@mimi

who made the redactions in his press conference just before the release of the report:

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/18/transcript-barr-press-conferen...

Transcript: Attorney General William Barr's press conference remarks ahead of Mueller report release
By POLITICO STAFF 04/18/2019 10:30 AM EDT

… As I said several times, the report contains limited redactions relating to four categories of information. To ensure as much transparency as possible, these redactions have been clearly labelled and color-coded so that readers can tell which redactions correspond to which categories.

As you will see, most of the redactions were compelled by the need to prevent harm to ongoing matters and to comply with court orders prohibiting the public disclosure of information bearing upon ongoing investigations and criminal cases, such as the IRA case and the Roger Stone case.

These redactions were applied by Department of Justice attorneys working closely together with attorneys from the Special Counsel’s Office, as well as with the intelligence community, and prosecutors who are handling ongoing cases. The redactions are their work product.

… In addition, earlier this week, the President’s personal counsel requested and were given the opportunity to read a final version of the redacted report before it was publicly released. That request was consistent with the practice followed under the Ethics in Government Act, which permitted individuals named in a report prepared by an Independent Counsel the opportunity to read the report before publication. The President’s personal lawyers were not permitted to make, and did not request, any redactions.

… Given the limited nature of the redactions, I believe that the publicly released report will allow every American to understand the results of the Special Counsel’s investigation. Nevertheless, in an effort to accommodate congressional requests, we will make available to a bipartisan group of leaders from several Congressional committees a version of the report with all redactions removed except those relating to grand-jury information. Thus, these members of Congress will be able to see all of the redacted material for themselves – with the limited exception of that which, by law, cannot be shared.

Müller report? Who is allowed to make the redactions?

@Raggedy Ann
his full-throated, stupid endorsement of Russia-gate. We'll see how he tries to finesse that bone-headed move.

You are 100% correct - they cannot let it go, they have to keep the narrative going lest Bernie Sanders win the Presidential nomination and beat Herr Drumpf. He is the only real threat they fear and by keeping this alive, Herr Drumpf will get reelected, obstruction can continue, perpetual wars will be waged, and Americans will become the homeless citizens they are hoping for. Destroying American lives is their mission - I'm convinced of it. We are in the way of them having more money that they will soon have nothing to spend it on.

I'm on a rant! YIKES! I need to stop!

@bobswern
to find out.

How low can we (as a nation) go?

...Say what you will, but behind closed doors there's a very simple/practical reason why this is all a waste of time: Trump will never be impeached by a Senate that's controlled by the Rethuglicans.

Even folks like Nancy Pelosi understand this basic reality. IT. IS. ALL. THEATER! ("Kabuki.")

There's one longshot (actually, multiple "longshot" opportunities), and it's the follow-up being done by three or four federal district prosecutors/courts. But, most of those investigations--while potentially politically damaging to Trump--will, more likely than not, never see any follow-through/completion until Trump's out of office (due to basic realities such as the fact that the U.S. presidency brings with it, nowadays, tremendous totalitarian authority). Once the guy's out of office, it's a different story, of course.

From a basic, political p.r. standpoint, the longer this is dragged-out (without any conclusive/final results), the more tiresome propaganda there will be flung at the unwashed masses; and, the long-term effect of same--already months past its sell-by date--will maintain the divisive, mass cognitive dissonance that's already overwhelmed any concept of the delivery of "real news" in this country, for far too long. This single-issue, Democratic Party propaganda will continue to suck all the air out of the proverbial "issues room" throughout the balance of Trump's first term (i.e.: undermining substantive issues discussions--read: Sanders, Gabbard, etc.--and enabling the Dems to continue their focus on ID politics, further dumbing down any chance of serious political debate in the 18 months left in this sh*t show).

How low can we (as a nation) go?

@aliasalias So Greenwald thinks Trump can't be a Russian asset because of Trump's anti-Maduro stance ? Well that's not thought out very well is it ?

