Home » Judge “Ahab” Sullivan keeps aiming his harpoon at General “Moby Dick” Flynn

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Judge “Ahab” Sullivan keeps aiming his harpoon at General “Moby Dick” Flynn — 59 Comments

  1. And, since most of America is unaware of the details of the case and how Flynn was mistreated and framed, it would probably work.

    I confess I got lost in the dust of the Sullivan-Flynn torture long ago — other than scanning neo’s surely excellent summaries.

    Were I not generally cynical of mainstream narratives, I would assume that Flynn were guilty of something more or less important.

  2. Lately, I have commented too frequently to my wife that we are becoming a
    Third World country.
    I take that back.
    I do not wish to disparage the average Third World country. Many of them are struggling to improve their situation; while we are egregiously hell bent on tearing down the very systems and structures that elevated us. Nothing exemplifies the rot more than the General Flynn debacle from the start until the present.
    In my opinion, the Founders made one serious mistake; and that was life time appointment of federal judges. There should have been a hard term limit, long enough for continuity but not interminable. That includes SCOTUS.
    Now that almost every facet of government, the preponderance of the educational system, the news media, and too many major corporations have joined the attack on our traditions and values; it is becoming increasingly difficult to see a way back.

  3. “In my opinion, the Founders made one serious mistake; and that was life time appointment of federal judges.”

    I don’t think it was a mistake strictly speaking…I just think they could never have anticipated the length of life that has become fairly common these days. In their day, 60 was pretty old…I don’t think they’d ever consider it likely that their lifetime appointments would last till…87? How old is Ginsberg? too old in any case!! but still…I agree with you in wishing they had put a definite time limit on the appointments.

  4. Commenters have said that Judge Rao, in issuing the mandamus ruling, relied heavily upon the DC Circuit opinion written by one of the Democrat judges. We’ll see.

    Calling him Ahab is about right, although, as you say, there may be lots of people pushing him. He’s happy to oblige, however.

  5. Henry Kissinger once described Soviet Russia as Upper Volta with nukes.

    We are rapidly approaching Potomac with nukes.

  6. Reading about the End of The Roman Republic isn’t a particularly joyful experience either.

  7. If Trump is not re-elected (heaven forbid), could he pardon Michael Flynn before he leaves office?

  8. Have you ever noticed that everytime Sullivan throws out a roadblock, the DOJ drives through it?
    https://www.redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/07/10/investigative-notes-released-today-in-flynn-case-confirm-doj-view-was-flynn-was-not-being-willfully-false-to-fbi/

    There are several posts out about this new document drop (one which has been expected but was not inevitable).
    I think that the DOJ was trying to signal Sullivan to let things drop so they could quit washing FBI’s dirty linen in public (maybe saving it up for one big laundry day; maybe not), but he wouldn’t take the hint.
    If the en banc hearing goes against Flynn, I wonder if they have any thing still in the hamper?

  9. “the Democrats will continue and even step up their lawfare efforts against him, thus continuing to transition us to full banana republic.”
    If Biden wins, that’ll be the least of our worries.
    Last nite Tucker described Dems’/ Biden’s plans, to use housing “reforms” to destroy the burbs.
    (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m_P3vEZuk4 , c. 3:00.)
    Then, Tucker describes the Dems’ plan to give amnesty to 22 million illegals, to solidify the Dems’ dreams of a permanent majority, i.e. a de facto One Party State, for all-but perpetuity.
    (This starts c. 5:10.)

  10. I’m nervous about this PJ story today:
    ______________________________________________

    U.S. Attorney John Durham is reportedly wrapping up his investigation into the origins of the Russian collusion probe. But according to Fox News sources, he still has several avenues of inquiry open, which may mean that any report on his findings will be delayed until after the election.

    “U.S. Attorney John Durham May Wait Until AFTER Election to Issue Report on Russia Probe”
    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/07/10/durham-may-wait-until-after-election-to-issue-report-on-russia-probe-n629136

    ______________________________________________

    Could Durham be another Man on a White Horse who turns out to be a Swamp Creature instead?

