The Incalculable Damage of the Russia Hoax*

Democrats can't handle the truth  . . . "The real goal is to maintain uncertainty in the public mind, as much as possible, and undermine President Trump and his efforts to lead the country.  Democrats also hope to undermine his re-election and the down-ticket results for the GOP when Trump runs again.  They want to keep that cloud over his head as long as possible." . . .
. . . "I would think it's almost impossible to prove innocence in a case like this.  Fortunately for the Dems champing at the bit to investigate him, they don't actually need or expect to find anything (maybe Waters does) — only to make his time in office as difficult as possible by preserving doubts in the minds of their hopeful base.  Their continued failure will also be used to rally their voters in 2020." . . .

Rich Terrell

Dilbert's Scott Adams has a clever juxtaposition below, with a hat tip to Ann Althouse:

Kamala Harris Refuses To Recognize Findings Of Mueller Report 

"The temper tantrum continues."  . . .Video

*The Incalculable Damage of the Russia Hoax  . . . "President Putin has recently threatened a direct attack against the United States if we do not comply with his strategic approach to Europe and the rest of the world. And the Russian PR machine has really kicked in. Why are all his blustery nuclear threats, some real and others notional (fake) not being reported on?

"Instead of attacking President Trump with now proven “fake news,” our media need to grow up and focus on the real danger of Putin’s capabilities and intentions.

"Is President Putin diabolically smart or simply a psychopath?  Perhaps he is both, because by his direct action, the world is now a much more dangerous place as the former KGB officer creates a nuclear doomsday scenario backed by real Russian naval capabilities.

"And the American media establishment has been his unwitting (we charitably assume) partner."

A Little Schadenfreude

Below from Townhall

No Right to College for Illegal Immigrants

By Hans A. von Spakovsky and Caleb Morrison 

The Eleventh Circuit confirms: Universities don’t have to accept unauthorized immigrants, including DACA beneficiaries, as students.

. . . “ 'Lawful presence” is a classification that designates whether a person who is not a citizen is legally in the United States. It is a status enjoyed by green-card recipients, visa holders, and others.

"The plaintiffs in Estrada v. Becker claimed that DACA provides them with lawful presence, but the DACA memo explicitly states otherwise. It also says that it “confer[s] no substantive right, immigration status or pathway to citizenship.”

"Under federal immigration law, simply living in the United States for an extended period does not entitle one to lawfully present status — a fact usually overlooked by DACA advocates." . . .

Still Dreaming of Watergate II

Conrad Black

I cannot resist offering, however, the two stupidest comments I heard from the bloated dunciad of Democratic presidential candidates. Naturally, the grand prize goes to the vapidest person ever touted as a presidential candidate in my 63 years as an observer of American politics, Beto O’Rourke.

From left, Carl Bernstein, William Cohen, Bob Woodward, and John Dean talk at the Watergate complex on the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in.

. . . "Democrats Vying to Embarrass Themselves" . . .

"Of all the asinine and, at times, almost psychotic misstatements about the bone-crushing victory the president has won, the prize goes, with admirable historical symmetry, to John Dean.

"It was Dean who led the destruction of lawyer-client privilege in the Watergate debacle, and with it, of much of America’s claim to be a society of laws. Having been the corrupt source of many of the most fatuous illegalities in the amateur obstruction put forward by members of President Richard Nixon’s entourage, John Dean was the first rat down the hawser, denouncing his client, employer, and benefactor with contemptuous disregard for the truth and in the supreme demonstration of the evil of the American plea bargain system.

"This perversion of the justice system, more than anything else, has ensured that prosecutors in the United States, win a percentage of their cases about equal to those of North Korea and Cuba. They extort inculpatory evidence against the main target by threatening witnesses and give the denunciators immunity from perjury and a sweetheart sentence.

"Dean’s performance exceeds in venality even the antics of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, American history’s most successful fiction-writers. (At least Gore Vidal acknowledged he was writing historical novels.) Odious though Woodward and Bernstein are, irritatingly imperishable though they are, as far as I know they didn’t break any laws and didn’t dishonor a learned profession. (Having employed thousands of journalists for decades, I can attest that they aren’t part of a profession and few of them are learned.) . . .

Flashback: 50 Hollywood Stars Who Accused Trump of Treason, Collusion with Russia

Breitbart

"Left-wing Hollywood stars have spent the past two years spreading wild conspiracy theories about President Donald Trump and Russian “collusion,” with a slew of celebrities calling him a “traitor,” a “puppet,” a “thug,” a “urine-lapper” for Putin and predicting that he will be “in chains” soon.

