More from the theater of the Strzok hearing
Gohmert goes there:
Note the outrage of the Democrats. Terrible, terrible that their delicate sensibilities—and the extreme decorum of the House—has been offended! Gohmert only said what everyone was thinking, of course, and the visual of looking at Strzok’s smirking face while Gohmert said it was certainly instructive.
Noun
smirk (plural smirks)
An uneven, often crooked smile that is insolent, self-satisfied or scornful…
Verb
smirk (third-person singular simple present smirks, present participle smirking, simple past and past participle smirked)
To smile in a way that is affected, smug, insolent or contemptuous.
Synonyms
simper
shit-eating grin (vulgar)
All of the above.
ADDENDUM: From Ace:
Strzok declared that even asking him about his bias “is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear American apart.”
I wonder if he used that line when his wife asked him where he was last night. “Your questioning my whereabouts last night,” I imagine him thundering, “is exactly what Vladimir Putin wants, Traitor.”
Come to think of it, questioning anything that Peter Strzok has ever done in his life, or the actions of any other pre-Trump member of the federal government, is just another victory notch in Putin’s belt!”
ADDENDUM II:
Wow:
Didn’t watch or listen to any of this but I wondered if anybody would work this in to the questioning. As slimy as this guy was as a political operator the fact that he was tripped up by his interactions with his mistress is the topping on the sundae of slime.
I’m with parker on this…that pissant Strozk needs a good slap.
I think it’s very informative to watch, though. First it was Koskinen (remember him?), then Comey, now Strzok. Each one more arrogant, condescending, and self-righteous than the next, in a sort of “can you top this?” competition. It’s instructive to see what happens when people are given power by appointment and consider themselves superior to the rest of us commoners.
Neo,
Don’t forget Lois Lerner.
But, yes, it really is pretty amazing and in the cases of Comey and Strzok it can’t be said often enough that we would never know about any of this if Clinton had won. We would never have even heard of Strzok.
Griffin:
There are so many that it’s easy to lose track of some.
The smirk, the arrogance, and the condescension seem to be part of the pre-requisites for the jobs.
The disdain and disrespect they show for America and the American people through their behavior in these encounters is vastly more offensive than anything President Trump has ever said and tweeted. I’m convinced a majority of Americans understand this and agree.
Why do all the words that enter my mind end with path?
He’s not helping himself.
They don’t just “consider themselves superior to the rest of us commoners”, they’re fully confident that they’re untouchable… complacent in their certainty that the proverbial “fix is in”.
They know that the democrats will protect them politically and they know that Deep State operatives like Wray and Rosenstein will obstruct prosecutors from the evidence needed to convict them. They know that the MSM will incessantly portray attempts to pursue justice as political witch hunts that border on criminal malfeasance.
They know that republicans will be wrongfully accused of the very crimes of which they are guilty… Right is wrong and wrong is right… While Satan and Lucifer laugh with delight.
steve walsh:
That might be the case if a majority of Americans were watching.
They’re not.
But at some point they may watch the YouTube clips, and that might be enough.
mezzrow:
Naturopath? Osteopath? 🙂
I’ve worked among the bureaucrats in D.C., and noted that a very large part of their jobs consists of attending meetings, which are usually exercises in preening one-upmanship. Strzok obviously learned to do it like a pro and so rose through the ranks.
I noticed that his face went all self-congratulatory after every republican question session. Then his game face was on again at the start of the next one.
Speaking of sessions.
Free Jeff Sessions!
Free Jeff Sessions!
Free Jeff Sessions!
Strzok is smirking because he’s above all his critics. There is nothing they can do. Nothing but talk.
neo:
perhaps primrose…
He did (strangely) seem to be having a good time, after a fashion. I’m still trying to sort it out. The pictures are telling.
And this guy was right at the top of the FBI.
Richard:
I suppose it depends what you mean by “above” and “nothing.”
If you mean his critics can’t slap him in jail, that is correct.
