The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    jollyroger's picture

    Nunes memo,unintended consequences, law of

    By jollyroger on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 3:21pm |

    Let us permit ourselves the pleasure of contemplating Bitten-in-the-Ass Trump, our new Mardi Gras pinata.

     

    Two lines of inquiry are (deliciously) likely to flow from the experiment in auto-pedal marksmanship that brought forth the recent breathless drama.

     

    First, the famous (no, not INfamous) Steele Memo will draw the renewed interest that is needed to imprint in the public the hitherto ignored fact that most of it has been verified, and the best parts of it (you know what I mean...) will now be re-evaluated in light of the stormy weather (see what I did, there) that has surrounded Trump's peripatetic ( if teeny) peenie.

     

    Such a better informed re-evaluation is unlikely to be as easy for Trump to finesse as it was the first time out.

     

    Second, the up tick in the Rosenstein Doomsday Clock implied by the memo release (and it's sequelae) will (or should) move Mueller to file, with the necessary approval of the said Deputy A.-G., an obstruction indictment (under seal) in the DC District Court, 

     

    You wanna see an insurance policy?  I got yer insurance policy right here.

     

     

    Comments

    I am not convinced about point #1. All the focus already given to the Presidential Phallus only seems to have enlarged the thing (All apologies to Lacan and Nirvana).

    I see point #2 and agree that the move only adds more fuel to the Obstruction bonfire.
    The most worrisome part of it to me is that a significant chunk of the GOP is willing to get on the bus despite the danger involved.
    They are either stupid or know something we don't. Or think they know something.

    It is like one of those college prison experiments where the designated roles overtake actual life training.


    by moat on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 5:15pm

    In addition to the ongoing accrual of affirmative acts in furtherance of the obstruction itself, a sealed indictment can just sit there, be withdrawn at any time at Mueller's discrection, or unsheathed if Rosenstein is fired,  Trump thinking that he was thus cutting off the indictment  which ( per Ken Starr's rather informed input) is not precluded by the sitting President status of the target, but trammeled by the lesser independence enjoyed by Mueller than did Starr.

     


    by jollyroger on Sun, 02/04/2018 - 2:09pm

    Excellent observation.
    And it bolsters your larger point that the narrow plank Mueller has to walk strengthens the investigation.


    by moat on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 5:07pm

    Kookoorookoo Carter Page can continue to help!  wink He did say long ago: just wait til it all comes out, you'll all see. Indeed:

    ! Big news from @TIME: “Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin,” Page wrote in a 2013 letter. https://t.co/i0ht385qIQ

    — Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 4, 2018

     


    by artappraiser on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 9:24pm

    The beneficence of Brother Page doesn't end there--I am given to understand that he has (as indeed he is the only person with standing so to do) brought on some sort of motion in the FISC directed at deconstructing the bona fides of the affidavit upon which the warrant was issued, which may provide the very forum in which the dossier has an opportunity to be serially verified.

     

    There is also the Shearer Memo...https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/30/trump-russia-collusion-f...


    by jollyroger on Sun, 02/04/2018 - 2:22am

    Assuming Carter Page is not putting on a performance when he appears on television, how did such an idiot rise through the ranks? How did Flynn get his stars?


    by rmrd0000 on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 9:49am

    why is there no delete button?


    by jollyroger on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 1:18pm

    Above your pay grade


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 5:34pm

    only the best people...

     

    part of the reason for the egregiously bad staffing is Trump's obsessive and petty nature, which precluded at several instances (partilcularly in the foreign policy field) a shitload of top shelf (or top shelf pretender) individuals.

     

    Add the natural reluctance of anyone with alternative options to invest time and/or talent in a poltroon who is guaranteed first  to stiff and then to shiv you, what are you left with?

     

    Riff-raff-r-us--"who ya gonna call for your  emergency Foreign Policy Team?"

     

     

    Edit to add: the excerpt below makes ,my timing wrong, but the thrust is stil, I think, correct vis-a-vis the shalow pool of talent willing to be victimized.

    *with particular regard to Foreign Policy, he actualy HAD a semi-professional bunch who quit en masse a few months before the Carter Page/ George Coffee Boy list was produced  pulled out of Trump's ass at that newspaper interview, because,....wait for it....they weren't getting paid as promised.


    by jollyroger on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 1:42pm

    One of the reasons for Flynn and Page...

