April 10, 2018

"I think when push comes to shove, he is going to fold like a cheap deck of cards. I really do."

"With that said, I don’t, I’m not applauding or high-fiving anybody’s offices being raided by the FBI. It’s a very, very serious matter. And I think that this is the first significant domino to fall."

Said Michael Avenatti — the lawyer for Stormy Daniels — about Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer.

"Fold like a cheap deck of cards" is a silly thing to say. There is folding in poker, but the players fold, not the cards. Cards never fold on their own, and if a person folded one of the cards — cheap or expensive — it would make the entire deck unusable. As for folding an entire deck of cards — I think the strongest man in the world couldn't do that, even with the cheapest possible cards. So: what a bad simile. And yet it's memorable. It's all over the news today.

By the way, speaking of expressions amped up with the word "cheap," I've never understood "all over him like a cheap suit." Aren't all suits "all over" the person who's wearing it?

335 comments:

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Lewis Wetzel said...

Nanopod wrote:
This is the real danger. In their raging fervor to get Trump at any and all costs, the the Deep State and the anti-Trump crowd are blind to the wild destruction they're causing. They seem to be incapable of seeing the forest for the trees. They can't see how incredibly dangerous it is to burn all the remaining trust that most Americans have the various institutions that make up the Republic.
This is why people on the right are so appalled by the recent "how to" article by Leyden & Teixiera: https://medium.com/s/state-of-the-future/the-great-lesson-of-california-in-americas-new-civil-war-e52e2861f30.
It basically says that the goal of progressives should be to gain a supermajority and then freeze conservatives out of any public policy debate. It calls for a progressive supermajority to rule conservatives the way the feds ruled the South during deconstruction.

Snark said...

"It is your choice how we get there. But we will get there."

Where America seems to be getting at the moment is having Democrats elected in weird places at least in part because Republicans and swing voters are wearying of the con man president and his destructive habits. Everything else seems to be happening in the heads of people who insulate themselves from facts grounded in the present and are a little too latched to the Fox News teat.

bagoh20 said...

The downfall of Trump - episode number 102. The leftists are about 1 percent as accurate as a broken clock. Lets pay even more attention to them.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Snark said...

Althouse posted about the use of language actually.

That was where she focused her analysis. But in addition to the expression she discussed, she chose to quote three sentences relating to what the FBI did. It hardly seems off-topic to discuss that.

I am bored with shitty arguments, that's for sure...

Then by all means, stop making them!

Howard said...

Comey handed Trump the election by reopening private servergate. Obviously, Deep State wanted him as a more compromised and pliable errand boy willing to do anything and face all possible ridicule.

This is nothingburger, a distraction from the real action planned in Davos. Cohen is a bully that no one will have sympathy for when his beating heart is rip out his chest atop the all seeing pyramid. The swamp drained just so far will remain after the rubes have had their blood lust satisfied.

Michael said...

Suppose for a moment they get their man and he is waving goodbye from the chopper back to NY. Perhaps our new POTUS, Pence, will take this new lawfulness to heart and unleash the hounds of hell upon HRC and the former CIA and FBI operatives who so skillfully brought down his predecessor. With assets frozen let them fight the good fight to prove their innocence.

Looking forward to that chapter. Whenever it appears.

Chuck said...

Tyrone Slothrop said...
When the left succeeds, through the corruption of all government institutions, in overthrowing the will of the people and establishing one-party rule in perpetuum, then the real #Resistance will begin. They think they've got #Resistance now. They haven't seen fucking #Resistance.

You guys sound so defeated. Are you sure that Trump is guilty of something that will result in a charge, or a report, or some other charging document that will result in a conviction, an impeachment, etc.?

Seems to me that we are a very long way from any removal of a sitting president. (Maybe not so far, from a situation where Trump is publicly and legally humiliated and his presidency reduced to caretaking for the remainder.)

You sound like Santino, ready to go to the mattresses. If we could arrange for Trump's supporters to fight it out to the death with #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo and whatever #TheResistance might be, with the winning side being given New Mexico to set up their own utopia, would that be okay with you? And the rest of us go back to being Americans, and the richest country in world history?

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Inga said...

I expect we’ll all be hearing about Achilles in the news one day.


Achilles will not be alone. Your persistence in the delusion that the American people are cool with having a government that acts purely in its own interests is truly pathetic. Here is where Achilles is correct: the ensuing bloodbath will not have been engendered by the right.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Howard said...
Comey handed Trump the election by reopening private servergate. Obviously, Deep State wanted him as a more compromised and pliable errand boy willing to do anything and face all possible ridicule.


Trump's recklessness is what is genuinely astounding here. Getting your bagman to pay off a prostitute in the run up to a Presidential election while at the same time parading Bill Clinton's women on national television takes a lot of balls, but it is also just begging for blow-back. The issue with Trump that all citizens should care about is just how much does this recklessness compromise this presidency. Is it just the bimbos or are more serious issues in play?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Althouse, did my "all over" explanation work for you?

Matt Sablan said...

"Getting your bagman to pay off a prostitute in the run up to a Presidential election while at the same time parading Bill Clinton's women on national television takes a lot of balls, but it is also just begging for blow-back."

-- To be fair, Bill Clinton and John Edwards had done it previously to no real ill effect, so I don't see how Trump could have thought people would make a big deal out of it. He just forgot he's a Republican now, so they have different rules.

Matt Sablan said...

"The issue with Trump that all citizens should care about is just how much does this recklessness compromise this presidency. Is it just the bimbos or are more serious issues in play?"

-- Again, Clinton paid off women and took money from China. Obama never paid off any women that we know of, but he did willingly take foreign money during the campaign, barely changing policy when he was caught.

And no one cared. Trump's clearly thinking that "and no one cared" is the American standard for all politicians. Not just the one's the media will go to bat for.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Trump's recklessness is what is genuinely astounding here. Getting your bagman to pay off a prostitute in the run up to a Presidential election while at the same time parading Bill Clinton's women on national television takes a lot of balls . . ."
There is no evidence that Trump knew about the payment to Daniels. Trump denies knowing about it.
Can't we just Move On & let Trump do his job?

buwaya said...

