Ellis Sees The Light!

Do you recall Judge T.S. Elliot? 

He was asked by Manafort’s legal team to review the mandate of the Special Prosecutor, and whether that mandate was broad enough to cover the various charges against Manafort. In the hearing over this matter, the judge questioned the whether the scope of Mueller’s mandate was wide enough to cover the charges against Manafort. He also questioned Mueller’s motives, and whether or not he intended to even pursue a case against Manafort, as his real concern may have been to just get Manafort to turn on Trump.

Well, DUH! Here are some thoughts on the judge’s musings…

http://mewetree.blogspot.com/2018/05/hold-manafort.html

http://mewetree.blogspot.com/2018/05/see-previous-blog.html

Yesterday, Ellis rendered his judgement and found that Mueller’s was within his authority to pursue charges against Manafort. He included some choice warnings about possible over-reach by prosecutors in his ruling that Trump and Giuliani are sure to pounce on, but in the main this is a severe setback for Manafort and Trump.

The prosecution of Manafort will now go ahead. Absent another stall tactic by his lawyers, it is time for Manafort to start negotiating with Mueller.

China Blues

I do love reading Zero Hedge. It is based in Eastern Europe, and often comes across as a Russian propaganda machine, but it also covers issues that are left virtually unmentioned in the West's subservient, corporate press. Warning....do not read the comments section for any report on Zero Hedge....the comments are often borderline insane.

Here is something stunning about China.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-24/china-cuts-reserve-ratio-unlocks-700bn-yuan-amid-rising-trade-war-mass-defaults-and

The Chinese are relaxing bank reserve ratios, ostensibly in response to the widening trade war with the USA.

Some quotes.

"The move is expected to unlock 700 billion yuan ($108 billion) in liquidity amid growing trade war tensions, a sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy, a tumbling stock market, rising forced margin call, and a spike in corporate defaults."

Get it? 

Their economy may be tanking, and the Chinese response is to start to reduce bank reserve ratios which just happen to be the most important protections put in place to safeguard the integrity of a banking system in just such a crisis! This is a policy change that only the absolutely desperate would make.

More. The Shanghai Composite Index - China's stock market - has dropped below 3,000 for the first time in two years. 

"The risk here, however, is not just to China's wealth effect, but to a wave of margin calls resulting in forced selling of stocks pledged as collateral for loans. About $1 trillion worth of stocks listed in Shanghai or Shenzhen, China’s two main market, are being pledged as collateral for loans, according to data from the China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp., or ChinaClear. The staggering number is equivalent to about 12% of the market."

I would suggest that this much equity would be pledged by companies as collateral only if they have absolutely nothing else to pledge - no hard assets or physical plant; no production streams; nothing in the bank; no accounts receivable; no intellectual property. It is as if these companies are a massive pyramid-like gamble, that works like this...

...borrowed money is used to pump a stock's price, which must be pumped higher and higher or that very same borrowed money has to be paid back in the form of the sale of the very stocks that had their prices pumped up in the first place! 

Doing this on the scale of a trillion dollars makes a mockery of any stock market. Small investors are left massively vulnerable to the machinations of company managers and lenders who may treat their investments as play things at at the playground of relentless corruption and malfeasance.  

So, who is going to get paid if these margin calls go ahead? Not small investors, who may be about to get creamed on a colossal scale. A massive decline in the Chinese stock market would reverberate worldwide. 

If you want to short the Shanghai, look here... 

http://etfdb.com/themes/inverse-short-china-etfs/

Do your own due diligence.

Query....what would the Chinese leadership due in the face of wide-spread unrest stemming from a collapsing stock market?  

Nothing good.

How Astute is Mueller?

How astute is Mueller?

In court filings to prepare for Manafort’s trials, Mueller has taken on the New York Times, and Washington Post for inaccurate reporting about his investigation, specifically about reporting on the raid on Manafort’s house.

http://www.businessinsider.com/robert-mueller-attacks-ny-times-washpost-for-inaccurate-reports-2018-6

He has also highlighted  reports that "question the legitimacy of the Special Counsel's investigation, tending to advance the opinion that the investigation is 'tainted' and therefore its results are suspect…"

By attacking the New York Times and Washington Post, which staunchly support his investigation, he is actually arming Trump to go on a “fake news” rant! If Trump takes the bait, Mueller effectively becomes an ally of Trump, thereby undercutting every attack Trump has ever made on him! Is the man-baby just deluded enough to go for it…?

