Former Vice President Joe Biden’s sure-shot lead over his 2020 Democratic competitors just suffered a major blow, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll reported by the Huffington Post‘s Ariel Edwards-Levy.
Make no mistake, Biden is still in the lead by double digits in most polls – although his popularity has clearly taken a big hit since early May, while candidates Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris saw healthy upticks following last week’s debates.
And according to the HuffPost/YouGov poll, Biden is now far less electable than he was in May, dropping from 70% to 57%. While this still places him above the pack, Warren and Harris appear to be within striking distance.
Here’s, I think, the major finding of this poll. Look how the field on electability has shifted since May from a clear Biden lead to a four-way top tier. (Note this is all Dem/Dem-leaning voters, not debate viewers.)https://t.co/CFj7w3TPdnpic.twitter.com/UsY6G2NmXb
According to those polled, Warren was a sharp debater, while Harris was “very direct” in her vision for the country. One respondent said that Harris “smoked Biden like a cheap cigar.”
Warren, who dominated the opening moments of the first debate, stood out because she “clearly articulated, explained, and defended her policy positions” wrote one Texas woman included in the poll. “She was focused, thoughtful, authoritative, and convincing. She seems to have improved her live performance skills and appeared unflappable. And very capable.”
During the second debate, Harris sliced through her rivals’ crosstalk and challenged Biden on his history with racial issues, such as busing. She was ”[v]ery direct in her plans and outspoken,” wrote another woman, who was polled shortly after that night. “To beat the aggressive president we have now the candidate will have to be just as aggressive.” –HuffPo
Below you can see how Democratic voters’ opinions changed for each candidate following the debates.
Of course, there are a few caveats to polls such as this:
In case people don’t feel like reading screenshots of text, the major caution I have is that none of these are horserace questions — a strong performance in the very first debate isn’t guaranteed to swing vote preference even temporarily, let alone for the actual election.
Just as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared her latest alarming claim about conditions in detention centers for illegal migrants crossing into the US, President Trump insisted on Monday that his administration still plans to carry out the mass ICE raids of migrants who have been given notices to leave the country.
As the controversy balloons over a Facebook group where border patrol agents reportedly shared sexually explicit depictions of AOC – including a cartoon allegedly showing her sucking off a migrant – AOC accused border agents of carrying out “psychological warfare” against detained migrants, whom AOC claimed were forced to drink toilet water.
There are 20,000 TOTAL Customs & Border Patrol agents in the US.
9,500 – almost HALF that number – are in a racist & sexually violent secret CBP Facebook group.
They’re threatening violence on members of Congress. How do you think they’re treating caged children+families? https://t.co/AfDB50cgHQ
After I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as “psychological warfare” – waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc.
Tell me what about that is due to a “lack of funding?”
Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap.
This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.
AOC’s latest twitter rant follows reports that agents used a secret Facebook group to share lewd posts about her another far-left progressive Democrat. CBP said it was aware of the group and was investigating the matter, while Trump said Monday that he was unaware of the situation.
But “Sandy from the Bronx” wasn’t the only Dem to make the salacious claim about migrants drinking from toilets. California Rep. Judy Chu made a similar claim, while Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean said conditions at the detention centers were “far worse than we ever could have imagined,” according to Bloomberg.
And just as she can take criticism, AOC proved during this trip that she can dish it out, too. According to a reporter from the Washington Examiner, AOC “screamed” at federal law enforcement agents during the trip “in a threatening manner.”
SCOOP: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., screamed at federal law enforcement agents “in a threatening manner” during a visit to a U.S. Border Patrol facility in El Paso, Texas, Monday afternoon and refused to tour the facility, according to two people who witnessed it.
All three lawmakers traveling with a group organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to visit detention centers in El Paso and Clint, Texas, and do some investigating following a series of reports about the lack of access to “safe and sanitary” conditions in both towns.
During a televised press conference at Clint, AOC was ambushed by Trump supporters.
The uproar has caused border agents in El Paso to warn about the risk of riots by migrants being held in the overcrowded cells. According to Reuters.
