Here are my observations and opinions on selected items in the news.
MORE INFORMATION regarding the leaking of classified information by James Wolfe, who served as security director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is being revealed.
We’re now learning that he was carrying on a romantic relationship with reporter Ali Watkins, while she was with BuzzFeed, and more recently with The New York Times. Incidentally, she is in her 20’s while Wolfe is 58 years old.
In one message to her, Wolfe wrote, “I’ve watched your career take off even before you ever had a career in journalism … I always tried to give you as much information (sic) that I could and to do the right thing with so you could get that scoop before anyone else … I always enjoyed the way that you would pursue a story, like nobody else was doing in my hal1way (sic). I felt like I was part of your excitement and was always very supportive of your career and the tenacity that you exhibited to chase down a good story.”
INTERESTINGLY, after reading the indictment against Wolfe, it appears that the government is more interested in the fact that he lied to the FBI than his leaking of classified information.
A SESSIONS SKEPTIC LOOKS BACK – Yes, I have been a skeptic of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, with his recusal and all. I had little reason to believe he was serious about stopping the leaking when he spoke on August 4, 2017, determined to stop leaking in the government.
“We are taking a stand. This culture of leaking must stop,” said Sessions in his not-so-firm voice, “Simply put, these leaks hurt our country.
“This nation must end the culture of leaks. We will investigate and seek to bring criminals to justice. We will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country any longer.
Sessions also referred to a complicit media and noted that while “We respect the important role the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited.
Stay tuned. There’s more to come.
MEANWHILE, we can look forward to the further unraveling of the Ohama holdover Deep State organization on Thursday with the release of the long-promised DOJ IG report.
IF YOU BELIEVE A POLL by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News released this week, you may believe the WSJ headline, “Voters Signal They Want a Democratic Congress.” Fifty percent of voters in the WSJ/NBC poll say they want Democrats back in control of Congress.
I don’t believe it. And even Bill Inturff, one the pollsters, admitted that poll numbers have been “bouncing around” in recent months, making it difficult to know with certainty where voters “are going to land.”
While the poll shows that President Trump’s approval among Republicans stands at 84 percent, Rasmussen’s presidential tracking poll has him up at 47 percent across all voters.
MOVE TO WOO HISPANIC VOTES – California Gov. Jerry Brown boasts that the California economy is the sixth largest in the world, but he never mentions that his state rates fourth in taxes paid.
Now, in an effort to extend a tax break to low-income families of illegal immigrants, Assembly Democrats want Brown to expand the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit in such away that people who do not have Social Security numbers can apply for it.
Democrats say the proposal is meant to help poor Californians recover some of their state income tax. Last year, a household with two children and an adjusted gross income of up to $22,309 would have been eligible for a tax credit. The maximum credit for a family of that size is $2,467.
Probably enough for state Democrats to earn a future vote.
TRUMP’S PREPARADNESS FOR SUMMIT – Regular readers will realize that I have touched on this subject before as media talking heads and pundits all seem to be concerned that President Trump just isn’t taking this negotiation seriously enough.
Roger L. Simon, writing in PJMedia, decided to take a light-hearted view in a recent post:
“What, no briefing books? Doesn’t the president know how well they worked for Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama when they and their envoys negotiated with North Korea in the past? Oh wait …
“And come to think of it, didn’t Obama and Kerry have briefing books, filled with expertise, when they negotiated the Iran deal that gave the mullahs all the money upfront, including millions in untraceable cash, allowing them to run rampant all over the Middle East?
“And while we’re at it, did Neville Chamberlain also have briefing books at Munich? I wouldn’t bet against it.”
DRAINING OF THE SWAMP PROCEEDING – It seems that giving Budget Director Mick Mulvaney the additional duties of director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was certainly the right move.
Two days after 11 advisory board members held a news conference to criticize Mulvaney, he fired the agency’s 25-member advisory board.
Mulvaney’s spokesman, John Czwartacki, said, “The outspoken members of the Consumer Advisory Board seem more concerned about protecting their taxpayer funded junkets to Washington DC and being wined and dined by the Bureau than protecting consumers.” The board is made up of consumer advocates, academics, and industry executives.
Since being appointed by the president in November, Mulvaney has launched a top-to-bottom review of the bureau’s operations, stripped enforcement powers from a CFPB unit responsible for pursuing discrimination cases and proposed that lawmakers curb the agency’s powers.
He intends to bring on new board members and revamp the organization.
“Mick Mulvaney has no intention of putting consumers above financial firms that cheat them,” asserts leftist Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who helped conceive the bureau, “This is what happens when you put someone in charge of an agency they think shouldn’t exist.”
Mulvaney is nobody’s fool.
May God bless the United States of America