    I still favor Trump to win in November, but I don’t think it’s a lock anymore. If Durham or Barr wait until after the election, all their work may be for nothing. Is that the plan?

  11. If Durham or Barr wait until after the election, all their work *would* be for nothing, and would be ended by the Biden gov’t.
    Plenty of Righties will see such a move as a cave to the Deep State, and would vote for some party/ candidate (Libertarian or Kanye) who gives some hope of will to fight the D.S.

    If that is The Plan, it’s the road to civil war.
    I’ll bet it’s not the plan, but rather a trial balloon, maybe to get some key players to step it up.

  12. I have read that if Trump wins, the cities will burn. Militias are readying for this, (see mymilitia.org to find one). Similarly, if Biden wins – I think Scott Adams is the most prominent voice – then they will hunt Trump supporters like it is open season.

    (But as we see this summer, neither your vote nor your vehicle will save you. Even your skin color – any color or not – can get you made dead. Nothing is certain under anarchy except that having a gun improves your odds of survival.)

    If you are not armed, get arms. If you have them, visit your local firing range and learn how to properly us use them.

    We are the unorganised militia. Self-defense is the only real defense. And you only have ten or eleven weeks to prepare. You have been warned. Get ready for the coming storms.

  13. aNanyMouse: “Last nite Tucker described Dems’/ Biden’s plans, to use housing “reforms” to destroy the burbs.”

    This is an old, but lucid article on AFFH. Obama (now Biden) plan to regionalize areas. Thus, in order to get federal grants, Iowa will have to build subsidized housing for poor blacks in Chicago, who will then be transported to Iowa. Forming a blue-voting pod that can be expanded.
    I am not making this up.
    https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/affh-preview-obamas-hud-takes-over-dubuque-iowa/

  14. Don Surber is smarter than I am at this stuff. He’s reading the tea leaves and it ain’t pretty.
    _______________________________________________

    Durham covers up Obamagate

    14 months ago, Bill Barr appointed John Durham to investigate Barack Hussein Obama’s use of our national intelligence apparatus to spy on Donald John Trump, a political opponent.

    Conservatives called him Bull Durham apparently because he has a nice goatee and glowers menacingly.

    But Bull Durham is really Bull Shit Durham. He has yet to indict anyone, despite ample evidence that FBI agents lied 17 times to get the secret permission of Judge Rosemary Collyer to spy on The Donald.

    I get that these things take time, but I also get that you get the little guys first and work your way up.

    Where are the little guys?

    –Don Surber, “Durham covers up Obamagate”
    https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/07/durham-covers-up-obamagate.html

  15. “U.S. Attorney John Durham May Wait Until AFTER Election to Issue Report on Russia Probe”

    I think “may” should be changed to “will”. If Biden wins, it won’t take Dems 4 years to start rolling out indictments. Here’s Don Surber’s realistic take on the sitch:
    https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2020/07/durham-covers-up-obamagate.html
    (Durham) “has yet to indict anyone, despite ample evidence that FBI agents lied 17 times to get the secret permission of Judge Rosemary Collyer to spy on The Donald.” Surber gives 3 or 4 concrete examples of past cases where Durham was brought in, destroyed evidence, indicted no one and covered up any wrongdoing. At most Durham has only ever brought charges against a couple of low level FBI agents.

  16. huxley, et al:

    I think Durham will wait till after the election.

    Not only that, I think that he will only indict a few unimportant lower-downs. He lacks the guts, and probably he doesn’t even understand what’s at stake.

    In the larger picture, though, I don’t think what Durham does or doesn’t do, and when he does it, is important. It’s way beyond that. Do you think for a moment that if Durham – before the election – indicted everyone the right thinks should be indicted, that it would have a good effect? I think the MSM and the left would shriek that it was all a political vendetta, and pretty much a declaration of civil war against the left, and that we have turned into a banana republic, etc. Forget the fact that it’s the left who mounted the hoax known as Russiagate in the first place, turning us into a banana republic already. It’s only through a fluke that we found out about it at all.

