Manafort split verdict says nothing on Trump, Russia, and the 2016 election

Byron York  "What does the Paul Manafort divided verdict -- guilty on 8 fraud charges with a mistrial declared on the remaining 10 charges -- mean for the question of whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to fix the 2016 election?

"Nothing.

"Of course, everyone knew that going into the trial.

"Special counsel Robert Mueller was assigned to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump." Mueller's authority also covered "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation," plus any issues that might involve obstruction of the investigation. Prosecutors said before the trial that they would not mention the word "Russia" at all during the proceedings, and that was pretty much the case. They also barely mentioned the name Trump, although it came up briefly in the charges that Manafort gave a Chicago banker a spot on a Trump campaign advisory board in exchange for approving an iffy loan.

"Mueller did not allege any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign, and none were revealed at the trial.

"That's not to say the public did not learn anything from the Manafort trial. Indeed, if nothing else, outsiders got a glimpse into what Washington influence peddlers have gotten away with for decades." . . .

As soon as Manafort is sentenced, he will face another and separate trial in Washington D.C.  . . . "He has been found guilty on five counts of filing false tax returns from 2009-2014. He was also found guilty on three charges of bank fraud. He faces a maximum 80 years in federal prison for his crimes and will be sentenced on August 28, 2018. The jury deliberated for four days." . . .

Ocasio-Cortez, the all-wise queen of the economic world

Daily Wire  "On his industry-leading talk radio show Monday, Rush Limbaugh discussed the young Democratic candidate who's become the face and voice of the Democratic Socialist wing of the party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and her instantly viral appearance on "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah.
" 'The really important thing about this to understand is this woman has a degree in economics from Boston University," said Limbaugh before playing the clip of her "Daily Show" interview. "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a graduate from Boston U, she has a degree in economics, and it’s clear she doesn’t know anything. If this level, this degree of complete economic ignorance can get you a degree in economics from a major American university, then something is drastically, terribly wrong."

"He then played Ocasio-Cortez's explanation for how she proposes we pay for the "Medicare for all" and "free college for all" and "guaranteed" living wage for all that she is promoting. Here's her response:

OCASIO-CORTEZ: This is an excellent, excellent question — and, in fact, there’s a lot of back-of-the-envelope stuff based on our values. So, for example, I sat down, ummm, with a Nobel Prize economist last week. I can’t believe I can say that! It’s really weird. But one of the things that we saw is, if people pay their fair shore — share. If corporations and the ultrawealthy… For example, as Warren Buffett likes to say, if he paid as much as his secretary paid, 15%… If he paid a 15% tax rate, if, uh, corporations paid… If, uh, we reverse the tax bill but raise our — our corporate tax rate to 28%, which is not even as high as it was before. Um, if we… If we do those two things and also close some of those loopholes, that’s $2 trillion right there.

"Somehow managing to contain himself for that long, Limbaugh finally weighed in." . . .
Then offered his  "line-by-line rebuttal". Then this follow-up:
Rush Mocks CNN's Response To Him Mocking Ocasio-Cortez

This woman represents a bunch of people who do not like America the way it is and they want to transform it into something it was never founded to be. That’s why we can’t debate them. We’re not even on the same field, folks."

Ocasio-Cortez Visits Former Employer, They Just Went Out Of Business Because Of Policies She Supports
. . . "Ocasio-Cortez’s former employer, The Coffee Shop in Union Square, has shut down after a 28-year run due to high rent and an ever-increasing minimum wage — a policy that Ocasio-Cortez strongly supports." . . .

Jimmy Kimmel, Maxine Waters and, and...John Brennan

Townhall

Brennan's security clearance has nothing to do with his free speech  "By now, we're all familiar with former CIA Director John Brennan's unhinged tirades against President Trump. But in that activity, he simply joins the chorus of Jimmy Kimmel, Maxine Waters, and others too numerous to mention. Each of these loudly and continually announces one Trump sin or another, always without evidence.

