I find our Congresswoman pretty exhausting, honestly. And she doesn't believe for a minute what she says about the Durham Report unless she is ignorant, which she is not. Which kind of means she thinks we are, if we believe her, which is a little insulting.
I'm liking Senator Gillibrand more and more. Elise just foams at the mouth and Schumer seems to be busy being important. But I get these great newsletters from Gillibrand about issues she is working on - and moving the needle on- stuff I actually care about: Health care for seniors, paid family leave for parents (We NYers have that, but the rest of the country deserves it too).
The whole Durham thing was kind of mystifying. The way Barr set him up for this on his way out the door in 12/2020- after Trump lost the election-should have been a clue, I guess. But Durham was supposed to be a straightshooter, like Mueller before him. You know, follow the law where ever it takes you kind of thing. Mueller delivered on that- refused to say the President engaged in any obstruction, and also refused to exhonerate him, laying out the many troubling issues and handing it off to Congress to investigate. Durham, on the other hand, went crazy in the opposite way, spending two years trying to make a case that did not exist and then writing hundreds of pages of nothing. His legal team quit on him. months ago. After, Durham finally exhausted every possible conspiracy riddled avenue and wrapped it up, the AG release the report with no comments of any kind. There is no there there. Unscrupulous politicians like Elise will try and make hay with it for a day or two, and cynically fuel distrust and discontent, and then we never hear about it again.
You and I are on the same page with Mueller and his investigation. He did exactly what he was charged with. Unfortunately, not one governmental agency ran with the information.
As for Stefanik, she's no more worthy of a comment than Trump and his minions. The sad fact is so many in our area believe her. I dream she will lose a Republican Primary. One can only hope and pray. I didn't care much for Gerald Solomon, but I have no memory of him stooping to her level.
Jerry Solomon was of another era and another type of Republican who I believe had the best interests of the constituents at heart. Unfortunately, the current office holder only has her own interests at heart.
I have some small degree of faith in Jack Smith’s leadership of the investigation of Trump’s various crimes. He’s put actual war criminals in prison with an actual president already to his credit. He doesn’t seem like the sort who’s going to be deterred by the the slurs and defamation of people like Stefanik and Jordan.
The justice system and courts seem to be holding up well in this country in holding Trump accountable. 🙏 They’re not Jordan’s kangaroo court in the House.
I don’t know if I can envision a former president going to prison and as guilty as I believe Trump is I still blanch at the thought. His obstruction on the documents case is inescapable, tho. He actually publicly admits his guilt. That may play on Fox, but not in a court. I assume the penalties for that obstruction are severe.
I’ve heard this only once that Smith is looking at wire fraud over the raising of money over the lie about the election. Lofgren was the one on the J6 committee who also presented it at the end. Trump was pretty clearly told repeatedly that he lost. Fundraising on telling people the election was stolen seems like a straightforward case, too. Elizabeth Holmes is doing, or will be soon, 11 plus years for wire fraud.
I don’t think he’ll actually face seditious conspiracy and charges against him for J6 are going to to be harder to successfully prosecute. I wanna see it, tho. 😯 I want to see all the helpers prosecuted, too. Eastman, Clark, Guiliani, fake electors everywhere should be punished severely to discourage this from happening again.
Giuliani is the one I want to see go to jail. He was always sleazy. When he was mayor of NYC, he destroyed career public servants, people who devoted their lives to public service, for political convenience. What they did to the woman who was the Ambassador to Ukraine was 100% out of Giuliani's playbook.
It wasn’t criminal, but it was certainly indicative of his character when he wanted to cancel the mayoral election after 9/11 and stay in office. He was term limited.
He did and he was. I was in NYC at the time. That part- staying on-I actually didn't mind him saying, I think it was the one thing in his entire political career he was sincere about; how that attack just devastated our City and he wanted to help. (COVID in April 2020 in NYC was actually worse. 9/11 was one and done, COVID we had 1,000 people a day dying (can you imagine?) and you had to wonder if you were next).
