The "president" is a middle school Mean Girl

You called down the thunder.
Well, now you've got it!

~~ Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp in "Tombstone"

The current occupant of the Oval Office is gloating about the firing of Andrew McCabe, the FBI Deputy Director who was going to retire tomorrow, a guy who spent over twenty years serving his country with the FBI. This puts McCabe's pension in jeopardy.

I cannot begin to convey how much this infuriates and sickens me. The "president" has been bitching about McCabe for months, flat-out saying that he's partisan and part of some stupid deep state conspiracy to take him down. This is such a petty and vindictive action that it boggles my mind. 

Listen, I haven't seen the internal FBI report that recommended that McCabe be fired, so I don't know the whole story. But the timing of this absolutely smacks of attempting to silence a member of the intelligence community. Under normal circumstances, I don't doubt for a second that the FBI and DOJ would have said, "Hey, the guy is retiring, let's just let him retire and then issue a report saying that disciplinary action would have been taken if he had stayed on." 

But no. The "president" decided that McCabe had to go and pressured the spineless Attorney General Sessions to do the dirty deed. Sessions decided to toady up and try to save his own hide by doing the bidding of his boss. Woe to all who associate themselves with this toxic "president." You will be tainted forever and history will not be kind to you. 

There are bigger implications here. First, I don't think this will play well with anyone other than the "president's" rabid base. Most people will see someone who served his country honorably for over two decades and think that he got a raw deal. 

Second, the men and women of the FBI have seen some of the worst things and worst people in the world. They pursue them doggedly and do not rest until they see that justice is done. Does the "president" really think that they are scared of him? 

Finally, and this is related to the second item, piss off the FBI at your own peril. The "president" has repeatedly questioned their integrity and honesty and seems to think that they owe him their loyalty. That's not how it works, idiot. These attacks against well-liked and well-respected members of the Bureau like James Comey and Andrew McCabe are going to backfire. The FBI will close ranks and protect each other and they will not let their reputation as the best law enforcement agency in the world be besmirched. Just like Comey, McCabe has memos and has turned them over to Robert Mueller. 

My BF in an alternate universe was none too happy and tweeted his response. 

But Wyatt Earp said it best.

Lucy Saves The Day

And so this is Christmas....

"Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon

Happy Chrimbo, pals!

Technically, I started this entry on Christmas Eve, but you get the drift. Like a snowdrift, am I right?! Yes, we are having a white Christmas here at Nutwood. It really is pretty.

I found myself sitting here tonight feeling on the verge of melancholy. I had to ponder that for a while because I really don't get the blues around the holidays. I'm generally a cheery person, anyway, so I was at a bit of a loss as to why I was starting to feel this way.

I mean, our little silver tree is up and the color wheel is going and it makes me smile as much as it always does. All the wrapping is done and I can always count on Ken to find me some fun and unusual stuff, so we'll have fun opening our presents. We'll have mimosas as we open. Our niece Jen is visiting from San Diego and we get to see her tomorrow as well as be around the rest of my immediate family, and we get to eat lasagna.

Beyond my little sphere, I'm seeing wonderful pictures and holiday wishes from everyone, including my homey James Comey, who which us all, no matter what we believe or think, peace. His pal Benjamin Wittes, dismayed by the recent attacks by this administration on the FBI and the Intelligence Community, urged people to donate to the FBI Agents Association, which helps family members of agents in need and provides college scholarships to the children of slain agents. It looks as though they got tons of donations and I was happy to be a little part of letting the FBI know that the majority of us appreciate them.

So all of these are good things. Why the twinge of melancholy?

I finally realized what it was. It is the utter mean-spiritedness of the person currently occupying the Oval Office. Most of us try to set differences aside during the holidays and bask in the glow of kindness and generosity to others. Donating to the FBI Agents Association made me feel better than anything I'll receive on Christmas Da. Watching the political shows Sunday morning, Chuck Todd and Jake Tapper were throwing Merry Christmases and Happy Hanukkahs at everyone, and it was nice. Even if you disagree with someone politically, it's a good moment to set all that aside and just be kind to one another.

But not the "president." He's holed up in his stupid golf resort and posting shitty tweets about the FBI, Comey, Andrew McCabe, and "Fake News." Jesus Christ, man, can you set your ego and paranoia aside for one moment and just be KIND to people? Instead of tossing out schoolyard taunts? "Leakin' James Comey. For Pete's sake. Grow up already. (And the only think Comey's leakin' is integrity and stone cold foxitude. You know I'm right.)

