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The Twenty-Fifth Hour is the 1950 novel by the Romanian writer C. Virgil Gheorghiu that weaves a tangled, early post-modern tale of central Europe and the Balkans in World War II. It is justly forgotten today, but the title is back in a manner of speaking because it highlights the great irony of the Left’s Ahab-like pursuit of the Great Orange Whale (to mix literary references).
Anyone else recall back in 2017 how a concerted mob of concerned citizens suggested the presidential disability clause of the 25th Amendment be invoked to remove President Trump from office? Think of it as a 25th Hour moment. This week ended with the 25th Hour being invoked to remove Joe Biden from office because of his obvious and rapidly advancing senility. Yet one more example of how a strategy to get Trump, like the Me Too movement, has circled around like a rogue torpedo to explode in the face of the Left.
The week began with such promise for the anti-Trump crusade. The walls were closing in on the breaking dam that would drown the freshly roosting chickens! Bam: no immunity for you! And the Supreme Court might allow Trump to be banned from the ballot! Except that didn’t go according to script. And then the report of the greatest Hur since Ben Hur, declaring that Biden isn’t competent to stand trial for the very same “willful” crime for which Trump is being prosecuted, but is somehow competent to remain president? The Left should have taken a lesson from those failed exploding cigars they tried to use on Castro 60 years ago.
But about that disability clause in the 25th Amendment: we take a closer look, and note that Section 4 in particular is not as clear cut and simple as it sounds. Meaning we’re likely stuck so long as Edith Wilson. . ., er, we mean, DOCTOR Jill Biden has anything to say about it.
And finally, we close out this week’s epsiode with happy 64th birthday wishes to Lucretia, so the exit bumper music is fairly predictable, isn’t it? (Though I chose a rendition from an obscure artist just to annoy this week’s host!)
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John says that it’s against the law to lie to the FBI. But how can you tell if someone has lied? The FBI has manipulated 302 reports and has falsely claimed that people have lied to it. The only solution for the average person is to not cooperate with the FBI or federal law enforcement in general. If you do cooperate, you must videotape everything. Even then, you should realize that the Feds are not your friends and will persecute you if it’s in their political interest. I don’t think John realizes how terrible our situation is.
Steve, the Beatles arrived 60 years ago not 50.
Yeah, yeah, yeah—stop making me feel older than I already feel!
The FBI keeps track of that and will let a federal prosecutor know if you have lied to them.
The FBI has manipulated the 302s and indicted innocent people for lying. It’s a corrupt political organization.
Being neither rhetorical nor facetious and being neither a #NeverTrump nor #DonaldUberAlles voter well into my 70s, I ask: Has a single (1) of the LOUD crowd on the Left who became frenzied over the possibility that the 25th could be invoked vs. Trump stepped forward and said it’s ‘THAT TIME’ for Biden?
Just one…?
Nice to see Steve and the gang coming to the same consensus us members of Ricochet came to on the 25th Amendment years ago while discussing Trump. The use of Acting President is key. We too decided use of the 25th isn’t permanent.
Who could argue with that? Well, who could understand that?
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/05/08/new_red_flags_emerge_from_fbis_handling_of_flynn_case_123520.html
When Biden got elected, it was already obvious that his mental capacities were too limited to carry out the duties of the office.
I predicted that after two years they’d find a way to remove him. That would give the new president the constitutional ability to run for two full terms as an incumbent.
Of course Kamala Harris is even worse than Biden though her mental incapacities don’t include dementia.
She just isn’t normal, and she couldn’t bring herself to modify her behavior so she could at least act normal. She just doesn’t know how.
I have a theory that Biden and his handlers baked that into the cake when they chose her.
For that matter, I think that at least the last 4 presidents have made that kind of thing a factor when choosing their running mates.
They made people more afraid of their vice presidents seceding to the office than they themselves.
It’s estimated that the running mate of a presidential nominee affects maybe 2% of the vote. So it’s never an issue until it’s too late.
On Blazing Saddles. I was fourteen years old when it came out, and I loved it. I watched it several times in the movie theater. That is, I bought a ticket more than once.
When I rewatched the movie about 15 years later approaching my thirties, I found it had not aged well.
So despite Steve’s objections, I understand John’s reaction to it.
By the way, I feel the same way about Jerry Lewis. I loved him as a child, though.
It is way past time for the FBI form 302 to be eliminated, and recorded interviews be instituted, with the interviewee accorded a copy. It would be great if Trump accomplished that as part of deconstructing the administrative state.
Trump needs to get elected and then do to the DOJ and everything related the same thing they did to Momahr Kadafi. Publicly. What’s going on right now is intolerable. I have listened very closely to everything said about what the attorney general, prosecutors, and the FBI are supposed to be doing. I never would have learned all of this stuff unless they went crazy on Trump like they did. We have to stop tolerating this crap. People don’t have the money or the time to fight this stuff. It’s not justice.
Thanks! I can’t believe I couldn’t remember Chris LeDoux’s name—I bet I can still sing every word of his songs by memory. I hope folks don’t start comparing me to Biden!
When I said, “Who could argue with that? Who could understand that?” I was referring not your comment about the FBI — it was in reply to the clip you posted of Kamala Harris talking gibberish.
If PRESIDENT Ronald Reagan had classified information in his diary at his home, that information was no longer classified per se. Same with any classified documents that PRESIDENT Donald Trump took to Mar-a-Lago.
It gets tiring hearing John Yoo talk about the DoJ and FBI as if they are organizations populated entirely by honest straight-shooting rock-ribbed standup lawmen. He’s sounding more and more like Andrew McCarthy in that respect. The FBI and DoJ are thoroughly corrupt top to bottom. William Barr knew about the Hunter Biden laptop disinformation hoax, and said nothing. No field agent or line staffer ever leaked anything helpful to Trump. No whistleblowers. Dishonesty is the order of the day at the FBI and DoJ.
64 is a great age for nerds like me, as it can be expressed as an exponent several different ways. It’s 2^6 (two to the sixth power), it’s (2^3)^2 (two cubed squared), it’s 8^2 (eight squared). I left 64 a week after Lucretia arrived. Now I’m old by every definition – gimme them senior citizen discounts!
You’re talking about extremes, when it’s probably somewhere in the middle. Is an FBI agent in the middle of Wyoming really that corrupt?
As just one example, the entire Russia collusion hoax was carried out by dozens of FBI/DoJ investigators, who acted in concert with hundreds of FBI and law enforcement personnel in multiple jurisdictions – perhaps including Wyoming. Roger Stone’s house was raided at dawn in Florida (right?) on a secret warrant, and the press was on hand to report the event live on video. Paul Manafort, George Pappadopoulos, Carter Page, Michael Flynn, and many others, all railroaded, in different locations, not a single leak favorable to Republicans.
Not a single leak, whistleblower, principled resignation, nothing. There’s no evidence to support the idea that “it’s somewhere in the middle.”
It’s simply not reasonable to maintain that the FBI and entire DoJ are anything but thoroughly corrupt.
It is tiring – tiresome – to hear insiders such as Andrew McCarthy and John Yoo continue to spout fiction when the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. They should know more about evidence than they let on. The evidence is overwhelming that the FBI and DoJ are corrupt top to bottom.
There are retired FBI agents who speak out, but the currently-employed ones know to keep their heads down.