Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/14/2017

The scandal surrounding Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the “Russian influence” probe has widened. It’s moved far beyond Peter Strzok and a few other anti-Trump Democrat apparatchiks to encompass a large cohort of NeverTrumpers, who even before last year’s election formulated a plan to take down a possible President Trump.

In other news, a mob of African “youths” robbed tourists and violently fought each other on a public bathing beach near Melbourne.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Charles Low, Dora, JD, KS, Red Mike, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» “What the Hell is Going on?”: Trey Gowdy Absolutely Destroys Farcical Mueller Probe in Epic Monologue
» Alabama Court to Election Officials: Don’t Preserve Electronic Ballot Records
» Google is ‘Summoning the Demon, ‘Preparing the Way Towards ‘Artificial God’
» Liberals Use Social Media to Disgustingly Attack All White People in the Aftermath of Doug Jones Stunning Senate Victory
» Michael Snyder and Other Pro-Trump Candidates for Congress Are Freaking the Establishment Out
» Soros-Funded Journalism Comes to Seven States in 2018
» The FBI’s Trump ‘Insurance’
 
Canada
» A Toronto Doctor Promised to Help This Acid Attack Survivor. One Year Later, She’s Leaving Toronto With a New Esophagus
 
Europe and the EU
» Luxembourg to Further-Probe Jean-Claude Juncker’s Role in Spy Scandal
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Arabs Must Accept Jerusalem’s Status
 
Australia — Pacific
» Apex Gang-Linked Thug, 20, Spared Jail Despite Terrifying Series of Ice-Fuelled Jewellery Heists Told He Can Go on Holiday to Sudan While on Bail
» The Shocking Moment Gangs of Hundreds of Youths Rob Tourists and Brawl With Each Other in Violent Clashes on Melbourne’s St Kilda Beach
 
Immigration
» Michelle Malkin: ‘How Many More People Have to Die’ Before Congress Ends ‘Visa Lottery?’
» More on the “Dumb Deal” To Relieve Australia of Unwanted Migrants
 
Culture Wars
» Former Planned Parenthood VP Tina Smith Replaces Disgraced Pro-Abortion Senator Al Franken
» Gay Wedding Cakes Not a Constitutional Right
» Laurier University and the Transsexual Pronoun War
» MSNBC’s Reid: Rural Americans a ‘Core Threat to Our Democracy’
» University of Iowa Boots Christian Student Group for Requiring Leaders to Believe in Christianity
 
General
» Leading Astronomers: Oumuamua is ‘Alien Probe With Broken Engines, ‘ Could Have Hostile Intentions
 

“What the Hell is Going on?”: Trey Gowdy Absolutely Destroys Farcical Mueller Probe in Epic Monologue

If there is any remaining doubt in your mind that Special Counsel Mueller’s probe is anything but a farcical, politically-motivated witch hunt, then you’ll be summarily relieved of those doubts after watching the following exchange from earlier this morning between Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Presented with no further comment for your viewing pleasure…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Alabama Court to Election Officials: Don’t Preserve Electronic Ballot Records

Order points to cover-up

In a move blasted by voting rights experts as an affront to transparency, the Alabama state Supreme Court granted local election officials permission not to preserve electronic ballot records less than 24 hours before polls opened — records that could form the basis of a recount.

The Alabama state Supreme Court’s ruling overturned an injunction issued by a lower court in Montgomery, the state capital, which had ordered election officials across the state to preserve digital images of the ballots cast in the Senate race between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill appealed the lower court’s injunction to the state supreme court at 4:38 PM on Monday afternoon and the justices came back with their ruling at 5:18 PM — an usually quick turnaround time…

“People think that when they mark the ballots and they go into the machine that that’s what counted,” Duncan noted. “But it’s not, the paper ballot is not what’s counted. That ballot is scanned and they destroy [the ballots] after the election … If there’s ever an election challenge you need to have what was actually counted.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Google is ‘Summoning the Demon, ‘Preparing the Way Towards ‘Artificial God’

Google is setting the path towards a future dictated by artificial intelligence and has gone so far as to produce engineers dedicated to creating an “artificial god.” In addition, engineers at Google, Facebook, and the whole of Silicon Valley have failed to realize the potential consequences of their actions.