Border Patrol agents “remained armed in the holding areas because of their concerns with the overcrowding that potentially could result in volatile situations (riots etc.)” or hunger strikes, the documents attached to the Office of Inspector General report revealed.
Meanwhile, according to CNN, Trump said he expects massive raids to round up migrants who have been issued notices to leave the country will be carried out soon after this weekend’s Fourth of July holiday, which could pair nicely with Trump’s promised but still not fully planned “Salute To America” military parade.
Trump shared his latest thoughts on the crisis at the border during an interview Monday from the Oval Office.
“They spend billions of dollars on the census, and you’re not allowed to ask whether somebody is a citizen?” Trump says on his fight to delay the 2020 census.
“There’s a big difference to me between being a citizen of the U.S. and being an illegal” pic.twitter.com/K61x4yIAvG
In a tweet last weekend, Trump delayed the raids – planned for 10 major American cities – for 2 weeks “at the request of Democrats,” ostensibly to give them time to try and hash out “a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems” with Republicans.
At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!
Last week, the House passed a $4.6 billion aid package intended to ease the “humanitarian crisis” at the border, despite opposition from both Nancy Pelosi and Trump.
But once the raids happen, imagine how AOC and her band of far-left progressives will react? This could be the push that sends her over the edge in openly calling for revolution.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/325FKT1 Tyler Durden
Losing ‘visibility necessary to attract the attention of college recruiters’
Boys are competing in girls’ track and field events in Connecticut, at the direction of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, so that transgender students don’t feel invalidated.
They are often winning, and the girls are afraid to publicly object for fear of “retaliation,” according to Selina Soule, one of the female competitors.
That’s why Soule and two of her unnamed female peers are asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate CIAC for Title IX violations.
They contend CIAC’s new policy allows “boys who are male in every biological and physiological respect—including unaltered male hormone levels and musculature—to compete in girls’ athletic competitions if they claim a female gender identity,” according to the Title IX complaint filed on their behalf by the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The decision to let biological males compete has “deprived many girls of opportunities to achieve public recognition, a sense of reward for hard work, opportunities to participate in higher level competition, and the visibility necessary to attract the attention of college recruiters and resulting scholarships,” states the complaint, filed in mid-June.
This policy already has resulted in negative outcomes for Soule and the other unnamed minors in the complaint.
Two biologically male students, Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller, have dominated the sport since they were allowed to compete against biological females. The two of them together have won as many women’s state championship titles (15) as did 10 girls who identify as girls in 2016, according to the complaint.
Yearwood and Miller have also “taken more than 40 opportunities to participate in higher level competitions from female track athletes in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons alone.”
Soule shared her frustration with The Daily Signal in May. Two biologically male competitors took the spots ahead of her in the 55-meter dash, preventing her from competing in the New England regionals in front of college coaches.
“Everyone is afraid of retaliation from the media, from the kids around their school, from other athletes, coaches, schools, administrators,” said Soule, who alleges official retaliation against her for speaking out in the complaint.
“They don’t want to drag attention [sic] to themselves, and they don’t want to be seen as a target for potential bullying and threats,” she said.
Coach allegedly threatened to badmouth dissident female athlete to recruiters
The CIAC policy on transgender students differs from the NCAA’s, which requires males to take testosterone-suppressing hormones for at least a year before competing in a female sport. The only requirement in CIAC policy is that a student subjectively identify as the opposite sex.
The complaint features more than a dozen tables listing competition results and times for female athletes, and how biologically male athletes affected their placements. It says these are only “examples.”
It notes that Miller did not place in boys’ track competition in 2017 and winter 2018. Miller went on to great success only after competing in female track events starting that spring.
Biological males took first place in 13 out of 14 events for females, and 23 out of 28 when including second-place awards, in seven state-level competitions. They won “51 opportunities to participate in a higher-level state competition,” compared to 31 for girls.
The girls who filed the complaint also allege that the CIAC has participated in intimidation and retaliation against those who oppose the male-inclusive policy.
One of the mothers of the unnamed complainant repeatedly complained to the CIAC about the “discriminatory impact” that the new policy had on her daughter. The CIAC did not provide a “substantive response,” and Connecticut school officials attempted to dissuade her from filing a Title IX complaint, according to the complaint.