So that's what was making me feel down. Nothing bad in my own personal life. It's that the person who is supposed to be the moral compass of our country is bringing our entire national discourse down with his stupid mean tweets. Instead of inspiring and uplifting us, he is doing his best to drag us down to his level. He is a demotivational poster come to life.

A totally unexpected person lifted me out of my looming funk. I had music on but still had the TV on after a football game, muted. As I started writing this, I looked up and saw that CBS was airing the colorized "I Love Lucy" Christmas special, so I had to turn off the music and watch Lucy. Within moments, I was laughing so hard I was crying. While I love the original black and white series (and have the whole thing on DVD, of course), there is something special about seeing her vibrant red hair and seeing them all as you would expect to see them in real life. The episode after the Christmas special was one set in Hollywood, and the colors of the hotel room and the dresses were a sight to behold.

Ken even came out of this office to take a short work break and watched a little bit and was laughing as hard as I was. In one scene, Lucy was trying to act cool in this chic Hollywood dress shop, and of course, she stumbles and falls walking up the stairs. I cracked up and said, "Do you understand why she's one of my idols?" Ken said, "Because she was clumsier than you?" I had to admit that that is part of it!

Thank you, Lucy. Even all these years later, you can still make me laugh and make me happy.

You see, that's what the best among us do. People can inspire us in many ways. FBI agents can work as a team to foil a terrorist plot planned for Christmas day. Others can wish people peace and happy holidays, despite their differing political or religious beliefs. Some might be gone from us but have left a legacy of laughter and can brighten our day when we need it the most. Some create art and music and stories that make us think and maybe even help us reflect on who we are and where we want to be.

The best among us uplift and inspire and do their best to help, inform, or entertain others. They make us want to be better people.

The worst among us?

They send out shitty tweets.

Just For One Day

And the shame was on the other side

Oh we can beat them, forever and ever

Then we could be Heroes, just for one day

~~ “Heroes” by David Bowie

I promise that this isn’t going to turn into a “Today in James Comey News” blog. Although this is a wee bit about him, there is a broader subject here: our collective need for heroes.

I thought of this because as I’ve followed his Twitter feed and watched his number of followers continue to climb (so much so that his pal Benjamin Wittes jokingly complained about how Comey already has a lot more followers than he does), I’ve seen a common theme in what people tweet to him. Basically, it’s thank you for your service and courage in speaking out and standing up to the “president.” He also seems to have a devoted female following, so it’s not just me! But overall, I get the impression that people see him as a person of integrity who is trying to do what is right.

I know, I know...there are still those who think he is a partisan hack. He’s also attracting an increasing contingent of trolls who think he should be locked up. That’s not going to happen but nothing good comes from arguing with those people. I’m also not going to argue with my friends who are still mad at him about the email thing and don’t see him—or the FBI, for that matter—as any sort of hero. I’ve laid out my reasons for why I changed my mind about him and came to believe that he made the decisions he felt he had to as Director of the FBI. I’m not going to relitigate that.

But I’m seeing a genuine desire for justice. People talk about their “Justice Crushes,” including Comey, Mueller, and other lawyers and legal types who are either working on the investigation or providing commentary on complex legal matters. We are experiencing what many of us consider to be a truly dangerous attack on our republic and on its checks and balances. It seems that the judicial branch is what is keeping our heads above water right now and stopping the “president” from going full-on dictator.

So it is no wonder that we see people like Comey and Mueller, stolid, stoic, and implacable, as heroes of sorts. The mental image (whether true or not) of Comey being appalled by the new “president,” disgusted by his requests for a pledge of loyalty as well as overstepping the boundaries of the necessary separation of the president and the Department of Justice resonates with all of us who have ever had a boss we found to be acting unfairly or unethically. The mental image of Robert Mueller, working diligently to ferret out any whiff of corruption in this White House or the campaign, is important to those of us who want justice to be served. We’re not talking about blowjobs here...this is about possible interference by a hostile foreign power trying to do us harm and possibly enlisting members of a campaign to help them (even if they may have been useful idiots). As Comey said, “This is a big deal.” And as Joe Biden said about something different, “This is a big fucking deal.” (Still applicable to this, though.)

