Some Sunday Politics.

 It appears the world did not spin off it's axis because I took a day off to go fishing. Whoda thunk?

We're still concerned with the affidavit used by the Garland/Biden DOJ to get the warrant the Wray/Biden FBI used to justify the raid on Mar-a-Lago. At Da Blaze, a Footnote in court filing shows why Judge Reinhart's ruling to consider releasing Trump affidavit not a win for transparency 

The government has carefully considered whether the affidavit can be released subject to redactions. For the reasons discussed below, the redactions necessary to mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest.

That's the plan, meanwhile they'll continue to leak such information as serves to damage Trump and advance their narrative. So their opening act will be an affidavit that is nearly totally blacked out. Nick Arama at Red State, New: Intel Officials Leak About What FBI Was Looking for in Trump Raid, "According to a new report, the FBI was looking for documents that President Donald Trump thought would exonerate him from the Russia collusion claims and election-related charges. The report came from anonymous intelligence officials who leaked to Newsweek." As we already suspected. Dan Chaitin at WaEx reports the Russiagate binder has unreleased messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The ones released were bad enough. "Kash Patel, who held high-ranking positions in the Trump administration and has since become one of Trump's representatives to the National Archives in this document dispute, said last weekend that Justice Department officials appeared to be maneuvering to block the disclosure of documents from the Russiagate controversy." But KT at Haut Hair wonders if Hmmm. Are these two documents part of the reason Mar-a-Lago was raided? Rocketman and Obama's letters to Trump? Remember, a circuit court has ruled (and the Supreme Court has not overturned) that the President has essentially unlimited power to determine what his personal documents are before leaving office. They may be the excuse, but they are not the reason. Vicky Taft at PJ Media wonders Did Joe Biden Reclassify the Russia Collusion Docs That Trump Declassified? "Former U.S. diplomat Scott R. Anderson told the Wall Street Journal that, even if Trump declassified the documents, “it would not be hard for the Biden administration to reclassify them.” The former government attorney also said, “I don’t see any barrier to that.” To be sure it stuck, he should have released them immediately.  At the Slantic (cited by Haut Hair), Quinta Jurecic calls The classified-files scandal the Trumpiest scandal of all. At the NYT (cited by Haut Hair), Damon Linker fears There is no happy ending to America's Trump problem. But it's a problem largely created by Democrat/liberal overreach. The Peacock preens Trump thinks the Mar-a-Lago search will help him in 2024. Some allies aren't so sure. Really, peoples opinions vary? Whoda thunk? Insty, IT’S A CONFIDENCE GAME: Guy Who Lied About Trump-Russia Evidence Is ‘Confident’ Garland Acted Appropriately on Mar-a-Lago Raid. Adam Schiff. WaPoo whines FBI affidavit may be ‘road map’ for Trump lawyers, Schiff warns, and I don't see what's wrong with that.

From Fox, Pence says he didn't take classified material, calls for 'unprecedented transparency' after Mar-a-Lago raid, but how does he know, if Biden's DOJ can reclassify, then justify a raid based on re-classified data? Andy McCarthy at NR (cited at Haut Hair) on What Mike Pence gets wrong about the FBI

And does he actually believe that saying “Defund the FBI” is the same as saying “Defund the Police”? The FBI is not a safe-streets police force. It is mainly designed to counter sophisticated criminal syndicates that operate across state or national borders; its best work is deliberate and analytical, not instant and reactive policing. Defunding the police destroys communities; no one calls the FBI when a store gets robbed or an old lady gets mugged — they call the police, and they complain that if police were on the beat the neighborhood would be safe. If the FBI’s budget were zeroed out (a bad idea, to be clear) while municipal police forces were fully funded and encouraged to enforce the laws (a good idea), crime would be reduced dramatically.

Capt. Ed at Haut Hair VIP,  Should we follow Pence's advice to end FBI criticism and reform demands? No!