    So the solutions have to come another way if they are to come at all. I see four possibilities. One is that the left gets the power and starts doing what it wants, and people successfully revolt. The second is that people accept it and the republic is permanently lost. And the third is that some sort of reverse Gramscian march by the right is successful – and quickly enough to forestall the first two. And the fourth is some black swan event I cannot foresee.

  17. “Don’t love it. Leave it while we let you.”
    This is the greatest reformulation of the pro-American classic — America, love it or leave it — eminently suited for our times, that I’ve ever seen.

    It’s a command to fess I up, be honest, get real: We patriots can and will force this question upon you. There are no weasily alternatives. Because we have most of the guns.

    I have two more items to add to “the Great Unravelling of America” topic. The root problem is the public support of corrupt education by the far Left, and the infiltration of its doctrines beyond there, the virus of Evil that cannot be contained.

    I’m stunned to not have previously encountered the analysis of the current Civil War by Michael Vlahos (of Johns Hopkins, history) as a cult Belief system, namely: “The Church of Woke.” And as such, may be appreciated, analysed, and critiqued this way by historical analogues and political precedents.

    The origin of Civil War lies in the loss of political legitimacy. Based on this fact, our new War really did begin with the 2016 election’s end, and it’s roots lay in the deification of the Obamunist quest to “fundamentally transform” the US, as candidate Obama declared on October, 2008. It was His cri de coer to the far Left.

    I’m only catching up on this highly illuminating analysis. Vlahos statement last year on the Civil War in The American Conservative is my starting point.
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/civil-war-begins-when-the-constitutional-order-breaks-down/

    It continues with his interview commentary on “The Church of Woke”, preserved as podcasts by John Bachelor online, in June and July (just use search names and key words). And other times? Outlets?

    Indeed, there needs to be a blog site tracking everything far Left and new Civil War related. Or maybe someone already knows?

    As I say, I’m catching up. Perhaps others can share an updated and better bibliography on this theme to learn from?

    Finally, the way the past intrudes into the “Woke” present connects the patterns of the disbelief of the actual Holocaust of history and the denial of dehumanising the enemy today. Civil War requires this dehumanising of the enemy.

    The far Left has long been doing it, preparing themselves and teaching it. we’re only catching up from a dangerous distance behind them. So goes a necessary rationalisation. Let us not indulge ourselves stupidly, like they do.

    The excellent space historian Robert Zimmerman at his site behindtheblack.com connects these dots down to our struggles until today. He sketches how people we know, and often people we love, engage in denial and thus serve evil heedless of the flashing warning signs. They ought to know better, yet they do not: “Genocide is coming to America” https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/genocide-is-coming-to-america/

    Let us bear witness to the lessons of the past (and here, I specifically recall Neo’s valuable reading of Klemperer’s coming of the Nazi’s themed diaries — on my Autumn reading list), even as we prepare for future battles.

    Please let us be better than our enemies. If it sounds like I’m getting prayerful, it it because I am. We need to be.

  18. In the larger picture, though, I don’t think what Durham does or doesn’t do, and when he does it, is important. It’s way beyond that. Do you think for a moment that if Durham – before the election – indicted everyone the right thinks should be indicted, that it would have a good effect?

    neo: I think it’s hard to say. It would certainly encourage the troops on our side. It might disrupt the other side’s timing and confidence. It would be a stand for the rule of law and against the thuggish wokeocracy which believes if it breaks enough stuff and ruins enough people it will get its way.

    Your scenarios jump to the medium- and long-term, as though America were already so broken we are doomed to lose the short-term.

    Maybe it is, but I haven’t reached that level of pessimism and I would prefer to proceed as though America and its citizenry were still functional enough to take the battle to the enemy this year. Otherwise it sends a terribly defeatist message to our side and emboldens theirs.

