Chile Subway Fare Hike Protests And 7pm Curfew

My Chilean friend had said he could not get to his university classes Friday because the subways were jammed and not moving because of protests.  Today I sent the picture from the Anchorage Daily News, showing students throwing wood onto a bonfire.   His reaction was,

"But it doesn't show the military occupation, civil population hurt by police forces, tear gas thrown to people with kids."

And he sent me some Instagram videos.

And I found this AFC (Agence France-Presse) news footage (among others) on Youtube.





A while later, I asked if he was having his weekly big family dinner tonight.  No, he said.

"Curfew is at 19:00."

Coverage of events like this - particularly to the rest of the world that knows little about the context in a far off country, especially one that isn't in the news that much - is difficult.  Video likes action - fires, fighting, visually compelling conflict in general.  The students look like vandals in some of the video I saw, but the coverage doesn't talk about the high unemployment, high prices, etc. that the people of Chile have been enduring.

And when the US press says things like, "protesting a 2 cent increase in fares" it sounds a little ridiculous.  But when you convert $1 US to Chilean pesos - you get Chilean 710 pesos. (When we were there in early July this year, it was about 680 pesos.)

So what we see is translated as a 2 cent increase, is really a 14 peso increase.


It's easy to find economic analyses that emphasize economic measures that investors might want.   It's harder to find analyses that look at how the economy affects the people.  Here's the end of a World Bank analysis which I'm including because it was updated just a week ago.

"Encouraging innovation, improving the linkage between education and the labor market and promoting the participation of women in the labor market are also essential for improving long-term prospects. On the social front, enhancing the quality of health and education services and reducing constraints to access to well-targeted social policies will be key for reducing the remaining poverty and strengthening the middle class."
Last Updated: Oct 14, 2019"

Wikipedia's entry on Economy of Chile begins this way:

"Chile is ranked as a high-income economy by the World Bank,[17] and is considered as South America's most stable and prosperous nation,[18] leading Latin American nations in competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption.[19] Although Chile has high economic inequality, as measured by the Gini index,[20] it is close to the regional mean.[21]"

So, even though it has the highest GDP in South America, its income inequality is the same as its neighbors.  For Alaskans, I'd note that salmon and tourism (after copper) are among the largest experts.  They also have Alaskan sized earthquakes and mountains.

[UPDATE Oct 22, 2019:  Follow up post here.]

Come For An October Bike Ride With Me

After snow threats the other day, we have sun again and I chucked my chores to take advantage of good biking conditions.  

I never tire of this view.  Summer or winter.

Going up Stuckagain Heights, this is, I think, north fork of Campbell Creek.

A little further and the view is grasses and trees.

And the north [south]fork from the bridge at Campbell Airstrip.  

And on the way back.  One of the few other bikers I saw today.

Why People Are Falsely Convicted

Here's some info from the Innocence Project class I'm taking through OLÉ.  I'd note that most of the information in this post comes from the class, though I've added some links for people who want to dig a little deeper.

The Innocence Projects seeks to help prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted to get released from prison.  To date, according to the class, 367 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing and 162 actual assailants identified.  (That is the people who actually committed the crimes.)

6 Common Causes of Wrongful Conviction
1. Eyewitness misidentification 2. False confessions or admissions 3. Government misconduct 4. Inadequate defense 5. Informants (e.g., jailhouse snitches) 6. Unvalidated or improper forensic science

Today I'm going to just look at number 6.

6.  Unvalidated or improper forensic science

“When we looked at all the cases of people who have been exonerated by DNA evidence, we found that in 60 percent of those cases, experts who testified for the prosecution produced either invalid evidence or the misapplication of science in their testimony.” Peter Neufeld, Co-founder of the Innocence Project

