In Like Flynn: In a heavily redacted document filed last night in federal court, Special Counsel Robert Mueller recommended no jail time for former national Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pled guilty and cooperated in the Russia investigation.

The document has so many black bars in it that journalist Jeff Greenfield tweeted,”If you read it backwards, it says: ‘Paul is dead.’”

The recommendation suggests that Flynn’s testimony has been truthful and valuable. The document says Flynn’s “early cooperation was particularly valuable because he was one of the few people with long-term and firsthand insight” into the subject of the investigation.

“The defendant deserves credit for accepting responsibility in a timely fashion and substantially assisting the government,” the document says. It reveals little about what Flynn told the investigators.

The filing also suggests Flynn cooperated in a separate, unidentified investigation, the details of which were redacted.

Flynn was caught lying to federal agents about his contacts with Russians during the presidential transition period. He had spoken to Russians about a UN resolution opposing Israeli settlement building, and President Obama’s punishments for Russian election interference. The papers do not explain why Flynn lied.

The Madman Gambit: President Trump threw so much uncertainty into the financial markets over US-China trade relations that the Dow Jones took a 799-point dive yesterday. That’s 3.1 percent, and the fourth largest point loss in history.

Monday, the markets were up because investors believed Trump when he said he was on the verge of settling his trade war with China. Like so many things Trump, it was total bs.

Then yesterday Trump tweeted, “I am a Tariff Man. When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so.” He said, “MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN.”

That set off a stock slide. Investors don’t like tariffs and analysts are beginning to talk about the expanding economy slipping into a recession.

Some people think Trump cannily plays like he’s unstable and crazy to unsettle his opponents … like China. The converse theory is that he’s actually unstable and crazy.

The President was back at it last night tweeting, “We are either going to have a REAL DEAL with China, or no deal at all – at which point we will be charging major Tariffs against Chinese product being shipped into the United States.”

The Smoking Saw: Senators from both parties came away from a briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel convinced that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham angrily said, “There is not a smoking gun, there’s a smoking saw. There is zero chance, zero chance that this happened in such an organized fashion without the crown prince.” Graham was referring to the bone saw brought to Istanbul by a member of the hit squad for dismembering the body.

Tennessee’s Bob Corker said, “If he was in front of a jury he would be convicted in 30 minutes. Corker said Trump’s refusal to confront bin Salman makes it look like a state leader is free to murder at will. “The royal family looks to what the president says, and so do people in the region,” he said.

Poke in the Eye: The NY Times has published a second devastating story about former CBS CEO Les Moonves, reporting that he covered and destroyed evidence of personal misconduct. The story says Moonves “destroyed evidence and misled investigators in an attempt to preserve his reputation and save a lucrative severance deal, according to a draft of a report prepared for the company’s board.”

They say he even handed over his son’s iPad instead of his own.

Moonves is due a $120 million severance payment, unless it is determined that he was fired for cause. The report says Moonves “engaged in multiple acts of serious nonconsensual sexual misconduct in and outside of the workplace, both before and after he came to CBS in 1995.”

The Immaculate Ballot: For years the battle cry of Republicans trying to restrict voting access has been they are fighting voter fraud. Investigators in North Carolina have found a potentially giant case of fraud that might overturn the results in that state’s 9^thHouse district.

And lo, if there was fraud it was committed by the Republicans.  In a voter turnout effort on behalf of Republican Mark Harris, canvassers collected absentee ballots directly from residents — a violation of North Carolina law. Sworn statements by voters and unusual absentee voting patterns suggest that ballots were fraudulently filled out in favor of Harris or thrown away if they were for the Democrat, Dan McCready.

Harris is the current leader with 905 votes but the state board of elections is refusing to certify him the winner. If they think the results are suspicious enough, they can order a new election.

Off the Grid: Ohio State’s win-at-all-cost football coach Urban Meyer announced that he’s retiring after his team plays Washington in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1^st. He’s retired before.

The coach started the season suspended for three games after fumbling a domestic abuse accusation involving one of his assistant coaches. It’s not the first scandal in his career. Matt Hayes writes for Bleacher Report, “Let me be the first to translate that for you: He has worn out his welcome in Columbus, and he knows it.”

Meyer has had some health problems this year with a cyst in his brain. He had brain surgery in 2014. In 17 years coaching bigtime college football, his won-loss record is 186-32. His record in bowl games is 11-3.

The Literary Scene: Author James Frey, who was caught fictionalizing parts of his 2003 memoir “A Million Little Pieces,” has been named winner of the 26th Bad Sex in Fiction Award for his novel, “Katerina.”

The jury focused on a passage involving a Norwegian model in a bathroom but said overall, “James Frey prevailed against a strong all-male shortlist by virtue of the sheer number and length of dubious erotic passages in his book. The multiple scenes of sustained fantasy in Katerina could have won Frey the award many times over.”

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