By not naming Fox and other news sources that question the legitimacy of his investigation, and which are clearly the targets of the second comment quoted above, he spares them the criticism they so obviously deserve and he stays above the fray. Not directly engaging these organizations – mouth pieces of the government under Trump - on an issue related to his legitimacy and staying above the fray is how Mueller continues to confirm that very legitimacy.  It is “artful silence”.

This was perfectly played. Trump is dealing with a very able investigator who speaks more loudly through his silence than Trump can ever speak through his endless tirades.

North Korea

Last week's photo opportunity did not resolve the Korean War, which is still technically underway. Both leaders got the kudos they needed - and Kim Jong Un got those nasty military exercises stopped.

Prediction....

The absolute fraud that is this "deal" is destined to fail, and rather soon.  

On one side, the North Koreans have undertaken to stop developing their nuclear weapons and missiles four times before. Their undertakings are always 100% bull shit. 

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me for the fifth time, I must be Donald 'Man-Baby' Trump."

On the other side, the man-baby who is Donald Trump is guaranteed to flip when he finally realizes that he has been had.

And so, within 6 months, intercontinental ballistic missiles will again fly; nuclear bombs will go off; live fire exercises will be restored.

The world will be a more dangerous place.

No, Mr. President, Kim Jong Un isn't interested in condos. He is interested in keeping power, and this path to continual power comes from his ability to blackmail the West...and for that, he needs lots and lots of missiles and bombs.

Economic Reality

The American economy is booming! Trump claims that this is the best economy ever!

A few reminders.

The unemployment rate is 3.9%!

Absolutely true, but this is what the US Bureau of Labor Statistics calls "U3". This measure of unemployment only counts people who have been unemployed for three weeks or less. If you have been unemployed in the USA for 22 days, you are not included in official unemployment statistics.

Reality - there are 40 million Americans receiving food stamps. This has come down from 46 million in 2013, but this means one in eight Americans only survive because of this "last resort" social support system. It is impossible to have a real 3.9% unemployment rate when 12.5% of your population lives on food stamps.

US GDP growth is hitting 3% a year!

Absolutely true, but this is happening only after ten years of the greatest economic stimulus in human history. In the last decade, the USA borrowed over $10 Trillion, and the US Fed has kept rates lower than at any time in recorded human history. Interest rates have been lower than at any time in ancient Rome or China; lower than in the Middle Ages; lower than in Europe's heyday in the 19th century. No government has ever borrowed so much, and no humans have ever borrowed more cheaply. It is Keynes on steroids. This kind of stimulus has always caused asset bubbles, and those bubbles have always burst.

Bubbles?

The stock market is hitting new highs!

Absolutely true. With money almost free for a decade, companies have been borrowing tens of billions of dollars each quarter, and using this money for stock buy-backs. These buy-backs were averaging $60 - $100 Billion every three months on the S&P 500 since the last recession.  

Trump's recent tax give-away to US corporations, which allows them to repatriate foreign earnings at a 10% tax rate as opposed to the 35% they would have faced on domestic earnings, has allow them access to a further $1.3 Trillion. At least half of this money is now going to pump the market with buy-backs so that the managers of these companies can blow out their options at higher profits. 

Without the free money and tax gifts that US companies have benefited from in the last decade, the markets would be nowhere near their record heights. When the last of the free tax money has been used to pump the markets, they will fall - what is pumped up always come back to Earth.

The future?

Trump's fantasy economy cannot last. His corporate tax give-away, coupled with his promise to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure (assuming he does this) will drive up the US deficit to alarming heights.

Look here...

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The US deficit is back well above $750 Billion a year, and the US debt is now way above $21 Trillion. 

Trump's changes will drive the deficit well above $1 Trillion a year again. Recall...interest rates are going up, so that this is a recipe for exploding interest payments on the US national debt. There is no plan in the USA, and there is no political will in that country to deal with this.

Welcome to the last days of the Keynes Disco...

Fake News!!!

