Election 2020: Running a Little Late Are We?

Running a little late today, fortunately the number of items is small, and largely inconsequential.

From the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 01.28.01, Volokh questions Impeaching Officials While They're in Office, but Trying Them After They Leave. Of course they can do it, the Senate can pretty much do what it wants at this point. The question is whether it means anything, and whether it makes things better or worse. To that point, Paul Bedard at WaEx points out Most say don’t convict Trump, fear further division by 3-1. But then think of the amusement value  as The All-Organic QAnon Wonder Shaman Wants To Come Back To Congress — As An Impeachment Witness (Former Republican Capt. Ed at Hot Air).

At Da Wire, Cruz On AOC’s False Claim That He Was ‘Trying To Get’ Her Killed: ‘Not Conducive To Healing Or Unity’. Healing and unity is not her goal. And the AP whines Gov. Noem refuses to say whether Biden victory was free and fair. The witch must confess!

Also from the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 01.28.01, at LI, Capitol Hill Riot: DOJ Arrest Reports Focus On Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Barely Mention Parler. So all that nonsense about shutting down Parler because it led to violence is just a lying excuse for censorship, as we suggested. Shut down the socials! Disgraced ex-Sec Def  Gen Mattis: Trump 'fomented' Jan. 6 Capitol assault (YaHoo!). And how does that differ from incited?

Ace, Matt Gaetz Trashes Liz Cheney at the Wyoming Capital Building, Calls for Primary Challenger for "RINO" and "Neocon" Cheney "Do me a favor and spare me the "Muh Civic Norms" and "Muh Nice Tweets" bleating if you're going around calling your opponents queers, huh?" AllahPundit at Hot Air, Video: Gaetz Defies McCarthy, Rips Liz Cheney In Speech At Wyoming Capitol

Watch some of this if you have time, just so that you fully understand that it’s *not* really an attack on Cheney for voting to impeach Trump. That’s part of it, of course — Trump Jr even calls in at 19:30 of the clip — but it’s actually a full-spectrum assault on Cheneyism, especially her interventionist foreign policy which was undertaken for “personal profit” according to Gaetz and which has left her with “blood on her hands.”

This isn’t a niche pro-Trump/anti-Trump flashpoint, in other words. This is the sort of speech you’d hear from a campaign opponent, yet delivered by a member of Cheney’s own party who represents a district on the other side of the country. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it outside of a primary. Frankly, it’s harsh even by primary standards.

Video at either link. Twitchy,  Chris Stirewalt explains what he learned from calling Arizona for Biden so early on election night. Ace, Chris Stirewalt: I Was Right to Call Razor-Thin-Margin Arizona Nine Days Before Everyone Else Did, The News Panders Too Much to Nasty Partisans Such as People Who Don't Think I'm a Cute and Snarky Slice of Awesome-Pie

I guess he remains, as he said on election night, "serene and pristine" about his erroneous call.

And it was erroneous. He says he's right, but only because a coin flip came up his way. If a state with millions and millions of votes has only an 11,000 vote separation between candidates, you don't call it. That is statistically TIED, and "sampling" and guesstimating will not avail you. You have to wait until votes are actually COUNTED -- something all the leftwing networks did, except for Fox.

Mediaite, Dominion Spox Confirms to MSNBC That Voting Company Has Drafted Letter for Trump Over Election Fraud Defamation. Bring it on. Discovery will be fun.

And an update on our favorite House election from John Sexton at Hot Air, Claudia Tenney Picked Up A 93 Vote Advantage In NY-22’S Ongoing Vote Counting

To fully appreciate what is going on here, we need to take a step back. Earlier this month it appeared that Tenney was ahead in the unofficial vote tally by 29 votes. However, Democrat Anthony Brindisi had assembled a team of six attorneys and there were 1,028 affidavit ballots yet to be dealt with in Oneida County. Brindisi’s camp was eager to have the judge count 69 of those votes.

But last week Judge DelConte surprised both sides and ruled that Oneida county should canvas all of those disputed ballots. The judge noted in his ruling that it was an outcome neither candidate had asked for:

“Both candidates press this Court to disregard either some, or all, of the potentially valid ballots because it is strategically advantageous for them in this election,” he wrote. “…Both of these arguments ignore the fact that this problem only exists because…the Oneida County Board of Elections failed to comply with (election law) and review its records.”

Judge DelConte was right about neither camp wanting this. The Brindisi camp asked an appellate judge to temporarily halt the counting of those ballots. But after a 10 minute hearing Monday morning, the appellate judge said no.

An appellate judge today allowed a review to continue of more than 1,000 affidavit ballots cast in the 22nd Congressional District race, despite an appeal by Democrat Anthony Brindisi to stop it.

