If a name ever fit the person Sen. Flake fills the bill. Dagny skiing on the lake near their house.
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Michael Ordman's Good News Letter. (See 1 below.)
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A response to my previous memo from a dear and longtime friend and fellow memo reader:
Don’t be surprised about the democrats. See what an Israel Tokyo Rose is writing:
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Tonight is the eve of Channukah which is the celebration of the Maccabees over the Romans. To all my Jewish friends, I wish you a Happy Channukah which has come very early this year.
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If Mueller was a pitcher he would probably throw spit-balls.
I failed to include this in my last memo though I referred to it in my title. OOPS! (See 2 and 2a below.)
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DickTonight is the eve of Channukah which is the celebration of the Maccabees over the Romans. To all my Jewish friends, I wish you a Happy Channukah which has come very early this year.
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If Mueller was a pitcher he would probably throw spit-balls.
I failed to include this in my last memo though I referred to it in my title. OOPS! (See 2 and 2a below.)
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1) A better world - Israel's Good News Newsletter
By Michael Ordman
Life-saving medicine; life-changing technology for Africa, India, Nevada; aid for California; security for the G20 summit; energy for Europe. Just some of Israel's latest activities to benefit our planet.
The photo (TY Marlene) is from the 105th anniversary celebrations of Haifa's Reali school - where many of Israel's leaders and innovators were educated.
Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael.
- Israeli scientists have developed a new method for designing safe medicines.
- Israel has appointed its first male Ethiopian-born judge.
- The President of Chad visited Israel and is to restore diplomatic relations.
- Israeli drip irrigation has given 6,000 Indian farmers a second harvest.
- Deal signed to lay undersea pipeline for supplying Israeli gas to Europe.
- An Israeli gymnast won two World gold medals.
- Haifa’s Reali school celebrates its 105th anniversary and helps VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
- Click here to see the 25th Nov newsletter on IsraelSeen, Ruthfully Yours, Janglo, and United With Israel with additional feature on Medical(with 4,000 likes). Also (TY Sandra) in German and (TY Zachy) in Hebrew and (new) some articles by students of the famous Reali school in Haifa. Please pass on these links to German and Hebrew-speaking contacts. Also (TY Esty) please visit (and “like” and “follow”) the www.facebook.com/
VerygoodnewsIL Facebook page.
- Please click here, to donate (a small or large amount) to help me expand the reach of VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
- Click here, to SEARCH the IsraelActive archives of over 13,000 previous news articles.
- If someone wishes to be added to the free email subscription list, they should either click here or send a request (with their name) to michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.
com
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Boost for prostate treatment. I reported previously (Feb 2012) on Israel’s Medi-Tate and its non-invasive treatment for benign prostate enlargement. Now Japan’s Olympus Corporation has invested $20 million in Medi-Tate and will market Medi-Tate’s iTind implant in several countries.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Israeli innovation saves lives. Hospitals all over the world use Israeli medical technology. But Israeli Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the next big item. This article highlights Israel’s MedAware (preventing prescription errors), MobiGuide’s Patient Guidance system, Zebra Medical, and AI systems at Israeli hospitals Sheba and Sourasky.
https://www.jpost.com/In-
Toolbox for chemists. Researchers at Israel’s Technion have developed a “toolbox” technique to give organic chemists a cheap and quick method to design complex molecules and make safe medicines. They place smaller molecules in a ring, make them rigid, use a catalyst to break their bonds and re-assemble them like toy bricks.
https://jewishnews.
Recognition for pain monitor. I reported previously (Feb 2017) that the PMD200 pain measurement device from Israel’s Medasense had received European CE Approval. Now, the international Society of Critical Care Medicine has included the innovative technology in its Intensive Care Unit Clinical Practice Guidelines.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Treatment to combat mustard gas. The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has invested $43 million in Israel’s MediWound to develop its NexoBrid product for the treatment of mustard gas injuries. In 2015 BARDA invested $112 million to help MediWound develop NexoBrid for burns.
http://nocamels.com/2018/10/
Guidance system for visually-impaired goes global. I reported previously (Sep 2017) on Israel’s RightHear and its app that enables the visually impaired to navigate shopping malls, hospitals, universities etc. RightHear has since been installed in Israeli supermarket chain Shufersal, launched in the US and is heading for the UK.
https://m.thegrocer.co.uk/
Bio-ethics conference. We’ve just returned from Jerusalem. The hotel where we stayed was also hosting the UNESCO 13th World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law and many of the international delegates were pleased to hear about VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
https://ethics-2018.isas.co.
