Thursday, April 25, 2019

The Final Music Will Soon Begin And I Suspect Many Mighty May Fall. Help The Poor. Biden The Virtuous One Announces.


Those who read my memos know I believe the wheels of justice move slowly an grind finely.  Therefore, I believe as the final investigative reports come out they will be very revealing and will ensnare a variety of people beginning with Obama, Hillary and Comey and his crowd of friends.

Between the Steele Dossier, how it was paid for, manipulated and then used to obtain FISA Warrants  will be enough to throw a big net over a lot of alleged criminality. This is what separates America from so many other nations.  Eventually corrupt actions are brought to light and cleansed through the judicial system notwithstanding enormous efforts to prevent same.

When the final bell has tolled on this sordid episode in our history regarding Russian Collusion etc. I am confident my views will have been justified, ie. Obama knew about it and might have been involved in a variety of ways.  We have plenty of past evidence that he shielded the only Atty. General ever held in contempt by Congress,  over saw the use of  The IRS to go after conservative opponents, and skirted the constitution regarding the Iran Deal by calling it such instead of a treaty that needed ratification by The Senate, among other misdeeds.

As for Hillary, we have an entire history of over 40 years of questionable behaviour and law violations along with and supported by husband Bill and their seamy Foundation.

Comey and his crowd of gumshoes resorted to every trick in the book to allow Hillary to escape being charged with a variety of potential crime breaking activities while orchestrating the secret spying/surveillance of an opponent's campaign. and then lying about it.

Though Trump's behaviour, in seeking to end the "Witch Hunt," does not do him proud it never ended in obstruction not only because of Justice Department Guidelines but because you cannot obstruct an illegal activity that never took place simply because you wanted to and sought it through others who did not act upon any requests and/or orders.

The fact that Trump Haters cannot accept his election and now allegations of obstruction is a reflection on them not Trump.I know it is galling for the likes of Waters, OCA, Harris, Pocahontas et al but their continued persistence and harassment will boomerang because Americans generally reject piling on and are fair minded. Being an anti-Trump Radical  Party will eventually leave  Americans with a sour taste.
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Let the final music begin. (See 1, 1a and 1b below.)
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Want to help the poor.? (See 2 below.)
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Biden began his candidacy by resurrecting The Charlottesville Canard, suggesting he is the virtuous one.  At some point he should be made to explain his financial ties to Libya and how he arranged money to flow to his son etc.
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Dick
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1) Mueller's Political Prosecution

Special Counsel Robert Mueller claims correctly that a traditional prosecution or declination decision is a binary choice – to prosecute or not to prosecute. Mueller was able to make a decision regarding collusion, so why couldn’t he make one regarding obstruction? He claims he couldn’t because the Office of Legal Counsel had previously opined that a sitting president cannot be indicted; he also claims that it would be unfair to accuse the president of committing a crime without indicting him and thus denying him the right to defend himself in court to clear his name.


Then why did Mueller spend millions of taxpayer dollars investigating the president for obstruction when he wouldn’t indict him for it anyway? Mueller claims that he was creating and preserving a record for the future, perhaps when Trump is no longer president and thus can be indicted. But he also wrote that he was concerned that indicting Trump would, “preempt constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct.” What does he mean? Read his footnote -- he means impeachment. So, Mueller didn’t charge obstruction because he didn’t want to preempt the Democrats’ impeachment plans.

Instead of performing his duty as a prosecutor, Mueller was creating a road map to impeachment. Mueller made a political decision, not a legal one. He was appointed to investigate any coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. He was authorized to prosecute any federal crimes arising from his investigation. He admitted there was no evidence of collusion, conspiracy, or even the made-up crime called “coordination.” Yet on corruption, instead of reaching the obvious conclusion, he deferred to Congress.


But Mueller is a prosecutor, not a member of Congress. His job is to enforce the criminal code, not to facilitate impeachment.

Where Mueller played the politician, Attorney General William Barr played the prosecutor. Barr determined the evidence provided by Mueller was insufficient to establish an obstruction of justice charge. In reaching that decision, Barr based his conclusion on the evidence, which is what prosecutors are supposed to do. Barr even examined the evidence using Mueller’s unconventional legal theory that a person can be charged with obstruction for carrying out his lawful duties, and still found none.

Mueller, on the other hand, laid out the “factual issues” that he believes could support an obstruction charge: “public attacks on the investigation, non-public efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.” First, public criticism cannot constitute obstruction; the president, like any American, has the 1st Amendment right to criticize the government, including the agents who prosecute him. Even if one disregards the Constitution, the facts reveal that although the president criticized the investigation, he did nothing to hinder it.


