I found this video HERE
Saturday, April 20, 2019
EPIC Act would discontinue pensions for Congress members
 |
| Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY4) |
Context
Members of Congress who served at least five years are eligible for a pension once they reach a certain age.
As of 2016, 611 retired or defeated members of Congress were collecting pensions. This amounted to $36.1 million in taxpayer money spent per year.
Members elected before 1984 receive an average pension of $74,028. Members elected after 1984, when pension rules changed, receive an average of $41,076.
What the bill does
The End Pensions in Congress (EPIC) Act would do exactly what its name implies.
More accurately, it would end pensions for all future Congress members, as well as any currently serving who have not yet reached the five years of service necessary to merit a pension. Anybody who’s already earned a congressional pension would be grandfathered in.
It was introduced on January 3 as bill number H.R. 191 by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY4).
What supporters say
Supporters argue the bill saves taxpayers money by reducing expenditures that Congress members should be able to accrue themselves through private alternatives.
“Our country is over $21.9 trillion in debt, yet congressmen receive ‘defined benefit’ retirement plans unavailable to most in the private sector,” Rep. Massie wrote in an online post. “If congressmen want to save for retirement, they should do so with 401(k)-type defined contribution plans, rather than rely on taxpayers to take care of them after leaving Congress.”
“To tackle out-of-control federal spending, Congress must lead by example by ending defined-benefit pensions for members.”
What opponents say
Related: Off the Grid with Thomas Massie
Opponents counter that congressional pension spending is already decreasing — by a lot.
Rules regarding congressional pensions changed for members first elected in 1984 and later. For members elected before then, their average pension is $74,028. For members elected after then, their average pension is $41,076, or a -44% decrease.
Let the actuarial tables run their course, so the argument goes, and taxpayers will eventually save an identical -44% without any further changes to federal law necessary.
Odds of passage
The bill has not yet attracted any House cosponsors, even though a previous version introduced in 2015 attracted 13 cosponsors, including one Democrat.
The current version awaits a vote in either the House Administration Committee or House Oversight and Reform Committee.
10 Offbeat Stories You Might Have Missed This Week (4/20/19)
Another week has gone by, so it’s time to take a look at some of the weird news stories you may have overlooked. If you missed last week’s adventures, you can get caught up with those offbeat stories here.
It has been quite a notable week for science. We talk about zombie pigs, ancient urine, giant prehistoric lions, and the first molecule in the universe. We have not one but two tales from the world of pornography and the story of the Japanese Walter White.
Spoiler Alert: If you don’t want to read any potential spoilers about the final season of Game of Thrones, you should skip entry 10 and proceed straight to entry nine.
It has been quite a notable week for science. We talk about zombie pigs, ancient urine, giant prehistoric lions, and the first molecule in the universe. We have not one but two tales from the world of pornography and the story of the Japanese Walter White.
Spoiler Alert: If you don’t want to read any potential spoilers about the final season of Game of Thrones, you should skip entry 10 and proceed straight to entry nine.
10AI Predicts The Survivors Of Game Of Thrones
Photo credit: apnews.com
Last Sunday night, tens of millions of people tuned in to watch the premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones. Besides copious amounts of sex and violence, the show is known for introducing a large cast of compelling characters who then get killed off in gruesome ways.Those who want to enjoy all the twists of the show might want to skip this one, but many fans are concerned that their favorites will die this season. For those who do not like surprises, students from the Technical University of Munich developed an artificial intelligence that studied all the information available about the show to predict which characters are going to die.According to the algorithm, Daenerys Targaryen has the highest chance of survival of the main characters at 99 percent. At the other end, Bronn only has a 6 percent chance of survival and is deemed a goner.[1]We have a few months to go to find out if it was right or not, but the school has a good track record. Back in 2016, another group of students programmed a different AI which correctly predicted that Jon Snow would be resurrected.
9Name A Planet
Photo credit: BBC
Astronomers have reached out to the public for help in christening the largest-known body without a name in the solar system.The trans-Neptunian object has the official designation of (225088) 2007 OR10. It was discovered back in 2007 by scientists Meg Schwamb, Mike Brown, and David Rabinowitz. They decided that it is time for the cosmic object, most likely a dwarf planet, to get a proper name. Therefore, they want the people to vote on the suggestion which they will officially submit to the International Astronomical Union (IAU).The proposed monikers must adhere to IAU guidelines which require all minor planets in the Kuiper Belt to be given names associated with mythological creation figures. Therefore, the dwarf planet will not be dubbed Moony McMoonface or anything similar.In fact, the public has the option of voting on just one of three candidates. They are: Vili, a Norse god; Holle, a Germanic goddess of fertility; and Gonggong, a Chinese water god. The cosmic object has one of the reddest surfaces ever discovered, and all three gods, besides being associated with creation, have a connection with the color red.[2]Voting will continue until May 10.
