Ten quick thoughts on the hideously corrupted "Russia investigation".
1) Let me start with an immigrant's observation: My sweetly naïve understanding of an "independent counsel" is that he should be "independent". For example, even in the presently desiccated condition of the Commonwealth, it's generally understood that, when you've got a problem and you want someone independent to investigate it, "independent" means outsider. Three examples off the top of my head:
~Twenty years ago, after the Good Friday Agreement, some guy was supposed to be appointed to supervise the decommissioning of weapons by paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Obviously, if he'd been some hoity-toity English civil servant, the IRA would have said nuts to that. Likewise, if he'd been some Papist republican from Derry Town Council, the UVF would have told 'em to shove it. So they appointed a Canadian general, John de Chastelain ...because he was an outsider, and thus independent of the competing interests.
~Likewise, in 2003, when various factions in the Solomon Islands risked tearing the joint apart, the guy brought in to sort it out was Australia's Nick Warner (who steps down this weekend as head of Canberra's Secret Intelligence Service) ...because he was independent of those factions.
~And in 2009, when the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands was suspended for corruption, it was after an investigation by the English judge Sir Robin Auld ...because he was entirely independent of the various local sleazebags.
I appreciate that all the above is easier to do in the remnants of empire than it is in the American system. But there isn't even the figleaf of "independence" when you appoint a career swamp-dweller like Robert Mueller, a man who has relationships with every player in Washington going back decades. The parade of hacks infesting the cable shows to inform us solemnly that they've known Mueller for years and he's the very apotheosis of a straight shooter is, in fact, the strongest evidence of why he should never have been appointed: he's the insiders' insider. When Mueller decided to stage his pre-dawn swoop on Paul Manafort's bedroom, for example, he was raiding the home of a longtime client of his own law firm, WilmerHale.
2) As for that "straight shooter" guff, as I wrote last year about the previous "eagle scout":
Conservative commentators assured us that, when it comes to straight arrows, no arrow is straighter than FBI honcho James Comey - non-partisan, career public servant, will follow the evidence whereso'er it leads...
All bollocks. Bollocks on stilts... A 6' 8" gummi worm would be more of a straight arrow.
And so it goes with Comey's successor as Trump's Javert. My advice is that, whenever lifelong swampers assure us of the integrity of any individual, assume "straight arrow" is Beltway-speak for "slimey duplicitous permanent-state operator" and you can't go wrong.
3) One of the first things Mueller did was to appoint FBI counter-intelligence honcho Peter Strzok to his "independent" team. He should not have done that. Not because Strzok is a Democrat (presumably almost everyone at the FBI votes either Democrat or Republican), but because Strzok had been a key player in Comey's Hillary investigation. The investigators' comparative treatment of the two candidates was already an issue, and the subject of the Russia investigation had already spent the better part of a year denouncing the investigation of his rival as a sham and a disgrace. In effect, Trump had already, without even knowing of the guy's existence or his Zelig-like ubiquity, questioned Strzok's integrity. So why appoint him to a second investigation?
4) Furthermore, why similarly appoint his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, to both investigations? The FBI has over 35,000 employees. Yet the same handful of key players are running both the Clinton and Trump cases, even though the latter is supposed to be "independent". So the same operatives are meeting with MI6 dossier-concocter Christopher Steele, and going to the FISA court to get surveillance warrants, and entrapping Michael Flynn. The appalling Mueller effectively merged the two investigations into one continuous caper run soup to nuts by the same crowd. Phase One: Get Hillary off the hook. Phase Two: Get Trump on it.
5) Just as the Hillary investigation merged with the Trump investigation, so both merged with Fusion GPS, the oppo-research guys working for the Clinton campaign. The conflicts of interest intertwine so thoroughly that they reach up beyond the FBI into the highest reaches of the Department of Justice. At this stage, it would be no surprise to learn that Mueller and Comey had accidentally failed to disclose that they were the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Fusion GPS. Am I exaggerating? By maybe a hair. This week it emerged that the Associate Deputy Attorney-General, Bruce Ohr, "failed to disclose" that his wife Nellie was working for Fusion GPS.
Oh, really? On the reception desk? As a security guard? No, she was hired by Fusion GPS to do anti-Trump research.
So Attorney-General Jeff Sessions (who's the root of a lot of this mess, up to and including Alabammy going blue) is obliged to recuse himself, but, meanwhile, his Associate Deputy is meeting with Christopher Steele and the head of Fusion GPS and has his wife on the payroll of Fusion GPS but it never occurs to him that this is anything he needs to mention to anyone, least of all dear old Recusable Jeff. You can apparently rise to the ranks of Associate Deputy Attorney-General in the Department of Justice without any grasp of basic ethical considerations. And, when you're found out, you're mildly "demoted", but the fact that you're a walking toilet of ethics breaches goes otherwise unpunished.
6) Fusion GPS is a well-named enterprise. The function it played in 2016 was to fuse the Clinton campaign and the Department of Justice, and thereby get Hillary to her destination. It failed only in the latter, so it fell back to Plan B: Direct the incoming administration into the lake.
7) The brazenness of the above suggests a broad and high-reaching culture of contempt within the FBI and DoJ for the integrity of "public service". That's confirmed by the content of the texts between Strzok and his mistress. Granted no man is a hero to his valet or his sexter, but even so the juvenile witlessness of their billets doux is remarkable for one of America's most senior counter-intelligence figures and therefore presumably someone trained to be circumspect in insecure communications. Instead, he gives us John le Carré as rewritten by Teen Beat. Here's Strzok watching last year's Republican Convention as the candidate's family arrives in the hall:
TURN IT ON, TURN IT ON!!! THE DOUCHEBAGS ARE ABOUT TO COME OUT
Lisa Page eschews the CAPS LOCK but agrees with the sentiment:
And wow, Donald Trump is an enormous douche.
OMG!! LOL!!! I'm as cynical as anyone, but I confess to being mildly surprised at how shallow the Deep State is.
8) Most of the above is about connections - professional, social, class, ideological, attitudinal. But one text is suggestive of action. Strzok to Miss Page, August 15th 2016:
I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office that there's no way he gets elected — but I'm afraid we can't take that risk. It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40...
"He" is Trump. "Andy's office" is believed to be that of the Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, who was in charge of the Trump investigation - then just a few weeks old. The conversation appears to be a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil servants from engaging in political activity while on duty and in a government office.
But what does "I'm afraid we can't take that risk" (of Trump winning) actually mean?
