The long-waited release of the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to the Attorney General has left many in the Beltway with a dilemma: how does one observe Special Counsel day? The problem is not just the lack of Special Counsel bunting and decorations, but many still do not know whether this will be a day of celebration or commiseration. Wishful critics and supporters are wondering what the Special Counsel will bring for them. After all, a large number of reputations are on the line. Breathless accounts of “bombshells”
and “smoking guns” of collusion will now be tested as will the common article of faith that all will be put right if you “just wait for Mueller.”
Well, Mueller is coming to town. Every indication is that he will give his report to Attorney General Bill Barr this week or early next week.
What is clear is that few mythical creatures have had so many prayers and expectations laid at their feet than Robert Mueller. He is the avenging angel for many who see him as the antithesis of Donald Trump. Indeed, some people have named their pets “Mueller.” With each passing week, Mueller was built up as a towering figure (both literally and figuratively) who was unimpeachable, unflappable, and unrelenting in his search for the naughty amongst us. The only thing missing is a blue ox and, yes, an actual report.
Mueller has become many things to many people. For over two years, legal analysts have repeatedly assured readers that collusion is already established and that Mueller will vanquish the Trump with his mighty mandate. For many Republicans, Mueller is the shadowy figure they tell their kids about at night to keep them from colluding or at least keeping detailed records.
But what if the Special Counsel comes and leaves “Bupkis,” just a finding of no criminal conduct by Trump and a long unpublished report?
The core narrative to the Mueller is collusion. That is what spurred the investigation by former FBI Director James Comey and the latter appointment of Mueller. A Mueller report without collusion is like Santa is Coming to Town without the Burgenrmeister Meisterburger. It is already established that the Russians tried to influence the election by hacking and trolling on the Internet. That is not as unusual as has been portrayed. Many countries try to influence elections and the leading example is the United States, which has not only hacked the emails of our enemies and leaked the results but it has hacked our allies. What is need is collusion in the hacking operation with Trump or his campaign.
This entire investigation began with the secret surveillance ordered of Trump figures by the Obama Administration during the campaign. Early figures like Carter Page were never charged and all of the U.S. defendants charged by Mueller have faced largely unrelated charges or false statements or registration violations.
It is possible that Mueller could not find any direct collusion with the Russians while detailing substantial efforts by Trump to derail or damage the investigation. You can commit obstruction even if there is no case for an original crime. Most people do not do that, but Trump is not most people. He has shown strikingly poor judgment in his public and private conduct. He could counterpunch his way into an obstruction case. However, without the underlying crime, it would be hard to base an impeachment case on Trump’s obsessive compulsive tweets. Moreover, Trump has not been accused of destroying evidence or firing core investigators or prosecutors.
Mueller can also refer to collateral crimes like campaign finance violations, but that still leaves a result far removed from the far more important allegations of collusion. It is the Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer story but Santa remains grounded and Rudolph is just used as a disco ball at the Christmas party. If Mueller can only show a deferred finance crimes on that on that fateful foggy bottom night, it is unlikely that the Democratic “reindeer [will] loved him as they shouted out with glee.”
Nevertheless, Special Counsel Day has all of the makings of a holiday without a clear theme.
Of course, with the upcoming Easter holiday, Special Counsel day could simply merge with that other unrelenting icon: the Easter Bunny. After all, every diehard Democrat and Republican will not know what to expect when they wake up and find that the Special Counsel has visited in the night . . . that is, unless you are Paul Manafort or Roger Stone. Most are expecting a Special Counsel horn of prosecutorial plenty. Indeed, many commentators and politicians have a lot riding on those charges after two years to proclaiming open-and-shut cases of collusion.
