JUDGE MULLS ORDERING FBI AND MUELLER TO SHUTUP

There's a certain irony in having a judge mull over a decision to order a gag for Manafort and the Mueller Inquisitors in the pending law suit against Manafort. As I understand it, absolutely everybody on Mueller's team is free to blab their heads off and do so without being held to account because that seems to be the way the Justice Department rolls these days but if Manafort or his legal team dare to attempt to put their side of the case in front of the public they are going to get slammed and sent to jail.

It's easier and easier to find the behavior of the Justice Department and the Courts is contemptible.

21ST CENTURY ROMAN POLANSKI

It looks like the queen-maker of Hollywood is about to go down for rape. In the fashion of other Hollywood scum finally snared in the nets of deceit and disguest, I suspect that Harvey Weinstein will decide later this morning to visit his very good friend Roman Polanski and enjoy an extended stay at his pied-à-terre in Poland. It's kind of disgusting how many of their "friends" stand by both rapists and continue to bleat about their artistic merits surely outweighing anything they might have done to girls or women some time in the past. After all, as Weinstein's very good friend Hillary is wont to say, "what does it matter now?"

NEVER THREATEN A MAN WHO HAS A GUN

They came to knock down his house because he built without permission. What happened then was exactly what I would expect if the same sort of bureaucrat came to knock down a citizen's house here. 

I remember reading about this back when it happened. I can't believe that they all just stood around after he pulled a gun and threatened them after they threatened him. You can see the reporters practically snuggle up to him after he pulls out the gun.

Derwentside District Council - abolished in County Durham's local government shake-up two years ago - refused to approve the development in a rural area made up of conventional farms. The council, which was keen to create an environment conducive to tourism, was also worried the bungalow represented a precedent that would unlock the door to other housing on land where it would not normally be permitted. 

Dryden lost his planning appeal to keep the bungalow, although the Government inspector who chaired the hearing said some of the other buildings could stay because of the time they had been there. 

The wrangle dragged on for several months with the council attempting to reach a compromise that would avoid the need to bulldoze the bungalow. The last suggestion was that Dryden modify the building and use it for keeping livestock, but he rejected this. 

Finally, councillors decided there was no option but demolition, and the date was set for Thursday June 20 1991. On the day media gathered with Dryden on the land with his friends and supporters. 

Dryden had a letter from the Planning Inspectorate, which he had fixed to his gate, indicating no action could be taken until an appeal had been heard. The letter had given Dryden the belief the council was breaking the law, even though there were no grounds for an appeal. 

Harry Collinson came to the gate, looked at the letter and told him it contained nothing to prevent the demolition. Dryden replied that 'you might not be around to see the outcome of this disaster'. 

Mr Collinson told Dryden he could have time to move things out of the building and he moved to a point in the fence where the bulldozer was to come through.
Dryden went to his caravan and picked up a First World War revolver, strode back to the fence and drew the weapon on Mr Collinson, whose last words were to the TV crew: 'Can you get a shot of this gun?' 

Dryden then fired at the fleeing crowd, hoping to get the council's solicitor, Mike Dunstan, but instead hitting TV reporter Tony Belmont in the arm and PC Stephen Campbell in the backside. 

Dryden had denied murder but was convicted after a trial and jailed for life at Newcastle Crown Court in 1992. He was denied parole in 2001 after it was felt he showed little evidence of remorse.

There is nothing worse than petty tyrants. I became familiar with them in school and later, after I bought my first house in a neighborhood with an HOA that could have given the NKVD tips on how to make friends and influence people. They all have this fatal character flaw. They don't ever think that somebody will resist their petty demands and take it to the limit if they think they have to. As I looked at Dryden pull the gun, I knew that he had reached his limit and was going to open fire.

CLIMATE DENIERS

It looks like the message is starting to filter out and the 'proofs' that the global warming klan offered up to show that their weather models were working out just as predicted are starting to show the cracks and flaws they have been papering over and ignoring for the last 20 years. The bloom is rapidly falling off the climate change rose and they have noone to blame but each other and Dr. Curry and the dirty rotten NOAA turncoat who let the cat out of the bag and proved that they have all massaged the data like its never been massaged before.

