The Legal Issues Swirling Around a Child Monster Raised by Monsters; Trump Is Panicking, Rightly So; Fake Trump Picture, Correct Message
Ethan Crumbley shot and killed four kids in his school, and wounded seven others, with a handgun that his parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, bought him just days before, a very early “Christmas gift” for a kid known to be having emotional troubles at school.
After the shooting and after significant investigation, the prosecutors decided to charge Jennifer and James with involuntary manslaughter. Everyone has likely read Jennifer’s Instagram post that, in part, brought about the charges: LINK
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald pointed to Jennifer's Instagram post that has now become evidence in the case against the couple.
The post, which shows a picture of a handgun displayed in an open case, reads: "Mom & son day testing out his new Xmas present. My first time shooting a 9mm I hit the bullseye."
So, now what?
Ethan is being charged as an adult. He is 15. He was having emotional troubles. His parents bought him or at the very least put him in a position where he could possess a handgun during an emotionally difficult time. The fact that Ethan committed a monstrous crime certainly does play a role in whether to charge him as a minor or as an adult, 15-year-olds know it’s wrong to shoot someone. Charging Ethan as an adult may be the right decision, but from what we know at this point, it is not as obvious as some take it.
While everyone in America should be furious with Ethan, who played the part of every parent and grandparents’ nightmare, it is worth asking ourselves and the Oakland County prosecutors if Ethan isn’t also a very minor victim here, too. NO, not a “victim” as compared to the children he put into the ground, but a victim nonetheless. Someone, somewhere, hopefully, Ethan’s lawyer, should evaluate whether Ethan ever really stood a chance in this world.
Consider the judgment shown by the Crumbleys as we know them. The couple that buys the troubled child a gun and when the troubled child goes on a killing spree, abandons that child - we simply must keep using that word, he is a monster and a “child” - in order to make a run for Canada, or …somewhere, when their child most needed them? When they should be talking to attorneys and therapists about saving Ethan’s life, trying to ensure that he is okay himself and not suicidal. When the next 70 years of Ethan’s life remained in the balance, he had parents that ran to protect themselves from a much more minor offense. They abandoned him.
And that’s just what we’ve heard released. Truly, God only knows what Ethan went through growing up. Perhaps I am wrong, but I keep thinking that it is entirely possible that Ethan Crumbley never really stood a chance in this world. We would need to know a lot more. But if the investigation turns out to show that Ethan had been showing very troubling signs for quite some time, years - some of it due to parents that were out of control, and instead of counseling and medication, his parents bought him a handgun, I’d be very close to considering Ethan a big enough victim to withdraw the adult charges filed against him and possibly move the matter to juvenile court and psychiatric care after age 18. I don’t know the law in Michigan but there is likely a way. I am not advocating any sort of program that releases him back to society at age 18, and not for a long, long, time after. He is obviously beyond “troubled” and obviously “dangerous,” and obviously deserves punishment. But imagine the damage that may lay in a 15-year-old’s brain if that child has been raised to be the monster that the Crumbleys appear to be.
Ethan isn’t innocent. The kids whose lives were taken that day are the only innocent people involved in this matter. But an open question remains as to whether Ethan really was in control of himself that day, that week, that month? Was Ethan ever really in control of his behavior? Did he ever stand a chance? A kid, raised by monsters, becomes the monster.
It is a consideration.
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TRUMP IS JUST SO OBVIOUSLY PANICKING
No, the double negative that - read literally - admits the election was fair and that he lost doesn’t indicate anything… other than the fact that it was some random two-line statement put out on a Saturday night. It redefines “obsession.”
Trump is back on Twitter and that means it’s easy again to read his moods and when he’s happy, or terrified. Not officially on Twitter, of course. He puts out short to medium-length “statements” and Liz Harrington, his communications director, tweets them out. As an example, the double negative referenced above:
"Anybody that doesn’t think there wasn’t massive Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election is either very stupid, or very corrupt!”
The workaround on Twitter is so bad and so obvious that some people have demanded that Twitter shut Harrington’s account down. Nah, stupid, Twitter would end up in a game of Whack a Mole, always shutting down the next person, then the next, whoever Trump can use to put out an “official statement.”. With one person, they can at least keep an eye on her, and by her, him.
So can we. (Continued Below)
Those of us who make a living writing about politics read just about all of his statements, but publish very few. People ask “Why do you give him an audience?” Because he has an audience, the entire GOP, and he controls it ruthlessly. Ignoring him comes with great peril. He must be watched, closely.
Hearing from him over the last ten days, it is obvious that we’re dealing with a scared and deeply paranoid man, a dangerous combination. He still wields a lot of power with a lot of unstable people.
He certainly has good reason to be scared.
1. A decision is expected at any time from the DC Court of Appeals regarding his claim of executive privilege. The court may or may not grant him a stay pending an appeal to the entire circuit (“en banc”) or to the SCOTUS.
2. Rolling Stone has discovered that the organizers of the “independent” protest bought burner phones with cash, and called your son (who was with you) and your chief of staff (ditto), that’s obviously one degree away, one seemingly only utilized to ensure Trump had some deniability.
3. Mark Meadows has agreed to meet with the committee for a deposition to be held this week. Meadows says he won’t reveal anything privileged. Alright, chief, which of the geniuses in the room is going to determine what is or is not privileged? And what happens when the committee asks a question about something that they clearly already know, and yet you believe it’s privileged? You cannot hide, it’s already out.
4. The pilot in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial fingered him as a “flier” on the Epstein plane, where so much rape is alleged (and surely did, at least with some) occurred.
So he has some issues.
Just imagine, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rules against him and all those White House documents, documents created amidst chaos and frenzy to overturn an election, are in the hands of Congress, that can make their findings public.