If you mean that Democrats will continue to laud and defend him and his critics can’t stop it, that is correct.
If you mean he will land on his feet in the financial sense, that is correct.
But in the eyes of a great many people who watched him today, for the first time, he exposed himself as an abominable, self-serving, lying, condescending, arrogant, ass-covering human being. That’s many many millions of people who now think that.
He has also lost his job and his status as a big mover and shaker in the FBI.
There were also threats to hold him in contempt, although I agree that won’t happen and if it happens it won’t go anywhere.
In addition, I wonder whether his marriage is still intact. Probably is; haven’t heard much to the contrary.
As to his marriage can you imagine living with every time your spouse is mentioned on national news being prefaced with ‘in texts with his mistress’?
One of my number one policies in life is to never make judgements about others marriages because people on the outside never really know the inner workings but that constant reminder of betrayal doesn’t sound pleasant.
Think about it: this guy was No. 2 in the FBI’s counter-intelligence operation, and he left all these texts, compromising as they are, lying around. He is one of the most incompetent counter-spies in the history of the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen: I present to you for your consideration YOUR FBI under Comey and Mueller.
Let us not forget Strzok’s mistress, Lisa Page. She defied a congressional subpoena to testify before Congress Wednesday.
Apparently there is some arrangement for her to testify behind closed doors tomorrow and Monday
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/12/politics/lisa-page-closed-door-congress/index.html
But why they don’t send US Marshals or somebody out to enforce the G-D law when the DOJ, FBI critters believe they are above it all is hard for me to understand.
Then there’s the matter that somehow the FBI lost *five months* of Strzok/Page texts immediately after Trump was elected.
The FBI must be hiding some hideous stuff.
“The FBI must be hiding some hideous stuff.”
It sure looks that way.
The FBI isn’t supposed to the US Secret Police but there’s always been that factor from Hoover on.
As far as I’m concerned, they should start firing and prosecuting top FBI people, who get caught playing dirty pool.
Pour les encourager les autres.
Several top Nixon people — Ehrlichman, Dean, Colson, Haldeman, et al. — served time for Watergate. No reason not to go after these Obamagate perps.
And yet from the headlines I’ve seen today the Dem press seem to think Strzok has triumphed. This from the Daily Beast is one of the more strident:
“Republicans Thought Peter Strzok Would Be a Punching Bag. He Just Knocked Them Out.”
“Those who forget the lessons of televised congressional hearings are doomed to repeat them, which is why the morning segment of the Capitol Hill show trial of veteran FBI agent and former head of the Bureau’s Counterespionage division Peter Strzok turned into a disaster for Republicans.”
The contrast between this and reactions on the right seems a good instance of the two versions of reality currently in effect.
Gotta admit though, the reaction from the Democrats to Gohmert asking Mr. Smirk about lying to his wife is great for a laugh; especially, the woman who cries “you need your medication!”
Seriously though, it is nonsense like this that gave rise to cries for drain the swamp and gave rise to Trump.
No wonder the “deep state” hates Trump so; he might actually make a dent in their fleecing of America.
I want Trump to succeed, not just for his sake, but for our country’s sake.
Mac:
It is impossible to tell whether they really think it or not. Maybe they do; maybe they don’t.
They will say it no matter what, either way. That’s what propaganda is all about.
I am of the first generation born outside of Kentucky, where insults to kin are considered a beat down, if not a killing offense. Mr Smirk does not realize he has offended people who would gladly feed him to the hogs. As a kid I was taught always walk away from a fight, but if you can’t get behind them and silently use a knife. Then feed them to the hogs.
Country folks can survive and, make you disappear.Please Mr. Smirk, Cummings, etc, march before UN blue helmet fools into Eastern Kentucky. Hogs there need cheap feed.
Yes, I am being dramatic, but when it all comes down to dust I will gladly kill all domestic enemies of the Constitution, and not shed a tear or experience remorse.
In the real world IT people work hard keeping systems working, backed up and unhacked.
