Trump's Russian Collusion

[Typical Lax Dad]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

Justice is blind....That guy is lucky to be alive.

[old salt]

This says far more about Ellis than it does Mueller's case. The guy is soft on white collar crime. Like that should surprise anyone. The judiciary is full of his type... perhaps not so blatant as Ellis, but the judiciary is rife. Boys will be boys.

There's no probation for Fed crimes. The sentencing guidelines don't take into consideration age or remaining life expectancy.

This sentence is in line with other Fed white collar nonviolent crimes for a man of this age.

What it says about Judge Ellis is that he's not influenced by unproven allegations or political hysteria.

[Trinity]

“An otherwise blameless life,” says the judge of the torturer’s lobbyist.
“Blood money,” says Manafort’s daughter.
Manafort lawyer insist no collusion with officials of the Russian Government. Wearing uniforms. Goosestepping.

[old salt]

Apparently Judge Ellis was not impressed with Team Mueller's work.

The predictions on MSNBC of the sentence, compared to the reality, is hilarious.

Nasty Natasha B looks like she's going to cry.

This is a huge blow, probably fatal, to the entire Mueller investigation. Based on this massive slap in the face to Mueller, Trump should seriously consider shutting down the investigation. Politically, I think this is his best chance to go on the offensive. Arguably the biggest piece of the collusion puzzle just got a slap on the wrist for a bunch of non election-related garbage. I'm afraid Mueller's spectacular career is about to end with a big thud. This is all terrible and disappointing. Mueller needs to shut it down and let the country move on. It's over.

This is sarcasm, right?

No. It's becoming more and more clear that Mueller has failed to make a convincing case for collusion. A figure who was most certainly central to any collusive activities just walked out of a courtroom with as close to a complete victory as he could have hoped for. A federal judge who has seen behind the curtain more than any of us basically said Mueller was a bully and Manafort didn't do anything that went to the core of Mueller's mandate. The thinking on Manafort had been that he lied and refused to cooperate with Mueller as he had promised -- lied about the key collusive activities at issue -- and that a judge who was aware of that would throw the book at him on the other charges. Apparently that thinking was wrong.

This is looking like a failure of the Mueller investigation, in my mind, because I think the case for collusion is very strong and goes directly to Trump. He's going to get away with it. Like Manafort, he may ultimately face unrelated legal jeopardy after he leaves office, but he stole an election (and obstructed the investigation) and he's going to get away with it. These are bad times.

If there was collusion or espionage, Manafort (+ his partner & early co-operator Gates) were the most likely facilitators.

Mueller has (so far) failed to make the case that collusion or espionage took place. Not just with all he had access to in his investigation, but with everything our & allied IC's could dredge up. Including surveillance & probes by informants. Manafort didn't tell Mueller what he needed to hear. Maybe he couldn't truthfully, because it didn't happen. Don't forget, Mueller's still got Gates & there's no indication that he has not been truthful & forthcoming. Likewise for Flynn.

Russophilia, in foreign policy or business, is not a crime. Neither is sleazy or unethical business or politics.

[ggait]

Judge Ellis' beef all along was the selective prosecution angle by the SCO. The lighter sentence is explained by that. And by the obvious fact that white collar crime usually doesn't result in long sentences.

Manafort is obviously 100% guilty of being a big time sleaze-ball and huge tax dodger. But he'd been those things for a long time. He could have been prosecuted for those crimes at any time by any regular U.S. Attorneys office. No reason the SCO needs to prosecute these crimes against Manafort but for the Trump connection.

It is pretty likely that Manafort probably would never have been prosecuted if he had not been so unwise as to sign up with the Trump campaign. Crazy for Trump to have hired him given Manafort's total sketchiness. Crazy for Manafort to go work there given Trump's total sketchiness. To me that's the story -- only the best people, right?

Still think it is pre-mature to conclude that Mueller doesn't have the collusion piece. He might not have it. Or he might not have shown us his cards on that yet.

[jhu72]

This says far more about Ellis than it does Mueller's case. The guy is soft on white collar crime. Like that should surprise anyone. The judiciary is full of his type... perhaps not so blatant as Ellis, but the judiciary is rife. Boys will be boys.

There's no probation for Fed crimes. The sentencing guidelines don't take into consideration age or remaining life expectancy.

This sentence is in line with other Fed white collar nonviolent crimes for a man of this age.

What it says about Judge Ellis is that he's not influenced by unproven allegations or political hysteria.

Always the white elitist's excuse.

[foreverlax]

Apparently Judge Ellis was not impressed with Team Mueller's work.

