Shot in the Dark

Thirty Million Dollars Worth Of Nothingburger

I could try to write something about the denouement of the Mueller investigation.

But why bother, when this thread by left-leaning journalist Glenn Greenwald does it better than anything I’ve read over the weekend.

This thread is the “pull quote”, if you will – but there’s stuff worth reading before and well after it; I suggest looking over the whole thing via Twitter. And that will be the last time I urge people to read anything in Twitter.

But I digress:

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Mitch Berg

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62 responses to “Thirty Million Dollars Worth Of Nothingburger”

  1. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Just shows how thoroughly these lefties were duped, because some of them are still making excuses. They are now relying on the SDNY prosecutors to find something, anything so they don’t have to admit that they were conned.

    I see that our resident dupes Emery and his alter ego haven’t yet expressed their doubts on the Mueller report.

  2. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    If it’s “false” and it’s on the news, isn’t that the same as “fake news?”

    I Greenwald conceding President Trump was right all along?

    Wow, that’s gotta hurt.

  3. Penigma Avatar
    Penigma

    Mitch, your silence on this topic at times has been deafening, but, let’s be clear, there were 199 Criminal counts, 33 people indicted, and 13 people sent to prison not to mention investigations into Trump’s campaign, charity, and inaugural committees which are outgrowths of that investigation and which are still on-going. Further, that’s 33 MORE people indicted than the Benghazi or E-Mail or Vince Foster, or IRS-gate investigations netted. Moreover, if you think it’s a waste of time to investigate whether a Presidential campaign conspired with an adversary and more importantly to know whether that same adversary may have compromising material on the President, causing him to behave in a uniquely subservient way, then you and I have a very different view of what is a necessary investigation and what isn’t, say as compared to the circus/clown show that was the Benghazi investigation.

    I am glad, 100%, that the President was not indicted, it would have been a pain the country does not need. It also means a deeply flawed candidate will run for re-election and may be more easily defeated than say, Mike Pence. I believe Mueller’s conclusion, that Trump didn’t conspire, I wonder if you will say the same about Clinton (either one) with respect to Whitewater or Benghazi? It turns out then, based on this outcome, it wasn’t “rigged” was it? Or a witch-hunt? The President was WRONG as HELL to impugn the integrity of Mueller for the past 2 years, and wrong as hell to attack the FBI. Where is the defense of either from you or the right-wing, you law-and-order folks- over the past two years? Again, deafening silence. I’m willing to admit it came to nothing and for that, the accusations were wrong, are you big enough to admit your attacks on the FBI or Mueller were, or more importantly, that Trump’s were?

    But let’s be clear about another thing, there is NO question the Russians TRIED to entice Trump and his campaign, that’s the conclusion of the investigation, the FBI and another dozen US intel services. My question for you is, WHY do you think they tried? And more, why do you think Trump denies it was the Russians? Those are pretty significant questions as we move forward to 2020’s election.

    Also Mitch, they didn’t clear Trump of obstruction, the thing that brought Nixon down, they said they wouldn’t render an opinion, that’s a nothing-burger, but not one which means he’s clean, it means the investigation stopped short of the mark.

  4. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    I’m sure both Emerys are just now working through the details of why this is merely a feint, a head-fake and that the Super-Secret Real Report documenting all of the treasonous actions committed by Trump and his minions is still to be released. The gaslighting should be massive – keep any lighters or other flammable devices away while you read.

  5. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Leftist reprobates witnessed Cankles Clinton get away with compromising TS/SAP data, lying to Congress about it and attempting to destroy the evidence.

    How they ever figured any key player in DC will ever pay for anything, ever, might seem impossible to understand, unless you know they are all mentally ill.

    I heard NPR interviewing some kooks on the street this morning, and at least two stated “We now have enough evidence to indict Trump”, despite the fact Mueller unequivocally saying “nah”.

    I hope I haven’t ruined Dunning_Kruger’s web search for quotes to plagiarize with that spoiler.

