speculation on my part. But I wonder if the various Boeing incidents are being promoted more heavily than they would be to try to force Boeing to bring more (union) work in-house?"

Yes, Organized labor is a tremendous power, especially in the ports of the North West and LA. Labor rules the roost and a 35 year old can make $500Kpy on the docks.

I think that the outsourcing to Spirit that Boeing did was probably not Union Busting, but a way to get cheap parts while ignoring that Chinese R/M suppliers are all liars.; 6/18/24, 8:32 PM