"Many Hollywood stars made these accusations following Trump’s press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. Others accused Trump of treason for no apparent reason at all.

"Yet, according to the Attorney General William Barr’s letter to Congress Sunday, special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence whatsoever of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia during the 2016 election." . . .

jason alexander
@IJasonAlexander

George Costanza of Seinfeld

Trump wants to investigate SNL but not Russia. How does anyone - ANYONE - takes this small, pathetic comrade seriously?

Johnie Wayne Bergant responds with proportionate venom:

Alyssa Milano got some cheap publicity with her "death stare" at Judge Kavanaugh
My considered opinion: Milano is a trained actress, always aware of where the camera is. Knowing how a photographer would compose the photos of Judge Kavanaugh with his wife beside him, I strongly maintain she positioned herself so she would be there between them, assuming the pose of an angry accuser. Shame on Alyssa Milano as she relishes seeing this picture enlarged and carried by paid protesters whom she knows will cheer for her just as they cheer for the beloved wife of Bill Clinton. The Tunnel Dweller.

There should be a "Lemon Law" for news sources as well.

We can be sure of one thing: the perpetrators of the Russia conspiracy theory, the politicians and the journalists, will not police themselves. It will be business as usual unless voters understand that being lied to by powerful institutions is a lot more dangerous than “climate change.” Stephen Ryan

Stilton's Place

What Price Maddow?  "Right now, left-leaning mainstream media is getting flogged, and they deserve it for their dishonest reporting on the Trump/Russia conspiracy theory. Mass firings and a month of apologies by Jeff Zucker and Rachel Maddow would not be sufficient to mend the harm these organizations have done to America’s trust in news reporting.

"But the folks who truly deserve to be put in their place and totally humiliated are the viewers of these pretend news shows. At what point do the Wellesley and Williams-educated elites look in the mirror and accept the fact that they have been taken for fools? They have enabled progressive media to manufacture rotten journalism. They never turned the channel. " . . . "One thing we know: Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest eyeball-getter, isn’t penitent in the least":

A media reckoning that may be very, very costly  . . . "But my personal interest is in the most complex and nuanced suit filed on behalf of Don Blankenship, the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Joe Manchin. His suit asks for $12 billion! Talk about “the audacity of hope”!" . . . Are there going to be any consequences for the collusion hoaxsters?  . . . "Are there going to be any consequences for these duplicitous actors? My suggestion for the beginning of a proportionate consequence scenario would be for conservative media to identify these perpetrators as Russian Hoax Dupes or Russian Hoax Democrats, RHD for short. Any time one of these people makes a public statement for the next two years, let's attach the initials RHD to their name, so we don't forget who they are and the serious damage they've done to our democracy." . . . Glenn Greenwald Claims MSNBC Banned Him for Breaking With Collusion Narrative  "Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald said Monday night that he was banned from appearing on MSNBC due his skepticism regarding the charge that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to sway the 2016 election, which was championed by much of the network’s on-air talent for the past two years." . . . "MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment." . . . CNN comes out looking gross after federal charges filed against its 'analysts' Avenatti and Geragos

Appearing on CNN's "The Lead" on Wednesday, Avenatti said that he'd be qualified "because I have three things this president lacks: Brains, heart and courage." He added: "if [Trump] is re-elected, this country is in a world of hurt."

As collusion case collapses, Democrats seek obstruction  . . . "The playbook of Democrats has been obvious all along. They are merely weaponizing the investigative and prosecutorial functions of government for partisan ends, under the guise of “congressional oversight.” Moreover once Democrats tire of sermonizing under the capitol dome about the threat of obstruction, they will move along to his tax returns, business dealings, dangerously ample girth, or whatever else they can dream up." . . . Will anyone ever pay the price for the debunked collusion conspiracy?  . . . "So many questions remain unresolved. Who ordered this coup against Donald J. Trump, and who were/are the conspirators? What role did the Obama White House play in unmasking General Flynn and spying on Carter Page and potentially others? What lies were told by senior Department of Justice (DOJ) officials to the FISA court in warrant applications? How dirty were the many senior FBI officials who violated department rules by using fabricated evidence passed through the DNC, Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, Perkins Coie, and Christopher Steele to go after a sitting president?" . . .