8The Royal Canadian Moose Police
Photo credit: cbc.ca
Canadian police officers trying to contain a wild moose received an unexpected bonus as the animal led them to a stolen car.Last Saturday, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) in St. John’s received multiple calls from residents that a moose was on the loose in the city. Officers caught up with the animal and tried several times to lead it into the wooded areas up north of St. John’s. For some reason, the moose insisted on going south and evaded police containment efforts.In the end, the animal gave the RNC a helping hand as it unwittingly led them to a car which had been reported stolen the previous day. The officers stayed behind to handle this new development while the moose was able to head into the Southside Hills as it intended.[3]7Porn Stash Gets Plundered
Photo credit: people.com
An Indiana man is suing his parents for getting rid of his vast collection of pornography and sex toys worth almost $30,000.Back in 2016, the unnamed man moved to Michigan to live with his parents following a divorce. Ten months later, he relocated to Muncie, Indiana. Subsequently, his parents had all of his stuff delivered to his new home, but something was missing: his porn stash.It had consisted of 12 moving boxes of films and magazines and two additional boxes of sex toys. When the man inquired about their whereabouts, his father revealed to him that they had disposed of them for his own well-being.Now, the 40-year-old man is suing his parents. He is seeking compensation in excess of $86,000, almost triple what he estimated his collection to be worth. He claims that his parents acted “vindictively.” Although neither side has publicly commented on the matter, the father said in an email that he did his son a “big favor” and hoped that he will realize this one day.[4]6Extracurricular Activities
Japan has its own version of Walter White in the form of a university professor who admitted to teaching students in his pharmaceutical science class how to make Ecstasy.Tatsunori Iwamura is a 61-year-old teacher at Matsuyama University in Ehime prefecture. He divulged that he had showed his pupils how to manufacture MDMA and 5F-QUPIC, a cannabis-like designer drug, in 2013. Drug enforcement officers acted on a tip, and while they did not find signs of Ecstasy, their search did uncover traces of the cannabis substance.Unnamed sources claimed that Iwamura once had a license to manufacture illegal drugs issued by a local government outside Ehime, but it has since expired. The professor said that he taught his students how to make Ecstasy to “further their knowledge.”Authorities believe that 11 students manufactured drugs under Iwamura’s guidance. He could face up to 10 years in prison for his actions.[5]
5Exploring Your BeeSexuality
Online pornography giant Pornhub has revealed its latest charitable initiative: the “BeeSexual” campaign. People can visit the site’s latest channel, which is full of “bee porn,” to learn more about the perils that these crucial pollinators are currently facing. Moreover, for each view, Pornhub will...
Library Journal Comes out Against Books Guilty of ‘Whiteness’
What this really is of course is a soft launch towards censorship and book burning.
In a tweet published earlier this week from Library Journal’s verified account, the trade publication announced to its 202,000 followers that “Library collections continue to promote and proliferate whiteness with their very existence and the fact that they are physically taking up space in our libraries.”
The tweet links to a semi-incoherent piece written by librarian Sofia Leung on her personal blog, who complains at length about “library collections … written mostly by straight white men [that] are a physical manifestation of white men ideas taking up all the space in our library stacks.”
She continues:
Ms. Leung is entitled to her opinions, and while it’s disturbing that a librarian, someone in a position to influence minds, holds such opinions, as long as she is doing her job in a professional manner, she is entitled to believe whatever she wants.
If you look at any United States library’s collection, especially those in higher education institutions, most of the collections (books, journals, archival papers, other media, etc.) are written by white dudes writing about white ideas, white things, or ideas, people, and things they stole from POC and then claimed as white property.
…
Library collections continue to promote and proliferate whiteness with their very existence and the fact that they are physically taking up space in our libraries. They are paid for using money that was usually ill-gotten and at the cost of black and brown lives via the prison industrial complex, the spoils of war, etc. Libraries filled with mostly white collections indicates that we don’t care about what POC think, we don’t care to hear from POC themselves, we don’t consider POC to be scholars, we don’t think POC are as valuable, knowledgeable, or as important as white people.
