If it walks like a duck, swims and flies like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is usually a duck.

Sometimes appearances count and there is a clear appearance of bias in the handling of all of the investigations related to Hillary Clinton and those related to Donald Trump.

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Washington Post - June 14

By Devlin Barrett, Karoun Demirjian, John Wagner and Matt Zapotosky

Inspector general blasts Comey and also says others at FBI showed ‘willingness to take official action’ to hurt Trump

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” the lawyer, Lisa Page, wrote to Strzok.

“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,”

The inspector general concluded that Strzok’s text, along with others disparaging Trump, “is not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects.”

The messages “potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” the inspector general wrote.

“Under these circumstances, we did not have confidence that Strzok’s decision to prioritize the Russia investigation over following up on the midyear-related investigative lead discovered on the Weiner laptop was free from bias,” the report said.

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Mr Horowitz thus stated that there was an appearance of bias and an implication of a willingness to take official action, and furthermore that they did not have confidence that the prioritizing of the Trump investigation over the Clinton investigation was free from bias. Peter Strzok led both the Clinton and Trump investigations.. Yet, Mr Horowitz did not say that what looked like a duck was a duck.

Testifying before Congress earlier this week, Mr. Horowitz was asked if he believed whether Mr. Strzok’s texts showed political bias. “I think as we found it clearly shows a biased state of mind,” Mr. Horowtiz said. Later, Mr. Horowitz was asked if Strzok’s bias led to the start of the Russia probe. He responded, “that’s a matter that we have under review and are looking at right now.”

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See also: WSJ -- June 23, 2018 -- David E Rivkin Jr. and Elizabeth Price Foley

Mueller’s Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

“All special-counsel activities -- investigations, plea deals, subpoenas, reports, indictments, and convictions -- are fruit of a poisonous tree, byproducts of a violation of due process.”

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Since Mr. Horowitz’s report, Mr. Strzok was escorted out of the FBI building last week.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte has now subpoenaed FBI agent Peter Strzok to be deposed by the House Judiciary and Oversight committees.

James H. Rutherford, M.D.

Mutually Nonconsensual Sex

The Atlantic  - Caitlin Flanagan,  June 1. 2018

A Title IX case at the University of Cincinnati—rife with legal, anatomical, and emotional improbabilities—illustrates the potential excesses of policing sex on campus.

“Male and female student have a drunken hookup. He wakes up, terrified she's going to file a sexual misconduct complaint, so he goes to the Title IX office and beats her to the punch. She is found guilty and suspended.”

"Doe vs. Miami University found that a school acts in a discriminatory manner when it finds that both a male and a female student are intoxicated and engage in sexual activity yet chooses only to discipline one of the students."

"A half-century ago a group of American college students realized that the American university had assumed a role in their lives that was fundamentally at odds with their constitutional right to live in freedom. They wanted personal freedom, political freedom, sexual freedom….Now, in many regards, universities monitor the sexuality of their students more intrusively than in the 1950s.
…..the strongest and smartest and bravest among the students are beginning to realize that the beliefs and practices that dominate these places are irrational and hugely political."