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Last August when the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-A-Lago, we were told that DOJ finally had him where they wanted him. Now, five months later, we find out the real crime is that Trump forgot to store his documents under the little known and under-appreciated Corvette exemption clause of the Espionage Act.
Andy McCarthy stops by to explain how then Vice-President Biden’s mishandling of classified material is making life miserable for the politicized prosecutors in the Justice Department and how all this all originated in James Comey’s CYA operation for you-know-who.
James Lileks and Peter Robinson preside with an able assist from Steve Hayward as Rob swans about Madagascar or thereabouts. Let’s have ourselves a podcast…
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Love the pic!
Sorry James, I don’t think the Gas Oven Culture War is definitely won. They still want to stop new manufacture and sale, and construction of new housing and other buildings with gas service.
Also Peter, absolutely everyone uses lights in their homes. Not everyone has gas appliances.
Peter didn’t know about Trumka?
Wow.
They are going to implement “standards” that will make gas stoves work poorly and cost more, just as they have done with toilets, light fixtures, light bulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, clothes dryers, paper bags, and so much more.
For example, they may make obscure regulatory changes which make gas ranges more and more expensive.
Conservative pundits love to highlight local and temporary victories in losing campaigns.
I look for wins, yes. Doesn’t mean the battle is over. But when the light gets shined on something and the result is what we like, then, hoorah! Or not, if you wish.
Biden’s comments about his Corvette were a tell. He is much more concerned that his Corvette was safely locked in a garage than that classified documents were safely locked away.
He wasn’t even concerned about the contents of the classified documents. If I had had three caches of classified documents that were accidentally stored in my garage and office, I would want to know IMMEDIATELY what might have been compromised. I think he knew perfectly well what was in those documents and why they were stashed in his garage instead of the National Archives.
We celebrate a victorious skirmish and rest on our laurels, even as we continue to lose the war.
The question should be, how do we transform a temporary advantage into something more permanent.
They will use ESG to attack it – same as what is happening to gun and ammo manufacturers.
Agree with @jameslileks that hoorah when things we like happen, but also agree with @taras that a larger question is there before us: How best to take this regulatory power out of “their” hands.
Is the answer to strip the National government of these regulatory powers and return them to the States where they should stay? Is it as simple as overturning a previous SCOTUS ruling like Wicker? Or would this require an Amendment?
What do you all think the “answer” is for the stoves and other things?
P.S. – A new revival of Federalism does seem necessary for many of the issues that face us today. Listening to @lucretia and @stevenhayward ‘s Powerline U. podcasts have rekindled how possible it is to make a great case for Federalizing the National government.
Andy McCarthy has an incurable case T.D.S. I think the discussion also reveals that Andy does not do his homework. He should know the particulars of the Presidential Records Act (44 U.S.C. §§ 2201–2207), if he is going to comment on things. If anybody wants complete information, follow Mike Davis @mrddmia
Having specifics is nice, but I find it’s usually sufficient to be skeptical of if not outright ignore people like Andy McCarthy because their expertise is maybe 20 years – or in the case of someone like Hugh Hewitt, maybe 40 years – out of date.
Darn it! Just when I was thinking about maybe upgrading my kitchen appliances with some All-American General Electric gas burner products.
Hold on! General Electric is owned by the Chinese now! So, I’m expecting The Big Guy to figure out any day now that he needs to ‘Make Gas Great Again’ and I’ll be buying some EU-made appliances.
Seems like higher prices, and hence greater profits, on electric. Which GE China also makes.
Anyway, you’ll buy what you’re told, and you’ll like it.
I read Paul Johnson’s “A History of the American People” many years ago. I strongly recommend it.
Coincidentally, I just started his short biography of Winston Churchill. I’m halfway though and it’s also a great read. Like many intellectuals, he started on the left and moved right.
Steve Hayward pronounced Schadenfreude correctly! Way to go!
The states that are acting to prevent new construction gas hookups are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. A gas range may or may not be vented, but gas hot water heaters and HVAC units are definitely vented. The venting prevents the questionable dangers of gas ranges, but the lefties want to shut them all down. Which means its about fossil fuels, not asthma.
Seems to me that until 10 minutes ago that when a problem presented itself, manufacturers leapt at the chance to provide safer, more efficient equipment that mitigated or solved the problem. Better, faster, safer, sometimes even cheaper. But there’s a time honored response to the market that isn’t even getting a chance here. Nope, just ban it. God, these jerks hate regular people getting through life comfortably.
Lastly, I am not sure why people are more accepting of an insane new regulation that contains a grandfather clause. It’s meant to shut up half of the world because they are unaffected. There’s about a 100% chance that its just the first step and that rules will be more and more restrictive and make everyone’s gas more expensive and difficult through all kinds of administrative rules propagated by unelected busybodies and extremists. Nope, no grandfather rule (slippery slope.) Are we saying that its ok to cause a health problem for my kids, but not future kids? What kind of sense is that? The fact that they’re ok with my kid getting seriously ill means that they can’t actually get serious sick. They’re lying and that’s how you know.
Steve, you’ve spotted the tip of the iceberg.
There’s much to the Joe’s Garage story that isn’t being told. According to Breitbart – and supported by video, Biden said – reading from his notes, when responding to Peter Doocy’s question (“What were you thinking??!?”):
The official White House transcript claims Biden said the following:
What does any of that mean? What is it supposed to mean? Why did Biden’s lawyers draft notes for him to read?
The conventional wisdom is that Biden’s lawyers told Biden not to ask what is in the documents – that’s Byron York’s take. But that’s the opposite of what Biden said, and it’s not what the transcript says that Biden said.
The words from the transcript appear to me to be lawyers trying to tell anyone who asks, “we did NOT tell Biden not to ask what’s in the documents.” (Because that’s what mob lawyers tell their clients, and we don’t want to admit that we’re mob lawyers).
There’s clearly probable cause to suspect a crime was committed. I want the lawyers who drafted the statement that Biden read to be questioned under oath regarding
I then want them asked – under oath – if they advised their client that his possession of classified documents is a crime. I then want them to explain why none of this was communicated to the DoJ for over two months.
Something is rotten in the state of Delaware.
Wouldn’t they just assert attorney-client privilege?
The crime/fraud exception to attorney-client privilege would free them from the privilege – which technically belongs to their client. In this case where their actions may be part of the crime, they should also be investigated and charged.
But Andy McCarthy – despite his lack of credibility on all things DoJ and FBI – pointed out the ultimate defense: Hillary did all of this intentionally, by orders of magnitude more egregiously, and “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue charges against her.
That’s why I want these mob consigliere called to testify before Congress.
At minimum I want them mocked for drafting such a comically ass-covering statement for Biden to read, and they had to know he’d screw it up. Which he did, but few seem to have noticed.
No, you’ll rent what you’re told, and you’ll like it.
With no pesky property rights in the way, they’ll be able to take back, at any time, any technology of which they no longer approve; and not grandfather anything.
I read that as well – really good. Also read his history of the Jews and History of Christianity – both are good as well
They want us to feel bad about and change our behavior for as yet unborn children who may suffer from predicted future flooding after we are dead. I would remind them that real people are suffering from actual flooding now.
Usually the same group who advocates for the killing of unborn children.
During the discussion of the gas stove wars, the group noted that Richard Trumka Jr is the son of former AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka. But you missed an important part of the irony. Richard Trumka Sr was a former coal miner who became president of the United Mine Workers, and eventually president of the AFL-CIO. So the anti-fossil fuel son had a coal miner dad.
Children often seem to wish that people – including their parents – had been somehow spared what usually helped to make them decent people to start with.