John Durham: going “full throttle”?
U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham is going “full throttle” with his review into the origins of the investigation into suspected Russia-Trump coordination in the 2016 election, with additional top prosecutors involved in looking at different components of the original probe…
How nice. Whatever does it mean? And in particular, how does the timing relate to the upcoming November election, whose hot breath I can already feel on the back of my neck?
Durham was appointed one year ago. That’s a long time, but thorough investigations take time. However, this one has a sort of Election Day deadline, because the timing of revelations and of decisions to prosecute or not to prosecute, and whom to prosecute, could be vitally important to what happens on that day and beyond.
That’s why the Democrats are working overtime to discredit such investigations before anything is even announced.
I wonder whether Durham is just going along on his own schedule with no recognition of how the timing relates to the huge political ramifications. I also wonder how much throttle he was opening up prior to this. Shouldn’t it have been “full throttle” right along?
[NOTE: My very first car was a 1965 Vovlo 122S (red) looking pretty much like this:
That car didn’t have power anything. To park it required muscle. Nor did it have a radio. But it was mine (a hand-me-down, but mine). I didn’t get it till I was in law school.
The point of all this reminiscing is that it had a throttle the driver could operate, a black knob on the left that could be pulled open or pushed close. Haven’t seen one of those in half a century.]
[ADDENDUM II: Then again, perhaps it was a choke.]
Yeah, whatever. This type of story comes along about every month or so. A person would have to be incredibly naive to think much will come of this
I’m way too cynical to believe any of this until I actually see it.
I understand the cynicism; I even share it up to a point. However, indications are that there has been a seismic shift over at DOJ. I think things are, in fact, heating up.
Neo, what years did you attend law school? Which classes did you enjoy? I’m just curious.
Michael Towns–What signs tell you that there has been such a “seismic shift”?
Michael Towns:
Early 70s. I of course was a child at the time.
I didn’t enjoy law school. Some day I may write more about my experience there. I went to a law school with a great reputation, but I was a fish out of water there (not intellectually, but in terms of my interests and drive – I was very confused about what I wanted to do).
My favorite courses are easy to list because I didn’t like many at all. But much to my surprise I enjoyed Evidence. But my absolute favorite was something called Philosophy of Law which I think had earlier been called Jurisprudence. That should have told me something. I was very interested in the patterns of thought and philosophy and morality behind law, and the way law operated in different countries around the world compared to ours.
Still am.
The momentum is growing and is becoming a surge.
The Democrats won’t know what has hit them because of their supreme faith (not entirely unfounded) that they own the MSM and control the Narrative.
Yes, in that sense, they believed they were “too big to fail” and they continue to do so.
(The main problem with lying so extravagantly, so ceaselessly, is not so much that the lie becomes “the Truth” (which is, of course, true to a large extent—as is so often observed) but that THE LIAR BEGINS TO BELIEVE—and to RELY ON—THE LIES being shamelessly, if artfully, regurgitated, thus eliminating any possible OODA loop from gaining traction and assisting, as it were, the liar to reassess, recalibrate and restrategize. In other words, all the liar basically does is reload and shoot, relying on the sheer quantity, frequency and force of the liar’s firepower to confuse, terrorize and ultimately destroy—yes, destroy—the enemy.)
So the Democrats and their media Dragoons will, as is their wont, lash out hysterically, and in so doing, they will say, and do, some very, very stupid things.
Obviously stupid things. Things that they will find increasingly difficult to defend.
They will fall back, of course, on Orange Man (and supporters) Evil (TM); but the question is whether this will continue to be enough. (Alas, it may be…)
Of course, they’ve already been doing this, time and time again; but this time their powers, awesome as they are, may indeed not be sufficient to the task.
America is at its Thermopylae moment, though the problem now is an internal one.
(And if that seems to be a bit high-falutin, a bit far-fetched, then one can always cite the final book of the Harry Potter series….)
Snow, the fact that Barack Obama saw fit to opine on the “rule of law” means that he’s very, very worried. That in and of itself tells me volumes about what’s inside his mind right now.
I’ve got a twenty that says neo’s Volvo Amazon didn’t have chrome wheels.