The hearing took about 10 minutes today before appellate division Justice Patrick NeMoyer and attorneys for candidates Brindisi and Republican Claudia Tenney…

Brindisi’s attorneys are asking DelConte to count just 69 ballots from those voters, most of which are from Democrats. They argued in the appeal that DelConte does not have the jurisdiction to order Oneida County to fix its mistake and that a review of these ballots would take too much time and resources nearly three months after Election Day.

Tenney’s attorneys don’t think the judge should count the 69 ballots challenged by Brindisi, because they argued those voters are not registered and that the judge doesn’t have the ability to retroactively register them. Tenney currently leads by 29 votes.

So both sides are playing to win but what’s interesting is that up until this week, the Democrats have been loudly arguing that it’s important that every vote be counted. They have mostly been behind in this race so counting more votes appealed to them. But when Judge DelConte announces you know what, we should count these 1,028 votes from people who weren’t registered only because the DMV failed to register them suddenly the Democrats are singing a different tune. Now counting the votes takes too long and is too much of a hassle. Their commitment to counting every vote seems a bit situational.

More at the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 01.28.01 and at JJ Sefton's The Morning Report - 1/29/21 at Ace's. 

Russiage, Using a New Interface

Blogger is nagging me to try their new interface, again, so I'm going to give it another try. So far, I hate it:

From Jerry Dunleavy at WaEx, Peter Strzok claims FBI didn’t do anything 'improper' when pursuing Carter Page FISA

Fired FBI agent Peter Strzok denied that the bureau did anything “improper” during its Russia investigation.

That includes the FBI's efforts to obtain the authority to surveil former Trump campaign associate Carter Page — despite a scathing Justice Department watchdog report and one guilty plea in U.S. Attorney John Durham's criminal inquiry.

Strzok, who is embarking on a media blitz for his new book, was asked during a Sunday Morning interview with CBS national security correspondent David Martin on whether the problems unearthed by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's audit of the FBI's investigation (including 17 “significant errors or omissions” in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process targeting Page) represented “sloppy work” or whether it was “FBI agents trying too hard to get something on" members of President Trump's 2016 campaign.

“I don’t think at all that it’s anything improper. You get people who are overworked, who make mistakes — and don’t get me wrong — inexcusable mistakes," Strzok said.

Meanwhile, CNN reports  Former FBI Director James Comey to teach ethical leadership class. I suppose a bad example is useful. John Sexton at Hot Air, Steele’s FBI Handler Considered His Behavior ‘Crazy’  Eric Felten at RCP, Supposedly Reliable Steele Acted 'Crazy,' His FBI Handler Says: 'People's Ears Were Bleeding.'

“Crazy” was the term the FBI agent used to describe the behavior of Christopher Steele, author of the now-debunked Trump-Russia dossier. “I've seen crazy source-related stuff in 20 years in New York and this was one of the craziest," the veteran agent testified to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Nevertheless, the FBI continued to rely on Steele’s allegations – that Donald Trump and his team were conspiring with Russians who possessed compromising information – to justify its surveillance of the Trump campaign. Without evidence to verify Steele’s claims, the FBI fell back on its assertion that the former British intelligence agent was reliable.

Even  Michael Cohen Blasts Dossier Author Christopher Steele In New Book (Da Caller). Also from Chuck Ross at Da Caller, ‘This Has Gotten Too Deep’: FBI Emails Show Concerns With Michael Flynn Report

The emails released by Judicial Watch show that an investigator in the FBI’s Washington Field Office emailed Strzok with apparent concerns about the story.

“Im [sic] you are tracking, but this has gotten too deep,” the investigator wrote Strzok on April 3, 2017.

“I wasn’t. WTF is this,” Strzok replied.

He forwarded the exchange to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, writing: “Not great.”

The emails suggest that FBI agents either doubted the claims in the Guardian report or were worried that the information became public. There is some evidence that the FBI’s Washington Field Office investigated the rumors about Flynn and Lokhova and found nothing to substantiate the claims. 

Capt Ed at Hot Air reports  Judicial Watch claims Mueller May Have Lied To Congress About Conflict Of Interest. It's not nice to lie to Congress, unless the Democrats support you.

Did Donald Trump tell the truth about Robert Mueller after all? Trump vehemently objected to Mueller’s appointment as special counsel in 2017, claiming that Mueller had interviewed to replace James Comey as FBI Director just days before the appointment by Rod Rosenstein. Mueller denied that claim, including during his testimony before Congress in July of last year.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) made sure to get Mueller on the record on that point, and Mueller insisted that he’d never been in consideration for the job:
. . .
Five months before this testimony had taken place, Judicial Watch had petitioned for the records surrounding Mueller’s May 16, 2017 interview at the White House. Late yesterday, they received those records, along with other records relating to other parts of Mueller’s special-counsel investigation. Lo and behold, those records contained an e-mail in which Rosenstein noted that Mueller had withdrawn his name from consideration for the FBI Director position on May 17, 2017.

