After investigating for two years supposed collusion between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia, special counsel Robert Mueller is set to appear before the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in just a few weeks, on July 17. A statement from congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff, the chairmen of the respective committees, said:
"Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel, so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia's attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign's acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates' obstruction of the investigation into that attack."
Wasn't that the point of the Mueller report? At any rate, it brings to mind this piece Mark wrote in December of 2017, pointing out the long tentacles of the swamp-dwellers ubiquitous throughout the Russia probe.
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?
To hear about the human toll that Mueller's investigation has taken, you may enjoy Mark's full-length interview with George Papadopoulos. Part one is here and the second part is here. There will be lots of opportunities aboard the 2020 Mark Steyn Cruise to talk about the Russia narrative, which will likely still be going on, with Mark's special guests and fellow SteynOnline readers. Details about how you can book a cabin are here.
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As to credibility muddied with the relationships and text messages, apparently that only applies if you are basic customs policemen joking around on Facebook, gallows humor. For that they should be fired they say and the whole agency eliminated. Senior FBI and DOJ make serious comments for the purpose of loathing and it means nothing,,"ignore that man behind the curtain". You can't make this stuff up.
I am shooting from the hip and don't want to get into argument of "what should have been", and "what could have been if" and not whether it is fair etc. Take it as fact, life is not fair and what matters for predicting the future what is the situation right now at this moment not what was it 5 days ago. I am sticking out my neck and predicting that the Russia collusion and obstruction of justice story will not be settled before the 2020 election and the common wisdom of Trump supporting talking head including cocky DJ Trump will end up disappointed. The next administration will be strongly leftist style government. There is another worse result if the ballot tampering will be so blatant that the loser will challenge the results and it may end in blood shed forcing the military take control. To understand where I am coming from just go to the 2012 primaries. Then the common wisdom was that an African American person will not be running for president and Hillary will be running that was the opinion of Bill Clinton . Surprise surprise not only he was elected but he turned out to be a Muslim loving America hating leftist. I am normally not a gambler I am conservative investor and I am taking this big bet. If I am wrong and still alive Mark knows where to find me you can come a shoot me. Actually even better for not blood thirsty members and it will be more fun. Anyone that disagrees should post a comment with the percentage that he thinks that I am wrong The only caveat it has to be less than 40 or more than 60 with no upper limit. If there will be sufficient number of responses, we can tally up the results and calculate the average
Sorry this is not a percentage, but the Dems have no constraints on their power, thus my guesstimate, posted on another thread, of 600,000,000 votes for the Dems in 2020.
Lucky that Charles Dodgson isn't around to update Alice. Who is the Red Queen? Nancy With The Laughin' Face?
Okay, AB. The percentage that I think you're wrong is 100. The common wisdom for the 2012 primaries was that the African American incumbent president would run for re-election and that his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, would not run for president.
I'd advise more attention to detail if you want to be a gambler.... or an investor.
So the the dead voters will be resurrected twice? The illegal will be able to vote under number of identities. The absentee ballots will be counted twice? in two different states? I am an engineer and one of my mantras was that it is very difficult to design a fool proof system because the fools are so ingenious. I guess the same applies to the 2020 election it is difficult to come up with tamper proof voting system because the dems are so ingenious.
Steven you are 100% right. It should have been 2008 primaries not 2012 primaries, I posted it after midnight local time and made it inexcusable mistake. As to investing I'm still conservative investor but realized that at my age it is unwise to be involved in managing investments I handed it over to professional asset managers. Looking at their performance there is nothing to cheer about they are following the herd comparing their performance to major indexes. I was a maverick investor and looking at individual stocks quite often investing in illiquid stocks and against the trend. Now that I am relieved of the burden sitting in front of the computer and looking at charts, I have more time to look at philosophy, politics, religions or lack of them, I'm still a maverick as you probably can see from my comment. I'm still standing by my opinion that unfortunately DJ T will lose. As to the long term impact of the outcome of the election it really does not matter, I share Mark's opinion that for the foreseeable time the future belongs to Islam in particular in the democratic portion of the World and even beyond that, not only because of demography but mainly because of the evil genius of the inventor of Islam.
Setting aside the difficulty the "developed" world has in reconciling the limited supply of materiel with the unlimited demand for it, the High Command of what is, in reality a military force, do not care for anything other than their seizing anything that takes their fancy. Untroubled by sentiment, the future is indeed theirs. It is little comfort to see the end of the Human Race brought about by the dominant power extirpating perceived threats. Who can they trust? The future is indeed sunni, whatever the weather.
Journolist I do agree with you that the future in Sunni, the Shiah may continue humping sheep, and run religious bordellos. I'm not joking not far from my home there is a Shiah mosque. The mullah opened a business arranging marriages for an hour and they were cheap because he accepted credit card and gave receipts as a donation to the mosque. This business was running for quite a while but what happened the spouses of those gentlemen found out where their husbands spending their money and their energy and complained to the police and that was the way that everything was found out.
