Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 1:07am

Deep State? What Deep State?

 

Little surprise:

 

Did the “highest levels” of the Department of Justice attempt to foment a coup d’etat in May 2017? Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told Scott Pelley that he quarterbacked a meeting to discuss removing Donald Trump from office after the president fired James Comey. In the interview, which will air on 60 Minutes this Sunday, McCabe says that the participants in the meeting included Rod Rosenstein and other less-senior officers in the Department of Justice and got to the point of “counting noses” to see whether invoking the 25th Amendment would succeed:

Go here to read the rest.  Think about this.  Some members of the Federal bureaucracy were willing to risk a possible civil war in order to topple a democratically elected President they didn’t like.  This is Seven Days in May stuff, and it is pure poison for a democracy.

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Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 1:20pm

The civil service is increasingly uncivil. If they’re going to behave like a bunch of partisan hacks, then, with every change of administration, they should be turned out like partisan hacks.

Like they used to be.

c matt
c matt
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 1:48pm

So why are they not being tried for treason?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 2:32pm

The civil service is increasingly uncivil. If they’re going to behave like a bunch of partisan hacks, then, with every change of administration, they should be turned out like partisan hacks.

IIRC, in the last quarter of the 19th century about 20% of all federal positions changed hands.

The problem has been two fold: the judiciary has inserted itself into the process of constructing and administering civil service examinations, making it increasingly difficult to use examinations as a screening tool. They should be stripped of both any statutory authority to intervene and then through enabling legislation stripped of all jurisdiction should they try to invoke the 14th amendment. Nearly all positions should be filled by examination and any examining authority should be able to compose and administer one on 90 days notice. However, to maintain labor discipline, federal civilian employees should have tenures which approximate at-will employment. Three signatures in an employee’s chain of command should suffice to discharge him and one signature should be necessary to have him in front of a disciplinary panel for penalties short of discharge. You could have post-discharge reviews, indemnities and rectificatory acts by ombudsmen under select circumstances (to compensate whistle-blowers, for example).

As for discretionary employees, there’s a wretchedly long list of appointments which require Senate confirmation. Congress can address this matter, but they do nothing.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 2:34pm

What gets you is that street-level Democrats and Democratic pols are perfectly happy with McCabe’s conduct. It’s difficult to impossible to maintain constitutional government when one party is continually playing Calvinball.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 2:36pm

So why are they not being tried for treason?

Because what they were doing doesn’t meet the definition of treason set out in the Constitution. There’s a provision in New York law under which I think McCabe could be put on trial had he been employed by the New York State Police. Not sure there’s a federal equivalent.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 2:42pm

You realize the mentality of partisan Democrats is such that they have a proprietory attitude toward public institutions and elements of the public square. The media is properly theirs. The schools are properly theirs. Higher education is theirs. Congress is theirs. The appellate courts are theirs. They lose a round and it’s wah wah wah. Partisan Democrats fancy the Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council are engaging in some sort of criminal activity by advancing their viewpoint. The late Louise Slaughter’s pet project for years was to get Rush Limbaugh knocked off the air through a revived ‘Fairness Doctrine’ because contrary viewpoints are ‘unfair’. Again, it’s difficult to maintain a contentious public square with this mentality abroad. Now they’re using tech and credit card firms to try to shut down opposition on the theory that opposing viewpoints are ‘abuse’.

Jim Woodward
Jim Woodward
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 2:52pm

It’s easy to conflate sedition and treason; the latter usually involves a foreign entity….

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 3:35pm

What gets you is that street-level Democrats and Democratic pols are perfectly happy with McCabe’s conduct

Somebody ought to try pointing out to them that perhaps they wanted Clinton to win because she was plainly vulnerable to blackmail.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 3:43pm

Isn’t it funny how these stories always seem to break after elections? Almost as if somebody were afraid the voters might decide to do something that would interrupt the Spice.

And the Spice must flow

Mary De Voe
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 3:51pm

Art Deco: Well said.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 4:26pm

One, Comey, Hillary, McCabe, Obama, Rosentein, et al will tell you, “The Deep State Is A Fabrication Only Believed By Fascists, Redneck Hillbillies, Misogynists, Islamophobes, Christians, Deplorable People, Racists, Et Al.”