"Last week, President Trump revoked John Brennan's security clearance. Brennan immediately declared that it was "part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics." Moments later, over a dozen former intelligence officials denounced the President's action as "suppressing free speech." Somehow, the ability to see highly sensitive information is "speech." That's curious. I thought speech was something that came out of you, not something you took in.

"Since the First Amendment is so critical to our freedom, it's necessary to revisit what it says.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

"That's it. Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech. In short, you can say anything you want, short of inciting riot or the famously misquoted "shouting 'Fire!' in a crowded theater. That is, you cannot say things that would commonly be expected to cause physical harm to others. You also cannot say things that are deliberately defamatory, since libel and slander cause harm to reputations." . . .

'Unhinged' Omarosa says Trump will start a race war

Cartoonist Ben Garrison certainly has his take on her.

Rick Moran  "Is former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman just trying to sell books, or has Trump-hate sent her off the deep end?

"Omarosa said on MSNBC that Trump's efforts to help the black community are "disingenuous" and actually accused Trump of wanting to start a race war.

"Huh?

The Hill:

“We have a lot to lose right now,” Manigault Newman said on MSNBC’s “Politics Nation,” referencing Trump’s appeal to African-American voters during the 2016 campaign.

“I believe he wants to start a race war in this country,” she added.

Manigault Newman has made a flurry of media appearances over the last week to promote her new book, “Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House.” In the book, she recounts her time in the White House and on the Trump campaign, and accuses the president of being a racist.

Manigault Newman, who rose to fame on “The Apprentice” and was fired from the administration in December, argued she was as an advocate for the black community during her time in the White House.

“Every single time he had some type of issue with the community, I was there,” she said. “The one thing I realized once I was there was he was disingenuous to his commitment to diversity.”

Manigault Newman said Trump is a “performer,” and that he’s more interested in using minority leaders as props than for in-depth conversations. 

"I hate to point this out but I thought only Kluxers and skinheads believed that a race war is coming. Is Omarosa living a secret life as a Klansman that we know nothing about?

"Probably not. So she's either a paranoid loon or is hustling her book. Or maybe both. Her shameless self-promotion since her book came out has no doubt helped propel the tome to #1 on Amazon. But at what cost to her dignity and reputation?

"Maybe she needed the money."

CNN and NBC should eat this up.

The Double Standards of Postmodern Justice

Our institutions offer no principles to explain why some people’s lives are harmed or destroyed, and others’ lives are not.

Victor Davis Hanson

"The New York Times recently hired as a writer and board member Sarah Jeong. The Times knew that in recent years Jeong had posted a series of unapologetically racist anti-white tweets. She had offered wisdom such as “#CancelWhitePeople” and expressed hatred for males.
"Yet when the Times discovered less graphic versions of such tweets from newly hired technology writer Quinn Norton earlier this year, the newspaper immediately fired Norton.
"The message of disparate treatment was that what bothers the New York Times is not racism per se, but who is the racist and who are her targets.
"Over at The Atlantic, there are also no ostensible rules concerning who is and is not fired, and for what reason. Essayist Kevin Williamson was allegedly dropped by The Atlantic for his prior incendiary suggestion that abortion might warrant the death penalty.
"Fine, it is a free country, and private companies can fire whomever they chose. But The Atlantic had no problem hiring writer Julia Ioffe. She had been let go at Politico for tweeting that President Trump might have engaged in incest with his daughter Ivanka.
"Again, the impression conveyed is that The Atlantic is not so concerned with inflammatory speech as with calibrating at whom the venom is directed. If Ioffe had tweeted the same perversities about Barack Obama and his daughters, The Atlantic surely would have fired her immediately.
" 'The American people are losing confidence in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation not just because after 15 months, he has not charged anyone with Russian collusion — the original reason he was appointed. Instead, the pushback is due to the growing sense that rules are made up ad hoc." . . .

OK, Is Being A Double-Talking Idiot Justification Losing Security Clearance?