A nice little primer on the Brothers Gracchi, and for that matter a setup on the next decade of Roman politics. The US was modelled, in large part, after the Roman Republic - hey, thats why you have Senators and a bicameral legislature, and a President, and voting, and a great deal else.

A good subtitle is "How Republics Fall"

This first part is just eight minutes, and well worth anyone's time. The whole four parts are under half an hour.

The Brothers Gracchi Part I

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Achilles will not be alone.”

No doubt about it. Don’t think for a minute that you won’t be pushed back, for those of you slavering over a civil war.

Or you big mouths could just be armchair revolutionaries.

Matt Sablan said...

Even if Trump knew about it: Is it a crime? Are we really going to say that sort of behavior is a campaign contribution? Because, if so, a *lot* of Hollywood people have given or received contributions -- not over sex, but free performances, free GOTV ads, etc., etc. -- that have real value too. Facebook letting Obama scrape their servers for free was worth -- however much Cambridge Analytica paid, and probably more since they did it first with more revolutionary tech instead of second generation stuff.

Is this REALLY the precedent we want to set?

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Chuck said...

You guys sound so defeated.


Not defeated, not by a long shot. But when the institutions that exist to mete out justice only act to perpetuate themselves, it is time to seek justice through other means. The deep state is foolish to underestimate the people.

Howard said...

bc-ARM: Deep State choose circus over bread.

buwaya said...

The parallels with the crisis of the late Roman Republic are striking.
Yes, there are all sorts of differences, but the fundamentals of an ideological conflict based on politico-economic stress on the "middle", and the corruption of the system as a result of its own success (only an imperial state can fail like this - you would not be in this boat if you were Switzerland or Swaziland), of the perversion of the spirit of the laws combined with selective uses of the letter of the law - and even small details in how the conflict is playing out, well ...

History does not repeat, they say, but it rhymes.

Note that this situation is independent of individuals. The Gracchi failed and were killed, after all, but the conflict remained, with an extra dose of bitterness, and escalated, and attracted other "great men", and became far more vicious and extensive.

Chuck said...

Lewis Wetzel said...
...
There is no evidence that Trump knew about the payment to Daniels. Trump denies knowing about it.
...

Weeeeellllllll, we're gonna see about that, won't we? Do you believe Trump? Trump's so far been directing his staff to deny that he ever had sex with these women. You believe that?

Let's say that Trump really didn't know anything about the payment. (Lulz.) Then it's going to be on Cohen to explain it, and Cohen's only possible excuse is that he wanted to keep Trump's name out of the press in relation to Stormy Daniels, vis-à-vis the campaign. It's an FEC violation. It can no longer be a straight, honest exchange of cash for an NDA that (Trump might say) was purely personal to spare his family embarrassment. Because if Trump never knew about it, that can't possibly have been the nature of the contract. It would have to have been a "fix" by the "fixer", Cohen.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

I doubt he’s going to get impeached over the Stormy scandal or even the campaign finance illegalities. What’s going to get him is what Mueller has on him.

Howard said...

I'm sorry, but the vocalization of the coming bloodbath is just impotent cuck talk. How long will your guns feed you without electricity, water, gasoline, cell coverage, interwebs???

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Shorter Inga

Not: "We hold the best interests of the people and we should be sustained"

Instead: "We have all the power and you'd better watch out."

Matt Sablan said...

"Trump's so far been directing his staff to deny that he ever had sex with these women. You believe that?"

-- Eh. He probably did. But, she lied about it and changed her story -- and insists it was purely consensual. This is a complete waste of time.

Matt Sablan said...

"What’s going to get him is what Mueller has on him."

-- Which, at the moment, is nothing.

Howard said...

Inga: Trump will not fall. This is a huge distraction that waqs the prime feature of the Trump victory brought to you by the FBI

Michael K said...

Vance, you pretty much said for me, except I did vote for Trump as he was the last standing. If the left,as personified by the idiots here succeeds in overthrowing the elected president, we will be in uncharted territory. We might end up with a miliary coup.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Blogger Howard said...
I'm sorry, but the vocalization of the coming bloodbath is just impotent cuck talk. How long will your guns feed you without electricity, water, gasoline, cell coverage, interwebs???


Who do you think keeps all that stuff working? Hint: not college professors.

Nonapod said...

A revolution need not be violent. If, say, even 5% of the tax paying populace suddenly refused to pay the results would be absolutely devastating. Even just the realistic threat would be.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

"electricity, water, gasoline"

All provided by the deplorables who voted for The President. The David Hoggs, screeching social justice warriors on campus, the pajama boys of the world don't provide those things. Those blue islands in a sea of red don't provide power, water, or fuel for themselves, and certainly not fuel.

Lefty retards going to retard though.

Howard said...

Blogger Tyrone Slothrop said... Shorter Inga

Not: "We hold the best interests of the people and we should be sustained"

Instead: "We have all the power and you'd better watch out."


You are saying "We have all the guns and you'd better watch out"

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“We have all the power and you'd better watch out."

LOL! Republican President, Republican House, Republican Senate. The guy who signed the warrant was a Republican, a Trump appointee no less. Mueller is a Republican, Rosenstein a Republican, Sessions a Republican...

buwaya said...

"And the rest of us go back to being Americans, and the richest country in world history?"

You can't.

The entire problem is bound up in being "the richest country in world history".

Rome's Republic fell not because Rome had failed, but because it had become so powerful and wealthy.

And your problems are not with BLM or whomever. They had these partisan mobs in Rome too. Your problem is that in terms of entire populations, cultures, cliques, you hate each other with a passion. Its not BLM thats hated, but entire neighborhoods of orderly, productive people - hated by other entire neighborhoods of orderly, productive people.