    We’re in the fog of war. It’s hard to say what will work and what won’t. I assume Trump has some say in how things will go down and I’ve come to trust his instincts.

  19. In my opinion it is not the lifetime appointment of judges that is the problem, but the lack of term limits of politicians who get comfortable with the existing order. We urgently need to put into place a constitutional amendment that limits this time. I believe 18 years total combination of either house would be good. That allows for some seasoning while forcing them to go back into the real world and live in it.

    The reason why no term limits was initially put into the constitution was that back at that time all the real action happened in the states. You did a short stint at the Federal government to burnish your credentials. Lincoln and Davy Crockett served one term as congressmen and went back to the states. Senators served at the state legislatures pleasure so they were real mindful of what was happening in their state. Then in the late 19th century longer tenures became normal. Railroads made going back to your home state easier so you didn’t lose touch with your state.

    Term limits at the state level has proven that elected representative turnover doesn’t hurt/help the state. A badly run state still remains a badly run state (California and New York) and vice versa (Texas and Arkansas). One thing that does happen is that as a politician ages out of state government they have to get a federal position but remains a natural progression any system.

    To finish the point of the first paragraph politicians who go to Washington gets subsumed into the system call it the deep state or administrative state. Paul Ryan, Lindsay Graham and Marco Rubio are the examples that come to my mind. Elected by their constituents as change agents they got comfortable with the established order. Term Limits would lessen that appeal as you know there is an ending point. We shall see with the latest change agents Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, Jim Jordan and Lee Zeldin if they succumb to the establishment.

  20. Witness the power of the Deep State… Americans expected one guy, Donald J, to drain the swamp?

    Is HRC in jail yet?

    Get off your seats munching on the popcorn, with the butter dripping off your mouth, while watching fake news, America. It’s time to Wake up or you can go join Maoism and the Deep State’s child pedo “new world” if you so choose.

    Could Durham be another Man on a White Horse who turns out to be a Swamp Creature instead?

    I still favor Trump to win in November, but I don’t think it’s a lock anymore. If Durham or Barr wait until after the election, all their work may be for nothing. Is that the plan?

    If the Leftist alliance does a false flag terrorist attack and a few cities are wiped off the map, do you think there will still be an election in 2020?

    Heh.

    THey are pushing every doomsday button in existence. Don’t underestimate a cat that you have driven into a corner and has no escape.

    What I have heard is that the Deep State, both factions, refuse to release indictments against the higher Deep State tools, until after the 2020 elections. Something about getting cold feet and being afraid how the public would take it as it would destroy the US institutions before an election. Q seems to want indictments sooner rather than later, but once this ball of yarn is ripped apart, it does not stop.

  21. Paul Ryan, Lindsay Graham and Marco Rubio are the examples that come to my mind. Elected by their constituents as change agents they got comfortable with the established order.

    They were given a deal they could not refuse.

    Cooperate and your State, constituents, family, and self will gain prestige, money, and funded projects.

    Fight us and your children will be abducted by CPS and sold to sex slavers, your family will be destroyed as we will leak every blackmail we have on you or use the mob, and your State will be hurt because all your projects will be blocked.

    Accept or Refuse?

  22. The Wall St. Journal editorial board calls this morning for Trump to cut this charade short by pardoning Flynn before the Appeals Court decides whether to grant the en banc hearing.

    And the NY Sun editors wonder whether Sullivan would accept the pardon.

  23. The far Left has long been doing it, preparing themselves and teaching it. we’re only catching up from a dangerous distance behind them.

    I caught the tail of the Leftist alliance, what some call the Deep State, in 2007. I saw the tail in 2006. It’s why I tried to figure out ways to wake people up by calling attention to the inevitability of Civil War 2. Most people found that incomprehensible. Their lives, if not good under 2008 2016 Hussein, was at least tolerable. They had better living conditions. Just wait for better times.

    And now it is 2020. I have significant advantage over most people now, because I started looking at these realities a long time ago.
    I have read that if Trump wins, the cities will burn.

    They already burned. Are they gonna double cook it and char broil it or something?