  6. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Penigma never fails to disappoint. The text always has that appearance of being thoughtful, introspective but there’s always the tell, the giveaway from leftist goofball:

    Further, that’s 33 MORE people indicted than the Benghazi or E-Mail or Vince Foster, or IRS-gate investigations netted.

    You completely cold-cocked your entire argument with this nugget.

  7. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    Here’s my view of Penigma’s post tl;dr. Dont engage and he will crawl back into his hole.

  8. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    The amount you guys listen to Welfare radio voluntarily blows my mind.

  9. MacArthur Wheeler Avatar
    MacArthur Wheeler

    “Mitch, your silence on this topic…”
    penigma, that is your hallmark tried and true opening pitch and yet you never learn that it is not persuasive – has never been persuasive – in fact it never works. How is it that you are so intellectually crippled?

  10. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    Mitch, your silence on this topic at times has been deafening,

    Ah, the Penultimate Idiot’s traditional opening! I mean really, Mitch, you have to address every strawman Pen wants you to, even if you don’t know what they are!

    The President was WRONG as HELL to impugn the integrity of Mueller for the past 2 years, and wrong as hell to attack the FBI. Where is the defense of either from you or the right-wing, you law-and-order folks- over the past two years? Again, deafening silence.

    The FBI deserves all the attack it got and more so. Even the local FBI agents agree that the 7th floor has been thoroughly corrupted. To have taken a document prepared by a Democratic candidate as opposition research, where none of the allegations could be proven to even minimal standards, where the primary information was from Russian sources close to the present government was reckless and biased, and used that document in a manner that was very deceitful to get surveillance on the GOP candidate. We law-and-order folks would like the FISA laws to be followed, and they weren’t as we all know now. So yes, the abuse the FBI has gotten is well deserved and now hopefully those responsible for gross breaches of lawful behavior will be held to account.

    Removing every person on the 7th floor of the Hoover Building would be an excellent start to cleaning up the FBI.

    But let’s be clear about another thing, there is NO question the Russians TRIED to entice Trump and his campaign, that’s the conclusion of the investigation, the FBI and another dozen US intel services.

    And Mueller said that they completely failed. Interesting that the Russians were firmly rejected by Trump, but fully embraced by Hillary and company. Hmmm, which party was involved in the collusion?

    My question for you is, WHY do you think they tried?

    Because they already had Hillary cooperating with them and they wanted to get in bed with both candidates, much like lobbying firms do?

    And more, why do you think Trump denies it was the Russians?

    Because he already had evidence the FBI, NSA, and CIA were attempting to undermine his campaign and suspected that anything else was probably a coverup since the incredibly clumsy way in which he was approached was amateurish and laughable?

  11. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    Apparently, Penny missed the revelation, which came out in mid 2017, that Obama knew there were attempts to affect the voting six months before the 2016 election, yet did nothing about it. In fact, the only ones that knew about it were the corrupt minions in his administration. Collectively, they kept it quiet and funny; none of those minions leaked anything to the media. But then, if 99% of the media would objectively investigate these scandals like the used to before they became the propaganda arm of the Democrat party, the public would know about it.

  12. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Teh Peevee is, in some ways, worse than Dunning_Kruger. His twaddle is nothing more than the day’s review of the reprobate press, t’s true, but his guileless naiveté cries out for compassionate shock therapy, not staking out in the desert.

    Are there any high bridges near where Peevee lives? I’d be watching them closely in the short term…he’s got “jumper” written all over him.

  13. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Oh, I forgot to say why Peevee is worse than Dunning_Kruger. I’m looking forward to staking reprobates out, not addressing their mental disorders. Teh little Peevee evokes a compassion not welcome with me.

  14. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Penigma needs to remember that about 25 of those indictments are of Russians who do not need to ever come to our country, let alone stand trial. He also needs to remember how “thoroughly” the DOJ/FBI “investigated” things like the IRS scandal–I remember the “conclusion” in 2015 where they bragged about how many interviews they did, about one per week in a two year investigation. Don’t overwork yourselves, boys! The “investigation” also found “management problems”, for which no solutions were mentioned.