In fact, I think, you have much less in common with each other than either of your sides has with a Honduran border-crosser. Both sides are more willing to see that foreigner as a (usually) sympathetic person, with a great deal of understanding, whatever it is you intend to do with him. But to each other you are alien beasts with whom you cannot even speak.

Wince said...

No mob lawyers named and it would seem very rare, it seems. They better have strong probable cause or this will seem extremely suspect. Dossier 2? Maybe they have something linking Cohen to Stormy threat, and want to link to Trump.

Probably an attempt to flip Cohen for the impeachment not indictment of Trump. But can that work against anyone with the pardon power?

“It’s a tactic generally used against organized crime, against very serious, very serious criminals and lawyers who are operating outside of the protections of the law,” said Alan Dershowitz, a liberal attorney and frequent critic of Mueller’s tactics.

Because of attorney-client privilege, communications between lawyers and their clients are almost always protected from investigators’ prying eyes. Almost. The exception is when investigators convince a federal judge they have probable cause that the lawyer is involved in a crime. When that happens and a search warrant is executed—as happened today—then a team of attorneys who aren’t working on the prosecution go through the communications first with an eye to protecting privileged communications that aren’t evidence of crime.

“The only excuse for raiding a lawyer’s office is if the lawyer is potentially involved in crime—if there’s probable cause to believe that the attorney is either involved in crime or his services are being used for that,” said Sol Wisenberg, a white collar defense attorney at Nelson Mullins and former federal prosecutor.

David Rivkin, formerly an official at the Justice Department during the Reagan administration, said this kind of raid means federal prosecutors must believe Cohen is “involved in some ongoing criminal offense.”

Unusual, but not completely unheard of: These kinds of raids happen when lawyers are suspected of involvement in organized, complex criminal schemes. In 2014, for instance, law enforcement officials raided a law firm in Florida whose attorneys allegedly preyed on homeowners by conning them into joining lawsuits against big banks, according to HuffPost. And in 2013, officials raided a law firm with strong union ties that faced accusations of harassing public officials, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“This is precisely the sort of development a complex investigation can have,” said Josh Geltzer, formerly an attorney in the Justice Department’s National Security Division, “and it would deeply infringe on the integrity of law enforcement in this country if the president were to respond by firing DOJ leadership or the special counsel himself.”

The raid tactic drew quick criticism from the president’s outside allies and defenders.

“It always raises serious civil liberties questions when the FBI seizes confidential lawyer-client material,” said Dershowitz. “And they say there’s a firewall, but the firewall consists of FBI agents who sit and read the lawyer-client material. They may not turn it over to the prosecution, but they still are sitting and reading lawyer-client privileged material. And when I tell a client that whatever he tells me, I’ll go to the grave with it, I don’t expect an FBI agent to be reading it.”

Victoria Toensing—who was briefly a contender to join the president’s legal team—told The Daily Beast she thought the raid was part of a concerted effort to end Trump’s presidency.

“It is outrageous, and it’s an attempt to take down the president which is why Mueller’s got all Democrats on his staff,” said Toensing, who is representing the former spokesman for the Trump legal team, Mark Corallo. “It is highly unethical.”

Several members of Mueller’s team are Democrats, though he himself is a registered Republican.

“They want to bring down the president,” Toensing added. “They think they’re saving the world.”

Chuck said...

Robert Mueller: "You know something? When you're an FBI celebrity, you can grab 'em by the balls, and they let you. You know I'm automatically attracted to rich quasi-criminal dirtbags... I just start subpoenaing them. It's like a magnet. Just subpoena. Interviews, grand juries. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything."

Billy Bush: "Whatever you want."

Robert Mueller: "Grab them by the balls. You can do anything."

Howard said...

PMJ: Has no concept of how global industry is commanded and controlled... it's the State of Jefferson delusion that makes cucks feel like hero's

Rusty said...

Blogger Howard said...
I'm sorry, but the vocalization of the coming bloodbath is just impotent cuck talk. How long will your guns feed you without electricity, water, gasoline, cell coverage, interwebs???
Shhh. The grownups are talking.
listen and pay attention. You might learn something.

Howard said...

That's pretty good Chuck

Howard said...

I forgot to mention, the coup de gras of the deplorable revolution will be when the oxy and heroin supply is spiked with a few extra milligrams of fentanyl. Lights out

buwaya said...

"I'm sorry, but the vocalization of the coming bloodbath is just impotent cuck talk. How long will your guns feed you without electricity, water, gasoline, cell coverage, interwebs???"

Tyrone is right.

All of this stuff really is largely in the hands of "deplorables". A nice parallel is the Bosnian civil war. The local Serbs were largely rural/suburban, the Bosnian Muslims were, historically, an urban population. The Muslims were helpless when the Serbs cut the roads, water, electricity, and occupied the surrounding hills. Urban populations are way behind in raw military potential.

Which was evident also in the preponderance of Serbs in the guts of the ex-Yugoslav armed forces, of which you have an even more extreme case.

This will be an extended economic disaster of course, and the populations dependent on a service economy will be by far the hardest hit.

wwww said...

Random thoughts:

1) Stormy Daniels has got a great lawyer.

2) Did Cohen falsify his application for a mortgage? That would be really dumb. Would he do something that dumb? If he wasn't truthful on the application that's bank fraud.

3) This seems likely, from Benjamin Wittes today:

First, this warrant did not issue just on probable cause. There is no way--no sliver of a chance of a way--that the SDNY went to a magistrate for a search warrant *against the lawyer for the President of the United States* without much more than probable cause. /2/

4) Stormy Daniels has got a great lawyer.

Wince said...

ARM said...
Getting your bagman to pay off a prostitute in the run up to a Presidential election while at the same time parading Bill Clinton's women on national television takes a lot of balls, but it is also just begging for blow-back.

1. She was not a prostitute. It was at most an adulterous affair between consenting adults. (Trump never mentioned Dolly Kyle or Eleanor Mondale, et al.)