Ethics Alarms  “ 'And for Mr. Trump to so cavalierly so dismiss that, yes, sometimes my Irish comes out and in my tweets. And I did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and nothing short of treasonous, because he had the opportunity there to be able to say to the world that this is something that happened. And that’s why I said it was nothing short of treasonous. I didn’t mean that he committed treason. But it was a term that I used, nothing short of treasonous.”

"Oh."

"What?"

"To Maddow’s credit, she did point out that “nothing short of treasonous” means “committed treason,” but to her shame, she did not press Brennan to make sense out of this self-contradiction, perhaps because that is impossible, and also because she isn’t about to be properly tough on a Trump critic who was put on the air to bash the President. The whole interview shows Brennan to be an arrogant, presumptuous partisan warrior. I think my favorite quote is when he says

"I gave him a year. I said, maybe he is going to adapt and change. But it seemed like day after day, week after week, month after month, things just got worse. He did not live up to I think what Americans expect of the president of the United States, to speak with great forcefulness but to do it with integrity and honesty. Mr. Trump, time after time, I think has really just disappointed millions of Americans, which I’m trying to give voice to.

And so, I know a lot of people think a former intelligence official shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t consider what I’m doing as political at all. I never registered as a Republican or a Democrat, you know, for my entire life. But I feel such a commitment to this country’s security and its reputation.

"How generous of John Brennan, arbiter of the Presidency, to give our elected President a year. That’s better than the Congressional Black Caucus, I guess, which boycotted his inauguration and gave him no time at all. The Constitution, however, gives an elected President four years.

"Brennan’s comments have shown that he should never have been trusted with security clearance in the first place."

Brennan Threatens To Sue Trump; Giuliani Makes Him Think Twice  . . . "Giuliani went on to suggest that he would question Brennan about alleged intelligence failures that took place under his leadership, including the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, a terror attack which killed 19 U.S. servicemen while he was CIA station chief in Riyadh. He also alluded to Brennan’s 1976 vote for the Communist Party USA’s presidential candidate, Gus Hall." . . .

ANOTHER SLIPPERY ATTEMPT TO PAINT TRUMP AS A RACIST

Powerline  . . . "The truth, obvious to anyone who has been paying attention, is that Trump is an equal opportunity attack dog (so to speak). He has labeled media outlets like the Washington Post “the fake news media.” These media outlets are run by Whites and rely on mostly White reporters and opinion writers. The truth, obvious to anyone who has been paying attention, is that Trump is an equal opportunity attack dog (so to speak). He has labeled media outlets like the Washington Post “the fake news media.” These media outlets are run by Whites and rely on mostly White reporters and opinion writers.

"No one suggests that Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media are “racially tinged.” Yet it would be just as plausible to make that claim as it is to assert that Trump’s disparaging statements about particular Blacks are.

There’s a name for this assertion: Fake news.

Why is the mainstream media so intent on portraying Trump as a racist? Mostly because the people who write and report for it hate Trump.

However, I’m not sure that hatred alone can explain why organs like the Post are labeling clearly no-racial statements as racist. There’s probably more going on.

I suspect that the Trump-hating mainstream media is panicked by indications that the president is more popular among, or at least viewed more favorably by, Blacks than past Republican presidents and presidential contenders have been. Democrats cannot afford to see an erosion in their support among Blacks in presidential elections. Hence, the all out, over-the-top effort to brand Trump a racist.

"No one suggests that Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media are “racially tinged.” Yet it would be just as plausible to make that claim as it is to assert that Trump’s disparaging statements about particular Blacks are.

"There’s a name for this assertion: Fake news.

"Why is the mainstream media so intent on portraying Trump as a racist? Mostly because the people who write and report for it hate Trump.

"However, I’m not sure that hatred alone can explain why organs like the Post are labeling clearly no-racial statements as racist. There’s probably more going on.

"I suspect that the Trump-hating mainstream media is panicked by indications that the president is more popular among, or at least viewed more favorably by, Blacks than past Republican presidents and presidential contenders have been. Democrats cannot afford to see an erosion in their support among Blacks in presidential elections. Hence, the all out, over-the-top effort to brand Trump a racist."

