There's a nightmare that lives in the subconscious of everyone who voted in the 2016 general elections to elect Donald John Trump as the 45th President of the United States. It's a nightmare with a name: Michael Thomas (aka "Mike") Flynn.
Flynn had twice pled guilty in federal court to the charge of perjury for lying to FBI agents during an FBI investigation.
When President Trump granted Flynn a federal pardon on the day before Thanksgiving, the President short-circuited a decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan about whether to approve a DOJ filing from "Bill Barr's shop" to dismiss the perjury case against Flynn, after Flynn himself tried to withdraw his guilty pleas.
With a gripping account that appears today in NBC News online, veteran reporter Carol E. Lee sets a new bar (bar, Barr... pun intended) in the genre of the Mike Flynn retrospective.
quote
Michael Flynn's firing: A lie, a leak, and then a liability Inside the 25 days that shook the Trump presidency.
Art and Science "The Unveiling" is a 600 by 338 pixels-sized JPG format image file. An online image editor was used to superimpose the face of Trump confederate and U.S. Army Lt. General (retired) Michael (Mike) Flynn onto a photograph of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Transparency creates the impression of an ephemeral or ghost-like Flynn. The Sphinx seems to be looking through this 21st century apparition from behind, as if the enigmatic sculpture's 5000-year gaze upon the Giza Plateau is unperturbed by the former National Security Advisor, who reigned over the National Security Council for a mere 24 days at the very start of Trump's presidency.
The collage was completed with a simple, horizontal text overlay. This is a reference to March 30, 2017, when Michael Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, released a statement about Mr. Flynn's willingness to testify before House and Senate subcommittees that were investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 elections.
Aura of Mysetery Michael Thomas Flynn was at the epicenter of a swirling cloud of controversies about the Trump campaign organization, the Trump presidential transition team, and ultimately, the Trump administration itself. There was an aura of mystery about whether or when Flynn might be called upon to testify, and about what kind of testimony he would provide.
What are the moments and images in the collective human psyche that are most evocative of an aura of mystery? The Great Sphinx of Giza steps forward from the Jungian storehouse of universal archetypes. The Sphinx has always been cloaked in a veil of mystery, although recent archaeological investigations are finally revealing its true story. Click to show
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-03-2020).]
I'm thankful for the opportunity to improve "The Unveiling."
The Unveiling
Art and Science "The Unveiling" is a 600 by 338 pixels-sized JPG format image file. An online image editor was used to superimpose the face of Trump confederate and U.S. Army Lt. General (retired) Michael (Mike) Flynn onto a photograph of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Transparency creates the impression of an ephemeral or ghost-like Flynn. The Sphinx seems to be looking through this 21st century apparition from behind, as if the enigmatic sculpture's 5000-year gaze upon the Giza Plateau is unperturbed by the former National Security Advisor, who reigned over the National Security Council for a mere 24 days at the very start of Trump's presidency.
The collage was completed with a simple, horizontal text overlay. This is a reference to March 30, 2017, when Michael Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, released a statement about Mr. Flynn's willingness to testify before House and Senate subcommittees that were investigating Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 elections.
Aura of Mysetery Michael Thomas Flynn was at the epicenter of a swirling cloud of controversies about the Trump campaign organization, the Trump presidential transition team, and ultimately, the Trump administration itself. There was an aura of mystery about whether or when Flynn might be called upon to testify, and about what kind of testimony he would provide.
What are the moments and images in the collective human psyche that are most evocative of an aura of mystery? The Great Sphinx of Giza steps forward from the Jungian storehouse of universal archetypes. The Sphinx has always been cloaked in a veil of mystery, although recent archaeological investigations are finally revealing its true story. Click to show
I didn't change the image, but I worked on the text.
"Less is more."
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-03-2020).]
I don't smash hotlinks a s a general rule. If it can't be posted, then it must be questionable of content, is my opinion.
Probably anyone following knows the criminal FBI was exposed as setting up and misleading Flynn. Then there was the story of them threatening with pressure to his son if he wouldn't cop a plea. Then the charges pulled expost facto but the judge won't rescind the case.
It's "The Unveiling." If it weren't "smashed" (hidden) how would anyone be able to unveil it?
It's an effort to create participatory art.
I'm not really here to argue about Mike Flynn or the disposition of his case before the court of justice.
I am surprised to learn that President Trump had already started to sour on Mike Flynn, even before Trump found it necessary or decided to show Flynn "the door."
I didn't learn that from this new retelling of the events from NBC News's Carol Lee. That's a 40-minute read, if anyone were to read it closely from start to finish. I haven't. But I just saw some small coverage of it on the MSNBC TV channel.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-03-2020).]