2. She was not in the employ of Trump like the female subordinates of Clinton; she did not claim to be forcibly raped as alleged against Clinton.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

I love how Drago makes himself scarce when bad news for Trump is on the menu.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

I'm not sure what would be more satisfying, Howard and his idealogical brethren slowly starving or hanging from lamp posts bleeding out.

Both have their merits. I'll defer to Mattis though, depending on geography I'm sure.

Hagar said...

It might be well to remember that Jefferson and his "Republicans" got themselves in about an equal uproar about Washington and Hamilton's government, and the Federalists in turn about Jefferson and Madison.
By the end of Jefferson's second term, New England states were threatening to secede and some folks up there were taking potshots at the Jefferson's revenuers. And then Madison's too.

buwaya said...

This is all, and I realize I am not getting through, an ongoing disaster for all of you. You cannot fix it by getting rid of Trump, he is a symptom, not your actual problem, he is the reaction to your ongoing failures.

Every statement here is hate, hate, hate. I can only despair, and I have.
Hence my comfort in our foreign assets and passports.

What complete swine you are to each other.

Jim at said...

Or you big mouths could just be armchair revolutionaries.

You just keep thinking that, wench.

You people have no fucking clue as to what you're trying to start. None.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Avenatti read enough hardboiled detective fiction, or watched enough movies of that type, to talk like that, but not enough to get good at it.

Yancey Ward said...

I will only write this- the evidence against Cohen had better be an open and shut case of illegality. If it isn't, Mueller and the Left are courting a disaster that will end in bloodshed. The trust that I have in the law enforcement agencies of the US government are almost beyond the point of repair. This charade of how Mueller "wasn't interested in the Cohen case" and passed it off to the SDNY is just too transparent. Does anyone really believe that the goal here isn't to rifle through Cohen's communications with Trump in the attempt to find something- anything- that can be used for impeachment?

One of these things has to be true- (1) Cohen of his own initiative and with his own money bought Daniels' silence, or (2) Cohen used Trump's money or someone else's money to buy Daniels' silence. Neither of those is illegal on their faces. If it wasn't Trump's money, then, at best, someone might try to make the case it was a campaign contribution to Trump by a third party, but that is stretch unless one can show that Trump was involved in it directly.

Again, the evidence had better be overwhelming- if not, this is going to lead to violence- I promise you.

Jim at said...

How long will your guns feed you without electricity, water, gasoline, cell coverage, interwebs???

Look at a map, dumbass. It ain't the blue areas who hold the reins on those things.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

EDH said...
She was not a prostitute.


The distinction between a porn star and a prostitute is a fine one, at best. They both have sex for money and porn routinely functions as an advertisement for the real thing. You may wish to believe that the president did not have sex with a prostitute but it requires some effort on your part to ignore the obvious.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“You just keep thinking that, wench.”

“Wench”, hahahahaha!

“You people have no fucking clue as to what you're trying to start. None”

It’s the clueless who voted for him, lol.

Yancey Ward said...

Arm chair revolutionaries? I promise you this- if a case for impeachment is made on buying off Stormy Daniels or the evidence we have seen on the Russian angle- there will be over a million armed men in D.C. for the trial itself. I am not exaggerating here- the antipathy Trump supporters have for the process is already at the tipping point of open insurrection. There is a clear double standard at work in the federal law enforcement agencies, and many millions of us are at a breaking point- enough is enough.

The evidence had better be overwhelming against Trump.

Birkel said...

I cannot guess what lies people think a mortgage application might hold. One need not state a purpose on a mortgage application. All one must provide is income data (and you don't have to list all income if you can secure the loan on some lesser part of your income) and the home address.

How ignorant must one be to think fraud on a second mortgage would lead to a federal investigation? That is laughable. Now, I will grant it makes a fine pretext for a warrant. And that warrant might get through the SDNY second in command after the first recuses.

But that is weak tea.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birkel said...

ARM,
It requires a time machine to type the words you did.

I believe you meant to type "It would take a credulous person to imagine private citizen Trump did not have sex with a porn star twelve years ago."

You are welcome.

Rusty said...

Blogger Howard said...
"I forgot to mention, the coup de gras of the deplorable revolution will be when the oxy and heroin supply is spiked with a few extra milligrams of fentanyl. Lights out"

This might not have occurred to you, but the people with the guns are the ones who are largely self sufficient and don't do drugs.
But by all means continue with your narrative I find it informative.

Gospace said...

No one's been killed yet? Seth Rich, the murder that must not be investigated, might disagree. Steve Scalise is alive after being shot by a crazed, that is, normal Democrat. Who was attempting to take out a bunch of Republicans. And Rand Paul was assaulted by his neighbor of many years, a Democrat, for political disagreement

More people aren't dead pretty much by pure random luck or the Grace of God. Take your pick.

Oh, no one has yet explained the truck on the track in front of the train full of Republican legislators. Just kinda disappeared from the news.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Buwaya has apparently yet to accustom himself to living in country where you can say what you think, even about the president.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Non stop temper tantrums at the realization that the guy they voted for is a crook and a fraud. They should kick themselves in the ass.

Rusty said...


"What complete swine you are to each other. "

I prefer asshole, but, whatever.

BUMBLE BEE said...

This is straight out of FIRESIGN THEATRE, the conservative folks are aghast at the sheer fouling of legal principles and the lefties have these elaborate fantasies of Trump's wrongdoing. By the amount of time Mueller has spent "investigating", WWII America shifted from peacetime economy to turning out tanks, bombers, destroyers, fighter aircraft millions of rifles and ammunition by freighter loads. Mueller can't even accomplish his assigned tasks.
He hasn't found shit! Democrats surely love McCarthyism.

Howard said...

so many cucks, so easily triggered.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“No one's been killed yet?

Heather Heyer is still dead.

Rusty said...

I wonder if Inga even knows she's alive? I'm getting that-can't-get-the-fucking-banana-out-of-the-jar-vibe.