Any takers?
Did I say surge?
It’s actually becoming an avalanche.
Here’s a list (albeit a wee bit recursive):
https://twitter.com/LeeSmithDC
https://twitter.com/mzhemingway
https://twitter.com/Techno_Fog
https://twitter.com/JohnWHuber
https://twitter.com/seanmdav
And then there’s the extraordinary John Solomon’s latest (out there, somewhere).
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/john_solomon/
And the almost always marvelous Andrew McCarthy
etc., etc., etc….
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/protecting-obama/
(Of course, if a bear falls in the woods and there’s no one there who sees or hears it…
…or if there is, as it happens, someone; but that person gets eaten by the bear….)
To tie this to your previous post, Volvo is owned by China. Two years ago, we were thinking about purchasing a Volvo. We watched the online Volvo produced ads featuring a respectable Swedish gent, complete with Swedish accent, extolling the benefits of the “Swedish” auto, showing videos of the car driving along mountainous highways in Sweden. Then I happened upon a WSJ article which mentioned that the brand is owned by China.
Meemsie:
It sure wasn’t owned by China when I had Big Red.
Neo, my first car was a 1972 Fiat 128. It had both a hand choke, and a hand throttle knob. Useful for keeping a cold engine running decently right after start up on a cold day. My friends were horrified of a hand throttle on a manual transmission car, they thought it suitable only for automatics.
Meemsie, Geely Auto in China bought Volvo from Ford ten years ago. They financed Volvo in Sweden to redesign their model range, then the Swedes had to transfer technology and open plants in China. Volvo makes cars in Sweden, Belgium, China, and the S60 sedan is made exclusively at a plant in South Carolina.
One of the underlying things going on here is that liberalism and progressivism has long relied on the support of earnest, straight-arrow, good government types. These people, and not all of them are on the Left, believe in things like public service, law and order, truth, justice, and the American Way. Those are the people they are losing as liberalism and the Democratic Party revert to an older style of machine-type politics where virtue-signaling covers all manner of graft and corruption.
Mike
When Catherine Herridge asked AG Barr what had predicated the last week of activity regarding Flynn, he remarked that US Attorney Jensen had been on the case since January.
Who knew? Barr knew.
He promised results from Durham soon.
There won’t be a Durham Report.
There will be Durham indictments.
They won’t be discussed. They will be adjudicated.
Seppo:
You know, come to think of it, maybe that knob on my Volvo was a choke. The inner workings of automobiles is most decidedly NOT my field of expertise.
Looking it up right now, I think it was a choke.
It’s a choke.
Had just bought a ‘65 Volvo 122S Feb. ‘68 when my patents flew to Germany to visit me as I was stationed there in the US army. Put 2200 MILES on it in 23 days around Western Europe. What a car! What a great time for a ditch bank okie and his wonderful DBO parents.
Engineers — those compulsively improving humans — simply took “full throttle,” downshift, and transmogrified it to “turbo” and “hemi.”
If you got it you can feel it kick in when you punch it.
Bill Bennett, on Special Report this evening, said he thinks the Obama people are really worried. But I’ll believe indictments when I see the news.
My younger sister’s first car was also a 1965 Volvo, light blue rather than fire engine red. My own first car was a 1961 Morris Minor, which served me well for a number of years.
Much later I bought a 1994 Volvo, light gray which sometimes appeared silver after going through a carwash on a sunny day. This was a wonderful automobile, which I drove from Portland up to Vancouver BC ten times or so at high speeds.
I’m expecting indictments this summer. Brennan, Comey, McCabe, Rosenstein, Strzok, Power and Rice. Maybe more.
Focused indictments. Burn It all down.
My first car was a Nightmist Blue 1967 Mustang Fastback, with a 289 HiPo. It would pass anything, but a gas station, as they used to say. Rhinoceroses when up to speed, are faster than horses. Ford should have called the car the Ford Rhino, It was faster than fast, but don’t ask it to turn.
My second vehicle was a 1947 International KB-1 pickup!
neo,
I’ve never been in a ’65 Volvo but as I read your post I thought to myself, “she must mean ‘choke,’ not, “throttle.”
