Let me start by saying what is likely already clear to you. I see Julian Assange as a loathsome, destructive, megalomaniacal figure. These tendencies, apparent from the start, have undoubtedly been accentuated by years in self-imposed captivity which started and for many years was an effort to escape a legitimate sexual assault investigation. But I think we should be highly skeptical of his arrest and extradition to the US. Read More

This paragraph from the Times, similar to a report from CNN and likely relying on the same sources, shows a big problem with the biggest US media operations and their continued validations of Bill Barr’s intentional deceptions.

Mr. Barr, who began his career at the C.I.A., did not intend to imply that spying was inherently wrong, according to a person who has discussed the matter with him but was not authorized to share their conversation. Mr. Barr sees no technical difference between that term and surveillance. He indicated that at issue was not the act of surveilling but whether officials followed proper procedures when they decided to gather intelligence on Trump’s associates in 2016.

Barr is not simply using his job to defend the President. He’s repeatedly playing word games like this. He issues a supererogatory exoneration of President Trump and then claims he had never meant to do that. He’d like to release the whole Mueller Report. But the rules just make it really hard for him to do that. He very clearly used the word “spying” and then said he needed to make sure it hadn’t happened. That was to give the President his talking point. Then he or his staff tell the Times that he didn’t mean to imply anything by that. He just meant “spying” as a synonym for surveillance, which of course judges authorize law enforcement to conduct routinely. This is obviously not true. Yet the Times passes it on as though it were a good faith explanation of what Barr was thinking.

Here we have Robert Costa of the Post saying that Republicans are themselves wondering what Barr is up to. The explanation they’re being given? Well, it turns out he’s actually not a career prosecutor. So he’s just not really in tune with DOJ practices and policies and traditions.

Another example of MSM journos reaching for the most special pleading of explanations of what Bill Barr's up to. https://t.co/OopLo8oG0K pic.twitter.com/sdwhb22dFj

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 11, 2019

They simply can’t grasp their way toward the obvious explanation. He’s a bad actor, using his office for the purpose of defending the President as opposed to enforcing the law. He’s a crook. But he’s a smart one. And at least as far as we know so far he’s using his legitimate powers in creative ways to take corrupt actions.

Though we are fundamentally in the dark, like everyone else, we think there’s a real chance the redacted Mueller Report will be released sometime today. This is really just a process of elimination. Bill Barr said he’d have it out by or before “mid-April” (Monday is April 15th). Then in Tuesday’s testimony he said it would be within the week, which should be no later than next Tuesday. Basic media management – which is obviously playing a very big role here – dictates you don’t kick off a week by tossing out a big piece of red meat. So Friday going into a weekend makes a lot of sense.

Here’s the actual progression of Barr’s quotes. Read More

Amazing how effective Putin’s disruption efforts continue to be.

Over the last three weeks a series of events have taken place which may seem individual but need to be viewed in a joined context. Together they’ve put us in a much different, darker place as a country. I think many of us sense this intuitively. I see it in public reactions. I see it in your emails but more as an attitude. But what it is needs to be sketched out explicitly and seen for what it is. Read More

The chair of the House Oversight Committee is preparing to subpoena more than 10 years of President Trump’s financial records from his accounting firm.

An article published last night in the Post captures a lot of the problems MSM/bothsidesist journalism faces in the age of the Trump. Headline: “Trump’s plan to send migrant detainees to sanctuary cities draws concerns about cost, legality.” Read More

Dallas Co. District Attorney stokes crime by refusing to prosecute theft of personal items worth less than $750. If someone is hungry they can just steal some food. If cold, steal a coat. Where does it end? It’s wealth redistribution by theft. #txlege https://t.co/dqfYogr4NX

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 15, 2019

So we have a date: Thursday, April 18th. This is probably obvious to many of you. But it’s important enough to restate. We shouldn’t see this as the actual release of the report or anything that will give us a full picture of what the investigation found. Read More

A reminder to keep a close eye on the counter-intelligence part of what we now call the Mueller probe. We will almost certainly never see it, or learn the full substance of it, ourselves. But the Congress must.