I\u2019m not a \u201cpodcast\u201d guy, but\u00a0I get a lot of recommendations.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHave you heard Rachel Maddow\u2019s latest podcast about this?\u201d, or \u201cYour favorite lawyers, Weismann and McQuade have a podcast about\u2026(something)\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0My current lifestyle doesn\u2019t have the \u201csituation\u201d where I can sit and listen to someone on headphones.\u00a0\u00a0If I do, I usually have a more pressing task \u2013 I fall asleep (thanks Dad for the \u201cDahlman sleep gene\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do a lot of driving.\u00a0\u00a0During track season, there are trips all over the state, long hours in the Jeep.\u00a0\u00a0And the radio is always on, though it\u2019s really not a radio much anymore. It\u2019s a Bluetooth device hooked up to my phone.\u00a0\u00a0A couple of years ago I decided to take \u201ccourses\u201d; US Constitutional Law, the American Revolution, African American History; as I cruised to the next meet.\u00a0\u00a0But there were two problems.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, I found I drifted away from the course as I bumped along, then had to \u201crewind\u201d to get back to what I missed.\u00a0\u00a0And even more importantly, the \u201cDahlman Sleep Gene\u201d would kick in. After a long day of officiating pole vault \u2013 definitely not a good situation on the road.\u00a0\u00a0Better to \u201cboogie\u201d to Motown or 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s Classic Rock (or Surf music at full volume for that drive at the end of May when the Jeep top first comes off).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And every few weeks, Jenn and I travel Ohio gathering Lost Pet Recovery equipment used to get lost dogs. I usually drive as Jenn organizes where our next stop will be (last week: Pataskala to West Liberty to Kenton to Findlay to Greenville to Pataskala, 358 miles). Jenn and I do actually talk, and we also usually have cable news going in the background. Just like it\u2019s going on right now as I write. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is one event I can always listen to, in the car, cutting the grass, even the doing the perpetual picking up of poop (five dogs \u2013 you do the math): Congressional Hearings. I listen often enough, that I have the CSPAN Radio App on my phone. That way I don\u2019t have to depend on cable news for \u201cgavel-to-gavel\u201d coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can tell you exactly where I was when Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the January 6th<\/sup>\u00a0Committee about what Donald Trump did on the morning of the Insurrection. (I was ten miles south of Archbold, Ohio on Route 66).\u00a0 Yesterday was a \u201cthrow-back\u201d to the \u201cold days\u201d. We listened to the Congressional questioning of Chris Wray, the Director of the FBI.\u00a0\u00a0It was like the Benghazi hearings (I sat and watched all eleven hours of Hillary Clinton), or the early James Comey hearing. (That was the first time we found out that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign, and got to see Adam Schiff and Jim Jordan in action).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jenn and I went to Greenville, Ohio (thirty miles northwest of Dayton) to get equipment, and the hearings were on for the whole trip. The big overall headline: Republicans think the FBI is co-opted by Democrats to attack Republicans. So let\u2019s get the obvious out of the way first. The FBI is perhaps the MOST conservative agency in the United States government. It always has been. Remember George Carlin\u2019s famous \u201cSeven Words you Can\u2019t Say on TV\u201d monologue? Carlin represented the \u201cliberal\u201d view of the FBI back then. He told us to answer the phone saying, \u201cF\u2014k Hoover, can I help you?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there’s Chris Wray himself. He was appointed by Donald Trump, and unanimously approved by Republican Senators. He is a life-long Republican who worked in Bush Justice Department.\u00a0\u00a0So was the now \u201cinfamous\u201d James Comey, the Director before him (and the even more \u201cinfamous\u201d Robert Mueller, the Director before Comey).\u00a0\u00a0Ask anyone involved with Black Lives Matter, the FBI is no \u201cfriend\u201d of Progressives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0But if you listened to Chairman Jordan\u2019s Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, you wouldn\u2019t get that.\u00a0\u00a0The Republican members attacked Wray for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, claimed that there were FBI \u201cprovocateurs\u201d on the steps of the Capitol during the Insurrection, and that Wray was buying \u201cmeta-data\u201d from the big social media companies and censoring what they published.\u00a0\u00a0The Republicans attacked Wray for backing Covid precautions, threatening the Roman Catholic Church, and protecting the \u201cBiden Crime Family\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0We heard about Hunter\u2019s Laptop and texts, and questions like \u201cMr. Wray, when did you stop violating the First Amendment?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in a full \u201cflip-the-script\u201d moment, it was the Democrats; Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, Zoe Lofgren, and the profound voice of Sheila Jackson-Lee; who were defending the Trump-appointed Director. They even spent most of their five minute time slot making speeches. It gave Wray a chance to recover from the relentless conspiracy-driven Republican onslaught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in the end, Wray gave as good as he got. I think I would have stood up and told the Republicans where to stick Hunter\u2019s laptop, but Wray remained cool. We were on State Route 49 just north of Phillipsburg, when Wray told Republican Congressman Harriet Hageman (took Liz Cheney\u2019s seat): \u201cThe idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me given my own personal background.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris Wray is a bureaucratic survivor.\u00a0\u00a0He somehow managed to avoid getting fired by Donald Trump before he left office.\u00a0\u00a0And he manages to remain in the Directorship because of Biden\u2019s goal of restoring \u201ctraditional norms\u201d to America\u2019s government.\u00a0\u00a0He didn\u2019t take the Republican bait, but he managed to defend the 38,000 employees of the FBI, time and time again.\u00a0\u00a0In his own, low key way, he got his point across.\u00a0\u00a0When challenged on the Mar-a-Lago search, he quietly said:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIn my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not SCIF\u2019s (sensitive compartmented, information facilities)\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The majority committee members represent what the Republican House of Representatives is all about: defending Donald Trump and perpetuating MAGA conspiracy myths. The accusations against Wray will surely \u201cgin-up\u201d the Republican base, but will do little to change anyone\u2019s mind about MAGA\u2019ism. So it\u2019s hard to see how attacking the FBI is a good long-term strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But one thing for sure \u2013 it keeps me awake behind the wheel.\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s an all-around good thing, for me, and the rest of the drivers out there.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m holding my breath for the \u201cwhistle-blower\u201d hearings!! We’ll plan a nice long trip for that one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How Republican?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Flip the Script<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ginning Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n