Via NY Post:

Special counsel Robert Mueller has definitively put to rest the collusion theory of President Trump’s election. That’s not a little embarrassing for the many journalists, talking heads, celebrities and instant experts who spent more than two years furiously speculating about Moscow “pee-pee” tapes, treasonous rendezvous and the president’s imminent arrest.

The president’s haters no doubt wish to memory-hole collusion and move on to the next anti-Trump theory. But not so fast: We want to laurel the punditry “champion” — the one who peddled the most nonsensical nonsense, the wildest inanities, the weirdest theories and unsubstantiated stories.

That’s where your brackets come in.

Our contenders are divided into four groups (not unlike NCAA conferences): the print journalists, the cable TV talkers, the Twitterati and the network news reporters and “analysts.” And the brackets are seeded, with the most visible and influential figures contending against the lesser-known.

Keep reading…

And there’s a reckoning to come…

Via NY Post:

Stick a fork in impeachment. It’s dead.

Victory doesn’t get any sweeter for the winners. Or more important for our country.

The results of the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller are a tremendous vindication for President Trump and the many millions of Americans who never doubted his innocence. The findings prove, once and for all time, that he won the 2016 election fair and square.[….]

Yet Mueller, after conducting the most exhaustive test ever of election integrity, reached this stunning conclusion: “The Special Counsel did not find that any US person or Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly coordinated” with Russians “despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.”

No American — not a single one — took the Russian bait. And that includes every member of the Trump campaign.

That is a fact worthy of celebration, for it shows our democracy is strong and our institutions uncompromised.

Other implications of the report’s findings are also enormous.

We now know that Hillary Clinton and her supporters misled the country in claiming that the White House was stolen from her. She started the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax and her claims, aided by the Obama White House and magnified by a thoroughly partisan media, set in motion a wild-goose chase.

The chase undermined a duly elected president and cost taxpayers more than $30 million for an investigation that proved the accusations were flat-out false.

Yet money alone is hardly the full price. The probe itself was a giant cloud over the presidency. Trump’s cabinet, his family, his aides and every policy he put forth were viewed with suspicion by those who bought Clinton’s Big Lie. Many of those people shelled out thousands of dollars for legal bills merely to answer questions and prove themselves innocent of any wrongdoing.

It is also a given that China, North Korea, Iran and, yes, Russia have factored into their relations with us the possibility that Trump might not be long for the Oval Office.

We will never know exactly what price America paid for that possibility, but you can be certain it was high, and that the ramifications will not instantly disappear.

Keep reading…

Barr and the IG need to weed out the bad apples at the FBI and the DOJ. Enough already.

Via Fox News:

Republican investigators on the House Intelligence Committee formally requested former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s work-related text messages as part of their surveillance abuse inquiry last March, but they were denied, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The sources questioned whether the rejection amounted to an obstruction of congressional oversight, after Fox News on Friday published previously unseen texts between then-FBI Deputy Director McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page discussing numerous Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) matters.

An attorney for McCabe, the FBI, and the DOJ did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment following the publication of the texts on Friday.

In their document request, dated March 23, 2018, House investigators demanded the DOJ and FBI promptly turn over “all documents and communications, including emails and text messages” in which Page, McCabe, and seven others “discussed, referenced, or undertook work regarding [British ex-spy] Christopher Steele, the Steele dossier, related FISA applications and the application process.”

Other individuals included in the House GOP’s request for information were former FBI Director James Comey, then-Special Agent Peter Strzok, and senior DOJ official Bruce Ohr — who became a back channel between Steele and the FBI, after Steele was fired by the bureau on the eve of the 2016 presidential election over his contacts with the media.

“The answer from DOJ was, ‘We’re working on this’ — kicking the can down the road was a constant theme,” one source explained.

On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, speaking during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., confirmed that his office is continuing to probe potential Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses.

“We have a FISA-related review that people might have heard about that the deputy attorney general asked us to take a look at,” Horowitz said. “But I’m not going to dwell on that.”

Keep reading…

Is there anything this guy didn’t scam?

Via Free Beacon:

Embattled Democratic lawyer Michael Avenatti, who on Monday was arrested for an extortion plot involving Nike and was separately alleged to embezzle client money while falsifying tax returns, appears to have used a political action committee that he established to help liberal candidates as a personal slush fund, Federal Election Commission filings show.

Avenatti launched his PAC, the Fight PAC, last summer as he was contemplating a presidential run to help Democratic candidates with “the size and presence to really fight back and advocate for a position of strength as opposed to weakness.”

From the committee’s launch in late August 2018 to Dec. 31, 2018, Avenatti’s PAC hauled in $113,000 in total contributions. During this time, the Fight PAC reported $101,000 worth of operating expenditures—much of which were reimbursements for Avenatti’s jet-setting ways and stays at lavish hotels.

Keep reading…

#MAGA – Michael Avenatti Getting Arrested!!!

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 25, 2019

Basta!

Via The Hill:

Donald Trump Jr. on Monday mocked Michael Avenatti following the news that the lawyer had been arrested and charged with wire fraud and extortion.