They got caught lying some more.

Two Global Warming Frauds Chained to NOAA Bouy and Abandoned at Sea

DEMOCRATS AND RULE OF LAW

This is why I thoroughly despise all democrats. They are quiet in the face of democratic tyranny and afraid of the mob. They believe in tyranny and domination of the party out of power at any price, at all costs.

A SIMPLE QUESTION

Every news story I looked at has a photo of the same blameless house.

In the interest of justice and public safety, shouldn't the photos accompanying this massive criminal conspiracy and hoax be of the women who made up and published this evil lie? I think so.

This house agrees

ONLY BLUE LIVES MATTER

I was struck by the dissonance. The commissioner of police says:

Obviously there is little or no regret when a police weapon is used to kill civilians.

ISLAM HAS ITS PLACE

yep.

RAVING MAD IN CALIFORNIA

I see that the People's Democratic Republic of Californiastan are legislating again in their ongoing endeavor to make the Republic safe for illegal aliens, public sector unions and elected politicians. They've come up with a crafty plan to ensure continued Title IX employment for life at every level of education in both the private and public arenas. All this in response to claims that not enough is currently being done about campus sexual assault accusations. "Yes-means-yes policies already define sexual consent in a way that will lead to more students being accused of sexual misconduct for non-criminal activities."

Two more bills currently in the California state legislature would aim to address the issue. One would require all of the state's universities – public and private – to disclose what disciplinary actions were taken against students accused of sexual assault. Another bill would require universities to indicate on transcripts when a student cannot re-enroll due to a suspension or expulsion.

I don't know why these people run in fear of the Feds and their iron barbed whips. If I was the campus administrator or university president I would dignify every accusation with the same response and have my people call the local police with jurisdiction and have them investigate each allegation. How can justice be better than that? We are all in search of justice, aren't we?

WILL THE IOC BE NEXT?

I see that the U.S. Justice Department indicted most of the FIFA ruling class for racketeering, extortion and unsportsmanlike conduct and had a lot of them arrested in Switzerland today. I can only wonder how long before they go after the International Olympic Committee for exactly the same crimes committed over the decades since the modern Olympics returned after World War II.

When you look at sports in this country it is pretty clear that just about every aspect of sports governance is contrary to the laws of this country. Everything from getting the citizens of a given locality to pony up the money to build sports stadiums they cannot use themselves to the rules governing the free agency of players to play for any team that will have them seems to violate the rights of the citizen.

How exactly did San Diegans end up on the hook for selling ALL the seats to Charger home games? How is it that if seats went unsold to the public, San Diego local government was compelled to buy those seats? Why, even when that happened were games blacked out on local TV if the stadium didn't sell out?

I don't have any problem with people supporting the local team and paying big bucks to park there, bigger bucks for tickets to the game and big bucks for the pathetic food and drink offerings available from the concessionaires that 'bought' the right to compel you to buy whatever they sell you at whatever markup they think they can get away with but I don't think I should have to pay to support the local team because somehow my local government put me on the hook to build some billionaire or consortium of billionaires a "free" stadium which also lets them pocket ALL of the money.

So yes Justice Department, when are you going to go after the NFL and Major League Baseball and the NBA? And what is you plan of action with regard to NCAA ball which gets away with exploiting talent without any pay whatsoever?

On the other hand, Justice appears uninterested in the pay for play access that Congressmen now demand as the price for listening to a constituent or interested party who wants legislative relief or action because we all know that the "donations" to the campaign are nothing more nor less than bribes.

ANOTHER MODEST PROPOSAL

In view of this, I would like to put forward another modest proposal. Ordinarily I would say it might require a Constitutional Amendment but with all the powers that we seem to have encumbered our various Executive Branch agencies, Legislative Branch non-watchdogs and Judicial Branch ignorers of the actual law, it shouldn't take more than a Memo for the Record:

The losing political party's Vice Presidential nominee must be appointed Attorney General and no power on earth can shift him out of that office unless the President is impeached or resigns.

Wouldn't something like that clean up the corruption that masquerades as the Justice Department?

I think so.

WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR?

