Pinkerton nation

At some point you'd think the contradictions between trying to maintain a global capitalist empire and claiming to also function as democracy in any meaningful sense of the word would become obvious to everybody.

WASHINGTON — Erik Prince, the security contractor with close ties to the Trump administration, has in recent years helped recruit former American and British spies for secretive intelligence-gathering operations that included infiltrating Democratic congressional campaigns, labor organizations and other groups considered hostile to the Trump agenda, according to interviews and documents.

One of the former spies, an ex-MI6 officer named Richard Seddon, helped run a 2017 operation to copy files and record conversations in a Michigan office of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teachers’ unions in the nation. Mr. Seddon directed an undercover operative to secretly tape the union’s local leaders and try to gather information that could be made public to damage the organization, documents show.

Using a different alias the next year, the same undercover operative infiltrated the congressional campaign of Abigail Spanberger, then a former C.I.A. officer who went on to win an important House seat in Virginia as a Democrat. The campaign discovered the operative and fired her.

Prince's private network of ex-CIA mercenaries targeting the campaign of... other ex-CIA goons. That's the state of your political system in a nutshell. 

Sympathy for the hobbits

Listen to me, hobbits.

I'm thinking about beginning all of my correspondence with that opening from now on. Yesterday I said that the Letten-O'Keefe video "does not disappoint." I might have understated my feelings a bit.

It is every bit the big-pompous-asshole-screams-bizarre-unconventional-insults-at-annoying-little-twerp bit of comedy gold I had imagined it could be the moment we learned of the encounter.

Since yesterday afternoon, I've watched it at least 50 times.  Every time I laugh loudest at some new aspect.  There's the way Letten holds the phone steady next to his reddened face as he shouts. There's the part where he, literally, throws the book at O'Keefe. There's the line "All of you, you're hobbits. You are less than I can ever tell you. You are scum. Do you understand?" It's the, "Do you understand?" part that gets me.  I think this rhetorical treasure should be recreated on stage for future generations to ponder. Like the Lincoln-Douglas debates.  

So it's a wonderful blessing and we should be thankful for it.  But also pay attention to what it also might tell us about the already infamous sloppiness of Letten's office.

This background adds an interesting dimension to O’Keefe’s claim that Mann, or someone on her team, leaked privileged emails between O’Keefe and his lawyer, in an attempt to drive media coverage against him. In the second video, O’Keefe says that Attorney General Eric Holder pressured Letten’s office to prosecute O’Keefe (presumably for political reasons).

The videos note some of the many interconnections in and outside Letten’s office. For example, Mann and her husband were both top prosecutors, and Sen. Landrieu’s brother Maurice was a prosecutor on staff. The second video quotes from a letter O’Keefe’s attorneys sent to the Department of Justice asking that Mann recuse herself from the case due to “intertwining political issues.” (According to O’Keefe, there was no response to the request.)

The letter failed to mention a relevant fact that I’ve wondered about: Mann grew up with Landrieu. They were classmates at Ursuline Academy (both were class of ‘73 graduates). Further, Mann’s father — Joseph Maselli — a proud Italian-American and fervent foe of ethnic and racial bigotry, proposed building the Piazza d’Italia to Mayor Moon Landrieu. (The plaza is now undergoing renovations under Moon’s son, Mayor Mitch Landrieu).  Indeed, according to Maselli’s Oct. 23, 2009, obituary in The Times-Picayune, Moon Landrieu was an honorary pallbearer for Maselli. So Mann grew up with Mary Landrieu, and their fathers were friends.

This seems to be the basis of a pretty clear conflict of interest. Letten’s recusal might have given the appearance of fairness, but Mann may have had more of a conflict than her boss! If so, Mann should not have prosecuted the case and should have recused herself along with Letten.

And, of course, there's more there. Go read. 

That Furnace Faced Letten vs Smarmy Punk O'Keefe video we've been waiting for

Fight fans will recall that last month there were reports of a nasty clash between former US Attorney (and big jerk) Jim Letten and conservative provocateur (and bigger jerk) James O'Keefe. The reports seemed like a bit of a tease, though, since no one shared any video of the event, which we knew had to exist somewhere.