Does it mean, for example, that "I'm going to dress up this dodgy Christopher Steele dossier Hillary and Fusion GPS passed along to us into something a bit more credible-seeming and take it to the FISA court to get authorization to tap everyone around Trump round the clock until we hit paydirt"?
9) The above text explains why Mueller hired the same-old-same-old Hillary crowd for his supposed "independent" investigation into Trump: The same people had to run both investigations because otherwise the new investigators would discover the shenanigans of the old investigators. Putting Strzok and Page on the team was the FBI's way of protecting itself.
10) Nobody should accord this wretched and corrupted pseudo-investigation the figleaf of respectability. Even in the federal justice system, no successful prosecution by this conflicted team would withstand appeal. As to the ostensible crime they're investigating - "collusion" (which, in fact, is not a crime) with the Russians - so far:
a) The only people improperly colluding with foreigners are Fusion GPS, the Hillary campaign, the FBI Hillary investigation, the FBI Trump investigation and the Associate Deputy Attorney-General, all of whom are colluding with Brit spook Christopher Steele to get the goods on Trump.
b) The only person colluding with the Russians is Christopher Steele, former head of "the Russia house" at MI6.
So what next?
Trump would be within his rights (and it would be in the interest of the nation) to fire Mueller. But that's apparently politically impossible. So it would be nice to think that Mueller would have the decency to resign and recommend the end of his "investigation".
Politically, America is a bitterly divided 50/50 nation, where a few hundred thousand votes in a dwindling number of swing states determines control of the national (it's no longer really "federal") government. That places an ever greater burden on the professional civil service to behave professionally, and to be perceived as behaving professionally. Mueller, Comey, McCabe, Ohr, Strzok, Page and the rest have engineered a situation that ensures half the country will never accept the legitimacy of whatever their "investigation" concludes. If they indict Trump, one half will regard it as a coup by Deep Staters in the bag for Hillary. If they exonerate Trump, the other half of the country will blame Trump for discrediting these fine upstanding career public servants.
So Mueller and his team have made things worse. Thanks a lot, corruptocrats.
The FBI and DoJ are in at least as bad a state as the Turks and Caicos government was. So perhaps, if Mueller has the decency to resign, he could recommend a Tripartite Commission of Sir Robin Auld, General de Chastelain and Mr Warner. Absent that:
a) Any future independent counsels should be genuinely independent - ie, non-Washingtonians;
b) They should not use the FBI as their investigators;
c) They should have no authority to charge their targets with federal "process" crimes, such as lying to the FBI (as Flynn and Papadopoulos were strongarmed into confessing to).
It is not unreasonable to conclude that this pseudo-investigation is an elaborate bit of FBI dinner theatre to obscure Strzok and others' attempt to subvert the election. What Strzok and Ohr have done is far worse than anything Flynn and Papadopoulos did: why should only the latter face jail time?
~Tonight, Thursday, Mark will be checking in with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, live across America at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific (with a rerun at midnight Eastern). We hope you'll tune in. Just before that, he'll be right here to read Part Seven of our nightly, and very seasonal, serial - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
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Feeling grateful today for my two sons whose Christmas gift to me is this membership. Thought I'd make my inaugural comment that occurred to me when I read this piece originally.
The obvious choice for the independent inquiry is Justin Trudeau's "Commisionaire for conflict of ethics"
I've just become a member, and I feel a bit intimidated in the presence of such thoughtful and well-spoken society. When next I write a comment, I will be careful to make it succinct, on point, and sincere.
For the time being, I will serve in your audience.
-Stuart N. Speer
We are hearing on TV and from Rosenstein that Mueller is conducting the investigation of Russian interference professionally without bias pointing out as a proof that Muller removed the loving couple Strzok and Page from the investigation. Really? Mueller removed Strzok from the investigation after July 27, 2017 so all the corrupt investigation "findings" of Strzok including entrapment of Flynn , the fraudulent FISA warrants findings and illegal unmasking of Trump transition team continue to be the basis of the investigation in Trump collusion with the Russians. Removal of Strzok is as useful as locking the barn door after the horses were stolen. Strzok had important role in Mueller team but he was not the only one FBI agent that was on Mueller team. There is high likelihood that the attitude of other members of the team is no different from the attitude of Strzok since they have been appointed to work on the investigation by the same corrupt top brass of the FBI.
Steyn is a political genius who can usually get to the core of an issue better than anyone else and then explain it in eloquent and precise ways that nobody else could or chooses to do. This entire article could have been used as a mega quote to prove my point.
Speaking of the cable hacks that Mark mentioned, I was dumbfounded by one on Ingraham's show last night. The Hillarybot attempted to shame Laura and anyone else that promotes any investigation that includes Hillary or anyone else in Obama's admin. According to this hack, including Hillary is only what a banana republic would do to a former political opponent. Laura seemed to agree with him and even said, "he was making good points." There was no comeback that Hillary (and Obama) did not retire quietly to a rocking chair or a Texas ranch like Bush did. She and Obama are the founders and chief architects of the "Resistance" and they and their many media and other friends have been mocking and excoriating Trump constantly. Ingraham befriends the Dem hacks and marginalizes her best pro Trump guests.
Hannity still repeats that Hillary "bleach bitted" her HD and smashed her phone with a hammer 10 or 15 times a show including to interrupt his excellent Judicial Watch guest Tom Fitton who never seems to be able to finish his talking points. Gee, I wonder why both are 2nd in the cable network poll ratings that FNC brags about whenever they are on top. The FNC hosts nullify all of their good work while the relentless 99.9% of the rest of the media never cease excoriating Trump, his family and his supporters
Carlson and Steyn are the best political duo in the 3-4 minute segment category and Carlson is the smartest and most talented political host of all the propaganda networks but he also nullifies every positive for Trump on his show by joining the ranks of the Trump critics and stating that there are many things he doesn't like about the President. With hosts like this on your side against the other 99.9% it's not difficult to understand why the left is winning and will continue to win the propaganda war no matter what nefarious actions these investigations uncover--if anything, with Rosenstein and Mueller still running the show.
This proves to be a source of interesting information about the Personnel of the F.B.I. and Possibly the Dept. of Justice going back to the Kennedy "Glow" for the Ordinary American Citizen. Still Sovereign at the time.
There is a reference to the Republicans Candidate from the 2016 Presidential Campaign, Donald Trump, as being {even} worse than Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy's primary attempt to be the Democrat Presidential "back-in-the-day".
