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Book Review: ‘One Damn Thing After Another’ by William P. Barr
When I visit my mother for a week, I will bring two bankers boxes filled with books. Once I get there, I choose ten books to consider reading and put them in a line. Then I generate a random number, and trust that the best book for me to read will come up. “One Damn Thing After Another” came up, the autobiography of former Attorney General William P. Barr. When I got the book, I eagerly read his chapters about the November 2020 election and January 6th. But now I needed to read the “whole damn book.”
The book is very well done. And it changed my mind. After the Mueller Report came out, I posted both the Introduction and Executive Summary on Collusion and Obstruction. (See here.) Barr does a deep dive into the Mueller Report and how Mueller both over-read and under-read his remit. My mind had been marinated in the MSNBC and my own TDS. But now reading Barr’s account led me to the conclusion that the Mueller investigation was a search for not all that much, and was a general waste of time and money. I was stunned. But I changed my mind. And I look forward to the results of the Durham investigation.
Barr does deep dives into a number of issues. His chapter on religious freedom was brilliant and dealt with the nuances of the issue. He also had great chapters on Big Tech, and National Security. It is a great book.
Am I going to talk about November 2022 and January 6th? Nah. It is well written and I agree with it completely. But read it for yourself. It is only 10% of the entire book, and I suggest that you read the first 90% of the book to decide if you are willing to be convinced of a different point of view.
“One Damn Thing After Another” is a good book. I recommend it.
Published in General
Bill Barr is on the most recent Ben Shapiro interview podcast. You can get 50 minutes in the horse’s own voice.
I listened to it. Thanks.
I think both Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr were excellent as Attorney General yet underappreciated by their boss.
Wow!!! Assuming you are serious, I think you are 100% wrong. Together they allowed the FBI and DOJ become the most corrupt organization in American history. Other than that…
The corruption preceded them. They may not have corrected the corruption, but it preceded them.
By decades.
I don’t remember the FBI fabricating evidence to impeach a president before. I don’t remember the FBI putting parents on a terrorist watch list for speaking up a school board meeting.
This book was not on my radar until this review. I’m going to have to get my hands on it. Thanks, Gary.
I read the book – I recommend it as well
After The Orange One put into American’s heads the silly idea that the government should answer to them what else could the FBI and the rest of The Swamp do? They had to fight back.
I’m stunned that it would require Barr’s book to convince you that the Mueller investigation was a waste of time. That was abundantly clear from the get-go. Better late than never, though, so Barr’s book definitely has that going for it. Few things are powerful enough to change minds (not to mention, hearts).
In my view, Barr’s self restraint in letting the process play out, admirable as it was, was an error. We’re about to find out if his selection of Durham will accomplish what is necessary. If so, Barr will live in the pantheon of American heroes forever; if not, he will live in infamy. A lot of weight on Durham’s shoulders. I certainly hope and pray that Barr’s confidence in him is well founded. So far so good, in my view.
Andrew McCarthy’s current column on Privilege is his most pointed and humorous so far. Sussman’s trial looks to be entertaining, but hopefully not a full blown circus, though the judge seems to be leaning in that direction.
Whenever I realize I was very wrong about something – and in my 68 years there were many, I go back and retrace my steps. What was it that I did or didn’t do to to come to such an erroneous conclusion? Who was I listening to? Who wasn’t I listening to, and why? What were my assumptions? What drove me, emotionally or psychologically to feel so sure of my position(s)? I learn a lot about myself and human nature -and it helps me when new disputes arise.
I would suggest revisiting the news around the Mueller investigation and watch it ‘happen’ again armed with your new knowledge and insights. It will look like the farce it was.
I’ll take it.
You actually watch PMSNBC? Another first for me as I’m not at all sure I even know anyone who knows anyone who watches that source of digitalized garbage and who will openly acknowledge it in polite company. Just sayin’ .
You were “stunned” to find out that the Mueller “investigation” was a general waste of time and money? I had to read that line several times to be sure I got the context right. I say the following with all due respect, as I try to do on the multitudinous occasions I have had to disagree with you, but the fact that someone could say, in mid-2022, that they were “stunned” to learn that this disgraceful episode in our history was a “general waste of time and money” is nothing short of astonishing to me. Just sayin’ .
I noted, for what it’s worth, which is probably not much, that the very first “like” on this post was by yourself, the author. The following is more a question than a statement, but I have always thought that self-promotion was a practice at least somewhat frowned upon in–here’s that phrase again– polite company. We Southerners, while widely derided in “elite” circles as toothless, knuckle-dragging deplorables, have a word for that kind of conduct — we would call it tacky. But it seems to be accepted without comment here. Just sayin’ .
Respectfully Submitted, as always,
Jim
Thank you for the review, Gary. I have been thinking about reading it having heard Barr interviewed several times about it. I do not suffer from TDS, but I am no fan either. Barr seemed to be pretty honest about Trump in his interviews, so I was interested in what he had to say. Currently reading Douglas Murray’s War on the West which I do recommend. I will pick up Barr’s book today.
Of course he does.
Of course he was.
Of course he did.
Thank you for your gracious comments.
As you said in my post about the PA election: Oh, please.
You’re welcome, as always. Jim.
I think you are both right – it just got worse.
I can only think of this –
Your head/mind is apparently not impenetrable, so would you consider 2000 Mules, either movie or book?
Thank you Bryan.
I watched a bit of it and half of the review of Viva Frei and Robert Barnes. I have not watched any of the debunking clips.
Suffice to say that I agree that there are really big problems with absentee ballots and drop boxes.
In November 2020, the pandemic was in full swing and we did not have vaccines yet. A bit of loosening was needed. The pandemic is over and everyone who wants to be vaccinated has been. Absentee ballots need to be tighten up now, and shame on any legislature that hasn’t done that.
The problem is that you cannot use statistical analysis to attack a past election result. But you can tighten up the rules for elections in the future. Get it done.
I don’t know what you mean by “attack a past election result”. That makes no sense to me at all. I’ll agree that you can’t change a past election result, but you can show there was fraud on a massive scale, and that is not attacking. It’s just turning on the light and watching the roaches scatter.
Also, it is informative to listen to D’Souza respond to the efforts to debunk. Bongino has given him that opportunity and D’Souza responded well.
I have taken your challenge seriously and I have ordered the DVD. The book doesn’t come out until August. I think that it is incumbent for me to listen to the DVD, and come to my own conclusions. I will post on it for better or worse.
Please provide me a link to the Bongino interview if you have one.
The interview I heard was on the radio. Bongino has a lot of followers on rumble, but I don’t know if he posts either transcripts or recordings of the radio show.
Kudos for being willing to listen/watch.
I think that it is worthy of a deep dive.
Fact Checking Dinesh D’Souza’s ‘2,000 Mules’: The film’s ballot harvesting theory is full of holes.
https://thedispatch.com/p/fact-checking-dinesh-dsouzas-2000?s=r