The latest prediction to surface from the tech world is that within as little as five years, artificial intelligence will further wipe away countless jobs from the job market. The study, produced by Redwood Software and Sapio Research, and released on October 4th revealed that IT leaders believe automation could impact 60% of businesses by 2022 and threaten jobs in the process. Also, the second biggest firm in the world, PWC, released a report suggesting a similar timeline; one in which people may need to practice and learn new skills — or be left behind as automation takes over.

Like an invading army Silicon Valley and tech companies around the world are set to threaten the livelihood of countless people across the planet as Artificial Intelligence begins to advance through the ranks of corporations throughout the globe. The advancement of technology has placed innumerous burdens on the mental health of many, and a study from the University of Illinois argues that high engagement with mobile technology is linked to anxiety and depression. Also, the millennial generation has replaced conversation with texts and thoughts with tweets. It’s safe to say, that technology, while extraordinarily beneficial in some applications, is exuberantly burdensome in others. By far the most worrisome addition in regards to technological advancement, however, is the worship of technology.

Now, from the mouth of the beast in Silicon Valley, an engineer has set forth an objective of creating an artificial godhead. While this may sound like something straight out of a movie, documents obtained by Wired.com, showcase one former Google engineers plan to advocate for the worship of technology.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Liberals Use Social Media to Disgustingly Attack All White People in the Aftermath of Doug Jones Stunning Senate Victory

Immediately following the stunning victory by Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race, liberals, including many “prominent” leftists, took to social media to attack white people as a whole over the fact that some whites voted against the pro gun-control former prosecutor.

That’s right, in the new America, the hard-left openly mocks and insults all white people simply because a certain percentage of them do not vote for liberal candidates.

Keep in mind that BOTH candidates were white yet that did not stop the race baiting left from conducting a vile series of attacks on the white race while pretending that they are the civil rights heroes.

As I’ve been prone to say lately, you truly cannot make this stuff up.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Michael Snyder and Other Pro-Trump Candidates for Congress Are Freaking the Establishment Out

Literally dozens of pro-Trump candidates are running for seats in Congress in 2018, and the establishment is really starting to freak out about this. If having Trump in the White House was a nightmare for them, how are they going to respond once his allies start taking control of Capitol Hill? For a very long time I have been saying that the 2018 mid-term elections are going to be the most important in modern American history. They will inevitably be a referendum on Trump and his policies, and I believe that the American people will support Trump wholeheartedly.

Personally, I am running as a pro-Trump candidate in Idaho’s first congressional district. Trump supporters have been flocking to my campaign, and it is absolutely amazing how much momentum we have built up over the past few months.

At first my opponents were very polite to me because they didn’t see me as a threat. But then they started seeing numbers that showed how well I was doing, and now the claws are coming out.

It is funny how the attacks against me and other pro-Trump candidates around the nation sound almost exactly like the attacks that are constantly being hurled at Trump himself. But like Trump, we are refusing to be intimidated and we are keeping our eye on the ball. Our campaign website is getting the most visits of any of the candidates, our Facebook page has the most likes, and we won the most recent online poll by a very wide margin. We need your help to keep the momentum going, because the establishment is likely to continue to hammer me with attacks up until election day.

Other pro-Trump candidates are getting a lot of heat as well. One of the candidates that I really like is Tom Campbell of North Dakota…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Soros-Funded Journalism Comes to Seven States in 2018

Propublica has received millions of dollars from left-wing billionaire George Soros

Soros-funded journalism is coming to seven states in 2018, thanks to ProPublica. The liberal journalism nonprofit announced on Dec. 9 it had chosen journalists in Louisiana, West Virginia, Oregon, New Mexico, Indiana, Illinois and Florida to receive year-long stipends to pursue ProPublica-approved investigations.

Propublica has received millions of dollars from left-wing billionaire George Soros and other liberal foundations like the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It began operations in 2008 with a $10 million grant from the liberal Sandler Foundation. The Local Reporting Network project itself was funded by a $3 million grant from an undisclosed donor.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The FBI’s Trump ‘Insurance’

More troubling evidence of election meddling at the bureau.

Democrats and the media are accusing anyone who criticizes special counsel Robert Mueller as Trumpian conspirators trying to undermine his probe. But who needs critics when Mr. Mueller’s team is doing so much to undermine its own credibility?