Second, the president has the constitutional duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed; that duty includes efforts to control any federal investigation. And whether he acknowledges it or not, the special counsel ultimately works under the president. Again, if one disregards the Constitution and examines just the facts, one reaches that same conclusion; there was no evidence that the president actually “controlled” the investigation. The evidence reveals the opposite. Mueller reports that Trump wanted him removed for a “conflict of interest.” Well, he wasn’t -- he wasn’t even asked. Mueller reports that Trump wanted then Attorney General Jeff Sessions to “unrecuse” himself. Well, he didn’t. And, the president’s response, “I'm not going to do anything or direct you to do anything. I just want to be treated fairly.”

The third “factual issue” is the only one that could possibly be in the realm of obstruction of justice. But, upon examination of the facts, not Mueller’s characterization of them, there is no there, there. Mueller claims Trump made, “efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.” Mueller’s best proof? Michael Cohen claiming that the President's personal counsel told him to “stay on message” and not contradict the President. Yet, Michael Cohen had plead guilty to lying to Congress and was trying to save himself from a long prison sentence. He lacks any credibility.

In the end, Special Counsel Bob Mueller has done significant damage to the Trump presidency. Because he refused to do what he was appointed to do, he has fueled the fires of impeachment. So, now we’ll spend the next year and half with Democrats beating the drums of impeachment even though the special counsel exonerated the president of committing the crime for which the special counsel was appointed, and the attorney general cleared the president of obstruction of justice. Mueller reports that Trump complained the appointment of the special counsel will end his presidency.
Let’s hope the American people see this for what it is -- a political prosecution, not a legal one.


Marc A. Scaringi, Esq. Mr. Scaringi is an attorney in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a radio talk show host of The Marc Scaringi Show on WHP 580AM and I Heart Radio and a Donald J. Trump endorsed Delegate to the 2016  Republican National Convention.


1a)

MuellerInvestigationWas Driven by Pious

Hypocrisy


By Victor Davis Hanson


Despite compiling private allegations of loud and obnoxious Trump behavior, Mueller also concluded that there was not any actionable case of obstruction of justice by the president. It would have been hard in any case to find that Trump obstructed Mueller's investigation of an alleged crime.

One, there was never a crime of collusion. Mueller early on in his endeavors must have realized that truth, but he pressed ahead anyway. It is almost impossible to prove obstruction of nothing.
Two, Trump cooperated with the investigation. He waived executive privilege. He turned over more than 1 million pages of administrative documents. He allowed then-White House counsel Don McGahn to submit to over 30 hours of questioning by Mueller's lawyers.
Three, anyone targeted by a massive investigation who knows he is innocent of an alleged crime is bound to become frustrated over a seemingly never-ending inquisition.
Trump's reported periodic rages at the Muller investigation are regrettable but not unnatural, given that Mueller expended a huge amount of government resources to confirm what many knew at the outset: that there was never any collusion with the Russian government to warp the 2016 election.
Yet Mueller's team went down every blind alley relating to its investigation -- except where Obama-era officials were likely culpable for relevant unethical or illegal behavior.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants were integral to Mueller's investigations. But there is no mention of how the FISA court was deceived by not being told that the chief evidence used to obtain the warrants was an unverified dossier paid for in part by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Some of the collusion narrative Muller examined was based on FBI informants' unverified stories. Yet strangely, the Mueller team did not investigate whether it was legal in the first place for the FBI, possibly with CIA help, to use informants to spy on a presidential campaign.
Former FBI Director James Comey figures into the Mueller report. But there is no curiosity about whether he broke the law in leaking what may well have been four classified memos of private presidential conversations to the press for the purpose of forcing an appointment of a special counsel.
The Christopher Steele dossier likewise makes an appearance in the Mueller report. But for a team investigating the alleged collusion of foreigners in a U.S. election, there is silence about the salient fact that Steele, a foreign national, enlisted other foreign nationals to dig up dirt on Trump to weaken his election chances -- with part of the funding for this research provided by the Clinton campaign and the DNC.
What bothers many Americans about the collusion hoax is the accompanying sanctimony of the so-called investigators. The Mueller team could have helped itself had it just noted that much of the evidence it looked at was a product of Obama-era officials' unethical or illegal behavior.
Comey wrote a memoir, "A Higher Loyalty." Its eponymous themes are Comey's own ethics and principles. But Comey may well have misled the FISA court and possibly lied under oath to a House committee. He was not candid with federal investigators and leaked confidential and classified government memos.
Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe also wrote a memoir, "The Threat." Its argument is that FBI kingpins such as McCabe protect America from dangers such as Donald Trump. But McCabe himself is under criminal referral for lying to federal investigators. His sworn congressional testimony cannot be reconciled with Comey's. McCabe also likely misled the FISA court. And he apparently contemplated staging a near-coup to remove an elected president through the deliberate misuse of the 25th Amendment.
Former CIA Director John Brennan is a paid analyst for MSNBC who often railed about Trump's "treason" and predicted his indictment. Yet Brennan himself has lied under oath to Congress on two occasions. He likely misled Congress about his role in trafficking in the Steele dossiers. And Brennan's CIA may well have helped the FBI use informants abroad to entrap Trump campaign aides in efforts to find dirt on Trump.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is a CNN analyst who often predicted that a supposedly treasonous Trump would be indicted. Clapper, too, has lied to Congress under oath. He once denied and then admitted to leaking confidential documents.
The problem with the Muller investigation, and with former intelligence officials such as Brennan, Clapper, Comey and McCabe, is pious hypocrisy. Those who have lectured America on Trump's unproven crimes have written books and appeared on TV to publicize their own superior virtue. Yet they themselves have engaged in all sorts of unethical and illegal behavior.
The only mystery left is whether our elite investigators actually believe their own delusions. Or were they constantly broadcasting their virtue as a preventive defense against growing evidence of their own moral lapses?
(C) 2019 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His latest book is The Savior Generals from BloomsburyBooks. You can reach him by e-mailing author@victorhanson.com.