Medical clowning is no joke. The results of a quantitative study at two Israeli medical clinics have proved that medical clowns relieve the anxiety of children towards invasive medical examinations. Lowering anxiety levels shortens procedure time and reduces pain (e.g. of a colonoscopy).
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Three sets of triplets on one day. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has just delivered three sets of triplets on the same day - a unique occasion. The three mothers had carried for 30 -32 weeks. Co-incidentally, World Premature Day is recognized on 17th Nov around the world. Last year, 77 women in Israel gave birth to triplets.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Diplomats’ fun run raises money for special needs. Israel’s foreign ministry hosted its third diplomatic race for foreign diplomats up and down the hills of Jerusalem. The event raised funds for Shalva, an Israeli organization that helps children with special needs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Israeli band with disabilities plays at top UK school. An Israeli band of eight musicians with disabilities has played at UK’s prestigious Eton College, where Prince William studied. The Shalva Band includes musicians with Down syndrome, autism, and various physical handicaps and raised money for children with disabilities.
https://jewishnews.
President hosts special Olympians. (TY Sharon and UWI) Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin welcomed Israeli athletes of the Special Olympics to his Beit HaNasi official Jerusalem residence as part of the launch of the team that will participate in the 2019 Special Olympic games in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
https://baltimorejewishlife.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Israel’s first Ethiopian-born male judge. For the first time, Israel has appointed a male Ethiopian-immigrant to be a judge. Bialin Elazar will serve on the bench of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Elazar, who previously served a state prosecutor, will join two female Ethiopian judges (see here) who were appointed two years ago.
https://www.haaretz.com/
Joint campus in China. The University of Haifa is launching a joint campus with the largest university in Shanghai - the East China Normal University. Courses will focus on environmental sciences, biomedicine and neuroscience. Haifa professors will use campus research facilities and get grants from the Chinese university.
https://www.jns.org/
11 UK Universities visit Israel. 11 British universities visited Israel in preparation for Brexit. senior personnel came from the Universities of Exeter, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester, Warwick, Lancaster, Durham, Queen Mary, Queen’s Belfast, King’s London and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
https://jewishnews.
Historic visit by President of Chad. President Idriss Deby has made the first-ever visit by a President of the Republic of Chad to the State of Israel, and brought his Foreign Minister, Economy Minister and other senior officials and visited Yad Vashem. He promised to re-establish diplomatic relations. Chad is 55% Muslim.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
http://www.jewishpress.com/
UN passes Israeli-led resolution for a better world. (TY UWI) The United Nations has adopted an Israel-led resolution on sustainable development through entrepreneurship. It calls all States to support young innovators, people with disabilities in the workplace, small and medium-sized businesses and to stop gender discrimination.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Water from air in California. Israel’s WaterGen has supplied its GEN-350 atmospheric water generator to help police and firefighters battling the California wildfires. The mobile system provides 156 gallons of water per day and is equipped with a generator and charging stations.
https://www.jta.org/2018/11/
Helping first responders in California. The drone footage from Israel’s Edgybees helped firefighters with California’s wildfires in March (see here). And they have been helping California combat the recent disaster.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/
Israeli NGO launches in Eswatini. Israel’s Innovation: Africa has added eSwatini (previously Swaziland) to its list of African countries that it is working in. Innovation: Africa implements projects to install solar power and water systems into remote villages, bringing energy and clean water to millions of Africans.
http://innoafrica.org/
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Technion joins EuroTech University Alliance. (TY UWI) Israel’s Technion Institute will join the EuroTech Universities Alliance of five leading European Universities on 1st January. It will pool education, research and innovation with the universities of Denmark, Lausanne, Luxembourg, Eindhoven, Munich and across the EU.
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/
Cybersecurity for G20 summit. Israel provided cyber defense and cybersecurity to the end of November G20 Summit meeting in Buenos Aires. The Argentine Defense Ministry has signed a $5 million contract with Israel’s Defense Ministry for two computer security response teams.
https://jewishnews.
