Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

White supremacy is terrorism.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

The lights are all blinking red.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

You are here: Home / My Highly Nuanced and Sophisticated Legal Analysis of Mueller’s Flynn Sentencing Memo

My Highly Nuanced and Sophisticated Legal Analysis of Mueller’s Flynn Sentencing Memo

by | 65 Comments

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Strap in for my hot takes:

1.) Flynn is crazy and a total fucking asshole, but he’s not as dumb as many others in Trump world, knows when he is caught, and is smart enough to listen to his lawyers when they tell him to cooperate because he does not want to die in jail.

2.) This is like Fitzmas, but this time there is a present, only when we open it all there is a promise for several more presents in a couple more weeks.

There you go. This is why this is a near top 1000 blog.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  4. 4.

    Jharp

    I’ve long thought is ok to be somewhat ignorant as long as you know what you don’t know.

    It’s served me pretty well.

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    Can I have my “Lock Him Up” tshirt now? I want the photo to be a screengrab from his RNC speech, when he was yelling that, spittle-enhanced.

  9. 9.

    scott (the other one)

    Very low on my wishlist but still a thing for which I wish: that tucked in the agreement is a small bit about “and if your idiot son says anything stupid on social media ever again, you’re both going down for life.”

  10. 10.

    clay

    This is like Fitzmas, but this time there is a present, only when we open it all there is a promise for several more presents in a couple more weeks.

    So it’s Muellukkah?

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    I really like the idea (posted in the previous thread) that Pence is also quite fucked at this point.

    Mr. Babble Nonsense and Lies In a Calm and Serious Manner got some ‘splaining to do!

  13. 13.

    TS (the original)

    I have a new theory – Mueller is waiting until Nancy Pelosi is speaker, before revealing all.

  16. 16.

    hilts

    I hope Trump’s bowels are in an uproar because this fat fuck is going down sooner than he thinks.

  19. 19.

    Ohio Mom

    I hope that wherever he his, efgoldman, who often counseled patience (“remember how long Watergate took”), can appreciate his words coming true. Vindication is always enjoyable.

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    This is nice, too:

    Breaking on NC-9 Congressional race: Criminal investigation underway into voting irregularities in Bladen Cty North Carolina, says local DA. The investigation was initially centered on the 2016 election cycle, but now includes the 2018 election as well.— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 5, 2018

  23. 23.

    Princess

    3)Flynn actually loves his family, unlike Trump, and is therefore willing to testify to protect his son.

  24. 24.

    A Ghost To Most

    It’s Arrestivus, for the rest of us

    Let the Airing of Grievances and feats of strength begin.

  27. 27.

    Patricia Kayden

    @trollhattan: He’s not going to be locked up though. He sang like a canary. Hopefully he’s making sure that others in Trump’s cabal will face jail time, including Trump and Donny Jr.

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel

    @TS (the original):
    I don’t think it matters. If he dumped everything tonight the GOP would whine & cry but do nothing. It would not be beneficial simply to wait for the new Congress. I think it is much more likely RMIII is following the evidence & a way that will generate facts and that happens on its own timeline. We jump on a useless rollercoaster thinking “OH THIS FRIDAY” or “RIGHT AFTER THE ELECTION” . to paraphrase Paul Masson, “He will bring no indictment before its time’

  31. 31.

    Aleta

    You know how rewards are offered for information “leading to the arrest/conviction of …”
    It’d be nice if the length of Flynn’s sentence could be based on “information leading to the conviction of.” (I know it can’t work that way.)

    Also, my impression is that a record of “distinguished military service” doesn’t always mean the person was honorable, uncorrupted or followed the law. It’s true for some, but advancements and judgements are internal and there’s a culture of protection that works for others.

    Maybe it shouldn’t be a given in his favor. Isn’t it likely that Flynn’s character didn’t conform to military values during his service either, and shouldn’t be shielded by it?

  33. 33.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Schlemazel:
    I think you’re right. Mueller by all accounts is someone who really cares about the law and will pursue this as long as he can. He may be one of the last good Republicans left.

  34. 34.

    Marcopolo

    @AliceBlue: Yep. This does however lead to the following (probably not particularly insightful) thoughts. One, most of the country does not go any distance at all to make voting in elections as easy & natural as possible–and GA is a place where it is made extra hard. So getting folks organized & motived & to the polls in an off election highlights this most brightly/glaringly (just as really closely watched close elections tend to highlight absentee ballot tampering :)). On the positive side, I am glad to say I think that there are a lot of folks out there who are now making this a priority going forward for all locations & elections. Second, Stacey Abrams ran a fanfuckingtastic campaign & I will gladly support her in whatever political endeavor she cares to pursue going forward.

  35. 35.

    The Dangerman

    Isn’t this the point in Goodfellas where Henry has fingered Jimmy and Paulie and goes to live in PigFarts, Iowa? But Flynn isn’t going into Witness Protection so he best be rich because he won’t get a job to be so much as a Cinnabon Manager (mixing up my crime shows) and no Wingnut Gravy Train for you, Sir.

  38. 38.

    Barbara

    @Princess: Not only that, he has at least the memory of what it means to serve someone besides yourself. Not many in Trump’s world can say the same.

  39. 39.

    hitchhiker

    Mueller … may be one of the last good Republicans left.

    I sometimes imagine him and his team confronting evidence that their party (and our country for the last 2 years) is now in the hands of an astounding collection of criminals. Do they ever look at each other across the conference table and just shake their heads in disgust?

  41. 41.

    Aleta

    @Jeffro: If Flynn gave up Pence, enough to indict, I guess I could get on board with the ‘no time’ if it happens.

