Really. Cue Louie.
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āI was blindsided by this,ā he explained. āI thought insider trading was only a problem if you were, like, Secretary of Health and Human Services or something.ā
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It turns out, they donāt read you your rights, they donāt tell you you can have an attorney
In other words, they treat you just like they treat everyone else who is subjected to non-custodial questioning. Which is truly shocking, given that you are a white Republican (who owns a bathrobe, no less).
Collinsā concern for the rights of the accused is touching. Any day now Iām sure he or one of his congressional friends will author a bill requiring police to read people their rights in non-custodial situations. And pigs will flyā¦
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āWas that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, ācause Iāve worked in a lot of offices and I tell you people do that all the time.ā Itās the old āCostanza defense.ā It didnāt work for George, and if Collins was āshockedā by the interview, howās he going to feel about the conviction?
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Collins was our County Executive for one miserable term so I am in a position to assure you that it may just be that heās as dumb as a bag of hammers. For example, one of his big concerns was that county employees didnāt dress stylishly. He has admitted publicly to not reading the text of laws heās voted on as if this were a reasonable explanation (he ā assumed someone had read itā) and that he had to vote for the GOP tax bill in order to keep money flowing from big ticket donors, this being his priority. Legal/ illegal are foreign concepts to him. I find it quite likely that he is perplexed by the whole thing.
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I donāt see any rationality in the way Collins is āhandlingā this.
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If this interview aims to affect the jury pool, itās weak sauce at best. Heās been indicted out of the Southern District of NY, meaning he wonāt be tried in or near Buffalo, which he represents and where he has one of his several houses, or in Washington D.C. How he thinks that telling this story, such an obvious claim of sweet baby innocence and mind-blowing naivete, one which no actual resident of NYC could even trust let alone buy, is beyond me.
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If he wanted to lessen his interim exposure to Congressional investigation, at least in theory, rationally heād have gone further than ceasing his campaign for re-election: heād have resigned.
Imma cut him some slack on this because I really donāt foresee the House Ethic Cmte even starting to go after Collins for this until at least after the coming midterms and even them probably not unless and until heās both re-elected AND cleared of the charges - but since heās not doing any ācampaigningā beyond these personal pronouncements to the public protesting of his āinnocenceā, things donāt look so favorable for his being re-elected (Heās still on the ballot! By law!), so one of the 2 preconditions for exposure to Congressional investigation appears likely to be gone soon, even leaving aside the increasingly remote chance that the GOP keep control of the House. -
Which leaves presidential pardon, which I DO get, sort of: the problem is, whatās in it for Trump to pardon Collins?
Trumpās other pardons, those obviously not transactional to in the sense of Trumpās behavior and exposure being at all tied to the pardonee, have all been almost studiously ALOOF from Trumpās personal exposure to Muellerās probe, or even to whatever the next Congress might go after him for. What they have NOT been above, indeed what theyāve all been about, is pandering to the Trumpalo base.
But pardoning Collins wouldnāt play to that base, not in any way that would seem to translate into votes. Collins has no national identification at all: heās a generic Republican in lean red district in a lean blue state. Those dudes are entirely replaceable, like Russian embed dolls. Trump surely wouldnāt risk getting his fool pardon head shot by sticking it out for the likes of Papadopoulos or Collins: even Trump knows heās way better off saving his pardon powder for the sorts of people who can do him dirt, like Manafort or Junior or Jarhead or Roger Stone, or to save his own miserable stretched-beyond-recovery hide or the hides of his family and those who can get him actual cash.
So Imma say Collins knows heās playing a long shot off several banks here, but heās got nothing better to do with his free time regardless.
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Whatās the storyās source? Who is the sister station in Buffalo? This looks like a VNR packaged with a virtual set from a PR firm.
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The shock of all shocks can occur when you grow up believing that your money and power mean you are completely above the law that governs little people. I can see why you think that Collins. Stick your tongue into a light socket,and see if the shock is comparable.
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Channel 9 Syracuse?
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big bird = PBS
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Big Bird toy?
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Collins has no āgood nameā to clear.
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Chris! Nothing says āguiltyā more than, āI am looking forward to my day in court.ā
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Figured as much, but heās supposed to hate PBS like a good Repub, no?
I just hope theyāll let him take it with him to keep him company in the hoosegow.
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Collins is also an especially loathsome GOP robot on TV.
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I know, itās terrible. This sort of thing is only supposed to happen to the type of people who live in places that rep. collins would call āhell-hole inner city battlegroundsā. Itās a complete injustice that it happened to a rich white dude. This is, no doubt, the deep state run amok!
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Oh for Christās sake. Not only are you a corrupt mofo you are also a liar. Geez.
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āProsecutors allege that Collins warned several members of his family about the failed clinical trial of a new drug that the company was testing. Those family members allegedly sold $1.78 million in Innate shares upon hearing the news.ā
Sounds like the prosecutors have a pretty good case here. His proverbial goose is pretty clearly cooked. Well done, in fact.
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Donāt you know who I am?
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HaHaHaHaHaā¦
And just who else does this describe?
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