US firm buys Israeli satellites. US-based XpressSAR has bought a constellation of up to four TecSAR synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites from Israel Aerospace Industries. Launching in 2022, XpressSAR will use them to monitor harbors, airfields, active volcanoes, spreading floods, oil spills and ship traffic.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Using voice analytics to recruit staff. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (21st May) on Israel’s VoiceSense and its speech analytics program that can predict behavior from speech patterns. VoiceSense has just launched its solution for Human Resources which analyzes interview videos to produce a shortlist of suitable candidates.
https://www.voicesense.com/
Saving lives on Nevada roads. I reported previously (July 2017) when the Artificial Intelligent road crash prediction system from Israel’s Waycare started a one-year pilot project in Las Vegas. Nevada Highway Patrol says the system reduced crashes by 17 percent and it wants to extend the system across the Las Vegas Valley.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
Transforming Indian agriculture. Around 6,000 farmers in 50 previously drought-stricken villages in Hungund, India, adopted drip-irrigation from Israel’s Netafim and are enjoying a second annual harvest. The 24,000-hectare Ramthal (Marol) project has doubled their annual crop yield and reduced water consumption.
https://www.deccanchronicle.
Science without borders. To honor Israel’s 70th anniversary, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the French Academy of Sciences have convened joint scientific conferences - in Paris in June of this year, and just recently, in Jerusalem. Nobel Prize laureates attended and delivered papers at both conferences.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-
Technology, art and archaeology. In Jerusalem we met Professor Amos Notea who is chairing the third Art&Archaeology International Conference in Jerusalem from Dec 9-12. The conference will focus on breakthrough methods and technologies for measuring and analysis of our cultural and historical heritage.
https://art2018.isas.co.il/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
European gas pipeline deal signed. I reported previously (see here) on the progress of the planned pipeline to take up to 20 billion cubic meters per year of Israeli natural gas to mainland Europe. Israel has now signed an agreement with Cyprus, Greece and Italy to lay the 1,242-mile pipeline – the longest gas pipeline in history.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
UK minister seeks more trade with Israel. Britain’s minister for international trade, Liam Fox, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to replicate or improve on the trade relations currently enjoyed between the two countries as part of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
https://jewishnews.
Guarding servers in 8 countries. I reported previously (Sep 2016) on Israeli cybersecurity startup Guardicore when it raised $50 million to help R&D and commercial expansion. Guardicore now has customers in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Ukraine and Switzerland and has won several major international awards.
https://www.guardicore.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Co-working in Jerusalem. WeWork, co-founded by Israel’s Adam Neumann, has opened a new co-working center in King George Street, Jerusalem. WeWork now has nine shared office spaces in Israel, including Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheva and now Jerusalem.
https://www.jpost.com/In-
Twitter discovers Israel. Social media company Twitter has announced that it is planning to significantly grow its presence in Israel. Its first business-to-business event took place in Tel Aviv attended by hundreds of local entrepreneurs and executives.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Another Israeli purchase for Medtronic. I reported previously (Jan 2016) on Israel’s Nutrino that uses artificial intelligence to make a personal food plan, based on their dietary needs, their medical profiles, health goals, preferences and lifestyles. Medical giant Medtronic has just acquired Nutrino for around $100 million.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Huge contracts with Boeing. I reported previously (see here) on US Aerospace giant Boeing’s involvement in Israel. In a new agreement with State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, Boeing plans to partner with IAI in contracts worth billions of shekels, relating to sales of its new tanker aircraft and other defense products.
https://www.algemeiner.com/
Going the extra mile. Israeli-founded insure-tech startup Hippo has been doing a bit more than normal insurance companies to help Californian wildfire victims. First, using maps and artificial intelligence, Hippo warned customers in the route of fires to evacuate. They then arranged accommodation and helped with claims.
http://nocamels.com/2018/11/
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT &SPORT
Urban art in Tel Aviv. (TY Jacques) Tel Aviv City Council, real estate agencies and artists are taking the dilapidated buildings across Tel Aviv to flip them, if only briefly, into cultural centers. In one of them, Alfredo Libre Gutierez, also known.as Libre, painted a mural to transform a soon-to-be-torn-down old clothing factory.
http://israelbetweenthelines.