Seppo,
I’m not horrified by it, but I don’t understand the need for a hand throttle on a manual. I’ve had plenty of manual cars that idled poorly, but by coordinating the clutch and gas it’s never a problem, especially with occasional use of the handbrake.
My 2nd car was a ’79 Fiat Spider 2000. It was about 8 years old when I bought it and I kept it in great shape until I sold it in 2000 (coincidentally). It was bought by Universal Studios as a prop at one of their hotel properties. What a great car.
Rufus T. Firefly:
Yes, choke.
It’s been awhile.
That car required quite a bit of skill to drive, as well as muscle. Standard shift, the choke, the difficult steering, and it stalled quite easily. Operating the clutch while stopped on an uphill was a recipe for a stall.
Dear neo, most of us spell it “Volvo” 🙂 🙂
Doubtless, some of us pronounce it Vovlo though.
“My very first car was a 1965 Vovlo”
Neo, Mrs. Xylourgos’ first car after we were married was also a 1965 Vovlo (!) 122S Pale, pale lime green. A perfect car for Mrs X. Although it did take a certain amount of stamina and skill to stop and restart on the steep hills of Seattle.
Recently I’ve begun to suspect that the apparent slowness of Barr, Durham and company’s investigations into the activities of Obama administration officials presages ominous tidings for those individuals.
When going after very big fish… careful preparation is imperative. Big fish are far too skilled at throwing the hook, which is how they got to be BIG fish.
Charlie Brown will never kick the football, and the swamp will always protect its own.
We’ve bought several Volvo’s for my wife’s daily driver. She loved ’em. Always bought ’em used, so they were a decent value. I think she’d say her white, S70 was her favorite car.
Regarding power, I like power steering, but do not like automatic transmissions. A small, light car is manageable without power steering, but on heavier cars it’s a chore. Anti-lock brakes are a miracle! Most new manual models have an anti-roll device that keeps one from going backwards on a hill, to avoid that problem some of you wrote about. It feels a bit like cheating (that’s what the handbrake is for), but I have to admit I like it.
Geoffrey Britain,
I believe the same about Barr and his methodical pace, but experience tells me Ann is correct. The Mandarin class is above the law.
Ah Neo,
When you got that 1965 Volvo I was a “staff writer” (union designation) at the Philadelphia Inquirer and a fellow reporter had just bought one, which he described as ”an egghead Democrat car.” It was a part of the whole Volvo mystique back then. Yes, that was a choke. They were very sturdy and a trifle underpowered for all that Steel. Much later the brand began to stumble a bit while searching for market share and Subaru took that mystique away. A lot of “Karens” drive Subarus now.
My first car was a ’73 Chevy Vega.
I am a heterosexual male, and do not hit from the lady’s tee, smartass.
“…stumble…”
The problem was that the car was just too darn durable (or as you wrote, “sturdy”). So in the mid 70s, Volvo management, in their infinite wisdom (or was it boredom?), decided to ditch “built to last” and took a stab at playing the new and exciting (and profitable, at least in theory) “built-in obsolescence” game.
It was a resounding success; in fact it was so successful that people stopped buying Volvos—that is, until management, once again, decided to change corporate models.
(Flash forward 30 or so years: the game seems to have caught the imagination of the entire country.)
Those are the people they are losing as liberalism and the Democratic Party revert to an older style of machine-type politics where virtue-signaling covers all manner of graft and corruption.
Uh, no. The Mugwumps have disappeared. John Anderson is dead, John W. Gardner is dead. and Common Cause in our time is just another leftoid propaganda-and-lawfare outfit. (CREW was phony from its inception. Common Cause used to be on the level). The closest you come to a mugwump in today’s political environment would be Alan Dershowitz, Jerilyn Merritt, Ann Althouse, and Jonathan Turley. The youngest of these four is 58 years old. All are lawyers. Two of the four have a long history in criminal defense practice. Turley (who finds the President and embarrassment and an irritant) is despised by partisan Democrats who read his daily commentary, because he does not throw them any red meat, picks topic which are inconvenient to them, and remarks on the orgy of procedural violations Democrats have engaged in the last 4 years.