Meadows could decide that he needs to protect himself first and foremost and that he’s not taking the fall for Trump and thus spill - a lot - perhaps even granted immunity (There are phones that link Congress to DOJ). Meadows likely knows more about what Trump did and when than anyone outside the family, with the possible exception of Stone.
And people within the January 6th conspiracy - or what sounds like a conspiracy - are starting to talk on their own. How did Rolling Stone get three very low-level staffers to cough up such critical information?
This morning, a report came out from a Col. within the Washington DC National Guard that alleges two high-ranking Generals - one being Mike Flynn’s brother, lied their asses off to Congress about the delay. Why lie?
Drip drip.
And Ghislaine may decide that she will seek out a real deal, give up the biggest fishes, and hope for the best.
So he has plenty to panic over, even before last night when the Washington Post revealed he exposed 500 people in the 7 day period between his first positive COVID test and subsequent hospitalization. And so panic he does, as per the statement above, coming out of nowhere, apropos of absolutely nothing.
Just like the one criticizing Biden’s handling of COVID as a “disaster.”
Trump sounded even a bit drunk during some rambling something Saturday night, calling Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Milley, a “fcking idiot,” showing an ever greater lack of discipline than we’re used to. He’s been warned that fundamentalists don’t want to hear that word. Odd:
He bragged (and made it sound like a complaint) that no one wanted to debate him on the Big Lie. The “offer” to debate was so obviously a diversion that it’s embarrassing.
He criticized Biden’s handling of COVID, “It’s a disaster,” which is one of the evilest and ballsy statements in a long time.
All of this was just in the last week and, of course, I’ve only covered about 20% of the number I could but the point is made. He is issuing a “next-level” number of tweets, throwing out diversions, trying to talk about anything but the coming court case and the (as he maturely refers to it) the “unselect” committee.
That committee’s existence really bothers him. Perhaps we’re just now getting an indication as to why it was critical that there be no bi-partisan select committee with the House and Senate cooperating. Everyone who’s read this newsletter already knows that I doubt that the DOJ under Merrick Garland is going to charge him… unless they have to, and thus we’re back around to why Trump may be panicking in the first place.
When Congress refers a case to DOJ for prosecution, DOJ is not obligated to prosecute. But they damn sure are obligated to give it serious consideration, especially if the evidence is strong. If Trump had “heard” (because he certainly must hear a lot) that DOJ wasn’t interested in investigating him, but he suddenly sees a committee that over the last month has gotten damned serious and aggressive, that really could upend his world a bit.
And, briefly, just throw out possible criminal charges. Trump also relies upon secrecy just to maintain the veneer of the successful guy that - weirdly - is also always the victim, of accusers, women, Democrats, Europeans, the CDC, etc. etc. Without secrecy, he loses that cover and there could be some things tucked in there that would make it far harder to raise money, far harder to invent excuses, far harder to look like the invincible man.
Yeah, he has some things to worry about. Perhaps red-alert panic.
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THE TWEET BELOW IS FAKE. IT HAS BEEN EVERYWHERE ON TWITTER TODAY BUT WAS FACT CHECKED BY UPROXX; IT STILL SERVES ONE TRUTH
The above appears to be the “Christmas Card” put out by Trump from Mar-a-Lago this year. As I mentioned above it is fake, and I don’t like the drawing around him to make it look gross.
I had this written up as real, but in order to make a real point. It turns out, the real point still applies.
Look at the ornaments above: Melania, Ivanka, Don Jr. Eric, and Tiffany. No one would be shocked if Barron was left out.
Of all the Trumps in existence, there is exactly one that I truly feel sorry for and that’s Barron. Perhaps Melania insisted upon keeping Barron out of absolutely everything. But maybe it’s worth pointing out that Barron actually does have another parent. Trump wasn’t “just married” to Melania when Barron was born. We assume Barron is Trump’s son. Doesn’t “Dad” get a word in or two about what his “son” does or doesn’t do? Is it that bad that “dad” never says a word to Melania about his son, or to his son, such that she makes all the decisions?
Regardless, he was never seen. And that’s on both of them.
Barron was a young tween and teenage boy. Think about all the things Trump did, things at which we didn’t once see Barron: World Series games, Super Bowls, rocket launches, China. Not one single time did we see Barron there, smiling, enjoying being a kid afforded the chance to be at some of the coolest stuff! We saw the Obama girls at times. We saw the Bush girls at times. We saw Chelsea at times… never Barron.
Don Jr., the rugged “man’s man” with five kids of his own, couldn’t once play the cool “uncle” (faux big step-brother) and say, “C’mon Barron, all us boys are going camping in Wyoming and fish for two days, NO Women!” And give the kid a good weekend? Not once.
And now he’s not even on the fake Christmas card and people still believed it was real because that was the pattern. Tiffany barely existed. Barron didn’t exist at all.
If it is because Melania kept him out as a “minor” then that is truly sad. Yes, he is the one Trump that I have some feelings for. Other than a cold cold mom, was he ever loved by anyone? We don’t know but it doesn’t appear so.
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And just for fun, because I was traveling Friday and we went without the pick six:
Happy Monday.
Closer observers will note that I wasn’t able to put out a Friday or Sunday edition. As said, I was traveling and still doing other jobs. These are the things that will need to be worked out as before I ever get to the point that I am charging for the newsletter.
I would also love some help with Facebook experts. I have been entirely locked out of my account after agreeing that it appeared someone was trying to use it. I have sent my DL in twice and cannot even go to Facebook.com without seeing I’m locked out. It has been ten days. Help?
Have a good week everyone. We will have another out tomorrow or Wed as events warrant and Friday.
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jmiciak@yahoo.com and on Twitter @JasonMiciak: Yes, I do still manage to answer all correspondences.