When Strangers Become Part of the Family
About 20 years ago I had a client in Copenhagen who, one night after work, invited me to dinner at his lovely suburban home. When we walked in, my friend introduced me to his charming wife and two little daughters, perhaps five and seven years old. Naturally, the kids were a bit afraid of this stranger; periodically throughout the cocktail hour, they’d surreptitiously point to me, whisper something to one another, and titter with nervous excitement.
Yet by the time dinner was over, after perhaps two hours of my smiling gently at them and engaging them in bits of conversation, they were clearly on my side. After the plates were cleared, they decided I’d make a serviceable jungle gym, and after a few minutes of climbing all over me, the elder shouted an announcement to her parents, “We want Mr. Shields to tell us a story!”
Don’t we all have that sentiment about the Mueller investigation? Every day we wake up and say, “Come on, Uncle Bob, please! We want another indictment!”
We feel a certain comfort knowing that somewhere and somehow, justice is being pursued, and the convoluted truth about the covert U.S. business dealings with the Russians oligarchs, valued in hundreds of billions of dollars, is in the process of being unraveled. Yet we sure wish all of this would happen right now.
Through our reading the Panama Papers, and now the Paradise Papers, we get a glimpse into the previously hidden dealings between these Russian business titans and U.S. elites (like U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross), and we come to understand the enormous complexity of all these shell corporations all over the globe, designed to shield assets from local tax agencies, and to provide anonymity at the same time. Obviously, there’s tax evasion all over the place. But what more? Money laundering? Political collusion?
We know we need to be patient. Donald Trump alone says he has over 500 companies, more than 300 are domiciled in on building in Delaware, which makes getting at the truth incredibly tedious. Yet, many of us are just as restless as those two little Danish girls. “Please, Uncle Bob! We’re begging!“
Craig,
I love the way you assume everyone thinks the same as you !
To most American’s Robert Mueller’s investigation is largely a distraction and an expensive waste of time.
Russia is not an enemy of the US. Russia is no longer the mighty behemoth the old USSR portrayed itself. Russia has virtually no allies and a large number of enemies and rivals.
The Russian economy is roughly the same size as Australia, and almost 50% dependent on energy exports. It’s an economic pygmy in comparison to China or Germany.
Yet, US paranoia still runs deep with some Americans.Russia has nowhere near the espionage capacity of the Peoples Republic of China, who must be enjoying the American obsession with Russia.
Tax avoidance and minimization with always occur when governments impose unwieldy tax regimes based not on paying for services to taxpayers but containing social engineering ideology.
The most disturbing testimony revealed by the Mueller inquiry seems to be very downplayed, yet the idea that senior Democrats, including the candidate herself, authorized payments to foreign spies, (including Russians) to collect “dirt’ real or invented, on Donald Trump !
Even more disturbing is these efforts were endorsed, or at least nor opposed by the FBI director and the CIA.
It’s always a temptation for any special investigator to go beyond their mandate and become embroiled in matters not related to the original brief.
Mueller now believes the most important aspect of the investigation is whether a case could be constructed for Obstruction of Justice in relation to Comey being fired.
Here, Mueller steps over the line. Firstly, the investigation into Russian interference didn’t end with Comey’s firing, a fact Mueller appointment confirms. Secondly, the FBI director serves at the pleasure of the President, with a ten-year term a limitation of the director’s authority, not the President’s.
The decision to fire or not fire the FBI director is a prerogative of the President and no business of the special counsel. The President doesn’t have to explain himself.
Mueller should take great care to avoid being drawn into partisan politics.
“Most americans”…? Do you have a legitimate data source supporting that assertion, or is that an assumption?
Cameron,
Exactly the same source as Craig when he clams “we all ” !
( In a nation where only 57% bothered to vote in the last Presidential election, and nearly half voted for Trump, leaving about only 26 % interested the Mueller investigation, yeah…. I think the term ‘most’ applies !)
Curiously, the Chicago Tribune claims about 51% of Americans ‘support’ Mueller while repeating the opinion ‘most’ Americans want Mueller to get on with the task and bring it to a conclusion.
Not many Americans want a repeat of the Lewinsky circus, nor do they want a never ending, on going witch-hunt into the Trump administration.
Most Americans want Mueller’s investigation of Russian influence on the 2016 Presidential election to confine itself to exactly that, reach a conclusion so the US can move on to more important issues that effect the lives of ordinary Americans.
Observers even among the anti-trump media are beginning to accept the American people are growing weary of a seemingly never ending investigation with no definite conclusion in sight.
Lot’s of smoke, media hype, but no real evidence of any collusion by the President. The American public knows, and accepts President Trump is a businessman albeit with some less than conventional supporters. Knowing that fact, they still elected him President.
Since his election a section of the media and the President’s opponents have tried desperately to keep the nation in election mode, as if by creating enough hype the 2016 election could be reversed.
It’s time for Mueller to either make significant progress or wrap up his investigation.
81% of Americans urge Mueller to continue. https://www.thedailybeast.com/poll-81-of-americans-say-trump-must-not-stop-mueller-probe