    Or asteroid falls and they blame the nuclear annihilation of 15 uS cities on aliens or something equally fantastical and pro Leftist?

  24. In my opinion it is not the lifetime appointment of judges that is the problem, but the lack of term limits of politicians who get comfortable with the existing order.

    The problem with this is twofold. One , staffs already write the legislation. Then they move over as lobbyists and “interpret” the laws they wrote. Second, the McCain-Finegold law reduced Congress to spend all their time fundraising. “Dialing for Dollars” it is called. McCain was so enraged to be caught up in the Keating 5 scandal, he destroyed the Congress in revenge. Had the law been in force in 1968, Eugene McCarthy could not have run against Johnson. His campaign was funded by one wealthy supporter.

  25. The Moby Dick line fits perfectly, Neo. I have incorporated it into the signature on my emails.
    ———————————————————————————————–
    “To the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.” 
    As Captain Ahab cursed Moby Dick, so too does Judge Sullivan curse General Flynn, and Adam Schiff curse President Trump.

  26. Neo, on seeing four possibilities, if Durham dodges his responsibility:

    I envision a combo of these scenarios.

    The left gets the power and starts doing what it wants, until Physical/ financial reality intervenes, to impoverish many of the Upper-middle class SnowFlake apparatchiks (who are the backbone of the Lefty SuperState), enough to reduce the *fervor* with which they work to impose their darling Utopia upon the Deplorables.

    Only when these apparatchiks get the rough equivalent of Blue Flu, will the Deplorables get to mount enough effective resistance, that the Utopia crumbles, and rump Deplorable regimes emerge across much of the fruited plain.
    Perhaps some of these rump regimes will have some sort of republican features.

    The most likely way, for Physical/ financial reality to so clobber these apparatchiks, is via a collapse of the dollar in int’l markets.
    This $$ crisis could happen at any time, but ’til it does, the Left will have free reign, to work to *smash all* dissent.

  27. Neo, on “Do you think for a moment….?”
    I’m rather stunned that you’d doubt that, for reasons listed by huxley, and because of the likely effect upon more-moderate liberals, esp. the sorts who signed the Harpers’ letter days ago.
    Until now, such liberals have been in denial, as to the nature of the monster they’ve been covering for in recent years/ decades.
    It’s fairly likely, that big busts by Durham could melt much of this denial, esp. if the Right gives these liberals an earful, like Joseph Welch put it in 1954:
    “Have you no sense of decency, sir…?’

    Huxley, on how Durham dodging his responsibility sends a *terribly defeatist* message to our side, and *emboldens* theirs:

    Exactly, and *obviously*.
    I can’t believe Trump doesn’t see this, and isn’t trying to get this across to Durham.
    A republic, unable to mount a meaningful defense of itself vs. the withering assaults the Dems launched these past (at least) 3+ years, would thus show itself quite ready for the coup de grace which the Dems will be happy to inflict when they get the W.H. back.

  28. aNanyMouse gets it. There is one hell of a big bill coming due for the pandemic shutdown of the economy. Even a re-elected Trump would struggle with it. Biden and the Left have no clue what’s coming or how to handle it.

    Mike

  29. Yeah, MBunge, the $$ system was a house of cards before the covid mess, really ever since the ’08 bailouts, if not since the dot com fiasco.
    And, the backdrop before that was weak, esp. in light of the “emergence” of Peak Cheap Oil, see such sage writers as J.H. Kunstler, J.M. Greer, Eric Janszen, Michael Hudson, and FoFoA.

    Trump may have some clue, Dems *want* no clue.

  30. To my list of writers worth a look (tho w/ more reservations), see K. Denniger, A. Fekete, & Dmitri Orlov.
    Anyone who *pontificated* on Econ/ finance, but didn’t foresee that the prior decade would have a financial crisis (as it happened, in ’08), isn’t remotely worth reading on such matters.

    And, anyone who *pontificated* in favor of margarine vs. butter, isn’t remotely worth reading on dietary matters.