The Library Journal promoting this surreal mix of nonsense and racial hate is, though, something altogether different.
What we have here is a trade publication that affects how public dollars are spent essentially arguing against books, opposing books, promoting the idea that a certain category of books are “physically taking up space in our libraries.”
In other words, these books must be removed to make room for “acceptable” books that contain “acceptable” ideas and opinions.
The category under fire here is “whiteness,” a deliberately vague and imprecise term, a word right out of George Orwell’s 1984 that manages to be whatever it needs to be to the woke fascists, censors, and book burners desperate to blacklist specific ideas, thoughts, and opinions.
The term “whiteness” is meant to conjure up the same feelings as the term “white supremacist,” but “whiteness” sounds more polite, more scholarly, and it allows the blacklisters and censors to...
How Has Former MI6 Spymaster Richard Dearlove Dodged Scrutiny Despite Links To Russiagate?
One of the figures involved in the Obama administration's "Russiagate" scandal who has largely avoided scrutiny is former MI6 spymaster Sir Richard Dearlove, who is intimately linked to several key players in what many now believe was a high-level Set-up against the Trump campaign during the 2016 US election.
Dearlove, who served as chief of MI6 from 1999 to 2004, had contact during the 2016 campaign with dossier author Christopher Steele. He is also a close colleague of Stefan Halper, the alleged FBI and CIA informant who established contact with several Trump campaign advisers. Dearlove and Halper attended a Cambridge political event in July 2016 where Halper had his first contact with Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. -Daily Caller
Of note, Dearlove is best known for peddling a report alleging that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, which then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair used to justify launching a war against Iraq.
In 2014, the retired British spymaster hosted an event at Cambridge University along with Halper. In attendance was then-director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn, as well as a Russian-born college student Svetlana Lokhova. Both Dearlove and Halper reportedly expressed concerns about Flynn's contacts with Lokhova - which the 38-year-old Russian-born academic says is complete bullshit.
"General Flynn was the guest of honor and he sat on one side of the table in the middle. I sat on the opposite side of the table to Flynn next to Richard Dearlove because I was the only woman at dinner, and it's a British custom that the only woman gets to sit next to the host," Lokhova told Fox News, who added that she has never been alone with Flynn. On the contrary, the unplanned encounter was professional and mildly productive. Sir Richard Dearlove (L), Prof. Christopher Andrew (center), and then-Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Flynn (R), at Cambridge University, Feb. 28, 2014.
Dearlove - who has feigned not knowing "Trump-Russia" dossier author Christopher Steele, discussed ongoing matters with the former MI6 spy during a meeting in London's posh...
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #597
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Friday, April 19, 2019
American patriots detain caravan of illegals attempting to cross into US
The group “detained” the migrants legally and lawfully until border patrol agents could arrive. A member of the United Constitutional Patriots told ABC-7 357 migrants were detained, but the US Border Patrol would not confirm the exact number.
A message posted on the United Constitutional Patriots’ page after the migrants were detained Monday night stated: “This group was so huge we won’t have an accurate count until the BP [Border Patrol] is finished processing them. This needs to stop!!!!! Build the wall.”
[…] “This country was built on three things: God, guns and guts. That American flag has to keep flying,” said United Constitutional Patriots Commander John Horton, “It’s in danger, a lot of danger right now.”
The video shows Border Patrol agents as they apprehend members of the group of migrants that crossed into the US illegally. When asked why they entered the US, some of the migrants said they are seeking asylum.
ABC-7 spoke with members of the United Constitutional Patriots in March 2019. The group told ABC-7 its members were armed. “We’re just Americans. We’re veterans, we’re ex-law enforcement, we’re people that care about our national security,” one member said.
The say they know that they are not allowed to detain, approach or engage people entering the US illegally, but the group said it was simply at the border to alert Border Patrol agents when undocumented immigrants cross into the US.
El Paso, where the illegals were filmed, has seen a significant spike in the past year, as other corridors in the US have become more challenging. In October and November of 2018,as the average number of apprehensions grew, El Paso’s share doubled.
The video, which was streamed live on Facebook, shows illegals giving themselves up to the armed militia, intending to...
Watch This Idiot Get Ejected From His Truck...
More Great Gifs:
Baby In A Stroller Vs. Car...
