J.E. DYER: Meddling, Collusion, And Ukraine Vs. Russia.

The topic here is what we’re talking about when the question of “Ukraine meddling in the 2016 election” comes up. The reality is that there’s not a whole lot there if you emphasize the words “Ukraine meddling.” There is substance, yes. A Ukrainian court has certified that it thinks Ukraine meddled in the U.S. election.

But the real issue is whether Americans leveraged cooperation from Ukraine to behave unethically – and possibly to behave criminally – in the 2016 election. Ukraine’s actions could not have any significant effect, undertaken without the complicity of Americans.

The truth about Russia’s actions, which we need not hold in doubt (although sober analysts have made good-faith arguments for doubting some of the particulars), is that they amounted to comparatively little, and had no impact on the election’s outcome.

But Russia’s demonstrated actions, unlike Ukraine’s, were of such a kind that they might conceivably have had an impact without intentional collusion by Americans. This point has the highly significant corollary that the Russians probably (indeed, presumably) inaugurated an interference campaign for their own purposes and agenda. That’s different from the premise of “Ukrainian interference.”

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: I’d originally credited this to Jeff Dunetz, when it’s actually a J.E. Dyer piece. Sorry!

WE COME FROM . . . EGYPT. A SMALL VILLAGE IN . . . EGYPT. The First Evidence of ‘Head Cones’ Found in 3,300-Year-Old Egyptian Tomb.

HMM: Joe Manchin says he’s torn on voting to convict Trump in Senate trial. “Manchin said he would not have a problem with calling Hunter Biden to testify in the trial, despite vocal opposition from most Democrats who argue that it would divert attention from the allegations at the heart of the impeachment case against Trump.”

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WHEN YOUR RACIST PROPAGANDA ISN’T READY FOR PRIME TIME: Rashida Tlaib Deletes Tweet Erroneously Blaming White Supremacy for NJ Jewish Market Shootings.

BRITAIN: ‘Longest queues ever’ as people stand in line around the block to vote.

OUR GENERAL OFFICER CORPS APPEARS TO BE SUBPAR: Army 3-Star General Loses Rank After War College Plagiarism Revealed. “Lt. Gen. Aundre Piggee, 60, deputy chief of staff of the Army for Logistics, G-4, has retired as a major general, an official confirmed to Military.com. The U.S. Army War College Academic Review Board determined this year that Piggee had committed plagiarism while at the school, where he received a master’s in military strategy.”

To be honest, the penalty seems light.

OOPS: Rep. Louie Gohmert drops alleged whistleblower’s name in list of witnesses who should have been called.

RISE OF THE MACHINES: No driver needed: 20 tons of butter takes road trip from California to Pennsylvania.

WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED JERSEY CITY? Rashida Tlaib on black suspects’ murder of Jews in Jersey City: “White supremacy kills.” “What’s really crazy is that this isn’t even the most ‘problematic’ thing a member of the Squad has tweeted this morning. That distinction belongs to AOC, who tweeted out her full-throated support for a party whose victory today in the UK elections would leave Britain’s Jews anxious about their future in the country.”

SIX MORE YEARS:  Yesterday, I was re-appointed to the U.S Commission on Civil  Rights for an additional term.  Technically, I was re-appointed by Senator Grassley in his capacity as President Pro Tempore of the Senate.  But Grassley acts on the recommendation of either the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader in making the two Senate appointments to the Commission.  In my case, of course, Senator McConnell was the recommender.  So thank you Senator Grassley and especially thank you Senator McConnell!

Of the eight seats on the Commission, four are Presidential appointments and four are Congressional.  Up until a week or so ago, all four of the Presidential appointees were put there by President Obama, which made for a Commission of 6 liberal/progressives and 2 conservative/libertarians.  Pete Kirsanow (who I hope will be re-appointed shortly over on the House side) and I were the very vocal minority.

Two of the Obama appointees have now rotated off and will soon be replaced by two new appointees by President Trump. That will make for an interesting 4-4 Commission.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE:  The EEOC continues to go after employers who aren’t sufficiently enthusiastic about hiring felons.  The agency considers it race discrimination.  Here is why all this is wrongheaded and probably unconstitutional.

SWAMPLAND: DOJ IG Horowitz Says FBI Employee Who Misled DOJ in Russia Probe Still Works There.

WHY SHOULD ALL OF US FUND CALIFORNIANS’ VIRTUE-SIGNALING EVS? A coalition of 33 groups led by the American Energy Alliance is pressuring Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) to kill a “tax extender” to continue and increase the federal credit for buying a plug-in electric vehicle.

YOU HAD ONE JOB: Snopes Fact-Checkers Demand White House Explain Trump’s Babylon Bee Tweet.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: The most expensive new Mac Pro configuration costs $52,599. “That’s not a typo…But the real stunner is adding 1.5TB of RAM to the equation. That’s 12 128GB chips of DDR4 EEC memory, and it costs a cool $25,000.”

Related! Five Things You Could Do With 1TB of RAM.

OOPS: Shooting his mouth off, Iranian official admits the truth about Lebanon.

Speaking on Monday, retired Gen. Morteza Qorbani told an Iranian news outlet that Iran did not need to use ballistic missiles in Iran to effectively attack Israel. Instead, Qorbani said, if “the Zionist regime makes the smallest mistake toward Iran, we will reduce Tel Aviv to ashes from Lebanon.”

That sparked quick pushback in Lebanon, even from Iran’s allies there. On Wednesday, a top Revolutionary Guard spokesperson blamed the media for misrepresenting the adviser’s clear words. Qorbani, the spokesman added, “meant to speak of response to Israel by possible various means and capacities.” In addition, in an amusing attempt to distance themselves from Qorbani, the Revolutionary Guard claimed that he “is not an adviser to the IRGC commander at present.”

If that’s not rowing back, I don’t know what is.

Obama’s old pals aren’t very bright, are they?

Anyway, just keep clamping down with sanctions, and for God’s sake keep on frackin’.

IT’S NOT OKAY TO BE WHITE: Student expelled by law school after posting ‘It’s OK to be white’ flyers: report. “Some have questioned whether ‘It’s OK to be white’ falls under free speech.”

You want more white nationalists? Because this is how you get more white nationalists.