The was/is there is an ever over riding Bias against a Roman Catholic Presidency buried deep in the United States Bureaucracy? A carry over from the KKK roots of the Democrat Party?
There has not been another Roman Catholic Candidate or certainly POTUS since J.F.K. The assissinated and deified American President raised and cultivated in the protestant Ivy League Universities, the Nursery for American Upper Level Bureaucrats.
Is the Comparison of having the perceived gross possibility of another Roman Catholic President; additionally gathering in defamed/deplorable Walmart shoppers as another reason the POTUS election of {even} a Roman Catholic was/is better than Donald J.Trump?
This may not be the place to suggest that we really (really, really!) need to have a Steyn Club convention - and soon! The purpose, participants, and program elememts are self evident, only the venue (time and place and duration) need to be pulled together. Anybody out here with the appropriate skills ready to take this on - before our rights to peaceably assemble are also compromised? Forgive me if this request has already been discussed. And please continue to pray for this Nation ....
Ding, ding, ding, you win a gold star for your sticker chart. Good idea. It has been very difficult trying to follow who is playing what games and I do seem to get more information here than elsewhere, or confirmation of what I've gleaned elsewhere. Praying for the nation... also a good idea.
I pray for this nation, Rodger! But a convention sounds like a lot of work. How about a golf tournament to just have some fun? Or a real country hoedown? I need more fun in my life to counter all the governmental and political fatigue that is pummeling me into the ground. I can hit a ball out of a sand trap onto a green and sometimes hit the pin, but there's nothing I can do about getting the top level of corrupted management in the FBI and DOJ out of the Swamp. It's a bad scene in Washington. I wish I had some answers.
Ah yes, the Solomon Islands crisis of 2003...needs to be brought to the public's attention more often. Lessons to be learned!
Mark replies:
Steady. We have members in the Solomon Islands, and not just in Honiara.
Yes, and some of us are keeping tabs on the islands from the states. While considering going this winter, I remember reading about how things had changed since a crisis and I wonder if this was it.
My other concern has been the recently discovered giant tree-dwelling rat that eats coconuts.
About one year ago Chuck Schumer stated that Trump is "being really dumb" by taking on the intelligence community. "Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you," Schumer told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.
It just showed now what did he mean. The intelligence community are not intelligent they conduct their conspiracies like bullies in the open knowing that instead of being called out by the leftist media they will be whitewashed by the leftist media
There's an old French invention that would put a stop to all this incest.
With Mark's indulgence.. I have more to say.
Government attracts a huckster class. The cream of the citizenry is in the private sector. It may not have always been that way, but today? - we've entrusted government to knaves and thieves. That's why they arrive at town hall, the state house, or DC ... "to serve" - and become multi millionaires for that service.
We allowed this. So long as we prospered, we let the hucksters enrich themselves and their donors, at the expense of everything and everybody else. Government is now the enemy of all that was good in America.
Amazon has never shown a profit, never yielded a dividend. They grow and and acquire, reinvest, grow and acquire.... at $1100 a share... where is the profit? Amazon cannibalizes the industry of the country, destroys more and more of its competition .. and Bezos has more wealth than most countries.
Yet, WE allow this carnage with impunity. Just exactly WHEN do Sherman Anti Trust laws apply? When the last 7/11 and coffee shop are driven out?
IF Trump took on Bezos... his approval ratings would be 80% .... Only the left hates Bezos and Amazon more than the right.
The first step in taking back the country ... is stopping the cannibalization of the country, by Amazon monsters like Bezos. AND he own's one of the most influential messaging TROPES in the world. WAPO.
Again... if Trump wants a jump in approval... go after the enemy of all we hold dear. BEZOS and his Amazon.
We don't want one world governance or commerce. Bezos is both.
Trump has revealed a strong & surprising negative reaction among some who might largely agree with his policies, but can't stand the man for some reasons that haven't been explained to me. It appears here that Amazon & Jeff Bezos have a similar effect for some. Which reminds me, I must get online and finish my Christmas shopping.
What? you're comment is somewhat cryptic, but the gist is... and correct me if I'm wrong... MY assault on Amazon, it's practices, policies and cannibalization of commerce, is somehow because of a negative opinion of Bezos? You tied dislike of Trump in spite of his policies with dislike of Bezos ... what? in SPITE of his policies?
I have never spent a dime at Amazon. The business model is dishonest. At $1100 a share, one would think it was a profit making endeavor.... it is NOT. Amazon has never shown a profit, and never issued a dividend.
The business model is cancerous. And the Anti Trust Laws should be applicable... especially after the takeover of Whole Foods. Now all the groceries will be driven out by this demonic twist on "commerce".
As to Bezos... I know nothing of the man. Your comment assumes my analysis of his business practices is somehow tied to personal animus. That's the comparison you made. EXACTLY the comparison you made.
Then you reminded me that since that business model serves YOU as a consumer... you best get back to it.
As to the fate of the nation.... readers... I REST MY CASE
James Morphew hasn't had HIS ox gored by Bezos .. so it's every swamp creature for themselves and to hell with honest commerce.
We are in a war against the depraved among us. Mr. Morphew's middle finger identifies him as the enemy of the good, in favor of the familiar.
A new constituency is necessary outside the identifying LEFT & RIGHT. Trump is the right man to take down the evil of Amazon... and he would have a new cheering section that changes forever this 2 party system.
So now it's Amazon that's a threat to all that's good in our country. Used to be Walmart. How dare these brigands make it more cheap and convenient for us to buy things?
My preferred approach with companies I don't like is not to give them my business. Others prefer a more activist approach and would have them closed down and the executives jailed. To each his own I suppose.
My complaint with Amazon isn't "how dare these brigands make it more cheap and convenient" -- my complaint is the same as the reasoning for the inception of Anti Trust laws and a new cancerous business model.
First and foremost... before critics lament my naivete as a paycheck to paycheck peon - every member of my family is and always has been entrepreneurial. I don't wait for money to fall from the sky every week. I am and have always been a RAIN MAKER.
And I know honest business practices from cannibalism. The Amazon model makes NO profit, yields NO dividend. It is a beast that eats, digests, and destroys American Capitalism - by consuming its competition and using government and availability to capital - to increase market share.
Item - Amazon just acquired Whole Foods. They will now use their vast existing UNPROFITABLE enterprise to operate Whole Foods at a LOSS.... until Sprouts, Trader Joe's, and even Kroger succumb to the behemoth.
Amazon is death to every other industry. EVERY other industry.