But about those term limits- which Giuliani himself had passed -Giuliani was pretty stand up on and in the days after 911. But he had single digit approval ratings right before the attack; there was zero political will for him to continue on.
If you want to really despise Giuliani, read this Jim Dwyer article on what he did to a former Youth Services Commissioner; it completely parallels what he did to the Ukraine Ambassador.
In the early days of Giuliani's mayoral administration, it was about to hit the papers that one of his appointees was involved in a grubby little scandal; the administration immediately called all the news outlets and said they were launching a more serious investigation of the departed Commissioner (all fabricated charges). The man was anathema after that, couldn't get another job, the Giuliani Administration told all the local human services agencies there would be repercussions if they hired him. They even called a foundation in another state that was considering him for a job and tried to kibosh it.
I was running a small nonprofit when he was Mayor. It was a reign of terror. No one could criticize any City policy -for any reason- or they would make sure they got no City money. Vindictive is not the word.
And the thing is, he got away with it all. Several of his commissioners went to jail for different things, but not him. And the stuff he pulled with Ukraine and undermining the November 2020 elections is more of the same. I really, really hope he is finally held accountable in this world for all his wrongdoing.
I think Rep. Stefanik’s tirades about national politics are not for your constituents but for a national audience that will enhance or reputation for future positions. I really don’t think many people read Twitter in the North Country.
If being blind to the truth and the facts makes someone a liberal, you need to show that what Ken wrote wasn’t true or facts otherwise you must be the liberal.
Didn't say that it makes you a liberal, his opinion represents his liberal attitude. The Dems created a knowingly false narrative in the 2016 election that was pursued by a tainted FBI, all in an effort to keep a Washington outsider out of office. Yet he spews how the Republicans are the party that is pursuing a false narrative, totally ignoring the recently divulged Biden family corruption. Mr Tingley was employed by a publication that helped spread the misinformation pertaining to the false Russian accusations and now he preaches about about how the Republicans are wasting time and money on investigations. I find this funny because I have yet to see him criticize that gigantic fallacy and waste of time and money. What is even worse is that a small group of insiders in the Justice Department/FBI knew it wasn't fact based but pursued it in an attempt to harm a duly elected president...sad
The problem here is it was not a false accusations. Mueller found that Russia did try to help Trump campaign. Mueller found there was evidence that Trump obstructed justice so it was the newspaper’s obligation to report that news. The FBI pursued allegations. That’s it job. Durham did not find any illegal activity in the justice Department or FBI.
None of what you listed was collusion, what was found was that Russia interferes in elections primarily on social media it did not produce any evidence that they did this in conjunction with Mr. Trump. Durham did find that the FBI knowingly conducted an investigation based on a false narrative in an attempt to remove a duly elected president. I hope one of these days you open your eyes to the current fraud occupying the Whitehouse and attack it like you did the bogus propaganda the Dems purportrated.
Examples of the fraud. You should go on the record about the fraud with specific examples. The Weaponization committee has not found anything illegal yet either. Why does a viewpoint have to be liberal or conservative. I like to think that my writing is fact-based and give issues context. I look at facts and draw conclusions. I don’t start with conclusions and look for facts that support it.
Your attempt to engage Mr. Eustis is indeed honorable, but, as you know, inevitably useless. This gentlemen has no interest in being thoughtful or in anyway sincere, and his lack of critical thinking condemns our education system. For whatever reasons, and our future history books will abound with speculation, there is a segment of our neighbors that, though once isolated and unknown, have found camaraderie in ignorance and self-righteousness on some web page, and now are not embarrassed to share their misfortune with others.
That’s the problem with taking a position on national politics. If you point out the flaws in the investigation, you are a liberal. I’m pretty far from being liberal. Staunch fiscal conservative, much more moderate in other views. But of course moderates these days are accused of being liberals as well. If I’m missing some of the facts, I hope you can illuminate. Please don’t ask: What about Hunder Biden’s laptop?