Yes, many of Trumps’s statements seem racist, but it’s just a plain fact that they’re not.  . . . "But, you may be asking, isn’t it racist when he talks about banning Muslims from entering the U.S. and saying that illegal Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals? Nope. Why? Because:

• Muslims aren’t a race
• Mexico isn’t a race . . .

Did Trump Really Save America From Socialism?

Between Watergate and Contra-gate, Democrats charged 83 Republicans with criminal conduct and many went to prison. So far, Republicans have not held even one Democrat accountable for crimes committed that are arguably far more damaging to our democratic process than these two Republican scandals.

The American Spectator

For certain he’s saved us from Obamaism and its socialist designs.

"With the appearance of Death of a Nation, the must-see film by Dinesh D’Souza, a debate has begun as to the role Donald Trump plays in American history. D’Souza argues persuasively that Trump has saved America from socialism while the left and Never-Trumpers insist he has set America back. However, the events of the last few years seem strongly to support D’Souza’s view.

Americans need to understand that the shocking refusal by a major political party to accept the results of the last election and the onslaught of verbal, legal, and physical assaults the Democrats have engendered, are not specific to Donald Trump. In other words, it is now clear plans were made by Obama to exploit federal power during his presidency to give the Democrats control of our nation — perpetually. It really didn’t matter if Trump was the GOP nominee or not. In other words, the chaos we are witnessing today would not have been much different had, for example, Ted Cruz won the presidency.

Sure, the issues and the phony narratives would be different but the intensity of the attacks would be the same and the illegal politicizing of Federal agencies would probably still have occurred. There is little doubt the Dems would have created phony narratives customized for whoever the nominee was, similar to how they customized the Russian collusion hoax for Trump. This is what the establishment Republicans and the Never-Trumpers don’t understand. Long before Trump’s candidacy, total war was declared on the GOP when the Obama administration strategically created the conditions to make its progressive revolution a permanent one. Or so they thought.

First, let’s dump the naivety. Obama has been fully in charge of both the pre- and post- election attacks on Trump. He is the leader of the resistance. The idea that his appointees at the FBI, DOJ, IRS, CIA, State Department, etc., would risk committing multiple felonies without direction from him or his henchman is simply not believable as many long-time political leaders and observers have stated.

Kimmel: That Christian cake baker looks like a woman, and his job is gay; Kimmel's friends in the media sink to even lower levels

These are the sort of comments that even many of us Trump-supporters resent this President for making.

Washington Examiner  “ 'America's conscience” took a break Thursday evening from acting as a teary-eyed advocate for all that is just and decent.

"In the place of ABC’s late-night Jimmy Kimmel: The "Man Show" Jimmy Kimmel. The only thing missing were the women on trampolines.

"Kimmel took aim Thursday at the Christian proprietor of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado. For the late-night funny man, the takeaway from Jack Phillips' refusal to bake a cake celebrating a trans person's transition is that the cakemaker might be gay, and that he sure looks gay.

"“It’s funny because this is a guy who spends all day, every day, meticulously designing flowers out of icing. His whole life is gay, OK?” Kimmel said to laughs. “I don’t know if the wrong cake might bring that to life or what.”

"The late-night host turned his attention to the shop owner’s physical appearance, adding for good measure that Phillips is “the totally straight cake baker."

“ 'You would think that someone who looks like the Reba McEntire’s version of Col. Sanders would be more sympathetic to gender identity issues,” the host laughed." . . .

3 Disgusting Ways the Media Twisted the Truth in the Colorado Baker Transgender Cake Story  "On Tuesday night, the Christian legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit to again defend the Christian baker Jack Phillips, who was targeted by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for refusing to create cake art celebrating a message that conflicts with his faith. Two months earlier, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor in a similar case.

"The mainstream media, unable to ignore the story completely, twisted it out of recognition instead.

"So, what actually happened? In 2012, Phillips refused to create an artistic cake celebrating a same-sex wedding, but offered the gay couple anything else in his shop. For this, the commission persecuted Phillips for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

"The same commission defended another baker's right to refuse to create cakes that stated a message with which she disagreed. Worse, the commission compared Phillips' actions to Nazi apologists, even though Phillips' own father fought the Nazis and liberated a concentration camp in World War II." . . .

