Russigate in Name Only

Really, there's not much real Russiagate left. Sure, Devin Nunes is still trying to figure out who to sue to get his reputation back, More Nunes media lawsuits, DHS's Michael Bars to NSC, Massachusetts still ballot canvassing (WaEx), but courts are closing down, and who knows when they'll open up. I just rescheduled a Medicare "Wellness" visit until June, but I'm not optimistic that it will occur then.

Meanwhile at WaPoo, Justice Department’s coronavirus considerations rankle civil liberties advocates

Collectively, the measures seem to suggest that the department under Attorney General William P. Barr will not be content to let operations lapse and defendants go free as more court operations are shuttered amid the intensifying public health crisis — even if it means roiling criminal justice reform advocates and civil libertarians. Appearing for the first time Monday at the White House’s regular coronavirus briefing, Barr said his department was keeping enforcement efforts “at full throttle.”
. . .
“This doesn’t help anything. There is nothing that this [proposed] law does to make us safer. What it allows for is a sweeping suspension of critical rights for people in the criminal legal system,” said Jeffery Robinson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality. “I think this is a transparent attempt to grab power and make it easier for the government to wield its authority.”

Many of our basic civil liberties evolved at a time plagues and other epidemics (like smallpox) were pretty common; they should survive this. Sen. Mike Lee, 'OVER MY DEAD BODY': DOJ's request for new 'emergency powers' over coronavirus met with swift condemnation (Da Blaze)

OVER MY DEAD BODY https://t.co/B8BRbvRDDa

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) March 21, 2020

Robert Barnes at RT, I am an American constitutional lawyer – and I see our government using Covid-19 to take away our fundamental rights. Bongino, DOJ Request For New ‘Emergency Powers’ Faces Bipartisan Criticism. Behind the Black, Power is what the COVID-19 government panic is really about.

Remember, this is essentially the same Justice Department that for the past three years has worked hard to misuse the FISA court in an effort to overthrow the legal election of a president they don’t like, even as they abused their power to put several people in prison and ruin the lives of others for relatively minor process crimes that would not have even existed without their fake investigation.

You think they won’t misuse these new powers, should Congress give such to them? And in what way do any of these totalitarian and unconstitutional powers contribute in any way to overcoming COVID-19?

Never let a good crisis go to waste.