“Good news for my friend [Michael Avenatti],” President Trump’s eldest son tweeted. “If you plead fast enough, you might just get to share a cell with Michael Cohen!”

Trump Jr. also included the hashtag #basta, meaning “enough” or “stop” in Italian, which Avenatti has repeatedly used to promote his legal actions against President Trump.

Avenatti is best known for formerly representing adult-film star Stormy Daniels in a number of lawsuits against President Trump and Cohen, the president’s ex-personal lawyer.

Keep reading…

Maybe all those who pushed a fake story for two years, like Chris, should show some shame and resign.

Via Daily Wire:

Should a person who was just determined to have not committed a crime still resign in shame?

That seems to be what MSNBC host Chris Matthews was suggesting during a panel discussion on “Morning Joe.” Matthews and his fellow panelists were discussing the report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which found “no evidence” of collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. The topic turned, naturally, to another major American investigation involving a president — Richard Nixon.

“I think Nixon had shame,” Matthews said. “It may not have been moral shame, but was political shame. He knew he blew it.”

Matthews then explained that Nixon “got caught up” in various scandals, including one during his first campaign in 1946, when he accused incumbent Democrat opponent Jerry Voorhis of having communist ties. Switching back to Nixon resigning as president over the Watergate scandal, Matthews suggested Trump should do the same.

Keep reading…

What a weasel.

Via Daily Caller:

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Monday morning that he was “relieved” by the Attorney General’s summary of the Mueller report, admitting the findings presented less than he anticipated in terms of criminal activity.

“Well, I don’t know if I received bad information but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was. I am relieved that it’s been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election. I think that is good news for the country,” Brennan said when asked by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough if he was surprised by the lack of collusion evidence.

Brennan added “I still point to things that were done publicly, or efforts to try to have conversation with the Russians that were inappropriate, but I’m not all that surprised that the high bar of criminal conspiracy was not met.”

Keep reading…

Michael Avenatti just realized his ultimate sexual fantasy pic.twitter.com/3R12F5DLcb

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 15, 2018

The karma gods are rolling on the floor laughing their butts off.

Didn’t take long for CNN to throw him under the bus. He hasn’t yet been charged or arrested.

Via Washington Examiner: 

A CNN spokesperson told the Washington Examiner Monday that its longtime legal analyst Mark Geragos is “no longer a CNN contributor.”

Geragos, 61, the alleged co-conspirator in the criminal case against celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti made hundreds of appearances on CNN while working for the news organization.

His firing was so hasty that CNN had not had a chance to update its website and still had him listed as a “legal analyst”. He has made numerous appearances on CNN, frequently discussing the notable and often polarizing figures he represents. He is currently representing Jussie Smollett, who is accused of faking a hate crime for his own benefit.

Keep reading…

She got in the old-fashioned way, dad donated millions to build a library or something.

Via Market Watch:

Hip-hop luminary Dr. Dre took to Instagram on Sunday to celebrate his daughter’s acceptance to the University of Southern California and throw shade at other rich families caught up in a national admissions scandal.

The rapper, whose real name is Andre Young, posted a picture with his daughter, Truly Young, and her acceptance letter to the school.

“My daughter got accepted into USC all on her own,” the rapper wrote in the caption. “No jail time!!!!”

Dre’s comment was a thinly veiled reference to the college admissions scandal in which dozens of parents are facing federal charges after accusations they cheated to get their children accepted to prestigious schools, including USC.

But critics were quick to point out in the comments of Dre’s post that his daughter’s acceptance to the university came just a few years after he and producer Jimmy Iovine made a $70 million donation to the school.

Keep reading…

There should be consequences for legislators who use their high office to continuously slander and spread lies about someone.

Via Fox News:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff “ought to resign today” for “peddling a lie, day after day after day, unchallenged and not under oath” that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said.

Conway ripped the California Democrat and longtime critic of the president on ‘Fox & Friends’ Monday following the release of a letter from Attorney General Bill Barr stating that Special Counsel Robert Mueller “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia.”

“He ought to resign today,” Conway said about Schiff. “He’s been on every TV show 50 times a day for practically the last two years, promising Americans that this president would either be impeached or indicted.”

“Adam Schiff should resign. He has no right as somebody who has been peddling a lie, day after day after day, unchallenged and not under oath,” she added. “Somebody should have put him under oath and said ‘you have evidence, where is it’?

“Because Bob Mueller already ran the fair and the full investigation and any partisan and politicized investigation from here on in will never have the credibility of the Mueller investigation and the credibility of Attorney General Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, what they did here,” she continued.
Keep reading…

A problem we thankfully don’t have in America.

Via USA Today:

DUNEDIN, New Zealand – New Zealanders are debating the limits of free speech after their chief censor banned the 74-page manifesto written and released by the man accused of slaughtering 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.

The ban, issued Saturday, means anybody caught with the document on their computer could face up to 10 years in prison, while anyone caught sending it could face 14 years. Some say the ban goes too far and risks lending both the document and the gunman mystique.

At the same time, many local media organizations are debating whether to even name the Australian man charged with murder in the March 15 attacks after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed she would never mention him by name.