    Just as, anyone who *pontificated* on RussiaGate, but didn’t at least express *some* suspicion of it from the start, isn’t remotely worth reading on political/ journalistic matters.

  31. And, anyone who *pontificated* on HCQ, but didn’t at least express *some* suspicion of the torrent of propaganda about it (e.g. from the Lancet) from the start, isn’t remotely worth reading on medical matters.

  32. Re: James Howard Kunstler:

    I enjoy his political musings very much. One of the wittiest scribes around.

    On Economics, Kunstler reminds me of a combination of Ezra Pound and Professor Irwin Corey. As Gertrude Stein said: “Pound is a village explainer. All very well if you are a village. But if not…, not.”

  33. LeClerc, I’ll not comment on “village explainer”, until you get specific.
    I’m not touting him as a *markets* expert, as I might about, say, N. Roubini, M. Shedlock, and (esp.) Gary Savage (for his record in trading in Real Time).

  34. aNanyMouse:

    I don’t agree with you at all.

    I have been struck by how impervious the liberals I know are to any argument ascribing anything but evil to Trump. They still for the most part think he really colluded with Russia, Kavanaugh tried to rape whatsername, and all the rest. Almost every one of the people who signed that Harper’s letter also will never abandon those viewpoints, certainly not regarding Trump and the guilt of everyone allied with him. Their big beef is that the leftist crocodile has started to come for its own – that is, potentially, themselves. That’s all that letter was about, IMHO.

    Sorry, but that’s what I see. If Durham indicts anyone in the plot against Trump they will immediately say he’s a hack doing Trump’s bidding.

  35. Not sure I agree with the pessimism regarding Barr/Durham.

    Note that they’re not going to “pounce” until ready.

    Yes, it’s dispiriting, but remember: we are living in the Age of Instantaneity brought on by that blessing/scourge known as social media. IOW, things have to happen NOW. Results have to be in by YESTERDAY. Otherwise, it’s just no good. Otherwise, we just can’t handle it….

    As such, my gut feeling (AKA desperate hope) is that:
    1. They’re wrapping things up.
    2. They’re trying to provide “the usual suspects” with a false sense of security and/or keep them in a state in suspense (though, clearly, it’s not just “the usual suspects” that seem to be affected at this point).
    3. It’s going to be comprehensive…
    4. And brutal.
    5. Fox’s ratings are going to blow through the stratosphere (since the MSCM—IF they report anything at all about these proceedings—will go into overdrive trying to deflect, distort, lie and warp everything about them).
    6. The Republic will survive.

    (Warning: My gut is not always reliable…)

  36. No. Durham’s record of prosecution is one of failure to follow through. And not prosecuting. He’s not capable of being the man that’s needed now, ie, a man of deep courage.

    I read a fairly extensive summary of his case record. (Was it Red State, linked above here?) There nothing to indicate that justice will be done, despite crimes on the public record and investigations lasting a year.

    By contrast, Mueller needed only three months to start prosecuting. Therefore, failure of Durhams mission is pretty much the baked-into the-cake outcome.

    Unless Trump appoints a Special Counsel prosecutor who’s a fearless animal and outsider from Washington, DC, our only hope is vigilantism. Summary trials and severest punishments.

    Get used to total disappointment in Federal justice. Get active on getting your own.

  37. By contrast, Mueller needed only three months to start prosecuting. Therefore, failure of Durhams mission is pretty much the baked-into the-cake outcome.

    Weismann’s crew was hounding people on process crimes.

  38. Neo, thanx for quite thoughtful comment, but I think you wrong about many liberals, esp. those outside of the coastal hotbeds.

    I’ll bet ranch that, for starters, Chomsky, Steinem, and Haidt (given their prior stark departures from the Party Line) will be *far* more reasonable than you say here, esp. on the Russia/ Deep State part.
    Likewise, the likes of, say, McWhorter and G. Packer, who’ve been sharply critical of key aspects of Awokenness.

