Here are my observations and opinions on selected news of the day.
WHILE THERE ARE FURTHER DELAYS in the release of the DOJ IG Report that has been in the works for nearly 18 months, leaks seem to indicate that the inexcusable actions of disgraced former FBI Director James Comey will be fully addressed by Michael Horowitz. As I write this, I understand the report will now be released on June 14, 2018. Don’t hold your breath.
Surely Comey’s changing of the findings against Hillary Clinton in her use of a private e-mail server from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless,” recently surfaced again by investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, will be included in the report.
However, I expect Horowitz to call out the usual list of suspects – McCabe, Strzok, and Page – along with a host of other Obama holdovers who have done the dirty work of the Deep State to attempt to bring down the Trump presidency.
Much is being made of the IG process of allowing those individuals mentioned in the report to get an advance look at those sections and perhaps offer suggested rewording. I mentioned this procedure in an earlier post. Some members of Congress have already indicated that they would review those changes.
HAVE YOU NOTICED that in all of the discussion of spying on the Trump campaign that it was supposedly done to warn the candidate of Russian activity, yet nobody has asked why there wasn’t a spy in Hillary’s campaign to warn her of interference. And the question remains – why didn’t the FBI ever warn Trump of such activity that is now being investigated by Mueller?
It’s all so obvious now. They were convinced that their candidate – Hillary – was going to win, and the spying was the “insurance policy” agents Strzok and Page wrote of in their Twitter or e-mail exchange.
NOTABLE & QUOTABLE, the regularly feature of The Wall Street Journal, today featured a May 28, 2018 conversation between C-Span’s Brian Lamb and Yale historian John Gaddis on the subject of the Trump presidency.
“He (Trump) is a destroyer, or he believes in destruction in a positive sense,” said Gaddis, “He thinks you have to break things up before you can fix them.
“Anyone who can come in as he did in 2015 and ’16 and run circles around everybody else in … primaries and campaigns has some kind of political genius going.
“This is someone who is picking up on something in the American character that was out there that nobody else was picking up on. I think that – if it does not deserve respect, it deserves serious analysis.”
When Lamb inquired of Gaddis regarding discussion of Trump inside Yale, Gaddis responded that “It can’t really be done on a rational basis … the feelings are so visceral. Anybody who tries to say something less than predictable is apt to be disregarded. People don’t try. I think we are in a kind of bubble, like many people on the coast are.”
THAT BLUE WAVE the Democrats have been touting in state primaries leading up to the midterms appears to be down to a dribble. While they have been talking about the excitement building in their party, the left-leaning Los Angeles Times headline after Tuesday’s primary read, “Did California Democrats sleep through election day?” and suggested that voters “waved” as they drove past the polling places. Twenty-one percent of registered voters cast ballots.
A possible higher turnout in November for Republicans in the House district races is anticipated with Tuesday’s showing of GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox, who will be on the ballot facing the cocky Gavin Newsom.
MEANWHILE: In Annafi Wahed’s unique blog, THE FLIPSIDE, she captured how the media is promoting the blue wave. POLITICO: “Democrats have claimed new life in their bid to retake the House;” NPR: “Democrats turned out at higher levels than Republicans;” CNN: “Solid chances of retaking the House majority in the fall remain very much intact;” Vox: “Democrats secured an average win of 5 points – enough to be favored for the majority.”
Reporting on the California political scene, The Washington Post, however, seemed to lean toward the reporting of the Los Angeles Times and reported “This is not what Democrats were hoping to see in the state.
DEMOCRAT POLITICS IN MINNESOTA is said to be in chaos. Last minute candidate entries into district races and the unexpected decision by Rep. Keith Ellison to run for attorney general has turned Dem politics there in a frenzy.
The stakes are pretty high for Dems, who are defending two Democrat-held House seats considered “toss-ups,” while they try to unseat two other vulnerable House Republicans.
If former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty again wins the governor race, experts agree that the state would go red for the first time in some 50 years.
AN ASIDE: As vice chairman of the Democrat party, what does Keith Ellison’s departure from national politics to run for state attorney general say for his confidence in the Democrat party regaining control of the House?
WOULD IT SURPRISE YOU to learn that President Obama blocked the inclusion of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s D-Day prayer from the World War II Memorial in Washington DC.? No, because Obama was not a promoter of religious freedom and you will recall his insult of those who cling to their guns and religion.
However, in truth he did not do so, despite misinformation to that effect. A Congressional effort to have the prayer inscribed on a panel in the memorial was submitted after the design had gone through an extensive approval process.
It’s a shame that Roosevelt’s prayer, given during a radio broadcast while allied forces were storming the beaches of Normandy, could not have been included, as it was poignant, especially these excerpts:
“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and set free a suffering humanity.
“Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
“Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
“And for us at home – fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas – whose thought and prayers are ever with them – help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great service.”
May God bless the United States of America.