Here are my observations and opinions on some of the news of the day.
A LOOK BACK – As I look forward to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report of his investigation of activities in the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, now predicted to be released next month, I can’t help relive my disappointment in another “official” report.
I’m referring to the Accountability Review Board report on Benghazi about six years ago. That was the board named by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to determine if “any U.S. government employee … breached her or his duty.” The board was headed up former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Mike Mullen (Ret.). “Two men of unimpeachable expertise,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
They weren’t even put under oath when they accepted the assignment.
By now, you have most likely heard about the many fallacies in their “investigation,” including their failure to interview Clinton.
In the ARB report, we learn that “The Board found that senior State Department officials within two bureaus in critical positions of authority and responsibility in Washington demonstrated a lack of proactive leadership and management ability appropriate for the State Department’s senior ranks.
“However, the Board did not find that any individual U.S. Government employee engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored his or her responsibilities, and therefore did not find reasonable cause to believe that an individual breached his or her duty so as to be the subject of a recommendation for disciplinary action.”
“While then-secretary Clinton publicly accepted ‘responsibility’ for the failures of her Department,” read the House Foreign Affairs Committee majority staff report, “she suffered no significant consequence and held no one accountable.”
This was followed by former FBI Director James Comey’s July 2016 determination that Hillary didn’t intentionally mishandle classified documents in her use of a personal e-mail server.
While Hillary has so far escaped felony charges, investigations within the DOJ continue, including the “pay for access” involving contributions to the Clinton Foundation.
Despite this history, I continue to remain optimistic that the DOJ IG report will name names and cite failures of ethics, integrity and accountability. With that, it will be Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ responsibility to dole out appropriate punishment. The firing of former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe has already taken place. If others at senior levels in the DOJ and FBI are not seriously dealt with, I will again be disappointed.
THE NAACP is now a target of Candace Owens, the black conservative who has been in the news of late because black rapper Kanye West surprisingly tweeted that he liked the way she thinks. That, by the way, didn’t make West’s fans happy.
Now, according to John Hinderaker at powerlineblog.com, Owens is taking on the NAACP, “long the sacred cow. It did some good long ago, but for decades it has been a useless, left-wing pressure group in thrall to the Democrat Party. As such, it has generally opposed the interests of most (blacks.)”
In a recent tweet, Owens referred the NAACP as “emotional extortionists,” and said, “I would suggest they stand down before I detail what they did (to me.)” She alluded to her being used in propaganda videos as a teenager but has not detailed her experience yet.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), the House Intelligence Committee member who never shies away from a microphone and an opportunity to continue his belief in connections by the Trump campaign and Russians, gave the president a backhanded credit for bringing Kim Jung Un to the negotiating table, crediting the president’s “unpredictability” and “bellicosity.”
Then there’s the left-leaning Juan Williams, who says the credit for the meeting should actually go to South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Sure, Juan.
ON THE SUBJECT OF CREDIT – Stand-up comedian Tom Shillue cracked me up with his impersonation of a Democrat trying to say the word “credit” – crrr … crrre …. crrred – while speaking of President Trump’s success in getting Kim Jung Un to talk about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
OF COURSE, Never Trumpers are saying that the president is being too optimistic about his ability to persuade Kim Jung Un to denuke Korea. Not true. The president has said, on a number of occasions, that he will respectfully get up from the negotiating table and leave the talks if the North Korean leader isn’t serious.