Wince said...

ARM said...
You may wish to believe that the president did not have sex with a prostitute but it requires some effort on your part to ignore the obvious.

Slut shaming Stormy aside, the distinction is that it's not even alleged that Trump engaged in the crime of prostitution.

And you really harm Stormy's credibility by saying "paying-off a prostitute", troublesomely if her statement was a predicate for the warrant executed against Trump's lawyer.

Matt Sablan said...

Wait -- wait -- wait. Is the crime being investigated that we think Daniels is, er, not having a consensual affair, but was a prostitute?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Blogger EDH said...
And you really harm Stormy's credibility by saying "paying-off a prostitute", troublesomely if her statement was a predicate for the warrant executed against Trump's lawyer.


When did porn star become a more reputable much less different occupation to prostitute?

Big Mike said...

Heather Heyer is still dead.

Let us all doff our hats for Heather Heyer, a good communist.

Matt Sablan said...

"When did porn star become a more reputable much less different occupation to prostitute? "

-- Well, engaging in one profession is almost universal illegal in the United States, and one is not. The difference between being a killer and a murderer.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

One of the odder things in this particular affair has been listening to Trump fan boys here slather over Trump having had sex with Stormy Daniels, as though this was some kind of unique achievement.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Blogger Inga said...

Non stop temper tantrums at the realization that the guy they voted for is a crook and a fraud."
If you voted for Hillary, you have no right to criticize others for voting for "a crook and a fraud," Inga.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Trump denies having sex with Stormy Daniels, ARM.
People really should check their epistemology re: Trump & Daniels. If you believe that Trump had sex with Stormy Daniels, why do you believe it? What evidence did you use to come to that conclusion? The fact that she says it is true is meaningless. She is a prostitute, the things that you and I would quail at the thought of doing as being humiating or morally repugnant, she has done maybe hundreds of times. The fact that Trump's lawyer paid her to sign an NDA doesn't mean that Trump had sex with her, it just means what it means -- Trump's lawyer thought it was worth $130k to get her signature on an NDA.

Wince said...

ARM said...
When did porn star become a more reputable much less different occupation to prostitute?

Through a series of court, statutory and regulatory changes, starting in California, that removed the criminal penalties.

Importantly, it adds to witness credibility for the prosecution if the witness isn't criminal or being given immunity for their testimony.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Lewis Wetzel said...
The fact that Trump's lawyer paid her to sign an NDA doesn't mean that Trump had sex with her, it just means what it means -- Trump's lawyer thought it was worth $130k to get her signature on an NDA.


Hmmm. One might reasonably ask why that was. One might reasonably ask why one might pay $130,000 to someone one had no other obvious reason to pay $130,000. One might.

walter said...

Hey now, Lewis.
You gotta back of that.
Hil is so beyond reproach Comey wrote her exoneration pre-emptively and created new legal terms to describe her behavior.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger EDH said...

ARM said...
When did porn star become a more reputable much less different occupation to prostitute?

Through a series of court, statutory and regulatory changes, starting in California, that removed the criminal penalties.

Hey guys! I was devastated when I heard my sister was hooking, but I just found out she's not hooking, she's acting in porn flicks! Thank God the state of California doesn't consider her to be a prostitute! I can rest easy now!

Jim at said...

If you voted for Hillary, you have no right to criticize others for voting for "a crook and a fraud," Inga.

The stupid bint voted for Jill Stein. In Wisconsin. Helping give the state to Trump.

Let that sink in.

Matt Sablan said...

"One might reasonably ask why one might pay $130,000 to someone one had no other obvious reason to pay $130,000. One might."

-- Argument by innuendo: Do you use it for everyone?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

At this point, in all fairness to young Stormy, I should point out that the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course is in Nevada.

Chuck said...

Yancey Ward said...
I will only write this- the evidence against Cohen had better be an open and shut case of illegality. If it isn't, Mueller and the Left are courting a disaster that will end in bloodshed. The trust that I have in the law enforcement agencies of the US government are almost beyond the point of repair. This charade of how Mueller "wasn't interested in the Cohen case" and passed it off to the SDNY is just too transparent. Does anyone really believe that the goal here isn't to rifle through Cohen's communications with Trump in the attempt to find something- anything- that can be used for impeachment?

One of these things has to be true- (1) Cohen of his own initiative and with his own money bought Daniels' silence, or (2) Cohen used Trump's money or someone else's money to buy Daniels' silence. Neither of those is illegal on their faces. If it wasn't Trump's money, then, at best, someone might try to make the case it was a campaign contribution to Trump by a third party, but that is stretch unless one can show that Trump was involved in it directly.

Again, the evidence had better be overwhelming- if not, this is going to lead to violence- I promise you.


It's almost certainly a federal campaign contribution-limit violation. It is a wire fraud violation if Cohen didn't clearly and adequately identify the nature and purpose of the funds transfer. There are other banking disclosure issues; too complicated for me. There is "conspiracy" that could attach to all of these issues if it involved Cohen and Trump and anybody else.

walter said...

In deference to L. Lynch, we should refer to this as "a matter".

Matt Sablan said...

Sorry folks.

They're not looking into Stormy. They're looking into... taxi medallions.

walter said...

(Though that term still makes Comey rumbly in the tummie)

Matt Sablan said...

Honestly: This just looks like more of the same. Massive grabbing of documents and fishing, like we saw in Wisconsin.

Chuck said...

Lewis Wetzel said...
Trump denies having sex with Stormy Daniels, ARM. ...
...


That's a curious thing in actuality.

Does Trump deny it? Has Trump ever denied it? Trump has had people issue denials for him. But I don't think Trump has ever addressed it directly, himself. It really appears that Trump does not want to be on the record with a personal denial that will someday haunt him.

And every reporter in Washington knows this, and so they are continually asking every Trump associate who does appear for questions anywhere at anytime, "Have you discussed Stormy Daniels with the President? Has he told you that the allegation is false, that he did not ever have an affair with her (or any of the others...)?"