I taught 7th and 8th graders for 25 years. There is some truth to the myth of Junior High behavior, However, it's a transitional period for them physically, mentally and emotionally. Most transition into healthy adulthood. Sadly, some do not. How those with arrested development have been elevated to political office and are supported is a mystery. I believe the current war, like all wars, is rooted in the need for power and money by those who would destroy us. One of the terrifying results is that gun violence is now the leading cause of childhood and teen deaths.
It’s difficult to keep up. One of the reason I wrote this was that when you put the most recent investigations side by side by side, I think there is a little more clarity.
Reading your column caused me to see, in my mind's eye, our Elise standing on the ramparts of NY21, an AR15 in one hand and a quart of chocolate milk in the other ready to kill all those leftist extremists that want to keep the chocolate from the milk.
Ken...congratulation on a true partisan column. Go back to your columns lamenting the downfall of newspapers and journalism...and your current column explains it. The Dems are all good and GOP all bad storyline is old and unprofitable. Truth is that both January 6th and the FBI-Big Tech meddling in elections are bad. The sooner we can get honest, down-the-middle journalism back, the better this country will be.
I define partisan as a viewpoint arrived at without looking at any of the facts. I believe this column supports my position with facts. I never said Dems were all good and GOP, what I did say is that when you compare their recent investigations, Dems have found real corruption, GOP not so much. I did not rely on the New York Post for information because it is partisan. I stand by the column as based on the facts.
Does that mean criticizing politicians for bad behavior is partisan? I think a constituent has a right to weigh in on a politician regardless of whether they voted for her, and it seems unfair to immediately dismiss the criticism as partisan.
God bless you for having the fortitude to stay on Twitter. As trollish as our rep is I’m sure she’s happy with the new management there.
The weaponized committee won’t call Wray to testify. The ones they have testifying they are falsely calling whistleblowers. They don’t fit the definition, but the GOP is Orwellian. These are people who were fired for giving full vent to the conspiracy theories they believed in.
Stephen Friend: “The security concerns stem from your refusal to execute a court-ordered, arrest warrant, unauthorized download of sensitive FBI information, failure to participate in a Security Awareness Briefing, unauthorized dissemination of sensitive FBI information, unauthorized recording of executive management, unsanctioned interviews with the media, and lack of candor during an interview with the Security Division.”
Marcus Allen (not the running back): Allen’s clearance was revoked due to security concerns regarding his personal conduct and his “allegiance to the United States,” according to Dunham’s letter to Jordan. Dunham wrote that Allen “failed to provide relevant information to an FBI Special Agent (SA) regarding subjects who were allegedly involved in criminal activity at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Those are from the Washington Post. Among other things Friend was giving interviews to Sputnik. The Right loves Russia now. Allen was running interference for a J6 domestic terrorist. These are who the House Republicans enlist in their effort to tear down the FBI. Why? For Donald Trump.
Stefanik is either insane or she’s the queen of gaslighting for no purpose beyond politics. Traitor is not the right word. Wish I knew what was. It is at least treacherous.
You capture it beautifully, Ken--their (Maga Republicans and Stefanik) "investigation of everyone who has led a truthfully transparent investigation into their wrong doing, attacking Bragg, attacking people accusing Trump of rape, attacking investigation in NY and Georgia...Stefanik's words are really vicious...They talk about weaponizing the justice department,and i think of Barr's actions, of McConnell blocking Obama's rightful choice to appoint a supreme court person when Scalia died, of Jim Jordan screaming about everything (and denying his complicity in the Jan. 6 uprising)> I think of Trump getting his cheering squad to yell "Lock her up" (against HIllary). They should be locked up for crimes against democracy.
I find our Congresswoman pretty exhausting, honestly. And she doesn't believe for a minute what she says about the Durham Report unless she is ignorant, which she is not. Which kind of means she thinks we are, if we believe her, which is a little insulting.