Wednesday’s revelations—they’re coming almost daily—include the Justice Department’s release of 2016 text messages to and from Peter Strzok, the FBI counterintelligence agent whom Mr. Mueller demoted this summer. The texts, which he exchanged with senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page, contain expletive-laced tirades against Mr. Trump. Such Trump hatred is no surprise and not by itself disqualifying. More troubling are texts that suggest that some FBI officials may have gone beyond antipathy to anti-Trump plotting.

[…]

Public confidence isn’t helped by the continuing Justice and FBI refusal to cooperate with Congress. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who supervises Mr. Mueller, toed the Mueller-FBI line on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee. He repeated FBI Director Christopher Wray’s preposterous excuse that he can’t answer questions because of an Inspector General probe. And he wouldn’t elaborate on the news that Nellie Ohr, the wife of senior Justice official Bruce Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS, which hired Mr. Steele to gin up his dossier.

[…]

over 1200 comments.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

A Toronto Doctor Promised to Help This Acid Attack Survivor. One Year Later, She’s Leaving Toronto With a New Esophagus

Popi Rani Das came to Toronto because of a promise.

It was made nearly two years ago in a cramped hospital room on a top floor of the Acid Survivors Foundation Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Das, then 27, had spent seven years in that room, in pain and often sick, after her husband gave her a glass of acid to drink.

The clear, odourless liquid — Das had thought it was water — burned away her entire esophagus and most of her stomach. She needed the electrical outlet in her hospital room to power a blender so she could squeeze pureed meals into a feeding tube inserted into her small intestine.

Since she could no longer swallow, it was the only way she could eat.

Doctors in Bangladesh said she had little chance of getting better…

           — Hat tip: Red Mike [Return to headlines]
 

Luxembourg to Further-Probe Jean-Claude Juncker’s Role in Spy Scandal

A judge in Luxembourg has launched a criminal investigation into whether officials working for the country’s former Prime Minister and current European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, tried to conceal his role in a spy scandal. Until he stepped down from his post in 2013, Juncker, a member of Luxembourg’s Christian Social People’s Party, was Europe’s longest-serving elected leader, having served as Prime Minister since 1995. His resignation from his post came after a parliamentary inquiry found that the country’s State Intelligence Service (SREL) had engaged in serious criminal activity.

The investigation was launched in 2012, after a local newspaper alleged that SREL’s Director, Marco Mille, employed a surreptitious recording device disguised as a watch to record a private conversation with Juncker. This led to revelations that the SREL had carried out countless illegal wiretaps around the country and that it maintained extensive secret files on over 13,000 citizens and residents of Luxembourg…

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Arabs Must Accept Jerusalem’s Status

By Haisam Hassanein

On Wednesday, the Trump administration declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is the right decision and long overdue to repair the historical injustice and recognize the reality of many decades that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people. As God told Moses in the Koran, “O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you.”

As an Arab American who grew up in the Middle East, I was taught from a young age that Jews have no right in Jerusalem and the whole of Israel is Arab land. Hence, I am astonished to hear some U.S. pundits objecting to Trump’s move on the grounds that it makes it less likely a Palestinian president will sign a document dividing Jerusalem or even acknowledging the Jewish right in the holy city.

It is also always puzzling to witness Arab officials lie about their acceptance of Jewish rights in Jerusalem. I was taught at school, mosque and on television that Jews have no historical claim to and no rights in the holy city.

As my Arab history teacher once said in middle school, “Jews do not belong or own one meter in Jerusalem.”

A clear recent example took place on Wednesday following Trump’s announcement: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Muslim and Christian heritage in the holy city without mentioning anything related to Jewish rights…

           — Hat tip: KS [Return to headlines]
 

Apex Gang-Linked Thug, 20, Spared Jail Despite Terrifying Series of Ice-Fuelled Jewellery Heists Told He Can Go on Holiday to Sudan While on Bail

Akon Mawien was high on ice and armed with a hammer when he helped steal about $200,000 worth of goods from multiple jewellery stores.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

The Shocking Moment Gangs of Hundreds of Youths Rob Tourists and Brawl With Each Other in Violent Clashes on Melbourne’s St Kilda Beach

Gangs of hundreds of youths of African appearance have gone on a beachside rampage in Melbourne, brawling and robbing locals and tourists.