A few days later, another caller from a number associated with the name "Scardina" asked for a "birthday" cake for Satan, complete with a red and black theme and an image of Satan smoking marijuana. Phillips denied this cake as well.
On June 4, 2018, the day the Supreme Court issued its decision, someone emailed Phillips claiming to be a "member of the Church of Satan." The email requested a "three-tiered white cake. Cheesecake frosting. And the topper should be a large figure of Satan, licking a 9" black Dildo [sic]. I would like the dildo to be an actual working model, that can be turned on before we unveil the cake."
Scardina's law practice states, "We take great pride in taking on employers who discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and serving them their just desserts."
Scardina complained to the Colorado commission and Colorado found probable cause that Phillips had discriminated against Scardina on the basis of sexual identity. On Tuesday, the ADF filed a lawsuit to block Colorado's attack.

Media Backs Efforts to Destroy Mexican Restaurant That Let Sessions Dine

Independent Sentinel "The owner of El Tiempo Cantina was forced to shut down his eatery’s social media presence and publicly apologize two weeks ago after Stalinist Democrats harassed his family for allowing Attorney Jeff Sessions to dine at his Texas restaurant.

“We’ve actually received many, many, many insults and many, many complaints, and even some death threats,” Roland Laurenzo, the president of Laurenzo’s Restaurant Group said in a phone interview with station KHOU.

His family is currently being harassed.

HE HAD TO APOLOGIZE FOR DOING NOTHING WRONG BUT THE BOYCOTT CONTINUES

“We honestly didn’t get it — we didn’t see that we were doing something wrong,” he added. We didn’t even have any idea that this was going to happen. This has been a total surprise for us. It has been extremely shocking to our family.

"The poor man thinks he did something wrong.

"The owner’s son posed with Sessions, proud that a government official was eating in his restaurant. That sent the Stalinists into a frenzy. They have been boycotting this man for doing nothing wrong, even after he apologized.

"The media is now backing this boycott." . . .

Not ever a great nation, say today's Democrats

No longer the party of FDR who said America would be the "arsenal of the free world" in fighting Hitler and Mussolini

American Thinker

Cuomo: America 'was never that great'  . . . "Cuomo made the comments in reference to President Trump's popular "make America great again" slogan. 

" 'We’re not gonna make America great again," Cuomo said at the event, where he signed anti sex-trafficking bills into law. "It was never that great." 

" 'We have not reached greatness," he continued. "We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged."

" 'We will reach greatness when discrimination and stereotyping against women, 51 percent of our population, is gone," he said. "And every woman’s full potential is realized and unleashed and every woman is making her full contribution. When that happens, this nation is going to be taken even higher.' " . . .

Trump blasts Cuomo for saying 'America was never that great'  . . . "Later, Trump's campaign weighed in, too, saying in a statement that Cuomo "showed his true, pessimistic colors when he defamed America as a country that was ‘never that great.’" . . .

Anti-Trump “Comedian” Michelle Wolf’s Netflix Show Cancelled

Legal Insurrection  "Only a few months ago, “comedian” Michelle Wolf gave a cringe-worthy performance at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner.  During that disastrous bit, Wolf crossed several lines of decency, particularly in her personal attacks on White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  So onerous were her remarks that even leftists commended Sanders for her dignified behavior during Wolf’s onslaught.

"That was in April, news broke yesterday that Netflix has cancelled Wolf’s show after only ten episodes.  Apparently, many of those associated with the show found out about it on Twitter.

Watch Wolf at the White House Correspondents’ dinner:" . . .

"You know it’s bad when the likes of MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Andrea Mitchell offer support for Sanders.

Mika Brzezinski

✔@morningmika

Watching a wife and mother be humiliated on national television for her looks is deplorable. I have experienced insults about my appearance from the president. All women have a duty to unite when these attacks happen and the WHCA owes Sarah an apology.

. . .