Mueller Report

So all that the usual sources are discussing is the Mueller report.

Nobody knows what is in it. Yet so far it seems that either everyone assumes that it says what they want it to say, or they are already dismissing it as partisan hackery.

Well, we can do that as well as anyone else damnit. Do you have any theories, rumors, dismissal? Favorite depressed liberals? Favorite frothing conservatives?

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Comments

  • it is going to prove aliens crashed at Roswell

  • I reckon it will prove that it's better to switch envelopes, because if the one you chose first contains X dollars, then the other one either has 2X or X/2, right? And you have no way of knowing which, right? So the expected value of switching is 1.25*X. Think about it.

  • I presume the report will show that the President is scummy, everyone he surrounds himself with are scummy, he probably did some illegal shit and there is insufficient proof to charge him with much of anything beyond the campaign finance shenanigans we already know about.

  • edited March 2019

    My intuition is telling me that it's going to get memory holed by the prestige press and the Democratic Party, but I don't trust my intuition all that much. For what it's worth, a corollary of my intuition is that the report is going to be an effective campaign issue for Republicans.

    We will see.

    Edit: Sailer, A Tale of Two Tweets

  • Its been a long time quiet on the twitter front. Almost two days now. Too quiet. Like either a counterattack is being planned or someone's lawyers got him to STFU for a couple of goddamn hours.

    I give either a 1 in 1000 or 1 in 365 chance of resignation.

    But seriously. Shitstorm incoming once someone lets him use his thumbs again.

  • The first fight will be over how much of the report people actually get to see. Trump's assertion that everyone should see the report is worthless.

  • Matt Taibbi pissed quite a few people off stating the obvious.

    https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million

  • I had a few minor quibbles with Taibbi's article (though it may mostly be because I really like Malcom Nance) but I can't say it made me angry.

    It made me sad.

    Some of the examples he gave of news organizations not publishing retractions was actually news to me. That is the type of thing I normally attributed to sites like infowars, not WP or NYT.

  • Wowza, Taibbi seems to have a book going there. I've only browsed a few sections, but it's good stuff as you'd expect.

  • edited March 2019

    I am very, very concerned about the number of people on the left-wing comment sections and FacePunch pages that have openly started making assassination jokes. You know, the "Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him lol" type bullshit.

    That is the type of shit that used to make me squirm when I'd see it happen on the right-wing sites during the Obama administration. I don't even like to see people joke about it. Not that its been absent over the last two years... That type of thing not being addressed promptly is part of why I stopped following the extreme left sites years ago. As well as sensationalist sites like 'Occupy Democrats'. (Well, that and their news was just as un-sourced and unreliable as the 'teaparty' aligned sites).

    I know its a sign that people are feeling desperate, but goddamnit. I imagine its driving some people away from communications channels.

    We definitely do not need more people on the left sounding like the 70 year old men that spend all day commenting on their local news channel website or Facepunch posts.

  • @Clme said:
    That is the type of shit that used to make me squirm when I'd see it happen on the right-wing sites during the Obama administration. I don't even like to see people joke about it.

    After the election my wife bought us and our non-verbal autistic son "Not My President" T-shirts. She doesn't get why I won't wear it and why I undermine her efforts to send the kid to school in his. It doesn't mean I don't wish ass-cancer on the shitgibbon daily, or that I'm not quietly stockpiling for the coming civil war (which I expect us to lose badly), but we're supposed to be the Good Guys. What's the point of torpedoing ourselves for the next election by nominating gay dudes and minority women if we're going to to be shitty about the results of our blind idealism?

  • https://www.businessinsider.nl/barr-send-mueller-report-white-house-executive-privilege-legal-analysis-2019-3/

    I'm expecting a shitstorm of triggered libs if this is how it's going to be handled.