It seems that New York's finest can't do their jobs without violence and won't do their jobs if the sheep fight back and use violence against them. Radley Balko puts it into perspective for us. The police have been ratcheting up the violence and the shootings in an orgy of panic fire, poor aim, poor judgement, and total and complete indifference to the safety and well-being of ordinary citizens.

NYPD traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses have dropped off by a staggering 94 percent following the execution of two cops — as officers feel betrayed by the mayor and fear for their safety, The Post has learned.

 It has helped contribute to a nose dive in low-level policing, with overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show.

Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.

Summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination also plunged 94 percent — from 4,831 to 300.

Even parking violations are way down, dropping by 92 percent, from 14,699 to 1,241. 

Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau — which are part of the overall number — dropped by 84 percent, from 382 to 63.

I don't condone shooting police, unless they really deserve it and there is no way on earth to bring them to justice. I think the police in America have lost their way and have declared war on the public. Why else do they need tanks, armored personnel carriers, machine guns, grenades and heavily armed SWAT teams?

Read the link to Balko and consider, he isn't making predictions there. He is merely inviting your attention to the things police do every single day in this country.

ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS

Doesn't it always look like this when the law moves?

But Frank Montoya Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI in Seattle during the case, defended the investigation techniques, which led to the arrest and conviction of a 15-year-old student.

“Every effort we made in this investigation had the goal of preventing a tragic event like what happened at Marysville and Seattle Pacific University,” Montoya said. “We identified a specific subject of an investigation and used a technique that we deemed would be effective in preventing a possible act of violence in a school setting.”

“Use of that type of technique happens in very rare circumstances and only when there is sufficient reason to believe it could be successful in resolving a threat.”

It's kind of like Assassination; nobody would do it if there was any alternative.

LIVING THE DREAM

Whenever I read these stories I am always struck by the basic underlying humanity and civilization of the landlords. There is the easiest way in the world to rid yourself of troublesome tenants. SWAT teams do it all the time when they smash into an innocent home, shoot the dogs, hogtie the residents, leave the premises open to vandals as they haul the accused off to jail. Innocent people who were shorn by the police because somebody gave them the power.

I'm not joking or fooling this time. I really do admire the civilized forbearance of long suffering landlords who don't just have a friend pick up the phone and dial 911 to report a murder rape, or even worse, a drug growing scheme in the rental property. SWAT would blow them out of there so fast it would hurt, and given our SWAT preferences, the renter would be dead or seriously wounded because, lacking any comprehension that they had committed a crime, they'd be most likely to protest long loud and hard up until a scared cop shot them 233 times, just to be safe.

I suspect that the owners are going to figure this out very soon.

Renters might think about just arming themselves. You're going to die in the 'crossfire' or 'mistaken' shooting so you might as well try to run the table on the bad guys. They'll kill you without hesitation or a moment for grace.

THROW THEM FROM A VERY GREAT HEIGHT

Sometimes, I get diverted by other news at the bottom of the news item I'm reading. It can be illuminating. How could I have missed this story?

Two kayakers who were injured after falling 200 feet over the face of the dam at Prettyboy Reservoir have been charged with trespassing. 

Paul K. Hare, 22, and Stephen D. Sparks, 21, both of Parkton, are charged with criminal trespassing and face $1,000 fines and one year in jail, said the Baltimore Environmental Police, which patrol the reservoir.

You get that these two young men, having already fallen 200 feet and lived, now face prosecution and up to a year in jail for....wait for it..... hold on.....

"Police said they were in a no trespass zone and had been boating without permits."

Yes, yes, I know, it's shades of Alice's Restaurant and the Group W bench.

One day, as a very junior officer, one might say, the most junior officer on board, I and another man went and visited with the Commander of the Bahrain Self Defense Force. I had been stamped with a co-lateral duty in addition to my primary duty as Auxiliaries Officer. In addition to my duties as Legal Officer for the ship, I also filled my spare time by serving as Middle East Force Postal Officer, Wardroom Mess Treasurer, Voting Officer...well, the usual sort of thing.