O'Keefe has released his version.  It does not disappoint.

James O'Keefe vs Jim Letten

Surely there is video of this incident. Surely we should demand to see it.

After leaving the Letten home, O’Keefe and at least five others then moved on to Tulane University, Letten’s alma mater, where Letten now serves as assistant dean for experiential learning at the law school, after resigning as U.S. Attorney in December following an online posting scandal that involved two of his top lieutenants.

Letten, a Republican, had recused himself from the Landrieu case because the father of one of the charged men was a federal prosecutor whom Letten knew. But O’Keefe was intent on confronting the former U.S. attorney anyway, tracking him down on the Tulane campus and accusing him of “ruining my life,” a source with knowledge of the incident said.

By now, Letten was aware of O’Keefe’s visit to his home. Furious, he unleashed a loud verbal tirade on O’Keefe. He also alerted various law enforcement authorities, including the FBI and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

According to a Tulane police report, O’Keefe and the others were “issued restricted presence letters” -- basically an order to clear off -- and escorted off campus. No arrests were made.

"So far"

So far, video of the altercation has not surfaced on O’Keefe’s web site or elsewhere online. Neither O’Keefe nor an associate at the web site immediately responded to questions about the incident.

Adorable Lil' Liddy slapped on the wrist and sent on his way

I guess the important people really are untouchable.

Coddling

Like we said at the beginning of the Lil' Liddy break-in story, the Liddettes are far too well connected and famous to get treated as anything other than fraternity pranksters.

At least the real Liddy actually went to prison before he became a right wing media star. The Liddettes could still conceivably have to do time but it isn't likely. These kids today ain't gotta work for nuthin'

Too big for Big Bad Jim?

When the Lil Liddy story broke, many local Dragonslaying enthusiasts expressed their unbridled glee at the idea of their hero, Gambit New Orleanian of the Year Republican US Attorney Jim Letten, going after Lil Liddy and the Lidettes. I wasn't so sure. Letten may make the local Yuppie Left and Right swoon by going after big time Democrats like the Jeffersons and small time local Republicans like suburban municipal officials. But jumping on a non-office-holding national Right Wing celebrity like O'Keefe has far less political upside and could potentially be a career-damaging move in the larger picture.

Not saying I know that any of this calculus plays into why he's recusing himself from the case. (His office is going forward with the prosecution after all) But it is the sort of thing I think about when I see that.

When is a not-pimp not even really a not-pimp?

When he's Lil' Liddy.

So why did virtually every reporter get this wrong? There are spliced shots of O’Keefe dressed outlandishly as a pimp (think Harvey Keitel in “Taxi Driver”) walking with Giles in an outfit straight out of “Leaving Las Vegas.” Those same pimp scenes are sprinkled throughout all of O’Keefe’s videos, leaving one with the impression that this is how he dressed when speaking with ACORN, but there’s no video of this happening. O’Keefe never turned his hidden camera on himself, so we don’t know.

Lil' Liddy and the Liddettes

Adrastos unveils an inspired moniker here if I do say so myself. Meanwhile an anonymous commenter in an AZ thread points us to Huff-Po where we learn a few short facts about Lil' Liddy's partners.

Robert Flanagan, 24, was released earlier Tuesday. His father, Bill, is the acting U.S. Attorney based in Shreveport. He was first assistant under Republican President George W. Bush appointee Donald Washington before Washington stepped down this month. President Barack Obama recently nominated Stephanie A. Finley for the post. His father's office declined to comment.

All four suspects were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Flanagan is the only suspect from Louisiana. (Joseph) Basel is from Minnesota; O'Keefe, New Jersey; and (Steven) Dai, the D.C.-Virginia area.

Flanagan recently criticized Landrieu for her vote on the Senate health care bill after securing a Medicaid provision estimated in value at up to $365 million for Louisiana. Conservatives accused her of selling her vote but she insisted no "special deals" were made.