I'm liking Senator Gillibrand more and more. Elise just foams at the mouth and Schumer seems to be busy being important. But I get these great newsletters from Gillibrand about issues she is working on - and moving the needle on- stuff I actually care about: Health care for seniors, paid family leave for parents (We NYers have that, but the rest of the country deserves it too).
The whole Durham thing was kind of mystifying. The way Barr set him up for this on his way out the door in 12/2020- after Trump lost the election-should have been a clue, I guess. But Durham was supposed to be a straightshooter, like Mueller before him. You know, follow the law where ever it takes you kind of thing. Mueller delivered on that- refused to say the President engaged in any obstruction, and also refused to exhonerate him, laying out the many troubling issues and handing it off to Congress to investigate. Durham, on the other hand, went crazy in the opposite way, spending two years trying to make a case that did not exist and then writing hundreds of pages of nothing. His legal team quit on him. months ago. After, Durham finally exhausted every possible conspiracy riddled avenue and wrapped it up, the AG release the report with no comments of any kind. There is no there there. Unscrupulous politicians like Elise will try and make hay with it for a day or two, and cynically fuel distrust and discontent, and then we never hear about it again.
You and I are on the same page with Mueller and his investigation. He did exactly what he was charged with. Unfortunately, not one governmental agency ran with the information.
As for Stefanik, she's no more worthy of a comment than Trump and his minions. The sad fact is so many in our area believe her. I dream she will lose a Republican Primary. One can only hope and pray. I didn't care much for Gerald Solomon, but I have no memory of him stooping to her level.
Jerry Solomon was of another era and another type of Republican who I believe had the best interests of the constituents at heart. Unfortunately, the current office holder only has her own interests at heart.
I have some small degree of faith in Jack Smith’s leadership of the investigation of Trump’s various crimes. He’s put actual war criminals in prison with an actual president already to his credit. He doesn’t seem like the sort who’s going to be deterred by the the slurs and defamation of people like Stefanik and Jordan.
The justice system and courts seem to be holding up well in this country in holding Trump accountable. 🙏 They’re not Jordan’s kangaroo court in the House.
I don’t know if I can envision a former president going to prison and as guilty as I believe Trump is I still blanch at the thought. His obstruction on the documents case is inescapable, tho. He actually publicly admits his guilt. That may play on Fox, but not in a court. I assume the penalties for that obstruction are severe.
I’ve heard this only once that Smith is looking at wire fraud over the raising of money over the lie about the election. Lofgren was the one on the J6 committee who also presented it at the end. Trump was pretty clearly told repeatedly that he lost. Fundraising on telling people the election was stolen seems like a straightforward case, too. Elizabeth Holmes is doing, or will be soon, 11 plus years for wire fraud.
I don’t think he’ll actually face seditious conspiracy and charges against him for J6 are going to to be harder to successfully prosecute. I wanna see it, tho. 😯 I want to see all the helpers prosecuted, too. Eastman, Clark, Guiliani, fake electors everywhere should be punished severely to discourage this from happening again.
Giuliani is the one I want to see go to jail. He was always sleazy. When he was mayor of NYC, he destroyed career public servants, people who devoted their lives to public service, for political convenience. What they did to the woman who was the Ambassador to Ukraine was 100% out of Giuliani's playbook.
It wasn’t criminal, but it was certainly indicative of his character when he wanted to cancel the mayoral election after 9/11 and stay in office. He was term limited.
He did and he was. I was in NYC at the time. That part- staying on-I actually didn't mind him saying, I think it was the one thing in his entire political career he was sincere about; how that attack just devastated our City and he wanted to help. (COVID in April 2020 in NYC was actually worse. 9/11 was one and done, COVID we had 1,000 people a day dying (can you imagine?) and you had to wonder if you were next).
But about those term limits- which Giuliani himself had passed -Giuliani was pretty stand up on and in the days after 911. But he had single digit approval ratings right before the attack; there was zero political will for him to continue on.