Trump was outmaneuvered on Flynn. The swamp was successful in defeafing the admin there. Trump tried to do something conciliatory, or more likely arse covering, by turning the corner on him. Politics is all game theory and 'winning' (at all cost) and not what is right or fair.
[This message has been edited by sourmash (edited 12-03-2020).]
"... in 2017, just days before leaving office, Barack Obama pardoned retired Marine Corps general James E. Cartwright, who pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI.
Cartwright served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Obama, and was “a key member of Mr. Obama’s national security team in his first term and earned a reputation as the president’s favorite general,” according to the New York Times. Cartwright had leaked classified information regarding Iran’s nuclear program to the media and lied to FBI officials investigating those leaks. He faced up to two years in prison before Obama pardoned him."
.................................
Cartwright didn't commit a provoked "process crime" like general Flynn that was later shown by the DoJ to not have happened.
Cartwright committed an actual crime of intentionally leaking National Security CLASSIFIED information.
You want to look for a "a nightmare that lives in the subconscious", then look at OBAMA'S own NSC people and look at Obama's pardon of a General that committed a real crime.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-04-2020).]
I never thought that I would be doing this, but I am here to say "thank you" to forum member randye for the two messages on this thread that precede this one.
Such is "life" in the New Forum Rules era that was ushered in on August 15, 2020 (if memory serves me) by this forum's owner and moderator, Cliff Pennock.
As far as Mike Flynn being able to bring a lawsuit against the federal government and win, garnering significant money (some millions of dollars) to make him whole for the legal expenses that he incurred... I dunno. That article that randye put up was published in May, so the new element is the pardon that Flynn has from President Trump. I'm hardly the person to speculate about how that would factor into any such lawsuit, or a decision by Mike Flynn to bring such a lawsuit. But I think it should be remarked. The pardon.
As far as the second message, with the article about President Obama having granted a pardon to another retired general, James E. Cartwright...it's good to know. It doesn't make me any more sympathetic to Mike Flynn or to President Trump, but it's well to remark. There's one word that I think does not get the attention that it deserves during the various discussions about Mike Flynn. It's the name of another nation. "Turkey." The Republic of Turkey.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-04-2020).]
Federal judge raises questions about the validity of the pardon that President Trump has granted to Michael Flynn
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On Friday, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton suggested that fellow federal Judge Emmet Sullivan could conclude that President Donald Trump’s recent pardon of Michael Flynn was “too broad.” As Walton put it, Sullivan could take “the position that the wording of the pardon is too broad, in that it provides protections beyond the date of the pardon.” Specifically, Trump’s pardon for Flynn covers “any and all possible offenses” stemming from information that the federal government has gathered against him. Trump issued this pardon some time after the Justice Department, as led by Attorney General Bill Barr, moved to drop its case against Flynn altogether, but Sullivan has not granted this motion.
Walton made his comments in a public records case in which CNN and Buzzfeed News “want the records from Flynn’s FBI interviews to be reprocessed in light of the pardon, revealing information that was initially shielded due to an exemption tied to ongoing prosecutions,” as Law(.com) explains. Walton ordered the release of re-processed Flynn records by January 15, insisting that he wanted the records handled with the Trump administration in place. Courtney Enlow, an attorney with the Department of Justice, had asked for a deadline of February.
I never thought that I would be doing this, but I am here to say "thank you" to forum member randye for the two messages on this thread that precede this one.
I'm always happy to show that you are as DEAD WRONG as you always are, especially on matters political and legal.
I don't know what your weird obsession with General Flynn is all about, but it's clear that he consumes a great deal of space alongside President Trump inside your head.
BTW, Reggie Walton has violated several Federal Judicial Rules of Conduct by speaking out on ANY aspect of the Flynn case / pardon since Walton is STILL adjudicating remaining aspects of the Mueller investigation with respect to AG William Barr. Hopefully Walton will now be forced to recuse himself or face disciplinary action, or both.
Since you live completely immersed in a world of nothing but Leftist media propaganda NONE of that would have been fed to you.
You're Welcome
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-05-2020).]
I'll be keeping my eye out for news about Reggie Walton's involvement in matters related to Flynn.
The "emptywheel" blog has a new commentary on these matters.
"Failsons and Kraken conspiracies: Three Mike Flynn hypotheticals [that] Trump may have tried to preemptively pardon"
It starts with Reggie Walton and his comments about the Flynn pardon. It reviews the specifics of the pardon. And then it segues to three scenarios involving Mike Flynn and how the pardon might (or might not) be invoked to protect Flynn against these as yet hypothetical legal perils.
A fascinating read of the same high quality that has kept "emptywheel" fans coming back for more since the blog's very first post.