  • @joshy said:
    After the election my wife bought us and our non-verbal autistic son "Not My President" T-shirts. She doesn't get why I won't wear it and why I undermine her efforts to send the kid to school in his. It doesn't mean I don't wish ass-cancer on the shitgibbon daily, or that I'm not quietly stockpiling for the coming civil war (which I expect us to lose badly), but we're supposed to be the Good Guys. What's the point of torpedoing ourselves for the next election by nominating gay dudes and minority women if we're going to to be shitty about the results of our blind idealism?

    I can see a few rare instances where I would wear a shirt like that myself... (like to visit my grandfather who was recently wearing a shirt depicting a cartoon Trump building a cartoon brick wall). But in general I tend to be less antagonistic when wearing my clothing. Well, unless you have a fashion sense. I'm pretty antagonistic to people with a fashion sense. Even the things posted on my Facepunch wall are rarely political. I have groups for that.

    I hear you on the kid thing too... My 5 year-old son has down syndrome and is mostly non-verbal. Sending him out in a shirt like that may get negative attention at school or alienate teachers or therapists that I still need to work with despite their (self destructive) political leanings. My wife is with me on that one.

    Its amazing the things people will talk about war for, and how each side handles the discussion. The conservatives usually get fucking GIDDY for it and assume they'll win. The left treats it like a joke (at their peril?). I'm hoping it turns out to be a joke... but I know too many conservative rednecks (looks at family tree), and only a couple of liberal rednecks (looks in mirror).

    My stockpiles stop at two weeks. Its basically the same as a tornado stockpile but more portable. Also, no firearms... I haven't used more than a pellet gun in 10 years. Not going to start again until the kid is older.

    As for idealism... I'm also beginning to start seeing more talk about 'playing by their rules' or 'playing dirty' or even 'the ends justify the means'. Meh. I'm a little more loose there... I want the Democratic Party to fight back for once {goddamnit!] but holy crap we don't need to start fighting dirty. Any strangeness or debunking will become the story for the Dems, even when things continue to work for the other side.

  • @LonMabonJovi said:
    https://www.businessinsider.nl/barr-send-mueller-report-white-house-executive-privilege-legal-analysis-2019-3/

    I'm expecting a shitstorm of triggered libs if this is how it's going to be handled.

    Slightly related: Did you see the call for Adam Schiff to resign today?

  • @Clme said:

    Slightly related: Did you see the call for Adam Schiff to resign today?

    You mean "Little pencil-neck?"

    I'm sure this is only the beginning: Republican fury aimed at Schiff, face of the Russia investigation

  • @Clme said:

    @LonMabonJovi said:
    https://www.businessinsider.nl/barr-send-mueller-report-white-house-executive-privilege-legal-analysis-2019-3/

    I'm expecting a shitstorm of triggered libs if this is how it's going to be handled.

    Slightly related: Did you see the call for Adam Schiff to resign today?

    I did. From what little I know of him he was for the Iraq war, and the intervention of Yemen. That's more than enough reason to want him gone, but not like this. They're still mad about Nunes being forced to step down.

    I'd probably have more of an opinion on Schiff if I watched TV.

  • Oh Schiff is loud and arrogant, and he absolutely does spend too much time talking shit on TV without backing up his comments. The republicans were right about that particular piece of criticism. I won't say I wasn't enjoying the hell out of listening to him, but I knew it wasn't actually helping the political discourse on either side to have the chairman out in public talking like that.

    But... well... those aren't reasons to force someone to resign. They tried to set out an argument that he was pushing a known hoax and lying, which he responded to. He was pissed off, but never lost his cool. He laid out exactly what he said, and why those items weren't lies.

    ...plus it made the "Mueller must actually be a traitor too!" people shut up for almost a day before they started talking shit again. Christ. Its like they didn't know what he was actually asked to do... or maybe they didn't know that he is/was still a justice department employee and we have no idea what he actually gave to Barr. Meh. At this point I'm probably reacting to puppet accounts anyway. I need to step away from this shit for a few days.