The predictions on MSNBC of the sentence, compared to the reality, is hilarious.

Nasty Natasha B looks like she's going to cry.

This is a huge blow, probably fatal, to the entire Mueller investigation. Based on this massive slap in the face to Mueller, Trump should seriously consider shutting down the investigation. Politically, I think this is his best chance to go on the offensive. Arguably the biggest piece of the collusion puzzle just got a slap on the wrist for a bunch of non election-related garbage. I'm afraid Mueller's spectacular career is about to end with a big thud. This is all terrible and disappointing. Mueller needs to shut it down and let the country move on. It's over.

This is sarcasm, right?

No. It's becoming more and more clear that Mueller has failed to make a convincing case for collusion. A figure who was most certainly central to any collusive activities just walked out of a courtroom with as close to a complete victory as he could have hoped for. A federal judge who has seen behind the curtain more than any of us basically said Mueller was a bully and Manafort didn't do anything that went to the core of Mueller's mandate. The thinking on Manafort had been that he lied and refused to cooperate with Mueller as he had promised -- lied about the key collusive activities at issue -- and that a judge who was aware of that would throw the book at him on the other charges. Apparently that thinking was wrong.

This is looking like a failure of the Mueller investigation, in my mind, because I think the case for collusion is very strong and goes directly to Trump. He's going to get away with it. Like Manafort, he may ultimately face unrelated legal jeopardy after he leaves office, but he stole an election (and obstructed the investigation) and he's going to get away with it. These are bad times.

If there was collusion or espionage, Manafort (+ his partner & early co-operator Gates) were the most likely facilitators.

Mueller has (so far) failed to make the case that collusion or espionage took place. Not just with all he had access to in his investigation, but with everything our & allied IC's could dredge up. Including surveillance & probes by informants. Manafort didn't tell Mueller what he needed to hear. Maybe he couldn't truthfully, because it didn't happen. Don't forget, Mueller's still got Gates & there's no indication that he has not been truthful & forthcoming. Likewise for Flynn.

Russophilia, in foreign policy or business, is not a crime. Neither is sleazy or unethical business or politics.

Sleazy and Unethical business practices are viewed as criminal in my industry.

[jhu72]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

On a Saturday morning about 10 - 12 years ago I was racing (in my high performance sports car) to get to a dental appointment I was slightly late for. I was on the Baltimore beltway on the east side of town. Came off the beltway heading west back towards Baltimore. At the exit was sitting a Baltimore County police radar trap. It was hidden by the off ramp and slight curve. I was through the radar trap before I even saw it. In going through the trap I passed an older car driven by an African American women. There were two COPs working the radar trap. They pulled both of us over. They engaged the black women first, both of them. When a COP finally got around to me, I had my driver's license and registration all ready in my hand and my window rolled down. He took the documents checked them and then with a big smile said "that's a sweet car, mind if I look inside". He checked the car out, while standing at the door, then handed my documents back and said he was just going to give me a verbal warning. He said I was going greater than 20 mph over the speed limit in a commercial zone on a MD primary road. Told me to try to keep the speed down and to have a good day. The woman in the other car, which was going slower than I was, she was standing outside her car with the other officer in his cruiser writing her up when I left for the 30 second trip to my dentist's office.

All things are equal.

[old salt]

This says far more about Ellis than it does Mueller's case. The guy is soft on white collar crime. Like that should surprise anyone. The judiciary is full of his type... perhaps not so blatant as Ellis, but the judiciary is rife. Boys will be boys.

There's no probation for Fed crimes. The sentencing guidelines don't take into consideration age or remaining life expectancy.

This sentence is in line with other Fed white collar nonviolent crimes for a man of this age.

What it says about Judge Ellis is that he's not influenced by unproven allegations or political hysteria.

Always the white elitist's excuse.

Free R Kelly !

[CU88]

This says far more about Ellis than it does Mueller's case. The guy is soft on white collar crime. Like that should surprise anyone. The judiciary is full of his type... perhaps not so blatant as Ellis, but the judiciary is rife. Boys will be boys.

There's no probation for Fed crimes. The sentencing guidelines don't take into consideration age or remaining life expectancy.

This sentence is in line with other Fed white collar nonviolent crimes for a man of this age.

What it says about Judge Ellis is that he's not influenced by unproven allegations or political hysteria.

What it says is that Judge and Jury found this criminal GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY.

He is going to be doing time for the crime.

More to come.

