::Nelson laugh::
In keeping with your theme, I confess I was amused the other morning when I was driving to the coast on a little-used country route and spied a small sign: “Pie, 3.14 miles.”
And there was. 
I viewed this as a pro forma motion, so not surprised at Judge Jackson’s ruling. I’m glad her ruling was written with such care, though. She clearly understood the political need to explain her reasoning.
Indeed; it was obvious he was going to do it after Jackson threw out his initial civil suit. I believe Manafort is trying essentially the same argument in the Eastern District of Virginia; I’m curious to see Judge Ellis’s reaction and whether or not he mentions this ruling as persuasive.
Me, too.
A lot was made of Ellis’s “lecture” to the prosecution during the hearing, but I didn’t find that terribly indicative of how he will rule. Lots of judges like to beat up both sides in a case just to demonstrate they grasp both sides of an issue and wish to appear impartial. Unfortunately, I thought Ellis’s comments made it seem more like he’d prejudged Mueller’s intentions.
People went a little unjustifiably nuts over Ellis (A Reagan appointee! OMG! :eek: ) but his questions were perfectly reasonable, and AAUI he has a bit of a reputation as a bench curmudgeon.
I have not found Manafort’s jurisdictional arguments to be in any way persuasive, and the most important part of Jackson’s ruling, which hasn’t gotten much analysis yet, is her point that even if Mueller’s appointment letter violated DOJ regulations (it didn’t) such regulations are purely managerial in nature and don’t actually create any rights or causes of action for the accused.
IOW, as I said thirty thousand posts ago, Mueller is a duly-appointed federal prosecutor with all the powers and discretion of any other prosecutor, and the scope of his office is only limited by Rosenstein’s managerial discretion.
The Senate Judiciary committee’s (which would be hard to dismiss as being part of a Democratic conspiracy) statement includes the sentence:
“The committee has obtained a number of documents that suggest the Kremlin used the National Rifle Association as a means of accessing and assisting Mr. Trump and his campaign.”
“Suggests”, eh? Really sticking their necks out.
'Course, for them to even say that much, they must have the weapon, the fingerprints, the video, and a signed affidavit from God Almighty countersigned by Gabriel. A miracle of anatomy, men who can shit without having guts.
Trumpdisclosed a greater than 100K reimbursement to Cohen in his new financial disclosures. Strangely, he plum forgot about that in last year’s disclosures. Unless he didn’t forget about it, and willfully omitted it. But, that seems impossible because it would be a crime.
The Government Ethics Office has sent a memo to Rod Rosenstein pointing out that he might want to investigate Trump’s financial documents which included the line showing he paid Cohen back for the Stormy payment.
Sometimes, amongst all the stuff you write that I just plum can’t figure out, you put out a gem that reaches levels of Shakespearean wit.
An now a side note of total inanity:
Just think about this for a minute: the NRA has been exposed as a money-laundering front for Russian election meddling. And that accusation is coming from Republican senators.
:eek:
This is huge. If nothing else, think how it could embolden non-NRA-toadie candidates. “Unlike my opponent, I only accept campaign donations from Americans.”
Perhaps this will cause many NRA members to reconsider their membership in the organization.
Or perhaps not.
Isn’t that the guy who painted the ridiculous Obama portrait with all bad shit going on around him?
ETA: Yup.
Are you kidding? Any second now some asshole will say, and others will repeat, “Fuck that they aren’t commies anymore and I’d rather help a Russian than a liberal; at least Russians like guns!”
Yes, I was kidding. Pretty much nothing will cause NRA members to desert the organization. NRA members have accepted the NRA’s unhinged rhetoric and open racism, so what’s a little campaign finance shenanigans? As long as people (well, white people anyway) can have as many guns as they want, all is well.
Your first sentence seems misinformed. The sentence you quote is apparently not from “*The Senate Judiciary committee’s (which would be hard to dismiss as being part of a Democratic conspiracy) statement *”, but rather from a Democratic minority report which criticized the majority as having failed to adequately investigate various angles, including this one.
Link, page 21.
Look how much taller Dickhead Donnie* is in that painting. How tall are those fellas in real life?
*(Yes, of course, Dickbleed Donnie has established that insulting nicknames for politicians is the honorable thing. He’s a real trailblazer. And a fucking liar.)
Just thinkin’, the Venn diagram of Artists and Trumpists has got to look almost like two separate circles… (well, if we specify GOOD Artists, they might be two circles that bounce off each other, carom around the room, try to get close and ricochet away again).
And I say that as an Art teacher. Even my Redneck Guns ‘n’ Camo students think he’s an idiot.
Norman Lincoln Rockwell.
(cryptic reference explained
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lincoln_Rockwell)