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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Wednesday
Apr172019

The Commentariat -- April 18, 2019

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Here's the DOJ's pdf of the Mueller report.

Here's a pdf of the report, via the Washington Post. Mrs. McC: I can't find it on the DOJ site.

NBC News has a copy of the report here.

Washington Post: "A team of Post reporters will be reading the redacted Mueller report.... This page will update frequently with key findings as we go through the document."

The New York Times is live-updating developments in the redacted Mueller report release.

CBS News reporters are sifting through the report & reporting its "highlights" here.

Julia Ainsley of NBC News pointed out that, contrary to Barr's contention this morning, (on p. 381 & elsewhere), Mueller invites the Congress to investigate impeachment of the President*, saying that while the Mueller team didn't reach conclusions on criminality, the findings invite Congress to do so. (Barr claimed that determining Trump's guilt or innocence was his job.) Update: Neil Katyal find Mueller's invitation to Congress right on page 2 (of part 2). Glenn Kirschner puts the two pages together & concludes that Mueller decided that since he could not bring charges against Trump under DOJ policies, but the Congress can find wrongdoing. Joyce Vance also views the report as "a roadmap to impeachment." Over to you, Nancy. ...

     ... Several reporters have found Mueller complaining about lack of cooperation from Trump & the White House, contrary again to Barr's false claim that the the President* was totally cooperative. Rep. Eric Swalwell is calling for Barr to resign. I hope that at least, next time Barr lumbers up to the Hill that Democrats harange him over his lies about the report.

Josh Gerstein's (Politico) first take is here. "While the exhaustive document confirms that Mueller found no conspiracy between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin, it contains some unfavorable observations regarding potential obstruction of justice. 'If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment,' the report says in a 182-page section dedicated to obstruction. 'Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,' it continues."

... Or Maybe Nope. It's Just a Continuation of Barr Time ...

Barr said at his stupid presser that he would release the redacted Mueller report to the chairs & ranking members of the Senate & House Judiciary Committees at 11 a.m. ET, & shortly after that the DOJ would post a copy on its Website. The main DOJ Web page is here; one assumes there will be a link there to the report. Mrs. McC: Otherwise, IMO, Barr's remarks were a campaign ad for Trump: a lot of poor, put-upon Trump, standing against cruel, voracious media & "illegal leaks." Also too, "no collusion, no collusion, no collusion." It was, not surprisingly, a disgusting performance. ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "In a lengthy opening statement, Barr found just about every way possible to say that there was no coordination, cooperation or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. He also said Trump was right about 'no collusion,' expanding the Mueller report's clearing of Trump to a more nebulous term with little legal significance. But perhaps more importantly, on obstruction of justice, he seemed to go to bat for Trump personally, offering a sympathetic take on the president’s state of mind and cooperation."

     ... Immediately after Barr's teevee show, Trump tweeted this:

Whitewash, Spin & Repeat. Here's the DOJ's Pre-Spin Spin. Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department plans to release a lightly redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's 400-page report Thursday, offering a granular look at the ways in which President Trump was suspected of having obstructed justice, people familiar with the matter said. The report --the general outlines of which the Justice Department has briefed the White House on -- will reveal that Mueller decided he could not come to a conclusion on the question of obstruction because it was difficult to determine Trump's intent and some of his actions could be interpreted innocently, these people said. But it will offer a detailed blow-by-blow of his alleged conduct -- analyzing tweets, private threats and other episodes at the center of Mueller's inquiry, they added." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: According to Brian Williams of MSNBC, two Democrats were told to expect "heavy redactions." I know that's what I expect.

Andrew Desiderio & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Barr had 'thrown out his credibility & the DOJ's independence with his single-minded effort to protect @realDonaldTrump above all else.' 'The American people deserve the truth, not a sanitized version of the Mueller Report approved by the Trump Admin,' Pelosi wrote on Twitter while on an official trip in Ireland.... 'So-called Attorney General is presiding over a dog and pony show,' tweeted House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries. 'Here is a thought. Release the Mueller report tomorrow morning and keep your mouth shut. You have ZERO credibility.'... A DOJ spokeswoman later said the [Barr-Robinson] news conference was not Trump's idea." Mrs. McC: That could be true. It might have been Rudy Giuliani's idea.

