Monthly Archives: December 2019
December 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
In his post about Judge Emmet Sullivan’s decision refusing to find prosecutorial misconduct in the case against Michael Flynn, Scott noted that Sullivan berated Flynn’s attorney, Sidney Powell, for lifting a portion of her brief to the court. Scott added that Sullivan’s accusation “is misplaced,” but did not discuss the matter further because it was not the subject of the post. Jonathan Turley takes up Sullivan’s accusation in this article.
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December 18, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Yesterday I asked the question, derived in part from a Poynter Institute article, “Do Journalists Know Less Than They Used To?” Yes, questions with such obvious answers hardly need asking, but who knew the Washington Post would step up with an astonishing confirmation of media ignorance, with a special bonus of academic ignorance thrown in just for fun. Last week the Post ran an article by Robert C. Pianta, who
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December 18, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Sometime in 1969, John Hinderaker and I fell in love with the same woman. Her name was Anna. Unfortunately, Anna was already married, and for the second time. Previously, she had been the wife of Jean Luc Godard, the French film director in whose movies Anna beguiled us. Anna Karina died last week at the age of 79. Her artistic legacy includes not just the Godard films — such as
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December 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
His political opponents have been out to impeach Donald Trump roughly since the day after the 2016 election. Their efforts come to fruition in the two articles of impeachment that the Democrats will adopt some time today. The Democrats’ media adjunct has kept ranks with impressive exactitude as they marched along with the Democrats. The rank dishonesty and maniacal partisanship underlying impeachment have made for a sorry spectacle. What can
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December 18, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Several renowned journalists published hagiographic profiles of Christopher Steele as some kind of a savior: Howard Blum, John Cassidy, and, preeminently, Jane Mayer come to mind, among many others. Mayer wrote a ludicrous 15,000-word profile of Steele that appeared in the March 5, 2018 number of the New Yorker. I mocked Mayer’s profile of Steele in a five-part series that I called “Jane Mayer’s Dossiad.” The link is to part
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December 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Chuck Schumer’s moan that “the facts” need to “com[e] out” before a full impeachment trial can occur is an invitation to a motion to dismiss the House’s articles of impeachment, once they arrive. The House had its opportunity to develop the facts. If it didn’t develop facts sufficient to support removing the president, the Senate shouldn’t waste its time on the matter. Mitch McConnell reportedly is considering a motion to
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December 17, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Last Friday, Bernie Sanders tweeted an attack on the Mayo Clinic: Mayo Clinic executives have decided to strip away access to health care from tens of thousands of rural Midwesterners—putting profits over people. Under Medicare for All we will end the corporate greed in health care that is leaving rural Americans behind.https://t.co/0niOP7A5TI — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 13, 2019 Sanders’s tweet links to a post by a college English teacher
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December 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
House Democrats are highly unlikely to follow Larry Tribe’s suggestion that they decline to transmit their articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial. Thus, Senate Democrats will need a trial strategy. Byron York tell us that a major part of the strategy will be to demand more information. What information? Mainly testimony from past and present administration officials like Mick Mulvaney and John Bolton. Possibly grand jury testimony
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December 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
At long last the FISA court has taken notice of the egregious government misconduct committed in connection with the FISA warrants it approved on Carter Page. The order appears under the signature of FISA court presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer. Like so many involved in the Russia hoax, she claims only lately to have tumbled to the misconduct committed before her court, courtesy of the Department of Justice Inspector General report
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December 17, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Today President Trump delivered a blistering six-page letter to Nancy Pelosi, attacking the Democrats’ misconduct dating from the election campaign of 2016 and culminating in the current impeachment farce. The letter is embedded below. When I saw that Trump had delivered such a letter, I assumed it was written by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. Having read the letter, I think it is written in Trump’s own voice. With genuine
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December 17, 2019 — Steven Hayward
The inimitable Titania McGrath wonders on Twitter how Jeremy Corbyn could possibly have lost the election since he announced his pronouns in the proper intersectional fashion: (Click on the link above to see the embedded four-second video of Corbyn’s Adventure in Pronoun Correctness.) This brings me back to a point that Hugh Hewitt offered months ago: the “Freeport Question”* of the 2020 presidential campaign could be: “How many genders are
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December 17, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Is it possible for conservatives and left-of-center thinkers to have a civil and substantive conversation in the Era of Trump? I decided to find out, and the result is this completely gonzo episode. Recently I sat down for a long and appropriately boozy dinner with Nils Gilman of the Berggruen Institute, and Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute, for a grand tour through some of the big themes and controversies
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December 17, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Yes, I know, CNN beclowns itself hourly, and as such is usually not worth noticing or commenting on, but sometimes they make it so easy that it becomes necessary as a reminder of their colossal ignorance and bias. Anchor Brian Stelter raised his eyebrow this morning that Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has appeared on TV to promote his book. OMG! Will the republic survive this breach of decorum? Except—oops:
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December 17, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
It looks like, with near unanimity, House Democrats are going to vote to impeach President Trump. The more moderate Democrats who considered voting the other way now say they must vote their conscience. President Trump may have hoped to pick off the votes of enough Democrats to be able to characterize his impeachment as a left-liberal affair. It may be precisely that, but with Democrats who aren’t left-wingers falling into
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December 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
When then House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes released his memo asserting that the FBI had improperly taken out FISA warrants on Carter Page, Ranking Member Adam Schiff responded with a memo of his own disputing it. The Nunes memo is accessible here and elsewhere; the Schiff memo is accessible here and elsewhere. Both Nunes and Schiff had access to the same classified information for their memos, but Nunes was
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December 17, 2019 — Scott Johnson
General Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to one count of false statements in the Mueller miasma. After pleading guilty to the charge on two separate occasions, Flynn retained new counsel, proclaimed his innocence, alleged prosecutorial misconduct, urged the court to hold the prosecutors in contempt, and sought dismissal of the case against him based on government misconduct. Having chosen to forego a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and to waive
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December 16, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This Washington Post story is called “A moderate congresswoman went all-in for Trump. Her constituents think they know why.” The story is fake news at several levels. First, the Post didn’t take a survey of Stefanik’s constituents. Thus, the Post doesn’t know whether her constituents think they know why their congresswoman, who has a moderate voting record in the House, is backing President Trump so strongly during the impeachment process.
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