“The Mugwumps have disappeared“
Then why is Joe Biden the last man standing for the Democratic nomination? How did the white male mayor of a three-horse town become a top-tier Democratic candidate? Where did all the enthusiasm for Bernie and Warren and Kamala go?
The “Mugwumps” still exist. They just float along on a river of denial. But all rivers run dry eventually.
Mike
Then why is Joe Biden the last man standing for the Democratic nomination? How did the white male mayor of a three-horse town become a top-tier Democratic candidate? Where did all the enthusiasm for Bernie and Warren and Kamala go?
I have no clue why you fancy these questions are anything but non sequitur.
The “Mugwumps” still exist. They just float along on a river of denial. But all rivers run dry eventually.
No, they don’t. None of the abuses have any effect on their thinking and behavior. All of their talk is an exercise in gamesmanship or stupidity. They don’t have any conception of what fair procedures would look like and no mental tools to evaluate anything. We see this cr!p on our Facebook wall every day. They are children and they want what they want. And a lot of them have post-baccalaureate degrees, btw.
“Durham was appointed one year ago. That’s a long time, but thorough investigations take time.”
As I recall, the Watergate break in and bugging investigation took three years and Archibald Cox had almost 100 lawyers and investigators working for him. Obviously, Durham needs to hire more people.
I had a 1971 Datsun 240Z with a manual choke. It was very temperamental but my biggest problem was making smooth gear changes with the manual gearbox.
“How did the white male mayor of a three-horse town become a top-tier Democratic candidate?”
By seeing the direction of the wind gusts, and letting himself become a pseudo-moderate.
His only “moderation” is the be to the “right” of Bernie & AOC, like Stalin’s only “moderation” was the be to the “right” of Trotsky.
“I have no clue why you fancy these questions are anything but non sequitur.”
I don’t think you know what non sequitur means. Joe Biden is the Mugwump, as the term is being used here, candidate. He’s the guy for people scared to look at what the Democratic Party and the liberal movement are today and want to pretend it’s still 1976.
Mike
I don’t think you know what non sequitur means.
Well, you’re wrong.
Joe Biden is the Mugwump
In your imagination only. He has always been a skeevy careerist.
“How did the white male mayor of a three-horse town become a top-tier Democratic candidate?”
Because he’s a pooftar, and Democratic primary electorates are chock-a-block with people who fancy that’s kewel. The Ivy League resume also appeals to a certain type.
Actually, a mayor, provided he’s familiar with how Congress does business (as he might be from time as a congressional aide or a brief stint in Congress) is preferable to creatures like John Edwards and Barack Obama, who had no history in executive positions. However, the mayor in question shouldn’t be the author of disaster (e.g. Dennis Kucinich) and should have some accomplishments to his name. What discredits Booty-gag is South Bend’s crime statistics, which got marginally worse during his time in office.
I remain both hopeful yet expecting to be disappointed by Durham. I thought they should have indicted McCabe.
Yes … he needs more lawyers. To get the absolute top likelihood of conviction, if they go to trial. But that takes too long for so many Dem criminals. Better more of them are indicted, and not found guilty, then fewer are indicted months later, after the election.
Why be hopeful? Because Nunes DID refer some names to the DOJ for criminal investigation. But only recently. Doing things right, “by the book”, is a lot slower than just sloppy smear work.
But getting about 80% of the evidence, with a strong idea of a few key criminal actions, should be enough for an indictment.
USA justice needs there to be indictments. It’s not yet clear there will be any – if none before the election, that would be strong support for Dems. So further investiagion would almost certainly stop.
I’d rather have more indictments. In fact, I’d rather have 16 indictments, with 8 or even 12 being found “not guilty”, rather than waiting for the election.
https://www.newsbreak.com/news/0Op3fEkb/devin-nunes-obamas-dossier-a-subject-of-criminal-referral-to-justice-department
Obama starting defensive action indicates he’s preparing … to need defense. I sincerely hope it’s true.
So sad that the first US black President was a “crooked cop” type, like so many black DC mayors.
Comments are cool – autos & Mugwamps & crooks. Oh my!
