Politics

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Did The Biden Administration Just Have A Watergate Moment?

President Nixon

When I look at the recent Mar-a-Lago raid, I cannot help but think this was the stupidest political act by an administration since Watergate. As someone old enough to watch the Watergate scandal unfold, I remain confused over the motive for ordering an illegal break-in. As presidential administrations go, the Nixon administration had some pretty impressive accomplishments. According to Wikipedia, the Nixon administration saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the first manned Moon landings, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In addition, the American people overwhelmingly reelected Richard Nixon for a second term. The Nixon administration should have sat back and solidified the Nixon legacy. Instead, they got caught ordering an illegal break-in. It was so unnecessary! Nixon resigned in disgrace. How stupid can you get! 

Unfortunately, the Biden administration has found a way. According to polling, the Democratic candidates were clawing their way back into contention for the 2022 midterms. Then the Biden administration did what it does best, screw things up. There is no good time to raid the home of the last President, but before the midterms is a terrible time. Please tell me there was at least one adult in the room who said this was a bad idea. At least there will be hope for the future. Democratic candidates throughout the land will pay the price in the midterms. It is one thing to be thought evil by Republicans and another when you convince Independents the raid was politically motivated.

The Biden administration should not talk about an independent Department of Justice. Over the last six years, the Department of Justice has had trouble with extracurricular political activities. As a result, the Department of Justice shredded its reputation. To give their reputation a chance to recover, they should solicit outside opinions. In the eyes of the common man and woman, the elites are not elite. Considering the political risks involved, someone in the Biden administration should remind the Department of Justice they should have at least one adult in the room when a raid like this is being discussed. The raid is a high-risk, low-reward operation. Even if everyone in the rooms thinks the raid is a “slam dunk”, a wise person needs to clear this with the big guy. It is his legacy, and the wolves are gathering. The Democratic party is one small step from eating their own to preserve the party.

The Biden administration should stop denying that they knew nothing about the raid. It is about 90 days till the midterms, and the Biden administration knows nothing. I don’t think so! Their denials are beginning to remind me of Nixon denying Watergate. It was the coverup that got Nixon to resign. Welcome to the pressure cooker, Joe!

P.S. Congratulations to President Nixon. You are no longer the worst President in my lifetime.

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The Unraveling Narrative About The January 6th Armed Insurrection

My first impression about the January 6th Armed Insurrection was that it was a clown show. In the middle of 2020, the pundits warned everyone listening that this election would be prone to massive voter irregularities due to the increase in mail-in voting and the removal of voter integrity controls. The presidential election did not disappoint. Several precincts made errors. Some of the mistakes were innocent mistakes. Other mistakes are suspicious and warranted a non-partisan investigation. According to the media, the guys in this picture represent or are spokespeople for the “Big Lie”. When I look at photos of the insurrection, I do not see anyone who looks like a leader. Recently Reuters reported that the FBI has concluded that there was no conspiracy or coordinated effort behind the events at the Capitol on January 6. So why did the media select these guys? I think the press promoted these guys as leadership because it made for an entertaining news story even though they knew it was false.

When I think of an “armed insurrection”, I see it as the most extreme protest form. As an example of armed insurrection, I think of the first battle of the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord. The Americans were armed and wanted to overthrow British rule. People got shot, and there was no turning back.

Domestic terrorism is another example of extreme protest. Two examples of domestic terrorism are the 2017 Congressional Baseball shooting and the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. Both of these incidents involved a person shooting people they disagreed with for political reasons. However, unlike these events, no protester shot anyone on January 6.

The ANTIFA/BLM “mostly peaceful” protests in the summer of 2020 are more examples of extreme protests. These protests were far more organized and had a wide selection of non-lethal weaponry. Rocks, canned goods, and frozen water bottles were staged at strategic points for the protesters to throw. Some protesters carried commercial fireworks, lasers, and the occasional gun. When you compare the Armed Insurrection protesters to the sophistication of the ANTIFA/BLM protesters, the Armed Insurrection protesters were practically unarmed. Their weaponry appears to be bear spray and the occasional fire extinguisher once they got inside. It does not look like the majority of the protesters planned to breach the Capitol and were surprised it happened so quickly.