[old salt]

This says far more about Ellis than it does Mueller's case. The guy is soft on white collar crime. Like that should surprise anyone. The judiciary is full of his type... perhaps not so blatant as Ellis, but the judiciary is rife. Boys will be boys.

There's no probation for Fed crimes. The sentencing guidelines don't take into consideration age or remaining life expectancy.

This sentence is in line with other Fed white collar nonviolent crimes for a man of this age.

What it says about Judge Ellis is that he's not influenced by unproven allegations or political hysteria.

What it says is that Judge and Jury found this criminal GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY.

He is going to be doing time for the crime.

More to come.

This is a diversion. ...a MacGuffin.
Mueller's just building suspense for an Act III surprise ending.
After Manafort & Flynn are sentenced, he'll be filling the big espionage conspiracy indictment.
Given the false sense of security, the shock value will be sufficient to jolt (R)'s into supporting impeachment.
Mueller's church buddy AG will protect him & the process.
Keep hope alive.

[Typical Lax Dad]

This says far more about Ellis than it does Mueller's case. The guy is soft on white collar crime. Like that should surprise anyone. The judiciary is full of his type... perhaps not so blatant as Ellis, but the judiciary is rife. Boys will be boys.

There's no probation for Fed crimes. The sentencing guidelines don't take into consideration age or remaining life expectancy.

This sentence is in line with other Fed white collar nonviolent crimes for a man of this age.

What it says about Judge Ellis is that he's not influenced by unproven allegations or political hysteria.

Always the white elitist's excuse.

Free R Kelly !

"they hirin'"

You are such an advocate you should apply!

[old salt]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

On a Saturday morning about 10 - 12 years ago I was racing (in my high performance sports car) to get to a dental appointment I was slightly late for. I was on the Baltimore beltway on the east side of town. Came off the beltway heading west back towards Baltimore. At the exit was sitting a Baltimore County police radar trap. It was hidden by the off ramp and slight curve. I was through the radar trap before I even saw it. In going through the trap I passed an older car driven by an African American women. There were two COPs working the radar trap. They pulled both of us over. They engaged the black women first, both of them. When a COP finally got around to me, I had my driver's license and registration all ready in my hand and my window rolled down. He took the documents checked them and then with a big smile said "that's a sweet car, mind if I look inside". He checked the car out, while standing at the door, then handed my documents back and said he was just going to give me a verbal warning. He said I was going greater than 20 mph over the speed limit in a commercial zone on a MD primary road. Told me to try to keep the speed down and to have a good day. The woman in the other car, which was going slower than I was, she was standing outside her car with the other officer in his cruiser writing her up when I left for the 30 second trip to my dentist's office.

All things are equal.

I've had better luck dodging speeding tickets in my Mustang GT than in my dog rescue minivans.
Having my hands on the wheel, documents ready & being cheerful & polite helped. White man's justice.
I've received 2 speeding tickets (rather than warnings) in the last 20 years. Both were written by black officers.

[runrussellrun]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

Hence, I overuse the term "pretend". As in Boulder Colorado is a PRETEND liberal community. Based on the nieghborhood images, also PRETEND climate change believers. Oh.....you see police cruiser Prius , solar panels or wind turnbines in the poorly zoned/planned cookie cutter yawn fest that boulder calls "neighborhood" .
Thank you for proving ......

[foreverlax]

Pretend Liberals, RINOS....people are round and the hole is square. Hypocrites are another matter.

[ggait]

Boulder is pretty legit liberal.

I note the guy in this incident was a student at the adjacent Naropa University. Probably a major in yoga or contemplative art therapy (no joke). Those yoga majors are known to be pretty aggressive guys...

"Located in Boulder, Colorado, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, liberal arts university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the arts, education, environmental studies, peace studies, psychology and religious studies. Buddhist-inspired and nonsectarian, Naropa University is rooted in contemplative education, a teaching and learning approach that integrates Eastern wisdom studies and the arts with traditional Western scholarship. Naropa was the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement."

The house is apparently Naropa student housing (which the cops should know) and is right next to a bunch of CU/Boulder student housing as well. So having some diverse young and single males around that location should really be no surprise. Just a bad biff by the Boulder cops, who generally are a pretty good crew.

The location is also very close to McGuckins -- perhaps the single greatest hardware store in the world!!

[SCLaxAttack]

Naropa sounds like a college where everyone should be getting free tuition. Let’s pass those free college for all bills post haste!