I must point out that there is something going on in the Saudi kingdom and in the neighboring Dubai and UAE that smells like a gingerly steps to a reform. Google Sheikh Dr. Mohammed al-Issa and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and see what comes up. But this has to be taken with caution since there were several recent attempts to reform Islam one in Turkey the other in Iran and they did not turn out well in both cases it was thwarted by good intentioned democracy from the outside. As it turned out the advance of technology and of democracy did speed up the spread of Islam so I don't think that the effort to reform Sunni Islam will proceed fast enough first the fight between Sunni and Shiah has to be settled.
Assuming nothing changes I don't think that Islam will cause the end of humanity. I anticipate the Armageddon the war to end all wars. The fight between the sons of light and sons of darkness as described in a copper scroll found in a cave near a the dead sea in Jordan valley The Sons of darkness believe that whatever happens is the will of their God and sons of light believe that they are in control of their destiny and they will not let any God to tell them what to do. This war will employ the latest and most advanced tools of war including space war and it will also involve the closest celestial object i.e. the moon. The sons of light already is preparing for using the far side of the moon as a base for their operation they are not wasting their resources on interesting but useless research. As to myself since all religions and beliefs assigned me to hell, I will not enjoy the pleasures of afterlife not even reach nirvana. My address will be AB43 the Hell, USA I can be reached by text message LOL
Why would anyone want to alter the most successful structure of an armed force which has weekly debriefings, daily peer pressure and all the other ways of keeping it up to the mark? The problem, in my view, stems from the in-built lack of trust meeting all the time in the world and reproducing the Empty Quarter on a global scale.
How prescient this article was at the time. Thanks, Mark.
I logged in to post almost the same exact thought. Mark certainly understood the real scandal from early on, while the mainstream media still pretends to not get it. I simply can't accept they don't know the facts, and wouldn't be horrified by them, were the parties reversed.
But alas, the narrative is more important to them than the truth....
I recall also the Benghazi charade, with the first official story describing a "spontaneous protest" of a video no one had seen. A few us were surprised that spontaneous protesters had rocket-propelled grenades handy, but then Mark issued a scathing critique of the official story -- which, a month later, proved correct. Our public press is, of course, quite lame, but sometimes their lack of curiosity or thought surprises even me.
Imagine if there were no war mongers like the EU in the Balkans or Ukraine?
Imagine if there was no EU expansionism?
Yet they are trying to start hate in Ireland again.
Trump needs to step on the EUs head.
They were a bunch of globalist evil hate spreaders.
If you could imagine what the BBC pumped into our heads.
Israel was the worst thing that happened. Yet one of the few places an Arab can get to vote around there. And a Christian.
My question would be. Why did the BBC and the likes become anti-semite? Why were the EU allowed to become war mongers?
Personally, I think because we haven't had strong leaders since Reagan and Thatcher.
So our fault. The voters
What a waste of time and energy. Trump is a very strong man and would just brush it off. But he wasted time on this, when his time should of been spent sorting out America. He has done a fine job so far. Wish we could have him here in the UK.
I really feel sorry for people like Papadopoulos who was just starting out. They didn't care whose life they wrecked.
I've an idea that I've mentioned this before on Mark's site, but Sidney Powell's "Licensed to Lie" gives a good insight into the working methods of Andrew Weissmann, methods which cannot possibly have been unknown to Mueller. Since Weissmann's name seems to have been the first out of the bag, we have to assume that Mueller both was familiar with Weissmann's techniques and, indeed, appreciated them.
Great stuff, good to see again this excellent guide to the unfolding horrors. Good to see Turks and Caicos get a mention too. I worked there 45 years ago for a year as a VSO volunteer and the signs were all there only with less money than now. One of the more memorable sights was a Catalina on a North Caicos airstrip waiting for the return of its owners. You could climb inside and look round. The owners weren't coming back any time soon having flown their light aircraft into a Miami dockside crane trying to get below the radar on a drug run.
Rush has often commented that he thought the descent of our culture into corruption and insanity would bottom out at some point and begin to reverse itself. But, he notes, we never seem to reach bottom. When you think it can't get crazier, it does. That is a cultural comment but it also has relevance to why this Mueller investigation, and all the skullduggery related to it, have to be called to account fully and very forcefully. Corruption will never go away but always get worse unless those with the power to do something about it call it to account in no uncertain terms. Mr. Barr, Mr. Durham, and others in such positions, don't go wobbly, the fate of the Republic may rest in your hands.
I think the batterers of our culture are asking, If your culture is worth anything, why don't you show it by standing up against us?