The final part of the unraveling narrative about the January 6th Armed Insurrection is the Capitol Police plan to defend the Capitol. When you look at the non-lethal weaponry employed by the police, you have to wonder whether they planned to defend the Capitol at all? I am pretty sure tear gas would have chased most protesters away. If that did not work, I suspect spraying the protesters with water in the middle of winter would have been a good deterrent, too. I did not see any tear gas in the photos and far too many physical confrontations between police and protesters. It was a stupid position to put the police in where tear gas would do. If you do not have the non-lethal weaponry, then the only plan left was for the Capitol Police to retreat. Most of the Capitol Police officers followed this plan. One officer did not and ended up shooting an unarmed Ashli Babbitt while she crawled in a window. She was not a lethal threat to the officer. Since the officer did not have pepper spray or other non-lethal weaponry to encourage her to retreat, the officer was responsible for de-escalating the situation by retreating. Just because the only weapon the officer had was a gun does not excuse the officer from the responsibility to withdraw and not to kill her.

The “Armed Insurrection” was neither armed nor an insurrection. President Biden and Speaker of the House Pelosi thought they could pin the protest on “white supremacists” and President Trump. They probably thought they could shut up President Trump and his supporters forever. The problem is that the facts do not support their position. First, the FBI has concluded that there was no conspiracy or coordinated effort. So it wasn’t Trump. Now the Department of Justice is left with indicting people for selfies. Second, the protest was about a stolen election. Although I remain skeptical that the voter fraud investigations will indict anyone or overturn the Presidential election, investigations in several states lead me to believe that it is now more likely than not that voter fraud turned several states. Thus, the “Big Lie” narrative was a coverup. As for shutting up President Trump, I don’t think it is working either!

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Kente Scarves And Confederate Statues

If we can believe that Kente scarves are more about black pride than a convenient way to identify slave traders, then why do we have problems with Civil War reconciliation efforts such as civil war statues? The Civil War was the largest human catastrophe in American history. According to the American Battlefield Trust, “there were an estimated 1.5 million casualties reported during the Civil War“. There were 27 million white people in the United States in 1860. About 5.5% of the population did not come home from the war. At the end of the war, the slavery issue was settled but the reconciliation between the North and the South was a huge problem. The South was decimated and the North proved themselves to be particularly inept as an occupying force. Eventually, both sides agreed to let local communities grieve in their own way. Especially in the South, they chose to erect statues and hold parades to commemorate those who served. It was not much but the communities gradually healed. For this purpose, the statues served their purpose and can be put away now. When you look at the loss of life during the war, the people complaining about the statues sound petty and hypocritical. It is as if 1.5 million casualties do not matter. Joseph Stalin would approve.

“The death of one man is tragic, but the death of thousands is statistic.” ~ Joseph Stalin

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Match Made In Hell – Democratic Party And Information Technology

For such a woke group of people, it is astonishing that the Democratic Party is so stupid about information technology. We have been coding phone apps for a long time. You would have thought someone would have tested the Iowa caucus phone app before they used it to tally votes. They appear to be going out of their way to show America they are the party you absolutely do not want running the country. Competence matters!

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I Broke My Rule Of Not Listening To The Impeachment Trial Last Night

Last night Mr. Dershowitz gave us a class on the Constitution and the history of impeachment. For our poor senators who have to listen to this trial, I think Mr. Dershowitz did a great job of keeping the information relevant and interesting. If you did not have any problems following any of the Hillsdale’s Constitution 101 classes, you should not have a problem following his arguments.

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The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend Until Our Common Enemy Is Dead

An ancient proverb says, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This is true until the common enemy is no longer a threat. I was hoping our recent friendship with Iran would grow into a nonaggression pact. Unfortunately, Iran sponsored demonstrations at the United States embassy in Iraq indicates that Iran did not care to be friends with the U. S. anymore. They were not even trying to hide their contempt for the United States. Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responded Wednesday by taunting Trump, declaring, “You can’t do a damn thing.” For a country that could not do a damn thing, killing General Soleimani was a pretty impressive rebuttal. Iran and the United States have lost that loving feeling. It would be wise of Iran to be careful with their taunts and actions going forward. President Obama is gone. There is a new sheriff in town.

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The Trump Impeachment Is Congress’s Attempt To Toilet Paper The Whitehouse

Why is it so hard for our elected officials to act like adults? Without bipartisan support, impeachment was juvenile and a sad reminder that our elected representatives have forgotten about constituent priorities. So instead of fixing surprise medical bills, we got impeachment. We had bipartisan support for fixing surprise medical bills. Good luck with the re-election campaigns!