This is fake news....in the form of a parody.

American Freedom Alert!

‘Hello my fellow Americans. As I sit here today, broadcasting to you from Freedom Tower - while I am still free to do so - I need to tell you about yet another threat to our basic rights and freedoms courtesy of the government and the Deep State. Yes friends, they are still at it! Listen carefully.

You know the Deep State. That secret organization of government bureaucrats and compromised Left Wing politicians who use their power to subvert the will of the American people, and keep them bound in chains.

Usually the Deep State is content to steal your money through what they call “taxes”, and hand your hard earned money to the invaders who have attacked our country from the South, to remake America into a South and Central American colony. We need a wall! Free countries have walls! But this is for another time.

Today, that Deep State has bigger fish to fry than returning us to serfdom! Today it is operating through the Mueller Investigation to reverse the results of the last presidential election in America – to steal your freedoms and place you in chains!

How do we know this?

We know that Mueller hired only Clinton’s personal lawyers to aid him in destroying American. Today, they are working hand in hand with the Clinton Foundation to destroy America’s greatness and lay us low.

We know that the only charges that have been brought against anyone are from FBI frame-ups of innocent people. 

I have said it again and again and again, and it bears repeating, there was NO COLLUSION! 

So far, they have only charged people with lying and of obstructing investigations. And who, pre tell are these people alleged to have lied to? You guessed it…the FBI! Friends! This is police work by frame-up!

And the frame-ups continue. Just yesterday, Paul Manafort, who was President Trump’s campaign chairman during the election that the FBI is trying to overthrow, was charged with obstruction of justice for merely talking to people!

Yes, you heard that right! He has been charged as a result of having discussions! 

Did he kill anyone! Did he rob anyone! NO! He merely talked to people and sent text messages!

Since when is talking to someone a crime!? What’s next – obstruction of justice charges for having the good sense to breathe!?

The FBI alleges that Mr. Manafort, who faces numerous other trumped up charges related to his work as a businessman in Ukraine, tried to influence potential witnesses in those cases.

But wait. Manafort faces charges related to working his businesses in Ukraine I say!?  

And doesn’t the Deep State just hate success? And doesn’t it just hate entrepreneurs and business people – the very people who made American great!? And who is our president right now! When jealously and envy drive law enforcement, what is to become of us!?

At its core, what did Manafort allegedly do to prompt these latest charges? He called an old friend to ask for a favour. 

Have you ever asked a friend for a favour? Has a friend ever asked you for one!?

Apparently you now risk the death penalty in America for having a friend! And you know what!? Manafort’s innocent friend has been charged by the FBI as well!

My friends, I urge you to stop talking to people right now! Cease and desist using your cell-phones to send text messages! The Deep State is listening and waiting for a chance to strike! Save yourselves!

You need to listen carefully to me. We are under siege. You are under siege. 

If the Mueller and his Clinton G-men complete their plan, the Clintons will again run the government, and we will enter a new dark age in our history.

But there Is one man who can stop them. There is one man who is Making America Great Again!

The Founders our of great nation, in their wisdom, gave the President of the United States the power to pardon anyone – even the President himself. This is crystal clear and it is right and just that your president should have this power to protect you and our great country.

I invite you to read the greatest document ever written, after the bible itself – praise the Lord! - namely the Constitution of the United States of America! God Bless America! Right there, in black and white, you will read of the president’s power to save this country by stopping the Deep State.

You see friends, the Founders of our greatest of all nations that have ever existed knew that the Deep State would one day come to threaten us. 

They knew that they needed to arm one great man to confront this evil. 

They knew that your rights – all human rights – come from determined men alone, and that these men need to be able to lock and load against any threats to your freedom!!

That is why our President – your President - is armed and ready to pardon all of the oppressed and all those who would suffer at the hands of the Deep State. 

Obviously this includes pardoning himself, for how else may he protect and preserve the results of the democratic election we held on November 8, 2016?  How else may he protect the democracy we love so much? 

Listen friends – this is simple. WHEN HE IS FREE, YOU ARE FREE.

There is a war on for the soul of our blessed nation. We need to win. 

You know who our enemy is. When you go to the polls in November, ask yourself who supports the Deep State and slavery, and who supports America and its freedom? I think that you will be able to see quickly who needs to be elected to keep us all free.