At NYPo, Michael Goodman calls Dems’ war on ex-President Donald Trump is without precedent. Sundance at CTH, Sunday Talks, David Laufman Says Congress Has No Right to Oversight Over DOJ National Security Division, All Political Weaponization by Main Justice NSD is Above the Law and points out just how many anti-Republican efforts Laufman was party to. Um, no. I assume they'll change their tune as soon a Republican President has a Democrat Congress. Roger Kimball at Am Great thinks The Feds Go Too Far in "Raiding Donald Trump’s private residence without compelling justification, the FBI violated Gertrude Stein’s rule about knowing how far to go when going too far."

The FBI clearly underestimated the public’s reaction to their unprecedented violation of a former president’s privacy. According to a recent Rasmussen poll, more than 50 percent of likely voters agree with the statement “there is a group of politicized thugs at the top of the FBI that are using the FBI as Joe Biden’s personal Gestapo.” I agree with it myself.

The occasionally insightful Kevin Williamson at NR (cited at Haut Hair) discourses on The left's opt-in totalitarianism "The taste for suppression is difficult to satisfy — l‘appétit vient en mangeant — and, like a bad pornography habit, the need becomes more exotic and more specific over time."

At Ace's The FBI and IRS Target a Democrat

Well, today I am starting off with a sort of local story. On Wednesday the 17th, you may recall this piece from J.J. Sefton's Morning Report from Joel Pollak: Former Democrat Congressman T.J. Cox Indicted on 28 Counts of Fraud. It's a good, short piece:

Former Rep. T.J. Cox (D-CA), who was part of the 2018 "blue wave" election that brought Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) back to power, was indicted Tuesday on 28 federal counts, including fraud and campaign contribution fraud.

Among the charges is one that Cox fraudulently claimed to have purchased a property as his primary residence. Cox faced allegations during the 2018 campaign that his real "principal residence" was in Maryland and that he did not actually live in California. It is unclear whether the indictment concerns Cox's attempt to prove that he lived in California in that race.

I haven't seen that in other pieces, but it reminds me of another person in the news who lives in Maryland while representing people elsewhere.

The Babylon Bee quips After Seeing The Jump In Trump’s Poll Numbers, Biden Orders FBI To Raid His House Too. But seriously, at WaEx, Byron York says Biden is still dragging his party down. Stephen Kruiser at PJ Media sees how Dem Candidates Don't Want the Biden Stink Anywhere Near Them. At WaEx, Top Ohio Democrat breaks with Biden in new campaign ad. KT at Haut Hair, Democrat Rep. Marcy Kaptur launches an attack ad against Biden in Ohio. As WaPoo delicately puts it, As Biden turns toward midterms, he may not be the top surrogate. 

At the Business Insider, The FBI raid made Trump into a 'martyr' and stronger than ever, icing out potential 2024 rivals like Gov. Ron DeSantis, GOP insiders say. Kurt Schlichter at Town Hall warns the GOP, Wake Up Flaccidcons – It's Not 2005 Anymore "We want vengeance and victory. You want hugs. I guess that's nice. Hugworld would be pleasant, but it's the hardcore bomb throwers who get us to that stage by pummeling our enemies into submission." Putting targets on their backs, WaPoo identifies The top 10 Republican presidential candidates for 2024, ranked

Matt Vespa at Town Hall thinks Mitch McConnell's 2022 Senate Election Remarks Will Probably Irk His Haters. "I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different, they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome," McConnell said." Mediaite, Hannity Rails Against McConnell, Calls for End of His Leadership: ‘What’s Your Agenda, Mitch?’. Fox, Donald Trump says Mitch McConnell should do more to help Republicans get elected: 'Broken down political hack', "McConnell previously expressed doubt that Republicans would retake the Senate majority." Sundance at CTH, A Potential Republican Club Midterm Strategy – Nationalize the January 2021 Georgia Outcome. Steve Deace@SteveDeaceShow, "McConnell is telling you now what people like me have been telling you for years — the GOP would rather lose to Democrats than lose control of the party to its base. That’s what “electable” means — someone they approve of. Ditch would rather have Kelly than Masters, for example."