• DNA is now 'the gold standard' for criminal cases.  However, there are cases of contamination of DNA - the DNA that is gathered at the scene, or contamination in the lab.  But modern technology is more likely to be able to detect contamination.  
• Odontology - This is used most effectively when there's a fire or accident, and the teeth are used to identify a body.  But there were experts who claimed to be able to match teeth based on bite marks and a number of people have been convicted based on testimony from 'experts.'  But it turns out this can be bogus.  There was no real science behind it and different experts could interpret it differently.  
• Pattern Evidence - Shoe Prints, Tire Tracks, and bullet striations - all these methods were also shown to be unreliable, that is, different experts could come up with different conclusions and there was no scientific standards for showing how close the match was.  You can read more about this and scientific advances here.
• Arson - Again, a few 'experts' gained credibility on being able to determine arson.  However, the case of Cameron Todd has debunked this method.  Todd, unfortunately had been put to death before the evidence in his trial was faulted.  
• Fingerprints - once the gold standard (before DNA) the infallibility of fingerprints was shattered in a case that came from a terrorist bombing in Madrid.  The Spanish police put fingerprints out worldwide and the FBI found an attorney in Oregon whose prints matched.  And he'd recently become a Muslim.  Three FBI fingerprint experts agreed and sent the data to Spain.  The Spaniards were dumbfounded.  How could this be?  There was no record the lawyer had ever even been to Spain.  Other fingerprint experts identified an Algerian terrorist whose prints matched better than the Oregon attorney.  Because of this case, they no longer say they're 100% sure.  Instead they say "it matches on these points."  Here's a link to the FBI's report on that case.
• Shaken Baby Syndrome - A pediatrician in 1971who had a number of infant deaths tried to figure out what had caused them and decided it might stem from shaking the baby.  He came up with three symptoms.  If the baby had those three symptoms, then the last person in contact with the baby was guilty.  The case of Audrey Edmunds was the case that eventually debunked that theory. She got out of prison, but there are still many other prisoners in prison because of the shaken baby theory.  

That should be enough for one bite.  I'll add more in future posts.  I'd also recommend watching "When They See Us" to those who have Netflix.  It's about the Central Park Five.  I didn't want to watch it at first, but it got good reviews, and so I checked the first episode and then finished them all.  Including the last one with Oprah Winfrey (who was the producer of the film) interviewing the  key actors AND the actual exonerated men who had been wrongly convicted.  That show illustrates most of the six common causes listed above.  It does a particularly good job on false confessions, which most people have trouble understanding.  

On The Edge Of Snow - And OLÉ Classes Continue

It was in the mid 30s when I went to Pecha Kucha class yesterday, but the streets were good, so I biked.  My presentation was ok, people said nice things afterward.  Here's the first of the 20 slides.

and I tried to make the case for how learning another languages let's you escape the confines of English (or whatever your first language is) as you learn that the words and grammar of one language reflect the world differently from other languages.  This shows most concretely in the fact that words of one language don't translate exactly into the words of the other language.  Even concrete objects might not translate right.  Banana would seem an easy translation, but in Thailand there are about 20 kinds of bananas that regularly show up in the market and many people there pick bananas off trees in their garden.   And that, say, a black cat, has meanings in one culture that it might not have in another.  And words that describe relationships get even trickier.

The Thai words closest to brother and sister really focus on the older/younger relationship more than the gender relationship, or even the blood relationship

People without any blood connection use the terms for older and younger about each other all the time. (And it's different from the more recent US use of 'Bro'.)  At one point I asked somebody, after he'd introduced me to his sixth or seventh 'brother', how many brothers did he have.  Oh, they aren't that kind of brother, he said.

The class liked the blue and red circles I used to show how much the English and German or Thai words overlapped.  I didn't think of that until I was finishing the last slide, the night before the presentation.  Then I went back and put in circles for the different slides that compared English and German or English and Thai words.  Good thing I did.  I argued that when the words don't overlap completely (usually the case) is when you learn what your own language doesn't capture about the world.  And the less the words overlap, the more you learn about yourself and the world.

It was just starting to rain when I returned yesterday.  It was more a light drizzle, and the drops were tiny specks of hail.  Much better than raindrops, not as good as snow.  I could feel them on my face.  But I got home fine, but I was expecting snow on the ground this morning.

There wasn't any and the street in front of our house was wet, but not icy.  And large chunks of sky were blue.   So I biked.  For the most part it was ok but then I saw a police car's lights flashing ahead and this car on the side of the road.

The culprit seems to have been a piece of light brick colored cement at the intersection.  While all the other surfaces were fine, that piece of cement was really slick.  Was there a second car involved?  I don't know.  A stop sign had been flattened.  (I thought I took a picture, but it's not on my phone.)  I walked the bike around the debris and down the hill.  Back on the flat I rode carefully to the church where today's OLÉ classes were held.

By 2:30 when I came back, the sun was out and any ice or frost that had been there was either a puddle or dry pavement.  But I did have two voices in my head this morning.  One said:  "Don't be such a wimp.  You can't let a little weather threat keep you off the bike."  The other said, "A broken arm would really be a pain.  Don't be stupid."  Stupid beat wimp today, but I know I should be more careful.

