“The Mueller investigation is complete and this is a simple fact that will never go away: not one single American was charged, indicted or convicted for conspiring with Russia to influence the 2016 election – not even a low-level volunteer. The number is zero.Compare what cable hosts (let’s leave them unnamed) & Democratic operatives spent two years claiming this would lead to – the imprisonment of Don, Jr., Jared, even Trump on conspiracy-with-Russia charges – to what it actually produced. A huge media reckoning is owed. Don’t even try to pretend the point of the Mueller investigation from the start wasn’t to obtain prosecutions of Americans guilty of conspiring with Russia to influence the outcome of the election or that Putin controlled Trump through blackmail. Nobody will believe your denials”
—Muckraking journalist Glenn Greenwald, in a series of tweets reacting to the end of the Mueller investigation and the announcement that there would be no further indictments.
Greenwald is hardly a Trump supporter and his reporting has a strong progressive tilt. He does strive to be a truth-teller however, and adjust for his biases, and unlike all the obnoxious gloating I’m seeing on the conservative media, his analysis should be respected. That there were no indictable crimes related to “Russian collusion” should not have been a surprise except to the Hillary bitter-enders and Trump-deranged who were certain that the President had to have won the Presidency illicitly, because…because….well, just because. Of course, it was just moral luck that an investigation like Mueller’s didn’t find more, because that kind of investigation would be likely to uncover bad deeds in the campaigns of any Presidential candidate.
The point is, as Greenwald says, that the news media, Democrats and the resistance spent more than two years stating as fact that the President was guilty, and that Mueller’s findings would inevitably lead to impeachment as well as proof that Clinton was cheated out of the Presidency. This vicious, un-American, destructive narrative has divided the nation while making it difficult ( but, to his credit, not impossible) for President Trump to govern. That also was intentional.
I personally resent the way that I and others who objectively refused to presume the President’s guilt in this and other controversies have been repeatedly attacked, while the news media in particular misled the public and warped public discourse by incompetent, biased, and often dishonest reporting. Greenwald is right: there must be a reckoning, but not just for the news media. There must also be a reckoning for all the arrogant, insulting, smug friends, co-workers and relatives who sneered, and mocked, and denigrated those better-informed, unbiased, believers in our institutions who legitimately questioned the need for a Special Counsel and found their certitude that Trump had committed heinous crimes to win the election repulsive and wrong.
I’m waiting to see if these people, who have fed so much needless and corrosive hate into our society and wounded it deeply, will have the integrity to admit their divisive conduct and apologize for their insults and contempt for opposing views—that happened to be correct—over since the 2016 election.
For most of them, based on the character traits they have displayed, I expect to wait…. forever.
Ethics Alarms 
It’s astonishing to watch the media “resistance” types try to memory-hole two years worth of breathlessly hyping the Mueller investigation, and either not realize or not care that doing so completely obliterates the few tattered shreds of credibility they may have had left.
Greenwald is right, that a reckoning is due, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for it.
The key to understanding ‘the resistance’, it seems to me, is to understand that their will and desire is to unseat the President, to hate him, discredit him, undermine him in any way possible. If that is understood as the primary motive, the particular issue they choose is secondary. I think even they realize this.
The reason Trump is perceived as The Enemy is worth looking into. I list only the two most obvious. For many Jews the face of opposition to Jewish machinations shows itself in Trump. This should be obvious as, everywhere one looks but especially in the times, his face is caricatured in a most ‘yellow’ way. I’ve never seen such bizarre, even abstract, photographs of a political figure. (What an interesting topic of investigation that would be). It is safe to say that the NYTs gives expression to the NY Intellectual Class which is, on the whole, Jewish.
They fear, rationally or irrationally, the rise of another destructive Führer. And they have succeeded, by and large, in aligning their Gentile brothers and sisters with that same fear. There are levels within this fear that can be examined. One is that the fear is used — as all know — as a pretext for crushing or defaming opponents of any sort, whether they are Jewish opponents or not. Everyone knows how the term Nazi is used, and who uses it. Anti-Semite is used similarly.
The aforementioned is linked to a general disempowerment of Europe: an object that was established as a result of the Second WW. This is where the roots of ‘anti-whiteness’ are to be found. A collusion (heh heh) between Jewish progressive activists and Black Liberation activists. Essentially the undermining of a militant White Identity which Jews tremendously fear. But it jumped out of its bottle so to speak. Now, it has taken a virulent and very destructive form (as those with eyes should be able to see). Therefore, in order to understand the incredible opposition mounted against Trump, one has to take these things into consideration. But since the entire topic is off-limits for all Americans, if there are thoughts on the matter they are secret, hidden thoughts. Better not to even glance over them.
Anything good on TeeVee?
