Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[THE_WIZARD_]

Wag The Dog

[Dr. Strangelove]

Two very good articles related to the Michael Cohen investigation that I'd encourage all to check out.

The first is by NRO's Andy McCarthy. He's expressed skepticism from the start that the Mueller probe would find anything significant. But he thinks anyone connected to Cohen should be very worried indeed.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/michael-cohen-investigation-serious-peril-for-trump/

The second believes it's likely Cohen will bring down the Trump Presidency and details all the shady foreign business dealings the Trump Org has had. Cohen was the Organization's top intermediary. I'd give examples of his shady business partners but they're listed in the article. Safe to say, money laundering and bank fraud are common offenses. It's a long lengthy piece but worth reading.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/michael-cohen-and-the-end-stage-of-the-trump-presidency

[Kapture1]

Lol, the New Yorker

[CGVT]

*yawn*

[Dr. Strangelove]

Agent Orange is going on a tear this morning...lot of pent-up rage

Slippery James Comey! LIAR! Many lawyers are telling me Attorney-Client privilege is dead! Fake news! Comey bad! BAD! He has book on sale, don't buy it! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED a great military term!

[iam416]

Definitely agree with McCarthy. Co-sign.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Democrats have a 17 point edge in having "high interest" in the mid-terms over Republicans. That's identical to the margin Republicans had in 2010 when they swept to power in the House in a tidal wave.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/15/democrats-have-big-enthusiasm-edge-over-gop-for-midterm-elections-nbcwsj-poll.html

[Dr. Strangelove]

Definitely agree with McCarthy. Co-sign.

Small note on Cohen...the Judge was apparently not at all amused that he couldn't be bothered to show up to court on Friday and was widely photographed smoking cee-gars wit da boys instead. He's been ordered to appear tomorrow else risk contempt.

[Da Geezer]

Hey Geezer, give us specifics as to why the warrant agaisnt Cohen is totally unjustified,. Since you've read it and all and are very knowledgeable about it and totally aren't just relying on Mark Levin talk radio and FoxNews talking points.

Heh, here is what I said:
"While the WaPo prints orgasmic articles about what could have been found during the 5:30 am unannounced break in and search of Cohen's apartment, office, and hotel room, might someone here consider the harm to civil liberties and rule of law that such a statist move represents? Talent? I haven't seen you say a word about what this portends.

During my rather long lifetime, everyone has said that you cannot cross the FBI or the CIA or they will ensure your destruction. Now it is happening. Do we really want an FBI Director to have such power as J Edgar Hoover or James Comey has exercised?

Stan, what do you think about the Government taking the attorney-client privileged material, during a raid? C'mon man, you cannot believe this is in any way just unless someone is trying to find the location of a nuclear device or something extraordinary.

I have not given an opinion as to the warrant against Cohen, and I don't listen to Levin. What I do know is that attorney-client privilege is a vital feature of American jurisprudence.

Might I also point out that the President gave a full pardon to Scooter Libby, a man unjustly convicted of naming Valerie Pflame. Ultimately, it was determined that Richard Armitage released the name. But the Special Council, Fitzgerald, had to nail a skin on the wall, so Libby it was. You young progs think this is all great fun, but another Special Prosecutor will come after one of your ilk soon enough. Special Prosecutors, or Special Masters, or Special Councils should all be eliminated because they invariably become a lawyer with unlimited resources looking for a crime of any kind.

Was there any collusion by the Trump campaign with the Russians? Of course not. Did someone pay off a bimbo to keep quiet, probably yes. But that was not the purview of the SC.

Was there criminal activity in the Whitewater affair by Bill and Hillary Clinton? Who cares? Did Clinton lie under oath and suborn perjury? Of course. But that was not the purview of the SC.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I would suggest reading the Andy McCarthy piece. There's a strong chance that Cohen engaged in criminal activity on Trump's behalf and that is NOT protected by attorney-client privilege, no matter how much you insist that it should be. Maybe even criminal activity that has little to do with Trump. Cohen's emerging more and more as your typical mob lawyer.

Trump's lawyers filed a motion tonight to block government review of all material seized at any of Cohen's residences. They want Cohen himself and Trump to be the judge of what's privileged material and what's not.