The classes today were good.  The Innocence Project class was a continuation of last week's list of reasons innocent people are convicted.  I'll put that into another post.  It's interesting.  And this class is a great one after seeing "When They See Us" the Netflix series on the Central Park Five case.  Everything they talk about in the class happens in the series.

The afternoon class was on Pebble Mine.   We've had a representative from Pebble. A person from the Army Corps of Engineers, whose in charge of the Environmental Impact Statement, and today, was someone from Bristol Bay Native Corporation who are strongly opposed to the mine.

Invisible Power - How Powerful People Protect Themselves

In a Columbia Journalism Review article,   Lyz Lenz writes about interviewing Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law professor who recently resigned after details came out about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

In it she helps clarify how powerful people (usually men) are able to get away with things by wielding their power through fixers.

"Sitrick is a fixer who has made a name for himself cleaning up the messes of rich and powerful men (and some women, too). 

“Mike, am I the lead steer?” I’d asked Sitrick when he called. The “lead steer” is Sitrick’s idea that all it takes to change the direction of a media stampede is for one journalist to take a contrarian view of the story. It’s a theory that holds well for ranchers trying to redirect a stampede. And it’s worked for Sitrick, who has orchestrated positive press for some odious clients.

"4: The Plan
In 2011, Michael Sitrick sued Jeffrey Epstein, over an unpaid bill for PR services. In that lawsuit is a detailed outline of services rendered.
It’s a plan that shows a comprehensive outline of reporters who were contacted about stories and who reached out for interviews. The idea was this: connect with reporters, offer access, overwhelm them with data, threaten their access if things go sideways, go over their heads. That is how men like Epstein went unchallenged for years. How a journalist can know something, but never be able to say it. On August 22, NPR’s David Folkenflick detailed how Epstein allegations went unreported by Vanity Fair. The story alleges that Epstein pressured the magazine’s editor, Graydon Carter, and that Carter caved."

We already know about the insidious use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) that require someone to never mention what happened to them again as a condition for a payment - generally known as hush money - like Trump's deal with Stormy Daniels and others.

 I'm putting this short paragraphs from Lenz here like  research notes.  These sorts of explanations of tactics get lost in the longer article.  I want to record this clearly and as I come across similar flickers of light shining into the dark shadows that protect the powerful, I'll add new posts.


[This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I've been so busy prepping my pecha kucha presentation that I forgot.  The presentation is tomorrow, and if I get far enough along with it today, I'll tell you more about it later today.  Don't hold your breath.]

Euphemism Alert: What The Hell Is An 'Associate'?

Lots of media outlets used the word "associates" of Giuliani to describe the men arrested the other night trying to leave the country.  From Google:

2 Giuliani Associates Arrested With One-Way Tickets at U.S. ...
https://www.nytimes.com › politics › lev-parnas-igor-fruman-arrested-giuliani 

Two Giuliani Associates Who Helped Him on Ukraine Charged
https://www.wsj.com › articles › two-foreign-born-men-who-helped-giuliani... 

Two Giuliani associates were just arrested. Here's what we ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com › opinions › 2019/10/10 › two-giuliani-ass... 

Two men connected to Giuliani's Ukraine efforts charged with ...
https://www.cnn.com › politics › guliani-client-arrested-campaign-finance
 (CNN) Two associates of Rudy Giuliani connected to efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden were ... 

2 Giuliani Associates Arrested On Campaign Finance ... - NPR https://www.npr.org › 2019/10/10 › 2-giuliani-associates-arrested-on-campai...

Arrest of Giuliani associates tied to Ukraine scandal renews ...
https://abcnews.go.com › Politics › story

Two Giuliani associates arrested on campaign-finance ...
https://www.latimes.com › politics › story › donors-arrested-giuliani-ukrai...

2 Giuliani associates connected to Ukraine probe arrested ...
https://www.cbsnews.com › live-news › impeachment-inquiry-latest-2-giuli...

CNN at least wrote "with links to" in the headline, but then in the first sentence we see "associates."  NPR used 'with links to" in the lead sentence instead of 'associates."

The word 'associate' just seems wrong here.  It seems to have too good a connotation.  It sounds like a euphemism for a darker kind of connection than an "associate."  And besides that, what exactly is the connection among Giuliani and these two men?  I suspect a more sinister term would be more appropriate, but there's not quite enough information for me to figure out what it is.  In what sense did these men 'work with' or 'work for' Giuliani, and by extension, the president?

