Leave it to the Anfield residents to stage of one of the great comebacks in Champion’s League history in knocking out Barcelona.
Scissors beats rock.

The country is imperiled.
Still, I take joy where I can.

Jed Handelsman Shugerman (@jedshug) is a law professor at Fordham. He is a co-author on amicus briefs challenging President Trump's Emoluments Clause violations and his appointment of Matthew Whitaker as attorney general.

In his first letter after receiving the Mueller report, Attorney General William Barr accurately quoted it as saying that “the investigation did not establish” that the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

But the opposite is also true: The Mueller report does establish that, in fact, members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

How is this possible? It’s the difference between the report’s criminal prosecution standard of proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” and a lower standard — the preponderance standard of “more likely than not” — relevant for counterintelligence and general parlance about facts, and closer to the proper standard for impeachment.

There is confusion about the Mueller report’s fact-finding because he used the wrong coordination standard, obstruction probably obscured the evidence of crimes, and the summary was unclear about evidentiary standards. The report’s very high standard for legal conclusions for criminal charges was explicitly proof “beyond a reasonable doubt.” So the report did not establish crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. But it did show a preponderance of conspiracy and coordination.

[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/opinion/mueller-trump-campaign-russia-conpiracy-.html|

From the Lexington Herald Leader’s editors—glad to see this sulfurous bastard getting called to account in one of Kentucky’s top newspapers.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should explain why he blocked a bipartisan denunciation of Russian interference in our election before voters went to the polls.

Americans deserve to hear why McConnell did not trust them with the evidence that he and 11 other congressional leaders received in a confidential briefing in September.

The Washington Post reports that during that briefing McConnell “made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.”

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article120718538.html#storylink=cpy

The infection must be cut out and the wound must be cauterized or the patient will die.

Too many voters will, irrevocably, lose respect for our party, while others, completely stymied in their efforts to protect and preserve the truth, will take it out sideways on representatives who choose the “best not rile him” approach. Meanwhile, the lights are ever blinking red. Impeachment appears the only real option.

Unvaccinated, unneutered, unspayed cats. I live in a migratory corridor for several endangered species like the gray vireo and willow flycatcher. The cats are coming onto my property to hunt. They get in the trash cans. They howl at 4 a.m.

I confronted the adult daughter, the instigator, two weeks ago. When trash was strewn in front of my house a few days ago, I tried to talk to her again. She blew me off and told me to talk to her father, who happened to be out of town, but is returning again later today.

I rush ordered a havaheart humane cat trap, and lo, found it occupied this morning.

I am going over to confront the father later. This gets resolved today. I HATE this! I love cats (indoors) and like my neighbors but this is ridiculous!

Any advice here from fellow birdwatchers is appreciated—in case we come to loggerheads.

[link:|

[link:https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/12/22/1820743/-TEN-REASONS-THIS-NATIONAL-NIGHTMARE-IS-GOING-TO-END-Saturday-s-Good-News|

Excellent synopsis of the current spread.
“The only real grown-ups in American politics are in the resistance.”

Source: CNN

The top admiral overseeing US Naval forces in the Middle East, Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, was found dead in his residence in Bahrain on Saturday, the Navy said in a statement.

While his death is being investigated, officials say there is no evidence of foul play at this time.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/01/politics/us-naval-commander-stearney-dead/index.html

---

CBS is calling it an apparent suicide:

[link:https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scott-stearney-us-navy-admiral-found-dead-apparent-suicide-2018-12-01/|

[link:https://twitter.com/invisibleman_17/status/1066240793768353793?s=21|

On NPR this morning. Read or listen to the entire piece.

Generous Giving Or Phony Philanthropy? A Critique Of Well-Meaning 'Winners'
August 29, 20185:01 AM ET

The writer Anand Giridharadas has a dark view of American philanthropy.

He's been writing about people who say they're changing the world for the better — except that despite their best efforts, it's not working.

Philanthropy In America Is Becoming 'Ideological Arms Race,' Author Says

"Rich people are playing a double game," Giridharadas says. "On one hand, there's no question they're giving away more money than has ever been given away in history. Every young elite graduate wants to change the world, and seeks out employers, and goes to Africa to volunteer. But I also argue that we have one of the more predatory elites in history, despite that philanthropy, despite that desire to change the world."

Giridharadas spent time talking with affluent elites. He argues that Internet entrepreneurs, tech innovators, even wealthy foundation directors tend to fight social problems in a way that doesn't threaten the people at the top.

An Internet entrepreneur comes up with software used by Uber — a great advance for part-time drivers, except most of the profits go to the wealthy. A new app developer helps part-time workers avoid cash shortages instead of fighting for better pay. Foundations spend billions of dollars to help people in ways that really just mitigate an unfair economy; meanwhile, the wealthiest have a larger and larger share.

It's the case he makes in his new book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.
...


[link:https://www.npr.org/2018/08/29/642688220/generous-giving-or-phony-philanthropy-a-critique-of-well-meaning-winners|

This was in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. Its author, Kevin Rudd, was Prime Minister of Australia. This cancer is eating at the heart of western democracy.

Rupert Murdoch: The Cancer Eating the Heart of Australian Democracy

“Beneath the sound and light show that passed for Australian politics last week, there is a much deeper question of what underlying forces have been at work that have brought us this low. The uncomfortable truth is, since the coup of June 2010, Australian politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable. The core question is why?
...
“But on top of all the above, while manipulating each of them, has been Rupert Murdoch - the greatest cancer on the Australian democracy.

“Murdoch is not just a news organisation. Murdoch operates as a political party, acting in pursuit of clearly defined commercial interests, in addition to his far-right ideological world view.

“In Britain, Murdoch made Brexit possible because of the position taken by his papers. In the United States, Murdoch's Fox News is the political echo chamber of the far right, which enabled the Tea Party and then the Trump party to stage a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. In Australia, as in America, Murdoch has campaigned for decades in support of tax cuts for the wealthy, killing action on climate change and destroying anything approximating multiculturalism.

“What's unique about Australia is Murdoch owns two-thirds of the country's print media. No other democracy has anything approaching his effective media monopoly.
...”
[link:https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cancer-eating-the-heart-of-australian-democracy-20180826-p4zzum.html|