Jackie Mogensen of Mother Jones: "At a press conference Wednesday night, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) criticized Attorney General William Barr's handling of the long-awaited Mueller report.... Nadler said the attorney general 'appears to be waging a media campaign on behalf of President Trump' and laid out four ways Barr has put his 'spin' on the report: He 'cherry picked' findings in his March 24 letter about the report, 'withheld' summaries written by the special counsel that 'were intended for public consumption,' reportedly briefed the White House on the report's findings before sharing it with Congress, and lastly, is releasing the report to Congress between 11 am and noon, 'well after' Barr's press conference on Thursday.... 'Attorney General Barr is not allowing the facts of the Mueller report to speak for themselves, but is trying to bake in the narrative about the report to the benefit of the White House,' Nadler said. Nadler also argued that Barr was deliberately releasing the report so close to a holiday weekend to make it more difficult to respond to." ...

... Barr's DOJ Gives Trump's Lawyers Cheat Sheets. Mark Mazzetti, et al., of the New York Times: "Justice Department officials have had numerous conversations with White House lawyers about the conclusions made by Mr. Mueller, the special counsel, in recent days, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The talks have aided the president's legal team as it prepares a rebuttal to the report and strategizes for the coming public war over its findings.... The discussions between Justice Department officials and White House lawyers have also added to questions about the propriety of the decisions by Attorney General William P. Barr since he receivedMr. Mueller's findings late last month." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: We knew Barr was "sharing" when during Congressional testimony last week he refused to answer whether or not the White House had received the report. Often a "no comment" is a "yes." I'd sure like to know what input Trump's lawyers might have had into what-all is to be color-coded out of the report. BTW, RAS has a great summary at the end of yesterday's thread of what we already know Trump & Co. have done. RAS reasons that Barr's planned pirouette de deux will not change any hearts & minds. When I watch the morning matinee, I'm going to imagine Barr & Rosenstein in tutus.

You'll see a lot of very strong things come out tomorrow. Attorney General Barr is going to be giving a press conference. Maybe I'll do one after that; we'll see. -- Donald Trump, to a confederate radio host Wednesday ...

... Trump Announces Barr Presser. Matt Zapotosky & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General William P. Barr will hold a news conference Thursday to discuss special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's final report, adding a must-see-TV event to the day he will release the long-awaited document. President Trump revealed the plan during a radio appearance, and a Justice Department spokeswoman later confirmed it. The news conference will occur at 9:30 a.m. [ET], and Barr, appearing alongside Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, will take questions. It was not immediately clear whether the news conference would occur before or after the report's release. Barr has faced intense scrutiny from the public and lawmakers on Capitol Hill for his handling of Mueller's report so far.... Trump told the Larry O'Connor show on WMAL that he was pondering having his own news conference." ...

... Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "It seems many have already made up their minds about the purpose of the presser. The overarching theme of the criticism is that Barr is doing this to get out in front of the political nightmare contained within the report." Naham publishes a number of critical tweets. ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: The NBC News report on the developments Wednesday afternoon, by Frank Thorp & Dareh Gregorian, has a coda so understated it made me laugh: "Mueller will not be attending the Barr-Rosenstein press conference."

... Barr to Give Some MOCs a "Less Redacted" Mueller Report. Jacqueline Thomsen of the Hill: "The Department of Justice (DOJ) will allow some members of Congress to view a copy of special counsel Robert Mueller's report 'without certain redactions,' federal prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday. 'Once the redacted version of the report has been released to the public, the Justice Department plans to make available for review by a limited number of Members of Congress and their staff a copy of the Special Counsel's report without certain redactions, including removing the redaction of information related to the charges set forth in the indictment in this case,' prosecutors wrote in the filing."