The visit I paid on the august commander of the Self Defense Force was to see if maybe he would be willing to let two of our usually very responsible sailors go forth from his country's jail. You know, as I think back on that day, I wonder what skids were greased before I ever left the ship. Can you imagine, seriously, sending an Ensign and the Engineering Department Master Chief to see the head of any other country's Self Defense Force (Police) with a nicely phrased respectful request to let our sailors go?

Thought not. We had nobody from the Embassy. We had no potentates and pontiffs. We had me and we had the man who wears the stars.

The general was exceedingly courteous and greeted us both as we came into his office. He got up from his desk and came around to shake my hand and to more vigorously shake the hand of Master Chief Meisberger. As he shook the Master Chief's hand he said, "at last, I meet the man who wears the stars!"

We sat down at his request and he sent for tea. We quaffed. We talked. We raised the unpleasant subject that brought us to his fine office that day. Was there I wondered, any chance of getting our sailors out of the hoosegow.

"Ah," he said. "Those poor men, they have just been released from hospital."

The thing was, they'd been snotty with a cab driver and they kicked his cab down by the souk. The cabby, naturally, took umbrage. He and the security guards from the Regency Hotel took down our sailors and called the police who, showed up, cuffed our men, tossed them in the back of a jeep and drove off towards the hoosegow.

They cuffed the guys with their hands in front. The younger one of our sailors suggested to the older one that maybe, when the jeep slowed down for a red light, that they jump out and run away. Which, both being drunk beyond reason, they did.

In Bahrain, one slows down to 40 mph for a red light. Only an idiot would stop at one.

They suffered an enormous number of broken arms and one of them broke his jaw when it hit the pavement.

The General gave my small request just an instant of thought before saying, "they have suffered enough. Of course you may take them with you."

That was the ample justice of one of the nicer emirates. Contrast with the justice one finds after falling over the dam in Maryland. I'd have said those two guys suffered enough. On the other hand, I'm notoriously easy on felons and lawbreakers.

That story happened just exactly as I said but can you imagine? The CO didn't go, the XO didn't go. The Department Head didn't go. Nobody from the embassy went. A single O-1 and an E-9 went to get those guys. Sure, the Master Chief had them all outnumbered but I cannot actually imagine this happening anywhere at all in the wide world in this day and age. It was, at the time, just about what I expected out of that miserable crappy co-lateral job.  On the other hand, I got to watch Captain Franklin D. Julian work himself up into a towering rage before he held Captain's Mast. That really was fun.

MY KIND OF LAWYER

Had this up at his place. I swiped it. It is not the kind of language one expects from an esquire.

I wonder what happened to the story 3 months ago. It must have been dire because I think almost any competent lawyer could have taken that video and turned it into gold. The thing I object to is that this goes on and on and the only feeble barrier laid out anywhere against such police misconduct is when a lawsuit succeeds against the city and the tax payers who pay for those abusive police. The law breakers are never prosecuted, never go to jail, don't get fired and show up at work and your house the next day.

WON'T STOP DIGGING

I suppose that just as there must have been millions who sided with Eliot Ness, so too must there be people who side with this vindictive and vicious lawyer. Assuming that this woman who was stripped naked by the law in New York had done all the things the prosecutor charged her with, how much is it worth to society to continue to attempt to prosecute her for doing it?

The link leads to the story at the Times of India and the comments are what make it worth noting. Side with or against her, nobody can see what net positive value accrues to the United States by continuing this charade. The fact that this prosecutor wants to make this woman suffer more at the hands of US justice than any terrorist who ever attacked our diplomats overseas, is telling the world more about us than Operation Enduring Freedom did.

It is fine to bleat about upholding the law but we have bigger fish to fry than a woman who might have underpaid her maid in the eyes of a ridiculous law that is right up there with the 18th Amendment. If you feel the need to prosecute somebody, there's always one of our own government officials...  It clearly demonstrates that the law has nothing else to do in New York except relentlessly go after a woman who lied, and frankly, that's just unAmerican.

MORONS

The man who spent 10 hours in hospital being probed by police and men in white coats has settled his law suit against the lawmen for $1.6 million. He also sued the men in white coats and the hospital that carried out this bit of in-depth law ordered probing. Those suits continue. I wonder if the hospital is a little worried now. They probably think they can eat the cost of the lawsuit but they probably expected to lay it off against the county and city for ordering them to do it. Now they stand alone. So do the men in white coats.