We want the bad guys to be caught and we want to see them brought to justice for their crimes. That is engraved in our collective consciousness. When we see cops chasing down and tackling someone who committed a crime, when we see the FBI working doggedly to track down terrorists, when we see prosecutors building a case to convict, when we see justice prevail, it is something that makes us feel that things are working the way they are supposed to and it makes us feel safer.

Is the system perfect? Far from it. Guilty people go free. Innocent people are jailed and sometimes even executed (that’s why I can no longer support capital punishment). We see miscarriages of justice (I’m talking to you, O.J.) followed by the meting out of justice (I’m talking to you, O.J.). We see mistreatment of people and wrongful deaths. No, it is not a perfect system, and we need to keep having the conversations in order to make it better and better. Those conversations should never stop.

Heroes take many forms. I have friends who are heroes to me because they have turned their own personal tragedies into advocacy for various causes. We encounter everyday heroes who stand up to bullies or stop on a highway to help someone change a tire or push someone out of a snowy ditch. These are little actions that help make the world a better place.

We all have that potential; it’s just a matter of doing what is right and helping others when we can. I think we all feel that deep down, so seeing people like Comey (talk about standing up to a bully!) or Mueller seeking justice is something that speaks to us all.

I don’t know what will happen. I can only hope that justice will be served. Served like the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you’ve ever seen.

Beth’s Books - Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner

I’ve made no bones about my fascination with former FBI Director James Comey, Special Counsel Robert Mueller III (also a former FBI Director) and his investigation into “Russiagate,” and the FBI in general. As I’ve said before, if I had my career to do over again, I’d definitely consider a lab job with the FBI. Wouldn’t that be fascinating and rewarding? I sure think so.

Anyway, I came across this book and thought it would be interesting to read up on the birth and history of the Bureau. I wasn’t disappointed! Here are a few of my takeaways.

1. I would be fascinated to pick an FBI agent’s brain (or a former Director’s...call me, Dir. Comey!) about their thoughts on J. Edgar Hoover. Good grief, what a conundrum! On one hand, he made the FBI into the powerhouse that it is, consolidating power and making it a force to be feared (and too often, hated). But wow, he did some really bad things. He circumvented the rule of law and sometimes just ignored the law entirely. I have read that Director Comey kept a copy of the letter signed by Hoover authorizing the illegal wiretap of Martin Luther King, Jr. on his desk to remind him of the abuses possible in the office, and it was practice to require new recruits to visit the Holocaust Museum in DC to remind them of the same thing. Comey added a requirement for recruits to visit the MLK Memorial as an added reminder.
2. The FBI wasn’t computerized at all until the 1990s and they didn’t have an extensive network until much later than that. Can you imagine doing the kind of work they do without computers?
3. There was some discussion of moles within the Bureau. There are many reasons that people “turn,” but I had to wonder, “How could anyone betray their country that way?” I cannot imagine that kind of treason, no matter how much money was thrown at me or what kind of blackmail or perks. Beyond the dishonesty and betrayal of it, you’d have to know that you’d eventually get found out, right? How stupid.
4. The saga of Director Mueller and then-Deputy AG Comey defending AG John Ashcroft while he was in the hospital, fending off the nefarious efforts of the Bush administration (in the form of Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales) to continue the unconstitutional Stellar Wind program that collected personal information on pretty much everyone, read like a spy thriller!
5. I was surprised to read how close the FBI came to being dismantled entirely in the mid-aughts, due to the practices and directives of the Bush administration.
6. That was staved off partly due to the efforts of Robert Mueller who is obviously an impressive person. He reshaped the Bureau into something that was more honorable and above-board than it had been for many years, and I believe that James Comey continued that culture of accountability until you-know-who fired him and I will never like you-know-who because he did that, so there.

I’ll include a couple of passages that I found particularly interesting.

“Nixon believed that if a president did it, it was not illegal.”

Remind you of anyone?

“The Watergate hearings convened by the Senate wrung damning testimony out of Nixon’s foot soldiers. Pivotal stories in the press laid out the facts. But the information, almost all of it, had its source in the work of the FBI. And the information had a gathering strength, each rivulet flowing together into a mighty river, the force that lets water cut through solid rock. Backed by federal grand juries and the prosecutors who led them, the FBI’s investigators preserved the rule of law against the obstruction of justice. And under law, the agents were accomplishing an act of creative destruction that the radicals of the Left could only dream of achieving. They were bringing down the president of the United States.”

Again...remind you of anything? Robert Mueller, save us! More on Mueller.