At one company where I worked the main IT guy lost a few days of backups. He was fired.
The idea that the FBI might lose five months of Strzok/Page texts, then shrug, strikes me as absurd, especially given the convenient timing.
What we’ve read so far from those texts has been damning enough. Their texts after Trump was elected must have been truly choice.
There will come a time, how long I do not know, when the flyover people will have zero patience. When that happens all will choose a side, there will be no safe pacifict ground. It will be a time of choosing.
It is clear (to me at least) that given the *depth* of the animus (visceral) towards Candidate Trump on display from Agent Strzok and others, any suggestion that the FBI investigations of Hillary and of the Trump Campaign were free from *any* bias (as Strzok is insisting) — is ludicrous in the extreme.
I guess it was a hearing that had to take place, even if the two sides in Civil War II will have diametrically opposed versions of the conclusions to be derived from the hearing.
You know how I can tell trump is the good guy, most antitrumpers share the same smirk on their face (all democrats, nevertrump conservatives, and Hollywood comedians notably colbert, Seth meyers). There is not a human with an ounce of sympathy, humility, and decency in their heart can display a smirk as sordid as that. I believe many were once good people, but their irrational hatred against trump and people who voted for him has blackened their hearts, forever transforming them into something monstrous inside. They cannot fathom and Corp with the reality that a clown in their minds, a loser, someone who was beneath them has achieved the impossible, beaten them in their own game, ascending to a status above them, accomplished things they can only dream on, and exposed them to be frauds that thought too much of themselves. Sinners of vanity, they have fallen to the dark side.
Funny still haven’t since any jack Nicholson in a few good men references yet
It’s instructive to see what happens when people are given power by appointment and consider themselves superior to the rest of us commoners.
From the old Unix fortune program:
“If you want to know the measure of a person, give them a bit of power.”
Does Peter Strzok truly believe that this FBI ‘investigation’ is a victory notch in Putin’s belt?
Well, about now Putin is laughing.
Thinking that the top levels of the DOJ and FBI are as rotten as the FSB and the old KGB.
It’s a victory .. laid at the feet of the Deep State.
Have you seen this? https://mobile.twitter.com/PatFrmMoonachie/status/1017539458982440966/photo/1
Really disturbing. The word psychopath comes to mind.
Strzok is blessed with a supremely unlikeable face. And no, the smirk operating as its seemingly permanent, fixed, default expression does not help.
Dave:
“Irrational hatred” is the perfect description of the phenomenon. It applies to these bureaucrats, politicos, and the nevertrumpers. It also applies to many of our fellow citizens, which for me includes some family members and friends. Arguing with them is pointless, I haven’t yet found the verbal equivalent of the face slap to knock them out of their insanity.
The guy looks like Frank Burns on MASH.
His words remind me of a little kid, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, hoping that blubbering and protest will save him from the paddlin’ he’s about to get.
Huh. They did sic the US Marshals on Lisa Page to serve a subpoena. It took three tries but she got served.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/republicans-forced-to-call-u-s-marshals-to-serve-subpoena-on-lisa-page/
Good.
Though I would have preferred a dawn raid like Mueller pulled on the Manafort household.
Yeah. These hearings are, at the very least, producing materials fit for election-year commercials.
http://bastionofliberty.blogspot.com/2018/07/yarsttpp.html
This AM both CNN and MSNBC thought that Strzok was a victim. Incredible.
I still can’t believe no one in Congress has used my point shaving analogy. It is more apt that saying the investigation was rigged.
Donald Trump is reprehensible because he insults people and has affairs… says the man who insults people and has affairs.
Any fair observer would conclude that this guy is a lying arrogant prick. And that is so worth noting. Comey and McCabe promoted this guy. He was their guy!
It is crystal clear to me that Comey, McCabe and Strzok need to be indicted for obstruction of justice on the Hillary investigation under my point shaving analogy. Real people did go to jail for point shaving. There are, however, two problems.