1b)Trump Opponents Never Tire of Losing
For well over three years, Donald Trump has been under attack. He has been subjected to unprecedented slander by the media, dirty tricks by the Democrats, legally dubious investigations, and sabotage by the deep state. Yet he is not only still standing, he has a record of accomplishments that any president would be happy to claim after two years in office. One would think his opponents would be able to divine a message from this. To wit, their time might be better spent working on behalf of the voters rather than launching further futile attempts to bring Trump down.
Moreover, the polls have increasingly indicated that this would not only be the right thing to do, it would be the smart move. A new Morning Consult poll — hardly predisposed to favor President Trump — shows enthusiasm for impeachment among registered voters continuing to plummet. Only 34 percent of registered voters favor ousting Trump, and among Independents that percentage is only 31 percent. Even among Democrats, the percentage who want to see the President impeached has fallen by 12 points (from 71 to 59 percent). The voters, in other words, are done.

Yet Trump’s antagonists are clearly determined to lengthen their losing streak. It began when he announced his intention to run for president in June of 2015. Typical of the media reception he received was the NBC story titled, “Donald Trump Announces Presidential Bid by Trashing Mexico, Mexicans.” What he actually did, of course, was say what every major politician regardless of party had already said about illegal immigration at our southern border. Soon, however, virtually every “news” outlet began claiming that he had called all Mexicans rapists and killers.

This theme was soon picked up by the Democrats, including Hillary Clinton. In remarks made to a La Raza conference she said, “I don’t have to wait to become president to take a stand right here and right now against the divisive rhetoric that demonizes immigrants and their families.… It is shameful and no one should stand for it.” Never mind that her position on illegal immigration had long been identical to Trump’s and that she bragged, “I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in.”
At about the time Clinton was singing in hypocritical harmony with the media about Trump’s “shameful” rhetoric, her campaign staff began working with Fusion GPS to organize the most despicable and dangerous dirty trick in the history of American politics. The result was, of course, a conspiracy to smear Trump involving not just the media and the Democratic National Committee, but the directors of the FBI, National Security Agency, and National Intelligence. When Her Majesty lost the 2016 election, and Trump started firing people, the deep state retaliated:
Admitting there is no actual evidence for their probe into whether Trump “worked for the Russians,” FBI officials instead cited their foreign policy differences with him, his lawful firing of bungling FBI Director James Comey, and alarm that he accurately revealed to the American public that he was told he wasn’t under investigation by the FBI, when they preferred to hide that fact.

At length, all this  morphed into the Mueller probe — a $34 million “investigation” that confirmed that the Russia Hoax was… well… a hoax. But the Democrats haven’t yet grown weary of losing. They are angry about Trump’s tax reforms and aggressive deregulation, which have produced a booming economy as well as record low unemployment. They are frustrated with his energy-friendly policies and his release of most Americans from the Obamacare gulag. They seethe because he is reshaping the judiciary by appointing real judges rather than political hacks.