Ever Been Kicked By An Elephant?
He Didn't Expect That... KNOCKOUT!
This Is What You Get For Littering Ahole....
More Amazing Animated Gifs HERE
Animated Gif Collection #2 HERE
Animated Gif Collection #3
Animated Gif Collection #4
Animated Gif Collection #5 -OR- Motorcycles And Bulls Don't Mix..
Animated Gif Collection #6 or Bet She Lost Some Teeth...
Animated Gif Collection #7 -OR- This Is What Happens When You Fall Asleep While Driving...
Animated Gif Collection #8 -OR- Fish: 1, Dog: 0
Animated Gif Collection #9 -OR-Out Of Control Bus -OR-
Animated Gif Collection #10 -OR- How To Launch An Oil Truck Into The Air
Animated Gif Collection #11 -OR- Man That Must Have Hurt
Animated GIF Collection #12 -OR- This Is Brutal
Animated Gif Collection #13 -OR- This Guy Was Inches From DEATH!
Animated Gif Collection #2 HERE
Animated Gif Collection #3
Animated Gif Collection #4
Animated Gif Collection #5 -OR- Motorcycles And Bulls Don't Mix..
Animated Gif Collection #6 or Bet She Lost Some Teeth...
Animated Gif Collection #7 -OR- This Is What Happens When You Fall Asleep While Driving...
Animated Gif Collection #8 -OR- Fish: 1, Dog: 0
Animated Gif Collection #9 -OR-Out Of Control Bus -OR-
Animated Gif Collection #10 -OR- How To Launch An Oil Truck Into The Air
Animated Gif Collection #11 -OR- Man That Must Have Hurt
Animated GIF Collection #12 -OR- This Is Brutal
Animated Gif Collection #13 -OR- This Guy Was Inches From DEATH!
Ben Carson and HUD Are Reportedly About To Shut the Door on Illegals Gaming the System
Once across the border, some illegal immigrants take advantage of taxpayer-funded government benefits that are intended solely for American citizens.
Accordingly — and in line with President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy — some government departments and agencies are looking closely for ways in which they can change certain rules or close various loopholes to stop this exploitation.
The Daily Caller reported exclusively that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, led by Secretary Ben Carson, is one of those departments aiming to prevent ineligible illegal aliens from further taking advantage of benefits designed for citizens and certain classes of eligible non-citizens.
According to Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act, first passed into law in 1980, most non-citizens were prohibited from applying for and obtaining federal financial housing assistance.
By virtue of “mixed family” households that include both citizens or eligible non-citizens as well as ineligible illegal aliens, the prohibition has been skirted by some. Consequently, there are illegal aliens that inappropriately receive federal housing...
Violent, Radical, Communist, Domestic Terrorist Paroled Despite Unresolved Cases
The New York Board of Parole announced on Wednesday the decision of Governor Andrew Cuomo not to run for president. They did this by opting to release Judith Clark, a domestic terrorist convicted of three counts of murder. The oblique manner of the governor revealing his political plans follows a blunter decision in 2016 to commute her sentence of 75-years-to-life to 35-years-to-life, making her eligible for parole, which the board initially denied in 2017 but granted this time around.
Clark, a red-diaper baby who lived in the Soviet Union for three years as a child, served as a getaway driver in an armed robbery of a Brink’s truck to fund the revolutionary activities, and the drug addictions, of the various players involved. The action resulted in the theft of $1.6 million and the deaths of three men, Brink’s guard, Peter Paige, and two Nyack, New York, policemen, Edward O’Grady and Waverly Brown, and the wounding of two other Brink’s guards and a cop. When Clark crashed the getaway car after a chase, cops recovered $800,000 and a gun under her seat.
The combined action of the May 19th Communist Organization and the Black Liberation Army on October 20, 1981, followed more than a decade of criminal activity by Clark. In 1969, Chicago police arrested Clark for participating in the Days of Rage, a Weatherman-organized orgy of violence that resulted in paralyzing an aide to Mayor Richard Daley. Later that same year at the Weatherman’s “Wargasm” in Flint, Michigan, where Weathermen spoke approvingly of Charles Manson, Clark, along with future Brinks co-conspirator Kathy Boudin and Diana Oughton, who died in a Greenwich Village townhouse-turned-bomb-factory just months later, created a poster spelling out murdered actress Sharon Tate’s name in bullets. While many of her Weatherman comrades hid underground during the 1970s, Clark continued her revolutionary activities.