    But at least some community service…some way to donate any profits from books and exercise videos and autographed holsters…or repossessing his passport, cutting off his buttons in a ceremony on CSPAN.

  42. 42.

    JCJ

    I have not read the earlier threads, but I presume this may partly to counter Trump’s ability to signal a pardon. If you cooperate fully, there is leniency. Trump can signal that if you cooperate (like Cohen) he will cheer for your penalty and if you don’t he can pardon you (Arpaio.) I would still love to yell “Lock him up!” at Flynn

  43. 43.

    Steve in the ATL

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Mueller by all accounts is someone who really cares about the law and will pursue this as long as he can. He may be one of the last good Republicans left.

    Cautiously optimistic, but let’s not get too excited until something actually happens

  50. 50.

    randy khan

    @The Dangerman:

    Flynn isn’t going into Witness Protection so he best be rich because he won’t get a job to be so much as a Cinnabon Manager (mixing up my crime shows) and no Wingnut Gravy Train for you, Sir.

    I’m guessing there will be a book. I’m not sure who will buy it, though.

  51. 51.

    Mandalay

    @The Dangerman:

    he best be rich because he won’t get a job to be so much as a Cinnabon Manager…

    I think the exact opposite. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has already been promised some do-nothing job for a RWNJ think tank in DC with a salary of $300k, working with crazies like Frank Gaffney.

    And if he snitched enough for Trump to fall he’ll become a RWNJ hero for draining the swamp, and saving the republic from a draft dodging traitor.

    Cognitive dissonance is something else.

  52. 52.

    PJ

    @Mandalay: Yeah, Oliver North had a great career of grifting and wing nut radio after Iran Contra, there’s no way that Flynn doesn’t get something comparable.

  53. 53.

    FlyingToaster

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Tonight the 3rd item in our clothes dryer failed (previously replaced: themal fuse and door switch): the motor. It’s still cheaper to replace it than buy a new one, but it’s fucking aggravating.

    And the teachers have been convinced not to have a “live demo” of making either latkes or sufganiyot; the “375° hot oil” was sufficient to scare them off.

    I unpied you after a week, dude. You calmed down, so all is forgiven, if not necessarily forgotten.

    If one chooses to be an asshole (and I certainly do that, from time to time), one accepts the consequences. Inevitably.

  54. 54.

    CarolDuhart2

    He may also have a TSP (Thrift Savings Plan, the 401k for Federal Employees) in addition. If so, given his salary, he may have more than a million in that. If so, he may not need to work if he’s careful with his money. And of course, we have no knowledge of what his wife may have as assets as well. Given his age, he may be content to be a name on a letterhead kind of worker. So no need for a real job with real effort.

  55. 55.

    sukabi

    @scott (the other one): I think his dad duct taped his mouth and locked him on the basement until his talks with Mueller were concluded…I expect he’ll make an appearance shortly and step in a huge pile.

  57. 57.

    Aleta

    Not saying there’s direct comparison. But, to remember her.

    NYT Aug. 23, 2018
    Reality Winner, the former Air Force linguist and intelligence contractor who pleaded guilty in June to leaking a top-secret government report on Russian hacking, was sentenced on Thursday to five years and three months in federal prison.
    …
    Prosecutors said her sentence was the longest ever imposed in federal court for an unauthorized release of government information to the media.

    She was arrested in June 2017 and was held for more than a year while prosecutors built a case. She pleaded guilty in June 2018 to one felony count of unauthorized transmission of national defense information, for giving a classified report about Russian interference in the 2016 election to a news outlet.

    Prosecutors said on Thursday that Ms. Winner’s actions merited a stiff sentence. “Winner’s purposeful violation put our nation’s security at risk,” United States Attorney Bobby L. Christine (said). He said the report she leaked revealed sources and methods of intelligence gathering, and its disclosure “caused exceptionally grave damage to U.S. national security.” He added that she “knowingly and intentionally betrayed the trust of her colleagues and her country,” and was “the quintessential example of an insider threat.”

    Ms. Winner was fresh out of the Air Force and a few months into a job as a translator for the National Security Agency in May 2017 when prosecutors say she printed a report from her work computer that detailed hacking attacks by a Russian intelligence service against local election officials and voter registration databases.

    [She mailed it to The Intercept.] Following a trail of clues, the F.B.I. soon arrested Ms. Winner two days before the Intercept published the classified report.

    Addressing Chief Judge J. Randall Hall in court on Thursday, Ms. Winner said she took “full responsibility” for the “undeniable mistake I made.” She said she “would like to apologize profusely” for her actions.

    Ms. Winner’s lawyers asked the judge to take into account in sentencing that she had served honorably in the Air Force, had been a top student and had no prior criminal record.

  59. 59.

    2liberal

    Flynn is crazy and a total fucking asshole, but he’s not as dumb as many others in Trump world, knows when he is caught, and is smart enough to listen to his lawyers when they tell him to cooperate because he does not want to die in jail.

    according to a valued commenter in another thread Flynn was facing 6 months in prison if he didn’t sing.

  60. 60.

    Mandalay

    @CarolDuhart2:

    He may also have a TSP (Thrift Savings Plan, the 401k for Federal Employees) in addition. If so, given his salary, he may have more than a million in that. If so, he may not need to work…

    His lawyers have probably already secured that as a downpayment for what Flynn will eventually owe them.

  63. 63.

    lee

    @Princess:
    @NotMax:

    That was my wife & I take on it as well: Flynn sang like a bird to protect his son.

    Of all his son’s tweets that is probably the smartest of them. A generic thanking of their supporters. I can see him going with a ‘HA TOLD YOU NO PRISON FOR US!!!LOL’

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