90 Miles From Tyranny

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Release The MEMO!

Would the political class be trying so hard to discredit the Nunes memo if it didn’t terrify them?

There’s getting to be a backlash among certain conservatives, mainly of the #NeverTrump variety, against the idea that there’s really a serious matter to be uncovered in the case of the FISA wiretap application for Carter Page, and in the attempts to cover up the documents related to it.

The thinking goes like this: Paranoid Trump superfans see some sinister deep state conspiracy in everything! Missing text messages! Unreleased memos! These nutcases are so off the rails, they’re convinced they’re going to find something “worse than Watergate”! What fruitcakes.

I’ve been using the term “worse than Watergate” for months in reference to this, and apparently that’s now being turned against me and people like me by those on the right who never liked Trump to begin with and want to remain acceptable in polite society.

Let’s be clear about what “worse than Watergate” means and why it’s been used by me and others: The Watergate scandal was about people associated with the Nixon re-election campaign breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and planting listening devices in the hope they could get some useful information to wield against George McGovern in the 1972 presidential campaign. The commission of a burglary against your presidential opponent so you could plant a listening device is obviously a crime and a massive scandal. The ensuing attempts to Nixon and others to cover it up only made the scandal worse.

Now, let’s fast-forward: We know that in 2016, during the Obama Administration, the FBI applied for a FISA warrant to wiretap Carter Page, who was an official of the Trump presidential campaign. There are multiple indications that the primary evidence presented as probable cause in this application was a dossier prepared by Christopher Steele, who was working for an outfit called Fusion GPS, which was being paid - albeit indirectly - by the Clinton campaign. It also appears that almost all the information in this dossier was unverified, and that much of it was false, and that the FBI made no attempt to verify any of it before using it in the FISA application.

If all this is true, I believe that is worse than Watergate for this reason: While the Nixon campaign used private citizens to commit a crime, and that’s a very bad thing, the scenario laid out above would mean that the Obama Administration, via the Justice Department and specifically the FBI, abused a law enforcement mechanism of the federal government - feeding it false information to obtain...

Donald Trump Was Wrong: I Will Never Get Tired Of WINNING!

Just one week after the Trump administration announced a massive 30% tariff on imported solar panels, one of China's largest solar panel manufacturers announced plans to open a manufacturing plant in the United States.

The company, JinkoSolar, said on Monday that they have received the green light from their board of directors to "finalize planning for the construction of an advanced solar manufacturing facility in the U.S." CNN Money reports:

The statement suggested Jinko's decision was tied to the new tariffs, saying that the company "continues to closely monitor treatment of imports of solar cells and modules under the U.S. trade laws."

"This deal will further solidify our leadership in the U.S. market," said Nigel Cockroft, general manager of Jinko U.S. "An agreement of this magnitude exemplifies JinkoSolar’s commitment to provide our clients with the most reliable products and dependable, regional customer service."

Regarding the huge hike in import tariffs, Trump said last week:

When we do this, a lot of manufacturers will be coming to the United States to build washing machines and also solar. For both solar and washing machines, these executive actions uphold the principle of fair trade and demonstrate to the world that the United States will not be taken advantage of anymore. Our companies will not be taken advantage of anymore.

It appears as though JinkoSolar may not be the only company moving manufacturing operations to the United States to avoid paying the tariff. CNN adds:

There are other indications that foreign solar companies are bringing manufacturing to the U.S.

Documents filed with the local government in Jacksonville, Florida, this month state that a "leading international manufacturer of solar panels and modules" is seeking to invest more than $400 million in building a manufacturing plant in the city.

The facility, code-named "Project Volt," will create 800 jobs between now and ...

Lisa Rockford, a professor at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has come under fire for an “art project” that involved using an American flag as a doormat.

Broward College art professor Lisa Rockford has come under fire for a controversial art piece that involved tricking students into stepping onto an American flag as a camera pointed at their feet snapped a photo.

Rockford painted an American flag with white paint, cut it in half, and placed in high traffic area on campus. “People are stepping on the flag as they enter most of whom don’t realize its an American flag. The artist had a camera set up taking pictures of people stepping on it as part of her artwork,” student Jess Karcher said. “I find this extremely disrespectful and kick in the gut as a veteran. I have lost many friends whose caskets were draped with that same flag.”

Karcher explained that Rockford intended that those who stepped on the flag would do so unwittingly. “I am not sure what the message is they are trying to give, but there was a camera taking pictures of people unknowingly steeping [sic] on it,” Karcher added.

In a statement, Broward College defended Rockford on the basis of the First Amendment. The college did not say that they will ensure that students know that it is an American flag they are stepping on when they pass through that portion of the campus.

Broward College understands that the piece, currently on exhibit, is controversial. The provocative nature of the piece is protected by the artist’s [c]onsitutional rights, specifically the First Amendment right to the Freedom of Speech. The piece represents the opinions of the individual artist and they are not...