"Do not be fooled into believing Landrieu is helping the state of Louisiana," Flanagan wrote in a Nov. 25 post on the Web site for the Pelican Institute, a Louisiana think tank that promotes the free market and limited government. "If the proposed healthcare legislation were to be signed into law, the $300 million allocated to Louisiana will pale in comparison to the long-term debt Louisiana citizens will ultimately shoulder."

Side note: In December, the Pelican Institute hosted a mayoral forum where the main topic of discussion was the office of Inspector General and the desirability of rooting out suspicious political types in Orleans Parish. I wonder if Flanagan was there that day. IG Paul Quatrevaux was there. He was actually sort of the guest of honor.

Dai, who authorities said was arrested outside the building, is a former assistant director of a program at Trinity Washington University that taught students about careers in intelligence, university president Patricia McGuire said.

The program was part of a national effort following the Sept. 11 attacks to interest students at liberal arts colleges in careers as spies. McGuire said Dai was an administrator and that the program did not teach spy craft. He was also active in the conservative newspaper and other organizations at George Washington University.

O'Keefe and Basel were also active in conservative publications at their respective colleges, Rutgers University and the University of Minnesota-Morris. They gave a joint interview Jan. 14 to CampusReform.org, a Web site that supports college conservatives on student publications.

The AZ commenter who shared this article asks the first obvious question about the Liddettes,

If someone can figure out how these four guys from four different states came to be working on this "project" together...... hmmmmm, how do they all know each other?

Obvious question but compelling because if there's a "how they all know each other" there's also a "why they all know each other" Oyster is on to much the same thing here.

it's difficult for me to believe a couple things about this deal:

1) that you would coordinate with a team of people on an operation like this, and absolutely no one else would know about it

2) that you would take the risk of trying to bug a Senator's office in a Federal Building, just to do a random "fishing expedition" for politically useful material. Surely, this pimp and his buddies had some theory about what they hoped to find.

What were they doing? Also how did they get in position to do it in the first place? The Hale Boggs Federal Building has a fairly serious security operation. I guess it's possible for Lil Liddy and the Liddettes to get by them without proper credentials but I'd like to know more about how that happened.

In the comments over at YRHT, Clay asks why the Liddettes were taken to St. Bernard Parish lockup instead of OPP. Clay guesses that US Attorney Jim Letten "felt sorry for the poor little white boys and didn't want them to experience the hellhole that OPP is." That would be mighty white of ole Jim to do that for the boys wouldn't it?

Finally, and sort of along the same lines, there's this. Watch the way WWL has Lucy Bustamante introduce the story as,

"A U.S. Senator, accusations of potential phone tapping in her office, and four young men with no prior criminal records at the center of it all."

A Senator, accusations, and four young men "with no prior criminal record" just laying there with no verbs as though they just fell in together in Lucy's lap. What a farcical little situation we have here. Isn't it all so cute. Your heart sorta goes out to those four young men with no prior criminal record. I hope wiser persons come to extricate them from "the center of it all" before dinner. Earlier this evening in the Tweeter Tube I watched The Gambit ask WWLTV about the curious description. No answer. At least Bigad Shaban managed to have an "interesting night" We were relieved to learn that he finally located his car.

Meanwhile NOLA.com senses that, even though it really is just background material here, its readers are sure to be interested in watching Lil' Liddy do his pimp thing in the ACORN offices one more time so they make sure to include the video in their story. At least it reminds us that this isn't the first time Lil' Liddy has somehow found himself "at the center of it all."

Update: Regarding the Liddettes' visit to St. Bernard Parish lockup see YRHT:

About the transfer to St. Bernard, I'm informed by a very knowledgable source that the St. Bernard sheriff "has a contract to take federal prisoners, as well as prisoners from other parishes". (Orleans had one too at one time, but probably not currently.

Also more on the Pelican Institute from CenLamar where we find this characterization of the PI from the Louisiana Progress Initiative

The Pelican Institute claims to be focused on Louisiana public policy, but regularly brings in activists and scholars from outside the state. Almost all of their Louisiana policy work is conducted by conservative writers on the east coast.

It's sort of like the James Perry campaign of the Right.

TPM is all over this story and has more on the Pelican Institute, the Liddettes, and the network of conservative campus media projects that connect them here and here.