Michael Stern in Slate: "Barr's handling of the [Mueller] report has only served to sow public distrust of the Justice Department. As a former federal prosecutor, I would go further: The attorney general's transparent efforts to protect ... Donald Trump have done enormous damage to the department.... It's a sad time when Congress, the press, the courts, and the American people have to worry that the attorney general of the United States may bend the law in a way that works to the detriment of the country, in order to further the personal interests of the man who gave him a job.... If juries do not believe that federal agents are credible, they are unlikely to convict and hold people accountable for the crimes they committed. Barr's testimony last week [i.e., his allegations that federal agents were 'spying' on the Trump campaign --] did immeasurable damage to the daily efforts of the federal prosecutors who work for him. I never thought I'd see an attorney general do more damage to the Justice Department than Jeff Sessions. I was wrong."

Mrs. McCrabbie: As we await release of the redacted Mueller report, we should factor into our expectations Robert Mueller's 2014-15 investigation of the way the NFL handled the Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice's battering of his wife. Even though the AP had reported that a "law enforcement official claimed he had sent the NFL a video of Rice punching Palmer and played a voicemail message from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video had arrived," Mueller -- whom the NFL had hired to "investigate" -- "found no proof anyone at the league office received or viewed a video of Rice punching out his then-fiancée at an Atlantic City Casino until the footage became public.... We concluded there was substantial information about the incident -- even without the in-elevator video -- indicating the need for a more thorough investigation. The NFL should have done more with the information it had, and should have taken additional steps to obtain all available information about the February 15 incident." Not too impressive, IMO.


** David Rothkopf in the Daily Beast: "Something broke in America in the past week or two. We have been spiraling downward since Trump's election, but in these early days of spring 2019, we have crossed a line. The president and his men began asserting that they were above the law -- and effectively no one in our system did anything to stop them. Attorney General Bill Barr sneered at the Congress and placed himself imperiously above its questions.... At the same time, also last week, the secretary of the treasury [Steve Mnuchin] and the head of the IRS determined to violate a law that required in no uncertain terms for them to provide the president's tax returns to the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Simultaneously, a massive leadership purge at the Department of Homeland Security took place, and it became quickly clear it was because the president and his team were frustrated that officials would not act in violation of the law." Read on. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Rafi Schwartz of Splinter: "... yes, President Trump did indeed offer [Ivanka Trump] the chance to lead the World Bank, which she politely declined. Calling it 'a question' posed by her daddy, whom she currently serves as a policy advisor, Ivanka said she told him she was 'happy with the work' she was currently doing with his administration.... The president has previously made a big show of pretending to care about how it might look if he appointed Ivanka to yet another powerful position, insisting that while he'd love for his eldest daughter to take over the World Bank -- 'She's very good with numbers,' he said in a recent interview -- or represent the country at the United Nations, 'they'd say nepotism, when it would've had nothing to do with nepotism.' Because nothing says not-nepotism like making your heiress fashion designer daughter an ambassador, right?" Here's the AP report.

Niraj Chokshi & Frances Robles of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed new restrictions on dealing with Cuba amid a broader toughening of its Latin American policy, limiting nonfamily travel to the island and how much money Cuban-Americans can send to relatives there, and allowing exiles to sue for property seized by the Castro government.... By allowing the lawsuits -- a departure from nearly a quarter-century of policy -- the administration dismissed passionate opposition from officials in Europe and Canada who had lobbied in recent weeks against the move which could unleash a torrent of proceedings against companies and people accused of 'trafficking' in the confiscated property." ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: "On the 58th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, President Trump's national security adviser John Bolton addressed a group of Cuban American veterans of the failed effort to topple Fidel Castro's regime and announced a series of crackdowns on Cuba and its allies. It was part of a call to arms to fight socialism abroad, but it was also a message for domestic consumption -- particularly in Florida, the nation's largest swing state and home to large Cuban American and Central and South American communities.... In all, Bolton announced seven crackdowns and sanctions targeting the governments in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which he referred to as the 'troika of tyranny.' Bolton nicknamed Cuba's Miguel Díaz-Canel, Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega 'the three stooges of socialism.' But he also mentioned former U.S. President Barack Obama, whose Cuba rapprochement policies Trump has been rolling back, more than anyone else."

