Google facing anti-trust investigation

Google could be the first tech company to get hit with an anti-trust investigation. I'm not sure if they are the worst offender but they are an offender, and who goes under the microscope first doesn't really matter.  They all need to be looked at.

Quick Hit: Mueller has nothing, but you wouldn't know it

The Mueller investigation apparently doesn't currently hold the president as a criminal  target of it's investigation.  The media hasn't really mentioned that much. In fact, the Washington Post which reported it yesterday, are holding out hope that he could still become a target.

Nevertheless, there are some important considerations as Johnathan Turley at The Hill points out:

That Mueller does not believe there is “substantial evidence linking [Trump] to the commission of a crime” would seem to merit some, albeit grudging, recognition. However, there has been a disturbing lack of objectivity in the coverage of this investigation from the start. Throughout it, some of us have cautioned that the criminal case against Trump was far weaker than media suggested. Fired FBI Director James Comey himself told Congress that Trump was not a target of his investigation. Indeed, Trump was reportedly upset with Comey largely because Comey would not say that publicly.

When Trump fired Comey, I supported the call for a special counsel, and I still support Mueller in completing his investigation. However, the case of criminal conduct by Trump has not materially improved over the last year. Last October, Mueller brought the first indictments against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy, Richard Gates. Notably, none of the indictments were linked to the campaign, let alone Trump. When that obvious point was raised, we were told that it meant nothing and Mueller was likely holding back the really damaging indictments while pressuring Trump aides. Commentators continue to announce “bombshell” disclosures against Trump on a daily basis, with experts alleging clear cases for treason to obstruction to witness tampering and other crimes.

But time and again, evidence continued to indicate that chances of president trump becoming a target were evaporating.

Then, in November, came the disclosure of plea agreements with former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. However, these pleas were for making individual false statements to federal investigators. Neither the charges nor the narratives in the filings tied Trump or his campaign to any criminal act. Later indictments involving lawyer Alex van der Zwaan and internet operator Richard Pinedo involved a false statement and a single count of identity fraud, again unrelated to Trump or his campaign. Nevertheless, commentators insisted Mueller was just laying the groundwork for his major filing.

In February, Mueller handed down indictments of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations for election-related crimes, from hacking to identity fraud. Not only did these charges not implicate Trump or his campaign, but the filing expressly stated that no one in the Trump campaign knowingly engaged Russians in these efforts. Now, Mueller reportedly has said he does not consider Trump a “target” of the criminal investigation. Looking at each of the prior filings, the disclosure would seem consistent with a lack of compelling evidence of a crime by Trump. Indeed, it would indicate Trump’s status has not changed from when Comey told Congress that Trump was not a target.

And yet, the mainstream media continues to be purveyors of self-deluded Trump-prosecution porn:

Still, some analysts immediately denied that Mueller’s disclosure was anything but bad news for Trump. On CNN, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin insisted that “being a ‘subject’ is a very serious thing” and a “very significant designation” because it is clear “the FBI is investigating the president.”

The only outstanding question is when will Mueller wrap up his investigation.

Even The Week sees the Mueller investigation as unhinged

The Week, a formerly centrist magazine that has drifted leftward over the years has an interesting take on the Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation - it's run amok;

...Dot connectors will, of course, continue to connect dots. It could be that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is hoping to secure testimony from Manafort or Gates that will give him the dirt he needs to bring more appropriate charges. It could be that he already has that information and is just waiting for goodness knows what occasion. At the very least, obsessives will say, the hiring of Manafort indicates — these comments almost write themselves — a very serious lack of judgment on Trump's part. You don't say? The man whose idea of a feel-good national unity speech following an act of domestic terrorism was to suggest a degree of moral equivalence between the KKK and its opponents has horrible instincts, often fails to think things through, is a bad judge of character, etc.? Gosh.

Even George Papadopoulos' guilty plea is no smoking gun. The former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign admits that he lied about email exchanges with a shadowy figure known as "the professor" who had promised Russian "dirt" on Clinton. But as far as we can tell, his communications with Dr. Dirt went nowhere. Papadopoulos also made vague references in his emails to "meetings" with Russian officials that probably did not end up taking place, which seems important only if you ignore the fact that presidential candidates, especially after securing their parties' nominations, routinely meet with foreign leaders, even heads of state.

The most significant thing about Monday's Mueller bonanza is that it reminds us what is wrong with these hysterical wide-ranging special prosecutor investigations that take place in public. Whitewater went on for nearly a decade before it concluded in 2003.

When you have a magazine that blatantly, incorrectly summarizes president Trump's response to  "an act of domestic terrorism" in such a way as they did, say that the Mueller investigation is hysterical then you know the Mueller investigation is as ridiculous as it is malignantly aggressive.  Despite the liberal slant, the article is peppered with factual debunking of the media narrative associated with the investigation.

For example:

There are many problems with the Mueller probe, not least its show-boating obsession with keeping its business in the newspapers, but the biggest one is that its parameters were never well defined. What would count as actual collusion? Idle language is thrown around about people having "ties" to Russia or being "Kremlin-connected." How do you define "Kremlin-connected"? What would be the broad equivalent in the United States from Russia's perspective? A former congressman? Anyone who does business on K Street having a meeting? Defense contractors? Given the country's autocratic structure, there are very few living Russian nationals of any wealth or distinction who are not "Kremlin-connected."