If Mueller finds no collusion directly tying Trump or his campaign, the myth of Mueller could could end up looking more like the Austrian holiday figure “Krampus” who appears as a demonic figure to frighten innocent children. Conversely, he could bring a slew of charges and look more like the Icelandic “Yule Cat” who roams the towns and cities to devour anyone who does not receive new clothes on Christmas Eve. Mueller could still devour all those without plea deals, including some less known targets like former Clinton White House Counsel Greg Craig who could be charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The Icelandic tradition would seem a nice fit because Mueller’s already team looks a lot like the “Yule lads.” These are characters that resemble the Seven Dwarfs but are far from welcomed by those they visit. They have such names as “Door-Sniffer” and “Window-Peeper.”
In the end, Mueller may end up more like a Santa figure with a twist. Santa is after all a bit of a hard case. He engages in year-round surveillance and punishes hopeful children with bags of coal. A bag of Mueller coal would be a report collusion tie with a ton of evidence of obstruction and a touch of campaign finance violations.
Santa however does not really capture the less than jolly Mueller. For that, you need to pick up Japanese Santa decorations for “Santa Kurohsu,” who actually has eyes in the back of his head to watch naughty children. Yep, that is more of a Special Counsel Santa.
So Attorney General Barr is likely to give a rough date for his summary of the findings of the Mueller report. Nervous commentators and politicians will go to their beds with visions of subpoenas and prosecutors dancing in their heads. All we know now is that the Special Counsel Day is coming and no one knows if he is coming for them.
So to all my fellow pundits and all of the politicians everywhere, Happy Special Counsel Day . . . you earned it.
“It is already established that the Russians tried to influence the election by hacking and trolling on the Internet.”
This is a careless statement not worthy of a law professor who considers himself a civil libertarian. It has not been established. The claim is currently lodged in two indictments that even the Congressional Research Service has noted (with respect to the more recent indictment) will not likely ever be tried. It is one thing to assert the general proposition that Russia (that is, the Russian government, or its agencies or instrumentalities – who “the Russians” refers to is frequently obfuscated, certainly in the media) may reasonably be suspected of tampering, or of attempting to tamper, with the integrity of U.S. elections. It is another thing entirely to say that this activity definitely happened in this case, in the way in which the indictments allege. This is basic stuff. It should be put to the proof before it is accepted, and not casually circulated as if it were fact because an ill-advised consensus may have been formed (primarily due to the media) about its truth.
Olly,
Those points are obvious to most people.
An extremely stupid person may not be able to grasp those basic concepts.
A person pretending to be extremely stupid could intentionally muddle the issue by making phony comparisons and constantly moving the goalposts.
At this stage, I don’t care all that much if a particular individual is actually stupid, or selectively pretending to be stupid to muddle issue(s).
The impact on any attempt to have a straightforward exchange is the same.
Tom,
I was going to say folks like L4D weren’t stupid, that is until I looked up the definition. It fits. No amount of evidence has moved the needle for them to arrive at any other conclusion than the one they’ve fixated on for the last 2+ years. Fortunately this blog has archives and the history of their stupidity is available for all to see. The most pathetic (and dangerous) aspect of that stupidity is how disconnected their arguments have been from actual evidence, presumption of innocence and the rule of law. Oh the irony that this has all played out on Res ipsa loquitur is special.
You will never overcome their basic compulsion to obtain benefits from Other People’s Money. They want “free stuff” and they won’t be deterred. Their “arguments” are irrational but designed to provide them wealth created by other, productive, fellow citizens. They rely on numbers not logic and sane justification. Not one iota of redistribution of wealth is allowed by the Constitution. Congress has the power to tax merely for “…general Welfare…” and Congress has no power to tax for individual welfare. General welfare includes roads, water, sewer, electricity, post office (communication in 1789) and the things that ALL, or General, people use in similar amounts and frequency which are not readily available in the free markets of the private sector. The American thesis is freedom and self-reliance which is the principle dependent parasites will never agree with. The entire communistic American welfare state is unconstitutional. Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto 59 years after the adoption of the Constitution because none of the principles of the Communist Manifesto were in the Constitution. Had the principles of the Communist Manifesto been in the Constitution, Karl Marx would have had no reason to write the Communist Manifesto. The principles of the Communist Manifesto were not in the Constitution then and the principles of the Communist Manifesto are not in the Constitution now. At some point given the increasing hysteria and incoherence, martial law may be necessary to stop the seizure of assets and freedom of individuals and to restore rationality and constitutionality to America.