These are the boys and girls who also write tax laws that destroy small business, and send many into the arms of anti capitalists - because the systems are corrupted by the 2% who control the rule books.
Example - Globalist enterprises operate at a loss in small, closed markets like Aspen or Santa Fe. The small economies don't operate on a level playing field, because global players like Prada, Zara, and others dominate the commercial real estate market, artificially inflate costs per square foot, and NEVER TURN A PROFIT. They absorb the losses, write them off, and destroy local efforts to compete. ALL with the help of the local councils, who are owned and operated by these same players.
Some governments even subsidize the presence of these brands to " raise the profile" of any given city. Or so say the wholly owned law makers.
There are no breakfast restaurants left in Aspen because there is a ceiling on the price of breakfast, even for millionaires. And since commercial property values are artificially inflated by behemoths that never turn a profit - the whole region suffers the result of plain old corruption. And the best part - Prada and Benetton, Zara and {insert globalist brand] - then buy up whole hillsides for visiting management - and future government operatives on the take - and write the whole enterprise off on their taxes.
This is the America, created by and for the few, imposed on the many - including some poor sot in Aspen who just wants a couple of eggs.
That is not free enterprise or capitalism. That is government collusion with too big to fail knaves and crooks, who are the reason HALF the country wants some version of socialism... they KNOW capitalism is bad, but don't know enough history to know communism KILLS.
That's why Jeff Bezos is not only the enemy of the working man, the consumer and every other business model. Bezos is the reason the post modernists are winning.... and Mr. Smith can't drain the swamp.
I would think every honest businessman and woman would call for this man's comeuppance. Or demise. Amazon is the cancerous underbelly of what was a grand experiment in free enterprise.
Thanks Carol for explaining this, I was not up-to-date on this issue. This and other examples of corruption and rule-breaking, like the sub-prime mortgage/financial institution collapse/bail-outs, beg the question, as you said, why aren't the regulatory agencies and laws in place being applied ? Where is Superman when you need him? I'd even settle for Austen Powers.
God help us James!:))
Jeff - you might try Amazon Prime. I know it's a Leftist plot, but you get free shipping on quite a few things. Especially if you are a late shopper, like some of us.
That is, if you have no objection to the word Prime, or Prime Rib, or Prime Numbers. I must remember to be more sensitive.
A longread with a modern moving graphics which take some extra time to scrol through is very well worth the time. It breaks down uncomfortable statistics about the bleak financial outlook for the Millennial generation and includes a discussion of the change in corporate business structure and housing zoning which supports the difficulties the younger generations are having to cope with. Millennials Are Screwed by Michael Hobbes, highline on HuffPost. http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/ Highlights - urban areas have zoned out lower income housing in favor of large properties and yet that is where the jobs primarily are located. Corporate business practices have moved to short term profits which don't support training or employee retention policies. Instead the short term profit industry has created contractual workers who are paid only for work provided and may not get sick leave or health benefits and often are required to invest their own money and time for training and supplies even to be able to do the work. It is a lengthy read but well worth it and the graphics while annoying at first did add to the story as it progressed.
Thanks Jennifer, I'll give it a read.
Perhaps most disturbing is the generalized lack of indignation. Not here on SteynOnline, but across the Republic. Does the average member of the booboisei not grasp the magnitude of what has occurred?
Half the populace - the easily and predictably excitable half - is in a lather about imagined outrages, such as Melania wearing inappropriate shoes to visit a flood zone, while the other half sits home in great numbers and allows Alabama to go Blue.
We're in a war for the soul of the Republic, but only one side is has heard its call to arms. What if they gave a war and only one side showed up?
There are few places for readers to go for truth. Confirmation of ones beliefs seems to figure in this war for the soul of the country. And the dark side appears to understand the stakes and the methodology, using TROPES, to manipulate the self image of the citizenry.
In a nutshell, the left is better at messaging, manipulting and enflaming. I stopped by the National Review this morning and was slack jawed at how Rich Lowry and Mona Charen view the battle and the teams.
AGAIN - we are sabotaged by our own troops. It's not left vs right... it's always class warfare between urban elites on both sides against flyover country. Trump and his supporters are defined as booboisei by the booboisie. I suspect Mona Charen and Nancy Pelosie could have lunch and agree to disagree on a few bits ... hug, and agree to lunch again soon.
While Rome Burns.
We are in the fight of our lives, and The Donald is Commander in Chief of the Resistance. Lowry suggests he tone it down, so as not to arouse animosity in the enemy. Mona suggests we reconsider our leadership, because Trump is less then genteel with our avowed enemies.
Others like Napolitano would sacrifice the President to this orchestrated coup, to save the reputation of a corrupt and irredeemable FBI and DOJ.
So we tune into Fox News, and hear Chris Wallace, Bret Baier, and Brit Hume suggest that perhaps, just perhaps, something is amiss in the "judgement" used by Counsel Mueller. Gosh, ya think?
Add to that Bush's old mannequin Dana Perino ... droning on and on about Trump.s technical errors of judgment and the opposite and unequal reaction force to a Bull in the China Shop of DC.
I"ll take Alex Jones and Mike Cernovich over any of these hacks. This is a war for the future of Western Civilization.... 600 million to the South want what we have and they cannot achieve. 1.7 billion Muslims want to dismantle all we cherish and replace it with a Caliphate... using our own courts and constitution to remind us that "resistance is futile".
The world around me has gone off the rails. It's all manufactured perception and double and triple standards while they tell me I am imagining things... Nothing to see here.... business as usual... with a madman about to be unseated.... it's all good though.....
Well-said Carol. These are indeed huge threats that are obscured by the Swamp colluding with the Media. "Manufactured perception and double and triple standards" - Mark couldn't have said it better himself.
Like you say, it's so difficult for the public to get accurate, un-biased information.
You have a solid grasp on the scenario, and it's not pretty. If I may suggest some hope, some spark of light - it is the bedrock that America grew from - the Constitution, Rule of Law, Individual Rights to Happiness, and LIBERTY. Yes America is free-wheeling and corruption makes a regular appearance here and there - but the bedrock cannot be destroyed. America stumbles, but stands back up on the Bedrock bloody-kneed, holding the Torch of Liberty high for all to see. THAT is something Muslims don't have, and why America will not fall.
Comey, Comey, Comey, Comey Comey chameleon
If I listen to your lies, would you say
I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man who doesn't know
How to sale a contradiction?