Their conclusion in this regard, seems entirely reasonable:

If it's not going away, the least we could do is broaden the investigation's scope. Why not appoint another special prosecutor to investigate British meddling in our sacrosanct democratic process? The facts are there in plain sight. A former member of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service collaborated with a presidential campaign in an attempt to alter the outcome of the 2016 election. So did a former member of the British Parliament, who peddled disgusting conspiracy theories on Twitter and even attempted to collude with the Clinton campaign on advertising strategy. The speaker of the British House of Commons attempted to discredit Clinton's opponent.

That's awfully hard to argue, and actually seems aligned with what the president himself has been calling for to happen.

Mueller is fishing for Trump dirt

Special investigator is expanding the probe of the president into his business transactions - as far back as he feels like.  Now is the time for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to un-recuse himself and cancel the probe.  This is nothing more than free opposition research of the president for the 2020 presidential election at this point.

Democrats will try to justify it as trying to determine if there were motives for collusion.  Donald Trump was an international businessman. He's had dealings with Russians as well as multiple other nations.  This is not just a witch hunt, it's tinfoil hat conspiracy theory fodder and people will see what they want.

President Trump said yesterday that had he known Sessions was going to recuse himself he would not have appointed him as attorney general. That may be a signal to Sessions to consider a reversal of the recusal.

Basket of Deplorables + Basement Dwellers + FBI redux = Trump

Earlier today I posted a Learning Series post on math.  Here's some more math.  Barring some near term unknown variable, Basket of Deplorables + Basement Dwellers + FBI redux = Trump.

Let me explain the math. Hillary Clinton described Donald Trump supporters a 'basket of deplorables'. She thereby ensured that there won't be a lot of crossover voters from existing Trump supporters at that point.

But that actually wasn't the beginning of it.  Nor was it the end of it.  Her hacked emails show what she really thinks of voters - not just Trump voters, but even her voters.

She doesn't like people unless they supporter unquestioningly.  So she must be truly irate over the latest October surprise from the FBI.

Ouch. Forget everything I've written about the polls to this point.  This is a new race at this point.  Start with Hillary Clinton with a base of support at 40%.  The question is how high above that floor can she keep it with 10 days to go and no upcoming debates.  This will provide a lot of insight to both the sway of the media and their ability to skew public opinion towards Hillary Clinton.

Clearly Clinton is going to demand urgency in resolving and disclosing the details buy the FBI because that's her only play at this point.  That could clearly backfire in a really bad way for her if there's any fire behind the smoke.  I say that because FBI director Comey would not come forward with this at this point if not coming forward until after the election would be a far worse option.  In other words, where there's smoke, there is fire, and the FBI know what the fire is already.

Fasten your seatbelts America, this is going to be a wild week.

Social Experiment #2:- Under FBI investigation

Kind of a strange video below.  But it's interesting.

Chelsea Clinton investigated Hillary Clinton at the Clinton Foundation

Hillary Clinton, corruptocrat, according to...her own daughter???

I think that about sums it up.

Hillary Clinton's weekend of misfortune

Well, it's not Thursday so it's not really a Thursday Hillary Bash, but how can I avoid talking about Hillary Clinton today?  The FBI has interviewed her, and Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch in secret, and got caught.  The stench of corruption keeps growing stronger.

Did Bill Clinton's meeting force the FBI to move early?  If so, perhaps it was a brilliant move to derail the FBI by making them move early in order to counter an improper meeting with Lynch.   It also puts the scandal in early summer when attention by voters tends to wane.

It also presents a great opportunity for Trump to move up in the polls.  How does he capitalize? Doers he point it out our does he shut up and let her and Bill sink themselves? I don't think the latter approach is part of his repertoire, so look for him to unleash on Hillary all over social media for this.  After all it fits his message on her - she's not trustworthy. 

But I suspect the FBI has been caught without being ready to proceed, or that Lynch, a true corruptocrat will allow Hillary to go free somehow.  

Don't get too excited too quickly

My first thought was YES!  But lets don't get too excited too quickly by this news. 

As pressure builds on Hillary Clinton to explain her official use of personal email while serving as secretary of state, she faced new complications Tuesday. It was disclosed her top aides are being drawn into a burgeoning federal inquiry and that two emails on her private account have been classified as “Top Secret.”

The inspector general for the Intelligence Community notified senior members of Congress that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications - more sensitive than previously known.

 This is a federal probe.  The underlying motivation may be to clear Hillary Clinton in a suspiciously timely manner, adding fuel to her presidential run.

Another possible outcome is for Hillary to downplay the outcome. One or two classified emails out of literally thousands was just an oversight. The media will eat that up, and it suddenly won't matter that she was operating outside of legal parameters to begin with. All that will matter is that it was minor and this is clearly a witch hunt by the vast right wing conspiracy.

I'm hopeful that Hillary gets her comeuppance. I'm hopeful that there really is animus between Hillary and Obama. But I'm no Pollyanna. A little skepticism will serve us well with this good news, lest we grow dependent on something to derail Hillary Clinton having to come out of this. It may be a decoy for conservatives.