I was asked a series of 4 questions by Lies4 Breakfast a few minutes ago.
I’ll answer those questions here, given no reply box below L4B’s comment.
Yes, yes, no, no.
I will add that I don’t have a very high opinion of a chicken****, games-playing, evasive weasel like L4B.
Since she rarely gives any direct answers to straightforward questions, it’s kind of interesting that she has the gall to ask questions of others.
Them again, that’s a key part of the game that an anonymous, low-life piece of trash like her enjoys playing so much.
Tom,
If you don’t see a “Reply” button, use the “Reply” option you get in the email notification. It will post your comment directly below the email comment you’re replying to.
Olly,
I don’t get that notification anymore, although at one time I did.
For the past 6 months or so, the comment section here has not been user-friendly to those using mobile devices.
There have been some other comments to the same effect over that same time frame.
I’ve found some ways, up to a point,vof circumventing the glitches with some tinkering.
But in some cases, maybe about 5 percent of the time, I cant make a reply box appear below the comment I am responding to.
There’s a meme floating around that nails it. It shows a woman sitting on her psychiatrist’s couch looking despondent saying:
I still believe Donald Trump colluded with Russia. I know that there’s some unseen evidence.
to which the consoling psychiatrist responds:
I see and is the evidence that no one else can see in the room with us right now?
🙂
Leaks. Leaks. Leaks. The Pentagon Papers, Deep Throat, Edward Snowden. Whistleblowers, whistleblowers, whistleblowers. How is AG Barr going to suppress the leaks from the whistleblowers? If AG Barr “guts” the Mueller report, then surely the whistleblowers will leak the gizzards that Ag Barr had gutted from the Mueller report to The Washington Post. Surely.
You see, you got what you wanted. The Mueller investigation is over and you have the Mueller report that you’ve been demanding since last Summer. Consequently, the only way truly to exonerate Trump is publicly to disclose the Mueller report that you’ve been demanding since last Summer. If AG Barr doesn’t release the report guts and all, the whistleblowers will leak the report guts and all.
You know its true. Maybe Russia can hack the Mueller report and leak it through Julian Assange over at Wikileaks. Ha-Ha! “Russia if you’re listening . . .” Ha-Ha!
Dems haven’t been this crazed since they lost their black slaves.
Where’s the black enigma? Remember this? “Trumptards will be cryin’ da blues when Mueller’s Russia report comes!”
Is Princess sane..?
Given the staggering abuse of power in the Obama Coup D’etat in America, who would be surprised if President Trump, a la Lincoln, declared Marital Law by executive order. The inmates have taken over the asylum. The Constitution is approaching a state of complete nullification. America is literally being invaded and there is an existential crisis at the border – La Raza is completing the final phase of its “Reconquista” of the America Southwest which will be concluded with annexation by Mexico. The democrats are totally corrupt, having now concluded a completely irrational, illegal and false “malicious prosecution,” in line with that of Mike Nifong of Duke Lacrosse infamy, and the Union of the American Founders is under threat of extinction. How much more will great Americans take? What else can it be called when the borders are breached and erased, and the government subverted?
Alternatively, benevolent global communism holds dominion in an iron grip, slavery is good and the end is near.
So, if Trump declares Marital Law, does that mean that we all have to get married again?
Let this be a lesson on the folly of nominating Anonymous to help Foster-Youth in Asia, and then he takes it upon himself to help foster euthanasia.
But, but . . . Lincoln only had one wife when he declared Marital Law by Executive Order.
Trump’s on his third wife. What’s it mean? What’s it mean? And where’s George when you really need him?
One good thing. At least that would put all the divorce lawyers out of business.😀
We’ve been over and over and over this same territory again and again and again.
Quit wasting my time, you friggin moron.
Virtually everything you say was true if Saddam, so of course Gulf War II was a great idea as well.