Maybe he forgot. He wasn't that sharp on the stand. 

Andrea Widberg at AmThink asks  What’s going on with the Durham investigation, if anything? and Chuck Ross at Da Caller replies AG Barr Says There ‘Could Be’ More Charges In Durham Probe. Dear God, let it be Comey and Strzok (to start with).

According to sundance at CTH, Bob Woodward: General James Mattis Plotted Overthrow of U.S. Government… His argument seems strong:

What do you call a conversation between the Defense Secretary and the head of the U.S. intelligence apparatus where they are talking about taking “collective action” to remove an elected President? That’s called sedition…. A seditious conspiracy.

As alarming as that sounds on its face, this actually aligns with our own previous research into key military leadership, the joint chiefs, and their corrupt intent to overthrow the elected government. Readers will remember when we noted this very issue after Lt. Col Alexander Vindman compromised his position yet was not removed by his command structure within the Pentagon.

Brooke Singman at Fox,  Schiff reveals new whistleblower complaint alleging suppression of Russian election interference intel reports. Adam One-note. WaPoo dutifully whines Election interference data said to be stymied. Also, Coats criticizes halt to election security briefings to Congress. See seditious conspiracy above. 

Regarding the 2020 election, at NR never-Trumper Kevin Williamson tells both sides to Accept the Results. Nice try. Not gonna happen.

WaPoo, Barr defends Justice Dept. intervention in Trump defamation suit

Attorney General William P. Barr on Wednesday defended the Justice Department’s decision to intervene in a lawsuit brought by a woman who claims President Trump raped her decades ago, saying legal precedent is on the government’s side and that any uproar about the move is due to the “bizarre political environment.”

Speaking in Chicago, the attorney general was asked about his department’s decision Tuesday to move the lawsuit against the president from state to federal court in New York, and signaling it wants to make the U.S. government — rather than Trump — the defendant in the case. Barr said the White House sent a memorandum to the Justice Department seeking the move, and civil litigation experts at the department agreed, in keeping with the normal procedure for such legal questions.

“This is a normal application of the law, the law is clear, it is done frequently, and the little tempest that’s going on is largely because of the bizarre political environment in which we live,” Barr said.

Da Caller, ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ Exclusive: Jeff Zucker, Michael Cohen Reportedly Recorded Discussing Potential CNN Show For Trump

“There it is. That’s how it really works: inside tips on how to navigate the CNN debate, from the head of CNN,” Carlson said. “Jeff Zucker, a man who is supposedly a journalist, secretly working as a political consultant. The guy who runs the Democratic Party’s most faithful news network, giving political advice to the Republican frontrunner. Donald Trump’s chief tormenter colluding secretly with Donald Trump’s lawyer. It’s all bewildering. But that’s what it’s really like. That’s the real Jeff Zucker: A man who believes in nothing, a man who’s only goal is proximity to power no matter who wields it. No wonder he’s friends with Michael Cohen.”

China Joe's son, continues to sell America off to the CCP,  Hunter Biden teamed with Chinese military supplier to acquire dual-use Michigan auto parts maker (Seamus Bruner and John Solomon. JTN). Anything for a buck. 

Well, I did figure out how to use it, mostly.

Linked at 357 Magnum in this week's Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups.

Recommended . . .

. . . by my inside guy at the Pentagon: Welcome, Mr. Secretary

At one point during his election campaign, President-Elect Donald Trump promised to spend the first hundred days on the job restoring the U.S military. And following the endless unsuccessful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, restoring it certainly needs. Now he has come up with the man who is supposed to do the restoring: four-star Marine Corps General (ret.) James Mattis.

To imitate the language of the Old Testament, I shall not list “the rest of the General’s acts, and all his might, and all that he did.” They can easily be found on the Net. A few points, however, are worth taking note of. First, he is immensely experienced, having made his way up by participating in practically every war the U.S has fought from 1972 on. Second, as a high-ranking Marine he is intimately familiar with operations “in the air, on land and sea” (the Marine Corps anthem) and not just with one of the three as so many army, navy and air force generals are. Third, along with general David Petraeus he was responsible for America’s counterinsurgency doctrine. Precisely that which, in this day and age of what I once called “non-trinitarian warfare,” is the most important and the most necessary of all. Fourth, he cares for his troops. Fifth, he is a man of considerable learning such as is rarely found among his fellow officers (having lived with them, I should know). Last not least, he has no fear of speaking his mind. A quality which, in today’s politically-correct world, is as hard to find as diamonds.

Entering office, the General will have his work cut out for him. . .

His words "He has to overcome his lack of experience in the Pentagon but yes, I am all in."