One, DOJ needs an insider to rat out the others and that needs to be backed up by documents. Tall order.
The other problem is that such a case has two cases inside it. The government must prove the obstruction by saying that the point shaving was intentional and not just a mistake in tactics or judgment. The other issue is that the government must also prove that a fair jury would convict Hillary. Given that the case would have to be filed in DC, another tough task.
Neo: “It is impossible to tell whether they really think it or not….”
True. My lefty friends and acquaintances certainly believe it with all their hearts, but they’re not the producers of the propaganda, but rather the audience for it. And I guess they’re a classic example of people who believe only other people are affected by advertising, never themselves.
Parker:
Maybe it’s just you and me that know hogs do eat people.
Apropos the rising tide, I give you this poem by Rudyard Kipling:
It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good,
When the Saxon began to hate.
They were not easily moved,
They were icy — willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Saxon began to hate.
Their voices were even and low.
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show
When the Saxon began to hate.
It was not preached to the crowd.
It was not taught by the state.
No man spoke it aloud
When the Saxon began to hate.
It was not suddently bred.
It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chilled years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the Saxon began to hate.
I watched an hour’s worth of Smirk’s “testimony.” He frequently stated words to the effect that the FBI lawyers had told him, apparently beforehand, what questions he could not answer. Am I the only one who wonders if that “FBI lawyer” was Lisa Page?
Gohmert has a point. If Strzok’s wife cannot trust him to live up to his vows, why should anyone else be inclined to take his oaths at face value?
As others have pointed out, he was caught out engaging in one duplicitous act, while engaging in another.
It’s clear the guy’s taste in women – or at least partners in adultery – is crap too.
the dog and pony show will hide this
A member of the House Committee on the Judiciary said during a hearing Thursday that a government watchdog found that nearly all of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails were sent to a foreign entity and that the FBI didn’t follow-up on that finding.
The Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) found an “anomaly on Hillary Clinton’s emails going through their private server, and when they had done the forensic analysis, they found that her emails, every single one except four, over 30,000, were going to an address that was not on the distribution list,” Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas said during a hearing with FBI official Peter Strzok.
“It was going to an unauthorized source that was a foreign entity unrelated to Russia,” he added.
Duping delight
Neologism coined by Paul Ekman in his book Telling Lies (1992).
Duping Delight
https://www.paulekman.com/deception-detection/duping-delight/
What motivated this smart, devious fellow to be so foolish? Probably what I call duping delight, the near irresistible thrill some people feel in taking a risk and getting away with it. Sometimes it includes contempt for the target who is being so ruthlessly and successfully exploited. It is hard to contain duping delight; those who feel it want to share their accomplishments with others, seeking admiration for their exploits.
-=-=-=-
When Hitler so successfully lied to Chamberlain concealing that he had already mobilized the German army to attack Poland, he asked for a time-out from their meeting. With his generals who had been witnessing his most successful lies, Hitler went into an anteroom, where he reportedly jumped up and down with joy, and then having reduced his duping delight, he returned to the meeting.
The presence of others witnessing the successful liar typically intensifies the delight experienced and increases the chances that some of the excitement, pleasure, and contempt will leak, thus betraying the liar. Not everyone is likely to feel duping delight; some people are terrified of being caught. More manipulative individuals are vulnerable to this emotion; the third emotion that most often betrays a lie is fear–guilt about lying.
-=-=-=-
That smirk is dripping with confidence. He can afford to be confident. He knows that he will never suffer any repercussions over what he did. Instead, he will be rewarded.
It is not only Strzok that appalls, truly appalls. It is perhaps more importantly the Democrats on the Committee defending him and his conduct.
One man is a sleazebucket, but a major political party without any morals is a grave threat to the survival of the American Republic, and we see this so obviously demonstrated in its members on this Committee.
Goes back to the Clinton era; yes, it does. Now it is a monster that intends our total and utter ruin, and will achieve that if we relent even a little bit.