Soule contends that her mother’s outspoken opposition to the policy led her coaches to mistreat her.
Her track coach made her perform workouts that are uncommon for short-distance sprinters like her, “and has forbidden her from competing in any high school track and field event unless she completes them,” the complaint reads.
Another coach told Soule and her father that if a college recruiter asked about her, “he would not be able to give a good report about her.”
The complaint cites an anonymous female student quoted in The Daily Signal on her fear of retaliation for speaking out.
“There’s really nothing else you can do except get super frustrated and roll your eyes, because it’s really hard to even come out and talk in public just because … just immediately you’ll just be shut down,” she said.
The feds already approved transgender policy?
The complaint asks the government to forcibly overturn CIAC’s transgender policy, and ban it from letting students compete in girls’ athletics who are “in all physiological and hormonal respects males.”
Soule and the other two complainants also want records of past races to be revised to retroactively disqualify biologically male students from the female events. CIAC should also be ordered by the government to issue a press release giving credit to every female who would have placed if not for the policy.
Finally, the Department of Education should declare that CIAC’s policy violates Title IX. The complainants asked for a quick investigation so girls do not lose any more opportunities to boys in their competitions starting this winter.
CIAC did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment. But Glenn Lungarini, its executive director, told The Hartford Courant that it discussed the policy language with both the Boston office of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and Connecticut’s human rights commission.
Yearwood and Miller, the biologically male athletes identified in the complaint, attacked the complainants in a statement to the Courant.
“I am a girl and I am a runner,” Miller said.
“I participate in athletics just like my peers to excel, find community and meaning in my life. It is both unfair and painful that my victories have to be attacked and my hard work ignored.”
Yearwood highlighted the “discrimination that I face as a young black woman who is transgender. … Every day I train hard — I work hard to succeed on the track, to support my teammates, and to make my community proud.”
Miller is also black. Their lawyers at the ACLU emphasized their race, which is objective, as well as their gender identity, which is not, in a statement to the newspaper.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2J2Yvid Tyler Durden
Guadalajara, Mexico was struck by a freak hail storm on Sunday, burying vehicles and trapping residents in ice pellets up to two meters (6.5 ft) deep, according to AFP.
“I’ve never seen such scenes in Guadalajara,” said state governor, adding “Then we ask ourselves if climate change is real. These are never-before-seen natural phenomenons.”
“It’s incredible!”
Guadalajara, located north of Mexico City and with a population of around five million, has been experiencing summer temperature of around 31 Centigrade (88 Fahrenheit) in recent days.
While seasonal hail storms do occur, there is no record of anything so heavy.
At least six neighborhoods in the city outskirts woke up to ice pellets up to two meters deep. –AFP
As children threw rock-hard ice balls at each other, Mexican Civil Protection personnel and state soldiers cleared the roads using heavy machinery.
Approximately 200 hopes and businesses reported hail damage, while around 50 vehicles were swept away in mountainous regions. Some were buried completely under the deluge of pellets.
No casualties were reported, however two people exhibited “early signs of hypothermia” according to the Civil Protection office.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2XbmUpK Tyler Durden
If we consider the long term, it’s clear America’s economy and society have been declining for the average household for 50 years.
What if the “prosperity” of the past 50 years is mostly a statistical mirage for the bottom 80% of households? What if whatever real gains (adjusted for real-world loss of purchasing power) accrued only to the top of the wealth-power pyramid, those closest to financial and political power? What if the U.S. economy and society shifted from “everybody wins” to “winner takes all” or at best, :winner take most”?
These are not “what if”, they’re reality. The working class, which as I have recently noted, now comprises the entire working populace other than the upper-middle class Misplaced Pride: Most of the “Middle Class” Is Actually Working Class (June 14, 2019), has lost ground over the past 50 years, from 1969 to the present.
The keys to understanding the concealed crisis of decline are purchasing power relative to wages/earnings–how many goods and services can wages buy? For the average American household, wages have risen modestly while the purchasing power of those wages has plummeted.