NIS 49,560 awards for 21 artists. Israel’s Culture and Sport Ministry has announced the 21 winners of the Arik Einstein Prize for Veteran Artists. Each of the winners in seven categories – music, dance, singing, theater, film, literature and visual arts – will be awarded a prize just under NIS 50,000 to avoid them paying higher tax.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-
Jerusalem Hills wine festival. The 20th annual Jerusalem Hills Regional Wine Festival opened on 29th Nov. 33 wineries celebrate their unique vintages and the region. The Jerusalem Hills are perfect for grapes, and an extensive boutique winery industry has blossomed. There are weekend tastings and music events until 22 Dec.
https://www.jpost.com/
Dancing for World Kindness Day. In honor of World Kindness day, hundreds gathered in Jerusalem's First Station for a flash mob.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-
Israeli artistic gymnast wins another World Cup gold. Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in the floor exercise at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup (FIG) competition in Cottbus, Germany. He had previously won gold in the same exercise at September’s Paris World Challenge Cup.
https://www.israel21c.org/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.facebook.com/
THE JEWISH STATE
Excavating Biblical Judean town. (TY Jacques) During an excavation in Khirbet Qeiyafa near Beit Shemesh, Hebrew University Professor Yosef Garfinkel uncovered the Biblical city Sha’arayim. Using carbon dating, he proved that the fortified city (in books of Joshua and Samuel) was part of King David’s Kingdom of Judah.
http://israelbetweenthelines.
https://biblewalks.com/sites/
Czech President opens first stage of Embassy move. During his recent official visit to Israel, Czech President Milos Zeman inaugurated Czech House - a cultural center - as the first step in his 3-stage plan to move the Czech Republic embassy to Jerusalem.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Roman Abramovich’s beautiful new home. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is building a 1,500-square-meter mansion in Tel Aviv. The $27 million purchase picturesque Neve Tzedek neighborhood, will be developed from its original boutique hotel into a courtyard complex in the historical elegant Tel Aviv style.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Fancy a donut – or 360,000? To celebrate the Jewish festival of Hannukah, Israel’s Defense Ministry has purchased 360,000 donuts to give to IDF troops, including those at Air Force and Navy bases. It has also bought 16,000 packages of Chanukah candles, 30,700 tin menorahs and 200 large menorahs.
https://worldisraelnews.com/
Haredi enlistment at all-time high. Over 3,000 haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, Israelis enlisted in the IDF in 2017 – the highest ever in the history of the State. It represents roughly a third of 18-year-old haredi Israelis eligible for military service. https://worldisraelnews.com/
Israel Rail workers find volunteer's lost $2000. Sarah had been teaching English to Israeli children as part of a US volunteer program. During her train journey to catch her flight back to the US, Sarah lost her wallet containing $2000. Israel Rail workers found the wallet and a friend of Sarah’s collected it later.
http://www.israelnationalnews.
Almost all Israeli Jews light Chanukah lights. (TY Janglo) This really surprised me. According to data from the #IsraeliJudaism project of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI), 73% of Israeli Jews claim they light the Hanukiah (menorah) for the full eight days of Hanukkah. Another 25% say they light on some nights.
http://www.jewishpress.com/
Haifa’s Reali School celebrates 105 years. This leading prestigious educational institution boasts graduates of the highest caliber who have shaped the State of Israel. Students from the Hadar branch chose the project of translating VeryGoodNewsIsrael in fulfillment of the school’s vision which is about encouraging caring and involvement in Israeli society. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.reali.org.il/en/ https://verygoodnewsivrit.
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2) Mueller's Perjury Traps
Dropping Paul Manafort as a cooperating witness ruins his credibility as far as anything he told Mueller and any testimony he may be forced to give with respect to that. The lies Mueller is alleging are almost certainly an exercise of Mueller’s specialty, the “perjury trap” he is trying to set for President Trump. It must be assumed the Special Counsel has proof of Manafort’s lies.
And that’s how he got George Papadopoulos as well. He told investigators that a conversation about Russia with suspected CIA spy Joseph Mifsud, an academic and Russia expert, happened before he was associated with the Trump campaign.
The email is immaterial, it’s the wrong answer about forwarding it that generates the charge and the alleged threat by the Mueller investigation that he would spend the rest of his life in jail if he didn’t say what he was told to say.
2) Mueller's Perjury Traps
Dropping Paul Manafort as a cooperating witness ruins his credibility as far as anything he told Mueller and any testimony he may be forced to give with respect to that. The lies Mueller is alleging are almost certainly an exercise of Mueller’s specialty, the “perjury trap” he is trying to set for President Trump. It must be assumed the Special Counsel has proof of Manafort’s lies.