I need to leave you now friends. I need to keep working for this great nation. Tomorrow, God willing, I will return to the airwaves to keep broadcasting the truth while I still can.

And no matter who is listening and keeping notes, I will still call you friends. To hell with those who would stop us!

God Bless the United States of America!”

Ontario Votes - Now What?

Now what? Here is what I think may be the next four years under the Progressive Conservatives in Ontario. This will happen roughly in sequence.

Taxes: They will cut taxes as fast as they can, regardless of the effect on the deficit and debt. These PCs are not the PCs of old. Many have been tutored by American-style politics and by the American Right. Many of them earnestly believe that “tax is theft!”

Deficits and Debt: Expect a deficit of at least $5 Billion in the first full year of a Doug Ford government, and maybe as high as $10 Billion as their tax cut obsession slams right into a looming recession led by a collapsing housing bubble in Toronto and trade disputes with the USA. When the next election comes, I think the PCs will have added $20 - $30 Billion to the debt - will they add more to the debt than the NDP was planning to add to it had they won? Ontario’s debt rating will fall again on the PC’s watch. They will still be blaming Kathleen Wynne for all these problems in 2022.

The War on Organized Labour: Mike Harris had enough respect for organized labour to actually restore collective bargaining in the province after it had been taken away by the “socialist” premier, Bob Rae. These PCs are not Mike Harris PCs. They truly despise organized labour, and public sector unions in particular seeing them as at the cutting edge of the tremendous wrong that is government itself. Hudak accurately reflected their predispositions in his promise to fire 100,000 people four years ago.

A Doug Ford government would have hit labour hard regardless of the economic conditions in the province, but in a looming recession they will strike with particular vehemence.  They have already signalled their excuse for massive cuts to public sector employment, wages and benefits - “…we had no idea the books were so bad!” Yes they did, courtesy of the legislature’s oversight of spending and auditor general reports – they were simply playing the electorate for fools. 

With this excuse in hand – courtesy of analysis of the books by an auditor chosen carefully to produce the desired "doom and gloom" report (Note - again, we already have an auditor in this province!) - they will stride forth to fire thousands of public sector employees (est. 5,000 +), freeze wage growth, or even slash wages at the stroke of a pen (est. 5%), and freeze or even reduce benefits, especially pensions across the board (est. 5%). In fact, no matter who won the public service would have been in serious trouble. We will see public service strikes.

Health Care: Get ready to pay for many services that are now covered by the public health care plan out of your pocket. These PCs talk a good game, but they do not really believe in the existing public health care system – many actually believe that the delivery of this public necessity can best be done through the private sector. The easiest way to privatize the system is to simply reduce the list of health services that it covers.  

From perhaps eye care, to ambulances, to hospital stays, to medications provided during hospital stays, expect to receive bills for more and more of what we have taken for granted was covered by the system. This privatization will not come with a grand pronouncement – just via an ever-expanding list of delisted services – privatization by stealth. We will see no intelligent, thoughtful change to the system.

They will also dictate a contract to MDs in the province, and will try to limit wage growth for nurses as well. To gain the support of MDs, they may allow some limited extra billing for basic services like visits to your family doctor, and they will challenge the federal government to stop them. We will see MD and nurses strikes.

Social Assistance and Minimum Wages: Expect significant cuts to levels of social assistance (est 10%), and in the face of a recession they will also cut the recently raised minimum wage (est. to $13.00.) They will see the challenge of the recession as requiring that they help business, not working people, arguing that helping business does help working people by creating jobs. There is no question that raising the minimum wage as fast as the Liberals did cost jobs in Ontario. Where Liberals and the NDP see workers, PCs see businesses. 

The Environment: The Climate Change agenda of the Liberals will be reversed 100%, and will be replaced by something from the federal government. It may be that we should expect some development of the Green Belt around Toronto.

Hydro: Ford will fire hydro senior executives, and replace them with his friends. Will his friends will receive even higher compensation? Otherwise, they will do almost nothing, and they can’t as Wynne’s changes are largely locked in. They will blame Wynne, and she will deserve it.

Regulations: Expect a significant push to repeal regulations that are considered to be an irritant to business – probably long overdue.