Read-o-Meter: 8 minutes.
Tags: Bijan Kian, Ekim Alptekin, Emmet Sullivan, Mike Flynn, Reggie Walton, Sidney Powell
BTW, Reggie Walton has violated several Federal Judicial Rules of Conduct by speaking out on ANY aspect of the Flynn case / pardon since Walton is STILL adjudicating remaining aspects of the Mueller investigation with respect to AG William Barr. Hopefully Walton will now be forced to recuse himself or face disciplinary action, or both.
Nothing ever happens, look at Clinton. We know she broke the law and nothing was done. Its sad that we are forced to choose the lessor of two evils instead of those that would bring us into a new age. Love or hate Trump he was a product of that. Now we are being put back into the hands of politicians that have had a life time to make a difference and well here we are.
When the laws change and make criminals of us all who will be there to stand for us? Not those in office that would take a knee for those that burn and pillage. There are no good politicians, just those that haven't been caught.
We all have a preexisting condition. We are all mortal.
Jake's message makes me think "Rorschach test" and that's my first response.
Actually it's my second response. At first I thought back to a moment during a presentation from Joseph Campbell (it was on TV) and Campbell said (in just about these same words) that the tragedy wasn't that Martin Luther King was assassinated. The tragedy was that Martin Luther King was mortal. But Campbell wasn't focusing on MLK in any political context. He wasn't making any kind of statement about civil rights, or race, or the history of race relations. I guess it could be condensed to the "human condition."
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-05-2020).]
Originally posted by Jake_Dragon: Nothing ever happens. Look at Clinton. We know she broke the law and nothing was done.
It's sad that we are forced to choose the lessor of two evils instead of those that would bring us into a new age. Love or hate Trump, [but] he was a product of that. Now we are being put back into the hands of politicians that have had a life time to make a difference and well here we are.
When the laws change and make criminals of us all who will be there to stand for us? Not those in office that would take a knee for those that burn and pillage. There are no good politicians, just those that haven't been caught.
The lessor of two evils? Is one of the evils available? I'd like to lease it, or if that's not available, I'd like to rent it. I'm looking for a monthly rate.
I'm just feeling "improv"... or "extra." I have the use of a desktop Mac with a full-sized keyboard and a generously-sized video monitor. So if someone else is pecking away at their mobile phone when they are posting... well, if I were doing it that way, I wouldn't be all that accurate myself with the "niceties" like spelling, punctuation, paragraph breaks and such.
I seek no animosity with Jake, but I find that message unsettling. And not because of the surely unintended transformation of "lesser" into "lessor."
I had more here, but returning after a break--I just did away with it.
[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-05-2020).]
Nothing ever happens, look at Clinton. We know she broke the law and nothing was done.
Reggie Walton blocked a perfectly legal and proper FOIA request for DOJ documents relating to the Hildabeast email / classified data leaks investigation,
THEN he turned his attention to "un-redacting" the declassified data released to the public by AG William Barr in the Mueller Mess, (a/k/a "investigation"), on behalf of the Leftist propaganda rag "Buzzfeed".
Now Reg is attempting to keep himself "in the game" with his improper, and possibly illegal, public opining on the Flynn pardon with his musings on somehow "nullifying" a legal Presidential pardon.
Ol' Reg was a Bush appointee to the DC Circuit and has since proven to have become completely subsumed into the putrid scum of the DC swamp.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-09-2020).]
The lessor of two evils? Is one of the evils available? I'd like to lease it, or if that's not available, I'd like to rent it. I'm looking for a monthly rate.
I'm just feeling "improv"... or "extra." I have the use of a desktop Mac with a full-sized keyboard and a generously-sized video monitor. So if someone else is pecking away at their mobile phone when they are posting... well, if I were doing it that way, I wouldn't be all that accurate myself with the "niceties" like spelling, punctuation, paragraph breaks and such.
I seek no animosity with Jake, but I find that message unsettling. And not because of the surely unintended transformation of "lesser" into "lessor."
I had more here, but returning after a break--I just did away with it.
Someone must getting paid for number of times he can post "I".
I listen to a lot of music on vinyl. Sometimes the record skips - that reminds me of members who don't answer direct questions. Sometimes the record will stick - that reminds me of members who keep beating dead horses.
My lesser quality records bring Forum member rinselberg to mind.
"I hereby recuse myself from all further matters related to the Prussia Robe." ~ Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Reggie Barnett Walton.
I listen to a lot of music on vinyl. Sometimes the record skips - that reminds me of members who don't answer direct questions. Sometimes the record will stick - that reminds me of members who keep beating dead horses.
My lesser quality records bring Forum member rinselberg to mind.