Manafort’s defense team has been working with the president’s lawyers since the inception of his plea agreement. The president’s attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, has admitted as much. Mueller is trying to prove collusion between Trump and Manafort with respect to the written answers the president submitted last week in response to Mueller’s questions. If any of Trump’s answers to Mueller’s questions include even one of the same lies as Manafort, it would not only be perjury but the "high crime" the incoming Democratic House majority will use to initiate Articles of Impeachment.
It doesn’t even have to be a big lie -- saying he didn’t know of the Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr. and Natalia Veselnitskya (who coincidentally, had ties to Fusion GPS, having dined with Glenn Simpson both before and after the meeting), when Mueller has evidence he did, would be enough for Mueller to ruin Trump’s presidency.
So, denying foreknowledge of a meeting that was not illegal and certainly didn’t rise to the things Hillary and company did with the Steele Dossier may be insignificant, but it still would be a false statement.
That’s how Mueller got General Michael Flynn, who related a conversation he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that differed from the recordings Mueller had of the meeting. The meeting would be a legitimate task for an incoming national security advisor and even though interviewing FBI agents didn’t think he was lying and merely misspoke or mis-remembered, the inconsistency was used to indict him. Mueller knew what was said because he had recordings of the conversation. In other words, it was a perjury trap. That’s not even mentioning that acting Attorney General Sally Yates opened the investigation of Flynn under the pretense that he violated the Logan Act, a 1799 piece of legislation widely believed unconstitutional and never used to prosecute anyone in the more than two-century interregnum.
And that’s how he got George Papadopoulos as well. He told investigators that a conversation about Russia with suspected CIA spy Joseph Mifsud, an academic and Russia expert, happened before he was associated with the Trump campaign.
Papadopoulos, who was named as a foreign policy advisor for the Trump Campaign on March 19, 2016, met with Mifsud on March 15, 2016. His crime is not telling investigators that on March 10 he already knew of his imminent appointment. This resulted in a sentence of 14 days in jail for George even though Mueller asked the court for a much longer sentence because Papadopoulos gave him nothing to implicate the president.
It’s what he’s trying to do to Jerome Corsi also, a septuagenarian who couldn’t remember forwarding an email. Mueller had seized his computers and thus already knew he had forwarded the email. Apparently, poor memory can result in jail time for Corsi even though there was nothing illegal about the email itself.
Mueller wanted to flip him, and according to Corsi, lie and say he was the conduit between Assange and Roger Stone (a Trump confidant) for stolen Hillary emails. In doing so, Mueller was attempting to draw a line from Assange through Corsi to Stone and then to his real target, the president.
The email is immaterial, it’s the wrong answer about forwarding it that generates the charge and the alleged threat by the Mueller investigation that he would spend the rest of his life in jail if he didn’t say what he was told to say.
Given $30 million, two years, and 17 hungry prosecutors empowered to find anything a target might have ever done in his life and it is likely they will find something. Flynn would have probably prevailed in court, but Mueller also specializes in “ruination.” He is said to have threatened to also charge Flynn’s son and wife.
Mueller has an unlimited budget ($40 million spent so far); Flynn had only his savings. The same holds true for Papadopoulos and Corsi.
This is how Mueller has pursued his vocation, railroading people into prison for minor offenses, and his own career advancement. Apparently destroying people’s lives by charging them with process crimes when he can’t charge them with real crimes is what earns respect in D.C. – because don’t forget that when the now irrelevant Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller (coincidentally, newly fired FBI Director James Comey’s best bud), all we heard was how respected he was and how he had “unblemished integrity.”
At least Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, actually lied. He twice told Congress that negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in January of 2016 when they ended in June. Yet, there is nothing illegal about negotiating to build in Moscow. He lied because he thought it would be better politically if talks ended before Trump attained the nomination. It is illegal to lie to Congress. However, it bears noting that John Brennan, James Clapper, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and many other members of the Obama Administration have also lied to Congress and haven’t been indicted by Mueller. Of course, that’s because he was tasked to only pursue Republicans. The entire process that resulted in Mueller’s appointment was started by members of the Obama administration and probably personally approved by the former president.
Yep, that was him, say, “thank you," please.
