I’ve already said my piece on the Hillary Clinton affair and the ‘two tiers’ of justice credibility problem that our federal law enforcement institutions have created for themselves. I received a fair amount of flack for making those points, but they’re true and I believe them. I’m also willing to acknowledge, and at least partially agree with, many conservatives’ concerns about how the audio discussed below leaked to the press, including relevant ethical and legal ramifications. On that same point, it would not take much to convince me that such a damaging and damning leak would not have occurred in another politically-sensitive case, particularly if the target’s politics were different. The Durham report, and the many facts leading up to and included in it, were devastating to the image of the Justice Department and FBI as politically-neutral arbiters, and that’s a very serious problem.
But I used the words “damaging” and “damning” intentionally because that is what this audio tape, furnished to and aired by CNN, is. Before you listen to it, let’s first recall what former President Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baer on Special Report just last week. Baier asked, inevitably, about the federal indictment in a fair amount of depth, and to the surprise of many (including Baier), Trump answered extensively, rather than offering no comment on an ongoing case. On the issue of the alleged audio tape documenting Trump showing off highly classified materials to non-eligible guests at his residence, and reportedly admitting in the process that the document he was revealing hadn’t been declassified, Trump offered this explanation:
Trump on allegations he kept a classified military document on Iran:
“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things … I didn’t have a document, per se”pic.twitter.com/6dgg7CggkI
“There was no document — that was not a document,” he said, insisting that “there was nothing to declassify” because “these were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.” After Trump made this statement on national television, law professor Jonathan Turley wrote that the former president “is arguing that he was referring to newspaper articles etc — not an actual document. Even if this was not going to be the defense of Trump’s team, it now is. Trump is arguing that there never was a document and that he was referencing coverage on the Iran attack.” Trump not only chose to engage on the subject, he chose to mount this defense. There was “no document.” He was showing media stories on that tape, nothing more. And then the audio tape arrived. Listen to the whole thing — it’s only two minutes long:
The Trump audio:
“See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
Trump: “I’ll show you an example. [General Milley] said that I wanted to attack Iran, isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.” In this excerpt, Trump plays to his audience, fake marveling at the ‘coincidence’ that this document just happened to be at the top of his “big pile of papers.” He then states that whatever he’s showing his guests (who lack security clearances) came from the Pentagon and a four-star General. And it dealt with a potential attack against Iran. “These are the papers. This was done by the military and given to me.” He is plainly and explicitly discussing a sensitive document produced by the Department of Defense. You can hear the papers being shuffled on the tape.
He warns that the documents are “like, highly confidential” and “secret information,” and then seems to wonder aloud how much he’s allowed to show his guests. An aide responds, “I don’t know, we’ll have to see. We’ll have to try to…” Trump interjects, “declassify it.” But then he explains why that’s not possible under the circumstances. “See as president, I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” An aide reacts, “now we have a problem.” Seemingly turning his attention back to impressing his guests, Trump asks, “isn’t that interesting?…It’s so cool…It’s incredible, right?” With everyone duly impressed, he then asks a staffer to bring everyone soft drinks. Trump has now resorted to arguing that his comments on the tape were “bravado” and that no classified documents were shown. He also says that his reference to “plans” in the Fox interview was not about secret attack plans, but rather building plans for golf courses. As others have noted, this could be digging even deeper, assuming the special counsel’s team has already interviewed the people on the tape and knows what at least some of them would testify to. Which seems like a relatively safe assumption.
This is powerful and damning evidence that appears to be a smoking gun of sorts. Trump shows off documents that he admits were (a) drawn up by the US military, (b) not declassified because he no longer has the power to do so, and therefore (c) still secret. I’ll note that CBS has reported the document in question isn’t among the items Trump has been charged for unlawfully retaining, so I’d like to see an explanation for that. Again, though, Trump’s own words on the tape are what hurt him most. He said the military document was never declassified and still a secret. It seems entirely possible that the indictment’s summary of the audio transcript was handled in such a way as to set another trap for Trump, excluding just enough context and details as to allow the former president to dream up some lie or spin that might seen somewhat plausible to him, based on incomplete information. If that’s the case, Trump raced right into the trap, going on television with his half-baked defense. Then out comes the tape. It exposes Trump even further from a legal perspective, and inflicts additional political harm — even if the GOP base has decided none of this matters, or even somehow amounts to an imperative to nominate him again.
The Republicans should be able to defeat an unpopular, geriatric, struggling incumbent president. They just can’t alienate the people who swing elections by picking a challenger who’s even less popular. Hardcore Republicans and Trump loyalists may convince themselves nobody cares about these things, but voters have sent loud and clear messages for three straight election cycles, and they continue to send the same message.
Among these key voters, in what conceivable way might the new developments mentioned above help with this issue?
Here’s the juice in two parts. Part One, and be honest: Does anyone doubt for a minute Trump is lying through his teeth in the Baier interview? Think about it: According to the indictment, Trump was recorded bragging about possessing highly-classified documents on July 21, 2021; What news articles would have been printed back then about secret Military plans to attack Iran?!? Part Two: Trump may be guilty as Hell, but all it will take is one holdout on the jury for a mistrial. But then, the issue isn’t Trump’s guilt or innocence, rather it’s the impact his egregious conduct will have on voters. Any way you slice it, it can’t be positive.