“We had suspicions that they, the May 19th Communist Organization and the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation), had participated in the escapes of Assata Shakur and Marilyn Buck,” Donald Wofford, the FBI case agent assigned to the New York portion of the FALN investigation, tells The American Spectator. “Judy Clark was totally involved with the FALN terrorist group and the Black Liberation Army. She was a main player in those escapes and a whole series of armored car robberies.”
One such robbery occurred in the Bronx four months before the Nyack heist. This June 1981 robbery left Brink’s workers William Moroney dead and Michael Schlachter disabled. Upon Clark’s conviction for the Nyack murders, law enforcement regarded her prosecution for the Bronx case, and other alleged violations of the law, as unnecessary given that her sentence made her eligible for parole years past her 100th birthday.
“From a criminal perspective, she was a trusted member of ‘The Family,’ which they called themselves,” Kenneth Maxwell, one of two FBI case agents assigned to the deadly...
7 Ways The Mueller Report Exposed The Media’s ‘Bombshell’ Fake News Stories
When Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, some of the conclusions debunkedmany misleading, and anonymously sourced, conspiracy theories.
After two and a half years of countless mainstream media “scoops” and “bombshells” that turned out to be false or nonexistent, the American people finally have some concrete answers on Russiagate. When Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 election on Thursday, some of the investigation’s conclusions debunked once and for all many misleading, and anonymously sourced, conspiracy theories.
Here are some of the most prominent stories the press got wrong about the Russian collusion narrative.
1. Michael Cohen Never Went To Prague
The infamous Christopher Steele dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party, alleged that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen met with Federation Council foreign affairs head Konstantin Kosachev in Prague. Desperately wanting to confirm this, news outlets sent reporters to hotels all over Prague checking hotel logs.
In April 2018, McClatchy reported Mueller had obtained evidence of Cohen’s visit to the Czech Republic, according to two anonymous sources. In December 2018, they reported that Cohen’s cell phone, or a device registered to him, was pinged off towers near Prague.
The Mueller report debunked this piece of the dossier once and for all when the special counsel wrote, “Cohen had never traveled to Prague and was not concerned about those allegations, which he believed were provably false.” McClatchy has now added a two sentence editor’s note to their two reports on Cohen.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Robert Mueller’s report to the attorney general states that Mr. Cohen was not in Prague. It is silent on whether the investigation received evidence that Mr. Cohen’s phone pinged in or near Prague, as McClatchy reported.
2. Carter Page Was Not a Russian Agent
Carter Page was the main link between the Trump campaign and Russia. He was a one-time foreign policy adviser on the Trump campaign, has spent time in Russia, and has many contacts with the foreign adversary. The dubious Steele dossier alleged that Page held secret meetings with allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trips to Moscow.
These connections are perhaps the only evidence presented by the media who were convinced Page was a Russian spy (and the only evidence used by the FBI to seek a surveillance warrant against Page, but I digress).
Mueller finally put this myth to rest in his report, asserting they found no evidence Page coordinated with Russia on behalf of the Trump campaign.
Russian intelligence officials had formed relationships with Page in 2008 and 2013 and Russian officials may have focused on Page in 2016 because of his affiliation with the Campaign. However, the investigation did not establish that Page coordinated with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.
3. Donald Trump Did Not Direct Cohen to Lie to Congress
In January 2019, BuzzFeed News dropped what was supposed to be “bombshell” report, alleging that Trump had directed Cohen to lie to Congress about a potential real estate deal in Moscow. They also reported that Mueller’s office had evidence of these alleged lies.
The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.
In February, Cohen told Congress under oath that the president never directed him to lie, and now the Mueller report is confirming the contrary report as false:
Cohen said that he and the President did not explicitly discuss whether Cohen’s testimony about the Trump Tower Moscow project would be or was false, and the President did not direct him to provide false testimony. Cohen also said he did not tell the President about the specifics of his planned testimony.
4. Cohen’s Call With a Russian Did Not Prove Collusion
In November 2018, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reported on live television that “The President was compromised by a hostile foreign government, full stop.” Hayes proposed this was the only conclusion to take from Cohen’s admission that he lied to Congress.
The Mueller report investigated Cohen’s phone call with a personal assistant to a Russian official, and found no evidence that they ever followed up or acted on that initial phone call about a Trump Tower in Moscow.