So, the slow-learners who “lead” the House Democrats will now attempt to use Part II of the Mueller report to nail the President for “obstruction of justice.” But, just as the voters have tired of impeachment mania, Trump is done with congressional harassment. He is pushing back on House subpoenas: “I allowed my lawyers and all the people to go and testify to Mueller — and you know how I feel about that whole group of people.” He is also fighting Democrat demands to dig through his tax returns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded to that demand as follows:

Due to the serious constitutional questions raised by this request and the serious consequences that a resolution of those questions could have for taxpayer privacy, the Department is consulting with the Department of Justice. Although federal law establishes no deadline for a response to your request, we expect to provide the Committee with a final decision by May 6.

Meanwhile the media, having learned nothing from the ratings hit they absorbed due to their sloppy and often dishonest reports about the Russia hoax, are already parroting Democratic talking points on obstruction of justice. That they’re already carrying water for people like Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff suggests that they may well destroy what little public trust they still enjoy. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, by no means a conservative, is stunned by the media reaction to Mueller’s report: “Pretending they got it right is just worsening the problem.” Fellow traveler Matt Taibbi agrees:

This fiasco will surely end up being a net plus for Trump.… News audiences were betrayed, and sooner or later, even the most virulently Trump-despising demographics will realize it and tune us out. The only way to reverse the damage is to own how big of a screw-up this was, but after the last three years, who would hold their breath waiting for that?

Are these people really so obsessed with bringing down the President that they can’t see they are making his case about “the swamp” with slander, partisan investigations, and deep state sabotage? I stumbled across a Latin tag the other day that Trump’s antagonists should learn: Saepe intereunt aliis meditantes necem. This translates into English as, “Those who plot the destruction of others often destroy themselves.” They have been trying to destroy Trump for three years, and he’s still standing. If they keep it up, he will win reelection in 2020. Will they never tire of losing?++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2) Eradicate Poverty? We Already Know How
 Want to help the poor? Champion free enterprise.

That flouts the conventional wisdom — at least as it’s presented by many politicians and “mainstream” media outlets. They would have us believe that free enterprise (or to use their preferred bogeyman, capitalism) exacerbates poverty. In fact, they think we can’t help the poor without a heavy dose of socialism.
But the facts aren’t on their side. They have the equation exactly backwards. What alleviates poverty isn’t so much government doing something. It’s government getting out of the way.
“Democratic capitalism has done more to pull people out of poverty than any other system in the history of humanity,” best-selling author Arthur Brooks says in a recent video for the Daily Signal.
He recalls the stark pictures found in National Geographic magazine in the early 1970s, illustrating the famine that was killing hundreds of thousands of people in east Africa. Seeing these poor children with distended bellies and flies on their faces was heartbreaking, but the message, Mr. Brooks recalls, was that nothing could be done.
“Even as a little kid, I knew the charity wasn’t going to get it done,” says Mr. Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute. “It was a hopeless feeling.”
So one would hardly expect conditions to have improved for the world’s poor in the decades since then. And yet, unbeknownst to most people, they have.
Some 70 percent of Americans think that hunger has gotten worse since 1970. But it’s not true: 80 percent of starvational poverty has been eradicated in the last 50 years. Poverty still exists, to be sure, but has been substantially reduced since Mr. Brooks saw those searing images in National Geographic.
“Since 1970, the percentage of the world’s population living on the equivalent of less than a dollar a day has fallen by more than 80 percent,” he wrote in a 2012 Washington Post article. “Hundreds of millions of people have been pulled out of grinding deprivation.”
Can we thank U.S. foreign aid, or some well-crafted U.N. development project? Those are the remedies usually touted by pundits and politicians.
Nope. It was free trade.
In China, for example, some 400 million were pulled out of absolute poverty between 1981 and 2001, thanks to free trade and foreign investment. People can rail all they want about globalization, but it’s made a huge difference in the lives of poor people who would otherwise languish and die.
At The Heritage Foundation, we’ve been documenting the effect of free enterprise for years with our Index of Economic Freedom. This annual guide takes a hard look at the economic conditions in every country around the globe, and the evidence is unambiguous: The freer the country, the more prosperous it is.
Per-capita incomes are much higher in nations that are economically freer. Economies rated “free” or “mostly free” in the 2019 Index enjoy incomes more than twice the average levels in all other countries — and more than six times higher than the incomes of people living in economies rated as “repressed,” such as Cuba or Venezuela.
So how do we help the poor today? Not by yielding to the demands from many on the left who insist we need more government. We alleviate poverty by explaining who the real hero is: free enterprise. We highlight its successes and show that poverty persists where it is denied.
“This is not about business,” Mr. Brooks adds. “This is not about ideology. This is about human lives — real people, real faces, real stories. These are the people that we need to fight for today. And we know how to get it done.”
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