Infrastructure: The looming recession will cause a significant delay to reams of public sector infrastructure projects, owing to a lack of funds. This would have happened no matter who was in power.

Education: Expect reforms to curricula to focus on “the three Rs”, and massive changes to the sex education curricula. We will see teachers strikes.  

Child Care: They will allow tax payers to deduct child care expenses no matter who provides the child care. This is an anti-government policy, not a child care policy. This will be VERY well received throughout the province, and will be copied nationally – it will be Doug’s one true legacy (note – this will indirectly pay mostly women for what has always been seen as “house work”. Doug Ford the radical feminist!)  Child care workers may strike.

Governance: The PC government will be dominated by the politics of “blame and lies”, that dominates much of US politics now. The point of blaming others, and of lying and distorting reality to reflect your point of view, is to mobilize your tribe against the others knowing that your tribe wants to blame others, and that it is happy to listen to lies and distortions as long as they fit their personal political narrative.  This type of politics is practised by all three parties now, but will be particularly acute under the PCs.

The PC Party: The PC Party has overseen a palace revolt by insiders against an elected leader, and nomination fights wracked by fraud. They may be corrupt even before they start governing! 

We may come to learn that this party is full of crooks and sleazy opportunists – the positioning is underway even now, and we may come to see numerous scandals and even some criminal convictions of party members before the next election. 

This, plus the effects of the next recession – for which Ontario is not ready courtesy of terrible governance under Wynne, and which will devastate the economy – may see the PCs essentially wiped out in 2022. This party may actually cease to exist shortly after this, replaced by a new party - much as what happened to the Saskatchewan PC party some 20 years ago. That Doug Ford could take it over so easily should show just how weak it actually is.

And then there is Doug himself…

The Premier: I suspect that Doug Ford will not be the premier when the next election is called in 2022. I would expect him to resign in “defiant disgrace” within two years owing to revelations about his personal life, and significant irregularities in his public life – obvious lack of knowledge about basic issues; significant “inaccuracies” and outrage regarding his public statements; significant concerns about his actions in public, especially the possibility of repeated public drunkenness; and maybe even criminal charges related to how he managed his company and his father’s and Rob’s estate (NB - it is a crime for an executor or trustee to convert the residue of an estate or trust to their personal use without authorization.)  

I just wanted someone who would manage the province competently.  Still waiting.

Straight Talk on Collusion and the Clintons

Let's clear the air! 

First, the allegation that Trump and his campaign team colluded with the Russians.

What do we know?

We know that Trump Jr. was invited to a meeting with Russian representatives for what he initially said was discussing the Magnitsky Act and adoption of Russian children. Within 24 hours of this false statement, he revealed that the purpose of the meeting included receiving damaging information regarding Hillary Clinton from representatives of the Russian state.  He and the sycophants in the press called it "opposition research". 

Not if it came from a foreign state that is one of America's perennial enemies.

Holy shit, Batman!

E-mails that were later released make it crystal clear that Trump Jr. was told that he was about to hit the political equivalent of the jackpot. Here is what he was promised, "...official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary [Clinton] and her dealings with Russia." 

To continue, I think it is inconceivable that there were no discussions with Russian representatives in the time between Trump Jr. being invited to the meeting and the meeting itself. The discussions would have been about the possible quid pro quo that Trump would be willing to give the Russians in return for the evidence against Clinton after he became president. 

Trump is the author of The Art Of The Deal. To quote The Donald..."Leverage: don’t make deals without it."

What would Trump have been willing to offer for what may have seemed to him as a guaranteed trip to the White House? 

What else do we know.

If these men went to a meeting to discuss these issues, and they were actually discussed, why leave after so short a time?! The reason seems obvious - because that is not why they went to that meeting. It is very likely that once they saw that the Russians did not have the goods, they decided to stop wasting their time.  

Stop right there!  If this information proved to be real, it would have been massive! If it would have incriminated Hillary Clinton, it would have handed the presidential election to Donald Trump on a silver platter.

Trump Jr.'s response..."...if it’s what you say I love it..." Of course he did, and no, he wasn't talking about the adoption of Russian children.

But why lie about the meeting?