For Blacks and other POC, their anti- position is similar. If, say, the terrifying White Demographic awakens — if I will be allowed to use that phrase — and if they could push back against the Marxist-led attack on historical America, they might then oppose the project of ethnic influx and anti-white hatred and animus which will render them politically neutered as time proceeds. Ten years more? Or fifteen? So, it is imperative to channel all the hatred and guilt-animus as is possible, because the stakes are high indeed, and all players realize this. The social hysteria has a deep root in Nietzschean ressentiment and ressentiment is a devilish, unpredicable and savage enemy. The Present is actually — for them — the beginning of the culmination of long and protracted efforts.
Not all is lost though! I am working now on an Internet business that should make me a fortune! I’ve just begun production on a charming little Fiddle — Nero’s Fiddle I call it — that has a music box inside so it plays itself. Lay it in the sun, it charges itself. Just pick it up, put it to your chin, and it plays the melancholic song Dissolution of America in D minor.
😉
It won’t come. They will switch gears and claim Mueller is incompetent, that the Trump Administration put in a fix, that Melania went back in time with a machine and eliminated all the evidence…anything rather than admit they were wrong.
Has anybody here tuned their TV to CNN or MSNBC? They didn’t even pause to take breath. Within minutes of the news breaking last night, they began a parade, still ongoing, of Democratic spokesmen all repeating the same talking points:
1. The Mueller report doesn’t mean that Trump didn’t commit crimes. It only means that Mueller didn’t find sufficient evidence to indict Trump. (By the way, that was one of the subheadlines on the main story on CNN’s webpage: “Investigation fails to find enough evidence to indict Trump.”)
2. Maybe Mueller had proof of Trump’s crimes but didn’t want to indict a sitting president.
3. Maybe Mueller had proof of Trump’s crimes but failed to recognize the strength of his own evidence.
4. The Mueller report only addresses collusion that amounts to a crime. We know that Trump committed collusion even if it didn’t quite amount to a crime.
5. The Mueller report only addresses collusion, not the multiple other crimes that we know Trump has committed.
6. Barr must turn the full Mueller report over to the Democrats immediately. Every moment of delay and every redaction will be proof of a cover-up. (I saw one talking head today saying, “The report was delivered yesterday and still hasn’t been turned over to Congress.”)
7. Barr must not allow Trump to see the Mueller report before he turns it over to the Democrats, because Trump is a subject of the investigation. Allowing Trump to see it will be proof of a coverup
8. Congress must conduct further investigations of collusion, in order to find the evidence that we know is there but Mueller failed to find.
9. Congress must conduct multiple investigations of other crimes that we know Trump committed but that Mueller failed to investigate.
10. Mueller must testify in front of Congress about all evidence that the investigation may have found of any misconduct whatsoever by Trump, his family or his associates, whether or not the misconduct amounts to a crime.
11. Barr must turn over all of the Mueller investigation’s underlying documents and materials to the Democrats, so that they can review it for anything whatsoever that can be spun as evidence of any misconduct whatsoever by Trump, his family or his associates, whether or not the misconduct amounts to a crime, and any withholding of any materials whatsoever will be proof of a coverup.
AND MY FAVORITE TALKING POINT OF ALL:
12. Trump is trying to spin this as a victory by sending a bunch of shills to the TV news shows with a list of talking points written by the RNC.
I think the desperation is showing. The news media is all in and has dashed its credibility betting that the President of the United States is a traitor—what the heck…no point in trying to be professional now. Rachel Maddow was actually all choked up over the fact that the President was proven a traitor! And she’s supposed to be the best journalist on MSNBC!
Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald is showing no mercy on Twitter. It’s great.
It all sprang from a fairy tale made up by sore losers.
Greenwald is among the last of the old-school journalists. He reports the story – not his own opinion based on the story, and when he does offer commentary it is well-reasoned and well presented. To his lasting credit, he is not afraid to bloody the noses of those who share his personal values.
I will be waiting for such a reckoning, as well as a few apologies for things said about me and my character from my wife and father-in-law.
Both were so absolutely sure that the narrative they had been fed was the ‘truth’, and when I had expressed doubts, the strength of my moral character, intelligence, and political leanings were questioned heavily. But I guess that is a result of ingesting a steady diet of MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, Slate, HuffPo, Washington Post, New York Times, Vox, John Oliver, and Samantha Bee.
Needless to say, I won’t be holding my breath.
Jack, Jack. I feel you, but there will be no such thing. The Left is not embarrassed by getting this wrong, they have no shame at all, and there is no apology forthcoming by anyone.
They are the afflicted. Their TDS has made wormwood of their collective brains, and they are like zombies wandering around, looking for evidence of collusion by Trump instead of brains to eat. They cannot survive without the notion that the 2016 election was stolen by Trump and Putin acting in direct coordination, and they will find that evidence if they have to create it themselves.
The days when we could shake hands and admit our faults to the political opposition are not just long gone, but literally forgotten. If Trump were found to have been without a shred of blameworthy conduct by Mueller, the Left would not be abashed, but emboldened — to attack Mueller as a stooge of Trump. Forget that they’ve written endlessly about Mueller’s independence and his competence, because they will. They are like great basketball shooters, they have no memory of their 25 missed shots just prior to this one.
