https://twitter.com/votesaveamerica/status/1405668016751263745

"Privilege isn't the presence of perks and benefits. It's the absence of obstacles and barriers. That's a lot harder to notice. If you have a hard time recognizing your privilege, focus on what you don't have to go through. Let that fuel your empathy and action."

But now that they're DOING something, the board is filled with shrugs and lots of "So what? It's not going to make any difference" and "I'll believe it when I see it" posts.

What's up with that?

If one or more of them subpoenaed phone records of Marjorie Taylor Greene or Paul Gosar or other Republican Members as part of the investigation to determine whether they were involved in it, would anyone here want Apple or Google to refuse to comply?

Kristen Clarke is a brilliant civil rights lawyer and activist who was confirmed and started working just two weeks ago. She promised to hit the ground running and it's clear that she did. It's also evident that AG Garland and other DOJ leadership made sure that Kristen was in place and fully involved before finalizing and announcing their plans to launch an all out fight to protect voting rights.

Thank you, Kristen Clarke, thank you, and thank you, AG Garland and President Biden for putting this amazing woman in charge of civil rights at DOJ!

Some have been going after Apple for turning over phone records of the Congresspersons the Trump DOJ investigated, suggesting that they should have refused and their failure to refuse suggests complicity.

However, this was not a case of Apple just docilely going along with an obviously corrupt request. In this instance, Apple was served with a grand jury subpoena, something very different than a simple request. Grand jury subpoenas are serious things and failure to comply can result in criminal sanctions, including immediate incarceration for contempt of court.

In addition, they were placed under a gag order, which prohibited them from speaking publicly or disclosing anything about the subpoenas. Defiance of that order would also result in criminal penalties.

Moreover, Apple had no way of knowing what the purpose of the subpoenas was or whether or not the investigation was legal or appropriate or not. It was not within their ability or right to question - or to even know - the nature, purpose or target of the underlying investigation.

Put the shoe on the other foot. Current investigations are ongoing into Trump's criminality and surely the grand jury is issuing subpoenas for testimony and records. It's possible that telephone service providers have been ordered by the grand jury to turn over phone records of various people being investigated. If Verizon received a subpoena to disclose Devin Nunes' or Jared Kushner's phone records in connection with a grand jury investigation into their activities, would you want Verizon to refuse to turn them over or to publicly reveal the request or to disclose the subpoenas to Nunes and Kushner what was going on?

Apple was not the bad guy here. All of the blame and responsibility are solely on Trump and his henchmen. Let's keep the focus on them.

I definitely don't.

That sure helps explain a lot ...