As noted in this space, this meeting and what transpired between Trump Jr., Manafort, and Kushner is the primary focus of Mueller's investigation. 

As well, I have noted that we do not know what actually happened at this meeting, or as it turns out, before the meeting which I will try to show below is actually more crucial.

What we learned a few days ago, courtesy of a congressional release of documents, is that Trump himself crafted what is now seen as the cover story for this meeting - that it was about Russian adoptions and the Magnitsky Act. He was helped in this by Hope Hicks, his Communications Director, who was in contact with Cohen, his lawyer and general fixer. 

Given what was on offer - the presidential election on a silver platter - it is obvious that this meeting involved the possibility of making a deal. The deal would have been for the provision of incriminating e-mails in return for something that the Russians really, really wanted. That is why the future president's son, son-in-law and campaign chairman were all at the meeting. 

If this had been about adoptions and anti-Russian legislation, the only person who would have shown up may have been a lower level functionary in the Trump Campaign. Instead, the attendees included the most powerful people in that campaign short of Trump himself.

What do I think was the deal, and when do I think it was made?

Now that we know that Trump crafted the cover story, it is far more likely that he had personal knowledge of precisely what was being discussed at that meeting. Why? Because in order to cover something up, you probably have to know precisely that that thing is.

The revelation that he likely had prior knowledge of the meeting is huge!  

This is obvious. The Russians would have wanted the relaxation of the sanctions that were imposed after they annexed Crimea. This is precisely what Flynn was talking to the Russian ambassador about after Trump won the election, and about which he lied to the FBI.

Again, everything ends up focused on the meeting. 

Before the admission that Trump helped craft the cover story, the most that we could say is that the three men in question went to the meeting hoping to explore that the Russians may be able to do for them. Everything was tentative and uncertain.

Now that it is plausible that a tentative deal was worked out before the meeting, it is likely that these three most powerful people in Trump's campaign went there, not to explore the possibility of a deal, but to confirm that the Russians actually had the goods. 

We know that Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who they met, does work for the Russian government. She is Putin's stooge.

And we do know that she gave these men a package of information, and they looked at and rejected saying that they already knew this (specifically, that Obama took $1 Billion from the Russians to support his campaigns.) She actually admitted that she handed these men information for their consideration in an interview on RT - Russia Today.

And we know that Manafort, Kushner and Trump Jr., left the meeting after something like eight minutes. Manafort's notes indicate that Russian adoptions and the Magnitsky Act wee discussed at the meeting. 

To conclude - the story that I think is emerging then is that the Russians promised information tat would have handed Trump the election.  I think Trump made a tentative deal in return for the information, and he sent his most trusted subordinates to the meeting with a representative of the Russian state to ensure that what they were offering was the real deal.

They did not have the goods, and when they realized this, Trump's most trusted personal representatives left the meeting as fast as they could. When the press got wind of this meting, Trump, Hicks and Cohen worked to create a story to cover their tracks.  

"Their" tracks?

Yes, you see it is inconceivable that Cohen and/or Hicks would not have know of a deal with the Russians. This is likely why Trump flipped when Cohen's office was raided. This is why Hicks is so crucial to all of this.

Trump is getting desperate.

Manafort is about to have his bail yanked for trying to influence witnesses against him while free on bail. This will place him even closer to making a deal with Mueller. If Hicks rolls, the jig is up. One would think that the USA may soon be in a constitutional crisis as the sitting president attempts to pardon himself, effectively putting himself beyond the reach of the law. 

Now...the Clintons.

WTF is Bill Clinton doing? He is on talk shows now, obviously trying to resuscitate his reputation in the face of the Me Too Movement.

What chutzpa!

Forget what he is saying. The fact that he is seeking public absolution should send shock waves throughout the political class in the USA.

Why?

Because the only reason he would do this is as a precursor to his wife trying yet again to become the President of the United States.

Is this madness?!!

Clinton got more votes in the last election than Trump, and was in the lead in the polls until the very end.

She leads the Resistance!

With her having come so close, why would she not run again?

Her obvious running mate? Wait for it....

Long Live the new Boss, same as the old Boss!

The Queen of England, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, and a host of other nice places, is legally sovereign over her realm. She is not bound by any laws, because she is the personal embodiment of the law.