Mueller’s Greatest Hits:
Whitey Bulger
As Alan Dershowitz said: [“Mueller’s] the guy who kept four innocent people in prison for many years in order to protect the cover of Whitey Bulger as an FBI informer. Those of us in Boston don't have such a high regard for Mueller because we remember this story. The government had to pay out tens of millions of dollars because Whitey Bulger, a notorious mass murderer, became a government informer against the mafia.”
That’s really all that need be said about Mueller, then FBI director, and Bulger.
Steven J. Hatfill
He was the man Mueller and trusted “mini-me” James Comey (remember, there may be no coincidences in life, but there are many for Mueller) tried in vain to blame for the Anthrax letters sent to public officials in 2001. The letters containing powdered anthrax killed five people and hospitalized 17 others. Despite the lack of evidence, for years Mueller hounded Hatfill, who was a virologist at the Army’s Fort Detrick, Maryland laboratories. When Hatfill sued and won almost $6 million from the government for Mueller’s abuse of power, Mueller said, “I do not apologize for any aspect of the investigation.” How’s that for integrity? Ruin a man because the conviction would look good on your résumé and all the liberal world applauds.
“Scooter” Libby
“Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, was accused of outing CIA analyst Valerie Plame -- the eventual charge was perjury (oh, the coincidence). Forget that the entire world knew she worked for the CIA and she wasn’t an agent and therefore never in danger and that Libby was innocent.
As the FBI would say with serial killers, Mueller’s “signature” emerges. First, then-FBI director Mueller’s deputy, James Comey (there’s a coincidence again) forced Attorney General John Ashcroft to recuse (it’s always best if targets are defenseless). Then, Patrick Fitzgerald was named Special Counsel by Comey, which allowed through the “two-hop rule” the FBI to investigate anyone to have ever been in contact with Libby and by extension, anyone to have ever been in contact with them -- in other words, the entire Bush administration.
It turns out, they knew all along that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the leaker. Apparently, when you have unblemished integrity, you can do whatever you want. President Trump pardoned Libby in April.
Ted Stevens
In the run up to his 2008 reelection campaign, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska was investigated by Director Mueller’s FBI on bogus suspicions of him misreporting money spent on renovations to his home. Less than 100 days before the 2008 election, the Justice Department indicted Stevens and he lost the election by less than 2%.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan (coincidentally, also the sentencing judge for General Flynn) found that the prosecution was “permeated by the systemic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence, which would have independently corroborated Senator Stevens’s defense and his testimony, and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government’s key witness.”
Judge Sullivan also said: “In nearly 25 years on the bench, I've never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I've seen in this case.”
Mark Begich, who became the senator from Alaska after beating Stevens in 2008, was the 60th filibuster-proof vote for Obamacare.
One of the prosecutors in the case committed suicide and the FBI agent who blew the whistle on the injustice was hounded out of the FBI while the agent responsible for the bogus charges was promoted.
Stevens later died in a plane crash, a ruined man. But that’s what Mueller does, he ruins people -- if it’s good for his career, that is.
2a)
2a)
Here are ten quick takeaways --
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2. Four alleged crimes appear to be on the table: collusion (difficult to prove), obstruction of justice, money laundering and the old standby -- perjury. Rudy Giuiliani and other Trump attorneys have warned publicly and privately about a perjury trap.
3. Mueller appears to be crossing the "red line" that Trump has said repeatedly cannot be breached: a deep probe into the president's family and his business.
4. Based on documents in the Cohen plea, legal experts believe there's an increasingly damning case that Donald Trump Jr. committed perjury in testimony before Congress.
5. Is Cohen credible? Well, he obsessively taped conversations and kept all emails and texts. It's not simply his word against Trump's; Cohen has documents.
6. Blanket presidential pardons are most definitely on the table; firing Mueller is an option but we doubt Trump would take such a political risk.
7. The greatest damage to Trump after yesterday may be political -- many of his statements about Russia during the 2016 campaign now appear to be demonstrably false.
8. The key issue, of course, is whether this is impeachable. Perhaps the House could indict, but we still think conviction in the Senate is unlikely -- based on what we presently know.
9. Tellingly, the markets didn't react yesterday to Cohen's plea. Federal Reserve policy and a potential thaw with China -- two positives after this dismal fall -- are far more important developments for Wall Street.
10. But the Mueller story is still unfolding; indictments will come in the next week or two. Trump is under siege -- and when he's hit, he always hits back twice as hard.
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