How much it’s changed in sixty years.
My grandmother hated to wear a seat belt; she was afraid it would trap her in the car in a crash. I always felt unsafe without one.
Category Archives: Law
The FBI’s Obvious Bias
Yes, at a minimum, those texts have to be released to the public. There can be no question now that there is rot and corruption at the bureau (and I think it goes back to the nineties, with the Clintons). It may be that it is institutionally incapable of policing itself, and it’s the FBI itself (including Mueller) that needs an independent investigator.
But this should cause us to look back at the 90s scandals, in which the Clintons got away with so much, in a new light. I’ve been looking for the entire original Starr report on the Vince Foster “suicide” from an original source (i.e., a government web site) and cannot find it. All I see is this from the WaPo. Which (conveniently) doesn’t contain footnotes or appendices. Including the Knowlton appendix.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Well, well, well…Clinton aides went unpunished for making false statements to the FBI.
Punishment is for the little people, like Republican lieutenant generals.
[Wednesday-morning update]
Hugh Hewitt: Time for an independent investigation of the Justice Department and FBI.
It’s long overdue.
[Bumped]
[Update a couple minutes later]
Aaaaaand, a Mueller deputy was Ben Rhodes personal attorney, and represented the Clinton (Crime Family) Foundation. But I’m sure he can be completely impartial in the investigation of Republicans.
[Update a while later]
And then there’s this.
MUST READ: devastating misconduct complaint filed against #AndrewWeissmann in 2012 with New York Bar. Allegations of falsifying evidence, concealing exculpatory documents &c He was then Deputy Director/General Counsel of Mueller's FBI. https://t.co/frm0mMRcPT
— Stephen McIntyre (@ClimateAudit) December 6, 2017
[Update a while later]
Peter Strzok’s story will hurt the credibility of the federal government at the worst possible time. He’s like the Zelig of the whole thing. Everywhere you look, he’s there:was increasingly politicized under Mueller and Comey
Yes, it’s good that Mueller removed Strzok when he discovered the text messages. No, Strzok is not solely responsible for the conclusions reached in either investigation. But his mere presence hurts public confidence in the FBI, and it does so in a way that further illustrates a persistent and enduring national problem: America’s permanent bureaucracy is unacceptably partisan.
Unfortunately, it’s only unacceptable to one party. The other one thinks it’s exactly the way it should be.
[Update late morning]
The FBI was increasingly politicized under Mueller and Comey. You don’t say.
[Update a few minutes later]
The double-crossing FBI agent must be held accountable.
He’s no rogue; it’s not just him.
An Interesting New Wrinkle In The Flynn Case
Over at Instapundit:
Did the prosecution tell Flynn’s lawyer that their main witness against him was removed for bias? Since Strzok led the interview and his testimony would be needed to establish untruthfulness, he is a critical witness not just a prosecutor. If not disclosed, would this not be a Giglio violation? This is the kind of misconduct that can get a case dismissed and a lawyer disbarred. It is a Constitutional violation. This has bothered me since I heard about it.
This stinks on dry ice.
I were Flynn’s lawyer, I’d petition the court to withdraw the plea on the grounds it was made on false information (that Mueller had a credible witness to Flynn’s lying). And I’d request that it be done with prejudice, and that prosecution be sanctioned. And if that’s successful, it would be grounds for demands from Republicans for Mueller’s replacement, and perhaps an end to the probe entirely, since it continued to be a dry hole.
Out Of Town
I was driving up to San Francisco yesterday, and today I’m at the Foresight Vision Weekend. There was a session on longevity (including cryonics) this morning, and now there’s a panel on blockchain and it’s potential applications. One of the panelists says that one app he’s woring is with a company that wants gas stations in space. I’ll have to talk to him later.
The Steinle Case
I’ve wondered from the beginning why the prosecution was so stupid as to attempt to convict him of first-degree murder. They never had a case (and probably not even for a manslaughter charge, though they could maybe get him for negligent or reckless homicide, but I’m not familiar with CA law about that).
Anyway, Sarah Rumpf explains the ways they screwed up. And as many have noted, the real issue was that he should never have been in the country to do this
The Flynn Plea
Andy McCarthy writes that (despite media hysteria this morning), there’s still no “there” there, at least with regard to “collusion with the Russians” (which isn’t a crime).
The CFPB
Iain Murray writes that it’s unconstitutional, and should be abolished.
He’s right.
Linda Tripp
Her thoughts on the reassessing of Bill Clinton by the Democrats. She was the only person in that whole sorry episode who told the truth.
But the Democrats still refuse to admit that it wasn’t about the sex, or sexual harassment, or sexual assault. It was about the corruption, and obstruction of justice to prevent an innocent woman he’d sexually harassed from getting a fair trial.
Net Neutrality
Those protesting the decision are going after the wrong targets:
Fifteen years ago, when I started blogging, it was common to hear that “the internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” You don’t hear that so often anymore, because it’s not true. China has proven very effective at censoring the internet, and as market power has consolidated in the tech industry, so have private firms.
Meanwhile, our experience of the internet is increasingly controlled by a handful of firms, most especially Google and Facebook. The argument for regulating these companies as public utilities is arguably at least as strong as the argument for thus regulating ISPs, and very possibly much stronger; while cable monopolies may have local dominance, none of them has the ability that Google and Facebook have to unilaterally shape what Americans see, hear, and read.
In other words, we already live in the walled garden that activists worry about, and the walls are getting higher every day. Is this a problem? I think it is.
Yes, it is.
The Administrative State
Gorsuch may be poised to deal it a huge blow, beyond what Scalia would have. Let’s hope.