Here are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.
GETTING AWAY WITH IT – While writing about Wall Street Journal Kimberly A. Strassel’s comment that Joe Biden would be judged for his role in the Flynn case by the voters in November, I was reminded of an e-mail I received from a friend citing his belief that “they all get away with it.”
He listed all of the bad actors behind the Deep State coup, who have, so far, gotten away with their effort to bring down the Trump presidency, and the career of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. But he also included those who perjured themselves while attacking Brett Kavanaugh, and got away with it.
I, too, have been extremely disappointed with a number of our Republican lawmakers – Senators Lindsay Graham and Charles Grassley and Representatives Devin Nunes and Kevin McCarthy – who appear on Fox News Channel and boastfully say, “I won’t let them get away with it.”
We had high hopes for the Mueller Report. While it revealed no collusion with Russia, those who originated and pursued that investigation have yet to apologize.
On April 11, 2019, however, Representative Nunes sent a criminal-referral notification to Attorney General Bill Barr alleging “potential violations” of the law by agents of the FBI. Then Rep. John Ratcliffe, who was the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee when it was under Republican control, worked with Nunes on that referral. Ratcliffe is soon to be sworn in as the DNI.
It is assumed that Barr will share the referral with U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has a wide-scope of investigative authority of the DOJ and FBI.
The outspoken Senator Graham will be bringing a number of the cast of coup characters before his Senate Judiciary Committee next month.
Although I admit to being frustrated with the slow pace of justice, I continue to believe that the culprits in the DOJ and FBI will be held accountable, however, I don’t know what charges could be handed down, and similarly, I am not familiar with what form of punishment could be expected.
“Perjury convictions would appear to be a slam dunk,” wrote John Leonard in his piece, “Obamagate Must Result in Criminal Prosecutions,” in American Thinker.
I am not a lawyer, but I believe the charge of sedition is not out of the question.
It’s unfortunate that the likes of Representatives Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler are protected from punishment, except by the House, and that isn’t likely as the Democrats hold the majority and they protect their own.
Similarly, Senators Dianne Feinstein, Maizie Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Kamala Harris and other Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who participated in the near destruction of Judge Kavanaugh’s life, escape punishment. Suffice it to say that they have at least joined Christine Blasey Ford, who they set up and defended, as individuals who brought embarrassment upon themselves that won’t soon be forgotten.
Normally, I would recommend patience, but it’s too late for that. Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. One might suggest endurance or perseverance. I like doggedness.
THEN THERE’S Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has temporarily blocked the DOJ’s dismissal of charges against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and has called in a retired judge to interview opposition to the dismissal, even though he officially has no discretion to do so.
When Flynn appeared before Sullivan in December of 2018, Sullivan said, “Arguably, you sold out your country,” and even asked a prosecutor with the Special Counsel’s office if they considered charging him with treason. Clearly, Sullivan does not want Flynn to escape punishment. In this case, it’s Sullivan who is “getting away with it.”
(Courtesy David Horsey, Seattle Times)
EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, I will hear someone suggest that a certain member of the media, or the media in general, should apologize for their role in convincing the American public that Donald Trump was guilty of collusion with Russia, even to the extent that he was a Russian agent. Easy answer. Not going to happen.
With that in mind, however, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.’s column, “Media Cowardice and the Collusion Hoax,” caught my eye in the Wall Street Journal.
“Newsies in the aftermath of the Russia hoax now insist they were merely reporting on official actions,” writes Jenkins. “They carefully avert their eyes from the fact that the leaks they received and possibly even the official acts they reported were manufactured deliberately to put lies into the news.
“If they had any grit, many of our senior reporters would be hopping mad now to learn they had been manipulated into reporting untruths to the public.
“If they had any grit. Instead, many of them seem to be hanging around the same leakers and whisperers.
“The purpose of reporting is not to propagate falsehoods; what good are commentators who lack the judgment to recognize that the Steele dossier had no journalistic value except proof of the concocter’s low opinion of journalists.
“Fools become liars when they knowingly persist in their misrepresentations to preserve personal dignity and professional standing. By rights, the rectification should begin with the dismissal, on competence grounds, of the leadership in many newsrooms. It won’t.”
So, if you are expecting Mika, Joe, Rachel, Jake, Andrea, Chuck or Maggie to one day say, ‘I was wrong,’ don’t hold your breath.
I’M OUT OF THE HOUSE and doing my best to help the economy. I live in Maricopa County, with its population of 4,329,580 people, it is the most populous county in Arizona and the fourth most populated county in the United States.
As I write this, we have had 8,277 cases of Covid-19 with 384 registered deaths. How many of those were actually virus deaths is questionable. On Sunday, it was reported that 72 percent of the Maricopa deaths were among residents of long-term care facilities … nursing homes, assisted living, hospice and rehabilitation centers. The death count of those not in such a facility is 108, putting the rate at .002 per cent.
While I will continue to do my best in observing social distancing and practicing the suggested hygiene guidelines, I enjoy my freedoms and I’m not going to allow a .002 death rate to govern my life.
DEMOCRATS DON’T WANT YOU to live your lives. One of Arizona’s leading Democrats, Fred DuVal, answered his own question, “When and how can we ‘return to normal?’” with “I say we shouldn’t.” It was in his op-ed that appeared in the left-leaning Arizona Republic.
“Normal isn’t working for most Americans,” writes the all-knowing DuVal, “and Covid-19 has made that dramatically more evident.
DuVal is still peddling the Trump economy as one that has been successful only for the wealthy, despite the low unemployment and wage increases achieved before the shutdown.
“Before the coronavirus, the income gap had already hit a historic high and American upward mobility a historic low,” he would have you believe. He continues with his leftist view that “systematic maldistribution of social goods, nutrition, health care, education have exacerbated the inequality.”
He then proceeds to paint a picture of doom and gloom, with the hope that uninformed Democrats will follow his recommendation to isolate. It’s part of the left’s agenda to keep the economy from any recovery between now and the November election.
I wonder when DuVal’s going to realize that his vision has made him a loser every time he runs for office.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