Charlie Savage & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "North Korea said on Thursday that it test-fired a new type of 'tactical guided weapon,' in what appeared to be a warning from Kim Jong-un to President Trump that unless once-promising negotiations with Washington resume, the two countries could again be on a collision course. The North's official Korean Central News Agency did not specify what type of weapon was involved in the test. But there was no evidence the test involved a nuclear detonation or an intercontinental ballistic missile."

Luke Darby of GQ: "Last month, a clip of New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went predictably viral after she forcefully responded to one of her colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee when he called climate change an 'elitist' concern.... In response, Kentucky Republican congressman Andy Barr invited Ocasio-Cortez to come meet coal miners in his state 'who will tell you what the Green New Deal would mean for their families, their paychecks.'... Ocasio-Cortez accepted, saying she'd be 'happy' to go, adding that the Green New Deal was written to fund coal-miner pensions.... Not even a month later, that cordiality is out the window: Barr attached a rather inhospitable and obnoxious demand to his invitation, writing in a letter posted to Twitter that she should 'apologize to [Texas representative Dan Crenshaw] prior to coming to visit Kentucky,' for a completely unrelated event before meeting with miners..., [leaving] the impression that the Barr might not want her to come to Kentucky after all." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Call this the "Bernie on Fox Effect." Republicans are so stuck in their closed circle that it doesn't occur to them that their own policies are terrible, & regular people are sometimes able to figure that out when presented with progressive policies that are far better for them, their families & their communities.

Presidential Race 2020

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Fox News announced Wednesday that it will host a town hall with Sen. Amy Klobuchar next month, its second event of the nascent 2020 campaign with a Democratic presidential candidate. The town hall is scheduled for May 8 in Milwaukee...."

Matthew Choi of Politico: "Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Wednesday that he would not be running for president in 2020, quelling speculation that he would join an already sizable group of Democratic hopefuls vying to push ... Donald Trump out of office.... McAuliffe said he would rather concentrate his energy on helping Democrats maintain control of the Virginia Legislature, though he thinks he could have beaten Trump 'like a rented mule' and would have done a good job in the White House."


Julie Turkewitz & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "A Florida high school student was found dead on Wednesday after she had made threats that prompted hundreds of schools to close across the Denver area, according to law enforcement officials. Identified as Sol Pais, 18, the woman had traveled to Denver and bought a firearm ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, officials said. Sheriff Jeff Shrader of Jefferson County, Colo., said Ms. Pais was found dead from an 'apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

An American's Response to the Notre Dame Fire. Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "A 37-year-old New Jersey man carrying a pair of full two-gallon cans of gasoline was arrested on Wednesday night after entering St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, the police said. The man entered the cathedral just before 8 p.m. but was turned away by a church security officer.... As the man exited, some gasoline spilled on the floor. The security officer then notified two police officers outside the cathedral, who caught up to the man and began to question him. While he was cooperative, his answers were inconsistent and evasive.... 'His basic story was that he was cutting through the cathedral to get to Madison Avenue, that his car had run out of gas,'... according to John Miller, the Police Department's deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.... 'We took a look at the vehicle. It was not out of gas, and at that point he was taken into custody.'"

Merris Badcock of WPTV West Palm Beach: "A judge has blocked the release of spa videos until a hearing is held. A hearing on the motion for a protective order has been scheduled for 1:30 PM on April 29. EARLIER: Secretly obtained surveillance videos of men inside a Jupiter massage parlor will be made public, according to the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office. According to a recent court filing, the graphic video will be blurred or pixelated before it's released.... The surveillance video has become a source of contention for the most high-profile person charged in the case, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft." Mrs. McC: I would be happy never to see naked Bob Kraft getting a very special "massage."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Andrea Zarate & Nicholas Casey of the New York Times: "A former president of Peru died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head when the authorities tried to arrest him in connection with one of the biggest corruption scandals in Latin American history. When the authorities arrived at the home of the former president, Alan García, with an arrest warrant, he locked himself into his bedroom, shot himself and was rushed to a hospital, his personal secretary told reporters. The charges relate to Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction giant, which last year admitted to $800 million in payoffs in exchange for lucrative contracts for projects including roads, dams and bridges."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (10)

Just to fuck with us more I wouldn't be surprised that Barr's "server" was nothing more that a single PC running MS-DOS with a dial-up modem for internet access. Ass-wiper.