The United States forcibly left the realm in 1776. Their first President faced a choice – try to govern as a defacto monarch, becoming a president for life and setting up his progeny to govern, or be a true republican and step aside when his time was done.

George Washington was the greatest man of his age. When tempted by the allure of perpetual power as a president/king, he stepped aside and let other men govern, setting a precedent for democratic transition that stands to this day.  How many lesser men have failed their countries when faced with the same choice in the centuries since then?

President Trump now claims that he is free to pardon himself. To be clear – he is saying that, even if he is the target of a criminal investigation, relating to any activity whatsoever, whether before he came to public office or while in public office, he may simply declare that he is immune from criminal prosecution.

One suspects that if Hillary Clinton had won the election and was being charged with a range of offences relating to her illegal e-mail usage while she was the Secretary of State, Trump would be leading the charge for her full prosecution, and loudly proclaiming that any assertion on her behalf that she could pardon herself as president was an affront to freedom itself!  But Clinton did not win, and she is not under criminal investigation. In Trump’s world of Trumpian Exceptionalism, one suspects that his claim to be able to pardon himself as president is unique to him alone. Of course no one else would have this authority, especially a Clinton! (Yes...this sounds nuts…read his Tweets.)

The problem with a president who can pardon himself or herself is obvious. Such a power would place any president beyond the reach of the law – much like the Queen of England, who does understand her role requires that she obey the law. It would be the essential foundation for any evolution in the United States from an office of the president to an office of the new president/monarch.

How many sick sycophants in the US media and academia will hear the clarion call of tyranny emanating from the White House, and rush to the barricades to defend this president’s power to render himself immune from the force of law?

Too many.

Betrayal....of course.

Premier Wynne has thrown in the towel....sort of. To paraphrase..."It's not about me...it's about the children!!!"

To quote her...."Even though I won't be leading this province as premier, I care deeply about how it will be led..." She then went on urge people to vote Liberal in an effort to deny either the PCs or the NDP a majority government.  

I have watched politics closely for what must be 35 years. I have never seen anything quite like this.

The job of political leaders is to lead, and what this has always meant was that even in the face of adversity true leaders push boldly ahead, confident in what they have to offer and hopeful that voters will agree. This is what their party members expect and deserve.  

I worked for the federal PCs in 1993...we did not concede before the vote, because whether or not we ended up conceding was an issue for the voters, not for us. To concede before the vote would have shown utter contempt for the electorate. It would have been as if we thought we were free to decide the outcome of the election, not the people who are supposedly sovereign.

But did Wynne actually concede? Or did she merely state the obvious, which is now reflected in the polls have her way behind. What is she really doing?

Her "concession" was an almost unbelievably crass ploy to keep party status, in order to position her party to return to power once a minority government - whether NDP or PC, is irrelevant - falls early in the next mandate.

For Wynne, what matters is power. The only government she cares about is her own.

This is reflected in her attitude to her time in power. Wynne's government is essentially perfect. Throughout this campaign and even before the campaign, Wynne has admitted to exactly no errors while in office - nothing - not the gas plant scandal, not e-health, not the catastrophe that is hydro in Ontario, not the crisis that is the state of public finance. You maintain the fantasy of perfection if your forever goal is perpetual power.

Even in her concession statement, driven by her horrible performance in public opinion polls, she said this, "People want change, but by and large they're confident about where Ontario stands and where Ontario is headed. For this reason — I heard this over and over again — many voters are worried about handing a blank cheque to either Doug Ford or the NDP." Um, no. When people are confident with where things are headed, the party in power usually polls above 20%!

Wynne isn't the problem - she is merely symptomatic of a bigger problem. The fact is that the political class in this province is deeply diseased. All politicians of all stripes now regularly put their short term interests of their parties ahead of the long term interests of the province. This is their essential betrayal.

That Wynne is manipulating voters in this campaign with a view to positioning her party for the next one would be completely understandable to anyone in the PCs or the NDP. None of them are talking about the implications of Wynne's gambit for democracy in Ontario - that this crass game playing is an affront to all voters - because they would likely do the same thing if they were in the same position.

Even an Ontario voter has a breaking point. The next election will see the rise of at least one new party that will sweep many of these game players aside.