You come and go, you come and go
Didn't you hear your wicked words every day
And you used to be so sweet I heard you say
That my love was an addiction
When we cling, our love is strong
Ahh, those were the days, when Hillary was the apple of Jim's FBI.
Not every day was easy but they were "Stronger Together":
Every day is like survival
You're my lover, not my rival
Every day is like survival
You're my lover, not my rival
Blending into the curtains... Comey comes and goes.
Great lyrics Sol! Ask Boy George if he'd consider singing them!:))
The essence of this is an attempted overthrow of the last presidential election from within the US Dept. of Justice and its Federal Bureau of Investigation. Apparently at the behest of Hillary and GPS Fusion contributors and insiders, who were also married to members of the aforementioned DOJ/FBI "Independent Counsel. John McCain's fingerprints are literally also on the "Russia dossier", while the aide that led that doddering corruptocrat to Comey's office couldn't be reached for comment regarding any contacts he may have had with Fusion GPS. (Aside: what are the odds McCain will be medically indisposed to vote on the tax bill?)
I'd argue this is a bigger immediate crisis than even demographics, unless something is done quickly to punish those responsible. However, that's unlikely to happen. Hear that great big sucking sound? It's the absence of the rule of law at the highest levels of US government.
I remember when the Clinton's caused a "minor" stir .. which is the best you can muster from outraged GOPers.
When they purged the whole of DC to make way for their "own people". They needed slots for the Clinton Machine... and to this day, offices of DC are still packed with Clinton operatives.
I never understood how much of DC is institutional bureaucrats ... usually democrats... whom we are told are fully capable of fulfilling their tasks in a non partisan fashion.
I hated Bush 1. Loathed the Clitnons. Really Loathed Bush 2. then Barry showed us why African Style leadership keeps that continent in the stone age - as the few muscle power from a population incapable of participatory democracy.
Without Trump and his messy leadership, we are doomed.
Sigh. Your last paragraph says it like it is Ken. But when the corruption gets so bad the opposition thinks it has the right to overthrow an elected President, the People will draw the line in the sand. Either the Swamp is drained to a large extent by the sitting and future governments, or America will descend into Revolution to save ITSELF. The American People are not helpless and they are not all lefty-dupes. That's why there is a Reformer in the Whitehouse. If he fails - the People will clean house.
An excellent update for those of us who don't want to spend our lives fully immersed in this mess.
My fear is that the disgusting behaviours in Washington are having a negative economic impact on the US and the rest of the world.
The disgusting behaviour of the Muellers, Stozcks, Pages, and the rest are harming the economic well being of literally hundreds of millions of people; that makes them all guilty of crimes against humanity.
As Tucker Carlson remarked in June as bars were filling up in Washington, DC at 9 or 10 am with people to watch Comey's testimony before Congress, "How dorky is Washington?"
Like the nerds in high school who now go by the title "boss," nerds like Rod Rosenstein can rise very high in Washington. But they're still nerds, and nerds aren't knights. They're not going to take over the world, they're going to hack in and disrupt the system by their access and mastery of details.
There are a lot of Walter Mitty types in Washington. The theater of Washington with its spies, scandals and intrigue becomes a superhero universe of nerds, giving them a cause to rise above a mere career public servant. Ones like the spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen get the most carried away. It's Star Wars with connections to the real world.
This puts me in mind of a quote my late father, Vice Admiral USN, was fond of recalling from the Naval Institute Proceedings:
General Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, the present chief of the German Army, has a method of selecting officers which strikes us as being highly original and peculiarly un-ÂPrussian. According to Exchange, a Berlin newspaper has printed the following as his answer to a query as to how he judged his officers: "I divide my officers into four classes as follows: The clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities.
Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous."
That's very interesting. I appreciate your sharing that insight from your father's naval career. Which combination do you think would fit the Mueller gang the best?
I am so tired of hearing about what an upstanding, honorable man Mueller is. So what? It doesn't change the fact that he's an incompetent swamp monster. The only thing he had to do to avoid completely screwing up his mandate was hire non-conflicted attorneys, preferably from outside D.C. He failed miserably. As a consequence, he has ruined his own reputation while simultaneously damaging public trust in the integrity of the DOJ and FBI. He puts me in mind of the three immutable rules of incompetence:
1. Anyone can be stupid.
2. There are more of them than you can imagine.
3. They are more dangerous than evil people.
B-b-but... he ISN'T honorable. Those who say so are part of a system of checks and balances which lauds the SYSTEM and all it's depravity.
It's why the counties around DC are the richest in the country. While we were "sleeping" entrusting governance to a governing class... they stole the country.
Even Trey Gowdy... puts on a good show of indignation... but he values the men and the institution even as they degrade the offices with transparent corruption and collusion against an outsider President.
McMaster, Sessions, Manafort, and how many others made their way into the Presidents inner circle ONLY TO PROTECT THE STATUS QUO.??
This is treason. I keep saying what you say... I am tired of hearing what an upstanding man Mueller is. He is NOT an upstanding man... he's a treasonous author of a coup.
Thank you James,
Using your THREE IMMUTABLE RULES OF INCOMPETENCE, lets take #3. They are more dangerous than evil people.
"Hillary won the popular vote", in the land of STUPID, we disband the Electoral College, replace a Republic with a Democracy, move the Capital to San Francisco, have Medicare issue Bongs to EVERYONE receiving Social Security, "AND LET THE REST OF THE WORLD GO BYE". We are living in dangerous, interesting times.
I agree with some of your summary, tug, but make note that San Francisco is more in support of corporate policies and is not embracing marijuana, nor is Medicare, even though use of opioids and other pharmaceuticals have dropped in use in states that have legalized medical/recreational marijuana. Traffic accidents and crime have not increased in those states significantly either. Alcohol is more associated with crime and traffic accidents than marijuana. I personally have found medical benefit from it but it does have side effects too and I've switched to other legal food sources of cannabinoids instead.
What a superb analysis. Hits every detail of this hopelessly corrupt "non-partisan" investigation. The awfulest awful thing however is that nothing is going change. As Mark capably explains, this is the "inside of the inside." They are insulated by a combination of public apathy, their enablers amongst the Democrats and the media and the hideous complexity of the whole thing.
The sad thing is Mark, our nation's people have become so corrupt that few care for truth or justice. They only care about winning; the Republic be damned.
I became acutely aware of this as it was coming into puberty nearly 30 years ago when I was bemoaning Clinton's moral and ethical wickedness; when a co-worker (female no less) quipped, "You are just jealous because you couldn't get away with it."
