Early Year Russiagate

It's pretty clear that most of the content providers went missing over the New Year's holiday. I have no doubt things will heat back up after the weekend, but lets enjoy the respite while we can. Read the whole Brian Cates piece A Retrospective on The Past Four Years of Fake News Trump Hysteria in Undercover DC

Thanks to Robert Mueller’s final report and the report from DOJ’s Inspector General Horowitz on the FBI’s FISA abuses, we have a far clearer picture of what really happened during the 2016 election and the first three years of the Trump presidency.

Because Democrats and the DNC Media Complex won’t tell you the truth, here’s what really happened the last four years. . . 

or Victor Davis Hanson's  piece in NR on Impeachment Fallouts

No one knows the effect that the Horowitz report, following the Mueller-investigation dud, is having on the credibility of the mainstream media — so far, the great force multiplier of the abort-Trump Left. It may be that we are nearing the point at which “bombshells” and “walls are closing in” are little more than soap bubbles. Certainly, the public was lied to about the “Steele dossier” and the “Schiff memo,” to the point that the media may soon be not a catalyst but a retardant of the Left, a smelly albatross around its collective neck. The Durham investigations are not yet in, and the fate of Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and McCabe may make Horowitz’s damning report seem tame. What would happen if paid TV analysts got indicted after predicting that everyone who was innocent would go to jail?

"Tyler Durnden" at Zero Hedge, We Were Warned About The Deep State, But Refused To Listen

Given the robust, wide ranging ability of the NSA to probe all communications by any person in the United States, it is remarkable that no real dirt on Donald Trump was ever uncovered. Had such information existed, it would be in the NSA's storage vaults in Utah and crooked CIA analysts under Brennan's direction would have found it and used it. But that did not happed. The best the intel folks could fabricate were the salacious claims attributed to reports ostensibly created by former British spy, Christopher Steele. Turns out that the titillating account that Trump hired hookers to perform coprophilia (could of been worse, coprophagia) was nothing more than idle bar talk.

What has happened to Donald Trump can happen to any of us. It is time to take this threat seriously and put the intel agencies back into a properly monitored corral. Otherwise, we will lose this Republic.

Also at NR Ramesh Ponnuru  explain to the NYT How Not to Argue with Bill Barr. You might try good faith arguments, and attempting to understand his point of view rather than mere demonization.

And at CTH Sundance has a shred of real news, Following Through – National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien Culling National Security Council…

In the aftermath of National Security Council usurper Lt. Col. Vindman helping to orchestrate a joint DoD, CIA and State Dept soft-coup against President Trump, several pointed questions were asked about why the NSC was allowed to undermine the office they were created to support.

In response to those questions, newly appointed National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien announce the White House was in an ongoing process to reduce the size of the NSC.

A follow-up article within the Washington Times highlights the downsizing so far.

WASHINGTON DC – The White House National Security Council staff is being downsized sharply in a bid to improve efficiency within the policy coordinating body by consolidating positions and cutting staff.
A second, unspoken thrust of the overhaul is a hoped-for end to what many critics see as a string of politically damaging, unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information. Leaks of President Trump’s conversations with foreign leaders and other damaging disclosures likely originated with anti-Trump officials in the White House who stayed over from the Obama administration, according to several current and former White House officials.

Most institutions in Washington D.C. would benefit from similar pruning.

On the matter of the shampeachment, sundance finds that  ABC News Fears American People Might Interfere in 2020 U.S. Election…

Consider this argument from the article:

“One of the things that we’re always very cautious about is everyone looking at Russia. But actually, we should be looking at the party and political dynamics closer to home and how domestic actors are using the platforms and manipulating the systems to spread information or misinformation that’s favorable to their political stance.”

I mean seriously. Can you imagine a world where U.S. politicians easily spread information favorable to their political stance. Oh.My.God… The outcome is almost unimaginable…. People, allowed to think for themselves. Yikes, the horror of it.

We've long known that Donald Trump's crime was to win an election he was expected to lose.

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 01.01.20 American Greatness: Can The Senate Dismiss The Impeachment Without A Trial? Yes, it's Calvin Ball, and we have the ball. Shark Tank: Rep. Mucarsel -Powell (D-FL) Omits Impeachment From List Of 2019 Accomplishments. One could see why she might not want to highlight it.

Democrats think they should call Giuliani to the trial, and he's OK with that Giuliani: ‘I Would Testify’ in Trump Impeachment Trial, ‘I’d Love to Try the Case’. Plus the entertainment factor would be amazing!

Huh? From DaMail, EXCLUSIVE: New twist in Hunter Biden's Arkansas child support suit as judge recuses himself amid legal bid to put claims about VP's son's Ukraine business deals at center of case

The judge in Hunter Biden's Arkansas paternity case has recused himself today, hours after an attempt to make the businessman's Ukraine dealings the center of the case, according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com.

Judge Don McSpadden, of Independence County, didn't give an explanation when he announced he was recusing himself at 10.20am.

He had been presiding over the case since Hunter's stripper baby mama Lunden Roberts, 28, filed suit in May for child support for their 16-month-old child. She has been demanding that Hunter hand over his financial records from the past five years.

McSpadden's recusal came two hours after 'defrauded investor' Joel Caplan, who wants to be made a party in the case, filed a witness statement from ex-Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

I wonder what might cause an Arkansas County judge to recuse himself from a Ukrainian matter? Nothing fishy about that, no siree!