UK Mess: Today's News for June 9th

With the big "nothing burger" the Comey hearing delivered yesterday, the media happily jumped onto the British election results for their drama:

Fox News:

UK election: Theresa May reportedly has no intention of resigning 

despite Conservatives losing majority

British Prime Minister Theresa May has no intention of resigning after her Conservative Party lost outright majority in Parliament on Friday, Sky News reported, citing unnamed sources.

May’s gamble in call an early election backfired spectacularly. According to Sky News projections, Conservatives were expected to win 315 seats, while the opposition Labour Party was expected to garner 261 seats. To have majority in the House of Commons, a party would need to hold 326 seats.

The Conservatives held 330 seats in the last Parliament, compared with 229 for Labour, 54 for the Scottish National Party and nine for the Liberal Democrats.

The Conservatives remain in position to form a coalition government with the help of several Unionist Members of Parliament for North Ireland. However, if coalition negotiations fail, the outcome raises the possibility of the two major parties attempting to form minority governments – an outcome that could lead to a second general-election in the months ahead.

And the view from the Left?

CNN:

UK election: Hung Parliament as Theresa May fails to gain majority

Britain's voters have delivered a stunning blow to Prime Minister Theresa May, wiping out her parliamentary majority and prompting calls for her to resign.

With most results declared, May's party won the most seats -- but not enough to govern without the support of minority parties.

It was devastating result for May, who had called the election three years earlier than required by law, convinced by opinion polls that placed her far ahead of opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Notice how Fox led with the testosterone: "May has no intention of resigning". You can smell the glorious rebellion in that. On the other hand, CNN sticks to the basic script, "Conservatives lost".

The TRUTH is the Conservatives still have the leading plurality, which makes it easier for them to get a ruling majority with minority party support. It will be a daunting task for the Labour Party to pull together enough support for a ruling coalition. Expect May to remain prime minister when all is said and done. The big damage is the Brits can expect another election soon.

In the other big story, former FBI Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate intelligence committee:

CNN:

10 things we learned from the James Comey hearing

1. Trump's request of Comey may have put him under scrutiny

This one is more of  a political view than a legal one. This also wasn't news, as had been revealed by Comey's memos which were leaked previously. Whether Trump was covering for a friend or whether he was involved in some nefarious plot pretty much depends on your view of Trump.

Regardless, contrary to the headline, this wasn't something "we learned" from Comey's testimony.

2. Clinton's emails were not a "nothing burger"

If the Left was happy to jump on the implication that trump might have tried to influence an investigation, they also took a hit with Comey's allegations that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch tried to do the same thing with the Clinton email investigation.

Libertarian voters can feel good today, as both Trump and Clinton supporters point fingers at each other as more corrupt.

3. Trump's Twitter problem hurt him, a lot

This argument can be made, but his "Twitter problem", as the media likes to call it, is also his virtue. Anyone can poke holes in Trump's tweets, but they also carry the virtue of authentic simplicity. Where most politicians cannot make a point in less than multiple well-couched and strongly disclaimered paragraphs, Trump's Twitter habit is refreshingly frank, even when he is wrong.

Again, this is not something we learned from Comey's testimony.

4. PS: Lordy, Comey wants those tapes out

So if there are tapes of Trump's conversations with Comey, he wants them released. Isn't that nice?

If wishes were horses...

5. What Comey didn't say about Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' undisclosed meetings with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US, led Sessions ultimately to recuse himself from the probe at the beginning of March.

But Comey already suspected Sessions would recuse himself, for reasons he said he couldn't discuss in an open hearing, weeks before The Washington Post uncovered Sessions' meetings with Kislyak.

"I concluded it made little sense to report it to Attorney General Sessions, who we expected would likely recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related investigations," Comey said of discussions with other top Justice officials on whether they should alert Sessions to Trump's private request of Comey.

"Our judgment, as I recall, was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons. We also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia-related investigation problematic," Comey said of Sessions.

This is inside baseball, which is most likely only interesting to political news junkies. It might make a mildly interesting scene in a future movie, but it is doubtful there is anything terribly damning in it.

6. Comey's testimony did not settle whether Trump committed obstruction of justice

7. Trump needs to find some friends on the Senate probe

8. Comey says Trump is liar, a lot

These are just repeats of number one above, rephrased. It is tough when your editor tasks you with writing a top 10 list and you only have 5 things (barely 5 at that).

9. Trump's legal counsel claims vindication

This was learned AFTER the testimony. Comey did not speak for Trump's legal counsel.

10. The Senate investigation plows on

Thank you, Captain Obvious. Writing is hard work when there is nothing to say.

Finally, in other news...

USA Today:

More than 30 charged with mob crimes, including trafficking in, yes, chocolate

On Wednesday, federal authorities charged 33 people with a wide variety of offenses, including...the theft and trafficking of “a shipment containing approximately 10,000 pounds of chocolate confections,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. More than two dozen were arrested – most in the New York City area, though others were held in Nevada and Florida – with the remainder still at large.

The suspects are alleged members of the Shulaya Enterprise, an association law enforcement describes as having links to criminal organizations in nations of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. The group is named after its alleged leader, 40-year-old Razhden Shulaya, of Edgewater, N.J., who was one of those arrested early Wednesday. Many of those nabbed by authorities lived in Brooklyn, which has a large community of people born in the former U.S.S.R.

“The dizzying array of criminal schemes committed by this organized crime syndicate,” said a statement from Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim, “allegedly include a murder-for-hire conspiracy, a plot to rob victims by seducing and drugging them with chloroform, the theft of cargo shipments containing over 10,000 pounds of chocolate, and a fraud on casino slot machines using electronic hacking devices. Thanks to the remarkable interagency partnership of FBI, CBP, and NYPD, we have charged and arrested 33 defendants allegedly involved in this criminal enterprise.”

Ah, sweet justice.