Because that's what mafia guys always get to do. They get to pick and choose what the Prosecutors are allowed to see and everything else is 'protected'. I imagine this'll be addressed at the hearing tomorrow afternoon.

EDIT: I'm also going to suggest that Prosecutors are going to be doing a hard look at the relationship between Cohen and this Keith Davidson guy who used to represent both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. And Davidson also represented the woman that Elliott Broidy impregnated. What a coincidence! Yes. the three women 'somehow' all got directed to hire the same attorney in a sea of attorneys. And Davidson appears to have made some very, very cozy deals with Cohen. If Davidson and Cohen have been colluding to defraud clients, even if that's not illegal, there's some Bar Associations that might be interested.

[iam416]

The typical recourse is in camera review - the Judge looks at the documents and determines what the other side can see. Fairly routine in a dispute regarding privilege.

I’m still not sure how paying hush money is illegal, but it sure seems more likely to bear fruit than collusion.

[Hannibal]

It's funny how Trump's guilt and criminality is so obvious and yet the only hope for finding any of this obvious criminality is to execute an unprecedented raid on the President's lawyer. The first candidate in history to have his campaign wiretapped (as the result of a fake dossier paid for by the political opposition) is now the first President to have his lawyer raided -- as part of an investigation that has nothing whatsoever to do with why Trump was being investigated in the first place. The embarrassingly hilarious Russia collusion narrative has pretty much been memory-holed by the media and the Left. It's now about whether Trump paid some bimbo hush money (LOL who cares?). The ridiculous Russia collusion narrative has unraveled so spectacularly that Democrats, the media, and the Cuckservative wing of the Republican party are now desperate to find something -- anything -- that justifies Robert Mueller's job. He cannot come back empty-handed (but I guess he already isn't because he found a few Russians who trolled Facebook and Twitter LOLOL).

Anyhow, nothing legally of value will come from it. The purpose of the raid wasn't too find evidence of criminality that can actually be used in a court of law. It is to obtain something that can be leaked to the media and then used as fodder to either impeach Trump or drive a further wedge between him and the rest of the party. Of course, the rest of Washington will feign outrage over the leaks but nobody of consequence will ever be brought to justice for them.

[Kapture1]

It's funny how Trump's guilt and criminality is so obvious and yet the only hope for finding any of this obvious criminality is to execute an unprecedented raid on the President's lawyer. The first candidate in history to have his campaign wiretapped (as the result of a fake dossier paid for by the political opposition) is now the first President to have his lawyer raided -- as part of an investigation that has nothing whatsoever to do with why Trump was being investigated in the first place. The embarrassingly hilarious Russia collusion narrative has pretty much been memory-holed by the media and the Left. It's now about whether Trump paid some bimbo hush money (LOL who cares?). The ridiculous Russia collusion narrative has unraveled so spectacularly that Democrats, the media, and the Cuckservative wing of the Republican party are now desperate to find something -- anything -- that justifies Robert Mueller's job.

Anyhow, nothing legally of value will come from it. The purpose of the raid wasn't too find evidence of criminality that can actually be used in a court of law. It is to obtain something that can be leaked to the media and then used as fodder to either impeach Trump or drive a further wedge between him and the rest of the party. Of course, the rest of Washington will feign outrage over the leaks but nobody of consequence will ever be brought to justice for them.

I agree. NYPost has already reported that there were no emails between Cohen and Trump. Funny how quickly the leaks have hit over the last week.

[iam416]

A lot of sense being spoken. Hanni should post more often.

A bit of a comic break, the New Yorker took the time to publish this screed against Chick-fil-A: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/an...social_twitter

I think my favorite take is the one on the advertising. I couldn't spoof a #GentryProg any better if I tried.

Strangelove:

I promise I won't lump you in with those asshats any more. I need to come up with a new hashtag for the Ds that aren't fucking pretentiously nuts. #ReynoldsburgLiberals. No, not catchy. Will continue to work up something. Try to get wait with too much anticipation.

[AlabamAlum]

The new AI program AlphaZero will make DeepBlue (and all the various iterations) look like a drunken patzer playing pick-up games at the North Platte VFW. Scary good.

I knew you would all want to know.