Strzok claims to be able to maintain a “bright, shining line” between his personal political beliefs and his investigations of political figures. He loves Hillary and hates Trump. The investigation of Hillary was done with kid gloves. The investigation of Trump has been full bore, all hands on deck. The contrast is telling. Then, of course, there’s the issue, as pointed out by the Congressman, of his crossing back and forth over that line many times a day as illustrated by his texts on FBI issued devices.
Our own biases are hard to detect. Only a human who is willing to take an honest inventory of his/her actions versus beliefs will ever be aware of how deep their biases are and how they affect their actions. Strzok does not impress me as a wise man who is the east bit introspective. Rather he seems to be a cunning, aggressive, ideologue with an overblown opinion of himself and his abilities. Basically, a very dangerous man when in a position of power. The fact that he is still employed by the FBI tells you all you need to know about the rottenness of the bureaucracies in D.C. The “Bureaucracy” is more important than the Constitution or their employers, the citizens of the U.S. And it’s all being exposed because Trump was elected.
‘The “Bureaucracy” is more important than the Constitution or their employers, the citizens of the U.S. And it’s all being exposed because Trump was elected.’-JJ
This!
I suspected corruption, especially at the FBI knowing how they undermined our country with the “wall of separation” that made us vulnerable to the 9/11 attack. But what has been uncovered regarding these entrenched self-serving ideologues is truly discouraging.
Did any of the Congressmen ask Smirk about his failing a lie detector test? Seems like there were plenty of opportunities to do so, while he was preening . . .
Blacque Jacques Shellacque,
“If you want to know the measure of a person, give them a bit of power.”
And then watch how they treat those ‘beneath’ them…
Cornhead,
“This AM both CNN and MSNBC thought that Strzok was a victim.”
I doubt that they actually believe it. Putting that spin on it simply best serves the narrative.
There is no lie too big, no issue too important, no depth too low… that the Left will even hesitate not to use to further their agenda.
CapnRusty,
“Maybe it’s just you and me that know hogs do eat people.”
Not at all, it’s well known among many.
Cicero,
Strzok “is a sleazebucket, but a major political party without any morals is a grave threat to the survival of the American Republic, and we see this so obviously demonstrated in its members on this Committee.”
Just 21 months ago, 65+ MILLION Americans voted for that political party…
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.
It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president.” former Czech President, Václav Klaus
The most recent Bond film, Spectre, dealt with this phenomenon of IC types essaying to rule the world.
Another Bond film, The World Is Not Enough, treats of gas/oil to Europe from Russia/Kazakhstan via Nogorno-Karabakh/Caucuses.
And another, The Living Daylights, involves Russian gas piped to Germany.
Yet another, Tomorrow Never Dies, illustrates media types generating horrible news for ratings, monopoly.
All today’s current events. Broccoli, Wilson and their writers have their fingers on core movements inside currencies. I think other Bond films too illustrate the point.
Yes, yes, Strzok sure was insufferable, but what have we truly learned? In the IRS/Lerner/Koskinen hearings, we learned that the IRS is not answerable to Congress. Rosenstein as much as said flat out “I am answerable to no one but myself.” Does the FBI answer to congress? No. Does congress have a plan to remedy that? Also, no.
Sean,
I think we have also learned that the dems from Hillary to Wasserman-Schulz are incapable of leading the US in a time of cyber warfare and cyber criminality. Nor are their IT supporters like Zuckerberg.
PS, Maybe Strzok’s wife will divorce him now and take everything from him but a suitcase with a change of underwear
neo-neocon Says:
July 12th, 2018 at 8:34 pm
I think it’s very informative to watch, though. First it was Koskinen (remember him?), then Comey, now Strzok. Each one more arrogant, condescending, and self-righteous than the next, in a sort of “can you top this?” competition. It’s instructive to see what happens when people are given power by appointment and consider themselves superior to the rest of us commoners.
* * *
What is instructive is that none of them (including Lerner) suffers any adverser consequences.
Of course they keep smirking.