“Amid tenacious inflation and low approval ratings, President Joe Biden touted “Bidenomics” as the best economic path forward before a Chicago audience. “Guess what? Bidenomics is working,” Biden said Wednesday. His address at Chicago’s Old Post Office comes as only 34% of Americans say Biden has handled the economy well, according to a survey by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Critics often have referred negatively to the president’s economic policies as “Bidenomics,” and now he apparently is seeking to rehabilitate that term. Signs featuring the word “Bidenomics” surrounded him during the speech. Biden said that The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times invented the term. “I didn’t come up with the name,” the president said, to some laughter. “I really didn’t. I now claim it, but they’re the ones that used it first.” (He didn’t mention another term often used by critics: Bidenflation.)
At one point, while criticizing “trickle-down economics,” Biden digressed to say: “If my mom were here, God bless his soul.” At another point, Biden asserted: “We’re replacing every single lead pipe in this country and putting our healthier—our children’s health back directly.”
Biden made several claims in the speech that were unverifiable, unusual, or plain false. Here are five questionable passages in the president’s speech…”
Speaking of false claims, 46* maintains his unconstitutional effort to put 87% of Americans don’t have any outstanding student loans on the hook for the debts of the 13% who do never gave the educated idiots crying for loan forgiveness false hope, instead blaming mean-spirited Republicans who, “just couldn’t bear the thought of providing relief for working-class, middle-class Americans.” After which they would steal candy from babies, evict a majority of Americans out of their homes, end Social Security and Medicare and force seniors to subsist on dog food.
“He only owes $2000 out of the $5000, but if he does not pay that by February 1, they will kill his family in his country,” Harvey wrote in an email to colleagues obtained by Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit that advocates transparency in education. “We have a student who came to America with [a] ‘Coyote[.]’ [W]hen they come illegal, they usually give them a time frame to make a payment of $5,000 dollors [sic] to those, who bring them illegal.”
The emails do not mention any effort to contact the police about the threat to the student and his family. Mount Pleasant High School did not immediately respond when asked whether any school personnel contacted the police when they became aware of the situation…”
In a previous funding request, Harvey had failed to make any mention of the threat to the illegal alien’s family, instead describing Coyotes as a “group that helps people” rather than the violent human traffickers they are:
Just a minor detail. Now for the commission, as a…
“A debate over funding more policing caused Wisconsin state Sen. LaTonya Johnson to condemn suburban areas of her state, saying they know nothing of city life. “F— the suburbs, because they don’t know a g–damn thing about how life is in the city,” she proclaimed on the senate floor…”
In what may come as a shock to readers, we find the dishonorable not-so-gentlelady to be largely right: a majority of Suburban Americans don’t know much about life in the city, other than as the shooting galleries portrayed in the news. But a significant portion of citizens of every color, creed and religion know all too well what urban life entails, which is why they moved to the suburbs in the first place. Democrats created the disasters which are America’s cities, yet residents continue to reelect Democrats into office; We say they deserve each other.
Moving on, here’s another sextet of special selections certain to sate the curiosity of inquiring Conservative minds:
(3). Writing at RealClearPolitics, Jarrett Skorup relates in the five years since the SCOTUS granted government workers freedom from mandatory union dues, just over 22% of public sector workers covered by union contracts have opted out of membership, which, at a conservative figure of $600 per head per year, is costing government unions some $720 million annually. It’s great when bad things happen to bad people.
(5). The Washington Free Beacon reports the Montgomery County School Board, which oversees the largest school district in Maryland, will limit access for parents at an upcoming meeting where it will discuss…are you ready for this?!?…a policy that bars parents from opting their children out of lessons on gender identity and sexuality. So much for government ofthe People, for the People and by the People.
(6). Sooooo, as Nick wonders…
Biden: “You’re not going to see anybody building a new coal-fired plant in America.” pic.twitter.com/QdABkWDIda
Which brings us, appropriately enough, to The Lighter Side:
Then there’s these from Speed…
…and Balls Cotton…
…along with this one from The Patriot Post deserving of a second showing:
Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with the John Vernon Memorial Fat, Drunk & Stupid is No Way to Go Through Life, Son segment, courtesy today of a drunk and stupid British…
“…Timothy Southern, 53, of Staffordshire, England, was on vacation with his family in May 2022 in Saint Ann, Jamaica, where he met two Canadian women at a bar trying to complete a 21-drink challenge to celebrate a birthday, according to ITV News. Southern had been drinking brandy and beer prior to taking up the challenge, according to an inquest.
He joined the women and managed to have 12 drinks before returning to his room at the Royal Decameron Club Caribbean, where he later died.His family has since criticized the medical treatment he received when they first realized he was ill. “He was on his back choking. I put him in the recovery position and screamed for an ambulance,” a family member said, according to an inquest reported by ITV. “He was making a gurgling sound. As soon as he was in the recovery position he vomited. I was shouting his name with no response.
“When the nurse arrived I said had an ambulance been called, and she said ‘no.’ I thought she would take over. But that was not the case. I noticed he was starting to lose temperature. I checked his pulse and couldn’t find it,” the family member continued. The nurse reportedly told the family remember that Southern still did have a pulse, and the family member started “to lose it” over witnessing Southern’s reported treatment. “I got a full look at his face and I thought he had passed away. I said, ‘Don’t just sit there looking at him, start CPR.’ She only gave him chest compressions. Maybe if she had known what she was doing, maybe he would still be here,” said the family member…”
Yeah, blame it on the nurse. Maybe if Mr. Southern hadn’t consumed so much alcohol in such a short period of time he’d still be here.
Magoo
Video of the Day
It’s soooo funny because it’s soooo true; And the object of the joke should be in prison with his forfeited pension going towards reimbursing the millions whose livelihoods and lives he cost.
Tales of The Darkside
The great Thomas Sowell offers some amazing tidbits of history.
On the Lighter Side
Why didn’t you say so in the FIRST place; THAT’s a horse of…wait for it…a different COLOR!!!
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