If you want to really despise Giuliani, read this Jim Dwyer article on what he did to a former Youth Services Commissioner; it completely parallels what he did to the Ukraine Ambassador.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/nyregion/in-the-end-he-stole-nothing-and-gave-plenty.html
In the early days of Giuliani's mayoral administration, it was about to hit the papers that one of his appointees was involved in a grubby little scandal; the administration immediately called all the news outlets and said they were launching a more serious investigation of the departed Commissioner (all fabricated charges). The man was anathema after that, couldn't get another job, the Giuliani Administration told all the local human services agencies there would be repercussions if they hired him. They even called a foundation in another state that was considering him for a job and tried to kibosh it.
I was running a small nonprofit when he was Mayor. It was a reign of terror. No one could criticize any City policy -for any reason- or they would make sure they got no City money. Vindictive is not the word.
And the thing is, he got away with it all. Several of his commissioners went to jail for different things, but not him. And the stuff he pulled with Ukraine and undermining the November 2020 elections is more of the same. I really, really hope he is finally held accountable in this world for all his wrongdoing.
I think Rep. Stefanik’s tirades about national politics are not for your constituents but for a national audience that will enhance or reputation for future positions. I really don’t think many people read Twitter in the North Country.
We seem to be in both a post-factual as well as a
post-maturity cultural moment. Not a good combination. The citizenry drives this, though, and those elected reflect that sad reality.
Written like a true liberal, blind to the truth and the facts...lol....nothing new here
If being blind to the truth and the facts makes someone a liberal, you need to show that what Ken wrote wasn’t true or facts otherwise you must be the liberal.
Thank You. What facts am I missing? What truth am I missing?
Didn't say that it makes you a liberal, his opinion represents his liberal attitude. The Dems created a knowingly false narrative in the 2016 election that was pursued by a tainted FBI, all in an effort to keep a Washington outsider out of office. Yet he spews how the Republicans are the party that is pursuing a false narrative, totally ignoring the recently divulged Biden family corruption. Mr Tingley was employed by a publication that helped spread the misinformation pertaining to the false Russian accusations and now he preaches about about how the Republicans are wasting time and money on investigations. I find this funny because I have yet to see him criticize that gigantic fallacy and waste of time and money. What is even worse is that a small group of insiders in the Justice Department/FBI knew it wasn't fact based but pursued it in an attempt to harm a duly elected president...sad
The problem here is it was not a false accusations. Mueller found that Russia did try to help Trump campaign. Mueller found there was evidence that Trump obstructed justice so it was the newspaper’s obligation to report that news. The FBI pursued allegations. That’s it job. Durham did not find any illegal activity in the justice Department or FBI.
None of what you listed was collusion, what was found was that Russia interferes in elections primarily on social media it did not produce any evidence that they did this in conjunction with Mr. Trump. Durham did find that the FBI knowingly conducted an investigation based on a false narrative in an attempt to remove a duly elected president. I hope one of these days you open your eyes to the current fraud occupying the Whitehouse and attack it like you did the bogus propaganda the Dems purportrated.
Examples of the fraud. You should go on the record about the fraud with specific examples. The Weaponization committee has not found anything illegal yet either. Why does a viewpoint have to be liberal or conservative. I like to think that my writing is fact-based and give issues context. I look at facts and draw conclusions. I don’t start with conclusions and look for facts that support it.
Ken,
Your attempt to engage Mr. Eustis is indeed honorable, but, as you know, inevitably useless. This gentlemen has no interest in being thoughtful or in anyway sincere, and his lack of critical thinking condemns our education system. For whatever reasons, and our future history books will abound with speculation, there is a segment of our neighbors that, though once isolated and unknown, have found camaraderie in ignorance and self-righteousness on some web page, and now are not embarrassed to share their misfortune with others.
Best regards, Ken.
That’s the problem with taking a position on national politics. If you point out the flaws in the investigation, you are a liberal. I’m pretty far from being liberal. Staunch fiscal conservative, much more moderate in other views. But of course moderates these days are accused of being liberals as well. If I’m missing some of the facts, I hope you can illuminate. Please don’t ask: What about Hunder Biden’s laptop?