I looked up associate to see if I was just out of touch with other uses of the word.

associate noun from Merriam Webster
1: one associated with another: such as a: PARTNER, COLLEAGUEbusiness associates b: COMPANION, COMRADEa close associate during his college years 2a: an entry-level member (as of a learned society, professional organization, or profession) an associate of the Royal Academy b: EMPLOYEE, WORKER 3often capitalized : a degree conferred especially by a junior college associate in arts

Definition 1a seems the closest - "one associated with another such as: PARTNER, COLLEAGUE"

But the two men are  not attorneys in Giuliani's firm.  Does this mean that Giuliani was a 'business partner' of these two men?  And what business is that exactly?

The articles talk about what these men did for Giuliani - basically

The NPR article only says this about their connection to Giuliani:

"Two Florida-based businessmen who helped President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in his efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine have been arrested and charged with campaign finance violations in a separate matter.

It goes on to quote the indictment:

According to the indictment, Parnas and Fruman face two counts of conspiracy and one count each of false statements and falsification of business records. Two others, David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin, each face one count of conspiracy.
The indictment alleges the men "conspired to circumvent the federal laws against foreign influence by engaging in a scheme to funnel foreign money to candidates for federal and state office so that the defendants could buy potential influence with candidates, campaigns, and the candidates' governments." 

So is 'co-conspirators' a better word?  "Fellow schemers?"  What exactly is the connection between Giuliani and the men?  Did he hire them like someone would hire a private investigator?  That wouldn't make them associates.  Did he ask them to do this work like a Mafia boss would ask an underling to do his dirty work?  Did he pay them a fee?  A bribe?  A reward?

You get my point I think.  I think 'associate' is a much nobler sounding term than the stories suggest is the actual relationship between Giuliani and these two hence men.

And all this raises another issue.  The pack journalism that the use of this term by all these different media outlets indicates.  Someone used the word 'associate' and they all grabbed it, presumably in their rush to get something published.  And since editors, rather than reporters, tend to write headlines . . .

The race to be the first to print a story is an old one in American journalism along with the lurid and often misleading titles that sell newspapers, and now clicks.  Getting the best story should be the goal.  The only people who can change the behavior of the media are the consumers of media - by being thoughtful about where they spend their clicks.  But as long as clicks are free, that's not going to happen.  And the construction of paywalls by the media outlets who think of themselves as the best (because, they believe people will be willing to pay for their stories) means that as people realize that the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post all will require a subscription, these will get fewer clicks.  Unless they have something you can't get anywhere else.

The Sun's Been With Us All Day

After several days of rain, the sun finally came out, and stayed out all day.

Went to the monthly Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL)  meeting.  This is the first time I remember that the main speaker was an Alaskan - from Ketchikan - Kiera O'Brien.    She's also a Harvard grad who was head of the Harvard Republicans, and she's organized a national group called Students for Carbon Dividends.

You can watch to the video of the national call here, and see the CCL website here. Kiera was on a delayed flight, so one of her co-workers Alexander Posner also participated.  He did an excellent job as well.

Now that most people accept the reality of Climate Change, it's important to know that there are things that can be done to reduce the impacts.   The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act is CCL's main focus.  It's  been called the most effective single act that can be done to reduce carbon.  You can learn more about that here.  If you feel you want to do something about climate change, I urge you to check the link and then call your members of Congress and tell them you want them to pass the Act.

Then a stop at the library to pick up a  book and then a short loop on the bike trail to enjoy the sunny - if chilly - morning.

The snow is much lower on the mountains that before the rain.  This is from the Alaska Native Medical Center campus.

Here are some late grasses shining in the morning sun.  As we go toward winter, the sun gets lower and lower on the horizon during the day.

There was ice on most of the puddles on the trail.

And here's a picture from yesterday.  Not sure where else to put it.  It's dinner at the Queen of Sheba Ethiopian restaurant last night.

I planted most of the leftover daffodil bulbs.  I've had mixed results in the past, but I'm going to be optimistic.  I hope I can post pictures of yellow flowers in the spring.

OLÉ Courts Class Does Tour of State Court Buildings Anchorage

This first picture is to remind my non-Alaskan readers that since we are post equinox, we're losing 5 minutes a day of daylight.  So waiting at the bus stop at 7:25am it was still dark!