I think of an old 8 Track or Cassette tape that got caught in the player and pulled all of the tape out of the plastic case into a tangled, unusable and un-repairable, rat's nest of a mess.
The tape was usually some old, irrelevant, crap that you've heard a thousand times before so you didn't really care about it anyway and throwing it away wasn't a loss.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-06-2020).]
Federal district judge Emmet Sullivan presses the "moot" button on the Mike Flynn case. "Charges are dismissed."
I told you IT'S OVER quite awhile ago.
We could hope that this marks the end of your long, weird, obsession with General Flynn, but experience says that you won't let it go so easily.
You started no less than FIVE SEPARATE THREADS about General Flynn on this forum
I'm sure that you won't give the good General so much attention when his civil lawsuits against the government, and individuals no longer in the government, commence.
We can add the General Michael Flynn case to the long list of things you are DEAD WRONG about.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-08-2020).]
We could hope that this marks the end of your long, weird, obsession with General Flynn, but experience says that you won't let it go so easily.
You started no less than FIVE SEPARATE THREADS about General Flynn on this forum
I'm sure that you won't give the good General so much attention when his civil lawsuits against the government, and individuals no longer in the government, commence.
We can add the General Michael Flynn case to the long list of things you are DEAD WRONG about.
This modestly-sized article that came out on December 4 (a blog entry) describes three particular scenarios in which Mike Flynn would once again be targeted by a federal criminal investigation or become the focus of new or renewed judicial proceedings.
The pardon that Flynn was granted by President Trump could complicate any attempt by Flynn to use Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination to shield himself from having to testify.
It's something that any Mike Flynn enthusiast will want to keep in their back pocket (so to speak) even if they don't want to read it straight away.
"Failsons and Kraken conspiracies: Three Mike Flynn hypotheticals [that] Trump may have tried to preemptively pardon"
Read-o-Meter: 8 minutes.
Tags: Bijan Kian, Ekim Alptekin, Emmet Sullivan, Mike Flynn, Reggie Walton, Sidney Powell
Heated discussions are fine. I'm not saying you are not allowed to disagree. But any attack on a person that is completely uncalled for, any post that has the sole purpose of attacking or ridiculing another member, posting private information, false quoting, etc. will immediately be followed by a probation/ban.
[This message has been edited by randye (edited 12-09-2020).]
Originally posted by sourmash: What's the reason for the pic of the disgusting pervert? Also, this thread really was never a topic when it was posted. It's dead, Jim.
I had something I was putting together to respond to this (from "sourmash") and then I lost the text that I had set up while I was still working on it. A misfortunate copy-and-paste error on my part. It was two or three paragraphs. I was comparing the saga of the long running Mike Flynn case to the stochastic convolutions of movement of a ball inside of a pinball machine. "What a metaphor the world has lost."
If other Mike Flynn "enthusiasts" find their way here, they can review the thread and consider whether they want to look at any of the online reports that are available using the Internet page links in my messages.
If other Mike Flynn "enthusiasts" find their way here, they can review the thread and consider whether they want to look at any of the online reports that are available using the Internet page links in my messages.
One does not have to be an "enthusiast" to see that he was done wrong.
He was "done wrong"..? Do you think maybe he "did wrong"..?
You are aware of the allegations that he and his son were involved in activities like consulting and lobbying for foreign interests--closely connected to Erdogan and the Republic of Turkey--and did not follow the rules about disclosure?
You are aware that on the very day of the 2016 general elections that made Trump the 45th president, an editorial was published in one of the nation's well known newspapers about the U.S. and how the U.S. should be positioning itself in regards to the Erdogan-led government of Turkey, from Mike Flynn?
I think Mike Flynn is a grifter. A man who could already have lived comfortably (so I conjecture) on what he could have received and earned as income, without transgressing the boundaries of honor and integrity for a retired U.S. Army general.
But I came here not to talk at any more length about Mike Flynn. I came here to see what "williegoat" had added to this thread. I was expecting some kind of jest.
I actually had not read all of the Reply messages on this thread (very intentionally) but Patrick's remark has prompted me to go back and look at everything that's been posted.
I don't have any strong "gripe" about any of what's been posted on this thread. I wouldn't commend some of it, or single it out for positive recognition, but there wasn't anything here that I thought was out of bounds in the New Forum Rules era that Cliff Pennock declared on August 15, 2020.
Has Boondawg been banned because of that "arresting" image that he used in this thread? The costumed guy with a sword and a pacifier (I guess) in his mouth?
I wouldn't have banned him just for that. But--needless to say--I'm not the "boss" here.
Was it something more? Maybe just a kind of generalized way that he had (lately) of "Boondawg doing Boondawg."..?