    My extensive (decades of) experiences (much in the Midwest) say, it’s much more complex.
    Many (esp. older) liberals do care a lot about their tradition of peace activism, civil liberties, etc., and are intimidated into laying low, when bulldozed by younger fanatics, or Awoken colleagues.

    Until, say, Aaron Maté gets tossed from The Nation (for his stud work on Russia etc.), I’ll have some fair hope for some liberals.

  39. A fair rule of thumb on liberals is, the SJW-dominated types are mostly:
    1) immersed in SJW-dominated institutions, e.g. teachers’ unions, Elite schools; or anyway very dependent on Uncle Sugar; or,
    2) driven by bitterness over personal failures, e.g as Cat Ladies/, “survivors” of divorce brawls, or victims of ‘capitalist’ swindles (e.g. from Wall St.)

    Those not in these 2 categories are much more likely, to be open to influence from actual evidence (e.g. indictments from Durham).

  40. ANanyMouse:

    I hope you’re right and I’m wrong about this. I really do.

    I know lots of liberals, too, older ones. Sensible-seeming people, traditional in their private lives. Some are upset about the upheavals right now. But they will never vote for a Republican, never. They will continue to vote Democratic, every last one of them, at least based on my conversations with them.

    And they are by no means all in liberal cities like New York. They are not in the midwest, however, so I don’t know how that section of the country will go. Again, I hope you are correct.

  41. aNanyMouse: I’ve sounded out some liberal friends and while they sure do hate Trump, they are not on board with the new “trans” orthodoxy or full-on climate change alarmism.

    But they sure do hate Trump.

  42. For the anxious and impatient, an update of note:
    https://twitter.com/ombudsman4truth/status/1228308966133977089
    with many interesting comments, e.g., someone named “Force Majeure”
    (H/T Lee Smith twitter feed)

    The above tweet references:
    https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanNYT/status/1228058552998256645
    which belongs to NYT reporter Adam Goldman, but which also has some worthwhile comments.

    It looks like “things” are about to get “interesting”.

  43. Neo & huxley, evidence from Durham (of the biggest *criminal* plot in US history!) could easily move many to vote Green (or Libertarian, or Kanye?), esp. in the *privacy* of the voting booth), or stay home.
    Even if the Dems lost only, say, 4% of their usual total (i.e. if their total dropped from Hillary’s 48%, to 44%), that may well be fatal to their chances vs. Trump.

    This particularly applies to blacks, who tend to be moderate, compared to white SJWs.
    In this, Kanye could be outright decisive.
    If you’ve worked at length with (esp. lower-) middle class blacks, you’d have a real feel for this.
    When you hear a black talk cynically about “the bothers”, you likely have a rich target for Kanye.
    Bus drivers, handymen, orderlies, ….

  44. And, don’t expect these sorts of blacks to tell truth to pollsters, who, after all, work for The Man.
    Tho I’m white, the last thing I’ll do is tell anything to The Man.
    This election in particular, only the most expensive, carefully constructed of polls, will be worth *anything*.
    Any firm, which claims to *know* who are Likely Voters, is talking out of its ass.

  45. More on blacks, esp. :
    Biden really stepped in it, with his bit about “then you ain’t black”.
    SJW females must tread *very* carefully among the working males, or be dissed as Lefty Karens.
    Many such black men ID as *men*, as much or more as they ID as blacks.
    They’ll be Kanye’s prime targets.

    And, Trump should slobber all over Scott, to get him to campaign together in Det., Cleve., Milw., PA, etc., unless they conclude that those places figure to be Kanye Country anyhow.

  46. “We’re in the fog of war. It’s hard to say what will work and what won’t. I assume Trump has some say in how things will go down and I’ve come to trust his instincts.” – huxley

    Something like this?
    https://www.thenewneo.com/2020/07/11/this-is-the-sort-of-thing-that-explains-why-the-left-hates-trump-with-the-heat-of-a-thousand-suns-and-must-destroy-him/

    I think Artfldgr is correct here:
    https://www.thenewneo.com/2020/07/11/trump-commutes-the-sentence/#comment-2504958
    “Neo: But everything is fuel for their fire.

