Tuesday (12/5/2017) Blatant bias and corruption of top FBI, Justice, and Mueller officials

The non-mainstream press is almost unanimous in its condemnation of the blatant bias and corruption of top FBI, Justice Department, and Special Counsel Mueller officials. Here is a sampling from some of the hardest-hitting of these reports and commentaries:

• “Enough: FBI and Justice Department Corruption Needs to End” (The American Spectator)
• “Mueller’s Credibility Problem: The special counsel is stonewalling Congress and protecting the FBI” (The Wall Street Journal)
• “Anti-Trump Text Messages Show Pattern Of Bias On Mueller’s Team” (The Washington Free Beacon)
• “Report: FBI Agent Dismissed From Mueller’s Russia Probe Changed Comey’s Language on Clinton to ‘Extremely Careless’” (The Washington Free Beacon)
• “Bob Mueller ‘Has a Huge Conflict of Interest,’ Says Former Assistant FBI Director” (Breitbart)
• “A special counsel needs to investigate the FBI and Justice Department. Now.” (guest op-ed in the mainstream Washington Post)

Trump blanket travel ban reinstated by Court but needs tempering

The Trump administration won an important victory as the Supreme Court overruled lower courts and reinstated the administration-requested travel ban. “The order permits the administration to enforce the president’s September proclamation, which suspends entry of foreign nationals from seven nations, including Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen,” The Daily Caller reports. But while this is a victory for the rule of law versus politically-motivated lower court rulings, as a blanket ban the administration’s proclamation is questionable. Historically, some of the most beneficial immigrants to the US have been political refugees. Start with Einstein and the other political refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe and their contribution to the war effort during WWII. This has been repeated, if in a less visible fashion, in the contributions of refugees from Castro’s Cuba. It is now being repeated in the case Maduro’s Venezuela, one of the seven country’s on the Trump ban list. And what about the Christian refugees from Syria? We can understand the need for severe restrictions from problem countries, but selective vetting would be preferable to a total ban.

The Wall Street Journal seems to agree. An editorial in today’s Journal hails the Court decision but concludes “We don’t think the travel ban is wise or necessary policy, but opposition to a policy is not justification for [lower court] judges to ignore the law.”

Hollywood award goes to quasi-pederasty film

You would think Hollywood would have learned something from the sex scandal surrounding cinema mogul Harvey Weinstein and all the follow-on scandals that hit other Hollywood stars. Or even the pederasty scandal surrounding Met Opera conductor James Levine, that surfaced in the press but a few days ago. But no, ““Call Me By Your Name,” a movie about an adult man’s sexual relationship with an underage boy, is 2017’s best picture, according to the Los Angeles Film Critics Association,” The Daily Caller reports.

Art of the bad deal

“Trump told reporters at the White House before a trip to New York City that he would consider setting the corporate tax rate at 22 percent, compared to a 20 percent rate that he has pushed for with House and Senate Republicans during the fall,” AP / CNBC reports. Trump’s backtracking on what had been his most widely publicized non-negotiable demand — and successfully enshrined in both the House and Senate bills each house passed — brought forth strong and immediate complaints here, here and elsewhere. Some described Trump’s comments as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

One hopes that breathing the air of his hometown will revive his better negotiating instincts.

Click here to go to yesterday’s Founders Broadsheet (“US needs fifth service branch Space Corps for US preeminence in space”)

hat tip: Eaglebeak