“Mueller had a sharp mind, a first-rate temperament, and a high regard for well-crafted cases. The future director of the FBI was a born leader. And he was a marine.”

I especially like that “well-crafted case” part. If I were you-know-who, I would be very worried.

And finally, because Comey is still my homey, this on his efforts to protest the unconstitutionality of the Stellar Wind program.

“Comey was a persuasive advocate. One of the FBI’s favorite prosecutors, the grandson of an Irish police commissioner, he had worked with skill and intensity on terrorism cases as the United States attorney in Manhattan for two years after the al-Qaeda attacks. The trust vested in him that day showed that the awe-inspiring force of American national security rested on personal relationships as well as statutory powers.”

I just bet he’s persuasive! [grin]

This took me a while to read, partly because it was a little dry in spots, but mostly because I eased up on my book-reading while I enjoyed the summer. I still read plenty on my news feed, because there was plenty to read, wasn’t there? Great googly-moogly. This book really started to buzz for me when I got into the more recent history because this is stuff that I remember, and I enjoyed reading about the background of those things. I was still kind of young when Watergate happened, so I probably need to read a book about that, too.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep living and experiencing the Russiagate investigation in real-time, and know that Mueller’s efforts will be thorough and meticulous AND that Comey will be vindicated.

Integrity deficient

You’re the kind of man who wants everyone to think

that he’s successful

So you talk about it, and you write about it,

and blah blah blah blah

But way deep down inside you’re afraid that you’re a fraud

~~ “Like Dogs” by The Rainmakers

Check one!

Instead of focusing on the Yam threatening to blow up North Korea, I’m going to write about something else. But that is really, really bad and someone (paging General Kelly!) needs to yank that goddamn phone out of his hand and smash it right in front of him and then rub his face in it until he fucking GETS IT ALREADY.

[deep breath]

I’m not going to write about that, though. It’s a little too horrifying for me to contemplate right now, anyway.

I’m going to write about another story I saw about how the Yam is “sending messages” to special counsel Robert Mueller, telling him how much he appreciates what he is doing. At least according to the Yam Legal Team (The Yamteam? The Yamyers?), anyway. Who knows anymore? They all lie like rugs. It seems pretty obvious that the Yam is very worried about this investigation and about what Mueller might find out. And well he should be.

So if he really is sending him notes (I made a joke on Facebook and Twitter about getting a leaked copy of one of the notes, seen above), it is probably part of an effort to butter Mueller up, suck up to him, and flatter him in a clumsy attempt to get him to go easy on him. This tells us a lot about the Yam.

First, he has no concept of personal and professional integrity. We saw this with James Comey (Jaaaaames). He tried to wine and dine Comey at the White House, calling him up just to see how he was doing, and then in return, expected a pledge of loyalty. When he didn’t get it, and when Comey continued with the investigation about Russia, he fired him.

Another gratuitous picture of James Comey

Second, and this is related to the first item, he also does not understand the concept of swearing an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution rather than pledging loyalty to any one person. As a businessman, he expected unfailing loyalty, and he just can’t grasp why he is not getting it from certain people in the FBI or the Department of Justice. They are not there to do your bidding, you tool, they are there to uphold the Constitution.

He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get the mission of the FBI and why they are and must be above partisan politics. (Some would argue this point, and I will debate that all damn day...but not on this day.)

All of these things are beyond his comprehension. He has no integrity so he does not understand it when he sees it in others. He expects loyalty from others but is incapable of exhibiting it himself. He loves the power of the presidency without understanding the great responsibilities with which it comes. (Someone slip him a Spiderman comic book, please.) He is stumbling through his presidency like a wounded bull, clueless and in pain, wanting to harm whatever stands in his way.

He is a damaged person.

And if he thinks that Robert Mueller will be swayed or softened by his platitudes about how the Yam appreciates what he is doing, he doesn’t understand people at all. A Marine and Vietnam veteran, a prosecutor, an FBI director so beloved by both parties that he was asked to stay on two years beyond his ten-year term, this guy has dealt with the worst dregs of society and humanity and maintained his sense of justice and integrity. I guarantee that Mueller doesn’t give one single fuck about your laudatory messages, Yamboy. He has lived a life of integrity and worked for the betterment of humanity and the ideal of justice for his entire career. He doesn’t need your little “attaboys” and is probably disgusted by them.

By all means, keep throwing that sop to Cerberus, Yammy...but Robert Mueller is coming for you. And I’m guessing that he is a man who does not suffer fools lightly.