Just one additional thing to note is that all of them are having their salaries paid by the American taxpayer.
When the police participate in promoting misleading--even bogus--information to convince a judge to issue warrants to spy on targets in a fishing expedition for evidence of whatever crime they stumble upon; then, failing that, resort to technical violations like "lying" to the FBI to extort guilty pleas, I have only one question. What other action might we need before describing the chain of events as totalitarian? Maybe we should rename the FBI to something more appropriate like Stazi.
I would rename it the Okrana, David, which, for those who don't know, was the name of the Imperial Russian 'law enforcement' agency just before the overthrow of The Romanov Dynasty.
The Okrana had become a law unto itself, a puppet of the Tsar and a few other low-cunning Aristocrats and Apparatchiks. One hundred years ago, it was dissolved in the Second Revolution, but was, essentially, reborn as the Cheka, a more vicious organization that terrorized Russia for the next seventy-plus years [renamed NKGB, then NKVD, then MGB, and, finally, KGB] and still continues it's lawless ways under the current Fascist Regime as the FSB — albeit with a little less terror and torture, but we're talking only degrees of lawlessness here.
The FBI must go. It's important functions given to other agencies. It is nothing but a Tool of Tyranny.
~ Federal Bureau of Intimidation?
+100 Jennifer.
Brilliant summation of what we know. It's what we don't know that is terrifying.
One clue is how breezily Comey, in his testimony before Congress, admitted to giving the memo of his conversation with President Trump to his Columbia law professor friend to leak to the media and trigger the appointment of a special counsel.
Ask Steven Hatfill if Mueller's a straight shooter. He's the innocent man Mueller railroaded while botching the Anthrax investigation. Someone needs to wake Sessions up and tell him to do his job. Mueller's gang are engaged in a seditious soft coup.
Sessions is not asleep. He's no better than Mueller, and works for Team DC.
Yes, he must. They must have something on him Carol. Blackmail is a powerful tool when so many insiders are corrupted.
Sorry ladies, but I think it's just this simple: Jeff Sessions is a wimp, someone lacking in testicular fortitude.
His record previously to being a Senator was filled with Noble moments, but he was never consistent. In his favor, he would often, back then, rise to the occasion.
But, it seems, either serving in the Senate has robbed him of his Manhood or he has reached his level of Incompetence.
Mr. Attorney General: 'You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!'
Well, he's certainly not rising to the occasion anymore. I think he has too much to lose, and that may include 'Punishments" to his personal life and his family as well, if he pushes back against the Dems or the Permanent Bureaucracy. I think perhaps many in DC are in this boat, hence it has become a swamp of fearful sell-outs who don't want to have to sacrifice the comfortable, enriched, safe life they have worked so long for.
Blind Justice;
Suppose we each have told a lie,
But you are you, and I am I.
Suppose they're equally untrue,
But I am I, and you are you.
What's the rule that one will walk,
The other jailed for faithless talk?
The rule is this: For different folks,
The penalties are different Strzoks.
-- Myles C. Pollin
Thanks for that Paul. I wonder how long ago that was written by Myles Pollin? As is demonstrated repeatedly amongst Humanity - Power Corrupts - but only until the People have had enough. Americans have a road map they can use whenever this happens (and it has happened before, we just weren't around yet to see it).
It's called the Constitution, and it's the map back to the Main Road.
This excellent article itself shows the clarity and benefit of an independent perspective.
I was watching Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling on C-SPAN this morning speak knowledgeably about policy in the House chamber, and he is indicative of the decent citizen legislators we have.
The Library of Congress is located right across the street from the Capitol, next to the Supreme Court, and its interior is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Thomas Jefferson's own library is contained in it. The Library of Congress was established so members of Congress could go there to read and study. I suspect very few do, as busy as they are.
A presidential scholar said Jimmy Carter used to go through thick policy documents and highlight and note intricate details, and it got to the point where he was assigning the parking spots at the White House.
If good members of Congress (there are actually many) are spending their time on policy minutiae instead of doing the hard thinking on the big issues or reading in Jefferson's library, they need the next best thing. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask your representative if you can buy him a SteynOnline gift membership.
A Capitol idea, Sol!
If you ask me, it's WAAAAAY past due to 'drain the swamp'. Trump's going to get crucified by the left, whatever he does. So he might as well just get on and do the right things anyway ...
It's all a slow, steady coup, happening right before our eyes.
Can the republic be restored after this?
Don't worry Mark, Strzok, being the consummate professional that he is, used a secure method for texting his mistress. He used his (and her) government issued device. Yes, in the midst of an investigation into Hillary's use of her private device for her government communication, he used a government device for his private communication.
I'm just amazed that they put the deputy head of counterintelligence onto the Hillary 'matter'. Maybe if Strzok had instead concentrated on his counterintelligence day job of protecting the US against espionage, we wouldn't have seen any Russian meddling.
I figured it was counterintelligence in the same sense as the Rush Limbaugh radio program having a show observer. It would have been Strzok's job to make sure this investigation stays as dum as iyt's Ben so fawr.
If Sessions had a room temperature IQ and the imagination of a potted plant, or if he had just read a few popular thrillers over the past two decades, this could all be resolved in a single morning of concerted action. Pre-dawn raids on the houses of Muellers' team, with appropriate abuse of their spouses and children including the routine strip searches, handcuffing, and parading before neighbors on the way to the paddy wagons; seizure of all computers, cell phones, file cabinets, steak knifes, other dangerous cutlery, and the like; confiscation of bank accounts and liquid assets; followed by armed guards blocking access to all the doors of the Special Council's offices; and then a twenty man team of DoJ lawyers drawn from North Dakota, Utah, and Oklahoma to paw through the evidence. Not forgetting to carefully record all the outraged utterances of the family members as they are legally raped by the authorities as this sort evidence has proven to be quite useful in creating endless counts of process crimes that can be traded for recovered memories by the main targets of the raids. It's really that simple.
The team that has voters on its side who are intimidated by the roar of the left (I'm looking at you, Alabama) into making rough equivalence between Roy Moore and Roman Polanski (the latter, of course, a hero of the left) doesn't have the courage to do, once, what the left does routinely with early morning raids.
After all, if they did, they would have to listen to the left accuse them of "shredding the social fabric"....
