Gabbard Confirms FBI Raid on Georgia Election Office Was Ordered by Trump

(Vincent Albans/Reuters)

After the FBI raided a Georgia election office situated in Fulton County to seize ballots, I concluded this was a Trump operation:

Although the raid was conducted by the FBI, it was the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard who was personally present for the operation.

Yet none of this happens without President Trump who continues to insist he did not lose the 2020 presidential election much less lose Georgia. After all, more than 5 years ago it was Trump who demanded Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 votes. It would seem that Trump has now formally set this search into motion.

Of course, this is more than about 2020. It is about 2026 and, more importantly, 2028.

Trump wishes to federalize our elections and the Constitution be damned. Most likely, this federalization will be limited to blue states or in state which could vote blue (i.e. Georgia). After it was Attorney General Pam Bondi who offered to have ICE leave Minnesota if Governor Walz provided her with their election rolls. 

Today, Gabbard confirmed that Trump had asked her to accompany the FBI on the raid and also arranged for FBI agents conducting the raid to speak directly with Trump by phone. 

So, why Gabbard and not FBI Director Kash Patel? Because Trump probably thinks Gabbard looks better on TV than Patel. The same could have probably been said for Pam Bondi or Kristi Noem if that pair wasn't so toxic. Then again, last July, Trump himself described Gabbard as the "hottest" member of his Administration. Well, at least we know which head Trump thinks with when it comes to Gabbard.

The point here is that there is no FBI raid on the election office in Georgia without Trump. He set the wheels in motion. And because of that, Trump sees fit to pick any cabinet member he likes to go along on the raid. The FBI, like ICE and the Border Patrol, has ceased to be an independent agency and now operates upon Trump's whims and obsessions namely the 2020 election and his desire to federalize the 2028 election.

Had either President Obama or President Biden directed such an operation much less spoken with FBI agents amid a raid Republicans would be up in arms about it and rightly so. But don't expect Republicans to say boo about Trump initiating this raid much less one of his cabinet members confirming that he directed her to be present at the proceedings. They are not even interested in the appearance or pretense of democracy. 

My Thoughts on Recent Comments by JD Vance & Tim Walz About The Holocaust

Both Vice-President JD Vance and his 2024 opponent in the U.S. presidential race, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, made remarks concerning the Holocaust over the past week which warrant some examination.

First, I will focus on Vance's statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day last Tuesday:

Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality. And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.

Vance makes no mention of Jews or the anti-Semitic ideology of Nazis who sought to exterminate Jews from the face of the Earth. Sadly, this should come as no surprise as Vance has repeatedly sought fit dismiss and minimize the surge of anti-Semitism in the United States since October 7th. Now Vance is hardly the first elected official to omit mentioning the Jews on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. President Trump himself did so in 2017. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did the same in 2016.

In Vance's case, he has a demonstrated history of dismissing and minimizing anti-Semitism while tolerating those who express anti-Semitic views within MAGA namely his mentor Tucker Carlson and turning a blind eye to his willingness to give Nick Fuentes legitimacy dismissing such concerns as "self-defeating purity tests."

Simply put, there is no way Vance is Trump's running mate without Carlson's blessing. And if he wants to keep Carlson's blessing he cannot condemn either anti-Semitism or Nazis. 

Now let me turn my attention to Vance's 2024 VP rival, Tim Walz. A week ago, following the execution of Alex Pretti, the Minnesota Governor invoked Anne Frank when discussing the ICE surge in his state:

We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.

Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.

Walz's comment drew a rebuke from the U.S. Holocaust Museum:

Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.

While I am generally inclined to agree that casual comparisons to the Holocaust are wildly inappropriate, let us consider the statement Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, recently appointed by President Trump as his administration's new envoy on anti-Semitism. Kaploun stated, “Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally and abided by Dutch law.” 

This is rubbish. Jews had virtually no legal status in the Netherlands by the time Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the summer 1942. Under Nazi control, Jews were forced to turn in their radios and telephones, were prohibited from nearly all employment and public places with their movements severely restricted. The Frank family went into hiding after Anne's older sister Margot was summoned to report to a German labor camp which meant certain death.

If Governor Walz's comments are out of line, then why have Holocaust survivors living in a Florida retirement home offered to hide their Haitian caregivers from ICE? Why are immigrant families in Minnesota now in hiding? And why exactly are both the White House and DHS using a neo-Nazi song to recruit ICE agents?

Let me put this way. If ICE and Border Patrol agents are prepared to execute U.S. citizens in broad daylight, is it really a stretch of the imagination that they wouldn't do the same to the people they round up to be deported whether they are here legally or not?

This isn't to say the United States is now a modern-day Nazi Germany let alone a totalitarian state. Our democratic institutions (i.e. courts and the press) still have enough strength to free a father and a 5-year-old boy from their unjust detention. But will that still be the case in a year from now? Two years? After the 2028 election, if there is one?

While I am uneasy with Walz's comments, I am uneasy not because I believe he is trivializing the Holocaust. I am uneasy with Walz's comments because he might be proven right. That is unless, ICE leaves Minneapolis and its present form abolished and replaced by a new agency which doesn't wantonly ask people for their papers and execute those who get in their way.

Could Luis Arraez Win His Fourth Batting Title with His Fourth Different Team?

 

Yesterday, infielder Luis Arraez signed a 1-year contract with the San Francisco Giants for $12 million.

The Giants are the Venezuelan born infielder's fourth big league stop. Arraez previously played with the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins and the San Diego Padres.

With each of these teams, Arraez won a batting title. In fact, Arraez won three consecutive batting titles. In 2022, Arraez won the AL batting title hitting .316. Following that season, the Twins traded Arraez to the Miami Marlins in a deal which included starting pitcher Pablo Lopez. Arraez then hit a career high .354 in 2023 to win his second consecutive batting title and first NL batting crown.

Just over a month into the 2024 season, the Marlins dealt Arraez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for four players including Jakob Marsee who is now the Marlins' centerfielder. Arraez won his third consecutive batting title and back-to-back NL batting crowns hitting .314 while leading the NL with 200 hits.

In 2025, Arraez again led the NL in hits with 181 but his average fell to .292 although that was good enough to rank 4th in the NL as Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner was the only .300 hitter in the Senior Circuit winning his second NL batting title with a .304 mark. The NL came dangerously close to having a batting champion with a sub-.300 average.

What is fascinating to me is that Arraez is so well-travelled. You would think three batting titles would make one a fixture in someone's lineup a la Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs or Tony Gwynn. Alas, Arraez is viewed as a liability for not having sufficient power, drawing few walks and subpar defensive skills despite his three batting titles and rarely striking out. Evidently, MLB frowns upon contact hitters.

So even if Arraez wins his fourth batting title with the Giants, he will likely be on the move albeit with a lucrative free agent contract although that could be jeopardized by a lockout of the 2027 season when the present MLB collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of this year.

Have perennial batting champion will travel.