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| CNN image of Rod Rosenstein accompanying this report. |
The CNN item linked above reported on Rosenstein holding a formal press conference to tell the world that his independent counsel could prosecute Manafort over Ukrainian hijinks. What else was then also obvious, in terms of election tampering by foreign operatives?
PRESENTLY: Yes, Trump after the Mueller extravaganza aimed at saying foreign influence in our internal affairs is
Absolutely flat learning curve. He should be impeached for being so insensitive to messages. Yet he got away scott-free in playing footsie with Bibi, so he figured, it is all illusion and Joe is not his friend. What a pile of Trump.
Impeach him for having not even a flat learning curve but a downward sloping one. Or not? If he gets away with this latest peccadillo what's the lesson for him? For us? Is there no bound to the crassness and savagery of the man?
And then -- the 800 pound gorilla in the room -- Israel's repeated, indeed ongoing interference in internal U.S. affairs. WTF was Mueller's mandate from Rod Rosenstien? Take the investigation wherever it leads is recalled as the presented gist of the mandate; but somehow it failed to lead to Netanyahu. Who were these people aiming to protect and who to deceive; and have they succeeded?
One clear short-term answer. Derail Biden and the corporatists behind him. Then Bernie or Warren gets the nomination and at least the reach of Trump's Ukranian solicitation error is neutralized.
And again, if the Biden family did something crooked, we, the public, deserve that information to be reported in full and suitable punishment to ensue. Otherwise, what have we become as a nation? All of this is beyond the pale. (For the etymologically inclined - fit that to Trump's savagery)
The original Rosenstein authorization letter:
The Comey testimony referenced in the order was posted online in transcript form by WaPo.
Mention is made of 28 C.F.R. 600.4(a). However, consider 28 C.F.R. 600.4(b), online here, and sit in amazed wonderment how Mueller could have had a blind eye to Israeli effort, via Netanyahu, with Romney as well as with Trump. How? Why? At whose orders was Israeli interference outside of jurisdiction, or was it gross negligence by the multi-million-dollar Mueller team?
The investigation did go beyond the original Russia inquiry. Beyond Russia, Manafort was jailed for Ukraine lobbying (without registering as a foreign agent). Michael Cohen was jailed for election law breach involving bimbo payments, and/or for tax law mischief. Both such heads on the wall represent a flyspeck compared to the Israel lobby wanting to push around the U.S. government, with success in the effort. When AIPAC sessions break for individuals to go to the Hill to lobby as constituents, shouldn't they have to register as agents of a foreign power, unpaid agents but agents nonetheless; i.e., agents roaming the halls of Congress tugging sleeves on behalf of Israel?
It is crystal clear. This from AIPAC 2018,
Ester Kurz: AIPAC's lobbying agenda this year is focused on three core issues: providing Israel with much-needed security assistance, opposing Iran's regional aggression and nuclear ambitions, and opposing boycotts of Israel, which also threaten U.S. companies.
Marvin Feuer: Which brings us to our first message for Congress. The United States must provide vital security assistance to Israel. This is the foundation of our work together, lobbying for the support Israel needs to defend itself by itself. Annual security assistance is the most tangible manifestation of American support for the Jewish state. For decades, America has understood that it is in our national interest that Israel has the resources it needs to respond decisively.
Brad Gordon: America depends on Israel as the one stable democratic ally in the Middle East. Both countries share intelligence, technology, and so much more. But instability grips the Middle East and Israel faces growing security threats, requiring her to invest more money in sophisticated and expensive weaponry.
To the north, Israel faces Hezbollah in Lebanon, with an estimated 150,000 missiles and rockets capable of hitting every part of Israel. And in Syria, Iran is cementing its military presence ever closer to Israel's border. To the south, Hamas controls Gaza, where it is digging more and more terror tunnels into Israel. And ISIS-affiliated terrorists roam the Sinai Peninsula.
Ester Kurz: Israel relies on our help to meet near-term threats, like rockets from Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as longer-term threats, like a nuclear armed Iran. To help meet these threats, on Tuesday, we will ask lawmakers to fully fund $3.3 billion in security assistance to Israel, $500 million in cooperative missile defense funding and to support the overall foreign aid bill.