    WaPo: Trump Camp Built Up Robust DC Policy Shop, Let It Die Of Neglect

     After months of laboring in obscurity and waiting on paychecks that did not arrive, most of Donald Trump’s Washington policy shop quit, with some telling the Washington Post they decided to jump ship after realizing the GOP nominee wasn’t interested in immersive debate prep. Some staffers said the last straw came following two marathon sessions in early August to plan how to prepare Trump for the upcoming presidential debates, but the campaign abruptly shifted strategies. One former staffer told the paper, “The New York office realized that their candidate would not be receptive to that level of intense preparation.” The campaign’s interest in policy details quickly waned when Trump secured the party’s nomination after staffers had anticipated a long primary brawl to continue to the summer convention. Other former staffers, most of whom spoke with the paper anonymously, said that contrary to Trump’s bluster about having legions of policy experts in his camp, the advisers had minimal roles in the campaign. “The national security advisory board was total nonsense. They had absolutely no say in anything,” one former policy adviser said. “Most of them are just names on paper.” Ex-staffers also said the policy shop’s leaders, Sen. Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) chief of staff Rick Dearborn and John Mashburn, former chief of staff for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), promised they would be paid for their efforts, but the promise was never put in writing. Another former adviser said Corey Lewandowski, the former campaign manager turned CNN contributor, also promised compensation. One staffer said, “There were some people who were treating it as a full-time job. I suspect those people were quite astonished when the pay didn’t come through.”

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-dc-policy-shop-collapse


    by jollyroger on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 1:24pm

    On reflection, goofy as he is, Carter Page as Foreign Policcy maven is several standard deviations above Sam Clovis as Ag. Dept.Science Officer-in-Chief when it comes to "how by any stretch of the imagination did THIS guy get picked for THIS job?"


    by jollyroger on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 2:01pm

    From most accounts I've read Flynn seems to be an example of the Peter Principle in action. When constrained by a superior with a limited portfolio of duties he seems to excel at the tasks he's assigned to do. When his responsibilities are expanded and there is little control from a superior he spins out of control and can't achieve even the trivial tasks of the position let alone the major parts of the job.


    by ocean-kat on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 2:33pm

     A flippant answer , then a serious one.

    He got  one star by shrewdly noticing which way the wind was blowing. Then he was supposed to make the wind.

    Serious. That smart guy who wrote Ghost Wars (name ??)  on Rachel's show tonight. said that Flynn  was excellent  as a field commander. .But was promoted above his skill level.

    Mueller did him a favor by prosecuting him. There's still time for his footnote in military history to  take both parts into account. A few more months in Trumpland and Flynn #2 would have been all that was left.

    BTW now  the Nunes memo has been done its work I'm cool with the dems issuing their rebuttal. I never intended that we should take a vow of silence ,just give them enough rope 

     


    by Flavius on Tue, 02/06/2018 - 2:19am

    Flavius, it was obvious that the Nunes memo was going to be a nothing burger. Democrats forced the GOP to vote to release the Democratic response to Nunes. Trump will fire up the Democratic base if he refuses to make the memo public. Trump will the. face the dilemma of refusing to be interviewed by Mueller. Trump just accused Democrats of treason because they didn’t applaud his SOTU speech. The only option for Democrats is to oppose Trump at virtually every turn.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 02/06/2018 - 8:26am

    Conveniently filed on Friday night so as not to be noticed by Deep State Conspiracy fans partying on their "big" day?

    DOJ seeks dismissal of Manafort civil suit against Mueller

    By Rebecca Morin @ Politico.com, 02/02/2018 11:26 PM EST

    The Department of Justice on Friday evening filed a motion seeking to dismiss a civil suit former top Trump campaign aide Paul Manafort brought against special counsel Robert Mueller.

    According to the DOJ's motion, Manafort alleged in his civil suit that "the Acting Attorney General’s order directing the Special Counsel to investigate certain matters exceeds the authority provided by the Department of Justice’s Special Counsel regulations." In addition, he claimed the indictment against him "exceed the Special Counsel’s authority under the Acting Attorney General’s order." [....]

    Department of Justice civil division lawyers defending Mueller's office and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said: "These claims lack merit."

    "The appointment of the Special Counsel was squarely within the Acting Attorney General's authority and consistent with the Department's Special Counsel regulations," the motion argues.

    "And the Special Counsel is properly operating within the scope of his authority, including with respect to Manafort's ongoing criminal prosecution." [.....]


    by artappraiser on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 9:41pm

    There is no mention of Ukraine or money laundering in Mueller's mandate and there is no mention of Trump or Putin in the Manafort inditement so this may be a tough call for the judge. Mueller snatched the Manafort investigation from the FBI to use as a shiny PR bobble to impress the rubes with while he is unable to frame Trump with any of his creative witch-hunting.

    by Peter (not verified) on Sat, 02/03/2018 - 11:35pm

    Your comment here is interesting because it is more analytical than what I have come to expect from your posts. I for one welcome knowing your honest analysis of the situation even though I might disagree with it. It's when you post insulting attack rants about snowflakes that it gets boring and you get flack back.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 02/04/2018 - 11:47am

    Jolly, you do have a way with words.  I hope you are right.  I would love love love to see a video of trump watching a golden shower.  Even better if it would be on endless loop in his prison cell.


    by CVille Dem on Sun, 02/04/2018 - 11:35am

    Sessions Silent as Trump Attacks His Department, Risking Independence and Morale by Katie Benner @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 4, including

    Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Sessions declined to comment for this article.

    and the reporter rubs that in with this

    His muted response to Mr. Trump’s remarks stood in stark contrast with the defiant statements made by Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I. 

    and a compilation of quotes like this

    “Attorneys general swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not the president,” said Matthew S. Axelrod, a partner at Linklaters and a former Justice Department official who began as a federal prosecutor under Mr. Bush. He left the department after his boss, Sally Q. Yates, was fired by Mr. Trump when she refused to defend his travel ban. “Institutions like the D.O.J. rely on their leaders to be a voice that defends them. It’s critically important to this institution that its leadership have its back.”


    by artappraiser on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 8:21am

    And Putin smiles. He groomed Trump a long time, and he's just the growly obedient poodle he'd hoped.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 8:24am

    Second on the President's Twitter agenda this morning. after attempting to repeat Fox & Friends commentary on the Commonwealth Report on International Health Care Outcomes and probably doing so inaccurately, it's time to bash Adam Schiff "along with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper":

     

    Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2018

     

    Surely comes from "Fox & Friends" too? Not even funny anymore, scary puppet on strings, SNL did exactly the same meme as their opening skit on Saturday, and now here it is reality Monday, but worse than the skit depicted, there he had some agency, not just repeating what they said.


    by artappraiser on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 9:33am

    Lawfare just got the goods on unprovoked war with Comey and the FBI over the weekend from FOIA requests that they filed in summer

    I don't think of this as a bombshell directly as it's not illegal for him to fire an FBI director he doesn't like? But it is definitive proof of the admin's lies and spin about the Comey firing and proof of the honesty of McCabe's testimony in part:

    The bottom line is that the documents tell a remarkably consistent story about the reaction inside the FBI to Comey’s firing, and it is not the story the White House has told about an agency in turmoil. It’s very much the story, rather, that McCabe told the Senate a few days after Comey’s dismissal. Someone, the documents show, stood before the American people the week of the firing and told the truth about the FBI. It just wasn’t Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Donald Trump.

    BUT THEN throw in that Spencer Ackerman @ Daily Beast had this Friday:

    Sources: Devin Nunes Memo Is ‘100%’ Wrong About Andrew McCabe and Steele Dossier

    The now-released memo claims the FBI deputy director said the Steele dossier was central to a surveillance warrant on Carter Page. Not true, sources tell The Daily Beast.

    Stay tuned, The Dems on the House panel are thinking of voting today on how to react


    by artappraiser on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 10:24am

    I can think of no more appropriate reply to the FOIA material than to quote (as it were) Bro. Wittes himself...

     


    by jollyroger on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 1:52pm

    Join the order, get the pin...

     

    or the mug...

     

    https://ominousrabbit.threadless.com/designs/the-order-of-the-baby-canno...

     


    by jollyroger on Mon, 02/05/2018 - 1:56pm

    Off topic. (Maybe! Wait til testimony?) On the dementia issue, you posted a blog back in July.

    This op-ed today @ the NYTimes I am partial to agreeing  with

    What Trump’s Speech Says About His Mental Fitness

    By JOHN MCWHORTER, FEB. 6, 2018

    even though the author is not in medical:

    John McWhorter is a linguist, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia, the author of books like “Words on the Move,” and host of Slate’s language podcast “Lexicon Valley.”

    In particular I've saw parts of the recent Cincinnati speech with the "treason" thing. BTW, people are making too big a deal about the "treason" thing, if you've seen it, that was clearly said in jest, he very well understood there it was meant as nasty hyperbole for effect. But I was mouth agape at the parts of his presentation that I saw.. He said all kinds of other crazy stuff in it. But not his usual crazy, different, just didn't seem the usual Trump for public consumption. His physical appearance, gestures, seemed quite different. He slurred words, he was hyper agitated, even his hair, which he usually obviously cares a lot about presenting exactly a certain way, was a mess. Seemed almost drunk to me. And we know he loathes drunkeness because of his brother's alcoholism. The hyperagitation seems new, but appearing elsewhere recently.

    ~ just arta practicing without a license for the fun of it.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 02/07/2018 - 12:13am

    I don't care if it was in jest or not. "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" was a joke too by McCain. " My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes" was also a joke by Reagan. Jokes like this move the public in certain directions. They make certain views acceptable. It's one thing for some comedian to make jokes like this. It's quite another for the president or presidential candidates to spout off in this manner.


    by ocean-kat on Wed, 02/07/2018 - 1:43am

    Well, if by "joking" we are to include the passive aggressive  cowardly (if outwardly bold in their crudity) remarks that have been his stock in trade since "bleeding from wherever/only a pervert would impute a menstrual reference" bullshit.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/us/muhiyidin-moye-dbaha-dead-black-li...

     

    There is no such thing as joking when politically motivated assssinations are not merely a risk, they are in train...


    by jollyroger on Thu, 02/08/2018 - 7:33pm