    That last bit was the kicker;any decent quality engineer will tell you that “problems sans solution” means they’re happy with how they’ve treated you, and they’re going to make sure it happens again.

    Which is, of course, exactly what we saw with Benghazi, Fast & Furious, Hilliary’s illegal server, and the like. Sorry, Pen, but the “scandal-free” Obama administration is more of a “circling the wagons” administration.

  15. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    The insane Left is pivoting to Preet Bharara’s SDNY feds to nail Trump.
    The pinheads have learned nothing.
    -Preet Bharara is a partisan figure.
    -Trump has been a shady real estate developer in SDNY for decades. If he has skeletons in his closet (and I am not saying that he does not), he can take down dozens of NY pols and developers with him. There was a time, remember, when NY pols wanted to partner with Trump & share in his cash.
    Lol.

  16. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    So, you’re saying Mueller didn’t find a scintilla of evidence?

  17. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    Will Trump be held to the scintilla standard or the smidgen standard?

  18. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Really not a big fan of Trump and many of his policies. But if there is anything related to Russia it should be now in this report and come out within the next days and weeks. And if there is nothing, tough luck and time to move on.

    The entire news cycle is full of Mueller related articles — all of which have little content or facts about the report. But I read this weekend dozens of articles and reports. And know as much as I knew before. The mainstream media is doing a fantastic job these days at maximizing revenue. If only informing the population was their business model.

    Let the facts speak. And if they don’t say much, let it be. Everyone respects Mueller. And whatever is out there will be in this report.

  19. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Just for fun: Wonderful take by Matt Taibbi (and yes I know it’s Taibbi)

    It’s official: Russiagate is this generation’s WMD
    The Iraq war faceplant damaged the reputation of the press. Russiagate just destroyed it
    https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million

  20. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Some may have thought I was kidding about Peevee and bridges; nah.
    All this Trump #winning is too much to take for the 1/4 wits; it’s coming too fast, filling their empty heads with bad thoughts.

    The Huffington Post is sending coded messages to the cult this morning…

    Item first: “New Jersey Approves Bill To Allow Terminally Ill Patients To End Their Lives” “Gov. Phil Murphy calls it the “right thing to do.”

    Item the second: “Pentagon Transfers $1 Billion In Funding For Trump’s Border Wall”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqEYp79NzTQ

  21. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Moderation at this critical time might drive some leftists to defenestrate themselves, but our stout hearts take it in stride…..

  22. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    “And if there is nothing, tough luck and time to move on.”

    It’s not quite that simple. This was an attempt by Deep State actors within the federal government to sabotage the election before the votes were counted, and to overturn the results afterwards. Attempting to overthrow the government should warrant more than a shrug.

  23. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Democrats calling for impeachment have oversold the evidence of conspiracy. Clearly, Trump and the GOP have oversold the lack of evidence of conspiracy and obstruction.

    We saw the same circus in the obstruction investigations of both Clinton and Nixon. In both instances, the independent counsel investigations provided crucial evidence for the political trials that ensued. Trump’s political trial begins in earnest today. Unlike Nixon and Clinton, Trump will endure his trial while seeking reelection.

  24. nerdbert Avatar
    nerdbert

    Clearly, Trump and the GOP have oversold the lack of evidence of conspiracy and obstruction.

    Mind explaining that? Mueller said he couldn’t find any evidence of conspiracy, so how did the GOP oversell that?