Further, we will ask lawmakers to co-sponsor the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, bipartisan legislation just introduced by Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Ted Deutch, and Senators Marco Rubio and Chris Coons. Yeah. They deserve a lot of credit.
This bill supports agreed-upon funding levels and it dramatically strengthens U.S. cooperation with Israel in many areas, including enhancing and expanding Israeli-based American war reserves stockpiles, which the U.S. can share with Israel in an emergency.
Marvin Feuer: This brings us to our second message for Congress. For over 25 years, AIPAC has been instrumental in bringing attention to the threat posed by Iran. We have worked with successive administrations and Congresses to peacefully address the Iranian nuclear threat.
[...] Marvin Feuer: Now, let's turn to our third message for Congress, the need for America to fight economic boycotts against Israel by the United Nations and other international governmental organizations. Almost every day, Israel faces unfair criticism and attacks that seek to stigmatize, delegitimize, and isolate the Jewish state. Syria's human rights crises grip our globe, yet Israel is the only country the UN Human Rights Council scrutinizes every time it meets.
Brad Gordon: This issue became more pressing in 2016 when the council ordered the preparation of a database of companies conducting certain business beyond the 1949 armistice line, including East Jerusalem and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. And in January 2018, the UN human rights commissioner for – the UN high commissioner for human rights threatened 206 companies, including 22 American companies.
These threats directly support the objectives of the BDS movement and can set back the cause of peace. Further, they could lead to international censure or worse for companies doing business with Israel and could deter others from engaging in any trade or investment in the Jewish state.
Ester Kurz: Tomorrow, we will ask both senators and representatives to co-sponsor the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, [...]
It is their aim and collective intent to influence Congressional decision processes. From the front of the hall they receive talking points. To go and lobby for a specific bill then presently before Conngress. They send out minions, with talking points!
There is flim-flam going around. All the hand wringing now about the dastardly Trump contacts and bullying of the newly elected Ukrainian head-of-state together with a near-universal institutional blindness among all toward Israel wanting to wrongly influence our elections beggars the imagination. Can there be much that rings as more phony than the Kabuki theater we are being served?
Was the entire point of the exercise to show the lobbying community and the governments of other nations, and their agents, how to do the influence game to a grotesque degree without consequence? Follow the Israeli way, and have a Get Out Of Jail card in hand?
_____________UPDATE_____________
If accepting the National Review view that Rosenstein gave Mueller a blank check to investigate anything and everything, then the blind eye toward Israel becomes more paradoxical.
Double standards always amuse and confuse. Beat those drums each of you who hung Ilhan Omar out to dry.
___________FKURTHER UPDATE____________
In terms of recent history, it seems the Clinton campaign via intermediaries, including hiding behind a law firm shield, engaged in solicitation of dirt about Trump from the Russians, again via a second intermediary in the "dossier" theater of the absurd; the second intermediary being the British national with ties to British intelligence.
So Trump targeted, Trump targeting Biden.
Where is the great substance of difference which justifies the present bellowing by Democratic Party ones, when earlier it was Republican ones bellowing over the dossier and FISA activities?
Either way, dirt digging was the motive and attempt, and whether one instance ends up more credible than the other depends on how much of this Ukraine stuff sticks onto the Bidens. Little of the dossier stuff proved to be really dirty dirt with factual proof backing it up. Hunter Biden, and money changing hands while dad worked international political levers seems grounded in fact, where denials exist but a belief that there may be circumstantial cause to disbelieve the denials is not unreasonable, as an inference. Hunter Biden did get substantial board of director fees and it seems he never, even now, knew jack-shit about energy markets, trends, practices, pitfalls or any other aspect beyond who his dad is. How was he worth what was being paid? And yet, overpaying a specialist can happen, where looking at professional sports salaries makes a stark and direct case for being worth whatever somebody willingly pays.
I still worry more about the Israelis because they not only try hard, but succeed. They have reached a critical mass. It is as with belief systems where the cut between a cult and a novel vigorous religion seems to be a numbers game. Joseph Smith was killed by ones believing he was a cult founder, which nobody claims today given today's Latter Day Saint numbers.