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered Commenterunwashed

Barr is the obsequious hyper-partisan hack Trump has been waiting for. His decision to frame this weird pre-release review of the report in Trump's exact words, "NO COLLUSION!" puts the whole thing squarely into the realm of a Trump campaign rally. I'm surprised he didn't wear a MAGA cap and try to get everyone to cheer "Lock her up!"

The goal was purely to give Trump's whining the patina of DOJ seriousness and finality. In truth, he sounded more like a defense attorney summing up the reasons why the jury couldn't definitively find his client guilty than the Attorney General for the United States. That's because he IS Trump's defense attorney. And he is at pains to point out that because the cops investigating the case couldn't put Trump in the library with the lead pipe, they must let him walk.

OJ was allowed to walk because the glove didn't fit. Trump is going to walk on this one too. And Johnny...er, Barr, is making sure of it. The other similarity? OJ was guilty.

So is Trump.

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Looking for the Tarpeian Rock

As we wait for what I'm sure will be a hilariously Barrdlerized report, it's important to remember that the cry of "no collusion" does nothing to relieve the very real illegitimacy of Trump's road to the White House. First, the letter of Mueller's report seems to say (at least according to Trump's mopper-upper, Barr) that no one in the Trump campaign knowingly did anything illegal. Barr then went to say (this morning) that there was indeed Russian interference.

So here's the question.

If Trump is as squeaky clean as he'd now like everyone to believe, "exonerated" and all that bullshit, and if the Russians did in fact tamper with the election, to the point of getting their chosen puppet into the White House, why then did Trump deny any such interference and, further, why did he do nothing about it, making sure to squelch, as much as possible, future foreign intervention in American elections?

The answer to the first part is clear. Admitting that Russia did help him doesn't play into the image he has of himself, of the Great Man and that he alone did it all. As to the second question, it's equally clear that Trump realizes that Russia was working on his side and their future assistance would be very welcome, so why gum up the works.

Here again, we see the huge disparity between a legal judgment and the truth. The truth is, the Trump campaign welcomed Russian help with open arms then lied profusely about it later. Lied for years about it. They're still lying about it. And once again, we'll see a malefactor, a very bad actor, walk away from this with no charges (and, pray tell, how is it that a slew of underlings have been found guilty, or pleaded guilty, but the guy at the top is clean as a whistle?). But just because Mueller couldn't connect what he saw as the necessary dots (and maybe he did, at least to the point where he and his guys were pretty sure there was collusion, but couldn't prove it in a court of law) to recommend legal action (which Barr wouldn't take in any event), doesn't mean there was nothing going on.

As for obstruction, obstruction requires no connecting of the dots. It happened right out in the open for everyone to see. The Comey firing, the pleading to drop the case, the Trumper tantrums over the Sessions recusal, the dangling of pardons, all are obstructive strategies and actions.

But as Marie pointed out yesterday, suspects in white collar crimes are treated much differently than you or I would be treated, and far differently than suspects of color or non-Christian religions. And if the white collar criminals are rich and well connected? Well, that's a much higher bar for many prosecutors who have labored near the seats of power their whole careers. Not for all, perhaps, but for many.

Nonetheless, the stench of treason hovers above all of this. By that, I mean a presidential candidate, soon to become president, who, at all turns did (and continues to do so) what's best for himself, putting the nation at risk of tampering with its democratic superstructure for his own benefit.

There were plenty of rich, connected creeps in ancient Rome, but the one thing Romans could not abide was treason. Traitors were taken to a cliff at the top of the Capitoline Hill and thrown off. The place was called the Tarpeian Rock.

We need our own Tarpeian Rock.

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

@Akhilleus: Currently, Trump Tower would do.

April 18, 2019 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Marie,

I like it! The Trumpean Rock. Which works nicely because the Roman cliff is named for a traitor as well.

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

One more thing about Barr's "No collusion" insistence.

As Mueller's report makes clear (and as other legal types have pointed out), "collusion" is not a legal term, and in fact, Mueller never looked for collusion as such (and could not, therefore--and neither can Barr--clear Trump of that charge).

