Mueller Investigation: Politics, Not Law Enforcement or Counterintelligence

 

 

The end game is the removal of Trump, either by impeachment or by publicly discrediting him and making his reelection politically impossible. Here’s what I’d be tempted to do if I were President Trump: I’d direct the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, including any Obama-administration collusion in that enterprise. I would make sure to call it a “counterintelligence investigation,” putting no limitations on the special counsel — just as with the investigation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been unleashed to conduct into Trump “collusion” with Russia. That is, I would not restrict the prosecutor and investigators to digging for specified criminal violations. Or, indeed, any criminal violations. I’d just tell the special counsel, “Have at it” — with unbound authority to scrutinize the negotiations surrounding the eventual Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

 

More @ NRO

2 New Papers: 92% Of Polar Bear Subpopulations Stable, Increasing…Inuit Observe ‘Too Many Polar Bears Now’

Via Billy

Most of the world’s polar bears live in Canada.  Hunters and elders from northern Canada’s native communities have been immersed in studying polar bear ecology for centuries.

In two new peer-reviewed papers published in the journals Ecology and Evolution and Polar Record, scientists record the observations and experiences of Canada’s polar bear “experts” — the community members who live side-by-side with these “sea bears” (Ursus maritimus).

According to scientists, no study has indicated that there is reason to presume that the perspectives of community observers are either suspect or incorrect.  In fact, there have been multiple occasions when traditional ecological knowledge gleaned from local populations accurately identified polar bear subpopulation trends before new scientific studies could be conducted to corroborate them (York et al., 2016).

The overwhelming conclusion from years of accumulated conversations with native populations about polar bears is that there is almost no connection between the long-term observations of polar bear ecology and the more recent claims that polar bears as a species are in grave danger due to climate change and thinning sea ice.

More @ No Tricks Zone

“White People” Food?

 

A July 2017 article from Buzzfeed.com, the hallmark of all popular wisdom of our time, was entitled, “15 Things You’ll Understand If You’ve Ever Eaten At A White Friend’s House.”[i] In the article, a series of snarky memes and illustrative pictures were meant to communicate the idea that “white people” don’t know anything about “spicing up” their food. In other words, food made in the houses of Caucasians is bland. This is an extremely common stereotype, probably best exemplified in recent memory by the “thanksgivingwithwhitefamilies” hashtag that was trending all throughout last year’s Thanksgiving season. There’s no doubt that the 2017 Thanksgiving season will see similar viral phenomena castigating perceived Caucasian culinary fare.

So called “white people food” can be difficult to categorize. If you do a quick Google search you will come up with any number of articles that define it either as low income, highly processed cuisine[ii] or as pricey, “urban rooftop garden” hipster fare[iii]. For the purposes of our discussion, we will go with the former and more common definition, stressing the idea of “blandness.” The assumption is that “white people” boil the flavor out of their food, don’t use or at least don’t know how to use spices and rely primarily on store bought, overly processed items without variation (for example, putting ketchup and mayonnaise on everything). This would be, at least in an American context, juxtaposed to African-American, Hispanic and other immigrant culinary fare that is brimming with delicious spice and flavor.  There are two fundamental flaws in this generalization. First, that the cultures and peoples who now embody what is defined as “white people” are not, at least at their roots, characterized by bland food. Second, that the generalization of “white people food” actually has nothing to do with ethno-cultural background, but instead is concerned with the suburban way of life.

More @ The Abbeville Institute

Rep. Jim Jordan: FBI Used Dossier to Wiretap Trump, Strzok involved, FBI Paid Fusion GPS

Via Billy

Find the Alabama: The Most Successful Commerce Raider in Naval History: Part 2 of 4

Via Mike

At the beginning of the War, the Confederate Navy, with only ten serviceable warships, was less than one-ninth the size of the Union Navy. How could a single Confederate commerce raider, the CSS Alabama, so terrorize U.S. merchant shipping companies and utterly frustrate one of the most powerful navies in the world?