    As for thinking there was obstruction, that’s an interesting take. Firing Comey? Justifiable under any circumstances for his behavior and flouting of DoJ regulations at the least. Whether it actually was aimed at Mueller and his probe or not, the stated reasons alone justified canning Comey. Refusing to testify in person? No sane person talks to the FBI or any Federal regulator on any matter without an offer of immunity, so even getting Trump to respond through a lawyer was a feat (no sane lawyer representing Trump will allow him anywhere near a deposition, especially a live one). Ask Scooter Libby sometime what a mistake can cost you as far as a perjury trap goes, even when the mistake was unintentional and corrected in less than 4 hours. Attacking Mueller and the whole investigation publicly? Hardly obstruction, and it really was a witch hunt as the results showed. I’m curious as to what might have been characterized as obstruction from what we’ve seen so far.

  25. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    When did fighting the mob that wants to lynch you become “obstruction of justice”? There was no justice to obstruct. Colluding with Russia was not a crime, and Trump was not guilty of colluding with Russia.

  26. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    Still in moderation….this is fine.

  27. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    I cant wait for the Democratic candidate try to bring it up in one of the presidential debates (I wager there wont be 3 this time, probably only 2 or 1)

  28. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Not to worry. AOC and her band of socialists are the best insurance Republicans have going forward.

  29. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    JD: So Rosenstein, a republican and a Trump appointee started a started a witch hunt against Trump? Because he wanted to negate Trump’s election?
    You should think about that assertion for a minute.

  30. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    Rosenstein was not the the beginning of the coup, not even the middle, he was a bit player near the end.

    The coup attempt began with the people who paid for the phony dossier, who shopped it to the Feds, who leaked it to the press, who used it to obtain secret warrants to spy on a major party candidate, who gave the results of the spying to the White House, who unmasked the names of innocent citizens caught by the spying, who confidently assured each other that they had a backup plan in place to prevent a Republican from being elected President.

    A group of federal employees knowingly abused the power of the federal government in an attempt to change the outcome of the election. It was an attempted coup. And they’ve all walked away from it without a scratch.

    That cannot stand.

  31. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    Reprisals following a fully legal and constitutional investigation?
    US democracy is dying.

  32. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    A lawful investigation into the coup attempt will restore the peoples’ faith in democracy.
    The anti-Trump forces routinely commit crimes. Actual crimes, not made-up crimes, not political crimes. Real statutory crimes.
    Bust their asses.

  33. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    ” . . . fully legal and constitutional investigation . . . .”

    The Left confidently asserts that conclusion as if it were fact when whether it was fully legal is what we must determine. Because at this point, it looks as if the Praetorian Guard attempted to kill US democracy and narrowly failed. Had their plot succeeded, Hillary would have been elected and all of this would have been swept under the rug.

    Failed coup attempts deserve reprisals, pour encourager les autres.

  34. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    The Special Counsel’s investigation was primarily about Russia. The SDNY investigation is primarily about Trump.

    The best and safest way to de-legitimize Trump is to beat him in the 2020 election.

  35. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Emery, an investigation into why too many at the FBI and DOJ (and elsewhere) accepted a BS dossier at face value is not a “reprisal”. It is rather two things; an investigation into whether they’re capable of doing their jobs, and it is a criminal investigation for weaponizing the DOJ.

    It should also be noted, for those insisting that it’s super-important that the prosecutor did not “exonerate” Trump, that as a rule, prosecutors do no such thing. You do not prove the null hypothesis, but rather you retain it. Apart from cases where the accusations are clearly lies, you simply find insufficient evidence to proceed.

    Which is, legally speaking, as good as an exoneration.

  36. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    One wonders why Trump made such a big effort to stop this investigation when there was nothing to find. And still the Special Counsel’s report has yet to be published.

    I do expect more from my president; watching Trump do a victory lap while his Campaign Manager and Attorney go to jail is not very inspiring.

  37. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Emery, the reason Trump was fighting the investigation is really simple; it quickly became a fishing expedition in which prosecutors have carte blanche to dig into things like tax forms, etc., and where norms of prosecution–like you don’t do pre-dawn SWAT raids on peaceful people who can’t destroy evidence quickly–are ignored. Put mildly, it’s time for an investigation of the investigation, starting with whether FBI personnel knowingly lied in FISA court and continuing to those SWAT raids.