Man that is good point. Who's left to take the final stand? The left has taken control of academia - starting with pre-school on up - the national media save for Fox News - social media (now censoring conservatives at will) -our massive and all powerful intelligence services along with the upper echelon of the FBI. The last man standing is our president and he increasingly seems to be standing alone. His signature issue in '16 was border security. The GOP controlled all 3 branches for two years and gave him nothing. Somehow Christopher Wray gets appointed to replace Comey, how did the swamp pull that one off??? At least we have an AG with a set of stones. Are we ever going to see that IG report? Faint rays of hope that actual justice will be served but I'm not optimistic that the big boys like Clapper, Comey, and Brennan will ever see the inside of a federal courtroom.
They are using the Fed to punish those who mis-voted in 2016, just as GM is exporting their jobs. Interest rates should be zero to reflect the limitless availability of the Dollar. Unfortunately, those born in the USD have come to believe it is their superior brainage that has brought them to the state of hubris. They cannot see it simply goes with what used to be termed "Reserve Currency".
The problem with the Federal Courtroom is the Prosecution having a conviction rate of a little over 100%. If I were a lawyer I'd give my Clintons for a number like that.
It's hard to find fitting words for this travesty without resorting to the various punctuation marks used to denote profanity. Most troubling is that the average working person with an average interest in politics knows nothing about this. I'm talking people who work all day, maybe watch the network news while eating dinner, get busy with family things, and then watch one of the late night "comedy" shows while going to bed. I monitor ABC Nightly News every evening and I've never seen a word about any of this monumental malfeasance.
Meanwhile, I know what I'd like to ask Mueller: how much were you paid and how, salary, billable hours, what? Did you get benefits while you worked and, if so, what benefits? How about the rest of your team? Did you all have regular office hours or did you work at home a lot?
That may seem trivial to you, but these people are supposedly my "servants" and I'm the kind of boss who'd keep a close eye on the help.
#9 is the key item of the entire "Mueller Investigation". And EVEN THEN, the CommieRAT "investigators" could produce NOT ONE Example of "Collusion or Obstruction..." by the Trump Campaign! (Even after several such "incidents" had been orchestrated by the CommieRAT Swamp...)
When did the "Democrat" party become the Communist party?
Mark thanks. Erm, en passant you mentioned Muellers law firm Wilmerhale. So I thought I'd pay a visit to the website and check them out. Well, You never know when you need a clever brief!. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered That they are effectively lawyers to the gummint ( as we saw here in Oz borrowing from our indigenous brethren.
I thought it interesting to visit their privacy statement 'who we are', and discovered that they indeed have a position on slavery (phew), then its occurred to me you don't and are you hiring slaves or possibly worse, are any of your subscribers slaves?!
https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/modern-slavery-statement
Not in my name!
Andrew McCabe has asked Mendacity Mueller for a re-re-re-do.
still, not one sworn FBI agent has noticed the rampant criminality of the FBI.
Not one of the 13,000 sworn agents has spotted the Clinton Corruption.
Much of that rampant criminality is still in place. It's a baffling mystery as to how Christoper Wray managed to get appointed to replace Comey. He's cut from the same cloth and is at the very least slow walking Barr's efforts if nor directly impeding the AG's attempt hold the bureau accountable. Virtually the entire corrupt upper echelon of the NSA, DIA, CIA, and the state dept. are still firmly locked in place. Republican appointed directors are little more than figureheads as these swamp creatures are difficult to move and impossible to fire. Not a pretty picture. You ask a good question here Perry concerning the deep corruption of our federal law enforcement agency. Much of it is still in place starting with the director.
I just finished reading When the United States Spoke French, by François Furstenberg, a book about the French emigrés/refugees who flocked here during the French revolution. One chapter discusses the French efforts to sway voters to support Jefferson over Adams. Frenchmen actually went to frontier settlements to do it. Their activities weren't secret and Jefferson was known to be an avid Francophone. He met and corresponded with many of these Frenchmen.
Is that yet another crime committed by that racist slave holder?
Only if you are (1) ignorant of history and are (2) utterly lacking a sense of perspective.
Thus my point.
"Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel...." I challenge Schiff & Nadler to name 5 Americans demanding this -- members of Congress excluded (and while I'm making up my own rules, let's exclude the media & Hollywood, too.)
Good argument, uncontroversial conclusion, and that should be the end of the story. Sadly, the controversy will rage on. Why is lucid insight so difficult for most journalists? Still, so nice to get a break on these boards, where it is made to look so easy.
The technique is better described as "story-boarding". The patents are all the property of the DNC.