Are you really that stupid or addicted to lying for propaganda purposes, or both?
Did Tom Nash oppose The [Second] Iraq War? Did Tom Nash oppose the toppling of Saddam Hussein? Are we going to divvy up and parcel out all of the wars and military operations of the United States into two categories: Republican Wars versus Democrat Wars? Republican military operations versus Democrat military operations?
Yes, yes, no, no. Don’t expect answers in the future…I’m not inclined to answer them from an evasive, lying scumbag like Lies4 Breakfast.
The “reply box” reappeared here with some tinkering….wanted to be sure the anonymous piece of trash posting as “Late4Dinner” gets the message.
The civility rule here prevents me from being blunt and direct as far as my views of troll-scum like her.
Does anybody find it strange that individual-1 has been very very quiet lately. Since last night? When can anybody remember Trump NOT writing and saying something that can be proven to be a lie in 5 minutes.
Well yes, I would think it would take a bit of time to pay attention to all the details of a very short JAG trial of you/your freinds AKA Traitors/Subversives & the Espionage & other Crimes against the people of the USA,,,,,
Then there’s planning the Scaffolds, the pre show entertainment, the beer & concessions & all.
Have you people for one second stopped & thought maybe you should stop poking all bulls in US in the azz before they turn in force & give your Commie/Fascist Azzes the horn?
Keep coming, I’m such many will enjoy the videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv_eOMyhtms
Oh so sorry, your special vid didn’t post last time but here it is now your Traitors!
BTW: Have you been think of moving to another country lately? Go in peace, but don’t waste a lot of time doing so! LOL;)
FishWings says: March 23, 2019 at 5:30 PM
“Does anybody find it strange that individual-1 has been very very quiet lately. Since last night?”
The anonymous source at the Justice Department cited on the previous page said that Mueller’s report was “comprehensive.” I’m guessing that that means that it’s more than 140 characters long. So when was the last time that Trump had that much reading to do? D’oh! When was the last time Trump had that many scraps of paper to eat? Impacted colon? Or deep-state coup d’état? Or both?
https://www.apnews.com/99cb78f4c67b431b9f3823b06a89179b
8 hours ago … WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller closed his long … Russia investigation with no new charges Friday, ending the probe …
“Special counsel Robert Mueller closed his long … Russia investigation with no new charges Friday, ending the probe …”
Now that we know this we can remove a lot of posts written by Diane and suddenly the number of posts will drastically fall while quality rises.
“POTUS (Obama) wants to know everything we’re doing.”
– Lisa Page to Peter Strzok
______________________
” And yeah, it’s a real profile in couragw [sic], since she knows no charges will be brought.”
– Lisa Page to Peter Strzok, four days before Comey exonerated Hillary
________________________________________________________
“The texts mean what the texts say.”
– Lisa Page to Congress
_____________________
The Obama “Deep State” Coup D’etat in America is the most egregious abuse of power and the most prodigious scandal in
American political history.
The co-conspirators are:
Rosenstein, Mueller/Team, Comey, McCabe, Strozk, Page, Kadzic, Yates, Baker,
Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Priestap, Kortan, Campbell, Steele, Simpson, Joseph Mifsud,
Stefan “The Walrus” Halper, Kerry, Hillary, Huma, Mills, Brennan, Clapper,
Lerner, Farkas, Power, Lynch, Rice, Jarrett, Sessions, Obama et al.
Russia,Russia,Russia!
JT: “After all, a large number of reputations are on the line.”
This includes you JT. How disappointing it is to see how blind you have been to the biggest scandal in American history by far…a “Constitutional” scandal. You’re a nice guy, but absolutely clueless too.
We know what comes next. We’ve known this for 2.5 years: Indictments against those who illegally targeted Trump. The plainly illegal FISA warrants and those who signed off on them are only a start.
FOX NEWS has trained it’s cult well, already yelling all is well and good. Nothing to see here, let’s move on to getting a investigation of Hillary……..again
Fishwings, in the end Fox was right and the MSM proven wrong.
