FairAndUNbalanced.com

 
From John Pavlovitz:

I’m sorry for failing you.

If you’re still sanctioning this President’s reprehensible words and his toxic behavior, either loudly or with your silence—I obviously didn’t get through to you.

If you’re still finding futile excuses or generating desperate whataboutisms or doing wild theological gymnastics to somehow justify any of the filth he daily disseminates—you never really got what I’d hoped you’d have gotten about following Jesus from our time together. You couldn’t have.

I was responsible with helping you cultivate a heart that echoed Christ’s kind, loving, generous heart—and it appears I’ve failed.

I failed to help you find a compassion for more than the people you see as “your own;” an empathy that transcended party or country or pigmentation.

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From Jonathan Bernstein:

There’s little appetite for impeachment, but the special counsel gave lawmakers plenty of leads

Mueller considered Trump’s written answers “inadequate,” and believed he could successfully compel an interview. He ended up with the conclusion that taking the time to do so wasn’t worth the delay. It’s not clear why Mueller was in a hurry – but it’s quite possible he believed it was important to get out as much material as possible well before the run-up to the 2020 general election campaign season.

Either way, there’s plenty remaining for Congress to do.

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• Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post draws obvious conclusions as a member of the Trump family finds a novel way of shutting down an investigation.
   
• Infidel753 explains why protest votes in 2020 will be cast by the hopelessly confused.
   
• Julian Sanchez is interviewed on WTOP radio in DC about the Mueller report and some of the points of contrast with the Barr introduction. The CATO Institute has the soundtrack.
   
• Jonathan Bernstein quotes chapter and verse on how the Attorney General’s strategy of spin then redaction embarrassed himself and the Justice department.
   
• tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors reveals the logic of Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Since lying to the Special Counsel and the FBI can be prosecuted, she admits to them that she made stuff up for reporters. Then she explains to assembled reporters that she is none-the-less an honest source because she stands by her emotional sentiment.
   
• The Onion reports as the defiant Press Secretary denies she has ever lied and insists the voice coming out of her mouth is not her own.
   
• Our favorite Earth-Bound Misfit hears a change in narrative. Old: No obstruction. New: Trump tried to obstruct but his aides disobeyed. So NOW: no obstruction. Result: More outrages to come.
   
• Max’s Dad is a master of rant, with the rare ability to combine this ability with clarity of presentation. This time he devotes his wit and wisdom to the report and the impeachment that ought to result.
   
• North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz gives an unusual Easter weekend sermon based on a redacted version of the Bible.
   
• In The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, Bruce explains what he gained and what he lost as he left Christianity. Among the losses seems to be any modicum of understanding from those still in the faith. A weakness of most true believers, I suppose. We find it difficult to respect different beliefs, or those who hold them, or those who hold to no particular beliefs at all.
   
• In MadMikesAmerica, Glenn R. Geist explores the obstacles to bringing wealthy human traffickers to justice, and what it says about how justice works in America.
   
• Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara uses the college admissions bribery scandal as a jumping off point to an attack on affirmative action. Merit should rule.
   
  His argument partly depends, I suppose, on whether academic triumph in the face of bias should be regarded as a test of character, and whether character is an element of merit.
   

 
From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:

Will Tammy Baldwin Win the Democratic Game of Thrones?

As Petyr Baelish said in Game of Thrones, “Chaos is a ladder.” And a ladder of opportunity might be lowered for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) in 2020. A Democratic organization, Data for Progress, has released a new poll showing Baldwin can win the White House.

“Data for Progress has long maintained that to the extent electability exists, the most electable Democrat is not an old centrist fogey like Biden,” wrote Sean McElwee for the organization. “Rather, Democrats need someone who is able to translate progressive policies in a way that persuades swing voters while mobilizing the base. Someone like Tammy Baldwin, who won re-election by 11 points even while Tony Evers knocked off Scott Walker by a point.”

To prove their point, Data for Progress paired Baldwin with Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) as the Democratic ticket against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

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From Dave Dubya:

It’s Called “Justice”

It turns out the Big MAGAt, known for being “very strong”, was suffering emotional stress and was “frustrated and angry” at the Russia investigation.

The Attorney General/White House spokesman Bill Barr, by divine insight of con-servatism, knew the Big MAGAt’s emotional state without the pesky trouble of an actual interview from the worst liar in the history of the United States.

Well, that changes everything.

What this clearly means is it was not obstruction of justice, it was just “fighting back”.

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From The Borowitz Report:

Earlier in the week, the U.S. Attorney General, William Barr, submitted the approximately four-hundred-page document to Putin for his approval, but the Russian President was reportedly “in a state of disbelief” over how much Barr had failed to redact.

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From Tommy Christopher:

On Tuesday night’s edition of Cuomo Prime Time, Cuomo introduced his usual end-of-show segment with Don Lemon by talking about the angry tweets Trump posted about the Fox town hall.

Noting that Sanders “laid into Trump” several times during the event, Cuomo said “Oddly, the president seemed offended that this was even happening. Like he was being cheated on.”

He then read one of Trump’s tweets, which read “So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on @FoxNews. Not surprisingly, @BretBaier and the “audience” was so smiley and nice. Very strange, and now we have @donnabrazile?”

“Why did I emphasize ‘we’?” Cuomo asked. “Because it deserves emphasis. ‘We have Donna Brazile?’ The president is referring to himself and Fox collectively, of their hiring of the former DNC chair and CNN analyst now as a commentator on Fox?”

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From Jon Perr at PERRspectives:

…Republicans already set the precedent five years ago when they released the returns of 50 “social welfare” organizations supposedly targeted by the IRS. (The mythical “IRS bias scandal” evaporated in October 2017 when an inspector general’s report revealed that during a 10-year span, the agency had applied similar scrutiny to nonprofits across the political spectrum.) Regardless, there’s little doubt that the House Ways and Means Committee, as Chairman Neal wrote, “has a responsibility to conduct oversight of our voluntary Federal tax system and determine how Americans – including those elected to our highest office – are complying with those laws.”

But in the case of Donald Trump, just as important as determining whether the president of the United States is breaking the law is understanding how he benefits even when he follows it. After all, President Trump wasn’t merely lying when he repeatedly promised his 2017 tax law would “cost me a fortune.” As it turns out, the $400 billion, eight-year tax-cut windfall for so-called pass-through businesses will doubtless pass through hundreds of millions of dollars to his own businesses.

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From Scottie:

What if Fox News covered Trump the way it covered Obama?

MUST WATCH. Amazing clips of current/former Fox News employees, and conservative pundits, using lies and propaganda to attack Obama — that are actually factual about Trump, the fraud they now defend.

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How the Attorney General defines what the Mueller report defines as law:

Special Counsel defined “coordination” as an “agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference.”

– Letter from Attorney General
to House and Senate Judiciary Committees
footnote, p.2

What the law actually says,
(Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002):

The regulations shall not require agreement or formal collaboration to establish coordination.

– Page 1105, House Congressional Record
February 12, 2002

Now then –
What Attorney General William Barr says the report says:

The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As the report states: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. “l

– Attorney General’s letter
to House and Senate Judiciary Committees, March 24, 2019

Any questions?