In the sane world of only two decades ago, what you have described would indeed happen. Alas, the good old days are little more than a memory. Put the Left in power, and those memories will be purged like the statuary of the Civil War.
I’m already seeing the pivot happen, and now the total lack of indictments is being presented as proof of a cover up- any honest investigation would have led to trump getting indicted for SOMETHING, so the fact that he’s indicted for NOTHING proves that either Mueller and/Or the AG is hiding the evidence.
In other words, this is now merrily marching into full conspiracy loon territory along with 9/11 and flat earth and moon hoax. For the rest of time anything vaguely suggesting collusion will be held up as proof positive, and the absence of even a vague suggestion will also be held up as proof positive.
I don’t know, I still can’t shake the feeling — more than a feeling, a kind of feeling-certainty that really is a form of knowing — that Trump must have colluded. Certainly they must keep looking until they find something. If justice cannot be served by finding the *collusion* with the Russians, it is only a question of seeking the justice through some other form. Thus, the search must go on!
I’m not sure what you are getting at-but it sounds like it’s along the lines of, “If the courts won’t give us justice, then we’ll seek our own justice!”, sort of rhetoric, although please correct me if I am wrong.
-“Thus, the search must go on!”
“He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.”
-Herman Melville
I’m pretty sure Alizia had her tongue thoroughly impaling her cheek.
But any excuse to quote Moby-Dick is aces with me!
Then shame on me for that one Jack! And my apologies to Alizia! The line between truth and satire gets blurrier to my eyes by the day.
Well, if those are the only blurring lines count yourself as blessed! 😉
A literary quote! I bow before you!
Captain Ahab and the American Progressive’s Hysterical Psychosis
I’ll get to work on it tout suite.
This actually ties in with your subsequent post.
https://ethicsalarms.com/2019/03/23/unethical-prosecution-incompetent-jury-once-again-sorry-isnt-enough/
Presumption of guilt is far too common. too many people presume guilt, especially when it is the guilt of a Designated Villain®™.
and this led to a significant proportion of the population supporting a criminal inveastigation based on nothing more than a fairy tale made up by sore losers.
This ideology, this presumption of guilt, is as damaging to human civilization and morals as is Communism, National Socialism, and militant Islamism. This leads people to ignore or defy exculpatory evidence.
this was illustrated in the Kern County sex abuse cases. Not even the combined actions of the Catholic Church, the Williamsburg Orthodox Jewish establishment, or Penn State’s Spanier administration did one trillionth of the damage to the cause of punishing child sexual abuse, that Ed Jagels did.
I wrote in a comment on another post that
“Compare the public outrage against Ken Anderson to the public outrage against George Zimmermann. Compare the number of people who tweeted Ken Anderson’s address with those who tweeted George Zimmermann’s address. Compare the number of news organizations who altered video and audio to make Ken Anderson look guilty to the number of news organizations who altered video and audio to make George Zimmermann look guilty.
The horrible truth is that society and the mainstream media are more interested in railroading people for real or imagined crimes than punishing prosecutors who railroad people who railroad people for real and imagined crimes. Hell, there were more people who wanted Nakoula Basseley Nakoula to be prosecuted for murder than those who wanted Ken Anderson to be prosecuted for misconduct.
Is it any surprise we have prosecutors who have the same mindset as those who wanted to get Zimmermann and Nakoula, due process be damned?”
The above explains Ed Jagels.
The above explains Ken Anderson.
The above explains why so many people support the Mueller investigation.
And sadly, it explains much, much more.
As a lowly citizen, my gut feeling at the very, very start (when Obama suddenly declared Russian hacking a grave national emergency as soon as Hillary lost) was that this was just a bitter, childish attempt at sabotaging Trump.
Obama’s reaction was negligible years before when the Chinese hacked our military and stole the personal information of 20 million Americans. But Russians hacking Hillary’s private server that she wasn’t supposed to have, exposing actual corruption? And hacking John Podesta, whose password was “password?” This means war! The whole thing was comical. Never mind that the Russians apparently tried to hack the RNC as well, and were stymied by…actual up-to-standard security measures.
Everyone know Julian Assange hated Clinton, everyone knew Clinton wasn’t supposed to have a private server and was just trying to dodge the Freedom of Information Act, everyone knew that Russians are always trying to hack everyone, everyone knew about Russian hacking years before Trump won, everyone knew, pretty early in the investigation, that the Russian Facebook posts were ludicrously insignificant and NOT focused on helping Trump win (most of the posts weren’t even about Trump or Hillary.) Then we had two years during which Trump was tougher on Russia than Obama had been. There was no logical, evident reason why Trump and Putin would be in any sort of arrangement.
It looked and smelled like petty revenge from the start.