The report states that "...collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law."

You might think, given the prominence of the ever-present screeching about collusion from the right, that Barr would know all of this. Therefore his statement that Mueller found "no collusion" is a pure non-sequitur. It's as if he declared that Mueller found "no wedgies" on the part of the Trump campaign. Well, that might not be accurate. I've heard ("People say...") that Eric is partial to wedgies. Getting, not giving, cuz these people don't give anything, fucks included.

So Barr is just another songbird in the Trump choir.

Independent judiciary, anyone? Maybe in some other country. Not here.

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

Universally, on even NPR and every network except Faux, of course, everyone says the whole thing stinks to high heaven, starting with Mueller deciding at the outset that he could not charge a sitting prez with obstruction, so yada yada yada. The whole thing was fixed from the beginning, despite the many instances laying out the facts as found by Mueller. Makes us all* upchuck... and knowing ALSO from the outset that Congress won't impeach, makes them all complicit in the crimes committed by Dumpster and his minions and family. Barr is an inexcusable criminal also-- He lies about no one in the USA "colluding," and seems to insist that because there was no real or implied contract with Russia, and he didn't dump Mueller, there is no obstruction. Democracy departs the room-- *Rational people weep...

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

So Barr's new precedent on "obstruction of justice" charges requires any future Presidents to just cap off every blatant attempt to obstruct an investigation with a shrill whine of "political witch hunt!"

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered Commentersafari

Whether the Turtle will go along with it (and he won't, he's a despicable traitor), impeachment proceedings need to start asap.

Mueller left it up to congress to make the call based on the amazing evidence of clear and undeniable, irrefutable obstruction of justice. I know Democrats will factor in the backlash from the Trumpbots and the right-wing media giants, but it's their duty. Just because Republicans spit on the Constitution doesn't mean Democrats can't act.

Let them be the ones to say "Oh no, the Dear Leader didn't obstruct justice at all. All that evidence is just....um....something."

I don't even care anymore about a president mikey. He's damaged goods.

Yesterday I read somewhere (maybe out here) that Trump actually did offer Princess Ivanka the top job at the World Bank. "She's good with numbers" was his rationale. No experience even as a teller at a local savings bank, no experience with international banking regulations and policy, or development, no clue about overseeing development projects around the globe and dealing with a membership of 189 countries. But she's good with numbers.

So's my eight year old. This idiot has to go. And not just because he's an idiot, but because he's a law breaking idiot and a self-dealing kleptocrat who would scrape the gold off every surface in the nation's capital if he wasn't spending so much time watching Fox. Every second he remains in the White House another layer of shit covers the United States.

If the Mueller report does nothing else, it provides anyone who cares to look for the signs leading to ImpeachmentLand.

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterAkhilleus

On a minor note, awaiting the Mueller dust to settle (it will be some time I'm thinking), I occupied my fingers by picking on Bret Stephens again. Have concluded criticizing Stephens is more fun than reading or reacting to Brooks. Will see how long that lasts. It, too, could have a short shelf life.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/opinion/ilhan-omar-anti-semitic-israel.html

"Mr. Stephens,

Since Israel and anti-semitism are frequently present in your columns, up front or in the background like today, please note Israel is many things, an idea, a nation, and a government with a distinct political bent, all emotionally attached to a religion--and no one of its parts is entirely identical to what it means to be a Jew or for that matter an Israelite. Anyone who can't or won't keep the parts separate when writing about either Israel or Jewry is simply lazy or deliberately erecting straw men to knock down.

Let me illustrate.

The United States is similarly complex, geographically, ethnically, religiously, economically, socially and politically. It is possible to criticize one aspect of that complexity (like its buffoonish and dangerous president or its current chest-thumping approach to Cuba) without being "anti-American."

One could even criticize Ms. Omar for her word choice, thoughtless or deliberate as it might have been, and leave it at that. No need to include a whole political party.

But time and again when it comes to matters of Muslims and Jews your brush is far too broad and your mind too narrow.

It's past time to break that tired pattern."

April 18, 2019 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes
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