    Ah… and therein lies the rub…

    When this becomes the knowledge, the person subjected to it is free to do whatever they want without any impedance from those who are making a plea. If one is damned if one does, and damned if one doesn’t, one might as well do what one wants, as placating the demons is irrelevant.”

  47. Barry’s link to the RCI news post gives a lot of new details about Spygate that flesh out some of the well-known stories.
    Must-read for those still interested in how the Russian probe was initiated, maintained, and ultimately imploded.

    Who will teach the teachers?
    https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/07/10/fbi_man_at_heart_of_surveillance_abuses_is_a_professor_of_spying_ethics_124382.html


    Wray also assured Horowitz that he was conducting a review of all FBI personnel who had responsibility for the preparation of the FISA warrant applications and would take any appropriate action to deal with them.

    It’s not immediately known if Auten has undergone such a review or has completed the required ethics training. The FBI declined comment.

    “That analyst needs to be investigated internally,” Swecker said.

    Auten appears to have violated the ethics training he provides his students at Patrick Henry College.

    “When I teach the topic of national security investigations to undergraduates, we cover micro-proportionality, discrimination, and the ‘least intrusive standard’ via a tweaked version of the Golden Rule — namely, if you were being investigated for a national security issue but you knew yourself to be completely innocent, how would you want someone to investigate you?” Auten wrote in a September 2016 article in Providence magazine, headlined “Just Intelligence, Just Surveillance & the Least Intrusive Standard.”

    He wrote the six-page paper to answer the question: “Is an intelligence operation, national security investigation or act of surveillance being initiated under the proper authorities for the right purposes? Will an intelligence operation, national security investigation or act of surveillance achieve the good it is meant to? And, in the end, will the expected good be overwhelmed by the resulting harm or damage arising out of the planned operation, investigation or surveillance act?”

    “National security investigations are not ethics-free,” he asserted, advising that a federal investigator should never forget that “the intrusiveness or invasiveness of his tactics places a subject’s reputation, dignity and privacy at risk and has the ability to cause harm.”

    At the same time, Auten said more intrusive methods such as electronic eavesdropping may be justified — “If it is judged that the threat is severe or the targeted foreign intelligence is of key importance to U.S. interest or survival.” National security “may necessitate collection based on little more than suspicion.” In these cases, he reasoned, the harm to the individual is outweighed by the benefit to society.

    “Surveillance is not life-threatening to the surveilled,” he said.

    However, Page, a U.S. citizen, told RealClearInvestigations that he received “numerous death threats” from people who believed he was a “traitor,” based on leaks to the media that the FBI suspected he was a Russian agent who conspired with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 election.

    Auten also rationalized the risk of “incidental” surveillance of non-targeted individuals, writing: “If the particular act of surveillance is legitimately authorized, and the non-liable subject has not been intentionally targeted, any incidental surveillance of the non-liable subject would be morally licit.”

    A member of the International Intelligence Ethics Association, Auten has lectured since 2010 on “intelligence and statecraft” at Patrick Henry College, where he is an adjunct professor. He also sits on the college’s Strategic Intelligence Advisory Board.

    FBI veterans say the analyst’s lack of rigor raises alarms.

    “I worked with intel analysts all the time working counterintelligence investigations,” said former FBI Special Agent Michael Biasello, a 25-year veteran of the FBI who spent 10 years in counterintelligence. “This analyst’s work product was shoddy, and inasmuch as these FISA affidavits concerned a presidential campaign, the information he provided [to agents] should have been pristine.”

    He suspects Auten was “hand-picked” by Comey or McCabe to work on the sensitive Trump case, which was tightly controlled within FBI headquarters.

    “The Supervisory Intel Analyst must be held accountable now, particularly where his actions were intentional, along with anyone who touched those fraudulent [FISA] affidavits,” Biasello said.

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