Dark Angel Politics

The Late, Not-So-Great Mueller Investigation

Democrats Strzok out

Victor Davis Hanson

"It followed the Soviet style: ‘Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.’ "

"Had Hillary Clinton just won the 2016 election, there would have been neither a Mueller investigation nor much talk of Russian collusion.

 No Trump Victory, No Collusion Investigation

"A losing Donald Trump would have slunk off to left-wing and Never-Trump ridicule and condemnation — and no investigation about collusion.

A defeated Trump would have posed no threat to the 16-year Obama-Clinton progressive project. President Clinton would have been content to let her unverified but lurid dossier rumors hound Trump for the rest of his life, with Trump as the supposed “loser” who had tried, in cahoots with the Russians, to unfairly beat Hillary, though he pathetically failed even at that.

"Of course, a President Hillary Clinton herself may well have faced some Russian blackmail attempts. Kremlin fixers would have likely threatened to go public that their planted lies to Christopher Steele were gobbled up by President Clinton’s own private Fusion GPS hit team. In essence, the Russians would have claimed that they had fueled the dossier that wounded the Trump campaign — and expected some sort of quid pro quo, perhaps in Uranium One fashion. . . . Entire article here.

. . . "In the end, Mueller’s investigation really did prove to be a witch hunt, just as half the country came to conclude. It has probably forever ended the idea that a special prosecutor can be useful or fair. It has curtailed foreign-policy options and prevented the traditional American realist approach to Russia as a triangulating counterweight to China. It ruined the lives of innocents such as Carter Page and the reputations of dozens of others such as General Michael Flynn. It divided the country in its transparent violation of any sense of disinterested investigation and turned the idea of American jurisprudence into a version of the Soviets’ “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” And now that it is over, we should not forget what it wrought and those who empowered it."

Pictured: Democrats showing their "deeply troubled, concerned for America" expressions:

Jeremy Richman: Sandy Hook Victim’s Father Dies by Suicide

Heavy  "Jeremy Richman, 49, of Newtown, Connecticut, was found dead by an apparent suicide Monday morning.
Richman was the father of Avielle Richman, a first-grader killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. The massacre took the lives of 26 students and staff.
According to one report, the body of Richman was reportedly found in the stage area at Edmond Town Hall that is undergoing renovations." . . .

. . .

"According to The Middletown Press, police found a note at the scene, but have not said what was in it." . . .

. . . “The death appears to be a suicide, but police will not disclose the method or any other details of the death, only to state the death does not to appear to be suspicious,” police said in a Facebook post." . . .

Nothing has hit me as hard as the Sandy Hook children's massacre after which I wrote this:

Seeking an effective argument FOR gun control (Posted here after the terrible Sandy Hook massacre)  

The Tunnel Wall; Tuesday, December 18, 2012 Here, two respected writers discuss the case against taking away individual firearms from Americans. Yes, it is true that if guns did not exist everywhere in this nation those little children in Sandy Hook would be living right now and I only wish that were the case. But it is not and there are violent people out there in their thousands and they are armed; willing and lusting to watch innocent people die in bunches by their hands. How, exactly do you gun-control advocates plan to remove those weapons from their blood-thirsty hands?I will honestly look for a reasoned argument FOR gun control that contains effective means for keeping us safe from those who carry weapons illegally and are willing to do us harm. Cartoons showing crazed, wild-eyed gun owners don't wash.As yet, I have seen only politically correct, emotional responses to the issue that have no value other than simply making a politician look as if they are doing something. TD

Later in 2018 I posted this in the Tunnel Wall:

"Let's talk about gun control, shall we? 

After Sandy Hook, I hated guns and my emotions cried for them to all disappear; the image of terrified children being, well, you all know. 
But we know, too, that peaceful people and shop owners - the Korean store owners during the LA riots protecting their businesses comes to mind - will be the first to lose their protection. Those with children serving as policemen would dread the thought of them entering dangerous areas of cities like Chicago to try taking those guns away.
This nation has a myriad of evil people with guns who have no qualms about killing others because of the color of their skin or their clothes, their politics, their shoes, or, well, just because it's a certain day of the week.
I cannot help but blame the liberal left (redundant, perhaps) for creating a society  where we need weapons to protect ourselves and knowing now they want to take away that protection.Tell me again why the coach / security guard in the school at Parkland had no gun. The Tunnel Dweller

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Does Not Understand Capitalism or Socialism

Prager University "Economists agree: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does not understand socialism or capitalism. Andy Puzder explains the two economic systems and why capitalism produces wealth."

Hat tip to Jeffers MacArthur Dodge