Here's the courthouse directory on the wall.

We first stopped in a courtroom and Superior Judge Una Gandbhir talked about the kinds of cases she normally hears (civil) and answered questions.  OLÉ folks tend to have lots of questions.  The comment that got my attention was that there was a growing number of people who defend themselves these days.  Fortunately, someone else asked a follow up on that and she expanded.  This only works with civil cases (not criminal) and without a jury.  It's difficult if one side has an attorney and the other is self representing.  

In civil cases, there's no court appointed attorney for those who can't afford one, so that's probably one reason for this.  The judge also said there are lots of material available to help people find the forms they need and learn what they need to do.  

Here's a link to the Alaska Courts main self-help page.

I didn't know what the rules for photos was.  I know that reporters take pictures in state trials.  So I took this one as we were settling down and didn't take a picture when the judge came in.  

There's a tunnel between the Nesbitt and Boney Courthouses, that goes under the street.  We watched the video they show jurors, which I'd seen when I was called to jury duty.  It's quite good going explanations that jurors should hear about their role, the judges' role, the jury's role, etc.  

Then retired Superior Court Judge Elaine Andrews came in and started talking about work she's doing now to help educate people about the court system.  But time was short and we went back through the tunnel to the security office.   This office is responsible for the prisoners who come to court each week and they had a selection of cuffs on the table.  After that we got to see the room where they monitor all the security cameras - including the cells with awaiting prisoners.  We could see some of the cells from that room.  It did not look like a cheerful space.  And I was thinking I'm glad I'm taking the Innocence Project class at the same time as this one.  

Then back through the tunnel to the Boney Courthouse and up to the Supreme Court chamber, where I wanted to be Wednesday afternoon to hear the case of the Alaska youths suing the state for policies (development of oil and gas) which endanger their future by worsening climate change.  I had been up here once when i was covering redistricting.  It's a much nicer space than the cells we'd just been in.

Appellate Judge Tracy Wollenberg was our host here.  She talked about conditions for appealing a case.  A small percentage of cases actually go to trial.  So those that do are people who feel strongly and she said a large number appeal.

She did point out that in Alaska only criminal cases go to the appellate court and are heard by three judges.

Civil cases that are appealed go directly to the Supreme Court.  But the court only hears a relatively few cases.  I think I got that right, but check before you bet money on that.

The tour was over at 10 am (we met at 8:15am) and it was plenty light out by then.  We didn't have any snow in the Anchorage bowl yet, but someone on the tour said there was snow falling (but not sticking) at her Hillside home.  Not sure where this truck started out this morning.

International Ombuds Day Finds 3 Alaskan Ombuds At Loussac

My first book chapter was on the Alaska State and Anchorage Municipal Ombudspersons.  And later I did some follow up chapters.  So I have a special place in my heart for people serving in this office.

Basically, an ombudsperson's job is to take complaints about government service, investigate it, and make recommendations.  An honorable job and the people who carry out these jobs well are on my hero list.

After dropping off a book due at the Loussac library today, I saw the big ombudsman signs and learned it was International Ombudsman Day (2nd Thursday of October for those looking ahead to next year.)  From the International Ombudsman Association website:

"On Thursday, 10 October 2019, IOA invites you to participate in National Ombuds Day. This is the second celebration of a profession that has existed for centuries, yet remains relatively unknown and underutilized.
This Year’s Theme Is
Ombuds: Unusual Name. Important Service.
Ombuds Day serves as an additional opportunity to educate and raise awareness among the public about the history and practices of the ombuds profession including the various ombuds models, the roles they play, the services they offer and the value provided."

Here's Anchorage Municipal Ombudsman Darrel Hess and his  Deputy May Ramirez-Xiong today.

I also got to talk to the State Ombudsperson, Kate Burkhart, who works out of Juneau, but Anchorage also has a state ombuds office as well.  (Note:  She was standing in front of the Long Term Care Ombudsman sign, so, to avoid confusion, I blocked out some of the writing on that sign.)

Also, there was Kathryn Curry, Deputy Long Term Care Ombudsman, of the State's Long Term Care Ombudsperson.  That's a very specialized office that's mandated by Federal Law Older Americans Act.  They specialize, as the name suggests, in investigating complaints about long term care facilities.

And maybe I'll find some time to write about the next installments of the Project Innocence and Pebble Mine classes I attended before the library.

