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The Inspector General’s Quiet Investigation

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Yesterday, as part of a larger post, I wrote these words:

Via an orchestrated FBI leak, a get-in-front-of-the-news Washington Post article was released yesterday:

The former top FBI official assigned to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election was taken off that job this summer after his bosses discovered he and another member of Mueller’s team had exchanged politically charged texts disparaging President Trump and supporting Hillary Clinton.

Peter Strzok, as deputy head of counterintelligence at the FBI, was a key player in the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server to do government work as secretary of state, as well as the probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election.

During the Clinton investigation, Strzok was involved in a romantic relationship with FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who worked for Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

The Post article – along with an accompanying NYT piece, was released only when it became clear that details of an ongoing Inspector General Investigation into the matter would be forthcoming.

In that moment, I initially missed the significance contained in that final sentence:Continue Reading

Trump’s Independent Cabinet

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“I want them to be themselves and express their own thoughts, not mine!”

“I told them, ‘Be yourself and say what you want to say. Don’t worry about me.'”

“I’m going to do the right thing, whatever it is. I may be right, they may be right. But I said, ‘Be yourself.'”

– President-Elect Trump on his Cabinet Nominees

With these words President-Elect Trump sent his cabinet nominees off to their respective Senate Confirmation Hearings. And Trump appears to have meant what he said as there were some notably divergent views expressed from his nominees.Continue Reading

The Syrian Cost of Obama’s Iran Deal

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“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” – President Barack Hussein Obama – August 20, 2012

On July 14, 2015, six world powers – United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany – reached an agreement with Iran on Iran’s Nuclear Program. When Obama decided to assume personal leadership of the Iran nuclear negotiations, the Iranian economy was straining under a decades old series of economic sanctions. Rather than support Congressional wishes to further tighten sanctions, thereby maintaining pressure on the ruling Mullahs, Obama decided to loosen economic restrictions as a prelude to his negotiations. The Iranian economy began growing again in 2014 and so did Iran’s negotiating power. And so, in 2015, the U.S. signed a deal with Iran that allowed the Iranians to hide much of their nuclear activities, lacked any semblance of enforcement and penalties, ended all economic sanctions, ended embargoes on ballistic missiles – and begins to expire in ten years – on January 2027 Iran can replace and upgrade its centrifuges. Obama himself has admitted that Iran will have full nuclear capability almost immediately after the deal expires. And for this we gave the Iranians access to almost $120 billion – perhaps more – Iran itself says it has already accessed $100 billion. It has been called the worst agreement in diplomatic history.Continue Reading

Building Better Infrastructure Plans

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Recently, I was asked what I thought of the $1 trillion infrastructure plan that Trump has repeatedly mentioned in his campaign – and more specifically, my thoughts on the white paper put forth by Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro. While I had originally looked at their proposal I hadn’t thought about the Ross-Navarro Plan in some time so I went back for a re-visit.

Before we move forward I want to explicitly state at the outset that I am not in favor of Keynesian Spending (Demand-Side Economics). Trump’s infrastructure plan has always been the one part of his platform that I have been uncomfortable with. I am opposed to any government-funded infrastructure stimulation program. As a proponent of free markets and a conservative, I favor reductions in overall government spending and lowering of taxes. Federal expenditures on capital projects simply in order to boost economic growth and employment is a failed policy approach. Any resulting economic stimulus is inherently long-term in nature and should always be done for fundamental needs only. This does not mean I am against any infrastructure spending but I believe infrastructure spending is best done at the state and local level and with as much private participation as possible. Infrastructure spending should be allocated carefully and should not done with the primary goal of achieving economic growth. Federal expenditures used to stimulate economic growth through infrastructure builds could be more efficiently deployed simply by cutting taxes and allowing private companies to grow. Federal spending on infrastructure projects for short-term economic stimulation is akin to taking water out of one end of a pool and pouring it in the other. The only real economic stimulation from such a program is inherently long-term.Continue Reading

The Electoral College Balance

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Please pardon the quotes – they have real relevance to the short discussion that follows

“A pure democracy…can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will…be felt by a majority of the whole…and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party…Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention…and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

– James Madison (Federalist Papers)

“Democracy… while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long…There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

– John Adams

“A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”

– John AdamsContinue Reading

The Inspector General’s Encompassing Investigation

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Devin Nunes was on with Maria Bartiromo on March 25, 2018. Nunes is refreshingly candid which makes his interviews worthwhile.

While much was covered, there was one short comment by Nunes that specifically grabbed my attention:

Remember the IG report is only looking at how they handled the Clinton email investigation, so we really need that report.

“The IG report is only looking at how they [DOJ & FBI] handled the Clinton email investigation…”Continue Reading