Furthermore, the quality of goods and services has in many cases declined sharply, so that even if prices have dropped, what you get for your money has fallen even further, effectively reducing the purchasing power of your wages.
Case in point: appliances were once designed and built to last a generation or longer. Refrigerators, washers and dryers lasted for decades. Now the average appliance fails within a few years, and the electronic board–costing roughly a third of the entire appliance price–fails and must be replaced. With labor, the cost of the repair is so high, consumers often send the almost-new appliance to the landfill and buy a new (and soon to fail) appliance.
Net-net, low quality reduces purchasing power even if price has declined.
Then there’s the big-ticket items: rent, housing, college, healthcare.Anecdotally, I’ve been told a young engineer in Silicon Valley could earn $20,000 a year and rent a modest apartment for $200. Now the young engineer makes $100,000 but rent for the modest flat is $2,500 per month: wages rose five-fold but rent rose 12-fold.
This is a staggering loss of purchasing power.
As for college, tens of millions of students completed their university training with zero debt–student loan debt as we understand it today simply didn’t exist because it was unnecessary.
The scarcity value of that college diploma has fallen precipitously over the decades, rendering most degrees that aren’t part of artificial scarcity schemes essentially valueless.
As for healthcare: we now have $100,000 operations that work miracles on one side and people being bankrupted by costs on the other, and tens of thousands dying of opioid drugs promoted by the status quo as “safe” and non-addictive. Where metabolic disorders (lifestyle diseases such as diabesity) were once a relative rarity, now up to a third of the entire population is at risk of chronic lifestyle diseases that are difficult and costly to manage–but oh so profitable to those delivering the meds and care.
Bottom line: how much housing, higher education and well-being does the average wage buy now compared to decades past? Not much. The statistics are bleak: wages are basically unchanged from the high water mark 50 years ago, which coincidentally was also the high water mark of U.S. energy production until very recently. Adjusted for purchasing power and quality, the average paycheck buys far less than it did 50 years ago.
Wages’ share of the national income has plummeted since the last secular expansion of wages in the Internet boom of the late 1990s.
The average households’ ownership of productive capital, and thus of financial security, has declined. There’s fewer assets within reach and those that are in reach have been reduced to a casino of booms and busts that wipes out all but the most agile gamblers.
If we consider the long term (la longue duree), it’s clear America’s economy and society have been declining for the average household for 50 years.Nobody wants to admit this because it’s politically inconvenient, to say the least. What do we make of a society in which only the top 5% have prospered in terms of their earnings buying more goods and services?
Meanwhile, everyone else has compensated for the sharp decline in purchasing power by going ever deeper into debt while the nation has decayed into a landfill economy.
A GoFundMe campaign for a conservative journalist who was beaten and robbed by members of Portland’s Antifa cell has raised nearly 300% of its $50,000 goal within 24 hours – currently standing at $149,590 as of this writing.
Ngo, a journalist and editor at Quillette, was covering a Portland Antifa rally when he was beaten and soaked in liquids which police believe contained quick-drying cement. He was hospitalized after the attack, in which he claims that his GoPro camera was stolen.
The GoFundMe was set up by conservative author and commentator Michelle Malkin.
“There were reports of individuals throwing ‘milkshakes’ with a substance mixed in that was similar to a quick-drying cement. One subject was arrested for throwing a substance during the incident,” according to the Portland police.
Police have received information that some of the milkshakes thrown today during the demonstration contained quick-drying cement. We are encouraging anyone hit with a substance today to report it to police.
That said, BuzzFeed‘s Joe Bernstein says he did not see any concrete being poured into the milkshakes – which doesn’t discount them pouring it in right before the attack.
Anecdotally: I was there and did not see any evidence of this. The milkshakes being handed out (and I believe consumed) were coconut https://t.co/0vXRDMCnQ9
The Portland police would’ve stopped this but a few minutes earlier they got a report that a cafe served a plastic straw and they scrambled all units there. https://t.co/hcuQuPqfuA
Back on January 2, we showed what was arguably the strangest move that took place on the last trading day of 2018, when the overnight general collateral repo rate shot up from 2.5% to as high as 6.125% on Monday, Dec. 31, the biggest one day move on record, bringing overnight GC repo to the highest level since January 2001.