[cradleandshoot]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

On a Saturday morning about 10 - 12 years ago I was racing (in my high performance sports car) to get to a dental appointment I was slightly late for. I was on the Baltimore beltway on the east side of town. Came off the beltway heading west back towards Baltimore. At the exit was sitting a Baltimore County police radar trap. It was hidden by the off ramp and slight curve. I was through the radar trap before I even saw it. In going through the trap I passed an older car driven by an African American women. There were two COPs working the radar trap. They pulled both of us over. They engaged the black women first, both of them. When a COP finally got around to me, I had my driver's license and registration all ready in my hand and my window rolled down. He took the documents checked them and then with a big smile said "that's a sweet car, mind if I look inside". He checked the car out, while standing at the door, then handed my documents back and said he was just going to give me a verbal warning. He said I was going greater than 20 mph over the speed limit in a commercial zone on a MD primary road. Told me to try to keep the speed down and to have a good day. The woman in the other car, which was going slower than I was, she was standing outside her car with the other officer in his cruiser writing her up when I left for the 30 second trip to my dentist's office.

All things are equal.

Were those cops winking at you with a bit more than admiration for your car? Maybe you didn't get the real drift here 72?

[youthathletics]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

On a Saturday morning about 10 - 12 years ago I was racing (in my high performance sports car) to get to a dental appointment I was slightly late for. I was on the Baltimore beltway on the east side of town. Came off the beltway heading west back towards Baltimore. At the exit was sitting a Baltimore County police radar trap. It was hidden by the off ramp and slight curve. I was through the radar trap before I even saw it. In going through the trap I passed an older car driven by an African American women. There were two COPs working the radar trap. They pulled both of us over. They engaged the black women first, both of them. When a COP finally got around to me, I had my driver's license and registration all ready in my hand and my window rolled down. He took the documents checked them and then with a big smile said "that's a sweet car, mind if I look inside". He checked the car out, while standing at the door, then handed my documents back and said he was just going to give me a verbal warning. He said I was going greater than 20 mph over the speed limit in a commercial zone on a MD primary road. Told me to try to keep the speed down and to have a good day. The woman in the other car, which was going slower than I was, she was standing outside her car with the other officer in his cruiser writing her up when I left for the 30 second trip to my dentist's office.

All things are equal.

I've had better luck dodging speeding tickets in my Mustang GT than in my dog rescue minivans.
Having my hands on the wheel, documents ready & being cheerful & polite helped. White man's justice.
I've received 2 speeding tickets (rather than warnings) in the last 20 years. Both were written by black officers.

Got pulled over in my go fast car in 1989. Coming out of DC. PG county cop (black man) jacked build. Questioned how someone my age could afford a car like this, showed him my hands that were dirty and cut up and said I work for every penny. He grabbed me and slammed me up against the car. Wrote me a me ticket for faster than I was going, and improper lane change which was BS. Ended up filing a complaint and the damned guy started following me weeks later. He ended up getting fired. Later found out from friends on the force....he had issues with white folks and the majority of all his citations where only white people.

Bad people do bad things. Adding racist generalities gets us nowhere.

[kramerica.inc]

Ever been in a criminal courtroom? Or a jail? Or seen the stats?

Had one of our cooks in Ann Arbor running through the criminal justice system. Ann Arbor, MI is as white as white gets.

And yet the jail and courtroom was filled with minorities and their families. Coincidence, I'm sure.

Do you think "driving while black" is made up?

Here's one from right down the road in "liberal" Boulder last week. Man had the unmitigated gall to pick up trash in front of his home. Now we can't have that, can we?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... bbab5f7f57

On a Saturday morning about 10 - 12 years ago I was racing (in my high performance sports car) to get to a dental appointment I was slightly late for. I was on the Baltimore beltway on the east side of town. Came off the beltway heading west back towards Baltimore. At the exit was sitting a Baltimore County police radar trap. It was hidden by the off ramp and slight curve. I was through the radar trap before I even saw it. In going through the trap I passed an older car driven by an African American women. There were two COPs working the radar trap. They pulled both of us over. They engaged the black women first, both of them. When a COP finally got around to me, I had my driver's license and registration all ready in my hand and my window rolled down. He took the documents checked them and then with a big smile said "that's a sweet car, mind if I look inside". He checked the car out, while standing at the door, then handed my documents back and said he was just going to give me a verbal warning. He said I was going greater than 20 mph over the speed limit in a commercial zone on a MD primary road. Told me to try to keep the speed down and to have a good day. The woman in the other car, which was going slower than I was, she was standing outside her car with the other officer in his cruiser writing her up when I left for the 30 second trip to my dentist's office.

All things are equal.

Great story.
Outside of the skin color, how was the lady’s driving record/history/car registration etc?