I don’t remember my Grandmother’s Pontiac year, but after she died, I got it as my first car. I only had it a few weeks. It had a small oil leak, that I wasn’t careful with. My first date with a cute girl to a concert (3 Dog Night headline; after Bette Midler). On the freeway back home, the car ran out of oil.
Thru a rod. Otherwise it had been a good car for Granny – automatic, big, powerful. Stronger than the Rambler I got next.
Volvo PV 444 steeringwheel/dashboard photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Armaturen_PV444.jpg
First knob left of steering column is the choke. This model also had a cockpit controlled radiator blind in lieu of a thermostat. Sweet, sweet car.
“…as the term is being used here…”
That’s precisely the problem.
You both have, it would seem, different definitions/conceptions of the (illustrious) term.
Having had to get back up to speed on mugwumpery(?) myself, I checked Wikipedia, which though not always terribly reliable(!), seems to be pretty solid on this particular topic.
According to my understanding (albeit limited) of the origins of the term, for Joe Biden to be a mugwump, he would have to be a particularly moral (or moralistic) person, so upset—to his very core—at the moral and ethical deficiencies of his party that he decided to criticize it (earnestly—i.e., with no malarkey!) and ultimately leave it, because of his firm commitment to TRUTH and MORALITY, for another (or the opposing) party.
(Get back to me when you’re finished ROTFL.)
But that might be defining mugwumpery(?) in too limiting a manner: so it seems that the term is also being used (has eVOLVed? or has BEEN eVOLVed??) to describe Joe Biden’s principled(!!) opposition(!!!) to the vigorous, energetic, aggressive—and DANGEROUS—“Democratic Socialist” (aka “Commie”) wing of the Democratic Party; and/or exploiting Biden’s grace, wit, intelligence, eloquence and charm as markedly contrasting, with his mannikin-like complexity, to all those OTHER non-entities that the Democratic Party has succeeded in conjuring up as potential nominees for POTUS.
If this is indeed the case—IF—then Joe Biden’s extraordinary role in this most unfunny of farces is to pretend—and to persuade—-that the Democratic Party continues to be, with Joe Biden as its standard bearer, a serious, sober, ethical, principled—and patriotic—political entity that offers the ONLY way forward for our beleaguered republic.
(In which case, get back to me when you’re finished ROTFL.)
And so, two definitions of “mugwump”. Takes yer pick!
File under: To be or not to be (a mugwump); now THAT is the question….
So sad that the first US black President was a “crooked cop” type, like so many black DC mayors.
Obama’s connection to the domestic black population is that he married into it. He’s about as black as May Britt. When Gov. Blagojevich said ‘I’m blacker than Obama” (having had a shoeshine job at one point), he spoke the truth.
None of the recent DC mayors were ‘crooked cops’. Most of them were purveyors of business-as-usual which incorporates a neglect of basic services and paying off various constituencies. As for the rest, Marion Barry was the living embodiment of a half-dozen nasty cliches about black men as character types (over and above his general incompetence). Adrian Fenty made a serious effort at performance improvements and was run out of office when that offended constituencies who could sell their story to DC’s stupid voters. Anthony Williams was the real deal, someone who managed to preside over important improvements in the quality of life. The person retrospectively admired by DC’s black political establishment is Barry, alas.
It could all be a scam–just stringing us along–and there will be no indictments or prosecutions of any of the many major figures involved in the multiple aspects of this coup attempt, but only of a few lower level people, who will be sacrificial scapegoats, so it can be said that they were some actual “prosecutions,” and perhaps a guilty verdict or two.
Here I’m on the outside looking in, and I could be completely wrong in my impressions.
Unfortunately, if they are as they seem, my impression is that “old fashioned” public servants like Barr and Durham–who are apparently trying to carry out their duties in fidelity to traditional morality, their oaths of office, our Constitution, and to the Rule of Law–are a vanishing breed.
My impression is also that they are surrounded by many other “public servants” who are far more sympathetic to those they are hunting than to the bloodhounds on their trails; Leftists who will try to block, sidetrack, or weaken any prosecutions or reforms Barr, Durham and those like them–however many of those are left in these apparently deeply corrupt institutions–will try to implement.