I'd have some little smidgeon of sympathy for the hospital and doctors involved were it not that the stupid morons sent the man they raped a bill for services rendered.

Nobody has been fired or sanctioned but we never expected that.

AMNESTY DEAL IN THE WORKS

As it now unfolds, I become more and more convinced that Snowden is probably the first and last American to ever work at the National Security Agency. The tiny amount of information he has revealed to date clearly show a U.S. Government Agency that is spying on literally every man, woman and child in America. Of course the wing-nuts believed that was true even before the Snowden revelations. Now everyone knows that the NSA really is rummaging through every single digital facet of your life.

The Guardian has put up a fascinating document which does a hell of a lot more than merely outline the extent of the NSA's spying. It also shows the bare-faced disregard for the truth we have come to expect from lawyers. Page 40 of the document describes the NSA's policy, as implemented, to collect metadata on your position/location and compile it and retain it forever. Snowden's information revealed for the first time that what the NSA and its lawyers thought was appropriate behavior, was based on a very dated concept that allows the NSA to collect and process information gathered legally from foreign intelligence agencies. The NSA didn't spy on us, the nasty British did. I suspect the NSA gave them all the tools, methods and access to enable them to get the data they wanted. I'd include the actual text but the original classification markings are still on the document and untouched.

The news this day is filled hereabouts with rumors that the Government will offer Mr. Snowden amnesty in return for the rest of the secrets he made off with and squirreled away.

My advice to Mr. Snowden would be to consider this Government's record of honest and fair dealing with citizens of the United States and to keep in mind the fate a similar government accorded S. Kamel, the son-in-law of the nation's ruler. He defected to the US with secrets about WMD and then accepted his President's offer of amnesty.

S. Kamel was killed in a shoot-out with his father-in-laws family.

I'd take it as a kindness though, Mr. Snowden, if you'd be good enough to let me know whenever you plan to board an aircraft we might be sharing. I'd need time to get off, but you can have any checked bags I leave behind.

NO HIGHER HONOR

I didn't post anything about Captain William Swenson when he was awarded the Medal of Honor because I wanted to give it some time before swirling back to the part that should bring shame and embarrassment to the United States Army. There have been comparisons before now of how long it took for the US to recover from its wounds at Pearl Harbor and then move out and destroy the Empire of Japan in just under 4 years and how long it took the current administration to field a lame web site that cannot begin to deliver on any of the promises made for it by the President and Democrats in Congress. It was not a flattering comparison since it showed that the US defeated the Japanese in less time than the administration had to turn out a web site on a par with Amazon or at least the US Postal Service.

Compare the above with the 4 years, 1 month and 1 week it took the United States Army to award the Medal of Honor to Captain Swenson who had left the Army 3 years ago. The entire massed machinery and bureaucracy of the Army could not read and move a piece of paper written in Afghanistan to the President's desk for signature in under 4 years and it claims to be proud of its heroes. Imagine what it does for its dirtbags. It took the Marines half that time to award the Medal of Honor to one of their own who was in the same engagement with Captain Swenson.

Award packages don't get better with age. They don't accumulate much more in the way of accuracy as time goes by. In fact, once the statements have been taken in an expeditious manner it becomes progressively harder to go back and re-examine the facts because the people involved move on, leave the service, die. 

It is not that the Army is too bedeviled by petty bureaucracy to handle this sort of thing. Every single flag staff has at least one individual who is responsible for the awards. In major staffs it is the job of a number of people and it's not like they're buried under Award Nomination packages. There's probably not more than 20 Medal of Honor Award packages in the works at any given time in both Iraq and Afghanistan combined. What those clowns did with Captain Swenson is a disgrace and those involved should apologize.

They also might be forthcoming now with how many award recommendations they have in process right now for the Medal of Honor for other heroes who may never receive them.  Personally? I think I'd decline to serve in any organization that has a Human Resources Command. You know what a name like that implies...

Thank you Mr. Swenson.