Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, November 11, 2019

Scandal after scandal, controversy after controversy—America is divided over ideas. For many, their solution is to talk, argue, theorize, analyze, and strategize. While their constant clucking reaches ears outside the hen house, other people in Washington are actually doing something.

The DOJ is pursuing a genuine criminal investigation of the FBI's role with what has become the Russianewsgategate scandal. It started with an accusation about Russia based on the news rather than evidence, then they tried to make it into a scandal, then the fake scandal became a scandal. Now, Comey and Brennan could be looking at jail time, even treason, in an attempted coup.

Typically, Washington Congressional hearings carry clout and intimidation. The political puppets line up around the room on an elevated bench and look down on the witness giving testimony. Behind the witness is a packed crowd with standing room only. That's how confirmation hearings and impeachment hearings and other televised hearings go. That was ENRON, General Motors, Condi Rice, Olly North, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, even John Kerry's testimony about Vietnam before he was a Senator. It's scary, even spooky, but that's about it.

Lights, camera, action! Congressional hearings are a show designed to stir the pot of voters. As Americans grow bored with the news, Congressional theater is losing whatever power it might have wielded. So, while the actors, performers, and thespians give their show on Capitol Hill, the DOJ is actually doing something substantive. Attorney General William Barr isn't putting on any kind of show trial. This is serious. And, it's moving forward at the speed of law. And, perhaps for the first time, the usual performers will need to lawyer-up.

It doesn't matter so much what people say; it matters what people do. America is divided over ideas. The biggest source of division is whether to perform or whether to actually do something real. Another performance will probably be their defense.

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Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, March 25, 2019

American immigrants fleeing communism are tending to lean right, according to reports. Memories of the dark regimes they escape come flooding back as they watch Democratic talking points. This wasn't how the Democratic minds planned things to play out.

But, that's how things play out in a witch hunt. A concluded investigation with no indictment is, by definition, an exoneration. While an opinion may certainly, surely have "middle ground", prosecution does not—a person is either prosecuted or not prosecuted. Trump is not being prosecuted. Being "not exonerated" is a matter of opinion. Mueller does not write the opinion of the voters anymore than the voters write the report for Mueller.

If Democrats push the Mueller report as a basis to prosecute or even impeach Trump, then they set a precedent to prosecute Hillary. The Democrats lost, if nothing else roughly $20 million dollars (directly and indirectly reported) over two years, but neither indited Trump nor does it look like they will be able to impeach him, given public opinion. Politically, the non-indictment has already exonerated him, regardless of the non-indicting report's opinion to the contrary.

Rod Rosenstein's slow exit can easily be explained by his new boss. Since William Barr took over the absent Attorney General's desk just one moth ago, he needed a veteran so he could catch up to speed. The concern that Rosenstein stayed in office too long after he was supposed to leave could also be applied to the Mueller investigation that should have been over much more quickly. Two endless endings that lack direction should be expected to end together.

The Federal Reserve needs reforming. According to Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman who holds a position appointed by the president, the president had no impact on the Fed's recent decisions. Especially with so much talk of "accountability" orbiting squanderous theatrics like in the Mueller solar system, entities that lack accountability need it.

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