And why do we need to be equally outraged by Russian involvement in our elections and Israel's ? The alt-left media is making excuses like "yeah but - what about Obama ?" "What about Clinton ?" etc.

While it's convenient, and maybe even accurate, to claim Russia had no impact on our election does that mean they didn't try? I don't know. What I do know is we now have a President that obstructed justice and the Democrats are too chicken shit to do anything about it. As we lurch ever closer to a unitary executive (aka fascist dictator) everyone seems to be worried about their political future and selling ratings and books.

If I needed a lawyer for Court I'd pick Glenn Greenwald in a heartbeat over David Cay Johnston because Glenn stays 'on point' with the topic being discussed while David wanders all over the place with statements totally unrelated to the subject at hand and consistently ignores what Glenn said debunking his claims.

GG "...But let me just say one thing about this idea that he’s a Kremlin asset or that we need to find out what his relationship is with the Russians. We just had a 22-month investigation where the media and Bob Mueller did nothing but look into that exact question. He’s saying it like nobody’s ever asked this before or nobody’s ever—we have the answer. And as for him being a Russian asset, it’s so irresponsible to say that, because the reality is that the conflict between the U.S. and the Russians are at a worse and higher level than they’ve been in many years, probably decades.

How can you say Donald Trump is a stooge of the Kremlin when he’s right now trying to remove one of Vladimir Putin’s client regime states in Venezuela? Or when he’s trying to bully Angela Merkel out of buying Russian natural gas, probably the thing that’s most important to the Russian economy? Or when he sold lethal arms to the Ukrainians, something Obama refused to do on the grounds that it would be provocative to Russia? Or when he bombed Putin’s client state in Syria? Over and over, the Trump administration has taken actions far more adverse and aggressive and belligerent to the Russians than the Obama administration did. That’s why this whole narrative that Trump all along was being blackmailed by Putin, that he’s an asset of Russian intelligence, this is idiocy. It is completely irrational. It is contrary to all facts.

And Bob Mueller’s investigation, who spent 22 months examining that core question—what is the relationship between Trump and the Russians?—concluded that there is no relationship. It’s time to stop these dangerous conspiracy theories that are ratcheting up tensions between the two most dangerous countries on the planet. The reality is, the Trump administration has been constantly belligerent to Putin, has constantly acted adverse to the Kremlin’s interests, and there’s zero basis for thinking or believing or finding evidence to assert that Trump in any way is beholden to Vladimir Putin and to Russia. The whole thing has been a joke and a fairy tale from the start...."

Then Glenn asks David a question about something missing in all the media reports, social media and most 'progressive' sites, and it's a damn good question for all media...

GG "...But I am interested, David, in hearing your answer directly to the question of whether you are also angry, as angry as you are about Trump Jr. taking that meeting with the Russians, about the efforts to work with the Ukrainian government to dig up dirt about Paul Manafort and Donald Trump, as well as the use of Christopher Steele to dig up dirt by using his sources within the Russian government, the same Russian government with whom you say Trump worked, to dig up dirt about Donald Trump."

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Well, one of the differences between us, Glenn, is I’m not driven here at all by emotion. I don’t hate anybody. I’m not angry about anything. I deal in facts that I can prove and verify. And when the facts change, my view of events change. And, of course, we never have a perfect set of facts...."

You can read the rest on DN! but to make a long story short, David shows no similar outrage for that foreign involvement, then mentions "...we need better laws and rules about this. I don’t think the Foreign Agent Registration Act is sufficient..."
Then a few sentences later goes back to square one "... And so, in all of this, let’s be very clear that Donald Trump was—"

I've had a lot of disappointment with DN! the last few years, but I keep it bookmarked to at least see what's playing each day just in case something like this pops up, just like I did with their earlier debate but with the report out this is hands down many times better.

But as a last note, if were to find myself represented in Court by David (it would have to be a pro bono situation) and couldn't choose Glenn I'd ask the prosecutor for a plea bargain asap.

(hypothetical of course as Glenn has let his license lapse and I can't see David even being a capable paralegal,that is if he could pass the exam which I doubt he could)