           — Hat tip: SS [Return to headlines]
 

Michelle Malkin: ‘How Many More People Have to Die’ Before Congress Ends ‘Visa Lottery?’

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” conservative commentator Michelle Malkin slammed Republicans and Democrats in Congress for failing to end the so-called diversity visa lottery program, an immigration policy that’s been under fire for being exploited by foreign terror suspects.

Malkin attacked the GOP-led Congress for not having already ended the visa lottery, where 50,000 visas are randomly given out to foreign nationals from a multitude of countries. Those countries include ones with known terrorist problems, such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Yemen, and Uzbekistan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

More on the “Dumb Deal” To Relieve Australia of Unwanted Migrants

[…]

There are two things (among many things) I want you to take note of in this account.

First, there is now a debate raging about whether Australia’s detained (failed) asylum seekers from countries now banned by the Trump Administration will be grandfathered in because the deal was first made by Obama in 2016 (and agreed to by President Trump!).

The star of this account is a Rohingya Muslim (most detainees are single Muslim men who tried to break into Australia by boat).

The Rohingya of Burma/Bangladesh are not on the banned list, so expect to see more of them entering the US (as other Muslims from places like Somalia, Iraq and Syria are kept to a minimum).

But, I just couldn’t believe this admission:

Did she really mean to say this?

“If the U.S. isn’t going to accept people from certain countries, they should make that crystal clear now so Australia can make alternative arrangements,” said Elaine Pearson, the Australia director for Human Rights Watch. “There’s no time to waste — these refugees have acute mental health problems made worse by years of uncertainty and insecurity on Manus and Nauru.”

Deal gets dumber every time we hear about it.

Is your town ready for your New Americans: Muslim men who have mental health problems from years in detention with only other men who will be free to roam your neighborhoods!…

[see links at URL]

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

Former Planned Parenthood VP Tina Smith Replaces Disgraced Pro-Abortion Senator Al Franken

Smith opposes informing women about abortion risks, complications and alternatives

With disgraced pro-abortion Senator Al Franken stepping down from his Senate seat after being exposed of multiple counts of sexual harassment, Minnesota is getting a new Senator. Unfortunately the state as merely replacing one abortion activists with another.

Today, pro-abortion Gov, Mark Dayton replaced Franken with a former executive of the Planned Parenthood abortion company, Tina Smith.

Leo LaLonde, President of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, was disappointed but not surprised by the news.

“Gov. Mark Dayton’s appointment of Tina Smith to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate is overwhelmingly disappointing to the state’s pro-life majority. An abortion industry insider, Ms. Smith is a former vice president of Planned Parenthood in Minnesota, the state’s leading performer of abortion. The choice of Ms. Smith is particularly egregious to Minnesota’s pro-life citizens, who will have no representation in the Senate,” he told LifeNews.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gay Wedding Cakes Not a Constitutional Right

One wonders what would have happened if the case currently before the Supreme Court did not involve the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop refusing to be coerced to violate his religious conscience by providing a wedding cake for a gay wedding that celebrates gay marriage, but rather a Muslim bakery being forced to bake a cake decorated with a cartoon picture of the prophet Muhammed covered with bacon sprinkles.

Creative expression in any form is free speech which, along with freedom of religion, is supposedly protected in the First Amendment. People should not be compelled to write or say things they do not believe or agree with, whether it be in the form of ink on paper or frosting on wedding cakes.

In this case, as Jordan Lawrence writes in National Review, the line between providing a service and expressing a view are being deliberately blurred by liberals to destroy both free speech and religious liberty:…

The Masterpiece Cakeshop case is different than saying a hotel or restaurant cannot refuse service to people based on their sexual orientation. Baking is a wedding cake is a creative process and you cannot force a baker to create something that violates his religious beliefs anymore than you can force a writer to put on paper opinions he or she vehemently disagrees with,

That gay marriage is a looming threat to religious liberty as observed here, and may lead to an era of religious persecution not seen in since the days of the Roman Empire, are seen in the chilling redefinition of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, and the Senate’s only lesbian.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Laurier University and the Transsexual Pronoun War

Wilfrid Laurier teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd, never anticipated she would be at the center of a media firestorm. Earlier this year, Shepherd showed her class an excerpt of a panel discussion on gender neutral pronouns and Canadian anti-discrimination law. The panel featured five guests, including Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson.