It looks like in order to do what would be necessary for any actual and deep reform, there would have to be a pretty thorough high level “purge,” and I just don’t see the entrenched members of those institutions, the Left, the MSM, and their allies in Congress and elsewhere allowing that.
Just imagine the screeching!
And then there’s the politicized judges….
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/05/judge-wants-to-hear-from-outside-groups-in-the-flynn-case.php
Unreal. (Except that it’s very real.)
The “dirty cops,” the agents of the “gangster government,” cooked up all of this trouble, and didn’t care what rules and laws they broke to do it–with the eager participation of the MSM, that broadcast their charges endlessly, 24/7 for years, and far and wide.
Barr, if I’m reading him right, is acting according to the Law and, thus, has far less scope and room to maneuver.
And, although they might arguably have some evidence to do so, and conceivably could, I doubt that either Barr or Durham will bring any prosecutions for Treason or Sedition.
So any charges will be lesser charges.
The political atmosphere today is just not conducive to these kinds of heavy charges being brought, or sentences (including the death penalty for Treason) being carried out–even if they could get convictions.
Moreover, some of the coup participants may have pretty carefully calibrated things, just skirted the law–very close to the edge, but arguably no over it.
Many documents have, no doubt, already been altered, or even “disappeared,” and there will certainly be a lot of these coup members who just can’t seem to “remember” a lot of very relevant things and events, or even “take the Fifth,” and they’ll all be lawyered up the wazoo.
Barr and Durham, on the other hand, have to be able to provide actual, solid evidence that will hold up in court–and likely a hostile DC court and jury at that–against those they would charge with actual crimes.
So while these “dirty cops” could just make totally unsupported charges–wild charges supported by phony, phantom “evidence” that would be gleefully amplified and endlessly rebroadcast by the Leftist MSM–and smear just about anyone–Barr and Durham will be very much more restricted in who they can level charges at.
Bottom line, a lot of the members of this coup attempt will not be able to be charged–and very infuriatingly will just skate–to be around to thumb their noses at us, and to create more mischief in the future.
The cars that exist have a way
of making dull moments seem gay.
The choke and the throttle
are like to a bottle
of gin, or a nifty Tokay.
– Bruce Hamilton
“So sad that the first US black President was a “crooked cop” type, like so many black DC mayors.” – Tom Grey
This has been my feeling as well – and that “first black president” label is why the history books will ignore anything short of a unanimous jury conviction on something gravely serious, and thus why he won’t be indicted at all.
History isn’t only written by the winners; sometimes the losers are complicit.
PS This is also why I was so relieved that Hillary Clinton was NOT our first female president (woman is a noun, not an adjective TYVM).
I hope we can get a decent, honest woman in the Oval Office someday, but the current field on the left isn’t looking very good; I hope some of the best of the right-wing make it there first.
“a lot of the members of this coup attempt will not be able to be charged–” – Snow
Or maybe not.
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/387260.php
May 13, 2020
Oh Wow: Devin Nunes Says That Criminal Referrals Are Coming.
Not Just for the FBI/CIA Coupists.
But for Mueller’s Team of 13 Angry Democrats.
Judge Sullivan must be angling for a Court of Appeals seat (or even higher!), since he knows that if he rules against Flynn, DoJ will appeal, to the Supremes, if necessary, and/or Trump will grant him a pardon.
My first new car was a Fiat 850 Spyder. (My first car was a ’63 Corvair, about which Ralph Nader didn’t know the half!) It had the door locks in the external pushbutton door handle. We lived in Chicago at the time, so I had to carry a cigarette lighter to unfreeze the lock in the winter, but the good thing about the Fiat was that you didn’t need an unfrozen battery to start: you just put it in 2nd, opened the door, stuck your foot out, gave it a little shove off, popped the clutch, and it started right up!
We traded the Fiat in for a Volvo 244. Richard Red, did you get yours though the Canadian PX, like we did? Then the frackin’ Army wouldn’t ship it home for free because we had come over with a European car, some fracken’ Army regulation. Anyway, we had the 244 and then another Volvo, but they always eventually got to the point where the repair costs exceeded the value of the car.