I find myself wishing that Republicans would just elects some adults to run the country instead of 7 th graders. It’s just exhausting!
I taught 7th and 8th graders for 25 years. There is some truth to the myth of Junior High behavior, However, it's a transitional period for them physically, mentally and emotionally. Most transition into healthy adulthood. Sadly, some do not. How those with arrested development have been elevated to political office and are supported is a mystery. I believe the current war, like all wars, is rooted in the need for power and money by those who would destroy us. One of the terrifying results is that gun violence is now the leading cause of childhood and teen deaths.
It’s difficult to keep up. One of the reason I wrote this was that when you put the most recent investigations side by side by side, I think there is a little more clarity.
Reading your column caused me to see, in my mind's eye, our Elise standing on the ramparts of NY21, an AR15 in one hand and a quart of chocolate milk in the other ready to kill all those leftist extremists that want to keep the chocolate from the milk.
Love the visual.
Ken...congratulation on a true partisan column. Go back to your columns lamenting the downfall of newspapers and journalism...and your current column explains it. The Dems are all good and GOP all bad storyline is old and unprofitable. Truth is that both January 6th and the FBI-Big Tech meddling in elections are bad. The sooner we can get honest, down-the-middle journalism back, the better this country will be.
I define partisan as a viewpoint arrived at without looking at any of the facts. I believe this column supports my position with facts. I never said Dems were all good and GOP, what I did say is that when you compare their recent investigations, Dems have found real corruption, GOP not so much. I did not rely on the New York Post for information because it is partisan. I stand by the column as based on the facts.
Does that mean criticizing politicians for bad behavior is partisan? I think a constituent has a right to weigh in on a politician regardless of whether they voted for her, and it seems unfair to immediately dismiss the criticism as partisan.
God bless you for having the fortitude to stay on Twitter. As trollish as our rep is I’m sure she’s happy with the new management there.
The weaponized committee won’t call Wray to testify. The ones they have testifying they are falsely calling whistleblowers. They don’t fit the definition, but the GOP is Orwellian. These are people who were fired for giving full vent to the conspiracy theories they believed in.
Stephen Friend: “The security concerns stem from your refusal to execute a court-ordered, arrest warrant, unauthorized download of sensitive FBI information, failure to participate in a Security Awareness Briefing, unauthorized dissemination of sensitive FBI information, unauthorized recording of executive management, unsanctioned interviews with the media, and lack of candor during an interview with the Security Division.”
Marcus Allen (not the running back): Allen’s clearance was revoked due to security concerns regarding his personal conduct and his “allegiance to the United States,” according to Dunham’s letter to Jordan. Dunham wrote that Allen “failed to provide relevant information to an FBI Special Agent (SA) regarding subjects who were allegedly involved in criminal activity at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Those are from the Washington Post. Among other things Friend was giving interviews to Sputnik. The Right loves Russia now. Allen was running interference for a J6 domestic terrorist. These are who the House Republicans enlist in their effort to tear down the FBI. Why? For Donald Trump.
Stefanik is either insane or she’s the queen of gaslighting for no purpose beyond politics. Traitor is not the right word. Wish I knew what was. It is at least treacherous.
You capture it beautifully, Ken--their (Maga Republicans and Stefanik) "investigation of everyone who has led a truthfully transparent investigation into their wrong doing, attacking Bragg, attacking people accusing Trump of rape, attacking investigation in NY and Georgia...Stefanik's words are really vicious...They talk about weaponizing the justice department,and i think of Barr's actions, of McConnell blocking Obama's rightful choice to appoint a supreme court person when Scalia died, of Jim Jordan screaming about everything (and denying his complicity in the Jan. 6 uprising)> I think of Trump getting his cheering squad to yell "Lock her up" (against HIllary). They should be locked up for crimes against democracy.
Thank you from Argyle for the update on the SGF school board candidate with the very dodgy connections. Whew.
Great, great article!!! And so, SO true!