Matt Sablan said...

"And every reporter in Washington knows this, and so they are continually asking every Trump associate who does appear for questions anywhere at anytime,"

-- Having a Republican president does turn reporters into little gossips. But at least they start to ask uncomfortable questions.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Chuck said...

There is "conspiracy" that could attach to all of these issues if it involved Cohen and Trump and anybody else.

I know that conspiring with your lawyer voids attorney-client privileged, and that ignorance of the law is not a defense. But how does it work if your are conspiring to do something with your lawyer that is not obvious-to-everyone illegal, and your lawyer never actually advises you that this action that you are discussing would be illegal? It would be rather Kafkaesque to ask your lawyer "How can we pay this person to keep quiet", have the lawyer say "we'll just do X, Y, and Z", and end up guilty of conspiracy.

Of course, the lawyer might have advised Trump that these things were illegal, and that may be what the FBI is looking for evidence of. But they still better have had solid evidence to start with before getting the search warrant.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kyzer SoSay said...

I'm not seeing what the big deal is here.

We know that Trump did not collude with Russia. If he had, in any way, shape, or form, we'd already have learned about it. Hell, even the FBI agents who were virulently anti-Trump admitted via text message that there wasn't anything there.

We know Trump did not obstruct justice. He had every right to fire Comey, and in fact the Democrats had been asking for Comey's head on a pike just a month or so before it happened. He also knew that firing Comey would not protect him, had he done anything wrong. He fired Comey because Comey was a proven liar. Let that sink in. Comey is and was a proven liar (so of course, he's become the new Dem standard-bearer for the unimpeachable integrity of the FBI).

Worst thing we can say possibly happened was Trump's lawyer paying a porn star/stripper around the price of a house in rural Nevada to clam up about a one-night affair that may - or may not - have even happened. For all we know, Cohen assumed an affair had happened and took matters into his own hands without any evidence of sexual activity.

As usual, then, we have unhinged liberals celebrating prematurely (like they always do - Dems all seem to have problems with premature elation) and proclaiming the end of Trump, while conservatives are pointing out that not only is this far from the end of anything, but Mueller is overstepping his bounds by a wide margin, and that this is further evidence of the extreme double standard by which federal law enforcement treats Democrats versus Republicans. Clinton, Abedin, Weiner, Mills, Rice, and others committed crimes (and there really is no arguing this point) that would put others in jail for 5 year to possibly decades. Yet not a single one of them has seen the inside of a federal courtroom to answer for those crimes. The investigations that were conducted were run from the top down by Clinton and Democratic allies who have spent many years covering for Team Blue without a shred of conscience or regret.

And these are the people we're supposed to take seriously?

Wow.

Oh - and Howard somehow got into the Tide Pods again. His babysitter ought to lock them up next time.

Am I missing anything?

Brian said...

Does Trump deny it? Has Trump ever denied it? Trump has had people issue denials for him. But I don't think Trump has ever addressed it directly, himself. It really appears that Trump does not want to be on the record with a personal denial that will someday haunt him.

You're right he doesn't deny it. But he doesn't admit it either. He may simply be doing it though to make it easier on supporters. If he admits it, then every politician will be asked his thoughts about it. By doing neither, all anybody can do is speculate.

This is why Avenatti wants to depose him. For the political fallout. It's also why he won't agree to a deposition, as I've pointed out before.

langford peel said...

Once again Inga has lied. The US Attorney appointed by Trump did not sign off on these Gestapo tactics. He recused himself. No doubt afraid that he would be destroyed by the Deep Syate operatives who are behind this attempt to overturn the election. His deputy an Obama appointee approved it. Rothstien also approved it as well since he is the Deep State point man who appointed Muellar and signed off on creating a team of Democratic lawyers to destroy the President. As it is obvious that the collusion with Russia is a fanasty ginned up by the Hillary campaign and the upper echelon of the courrpt FBI there only hope is process crimes. Setting perjury traps and strong arming people to lie to get this President and to overturn the election.

As much as I dislike John Bolton as a neocon stooge....he is showing you how to do it. When he came in he started firing everyone. Immediately. Right at the start to get his people in there. That was Presient Trumps mistake. He relied on the FBI and the CIA and the Democratic appointees professionalism and patriotism. That was a yuge mistake.

The comparison to the Gracchi is spot on. The Democratic parties violence and lawlessness has reached up. From shooting a Congressman to attacking a Senator on h S lawn to the mysterious truck parked to cause an accident to a train carrying a large group of Republican Congressmen we have seen violence be the Hallmark of the so called Resistance. I just hoe that we do not get the same denouncement as the murder of the Gracchi. President Trump needs to hire his own security. He can not trust the minions of the Deep State to protect him or his family.

langford peel said...

Sorry for the typos. It is hard to post on an iPhone.

SayAahh said...

I remember it as folding like a cheap deckchair.

But hard to get a comment posted around this Inga/Chuck circle jerk

Brian said...

It is a wire fraud violation if Cohen didn't clearly and adequately identify the nature and purpose of the funds transfer.

Really? Huh. In all the wire transfers I've made I don't remember having to explain to the bank why I was transferring the money. Are you saying that Cohen had a legal obligation to identify the purpose of the wire transfer?

Wire fraud requires.... wait for it..... Fraud. What evidence do we have that there is fraud? Who was defrauded? Stormy? She got paid. Trump? Hillary?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“WASHINGTON — Chief Manhattan federal prosecutor and Trump administration appointee Geoffrey Berman, whose office is overseeing a federal inquiry into President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, was recused from the investigation before FBI agents raided Michael Cohen's offices and home, a person familiar with the matter SAID TUESDAY.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/10/top-ny-prosecutor-geoffrey-berman-trump-appointee-recused-michael-cohen-inquiry/502367002/

Michael K said...