  38. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    I guess the key question is how long should a good husband wait to bang a porn star after your child is born. Perhaps Trump can give us some tips? And when to write the hush money check? Not sure of the protocol on this.

  39. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Maybe stay on topic, Emery? The way I see it is that FISA courts appear to have been abused for a fishing expedition that, unlike the diversions you mention, bankrupted a number of people for no apparent reason. Let’s start our investigation with actual criminal offenses, shall we?

  40. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    I guess the key question is how long should a good husband wait to bang a porn star after your child is born.

    Dunno D_K. How long did you wait after before you hooked up with Ron Jeremy?

  41. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    What about citizenship rights for Slovenian hookers? How do those work?

  42. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    Seems to me the last person who called the First Lady a Slovenian hooker got sued for libel and had to pay out millions.

  43. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    This whole shitball got rolling because deep state actors (FBI & JD officials) wanted to spy on the Trump campaign. Problem was that there was no crime, no excuse for a wiretap.
    So these deep state actors used oppo research by the Clinton campaign to get a FISA warrant on some Trump campaign officials. A FISA warrant is used for counter intelligence operations. You don’t need a crime, you get one to monitor actions and communications. The idea was to use the FISA warrant as leverage to gain info on real crimes that may or may not have been committed.
    But it turns out that there were no real crimes. None of the info gained from the FISA warrant was useful.
    This is outrageous.
    I fear the corrupt FBI and JD more than Trump. Every American should, Trump didn’t attempt a coup to reverse the outcome of an election. The FBI and the Justice Department did.

  44. Night Writer Avatar
    Night Writer

    Succinctly summarized and well-stated, MP. I enjoyed the review, though it was unnecessary. Squidward Emery’s argument was already well-ruptured, as he himself acknowledged when he starting squirting ink and changing topics.

  45. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    It’s poetic justice that Trump now finds himself under the same cloud as Hillary after Comey pronounced her “exonerated” but extremely careless.

  46. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Over at American Greatness, America Needs a SetUpGate Truth Commission – which includes a headline picture of Obama.

    Which is to say: the most powerful individuals, institutions and interests in America conspired to set up a presidential candidate, and later president-elect, and later still President. Their goal? To defeat him in 2016; should he be elected, to prevent his taking office; and should he take office, to have him removed. And yet it’s precisely these people who accused (and, in many cases, still accuse) Mr. Trump of “stealing” and “rigging” an election, of “subverting our democracy.” This is projection on an unimaginable scale. As Carlson likes to point out, whatever the modern Left accuses its enemies of doing, you can be sure that’s exactly what they’re doing.

    “Set up” is actually generous. RussiaGate was not the deliciously complex framing orchestrated by a criminal-mastermind villain in an Agatha Christie novel. The Russia-collusion narrative was, to the contrary, ham-fisted and preposterous from the beginning—so transparently dumb that the only way to believe it was to be dumb yourself, or else desperately to want to believe.

  47. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    I have one theory — that Trump serves as a bridge as we adjust to globalization, by mollifying his disaffected populist base.

    He doesn’t really do anything for them, but he makes them feel that someone is looking out for them.

  48. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    Emery on March 27, 2019 at 7:27 pm said:

    It’s poetic justice that Trump now finds himself under the same cloud as Hillary after Comey pronounced her “exonerated” but extremely careless.

    But that is not true.
    Trump was not “extremely careless.” And we know that Comey bowed to pressure from AG Lynch by softening his language from “negligent” (which is a crime, legally actionable). We need to clean house, if we are to remain a republic.
    You keep aiming and missing, Emery. It’s like you get your talking points from television entertainers.

  49. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    You, on the other hand, fall in the category: Always Certain, Rarely Right.

  50. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Emery, having revived a slanderous accusation for which the original accuser paid millions, you can STFU about other people being loose with facts, buddy. Especially when that very slander on your part was an attempt to dodge the issue at hand.

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