“Cohen could not recall any direct follow-up from Poliakova or from any other representative of the Russian government, nor did the Office identify any evidence of direct follow-up,” the Mueller report concluded.
5. Paul Manafort Was Not Funneling Polling Data to Putin
Many reporters used Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s past business dealings in Russia to prove he was a Russian stooge, but one reporter...
A Dingo Almost Ate Their BaeBae
Sorry, couldn't help myself...
A baby has been dragged away in the mouth of a hungry dingo while his parents were sleeping. They awoke to hear his crying becoming “distant”.
A heroic dad saved his baby son from a dingo’s jaws after the child was dragged from a camper trailer as his family slept at Fraser Island overnight.
The boy’s parents — who were camping with the 14-month-old and his four-year-old sister at Eurong Beach — woke to the sound of their son’s cries, which were “becoming more distant”, according to the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ) LifeFlight Rescue.
The father left the van to find the animal had already managed to carry the child some distance away, with other dingoes lurking nearby.
It is believed at least two dingoes managed to enter the trailer without the family noticing.
After fighting them off, the father retrieved his son and called emergency services.
A Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedic who is based on the island was the first to treat the boy’s injuries.
According to the Courier Mail, they included a fractured skull and puncture wounds to his head and neck.
Rescue pilot Frank Bertoli praised the father’s quick response, and said the parents’ actions likely saved the boy from even more horrific injuries.
“(The boy) was apparently grabbed around the back of the neck area and dragged away,” Mr Bertoli said.
“If it wasn’t for the parents fighting off the dingo he could have had much more severe injuries.”
Mr Bertoli also told the ABC how the dingo was able to carry out the terrifying sneak attack.
“I think he made his way under the canvas to get into the camper trailer,” he said.
“It’s pretty horrific to hear something like that come over the phone and we just wanted to get there to be able to help.
“They said that the main dingo was surrounded by others.”
Paramedic Ben Du Toit also revealed more chilling details about the incident.
“The child’s parents were woken by their son’s cries, which were becoming more distant,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The dad got out of the campervan to investigate and found the dingo dragging the toddler away from the campervan.
“They also spotted several other dingoes in the area and near the vicinity, and...
Key Takeaways From the Mueller Report on Trump and Russia
The final report by special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, but details in the 448-page document provide fodder for congressional Democrats who want more investigations.
The lightly redacted report released by the Justice Department states that President Donald Trump feared appointment of a special counsel would mean the “end” of his presidency.
But it does not say conclusively that the president tried to obstruct the probe, and Attorney General William Barr determined that the evidence did not support criminal charges.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said Thursday that Barr will testify May 2, and that Mueller himself will testify shortly after that.
Nadler said congressional investigations will continue.
Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said the administration would like to see a thorough accounting of how the investigation commenced, apparently based entirely on the “dossier” compiled by a former British spy, Christopher Steele, as opposition research targeting Trump as a presidential candidate.
“Investigating the investigators is something some of the investigators think would be a good idea,” Conway told The Daily Signal, but declined to say whether she thought criminal offenses occurred.
“If you’re going to scream about transparency and accountability and investigations for two years, than I’ve got 22 months to wait to see how we got here in the first place,” she said.
“When the president says it should never happen to another president again, let’s see how we got here. How did it start?”
Outstanding Questions on Obstruction
Muller presented a pattern of behavior by Trump and his associates that seemed hostile toward the Russia investigation, which the president routinely called a “witch hunt.”
But, as Barr already had announced last month, the special counsel didn’t make a determination that the actions constituted obstruction of justice.
“Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the president’s conduct,” the Mueller report states, adding:
The evidence we obtained about the president’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, 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, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
The report also says, “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”
>>> Read the Mueller Report
In most instances, the Mueller report noted, Trump aides declined to take actions to impede the investigation—including firing the special counsel, as then-White House counsel Don McGahn thought he was told to do.
The report refers to the month after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who at the time was overseeing the Russia probe:
On June 14, 2017, the media reported that the Special Counsel’s Office was investigating whether the President had obstructed justice. Press reports called this ‘a major turning point’ in the investigation: while Corney had told the President he was not under investigation, following Corney’s firing, the President now was under investigation. The President reacted to this news with a series of tweets criticizing the...
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #596
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Thursday, April 18, 2019
NEVER Mix These Two Ingredients:
More on Socialists, Idiots, Mental Defects and Democrats: