Several people have requested thoughts and analysis on the decision by South Carolina (former) Police Officer Michael Slager to plead guilty to civil rights violations.

From the outset this case was unique, stunningly so.  Our research into this case was necessarily fact-driven because any emotional review of the shooting is fraught with over simplistic reaction.  This is one of those cases where logic battles with emotion and the outcome, as it stands today, is even more evidence toward that end.

Michael Slager pleading guilty to federal charges against the State’s inability to gain any criminal charges shows how the dynamic of law can run parallel to justice but not necessarily merge.  This is the framework for my perspective on this case.

It’s important to note what Slager’s plea isn’t.  There is no admission of violation of statutory state law.  Slager is not pleading guilty to any form of manslaughter, and most certainly isn’t guilty of level of statutory murder.  The unusual nature of this dynamic is why the State of South Carolina has withdrawn any/all criminal charges now that Slager has plead guilty to a federal violation of Scott’s civil rights.

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Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice has reversed her position and is now refusing to testify to a Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee investigating Russia’s interference with the 2016 election.   The key risk to Susan Rice is public discussion and discovery of her requests to unmask names within NSA intelligence and surveillance reports on political opponents.

Against revelations that pointed to Susan Rice as the epicenter of the political surveillance programs, her testimony was a risk to herself, the Obama administration and the entire democrat apparatus.  Her appearance at a Senate Committee where questions would sure to be raised was a significant risk.

The cover for Rice’s retreat from sunlight is brutally obvious.  Kathryn Ruemmler, Rice’s attorney delivers a letter to CNN so the media outlet can push a narrative that Democrat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse -ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee- has told Rice her attendance would not be needed.

“Senator Whitehouse has informed us by letter that he did not agree to Chairman Graham’s invitation to Ambassador Rice, a significant departure from the bipartisan invitations extended to other witnesses,” Ruemmler wrote. “Under these circumstances, Ambassador Rice respectfully declines Senator Graham’s invitation to testify.”

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San Francisco based Federal Judge, William Orrick, issued a preliminary injunction today blocking any attempt by the Trump administration to withhold funding from “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.

Judge Orrick said president Trump has no authority to attach new conditions to federal spending.

(Via AP) […] U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued the preliminary injunction in two lawsuits — one brought by the city of San Francisco, the other by Santa Clara County — against an executive order targeting communities that protect immigrants from deportation. The injunction will stay in place while the lawsuits work their way through court. (read more)

Judge Orrick is a campaign bundler to former President Obama for over $200,000, and is married to a pro-abortion activist.  You might remember Judge Orrick from 2015 when he blocked the release of videos made by the Center for Medical Progress, the group that unveiled Planned Parenthood’s participation in the sale of organs harvested from aborted children.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared on This Week with former Clinton White House staff George Stephanopoulos to discuss current political events. Attorney General Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kelly spent three days this past week touring the Southern U.S. Border and listening to border patrol officers:

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This is really quite incredible and I’m not sure if I can do justice to the significance of it.  Earlier today President Trump directly called out President Obama for the explosion of MS13 gang violence.

President Trump is 100% correct in doing this.

It was President Obama’s Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) Program that created the policy vehicle for Central American gang members to deliver their MS13 foot soldiers into the U.S.

Take a close look at the following three graphics.  The first is a graphic of the ICE offices with multiple arrests of MS13 gang members: (more…)

Oh what a tangled web is weaved…. Apparently, the FBI used the Jeb Bush/DNC Commissioned opposition research dossier on candidate Trump as evidence to the FISA court to gain a warrant for surveillance.   Things just got more interesting.

If this report via CNN is factual in its baseline accuracy, methinks the motive for the stuttering obfuscation of FBI Director James Comey just gained some sunlight.

Washington (CNN) – The FBI last year used a dossier of allegations of Russian ties to Donald Trump’s campaign as part of the justification to win approval to secretly monitor a Trump associate, according to US officials briefed on the investigation.

The dossier has also been cited by FBI Director James Comey in some of his briefings to members of Congress in recent weeks, as one of the sources of information the bureau has used to bolster its investigation, according to US officials briefed on the probe.

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If you read the USA Today report of Juan Manuel Montes being deported you might believe their headline: “First Protected Dreamer Deported Under Trump“:

(Via USA Today) Federal agents ignored President Trump’s pledge to protect from deportation undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children by sending a young man back to his native Mexico, the first such documented case, a USA TODAY examination of the new administration’s immigration policies shows.

After spending an evening with his girlfriend in Calexico, Calif., on Feb. 17, Juan Manuel Montes, 23, who has lived in the U.S. since age 9, grabbed a bite and was waiting for a ride when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer approached and started asking questions. (read more)

However, the U.S. Border Patrol presents an entire divergent set of facts to the Daily Caller:

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions sat down for an interview with Judge Jeanine Pirro to provide an update on the latest DOJ focus on border security and a crack-down on violent gangs like MS13.

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To say we consider Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross a man with a unique skill-set for this defined moment in U.S. economic history would be an understatement of epic proportions. Ross is one of the most consequential and dynamic forces within the President Trump administration.

That said, Secretary Ross also knows the real economic adversary is not necessarily external to our border. The bought-and-paid-for UniParty congress has been under the influence of the globalist-minded U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the myriad of K-Street lobbyists, for almost two decades.

Today, Wilbur “Wilburine” Ross fires a shot across the bow of the U.S. Economic Swamp Defenders:

Our message is simple – the games are over, and improper treatment of the United States will no longer be tolerated. We will approach future negotiations and actions with a clarity of purpose guiding us as we work to establish both free and fair trade.

Unfortunately, NAFTA negotiations cannot begin until Congress accepts our 90-day notification letter in compliance with the Trade Promotion Act. But, under President Trump’s leadership, I have no doubt that we will be successful in rebalancing American trade in favor of American workers and businesses.

There are, as you know, trillions of dollars at stake. The American electorate have no reference points for the battles that lie ahead within budgets and trade principals.  The Trump administration will necessarily direct attention to the real source of political power and influence, the DC financial system. (more…)