To be sure, while violent year-end moves are well-known in the overnight funding markets, the magnitude of the Dec. 31 surge was simply unprecedented, and commenting on the GC Repo surge, Scott Skyrm, EVP at Curvature Securities said that “the cash never came in,” noting that while “funding pressure should be about 50 basis points” and yet what we got was “350 basis points.”
Numerous theories emerged to try and explain this unprecedented move, with most agreeing that this was a case of aggressive quarter and year-end liquidity (mis) management by banks, with Bloomberg pointing out that as banks “tidy their balance sheets at year-end when regulatory surcharges are calculated… As part of their bid to lessen these regulatory imposts, banks tend to pare their exposure to repo, which in turn makes it more expensive for borrowers.” Others also blamed such artifacts of the increasingly broken market as shrinking reserves, regulatory requirements and year-end window dressing.
“It was an atypical but typical year-end, because bank balance sheets were even more scarce than people thought,” TD Securities analyst Gennadiy Goldberg said, adding that it “isn’t a funding issue, it’s balance-sheet scarcity that was worse than expected.”
We bring this up because this morning we saw precisely the same overnight funding spike in the repo market strike again, only this time with a twist.
As repo market expert, Scott Skyrm, once again first noted, about half way through the morning, there was a major back-up in rates. “At first it appeared as though it was a dislocation between collateral sellers and buyers, but quickly it was apparent some cash did not yet return to the market after quarter-end”, Skyrm noted.
No doubt it was a combination of quarter-end carryover, traders on vacation, and the $41 billion in net new issuance settling today. But the magnitude of the move is very surprising.
The chart below shows just how surprising the intraday GC repo surge truly was:
But what was even more surprising than the repo spike which was a carbon copy of the market shock observed on Dec 31, if slightly lower in magnitude, is that unlike back then, the June “quarter-end” cash dislocation did not occur on quarter-end this time around; instead it occurred the day after, sparking even more questions about what caused this delayed aftershock, and confirming that whatever liquidity plumbing and funding issues existed at the turn of the year, they have not gone away.
The good news, according to Skyrm, is that while the market is expecting some continued carry-over pressure with GC priced at 2.55%-2.52% for tomorrow, he expects rates will be back to normal on Wednesday; probably opening at 2.47%-2.45%. In other words, the funding market may be broken, but at least it is so for just one or two days (for now) per year.
And in totally separate news, today’s auction of 3-Month Treasury bills priced at 2.145%, notably higher than the 2.085% previous week. According to Bloomberg, “the backup in yield at Monday’s three-month Treasury bill auction suggests some investors are starting to consider the impending debt-ceiling deadline, since that’s when the Treasury could potentially exhaust its current borrowing authority.”
And so, for those who keep tabs on objects in the market’s wall of worry, they can now add the Technical Default of the US Treasury to the list of catalyst that will keep pushing the S&P well above 3,000 for the next few months.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Xhispw Tyler Durden
The Dow Jones just had its best June since 1938. Overall, stocks were up around 7% last month. It was also the best first half for stocks in 22 years.
Meanwhile, gold gained about 8% on the month. As Peter pointed out in his latest podcast, while stocks had significant gains in dollar terms, they actually lost value in terms of real money.
And as Peter pointed out, when you look at the recent stock market gains, you have to put them into context.
The only reason that the market has done so well this year is because it got destroyed in the fourth quarter of last year. Remember, we had the worst December since the Great Depression as well.”
In fact, if you factor in the fourth quarter of last year, the Dow is only up one-half percent. The S&P 500 has gained about 1% and the Nasdaq is up .5%. In fact, the Dow Transports are actually down about 9% over the last three quarters, and the Russell 2000 is down 8%.
So, there you get a much better picture of what’s actually going on in the US stock markets than if you just focus on what’s happened in 2019 and ignore what happened in the end of 2018.”
To really put it into perspective, look at the price of gold. Since the end of Q3 2018 the yellow metal is up 18%.