Bywaya, The people who hate each other are mostly on forums like this and consider politics a game. That's because we have had a peaceful country for 140 years. That might be over if the president is successfully overthrown.

I have daughters who are left of center and I am going to have dinner with them tonight

One is the FBI agent who first warned me that Hillary was dirty.

It will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

langford peel said...

The Democrats and the Deep State have struck at the Zgod Emperor. They did not kill him. With a booming economy, China surrendering in the Trade War and the North Koreans ready to denuclearize......they are getting desperate.

They have activated all of their sleeper agents and are moving forward with the coup. When the a Republicans retain the Congress they will really flip out.

That is when the maximum danger to the President will occur. The are probably preparing a pasty even now.

langford peel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael said...

The left will be startled to learn that after they depose Trump, Hillary will not be POTUS. Instead they will get a right wing Christian conservative who is pro-pro-life, who will appoint like minded judges. A man who is not exactly down with the LGBTQ movement, Someone who has probably never gotten a parking ticket. Who just might be pissed to the moon about the actions of his direct reports. And who will carry on with the agenda of his predecessor.

langford peel said...

Face it Inga you are lying cunt rag. When you cited a Trump appointee signinag off on this travesty you lied. It is what you do.

Now you can redeem yourself if you state that this is a partisan attack aimed at destroying this President and overturning the election.

That is your aim. It has always been your aim.

gadfly said...

Arnold Zwicky - way back in April 2009 wrote a blog post entitled "fold like a cheap x."

Included was "Fold like a cheap deck of cards."

So Stormy's lawyer did not invent a new "snowclone."

walter said...

fold like a cheap suitcase
Collapse easily. Expensive luggage was made, as now, from well-constructed leather or fabric. Cheap ones used to be made of cardboard with little or no structural reinforcement, not very sturdy especially when manhandled by baggage handlers or hotel porters. A sports team with no defense or a poker player with a losing hand would both fold like a cheap suitcase. You'd also hear “fold like a cheap suit,” but since fabric folds easily, whether it's cashmere or polyester, “suitcase” presents a better connotation of a losing proposition.

Kyzer SoSay said...

"Wire fraud requires.... wait for it..... Fraud. What evidence do we have that there is fraud? Who was defrauded? Stormy? She got paid. Trump? Hillary?"

That's another thing to think about. It's hard for even the fevered minds of liberals to imagine what fraud could have occurred. Cohen transferred money to someone. He is not required to spell out why - I've sent money to friends before, and had money sent to me by customers, and nobody ever seemed to need to explain why the money was being sent.

walter said...

I believe buwaya's lament is that we we will cross that bridge as we burn it...and that we are folding like cheap deck chairs on the Titanic.

Darrell said...

We should install more lamp posts, just in case. And check on our supplies of rope.

Craig said...

"But hard to get a comment posted around this Inga/Chuck circle jerk"

"Lefty retards going to retard though."

"Face it Inga you are lying cunt rag."

Seriously?

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
madAsHell said...

I can't believe that all their convictions aren't being challenged.

How many lawyers are waiting for the dust to settle to appeal their clients conviction? Obviously, anything McCabe has touched is suspect!!

buwaya said...

"I believe buwaya's lament is that we we will cross that bridge as we burn it"

You have already burnt a lot of bridges.
On so many things, there is no going back, there is no starting over.

You cannot re-educate your children, for one thing.
Or fix the people, your children, that are destroying your next generation, their children.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“You have already burnt a lot of bridges.
On so many things, there is no going back, there is no starting over.

You cannot re-educate your children, for one thing.
Or fix the people, your children, that are destroying your next generation, their children.”

Buwaya thinks the US should be a perfect society like the one they have in the Philippines. He hates this country. Why is he still here?

Birkel said...

It is a sad thing to read one person lament what is lost only to be followed by one who never even noticed that what used to be was special and precarious.

My favorite: We are eating the seed corn.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

I do wonder, if the US is such a horrible place, why do all those mail order Filipinas want to come here, so much do that they marry men twice their age? Shouldn’t they want to stay in the wonderful Phillipines?

Michael K said...

I don't like the personal insults and try to stay away from them.

Inga thinks Buwaya hates this country. That is not what he has said and you just lower the tone even more by posting that. Personally I think some people are going to prison and soon, but none is named Trump.

Congress is about out of patience with the FBI.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I don't like the personal insults and try to stay away from them.”

Michael, please. People here don’t have amnesia.

“Inga thinks Buwaya hates this country. That is not what he has said and you just lower the tone even more by posting that. Personally I think some people are going to prison and soon, but none is named Trump.”

Buwaya has never said a good word about this country he has lived in for 30 plus years and hasn’t seen fit to become a citizen. If you want to think he likes this country, you're very naive for someone in your age group.

langford peel said...

Now it is being reported that the underlying cause for this raid was some sort of conspiracy about NYC Taxi medallions that Cohen owned. This was the pretext used to violate the lawyer client confidentiality of the President of the United States. A fishing expedition plain and simple.

It is good to note that when Bruce Cutler (who was John Gotti's attorney) was accused of the same thing and thrown off the defense ....his office was never searched and client lawyer confidentiality was never breached.

John Gotti's had more legal rights than President Trump.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lewis Wetzel said...

Blogger Inga said...

Buwaya thinks the US should be a perfect society like the one they have in the Philippines. He hates this country. Why is he still here?

America is for Americans! Fuck Yeah!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Congress is about out of patience with the FBI.”

Really? That’s not what I’ve heard.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is pressing for the Senate Judiciary Committee to take up his legislation aimed at insulating Mueller from any attempted firing. Tillis is in discussions with Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) about merging two separate Mueller protection bills and then persuading Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to pass them.

“It’s a good bill that’s going to have enduring value beyond this presidency. I think the president’s frustrated, I may be if I were in the same position,” Tillis said. “But I do think it’s a bill that’s worthy of a mark-up in Judiciary and sending it to the floor.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/10/republicans-trump-fire-mueller-512329

en. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Tuesday “it would be suicide” if President Trump ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller.