Two, While not Constitution-defined treason, this is an attempted coup d’état/repudiation of an election. If it had worked, I hope there would be sufficient numbers of stout-hearted men and women to make them pay, i.e., civil war.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 5:05pm

There were folks talking about the 25th amendment weeks after Trump was elected, before he even was sworn in; after 8 years of not even being subtle about discriminating against anybody who might be right-wing, OF COURSE somebody did a nose-count to see if they could make it work.
Heck, if I’d been in there, I would have. Because I’m aware of how hard that is to make work, and it’s a great smack-down on someone who is trying to wind themselves up.

John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 5:07pm

“And the Spice must flow” A Dune reference?

“….If it had worked, I hope there would be sufficient numbers of stout-hearted men and women to make them pay, i.e., civil war.”

If it had worked, we would have never known.

Heck, I think it worked in 2013 in Rome.

Fairminded
Fairminded
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 6:34pm

Comey and Obama knew things about the Clinton Foundation the rest of us didn’t know in November of 2016, that includes McCabe who was overseeing the investigation of the Clintons prior to Nov. of 2016. They were also investigating Trump, who let’s face it was equally suspicious for a variety of reasons including meeting with the Russians the day after Comey was fired – a red flag that Trump might be a compromised Russian “Manchurian candidate.” Would anyone working in the government not be confused by the two candidates for President? I think when the dust is settled, Trump will prove cleaner than we thought, and Hillary will prove out to be dirtier than we knew. But both weren’t looking so good in November of 2016.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 6:51pm

A Dune reference?

Hey, the forms must be obeyed.

John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 9:14pm

I read 4 or 5 of the books in the early 80s. I saw Dune once when it came out. I wasn’t impressed and haven’t seen it since. I remember not liking the main actor ( Mr. Blue Velvet) and the actor who played the Baron. After reviewing that clip I may reconsider my embargo.

CAM
CAM
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 10:37pm

Under the George W. Bush Administration, the biggest complaint with non Democrats in the Justice Dept was that W’s administration did not flush the Clintonistas from Justice. That’s 16 years of entrenchment by the left.
The Republicans don’t get “to the victors belong the spoils”. They always under estimate the Dems. Now Trump and the nation are paying for it.
I want to see all the perpetrators in orange jumpsuits. Can this rot be rooted out?

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, February 14, AD 2019 10:43pm

The John Harrison adaptation for SciFi from 2000 is better.

same scene (more or less —or maybe less is more).

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, February 15, AD 2019 7:59am

15 Feb 2019: Mark Ellis, “There was never any collusion. The entire debacle has been a Deep State plot to depose a president.”

BPS
BPS
Friday, February 15, AD 2019 9:07am

I live just outside Washington DC, and my business is a government contractor. One…hears things about personnel generally. I’ve lived her since the 80s, and up to that time, Mormons were heavily recruited for the FBI and other federal law enforcement and intelligence agency. They were well educated and known for their loyalty to the country. During the Reagan years, it became kind of a joke. In his play “Angels in America” the homosexual writer Tony Kushner poked fun at this fact. During the Clinton years (and continuing into the Bush years) a more “diverse” recruitment effort was embraced, and people with more leftist views were hired. My next door neighbor is an FBI agent, great admirer of the Clintons. Up thru the Reagan/Bush 1 years, one had to be either a lawyer or CPA to become an agent. She barely graduated with a 4 year degree.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, February 15, AD 2019 11:40am

Up thru the Reagan/Bush 1 years, one had to be either a lawyer or CPA to become an agent. She barely graduated with a 4 year degree.

I can’t see either an JD degree or a CPA as being an appropriate screen for those working in forensic laboratories. Training in accounting would be helpful to those assigned to investigate financial crimes or cases requiring forensic accounting. Not sure what else. If your business is criminal investigations, i’m not quite seeing the point of antecedent legal training, only a modest slice of which will be concerned with substantive criminal law or criminal procedure. IMO, a set of examinations to screen for physical fitness, general intelligence, and an absence of psychopathic-deviate tendencies should suffice, along with a background check. You can send your recruits out for certificate programs as part of their training.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, February 15, AD 2019 11:46am

a more “diverse” recruitment effort was embraced, and people with more leftist views were hired.