[There's always a non-sexist way to say something.  Ombudsman is the original Swedish word that comes from Old Norse.  The ombuds community discusses different ways to actually say it in non-sexist ways.  My preferences are ombuds and ombudsperson.  I suspect the names above are in statute and people rather not go through the process of changing it.]

"All of this violates the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent. Never before in our history has the House of Representatives-under the control of either political party- taken the American people down the dangerous path you seem determined to pursue." [UPDATED]

[UPDATE Oct 9:  Here's a Lawfare analysis that's more informed than my comments were, but comes to the same conclusions.]


Here are the second and third paragraphs of an eight page  letter Donald Trump's counsel sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and to three House Committee Chairs (Eliot L. Engel Chairman
House Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam B. Schiff Chairman House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Elijah E. Cummings Chairman House Committee on Oversight and Reform).

"For example, you have denied the President the right to cross-examine witnesses, to call witnesses, to receive transcripts of testimony, to have access to evidence, to have counsel present, and many other basic rights guaranteed to all Americans. You have conducted your proceedings in secret. You have violated civil liberties and the separation of powers by threatening Executive Branch officials, claiming that you will seek to punish those who exercise fundamental constitutional rights and prerogatives. All of this violates the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent. Never before in our history has the House of Representatives-under the control of either political party- taken the American people down the dangerous path you seem determined to pursue.
Put simply, you seek to overturn the results of the 2016 election and deprive the American people of thePresident they have freely chosen. ManyDemocratsnowapparently view impeachment not only as a means to undo the democratic results of the last election, but as a strategy to influence the next election, which is barely more than a year away. As one member of Congress explained, he is "concerned that if we don't impeach the President, he will get reelected." 1 Your highly partisan and unconstitutional effort threatens grave and lasting damage to our democratic institutions, to our system of free elections, and to the American people."

Let's hope that Trump retains this attorney as one of his top legal defenders as things drag down into the chaos ahead.  As Kellyann Conway's husband George tweeted about this letter:

It’s hard to count the number of ways that this letter is, constitutionally and legally, garbage. https://t.co/OIrf1awCHX

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) October 8, 2019

There are so many outrageous claims in these two paragraphs, it's overwhelming.  First, the House impeachment is to determine if there should be an indictment.  It's sort of like a grand jury that is closed to the public and only the prosecutor presents information.  The 'court' part doesn't happen until an impeachment is accepted by the Senate for trial.  So all this about violating civil rights is nonsense.

"violates every past precedent" - truly an amazing claim.  Every one of them, so he doesn't have to list them or show how they are violated  I wonder how many past precedents there are.  Hundreds?  Thousands?  Just name a few, ok?

Overturning the 2016 election claims - Well, yes, if a president is eventually convicted in the Senate, it has the effect of ending that president's tenure in office.  Just like when a criminal is convicted and sentenced to prison, it ends the criminal's right to freedom.  But the problem began with the criminal behavior, not the conviction.  His argument would mean that a president could never be impeached.

And let's remember that Hillary Clinton had about 3 million more votes than did Trump in 2016, so let's cool it with the crocodile tears.

So, I'm guessing this is just part of Trump's long time standard operating procedure - Attack, Counterattack, and Never Apologize.  It's the bullies' creed - make it so hard and so expensive that most people give up and let you have your way.  It's how Trump has gotten away with so much shit.  (Sorry, there's no really polite word.)

One point of this letter is to waste time, possibly intimidate some members of Congress, and to drag out the handing over of any documents to Congress.

But this letter is really for Trump's supporters who will eat up every accusation and start filling FB and Twitter with quotes that show Trump as the victim of Democratic abuse.  And the hypocrisy of Abuser In Chief accusing others of his modus operandi?  Well, bashing Democrats and keeping them from trampling on their values and destroying their way of life appear to be the things Trump's hard-core supporters like best.  From Jane Coaston at Vox:

"Trump stands accused by his enemies of, in essence, fighting dirty. But to conservatives who sincerely believe themselves to be under assault from an increasingly left-wing movement that itself fights dirty, that’s more a feature than a bug."  (emphasis added)

One more thing.  Here's Trump's legal counsel's signature on page 8 of the letter:

It's about 10 lines high!  John Hancock would be impressed.  I'd love to have a scientific graphologist do some analysis of this signature.  I'm guessing this suggests confidence, maybe the kind you get when you live in a bubble where everyone agrees with you.