In some ways, the accuser shooter’s manifesto provides the greatest insight into his character and thinking, with neighbors and those he met in a gym in the sleepy seaside town of Dunedin recalling nothing particularly remarkable about him.

Keep reading…

I like to think Dapandico is walking with him.

Via Fox News:

A retired Army infantryman is walking across the U.S. But no, it’s not a scene from “Forrest Gump,” and he’s not crossing the country on a whim.

Alabama native Van Booth is walking across the U.S. to raise money for Operation Song, a nonprofit program that helps veterans, active-duty military and their families tell their stories. The program is unique in how it helps veterans tap the power of song, pairing them with songwriters.

Operation Song is close to Booth’s heart. He says that listening to his own story turned into a song was very healing and helped him cope with memories and lost comrades. He says it’s hard for veterans to remember past trauma they’ve experienced in combat. It’s much easier to talk about that material via music.

“It pairs a veteran with a national hit-making songwriter to help veterans get things off their chest they can’t normally say,” he explained to WZDX. “It seems to be easier to do over song, and it works.”

On Friday Booth had just trekked through the state of Nevada. He aims to cover more than 2,800 miles with just a large stroller, equipped with a pouch to hold his guitar.

“The stringless guitar, meaning a silent guitar, represents the soldiers and veterans who aren’t here anymore,” Booth told WZDX.

“As of today, I’m about 114 miles total in my walk. I have been walking for the past week,” Booth said.

Booth served as an infantryman from 1995 to 2016, taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Keep reading…

WSJ reports that the co-conspirator in the Avenatti case is famous lawyer Mark Geragos. There is a taped conversation. @rebeccadobrien @mrothfeld https://t.co/D5IXjl1Y8e

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 25, 2019

This just keeps getting better and better.

Via Axios:

Federal prosecutors in New York announced Monday that they will charge lawyer Michael Avenatti, who gained notoriety for his representation of Stormy Daniels and a discredited Brett Kavanaugh accuser, with an attempt to extort $20 million from Nike. He is also being charged with wire and bank fraud by prosecutors in California.

The big picture: Avenatti tweeted just before the charges were announced, saying he would hold a press conference Tuesday “to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by @Nike that we have uncovered.” The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Avenatti’s alleged co-conspirator in the extortion scheme is celebrity attorney and CNN legal analyst Mark Geragos, who has represented Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Jussie Smollett and other high profile figures.

Keep reading…

Good grief.

HT: NB

Notice that he doesn’t say how he would replace the cash bail system. One can only assume that he prefers to see murderers, rapists, and robbers go free simply on their promise to appear.

Via Washington Times:

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke told voters in South Carolina on Friday that it is time to end the cash bail system, arguing that it discriminates against the less fortunate.

Trying to spin his past run-ins with the law into a positive message on the campaign trail, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said when he got arrested on a couple of occasions over 20 years ago that his family had the financial means to get him out of jail, but many others do not.

“Ending the cash bail system makes sense,” Mr. O’Rourke said in Rock Hill. “You cannot be too poor to have your freedom and that is exactly what happens in the United States of America.”

Mr. O’Rourke was arrested in 1998 for drunken driving and in 1995 for burglary when he was a student at The University of Texas at El Paso, according to Politifact Texas, which says the DWI charge was dismissed after he went through a DWI program and the misdemeanor charge of burglary was disposed of the following year.

Mr. O’Rourke told the audience that he was able to get his life back on track, but others have struggled to recover from arrests from nonviolent offenses, which have hurt their ability to secure employment and qualify for student loans.

Keep reading…

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claims that Muslims in the U.S. are “second-class citizens,” encourages them to “raise hell, make people uncomfortable” pic.twitter.com/BfsaefdZ8E

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 24, 2019

She’s such a second class citizen, she gets to be a member of Congress.

This guy has set a new low bar for attorney corruption and criminality.

Via CNBC:

Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti has been arrested on charges related to an alleged $20 million extortion of the athletic apparel company Nike, federal authorities said Monday.

A press conference is scheduled to discuss the charges against Avenatti in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. Avenatti is due to be presented in federal court on Monday.

Avenatti, 48, had represented porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen related to a non-disclosure agreement she had signed on the eve of the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump in exchange for a $130,000 payment.

Keep reading…

.@LindseyGrahamSC says he wants to know how the Mueller probe started.

"The FISA warrant issued against Carter Page based on a dossier prepared by Christopher Steele is at a minimum disturbing. I'm going to get answers … if no one else cares, it seems to be Republicans do." pic.twitter.com/0uGuef4YRp

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 25, 2019

2.0 is unleashed and he’s coming for them…

Via Twitchy:

Safe to say Sen. Lindsey Graham just threw down the gauntlet on anyone and everyone involved with the Mueller report and beyond.

Woke Lindsey is our favorite Lindsey.

This whole damn thing has been disturbing.

This is where it gets really good …

Keep reading…

Liberal meltdown in 3..2..1

JUST NOW: @realDonaldTrump signs a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. pic.twitter.com/rjb5AatVcP

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 25, 2019