Mueller's Indictments: Thoughts on What To Expect Today

Many on both sides of the political isle are waiting with baited breath to see if special counsel Robert Mueller's indictments in Russiagate will lead to the first arrests today.  Some Democrats are waiting with glee to see who is/are the first to be arrested, sending shock waves through Washington, D.C.  Among Trump and far too many Republicans, the efforts to obfuscate and gin out false, manufactured scandals has jumped into high gear.  One can only wonder what lies the liar-in-chief will spew this morning via his Twitter account, which frankly ought  to be suspended.  A piece in Talking Points Memo looks at what may possible transpire as the day unfolds.  Another one in Huffington Post suggests to watch Der Trumpenführer reaction and whether he will unwittingly dig his own hole deaper.  Here are excerpts from the TPM piece:

I want to share a few thoughts about what might be coming. I will discuss them seriatim.

1. I don’t know who will be indicted tomorrow [today] or what they will be indicted for. I don’t think anyone writing about this does.

2. I would not expect a big fish or a crime that goes to the heart of whether Americans colluded with Russia to turn the 2016 election. Something more marginal or secondary seems more likely, probably with the aim of gaining cooperation in pursuing the bigger question of collusion. But the Mueller probe has been very leak free. We really have little clear understanding of what is going on inside the probe.

3. Let me reemphasize that last point. It is hard to overstate how locked down the Mueller probe has been. We have inferred outlines of it from interviews conducted, documents requested, grand juries impanelled. When an investigation reaches a certain momentum certain actions become difficult to keep secret because defense attorneys become involved.

4. Above I mentioned the possibility of some marginal or secondary bad act. To put the entire story into a proper perspective, we should think of two distinct but possibly overlapping realms or channels of criminal activity. It seems highly likely that Paul Manafort was deeply involved in a network of money laundering and financial crimes connecting Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet states to the US. That is something that long predated and exists independently of Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign. A number of people in Trump’s orbit and certainly Trump himself are part of that. A lot of that money channel goes into real estate and major construction projects. If the collusion channel exists it almost certainly grows out of the money laundering channel. Since the crimes are likely more clear cut and easier to prove on the money channel, it makes sense for the prosecutions to begin there. Such prosecutions might be use to pry free evidence about the collusion channel . . .

5. Spies who are looking to enlist, suborn or compromise individuals generally look first for people who are crooked or desperate. The crooked can often be bought. They also have secrets. They can be bought and then their treachery can be used as a secret against them. Desperation makes everyone more vulnerable. The Trump campaign and administration are full of just those people: the crooked and the desperate.

I would not expect to hear tomorrow about something that proves collusion or is even directly tied to collusion. I’d expect a financial crime, likely tied to money laundering, which may prove to be proximate to collusion or those involved in it. But who knows? We could be surprised because we don’t know very much.

Meanwhile, via Facebook, one enterprising British comedy/spoof website has posted a video that shows Trump administration figures, including Der Trumpenführer himself, being arrested by FBI agents - their faces have been dubbed onto the bodies of others being taken into custody.  If you dislike Trump and his foul henchmen, the clip is hysterical.  My main criticism is that the figure used for Trump is not sufficiently obese.  

Scores Arrested in Russia Before Olympic Opening Ceremony

Moscow - 2014

Just as Adolph Hitler and his thugs orchestrated opening ceremony pageantry for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, so too is Vladimir Putin and his goons.  And just as Hitler's thugs arrested those who stood against his regimes agenda of hate and bigotry before the 1936 Summer Games, so too is Vladimir Putin.  As the New York Times, at least 60 individuals have been arrested in the lead up to today's opening ceremony.  Their crime?  Protesting against Russia's anti-gay laws and the green light Putin has given to anti-gay vigilante violence and other Russian atrocities against minorities.  I sincerely hope that worldwide viewers do not allow themselves to be duped by Putin's PR campaign.  I have no animous toward the Russian people - only their foul dictator and his corrupt and vile accomplices who are continuing a near century long tradition of brutalizing far too many of Russia's citizens.  Here are highlights from the Times article:

From St. Petersburg to the Caucasus, the authorities detained at least 61 people on Friday for holding unauthorized protests ahead of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The detentions underscored the government’s efforts to stifle protests even far away from the Games.

The police swept up 37 people who gathered in Nalchik, the capital of the southern Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, to draw attention to the historic grievances of the Circassians, whose homeland around Sochi was occupied by Russian imperial forces 150 years ago. In St. Petersburg, four gay-rights activists were arrested as they unfurled a banner quoting the Olympic Charter’s principle of nondiscrimination.

In Moscow, at least 19 people were arrested near Red Square during a smattering of protests calling for gay rights. Those detained included several foreign activists who gathered at a clock counting down the last minutes to the opening of the Games.

Yet another prominent opposition leader, Dmitri Berdnikov, the leader of a group that organizes protests against arbitrary prosecutions and court rulings, was detained at the airport in Kazan, in central Russia, as he prepared to board a flight.

“Human rights are generally violated in Russia,” said Polina Andrianova, a gay-rights activist in St. Petersburg, where the four demonstrators were arrested shortly after posing for a photograph near the State Hermitage Museum with a banner that read, “Discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic Movement. Principle 6. Olympic Charter.”

Among the four was Anastasia Smirnova, a spokeswoman for a coalition of gay-rights organizations in the city, who recently met with the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, to draw attention to Russia’s policies toward homosexuality, including a law adopted last year prohibiting gay “propaganda” aimed at children. At least some of the protesters were later released, though they could face fines or other administrative punishment, according to All Out, an organization that held rallies in cities around the world this week.

In Sochi, Mr. Putin appeared to express frustration that protests over Russia’s policies threatened to overshadow the spectacle of the Games. The issue of gay rights came up again during a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands.

It is also important that we recognize that Putin and Russia do not have a monopoly on homophobia or animus toward minorities.  That same mindset is alive and well here in Virginia as evidenced by the GOP controlled House of Delegates action to kill every single pro-gay bill introduced this year.  

Hitler 1936

Putin 2014