Yes, trained very well. I’ve read your posts. Why the panic? Trump said he has done nothing wrong. And we all know there’s one thing Trump does not do, is to lie. At this point of the game, Trump is already down 60 to 0 at halftime, and he still has to play the second half.
Panic? Mueller just folded his cards.
No he didn’t. FishWings is right: you’ve all been operantly conditioned like Pavlov’s pigeons to peck at the button that dispenses yummy millet and to ignore the button that dispenses a mild electrical shock akin to a a joy buzzer.
The simple fact that Trump has not been indicted only proves what we already knew to begin with: Department of Justice regulations state that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Mueller studiously observed those regulations. Had he not done so, AG Barr would have denied Mueller’s recommendation for an indictment of Trump.
To try and spin the forgone conclusion that Trump cannot be indicted and therefore was not indicted as some sort of exoneration of Trump is prima facie evidence of the pigeon mind running amok in the world.
FTR, the pigeon experiments were inspired by Pavlov but conducted by Watson and Skinner the latter of whom inspired a female Harvard student to conduct the infamous “Pigeon Prank” describe at the link below:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-harvard-stadium-pigeon-prank-that-pavlov-would-be-proud-of
Nov 18, 2015 … Among the lesser-known practical jokes is the Pavlovian pigeon prank. … It’s just like the experiment Pavlov conducted with his dog, in which a …
Fish, you and the lame brained MSM have continuously told us Trump would be indicted when Mueller was through with the investigation. All of you were wrong on that and almost every other detail.
Tell us where Trump intentionally lied and provide his words not what spinners said he said. You have made your comment multiple times but never backed it up.
Allen, 1. I would love for you to show me where I said he was going to be indicted. 2. I think it would be easier to prove Trump intentionally lies on video that is shot by every news organization in the world that covers the White House. 3. Are you so panicked that you are now accusing News organizations of dubbing words in Trump’s mouth?
“I think it would be easier to prove Trump intentionally lies on video that is shot by every news organization”
Then it should be easy for you to show those lies. Go ahead and in your own words tell us what the lie is in the video or statement you cite. You have been asked for this numerous times but you can’t get further than repeating your talking point.
I don’t believe you when you say you never said Trump would be indicted. A lot of your rhetoric was focused in that direction.
Unlike you I don’t panic. I don’t look at Trump as a perfect individual. I look at him with all his warts along with what he has done. He is a plus. People liked to think Obama was a Saint but he was a slouch and a lousy President.
Hello Allen, you are receiving this message because you posted in defence of Trump. I no longer provide individual responses on this matter. It has been my experience that Trump supporters are universally incapable of accepting verifiable truths about him and, by extension, themselves, thus rendering discussion pointless and, therefore, a waste of time. I wish you all the best in your ongoing battle with reality. Yours respectfully, a logical person.
It has been my experience
Betwixt and between the household chores your mother nags you about.
Fishtales, To date almost everything you have said has been wrong. You get an F. I never expected you to provide proof and you didn’t disappoint me. I am sure your mother was used to you coming home with that type of grade (Failure) so I know it doesn’t bother you.
The Obdurate Blob oozed, “To date almost everything you have said has been wrong.”
The Obdurate Blob keeps oozing these vague, amorphous accusations against statements that are never specified, cited, nor even alluded to.
Here’s a clue, Obdurate Blob, compose a sentence of the form “So-and-so was wrong about this, that, or the other thing” while filling in the blank on the terms “this, that, opr the other thing” with specific statements that “So-and-so” had previously asserted. Then, if you make that far, which you can’t, of course, but supposing otherwise, and for extra credit, show us why So-and-so’s statement was “wrong” rather than merely concluding that So-and-so’s statement was wrong.
Remember: There are other people besides you who read this blawg, you Obdurate Blob, you.
Diane, read your comments since even before you changed your name from Diane.
Listen to what you said about Fox being wrong along with everything else you said.
Diane was wrong, wrong, wrong.
Fox was right.