That is a huge move in the price of gold during that period of time. Now, I think that in the future we can see even bigger moves than what we’ve just seen, but that put the rise in the Dow in perspective because it’s not the Dow that’s going up. Gold has gone up, so in gold-terms, the Dow has lost value.”
And why has this happened?
It’s all about the Fed.
The Fed has done a complete 180 on monetary policy and that is what has driven what I believe is a bear market rally in the US stock market.”
And Peter said he thinks the last three quarters are really more indicative of what we’re going to see over the next several years then what we’ve seen over the past few years when investors were delusional. They were operating under the false premise that everything was great and the Federal Reserve could simply unwind its stimulus and normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet.
None of that was true. That was a fantasy. And as reality replaces that fantasy, US stocks are going to have a very, very tough time and the dollar is going to have even a tougher time.”
Peter highlighted some more negative economic data that came out last week — specifically weak manufacturing numbers.
All the actual data that we’re getting is indicating that the economy is weakening, which is the only thing that is powering the stock market rally, because the stock market is preparing for a new injection of monetary stimulus. The Fed is going to be cutting interest rates next month and I think the rate cuts are going to be followed by more quantitative easing.”
Peter reiterated that he doesn’t think it’s going to work this time. Nobody really expected the aggressive easy-money policy we got for nearly a decade after the 2008 crash. Now, everybody expects it. They are even begging for it.
When they get what they want, I don’t think it’s going to work because I think it will be more of a buy the rumor sell the fact.”
Peter said he doesn’t think it’s going to have the same effect as it did the last time around. He thinks long-term interest rates will rise despite the Fed’s efforts to suppress them. He thinks consumer prices will rise sharply.
And the political climate could make things even worse – especially if one of these 20 Democratic Party presidential candidates wins the 2020 election.
Peter goes on to break down some of the political dynamics.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2NoNtYZ Tyler Durden
A China trade truce, surging chip stocks, and bad (economic) news that must be good ammo for The Fed to cut, BUT stocks faded all the gains – simply put, it’s never enough!!
Chinese stocks surged on the trade-truce and while they maintained gains, the afternoon session saw barely any follow-through…
European stocks opened dramatically higher (on the trade truce) but faded practically non-stop from the open with Italy ending unch…
German bund yields fell to new record (negative) lows today and Italian yields dropped below 2.00% for the first time since May 2018…
Almost from the cash market open, US equities went in only one direction as “sell the news” dominated the nothing-burger truce deal…
Stocks managed a pretty good run into the close starting at 3pmET to ensure The S&P closed at a record closing high…
The Nasdaq outperformed however, helped by the biggest gap-up opening in SOX (Semis dramatically outperformed) in its history…
But notably, Nasdaq Composite failed to make new highs and was down by around 100 points from the highs…
Giant short-squeeze at the US cash open – for the 3rd day in a row…
Treasury yields were higher on the day by around 2-3bps across the curve (after rallying from the higher yield open to unchanged)…
10Y Yields tested down to 2.00% once again (but bounced)…
As it seems “sell all the things hit shortly after the US open)
The dollar surged (retracing almost the Fib 61.8% of the post-FOMC losses)…
Yuan erased almost all of its trade-truce gains…
Cryptos extended the weekend’s declines…
Led by Bitcoin which tested below $10,000 briefly…
As the 2017 analog loses its trajectory…
Dollar strength sent commodities broadly lower (even WTI faded despite OPEC+ deal chatter), gold and silver was least hit…
Gold fell back below $1400…
Oil price behavior was quite shocking, spiking on hype about an OPEC+ deal (Russia and Saudi agreeing a deal at G-20), then rolling over from the US equity market open, then spiking towards the NYMEX close…
And if the trade truce is so awesome, why did copper crap the bed?
Finally, more dismal global macro data today, not helped at all by the US…
Seems to confirm bonds have it right…
So for all those buying stocks, do you really feel that lucky?