"We don't have a basis for our morality." Douglas Murray tells Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster in a Triggernometry interview. The very same journalists who insisted President Trump was making up the crisis at the southern border are saying there is a crisis on the southern border. Same facts, different conclusion. In a news-driven "reality", activist journalists view themselves as the basis for morality. Not as lone rangers, of course, but as part of a political movement. If journalists got back in the journalism business, the facts would align themselves too easily with traditional morality and solutions would suggest themselves. The same with the coup attempt. Hillary & Co are guilty of what Trump was accused of, but they cannot possibly be wrong. If you view yourself as the law, how can you be subject to it? And that's what we have: a passing away of the law and its investiture in individuals.
Thanks, J.: in a nutshell, as ever.
And how I hate self-appointed moral guides! You make a good point, of course, S., and that's a difficult admission for a rooted moral anarchist such as yours truly. Put in my own words, your point (from my perspective) is that my insistence on marching to my own drum is predicated upon universal acceptance of a basic moral code without which I would be not so much marching as floundering about. Food for thought there. In any case, I'll be damned before I march to some gin-sodden, tobacco-stained journalist's drum, let alone two or more, coiffure notwithstanding.
Of all the so-called "Top Ten" or "Ten Best" posts appearing recently, this summary is the equivalent of the pearl of great price. You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think. Great article!
A 6' 8" gummy worm. what a great analogy.
Dear Mark Steyn: Once again, we are treated to an archival column that still pops today. Google, facebook et al don't realize that their effort to suppress the truth will fail so long as you can reprint columns! The saga continues only because the progressive press swept all negative reports re: Mueller's team under the rug. Kept Nellie Ohr's light under a dark tarp. I am still strzok by the brazenness of these folks, but they are always confident the press will not go after these stories of Dem corruption. You mentioned the Hatch Act in this year-and-a-half-ago column, but that only applies to Kelly Conway.
The most remarkable thing about this is how the press has never had the slightest unease that a political campaign was the subject of a secret warrant in a secret court with (supposed) tight restrictions against investigating american citizens. Will the press remember this if Barr's DOJ gets a warrant on Joe Biden's campaign because there was contact with (shudder!) the Chinese?
What a joy to read this analysis. After 2+ years of heated obfuscation from our 'news'papers, in which blind faith in the independence of the 'investigation' is an absolute quantity and the evility of Trump and co. is the principal story, this humorous capsule description starts the day on a properly informed note.
MR NADLER: Isn't it true, Mr Mueller, that Donald Trump was born in Moscow, shuttled to Queens, and was for decades a sleeper agent in Manhattan before receiving his orders from the Kremlin?
MR MUELLER: That's absolutely false.
MR NADLER: And isn't it further true...
Recording the rehearsal through the Wall. Whatever next?
I would have thought Mueller would respond "We have yet to find any evidence that is true."
Corrected punctuation: "We have yet to find any evidence, that is true."
My only quibble with the above is this: "Brit spook Christopher Steele." Makes Steele seem like he's James Bond who, of course, looks out for America while he looks out for Old Blighty as well. He really needs to be characterized like this: a foreign agent of a foreign government working with the Russians to take down the American government. That's who these traitors were in bed with.
Three foreign governments: The UK, Australia, and Russia.
Sordid bedfellows, those.
Mueller couldn't help that his long-awaited blockbuster was a bigger bust than Howard the Duck. Look at the material he had to work with (see above). What do you do with a box office bomb to recoup losses? Keep releasing it--overseas, on cable, VCR, DVD, Blu-Ray, etc; even a re-release with the allure of the "Director's Cut". Claw back your investment, one ticket stub or rental at a time.
Which is exactly what the Democrats are doing with their Ishtar of an investigation. Congress has had Mueller's report for over two months, more than enough time for Adam Schiff to sound out the long words, yet they subpoenaed Mueller only yesterday? Why the slow dance?
"Don't kill the job," the experienced union hack scolds the eager beaver new-hire. Why do in a day what can be stretched to a week or four? Similarly, a mob "bust out" is a slow bleed of a legitimate business's resources, not a quick raid on the till. The Democrats have learned well from their constituents: drip-drip-drip (which neatly describes Messrs. Mueller, Comey and Strzok). Off a flimsy piece of oppo research, commissioned by the Hillary campaign, the Democrat-Media Complex have spun a web of lies, damned lies, and press releases libelous enough to keep an elected president hamstrung for two and a half years. So what if the Mueller Report amounts to the world's most expensive doorstop? It's worth its weight in gold for its use as a prop, worth every taxpayer penny confiscated to pay the team of "angry Democrats", as Trump rightly dismisses them.
Mark often reminds us of Hitchcock's use of a MacGuffin, the mysterious object in a spy thriller that sets the whole chain of events into motion. Or. as Hitchcock once defined it, "The MacGuffin is the thing that the spies are after but the audience don't care." That's about right.
"more than enough time for Adam Schiff to sound out the long words" -- I'm new here, someone should have warned me to put down my drink before reading a post from Josh. Thanks for the belly laugh!