After one or more students complained, the university reprimanded Shepherd for creating a toxic environment. When Shepherd leaked secretly recorded audio of two professors and an administrator reprimanding her, the university faced widespread condemnation and apologized to Shepherd.

Those unfamiliar with Canadian politics will likely be scratching their heads at this point. In 2016, a bill was introduced adding gender identity and gender expression to the list of protected categories under Canadian anti-discrimination law. On June 19th, 2017, that bill became law.

When the bill was first proposed, Jordan B. Peterson emerged as one of its most vocal opponents. Peterson, and others, argued that the bill would penalize people for not using newly created gender-neutral pronouns such as Zir to refer to “non-binary” people.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

MSNBC’s Reid: Rural Americans a ‘Core Threat to Our Democracy’

MSNBC host Joy Reid sounded the alarm bells […] when she tweeted that rural Americans pose a “core threat to our democracy” because a large majority of Americans is expected to live in the 15 largest states in 2040.

Reid’s tweet was in response to a Wall Street Journal column in which author Gerald Seib imagines how population shifts will to a disproportionate representation in the Senate in the future.

“Because of the way the Electoral College works, two of the past three presidents first won office while losing the popular vote. And David Birdsell, dean of the school of public and international affairs at Baruch College, notes that by 2040, about 70 percent of Americans are expected to live in the 15 largest states. They will have only 30 senators representing them, while the remaining 30 percent of Americans will have 70 senators representing them,” Seib wrote.

Reid’s solution is one that many liberals and Democrats have proposed and that is the elimination of the Electoral College which they now consider outdated.

           — Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]
 

University of Iowa Boots Christian Student Group for Requiring Leaders to Believe in Christianity

I’ve been telling you for some time now that the movements for gay rights and gay marriage aren’t really for the benefit of homosexuals at all. They’re a prop. What these movements are really about is creating a platform for an all-out attack on the Bible and on Christianity. The strategy is to so marginalize any moral objection to homosexuual sex that simply believing the Bible — which is clear on the subject — gets you excommunicated from polite society.

When the Supreme Court’s liberal wing plus Anthony Kennedy imposed gay marriage on the entire nation, Justice Kennedy claimed in his opinion that gay marriage would have no negative impact whatsoever on the rights of anyone else. That is manifestly false, as Justice Kennedy himself discovered last week when the Supremes had to hear arguments about whether a Christian bakery owner can be forced by the state to bake a cake for a gay wedding against the principles of his faith.

No negative impact on anyone’s rights, eh?

Another way this is playing out is via the nondiscrimination policies of public universities. In the brave new world, you are not allowed to adhere to any set of beliefs that doesn’t approve of homosexual sex. If you do, you will face sanction. And that’s what happened at the University of Iowa to a student group called The Business Leaders for Christ. As you might expect, this group requires anyone who seeks a leadership position in the group to adhere to the teachings of the Bible. It’s a Christian group. Christians believe the Bible and base our entire lives on it. This has been going on since about 28 A.D., give or take.

But that is no longer OK at American institutions like the University of Iowa:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Leading Astronomers: Oumuamua is ‘Alien Probe With Broken Engines, ‘ Could Have Hostile Intentions

A leading astronomer studying the origins of the space object known as Oumuamua has come out declaring it’s an alien probe with broken engines. Dr. Jason Wright claims that Oumuamua’s movement is that of a craft that has lost power to its engines.

           — Hat tip: Charles Low [Return to headlines]
 

10 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/14/2017

  1. Gay wedding cakes. Again.

    Here’s my take on it.

    Discrimination against people because of whom they are is wrong.
    Discrimination against people because of what they WANT isn’t.

    Meaning, if a “Christian baker” refuses to sell a birthday cake to a gay person, because the gay person wants a birthday cake for (say) his nephew’s birthday, and otherwise sells birthday cakes to all, that’s discrimination on the basis of whom the customer is.

    If the same “Christian baker” refuses to sell “Eid el-Fitr” cakes, gay wedding cakes, cakes celebrating 20 years in government service, or whatever other message he doesn’t like, and refuses to sell them to ANYONE, regardless of whether they are muslim, gay, or government workers, that’s not discrimination. It’s simply a refusal to provide a product selection suitable to the wants of the above-mentioned groups, by not selling the product that they want at all. To anyone.