The whole point of the diversity program is to hire marginally competent people dependent on the patronage of self-appointed do-gooders, and to corrupt institutional purposes by turning the agency into a social work enterprise.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, February 15, AD 2019 3:09pm

Of course in Hoover’s day a law degree was usually an undergraduate degree, so perhaps he was trying to ensure that he was not hiring college men who slid through in easy majors. Quite a few of Hoover’s policies defy rational analysis.)

In 1928, about 6% of each cohort had a tour in a college or professional school. An additional increment passed through 2-year normal schools (whose work has now been captured by regular colleges) and nursing programs (ditto). Most young people between the ages of 14 and 18 at that time weren’t enrolled in high school, much less did they receive a diploma. Just limiting recruitment to people who had some tertiary schooling would have excluded the vast bulk of the youth population.

Foxfier
Admin
Saturday, February 16, AD 2019 2:26pm

Trump’s “meeting with the Russians” was not exactly the action of a Russian agent, he met with their visiting foreign minister.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-meeting-foreign-minister-sergey-lavrov-russia/
Especially since Pence was meeting with the Ukranian foreign minister, plus talking to President Moon of RoK, it looks more like Trump was being a bit threatening.
Not quite up there with the Pope who read off German atrocities when their minister came to chatter at him, but not a slouch.

Foxfier
Admin
Saturday, February 16, AD 2019 2:35pm

You can send your recruits out for certificate programs as part of their training.

If I understand it correctly, they already send everyone through the screening process, then to the FBI academy, and then there are further classes as needed.

I know they go to some of the same week-to-three long classes as Navy guys, sometimes; can find stuff on press releases, and the board for “welcome, Alphabet Agencies and Navy techs!” signs at the hotels.

Erwin
Erwin
Saturday, February 16, AD 2019 5:06pm

Prior to my nephew’s graduation from Law School in 2005, the FBI participated in a Job Fair on campus. The woman from the FBI told my nephew, a White Male, to come back in ten years after he had professional experience because the FBI was only seeking female and minority applicants at that time. No White Males need apply was her clear message to him. Remember, this happened during the administration of Bush II.

My nephew is doing quite well as a Tax Lawyer so the FBI Recruiter’s discouragement of his interest in a Law Enforcement career was probably good for him and his family.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Saturday, February 16, AD 2019 5:09pm

Probably more accurate to say that it happened during Robert Mueller’s tenure as FBI director.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Sunday, February 17, AD 2019 1:07pm

Slightly OT but might be of interest: I stumbled across this You Tube clip of the Today Show from Nov. 4, 1969, hosted by Hugh Downs. The top story is a speech on Vietnam by President Nixon. Fast forward to the 12:50 mark — the first commercial break, following the news with Frank Blair — and you’ll see a commercial touting the (then) brand new Watergate Apartments — “THE place to live in Washington!” I didn’t know, or had forgotten, that it was a really swanky place… tailor made for the Deep State elite of the day. You could get an apartment there for less than $40,000 ($283,000 in 2018 dollars) and at a 6% mortgage rate to boot…

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Sunday, February 17, AD 2019 1:08pm

Oops, wrong clip there….

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Sunday, February 17, AD 2019 1:10pm

OK, never mind…. something’s not working there.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, February 17, AD 2019 3:47pm

to come back in ten years after he had professional experience because the FBI was only seeking female and minority applicants at that time.

Isn’t it amazing how the creative 14th amendment ‘jurisprudence’ just evaporates when The Regime needs it to go away. (And how deftly noncompliant defendants can be when some stubborn federal judge won’t make it go away).

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, February 17, AD 2019 3:50pm

Remember, this happened during the administration of Bush II.

Amazing how lunatic was the hostility to George W. Bush when his administration had zero ambition in the realm of domestic policy (other than private accounts for Social Security and sneaking through yet another amnesty for illegal immigrants).

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