Mike

The FBI, Politics, and the Administrative State

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Timothy Carney writes:

”While President-elect Donald Trump drives out FBI Director Christopher Wray, Trump’s critics have taken to the airwaves, suggesting that the federal law enforcement agency should be beyond the reach of politicians. They posit a fourth branch of government outside of the executive branch and lean on the idea of a 10-year term for the director to suggest the bureau has always and should be run immune to the demands of elected officials.”

Reading this, two things come to mind.

In regard to politics…

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The Inconvenient Man

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Anybody here remember the name Nicholas Roske?

Probably not.

If you don’t that’s okay because there are a lot of people, especially right now, who wish you didn’t.

However, you do know the name of the killer of Brian Thompson.

I am not going to use that murdering sc*mbag’s name here. You can find it easily enough. There are millions of people treating him as a modern-day Robin Hood or (if they weren’t so ignorant of their cultural patrimony) an avenging angel. I shouldn’t say that about ignorance because you can actually purchase merchandise depicting the man as a saint. Just in time for Christmas…. or the Holidays…. or WinterFest or whatever they are calling it this year

Well, for now, regarding the merchandise because it seems Etsy is pulling this stuff down off their site as fast as it goes up. The other day there were multiple pages of stuff there for sale so maybe there is still hope for decency. Then again, there is always the possibility of our friends at places like Target stepping up — they haven’t forsaken the high holies of DEI yet, and open enrollment does run through Jan. 15.

So back to Nicholas Roske.

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The Jackal and a Quarter Pounder with Cheese

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For the past week, the brutal murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City street has been a media spectacle dominating the pages and airwaves of about every legacy outlet out there. The killer had waited for Thompson to appear, used a suppressed pistol, and then during the shooting, when it appeared the weapon misfired, calmly cleared it and resumed firing. It was like something out of a movie. You can understand why the attention, especially when the shooter disappears until he is caught on Monday.

A few observations.

No one disappears without a trace. One of the first rules of investigations is that everyone, everywhere, leaves evidence of their passing in their wake. It is a matter of doing the detective work to dig up the clues. That process is enhanced, as Chinese surveillance networks demonstrate, by the massive amount of digital exhaust everyone in the developed world leaves.

As a kid, one of the first books I read after “The Magic Tree House” was the “The Day of the Jackal.” The author brilliantly leads the reader to expect that through meticulous preparation, the killer would escape detection. Of course he didn’t escape detection, even in pre-digital France. The twist was that he assumed he would not and planned accordingly.

Thompson’s killer worked hard to cover his tracks, digital and otherwise. He used burner phones to defeat geo-fencing, and otherwise took care to minimize his digital exhaust. He deployed a distinctive looking backpack as a “contra-indicator” that would provide a dead-end once abandoned, and he wore a common COVID-19 mask to defeat surveillance cameras and any witnesses. The guy even took the bus to prevent having to use an ID or have his license plate scanned.

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Random Thoughts (5): Trump Bestriding the World

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Since the election (which was only four weeks ago), Trump has not only been more consequential on the world stage than Biden but he has been more visible, period. Perhaps we’ll see more of Biden over the next few weeks as there are still family members who are going to need pardons before Jan. 20.

No truth to the rumors that Chief of Staff-designate Susie Wiles (who, given that she is Pat Summerall’s daughter, probably had turducken for Thanksgiving) has been spending time in the West Wing and asking Biden people to step out of their offices and wait in the hall so she can take measurements and prep for the move-in. Wouldn’t surprise me though, seems like the Biden people, as with their boss, are just mailing it in.

Not Trump who has been super-busy on the world stage, getting things done. As Biden is flying on Air Force One to far-off Angola, presumably to walk-off into another jungle, Trump has been meeting world leaders and making demands. Shock and awe baby. Biden isn’t being overshadowed so much as buried.

I wonder if any world leaders still take Biden’s calls? Probably not. They’re too busy trying to get Trump on the phone.

1) First on the list was Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, flying to Mar-a-Lago to receive a tongue-lashing from Trump over tariff policy and the inability of Canada to patrol its southern border.

When Trudeau complained that Trump’s proposed tariffs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump answered that if that was the case then the US would annex Canada as the 51st state and Trudeau could become governor.

2) So on Saturday, France will officially reopen the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral after a devastating fire wrecked it five years ago. It will be a grand social event and the US will be represented by Jill Biden for what will be her last international event as First Lady. Her turn to shine one more time during one of the great spectacles of the year.

So given what it will mean to her, of course French President Macron invites Trump. Why? Because they have important business to discuss, they need to plan the future. So not only is Macron telling Jill Biden that her husband is a has-been, but he is going out of his way to make sure she is overshadowed at the event of the year by the Sun King that is Trump.

I would pay good money if somebody could produce a Manning Cast-type production for Saturday with cameras following both Jill Biden and Trump around during the ceremony.

3) Trump reboots for 2024 the classic 1980 flick “Reagan and the Iranian Hostages” by announcing that there will be “all hell to pay” if the American hostages in Gaza are not released by January 20.

As the linked article reports, several of the families have felt that this type of a statement has been long overdue; there are Americans being held hostage by a genocidal terrorist organization and we’re treating them with kid gloves. Wonder no more. Trump is here.

Watch out, world. We’re only four weeks in and the inauguration is still almost seven weeks away.

The Hunter Biden Pardon

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A Political Theory of Relativity would dictate that what you see depends on where you sit. Where one sees Trump and his incoming cabinet as a modern-day incarnation of The Untouchables coming to take the crooked city down to the studs, others see such an endeavor as something worse than Watergate. It just depends on where you are sitting.

Kamala Harris spent more than $1 billion on her 100 day campaign and she still lost. That’s a lot of money to push out the door in such a short time, so where did all the money go? A clue lies in the revelation that the Harris campaign had donated $500,000 to Al Sharpton’s nonprofit ahead of a friendly interview.

While it is hard to imagine Sharpton ever doing an unfriendly interview with Kamala, there was a commonality of interest. She had the need to spend money that other people had given her and he liked to spend the money that other people gave him. In fact Sharpton has used his past as an inciter of antisemitic riots and racial hoaxes to good effect because he, like mobsters and politicians, understands that the difference between a donation and extortion depends on where you sit.

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