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2Lwz22r Tyler Durden
The playwrights of yore had a neat way of resolving sticky plots: when it seemed all was lost among the confounded mortals on stage, a supernatural figure would descend from the riggings above the proscenium, lowered in a basket on a cable — Moliere liked to use an actor playing Louis XIV, his patron — to resolve, untangle, forgive, and pardon all the complications of the story. This device is known as the Deus ex Machina, God in a machine.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) announced last week that ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to descend from on-high into the witness chair of Mr. Nadler’s House committee chamber on July 17, presumably to resolve all the conundrums left by his semi-inconclusive RussiaGate report. Remember, in his nine-minute homily on May 29, Mr. Mueller said that if called to testify, he would only answer by referring to the text of his report — hallowed in Wokesterdom until its disappointing release.
Mr. Mueller’s notion of testimony-by-script is at least as unorthodox as his innovation of pronouncing the object of his criminal inquiry “not exonerated,” an unprecedented and certainly extra-legal spin to the prosecutorial standard of finding an indictable offense or not — without added aspersions, insinuations, and defamations. Meanwhile, Mr. Mueller’s standing as a potent God figure has eroded badly. He started out in 2017 as the Avenging Angel in a Brooks Brother’s suit, morphed into Yahweh as the RussiaGate Mob patiently awaited his Last Judgment, and then got demoted to mere Sphinx-hood after his Sacred Text failed its basic task: to oust the Golden Golem of Greatness from his unholy occupation of the White House.
Did Mr. Nadler summon Mr. Mueller from beach or lake-side to just recite chapter and verse from his report? What would be the point of that? Well, perhaps to whip up enough media froth to refresh the public’s memory of how Comrade Trump stole the 2016 election at the bidding of his Russian handlers. Is that all?
Could be.
The problem is that Mr. Nadler’s majority Democrat members are not the only ones who get to ask questions. Did the Chairman forget that? Or did he think the minority — including Reps. Collins, Jordan, Gohmert, and Gaetz — would just lob softballs at the witness?
I can think of a few 90-mph sliders I’d like to pitch to Mr. Mueller, some of them already floated in the press: like,
why did you allow the GI cell phones of Peter Strzok and Lisa Page to be destroyed shortly after you were informed about their unprofessional and compromising text exchanges, for which they were fired off your “team?”
When did you learn that international men-of-mystery Stefan Halper and Josef Mifsud, whose operations spurred your prosecutions, were not Russian agents but rather in the employ of US and British government intel agencies?
Your deputy, Andrew Weissmann, was informed by Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr in the summer of 2016, months before your appointment, that the predicating documents for your inquiry, known as the Steele Dossier, amounted to a Clinton campaign oppo research digest — when did he happen to tell you that?
You devoted nearly 20 pages of your report to the Trump Tower meeting between the president’s son, Donald, Jr., and two Russians, lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin. Why did you omit to mention that both Russians were in the employ of Glenn Simpson’s Fusion GPS company, candidate Clinton’s oppo research contractor, and met with Mr. Simpson both before and after the Trump Tower meeting?
How did it happen that you hired attorney Jeannie Rhee for your team, knowing that she had previously worked as a lawyer for the Clinton Foundation?
Under what legal standard did you pronounce Mr. Trump to be “not exonerated” in the obstruction of justice matter, considering you told the Attorney General, Mr. Barr, that it was not based on findings by the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel concerning presidential immunity from indictment?
The public has been well-distracted by the Democratic Party primary circus, and all reporting about the aftermath of RussiaGate has vanished from the front pages of the news media.
Ostensibly, Hillary Clinton is enjoying her solitary walks in the Chappaqua woods and all seems well in the Deep State world. Yet, consider that wild things lurk in those thickets. The DOJ Inspector General, Mr. Horowitz, is overdue with his own report — perhaps stymied by a lack of cooperation in wringing declassified documents from the hands of the many intel agencies involved… while Mr. Barr and his deputy, John Durham, are at work in the background on their own investigation. There will also be repercussions upcoming in the matter of General Flynn, who switched attorneys recently and may be reconsidering his guilty plea based on Mr., Mueller’s prosecutorial misconduct in withholding exculpatory evidence from Judge Emmet Sullivan’s court.
It’s just possible that Robert Mueller will not be reading chapter and verse from his sacred report, like an old-school Episcopal priest, but rather pleading the Fifth Amendment to avert his own potential prosecution.
via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2FLgAQ5 Tyler Durden