“I have confidence in Mueller, the president ought to have confidence in Mueller, and I think, to answer your question, it would be suicide for the president to want to talk about firing Mueller,” Grassley said on Fox Business Network.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/382438-grassley-it-would-be-suicide-for-trump-to-fire-mueller

buwaya said...

I'm a man from a provincial, lesser place, the outlands, far from the center - my whole background is of people who specialize in places like this, and their problems.

I came to the capital (one of them) of this mighty global empire, drawn by its glory, to put it frankly. But that glory is declining, even in my lifetime you no longer are what you are, and the degeneration is accelerating.

In the meantime much of the rest of the world is improving, including that provincial place I came from. It will take a long time, beyond my life, before the two lines on that chart cross, if they do, but that is the trend.

Birkel said...

buwaya:
Neo-Malthusian is a bad look on anybody.

langford peel said...

The swamp and the Deep State have many Congress critters they control. Lady Graham foremost among them.

They were obviously have one of those J Edgar Hoover photos to control him.

langford peel said...

As far as Flipina women go they know that white men make the best husbands. Especially older white men who will die and leave then all their stuff.

White men prefer Filipinias and basiclly any foreign woman because femist American white women are the worst.

If you don't believe me ask Shouting Thomas.

Now shut up, take off your pussy hat and go make me a sandwich.

Jim at said...

John Gotti's had more legal rights than President Trump.

Gotti didn't defeat Hillary.

walter said...

"it would be suicide for the president to want to talk about firing Mueller"
Ah..
Try that with Foghorn Leghorn delivery...

Chuck said...

Several people here have challenged me on the notion that there may be a "wire fraud" problem with the transfer of $130,000 from Michael Cohen's home equity line of credit, to the newly-established shell corporation, "Essential Consultants, LLC," and then by wire transfer to a bank account held by Stormy Daniels and/or her attorneys.

If I am not mistaken, two different banks flagged the transaction as "suspicious" to banking regulators. The Wall Street Journal reported on that in February or March if memory serves me.

And yesterday the Washington Post reported:
"Michael Cohen, the longtime attorney of President Donald Trump, is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to three people with knowledge of the case."

So I mentioned that Michael Cohen could be looking at campaign finance law problems, and wire fraud problems.

I should have added, "bank fraud" problems.

As WaPo is reporting. Not at surprising reporting, since the DoJ would never apply for a warrant unless it had really good intel on specific criminal acts, targeting Cohen as a subject of the investigation, and even a likelihood that Cohen would destroy evidence if he were simply asked to produce it.

langford peel said...

These are just more lies. Lies like the fact that Comey was a msn of integrity. That Mueller who botched the anthrax investigation was a highly skilled investigator. That Berman who was a Trump appointee signed off on the warrant. He wouldn't do that if there was nothing to it.

Except he never signed off on it. He recused himself. More lies.


Lies. All lies told in service of the effort to overturn the last election.

langford peel said...

It would be suicide to believe the discredited and courrpt FBI.

Birkel said...

Chuck, fopdoodle extraordinaire, the new talking point is taxi medallions.

Come on, LLR.

Aggie said...

A cheap suit is one that makes the wearer uncomfortable in any position. Binding and chafing in all the wrong places, and causing one grief with trying to focus on more important things. In addition, humiliating to be seen in - because it fits poorly, and is, well, cheap. The simile is apt.

Brian said...

So I mentioned that Michael Cohen could be looking at campaign finance law problems, and wire fraud problems.

Again, where is the fraud? A bank flagging a transaction doesn't make it fraud. A regulator wondering if a transaction is fraudulent doesn't require a search warrant and possible breach of attorney-client privilege. It requires a letter (or at worst a subpoena) asking what the heck you bought for $130k. Nobody is going to flush evidence of the transaction down the toilet. Nobody is going to bleachbit the transaction from the banks servers. Debits and Credits.

There are ways to investigate bank fraud that don't require breaching 4th amendment rights. The fact that they did shows the lack of respect that the Mueller team has for the process and the rule of law.

If the transaction is legal, i.e. as payment for a valid contract, then there is no fraud and then there is no wire fraud. A key element for wire fraud is intent to defraud someone of money! Who got defrauded?

Please tell me that as a lawyer you want more "there there" before breaching someones (Trump's) 4th amendment rights?


Tyrone Slothrop said...

Inga said...
I do wonder, if the US is such a horrible place, why do all those mail order Filipinas want to come here, so much do that they marry men twice their age? Shouldn’t they want to stay in the wonderful Phillipines?


And she thinks we're racist.

Gahrie said...

I do wonder, if the US is such a horrible place, why do all those mail order Filipinas want to come here

Why should they be different from EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE FUCKING WORLD?

Why do Africans come here if we're so racist against Blacks?

Why do Hispanics come here illegally if life here is so terrible?

FIDO said...

What happens very soon? Trump may start his own legal agency and give them broad discretionary powers.

As Executive, isn't he free to lessen the mandate of the FBI to cats in trees and missing bicycles?

The Lefties refuse to see that they are doing any cultural, social or institutional damage. They are already in Cersy Lannister territory and see nothing wrong with this attitude.

Good times ahead.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Brian said...
It is a wire fraud violation if Cohen didn't clearly and adequately identify the nature and purpose of the funds transfer.

Really? Huh. In all the wire transfers I've made I don't remember having to explain to the bank why I was transferring the money. Are you saying that Cohen had a legal obligation to identify the purpose of the wire transfer?

Wire fraud requires.... wait for it..... Fraud. What evidence do we have that there is fraud? Who was defrauded? Stormy? She got paid. Trump? Hillary?
4/10/18, 2:52 PM


IANAL so I will confine myself to: Whose Crom-damned business is it of anyone's to know this stuff? How dare they ask?! Truth is, it's nobody's business how much money I made last year, either.

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