Nick Arama at Red State says the GOP Needs to Demand Answers for Big Mistake That Is Likely to Hurt Them in Midterms, "In a shocking report, the U.S. Census Bureau recently admitted that it overcounted the populations of eight states and undercounted the populations of six states in the 2020 census. All but one of the states overcounted is a blue state, and all but one of the undercounted states is red." Mediaite, Tucker Carlson Declares, ‘Dr. Oz Is Getting Crushed by a Stroke Victim Who Was Already Crazy. True. Jazz Shaw at Haut Hair, Herschel Walker: No, I don't need to debate Warnock. Although his ideas are nuts, I suspect Warnock speaks more coherently. '

Walker is clearly somehow trailing Warnock in a state where Joe Biden’s popularity is riding somewhere in the vicinity of that of sewer rats. He should be taking every opportunity to publicly get in Warnock’s face and define the election as being about law and order, open borders, and unaffordable prices, all things that can be traced in a straight line to the policies put in place by Warnock’s party. But he doesn’t seem to be doing that at all.

Atop Da Hill, Cheney claims McCarthy doesn’t deserve to be Speaker. Just go away, Liz. At WSJ, cited at Haut Hair, Liz Cheney and her unhappy choice among liars "Ms. Cheney’s biggest long-run risk may come not from antagonizing Mr. Trump but from antagonizing millions of voters by making common cause with Jan. 6 committee Democrats like Adam Schiff, whose lying and cynicism have been every bit as corrosive as Mr. Trump’s. At an appropriate moment, it will pay her to talk a great deal about her opposition to the Russia collusion hoax…" ABC features Liz Cheney on stopping Trump, Pence testifying on Jan. 6: 'This Week' exclusive. Of course they do. At HuffPoo, RNC Rules Do Not Allow It To Block Liz Cheney From Running As A Republican. Not so much rules as guidelines. At the Citizen Times, Moe Davis praises Cheney, opines Others withered and broke, Liz Cheney didn’t bend; her fidelity deserves respect. At Insty, JON GABRIEL: Out-of-touch politicians ask, ‘Is it me?’ then blame voters for their loss.

Though it had been predicted for months, Rep. Liz Cheney’s loss to Harriet Hageman dominated politics this week, in Wyoming and beyond.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain warned that the outcome proved “the American people are going to have to fight for their democracy.” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota doubled-down, asking of Wyoming voters, “What does that mean for our democracy?”

It seems the problem with our democracy is that citizens keep voting for people the Beltway doesn’t like. Both Democratic pols and Never Trump Republicans condemned the Cowboy State rabble.

Related: Liz Cheney rips into Republican voters, leadership as ‘very sick’ after landslide primary loss.

Jazz Shaw  About those 20 Florida voter fraud arrests. The Orlando Sentinel, Arrested Orange voters said they were told rights had been restored, affidavits show "But state Sen. Jeff Brandes, who wrote the bill implementing Amendment 4, said it was lawmakers’ intent that ineligible people would be “granted some grace” by the state if they registered to vote without the intent to commit fraud. “Some of the individuals did check with [Supervisors of Elections] and believed they could register,” the St. Petersburg Republican said on Twitter." Jennifer Van Laar at Red State is Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: AP's Hit Piece on '2000 Mules' is Full of Holes. That's because fact checking is a myth. It's really a form of narrative shaping in disguise. At Power Line John Hinderacker notices Democrats saying Down With the Constitution!  

Sarah Arnold at Town Hall, Lindsey Graham Subpoena in Georgia Election Blocked By Judges "The judges agreed with Graham that the Constitution's speech and Debate Clause prevents him from appearing before a grand jury in Fulton County. " KT at Haut Hair, Lindsey Graham's testimony in Georgia election probe put on hold, "Now Graham waits for both sides to “flesh out” their arguments. The court also must decide if as a U.S. senator he is entitled to protection from the federal courts."