Well Robert, I hate to burst your bubble...but, the reason the likes of Comey and Mueller can get away with open-ended pseudo investigations of conservatives to dig up/invent crimes, and at the same time get away with closed pseudo investigations of Leftist to cover up crimes is that our vaunted main stream media will never ever call them on it. Every trumped up charge against a conservative is heralded by the press, while every flimsy exoneration of a Leftist is similarly heralded as justice done. The reverse is never true. Investigations of actual crimes by folks like Comey, Mueller and their ilk are never treated favorably by the press and thus rarely occur. It is a sad commentary on the state of the modern Republic.
Matthew, the only bubble I am aware of is the one our Republican legislators live in. Lacking in antibodies as well as courage and conviction, they spend their lives inside that bubble looking out fearfully, wondering what might happen to their pension, let alone their presidential aspirations, if the soapy film should rupture. Bold and decisive action by the administration, particularly the DoJ, would likely be so surprising and out of character that it would fall well inside the response cycle of the media-Democrat conspiracy. Much could be achieved prior to the inevitable marches and fire bombings. There no reason to think that we can drain this swamp without significant push back. But now is good time to start the pumps.
Best not to sink to their (Dems and Mueller') low levels; the Media would just spin it to the Dems advantage, leaving the Trump Admin. looking like savages. I'm hoping Trump is restraining himself in order to give Mueller and his co-conspirators enough rope to eventually hang themselves.
This isn't new. Anyone else remember hoe the DOJ attorneys got slammed by the Judge in the Ted Stevens case when it turned out they withheld exculpatory evidence? The DOJ has been a progressive tool for years now.
Faith, you've got that right. Stevens was the difference between a filibuster-proof Senate and the status quo, and Obama had big plans following his election. Which is to say that the Democrats plan ahead. The last minute court proceedings denied Stevens his reelection, and the 60 vote majority was assured. One of those DoJ prosecutors ended up curiously assigned to the Internal Affairs office of the DoJ in 2010. This may speak to the level of integrity of the remainder of the DoJ. He committed suicide. Probably the last honest man in the building, and he was the least guilty of the four. Between Stevens death by private plane and the suicide, the mortality rate for the principals of that court proceeding are extremely unlikely. It is an indictment of our times that this hasn't garnered more attention.
And we are told that "conspiracies" are just crazy ravings of smelly Trump supporters.
Power conspires. That's how they stay in power. And we are seeing just the tip of the machinery they have at their disposal to manufacture events, crimes, and suicides.
Thanks Mark, for illuminating the whole mess with clarity and defining the motives of The Investigators.
Hopefully you can say the same on Fox, and give clarity to this incredibly important issue for the American Public.
Yes, yes!
They need to trot out this Strk guy in the flesh. Just want to hear him form and articulate a sentence. The James Bond persona and the teenage girl tweets are impossible to reconcile. That goes also for the females in this oddly angled triangular affaire of the world's most smarter bureaucrat-agents. The McCbe fellow looks like Hollywood based all their icy suit and tie white male government villains for the past thirty years on him.
Do we even know that he is really Peter Strzok? Could his last name be an anagram of the code name of his mission to to ensnare Trump in the courts, a Polish-Russian sounding kortsz? That, plus the election of Doug Jones, which doesn't sound Russian at all - which is exactly what they would want you to think - clearly forms grounds for an investigation.
I expect his voice to sound like Mr Anderson from The Matrix.
LOL. Just said it'd be worth it to see him in the flesh, like a normal calm interview, please please oh the humanity not acting out his name; must have been hell for him in fifth grade, about the time boys become cognizant of the nonsense of the adult world. And Madame Ohr as per the one photo for the public to go on - has an incredibly familiar face, just can't place it when framed by that distracting coiffe. Haven't had access to US or US TV news etc. for ages, so we're the least likely peeps to have that 'haven't we seen you somewhere before?'
And don't comprendo why Monsieur Ohr's photo for el public is photoshop'ed with a flag in the background. It's obviously not a proper portrait sit, so what's up with that nonsense? Where's the actual official portrait - that's public domain, and easy to produce for the public, isn't it?
I think he's waiting for a photo with Trump's scalp.
"How shallow the Deep State is", Mark? Funny, but surely you meant "hollow", as in devoid of honor. Or perhaps "sallow", as in Mueller's ghoulish complexion. Even perhaps "swallow", as in difficult to. While their behavior is every bit as shallow as you say, their reach is admirably deep, broad, and high. Pray to God that their time to wallow in the swamp is at an end.
I think he meant shallow in the sense that their characterization is juvenile and unsophisticated; one would expect a more sophisticated view from people in these positions.
Once again, much to chew on with this one:
My comments follow your numbered offerings.
(1) In the law enforcement training and practical application of enforcement experienced in my long and diverse career, the idea of a "pre-dawn" serving of a warrant - or a "no knock" - is something requiring a great deal of convincing before a magistrate or judge will issue. Most times the convincing has to do with a belief that the persons to be served will flee or destroy or otherwise withhold the "evidence" being sought. I find it over-the-top for Mr. Mueller to employ this method and even more appalling that the warrant was issued for "pre-dawn."
(2) When it comes to "straight arrows" coming from the quiver controlled by politicos one should be wary of the definition of "straight." Those crooked arrows have a way of striking unintended targets.
(3) No surprise to me that Mueller appointees were selected from amongst those he knew. That was to be expected. The surprise is that there was no immediate challenge from the administration and/or the "oversight" from Congress. No sunshine, no disinfectant. Shame on 'em all.
(4) One would have to have worked within the "system" to fully understand - not appreciate, but understand - just how these things "go down." A bunch of money is thrown into an investigation with "do as you must" the marching order. No surprise with Page added to the payroll; a few "good words" goes a long way when on the "inside." Trust me, I have seen it in two significant organizations back in the Reagan administration and his version of the "War on Drugs."
(5) Ditto from my comments in (4) along with "Recusable Jeff" being the root-of-all-gone-haywire. If this guy had the gonads of a stallion as opposed to a neutered salamander, we would not be anywhere mired in the firm grasp of the swamp.
(6) Brazen is the descriptor. Seems that there are no ethics whatsoever when it comes to operating outside the bounds of decorum. Then again, who gives a rat's patoot about decorum? There was a time when one's credentials would have been lifted for communiques attributed to Strzok. A sad reality is that electronic communications are sans oversight, monitoring and control. Had Strzok committed those comments to the old-fashioned-typed-memo; Katy bar the door.
(7) The short answer is: yes. Keep digging, keep churning, keep turning and burning until something or anything turns up to support your contention. Used to be a time that one followed the credible leads to develop reasonable suspicion leading to probable cause - that is nothing more than Criminal Justice 101. Oh well - call me a dinosaur with a summa cum laude in the subject.