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What Lord Palmerston Might Say About The Peace In Syria

Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.”— Lord Palmerston

I find it somewhat surprising to hear the pundits talk so glowingly about the US-Kurdish friendship. In the past, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran warned the United States about getting too close to the Kurds. As a result, the United States does not directly supply weapons to the Kurds. Both the United States and the Kurds understood that this friendship was never meant to be permanent. Turkey and Syria would determine when peace in Syria could occur.

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Was The FISA Warrant For Carter Page A Guilt Offering To The Deep State?

Goddess Of Justice

When you look at the timeline of the events leading up to the FISA warrant request on Carter Page, you see an embarrassed FBI that let down not only the United States but the presumed next president of the United States, Ms. Clinton. When Wikileaks posted the Podesta emails on the 7th of October, the FBI was embarrassed and the Clinton campaign was horrified. One of the major goals of the FBI in 2016 was to prevent Russian interference in the 2016 elections. The DNC hack earlier in the year was a grim reminder of what the Russians were capable of. Despite this warning, the FBI failed on the biggest stage, the Presidential election. A foreigner with ties to Russia claimed responsibility for the Podesta hack but this hack would not have been so important if it wasn’t for the idiots emailing embarrassing stuff to Mr. Podesta. Thanks, Comrade Donna! You are much better at embarrassing America than the Russians. Now the American people had another reason to not trust Ms. Clinton with the presidency.

Another major goal for the FBI was to discreetly monitor the Trump campaign for Russian collusion. As far as I can tell, the FBI spent several months and an untold amount of money trying to entrap Mr. Papadopoulos. Was it more embarrassing that the investigation did not find any Russian collusion or that Mr. Papadolous figured out that the FBI was trying to entrap him? This investigation was so ineffective it reminded me of Inspector Clouseau of Pink Panther fame. Worst of all, Mr. Papadopoulos wrote a book that paints the investigation in unflattering terms. Obviously, the FBI did not learn anything since they moved on to Mr. Page.

Probably the most embarrassing problem for the FBI and the Clinton campaign was that the Clinton Email Server Scandal was going to rear its ugly head again. Around the 29th of September, the New York Police Department notified the FBI that they found several hundred thousand emails from the Clinton email server on Mr. Weiner’s laptop. The FBI sat on the information until early in October when the NYPD notified the FBI that they were going to arrest Mr. Weiner and release the information about the emails to the press. This forced FBI Director Comey to re-open the email server case just two weeks before the election. The Clinton campaign felt the FBI stabbed them in the back.

Considering the preceding events, it should not be surprising that the Department of Justice would ask for a FISA warrant on the 21st of October even though they knew that some of the information was incorrect. The Woods Procedures were created to prevent FISA abuses like this. The investigation of Mr. Papadolous yielded nothing but embarrassment. On the 26th of October, Admiral Rogers was due to appear before the FISA Court to explain why numerous unauthorized searches were committed from November 2015 through April 2016. Were these unauthorized searches used to spy on political opponents? If these searches were part of actual counter-intelligence work I do not think Admiral Rogers would be apologizing to the FISA judges in October. There was no time for the FBI and DOJ to get the facts right for this warrant. This warrant was about damage control before the presumed next President assumed office. Kathleen Kavalec ‘s notes show that the deadline for getting adverse information released about Mr. Trump was political. This also explains why someone at the DOJ/FBI leaked information about the wire-tap on Trump Tower to Louise Mensch. They owed the Clinton campaign some good news and they were not afraid to put their finger on the scale to help out the Clinton campaign.

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Why Papadopoulos?

Inspector Clouseau

I am amazed at the efforts the FBI put into entrapping Mr. Papadopoulos. Considering he had little if any Russian contacts and was a low-level foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, most normal people would think he was an unlikely person the Russians would choose to collude with. Obviously, the “Russian Collusion” investigators are not normal. When you look at the Papadopoulos timeline, the “Russian Collusion” investigators had Professor Mifsud meeting with Mr. Papadopoulos just three days after the Trump Team announcement. It is almost as if the “Russian Collusion” investigators were reading the Trump Team emails. When you look at the timeline in its entirety, it reminds you that the “Russian Collusion” investigators were looking for collusion in all of the wrong places. Sacre bleu, they failed to find any Russian collusion! This behavior is both sad and comical, kind of like Inspector Clouseau.