Here are my observations and opinions on my selected news of the day.
AG BILL BARR (ap/joseluismagana)
NOT YOUR TYPICAL BUREAUCRAT – In case you haven’t noticed, Attorney General Bill Barr doesn’t let grass grow under his feet, to borrow an old adage attributed to people who don’t waste any time.
We saw evidence of this when he released the Mueller Report to the public within days of receiving it from General Counsel Robert Mueller, followed shortly thereafter by the less-redacted version.
On Monday, we learned of the appointment of John Durham, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe. And, it appears he began working on this weeks ago. You will recall that Barr raised his concern over spies in the government during a Senate hearing on April 10, 2019.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t “lit a fire” under DOJ IG Michael Horowitz and U. S. Attorney John Huber, who have separate investigations underway for some time.
As I wrote yesterday, the word “accountability” is in Barr’s vocabulary.
DURHAM NO STRANGER TO FBI MISCONDUCT – He has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including FBI ties to a crime boss in Boston, following a 1999 appointment by then Attorney General Janet Reno.
US ATTY JOHN DURHAM (topics.nytimes.com)
In 2000, Durham got the 1968 murder convictions of four individuals vacated because they had been framed by the FBI. He was also involved in the case against mobster Whitey Bulger which resulted in a 10-year prison term for an FBI agent who warned Bulger of a pending indictment in 1995.
He was also selected to investigate the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes by then Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Following Durham’s unanimous confirmation in 2018, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal devoted a full page of glowing comments about Durham, saying he was a “fierce, fair prosecutor, who knows how to try tough, cases.”
Just as I was about to predict an about-face by the arrogant Blumenthal, he did, expressing dismay in Durham’s accepting an assignment associating himself with Barr, who he again referred to as Trump’s attorney. Blumenthal is a pathetic, egotistic character.
Writing about Durham’s work, blogger Dan Surber concluded with, “Patience. Adults are in charge now. The exorcism has begun.”
BARR ENLISTS HELP OF DNI AND CIA, TOO – With former CIA Director John Brennan and former DNI James Clapper appearing on CNN and MSNBC, opining on President Trump’s collusion with Russia over the past two years, you had to believe the CIA and DNI needed to be involved in the investigation, too. Barr has asked CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to participate. I’ve got to believe that the retired Brennan and Clapper will be thrown under the same bus.
Current FBI Director Chris Wray is participating, too, however, I have not been impressed with his weak response to the political corruption at the top of his agency. He may be waiting for Horowitz’s findings.
LEFTIST BILLIONAIRE GEORGE SOROS continues to do his best to ruin our democracy. His Open Society Foundation is funding the Poynter Institute, which bills itself as a “school for journalism and democracy.” It sounds innocuous, but Poynter recently issued a report and dataset called “UnNews,” declaring 29 right-leaning news outlets and organizations as “unreliable news sites.”
Included were, the Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Heritage’s Daily Signal, The Daily Wire, PJ Media, RedState, The Blaze, Drudge Report, and Judicial Watch, all frequently quoted here.
The Media Research Center reports that Poynter is trying to blacklist conservative news sites by smearing them and bullying their advertisers.
THE BUCKEYE STATE is no longer in the sights of Democrats, according to a piece by Stephen Green, “Democrats Can Kiss Ohio Goodbye.” There was good reason why they say presidential candidates must take Ohio. Since 1896, Ohio has backed the winning candidate in all but two elections, and election handicappers largely put Ohio in the GOP win column in 2020.
Donald Trump, for all his supposed unelectability, scored nearly 52 percent in 2016, beating Hillary Clinton by eight points. PJ Media’s Paula Bolyard said, “Anecdotally, support for Trump is solid.”
LAUGH-OF-THE-DAY – The Wall Street Journal reports that former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “casts himself as a retired senator who is happy to meet with Democrat candidates but who no longer holds much clout.”
May God bless the United States of America.
