A nice footnote to today's events. Should be interesting reading in the days ahead.

https://www.justice.gov/sco

If you have comitted federal tax evasion, you have also committed state tax evasion because your state return is based on your federal income. So no pardon for Manafort because Trump can't pardon a state crime.

They want Manafort to know they have him no matter what. Right now it's him and him alone. No reason for Trump to help him. Trump will distance himself from Manafort. He will twist in the wind, unless he talks. Which he will, in exchange for a light sentence and keeping some of his money.

The usual story of the Saturday Night Massacre is not the full story. Once the special prosecutor was fired, a congressman filed a lawsuit to have him reinstated. Under similar regulations to the ones Mueller was appointed under, the judge ruled that Cox could not be fired without a showing of good cause. Cox opted not to take the job back because a new special prosecutor had already been appointed and was pursuing the case. So nothing changed anyway.

While it's true that Trump has been attacking Mueller for conflicts of interest and what not, none of the things they've mentioned are actual conflicts of interest. Also, Mueller has been in office since May, the time to raise a conflict of interest legal challenge was in May, not when an indictment is coming. Trump may be dumb, but I am quite certain his lawyers and advisors have told him how the Saturday Night Massacre backfired on Nixon. Except maybe Kushner. Who was wrong about Comey, so he is probably just going to keep his mouth shut now.




https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19731115-01.2.2&e=-------en-20--21--txt-txIN-student+army+training+corps------

The argument seems to be that the party platform won't change, but if we run an anti-choice democrat, some conservatives might vote democratic. But I don't think they will. If abortion alone is controlling their vote, they will always vote Republican, because the whole party is anti-choice. They realize full well that a few anti-choice voices in the Democratic caucus isn't going to make a difference.

For the same reason, I wouldn't vote for a moderate pro-choice Republican. He or she won't change the Republican platform, won't change judicial appointees, and won't stop Republicans from passing their stupid restrictive laws.

If we are going to contest red districts (and I think we should), we are much better off running articulate energetic Democrats who can present the democratic message to a more conservative audience. We aren't going to get the extreme social conservatives no matter where they are. But we might be able to start a conversation with people who are concerned about issues besides abortion.

Many of us, including me, have been worrying about Trump starting a war, firing Mueller or doing some other horrible thing while in office. But in the last week or so, I realized he actually may be too weak and indecisive to do any such thing. His one decisive act- firing Comey - was apparently based on Kushner's advice and it backfired miserably. Even with that, he waited until Comey was out of town and sent his bodyguard to deliver the letter.

He's been talking about firing Mueller, but everyone told him not to, and he hasn't done it. When North Korea shot off a big missile the first time, he said he sent a fleet there that turned out to be going the opposite direction. Last week, they shot off another missile and he tweeted at China and flew some B52s around. When Syria used poison gas, he shot cruise missiles at an empty airfield. Faced with losing ground in Afghanistan, he yelled at some generals and talked about renovating nightclubs. When he threatened Lisa Murkowski, she punched back and that was the end of it. When he tried to shame Sessions into resigning, Session just sat there silently and that was the end of it.

In every case, his response to a situation has been weak and ineffective.

He came on the scene like a raging bull, but he is more like a yapping chihuahua. Which do you think he really is?

So we know who to blame: ISIS, liberals, or just a random act of nature.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/professor-cognitive-science-george-lakoff/