    To force them to “accomodate” isn’t actually forcing them to not discriminate. It’s forcing them to vary their product selection. Any other logic also means that bakers aren’t free to refuse to bake nazi-themed cakes.

  2. The Swamp has Trump mired in legal entanglements as NK prepares a nuclear launch with the help of Red China. Gotta wonder if it isn’t ALL part of the same, one, plan? We’ve created monsters in East Asia and now have a vested interest in their survival.

    • Assuming you’re correct, Sam, a nuclear attack on the US by North Korea would be met by a counter-strike, killing much of China’s population by radiation poisoning, if not the immediate effect of the blasts. How would this serve China’s interests?

      • PS When (not “if”) N Korea implodes, there will be millions of people trying to escape the shortages of essential goods, fleeing to the north (China) or the south (S Korea). So it’s in China’s interests to maintain the status quo, not only because their version of “communism” (actually closer to National Socialism) is quite different from the odd “monarchy” (rather like Cuba’s) of NK, but because they don’t want to have to deal with the problem.

        I don’t envy the S Koreans either; it is likely to be harder for them than it was for W Germany to absorb the DDR.

  3. Let me suggest an answer to Mr. Gowdy’s question by going back to the Valerie Plame case. It started when a retired State Department employee, who had been one of those who were in charge of the physical plants of our U.S. embassies, was sent to Niger to determine if Sadaam Hussein had purchased yellow cake uranium from that country. He made his report to the Bush administration, that yes, the uranium had been purchased. Then after they had made an announcement to that effect, he wrote an Op-ed claiming that the information was false.

    A reporter named Robert Novak published the information that a CIA analyst named Valerie Plame had been the one to recommend that Wilson (her husband) be sent to Niger. This set off a most almighty squawk since it is against the law to publish the name of a CIA agent (that is stationed overseas). Since it seemed obvious that Bush administration officials were the guilty parties, the relevant Justice department career lawyer, a man named James Comey, appointed a special prosecutor. The man he appointed was an allegedly apolitical former colleague named Fitzgerald. The two main targets of the investigation were Karl Rove and “Scooter” Libby. Rove, from the beginning said that he had never told anybody her name. Libby was all over the place in his answers. According to the Wall Street Journal opinion piece that I read on the subject, he was the one who talked with the most people about the matter, and the author believed that he was an honest man who was simply having trouble remembering what he said to whom and when..

    When all the dust settled, it turned out that Novak’s original source was a progressive (I think the name was Richard Armitage). Armed with this information, Novak called Rove and had a long talk with him about policy initiatives that he knew interested him, and then mentioned the Plame matter in passing. Rove replied, “Oh, you know about that too.” This gave Novak the needed conformation.

    Notice that neither of Fitzgerald’s targets was guilty of the original non-crime. The agent in question was stationed in the wilds of Langley, not overseas, so the law did not apply to her case. Fitzgerald used the contradictions in Libby’s testimony to weave a narrative that got him convicted or perjury. The author or the WSJ opinion piece (It was written around 2007, and I haven’t been able to find it.) naturally asked the question, why did they (Comey and Fitzgerald) go after Libby? Well, back in the Regan years, when they were doing something similar to a lower level Regan official, Libby was a hotshot young lawyer who effectively snatched the prey from their teeth. Thus we have Deep State creatures playing the same game over the years at higher and higher levels, using whatever they can get to stick against those whom they see as a danger to their habitat.

    Mueller is an allegedly moral man who is also known to be a good friend of Comey. He was also head of the FBI during the massacre of the Branch Davidians under Koresh by the ATF. According to Derek Hunter of Townhall.com he called the relevant people to plead that these ATF agents were good family men who he hoped they would treat with consideration. Precisely what Trump was accused of doing with regard to Flynn. And now he was calling it possible obstruction of justice. Hunter ended by saying that he didn’t know what crimes Flynn might be guilty of, but he was willing to bet that it was nothing in the same league as burning children alive, as those ATF men had ended up doing.

    Of course the approach is basically the same as that used by the Soviets. Lots of very complicate laws that are difficult for anyone to understand accompanied by very selective enforcement. Flynn was charged with lying to the FBI, Hilary and Huma were also known to have lied to the FBI. Were they charged?

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