By the end of February 1863, the Confederate cruiser Alabama was operating off the coast of northern Brazil. That month her crew boarded 31 ships that her Captain, Raphael Semmes, believed to be Yankee merchants, but only five of them turned out to be of U.S. registration. He burned three of these, bonded one, and ransomed one. The U.S. merchant captains had learned to avoid the busiest sea lanes where the Alabama might be lurking like a wolf for her next prize. After re-coaling at a Brazilian port, Semmes set sail for Cape Town, South Africa, a rich British colony and a more likely location for intercepting Yankee merchant ships.

More @ The Tribune

Senators 'have concerns' over Trump DoD pick who called US gun laws 'insane'

Via Billy

 

 A full bird before.  Big problem.

“I’d also like to, and I may get in trouble with other members of the committee, just say how insane it is that in the United States of America a civilian can go out and buy a semi-automatic assault rifle like an AR-15, which apparently was the weapon that was used,” Winslow said.

The nomination of Dean Winslow, President Trump’s pick to head the military health system, may be in jeopardy as the Senate Armed Services Committee continues a hold over his criticism of U.S. gun laws as “insane” and his advocacy of “therapeutic abortion services.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the committee chairman, said Thursday that members have not been convinced to lift their hold after Winslow, who is also a close friend of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, tried to explain his comments during a November confirmation hearing.

“He sent a correction letter to try to clear up comments that he made and there’s still members of the committee that have concerns,” McCain told the Washington Examiner.

More @ Washington Examiner

Invoking the specter of Nazi Germany, Obama warns against complacency

 

That’s what happened in Germany in the 1930s, which despite the democracy of the Weimar Republic and centuries of high-level cultural and scientific achievements, Adolph Hitler rose to dominate, Obama noted. “Sixty million people died. . . .So, you’ve got to pay attention. And vote.”

American democracy is fragile, and unless care is taken it could follow the path of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Mixed in with many softer comments, that was the somewhat jaw-dropping bottom line of Barack Obama last night as, in a Q&A session before the Economic Club of Chicago, the Chicagoan who used to be president dropped a bit of red meat to a hometown crowd that likely is a lot closer to him than the man whose name never was mentioned: President Donald Trump.

Obama's comments came after a series of playful questions from moderator and Ariel Investments President Mellody Hobson—in the great Batman vs. Superman debate, for instance, we learned Obama sides with Batman—before she eventually asked him what he's learned as a world citizen of sorts.

                                                               More @ Crain's

Trump’s DOJ Officially Steps In to Finally Bring Justice to Steinle Case

On Tuesday a federal grand jury indicted Jose Ines Garcia Zarate on immigration and weapons charges, giving prosecutors a new crack at the five-time-deported illegal immigrant who was acquitted last month of murder in the death two years ago of San Francisco resident Kate Steinle.

The grand jury specifically indicted Garcia Zarate “for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and for being an illegally present alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition,” according to a statement by the Department of Justice.

If convicted, Garcia Zarate — also known by the alias Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez — would face up to 10 years in federal prison, in addition to whatever state prison sentence he receives when he appears in court Dec. 12 to be sentenced for a weapons conviction he obtained in the Steinle case.

More @ Conservative Tribune

Ambassador on Deep State Attacks on Trump: This Is First Attempted Coup D'état in US History

Via Iver

Alan Dershowitz: Why Trump is right in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital

Via Billy

President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a perfect response to former President Barack Obama’s benighted decision to change American policy by engineering the United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Judaism’s holiest places in Jerusalem to be occupied territory and a “flagrant violation under international law.” It was Obama who changed the status quo and made peace more difficult, by handing the Palestinians enormous leverage in future negotiations and disincentivizing them from making a compromised peace.

More @ Washington Examiner

Grassley blasts Democrats over unwillingness to probe Clinton

Via Billy

Trey Gowdy Is Furious at Robert Mueller’s Embarrassing Investigation – Calls Probe ‘Embarrassing’

Soaked In Blood +4

Via Bao Nguyen Thien

 
ENLARGED