  • Sam Seder got in a fight with Michael Tracey yesterday over Russiagate, it's pretty entertaining:

    It seems like it should be possible for congress to compel Mueller to print off another copy of the report and send it if Trump files the report next to his taxes and plays dumb. I'm not too worried about the public seeing it, they're not going to read it anyway.

  • trillbilly is a good podcast.

  • edited April 2019

    /me watches news.

    "Oranges of the report." "The oranges, you know the, the beginnings of the investigation. The oranges of the investigation"

    /me turns off news.

    Goddamnit. No. Too easy. There no goddamn way that happened. Its a troll right? Right? ...right?

    /me looks at political posts on social media.

    Memes galore. Some are funny, but there are dozens that are insensitive to alzheimers sufferers or people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

    /me sees those become talking points for the right within hours.

    Troll or not, I see that the left has managed to sabotage itself again. It won't stop. Its going to be a long 6 years.

  • edited April 2019

    Finally listened to the Sam Seder/Michael Tracey thing. That was entertaining, just as advertised! Although Seder took some cheap shots I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it.

    Just for the hell of it I went and looked at Michael Tracey's twitter afterward, expecting him to defend the appearance. Meh. I'm half convinced his followers exist to troll him.


    The Taibbi interview was alternately amusing and aggravating. A few bits i'm still working out how I feel about them. :)

    I will say that my favorite bit was when they were discussing Trump's crimes... They investigated the ONE crime he didn't do... The only crime! He has probably even committed the weird crimes that are still on the books! He's probably washed an Irishman on Sunday, or loaned a falcon to a friend for the purpose of falconry

    Probably the next favorite bit was the spy speak.

  • Seder was mad from the start. When he said Tracey wasn't his first choice to talk about russiagate as he's introducing him, and then lets him respond awkwardly, ouch.

    I don't always agree with chapo, but I'm always entertained. They did an hour on Meghan McCain recently where they wonder aloud how many managers she has asked to speak to in her lifetime.

    I checked out trillbilly as well, good stuff filious. I liked his jab at himself "I sound like Matthew McConaughey, but I look like Jake McConaughey."

  • they have a lot of really good chatter. One of my favorites was "gentrifiers running 5ks support beto"

  • Barr is holding a press conference tomorrow morning. Supposedly about Mueller, if i believe MSNBC.

    Prediction: Barr declares a lack of confidence in Mueller, lays out why he feels that Mueller is unreliable/compromised or why his investigation should be invalidated.

    Of course, supposedly Barr and Mueller are old friends, if I believe the liberal blogs. So I'm probably off-base. Probably. But I can't imagine that the treatment of the report has been good for their friendship.

  • https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/politics/barr-mueller-report-presser/index.html

    His discussion of the redactions and the unredacted report going to congressional leadership is reassuring. The drawing of conclusions on Trump's innocence was unnecessary and seemed only to appease his boss.

  • edited April 2019

    In addition, earlier this week, the President's personal counsel requested and were given the opportunity to read a final version of the redacted report before it was publicly released. That request was consistent with the practice followed under the Ethics in Government Act, which permitted individuals named in a report prepared by an Independent Counsel the opportunity to read the report before publication.

    According to CNN, the Ethics in Government Act expired 20 years ago. There's no legal basis for Trump's personal counsel being able to read the report before it was released publicly.

  • I'm a little happy that I was wrong about declaring 'no confidence'. But it was still very strange. Very strange.

    The report as presented is interesting to skim through though.

    What I have taken out of it so far can be summed up like this: Every single person who's name appears in the report is garbage, and every single one of them should probably be on trial for something. Don Jr and Jared are even dumber than we thought. Almost no financials were investigated since they weren't in scope. 14 other investigations are still ongoing. The national security report may be even larger and will have to be requested separately.

    I missed this, but saw it on multiple sites now: Mueller also recommends that Trump be prosecuted criminally the moment he is out of office. Which is actually surprising.

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