(8) An interesting posit regarding Strzok and Page, but I do not "see" them turning on one another - unless in the sack.
(9) Collusion is not a crime in and of itself. Unfortunately, the reality of the day has made-it-so; just as "hands up don't shoot" did not occur in Ferguson, Missouri. Unfortunately, those rallying cries have won considerable "credibility" in these times. If one can establish reasonable suspicion to develop probable cause that a collusion led to the formation of a conspiracy - go for it. Otherwise, pissing up a rope might be more rewarding (sorry, my sailor background took over).
(10) The saying that "If the rabbit had not stopped to s--t, it would not have gotten shot" applies. This entire sorry mess could be dispensed with - not with President Trump "firing" anybody. The Congress has the authority and ought to exercise it through the passing of legislation cutting off funding. Sounds simple, but witnessing it ever happening is quite another thing.
Does not seem to me that anything was learned from Ken Starr's investigation nor many of the other "special prosecutor" endeavors. And the beat goes on - and on. Where are you Sonny & Cher; that was an oldie but goody.
Tom in Missouri
Regarding the pre-dawn raid, it looks as though the Feds are copying the tactics of the British police (it usually works in the opposite direction), since the rozzers love to turn up to celebrity arrests at the crack of dawn, in ridiculously overwhelming numbers, accompanied by the massed bands of Her Majesty's Press Corps. A recent example was the former singer Cliff Richard, who was never charged with anything and has never been anybody's idea of a British Rambo, but the cash-strapped peelers sent everybody they had to put the cuffs on him and made sure the Beebyanka and every other news outlet was given an invitation.
Owen,
Good point - With the state of the U.S. press in these times, a little help from your friends surely wouldn't hurt, eh?
"Beebyanks" is a new one for moi . . .
Tom in Missouri
"All bollocks. Bollocks on stilts". At least it wasn't bollards on stilts. That would be sooo wrong.
It is clear to me now that the nation actually did fall in November, 2012 with the re-election of Obama when this apparatus was set up. There is evidently no way we can now get it back (the constitutional republic). We only await the barbarians' coup de grâce. Will it be China, Russia, or Islam? Maybe all three?
Dont give up Dont waive the flag. Never say die. While we have breath, we can advocate and work to improve the functioning of the nation.
Lets not suppose that todays cast of civilized thugs are much worse than those of yesteryear. I have a hard time believing that JEdgar was a decent moral chappie in his dispensing of justice.
But now we are able to see it in all its rank and rancid condition due to technology apparently.
Real progress woudl be for those in authirity to actually act like they believe in justice. That will come only when the populace and a decent free press holds them to account.
Its gonna take a long time, but look; we are actually taklking about it now in public. Thats progress,
But what does "I'm afraid we can't take that risk" (of Trump losing) actually mean?
In that sentence, "losing" should be "winning."
Mark replies:
Thank you, Ken. Corrected.
See mark? Can ya see now how words can 'hurt'? Haha..
Turns out the more you know about the appointed guardians of the galaxy the more you come to the conclusion you are better off without them.
This story sickens me, as does most of the state of our country today.
I hate to say this, as it goes against much of the due process stuff I have always believed in, but I say appoint a special counsel to investigate Comey, Mueller, Strzok, Page, Weissman, Ohr, all of them. Rip their lives apart as they do others - emails, texts, finances (who paid what to whom). People such as these will only learn to respect the limits of power when confronted with it themselves.
I care little for convictions, just that they feel the pain they inflict on others. Or put the endless investigations of Trump and Co to bed, once and for all.
Practice true equality - same rules, standards, processes, investigations for all. If a bogus dossier can result in an endless pursuit of process crimes for Trump and Co, it can do likewise for the watchers.
It pains me to type that, but I have lost all faith in our institutions. And someone told me on another thread that New Zealand is closed and will not welcome me...
Mark mentioned that it is apparently politically impossible to step in and stop this stupid debacle. It is obvious that President Trump marches to a different drummer, so why not just put a stop to all this nonsense and fire every one of the swamp creatures involved, including (sadly) Jeff Sessions, make a speech to the nation and get a fresh start; bring in real outside investigators and expose all the creeps involved in this attempt to stage a coup of our lawfully elected government.
Aloha Snackbar!
The Democrats already dialed up their insurance agent and purchased a policy. In the event Trump fires Mueller, Democrats are planning to introduce a bill creating a new independent counsel statute. It's easy to see Republicans doing the legislative equivalent of Sessions' recusal and passing it with a veto-proof majority. Once law, the Democrats have said they intend to have Mueller re-appointed the special counsel.
I concur AI Man from CA. I hope he does it. It's probably his instinct to, and he is a Washington Outsider.
But he is endlessly counselled not to challenge the Swamp too much lest he be entrapped, so we will see. Meanwhile he presses forward, not afraid to Rock the Boat.
No doubt he would gain the respect of not only the American People, but also the World. It would be like The Force awakening and defeating The Evil Empire. That's what people want, Honesty and Integrity Defeating Corruption, but in the Real World. He should speak his mind to the Nation often, giving a direct message to the People that the media cannot cut short or take out of context.
Holly wrote: It would be like The Force awakening and defeating The Evil Empire. That's what people want....
If I were a Star Wars fan [and I am not], I would — like all good conservatives would — be rooting for The Empire.
See: The Case For The Empire http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/2540
You would be rooting for the Evil Empire Bob? I'm not that up on Star Wars, or a big fan, I was just (I thought) giving an example of Good vs Evil.
Interesting article Bob, thanks. The series kind of lost me after the early three, and fiction is fiction and movies are about selling stuff, but the article makes a clear case for looking at both sides of a story.
George Lucas has never made any secret of the fact that he's a Limousine Liberal and it's obvious he's rooting for The Rebels, who, in fact, are nothing but Revolutionaries. And all who seek Revolution — the overthrow and destruction of their current Society — are Evil.
This is another masterpiece. One of a string over the past few months, with this one and "How to Steele An Election" standing out in particular.
Hear! Hear! As P.J. O'Rourke wrote many years ago, "Term limits aren't enough. We need jail."
He was right. Did he mention pillories, and for third timers, the Tower? I hope so.
DC doesn't jail their own. DC is now surrounded by, I think, the 5 riches counties in the country.
And terms limits would put more responsibility on the deep state operatives in bureaucracies.
Government is just out of control... too big, too influential and corrupt to down to it's demonic file clerks.