90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, October 13, 2022

The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1870

You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?

It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,

from the beautiful to the repugnant,

from the mysterious to the familiar.

If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,

you could be inspired, you could be appalled.

This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.

You have been warned.

Visage à trois #526

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #708

MICHELLE MALKIN: In Support Of A Young America First Capitol Insurrection Hoax Scapegoat

Next week, a young college student will face a federal judge in Washington, D.C., at a sentencing hearing over his nonviolent participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol rally. UCLA undergrad Christian Secor was arrested last February and spent more than a month in solitary confinement. Think about that.

Unlike the weekly parade of repeat violent criminal rapists, robbers, pedophiles and murderers across the country with massive rap sheets who enjoy a no-bail revolving door, Christian had never, ever been in trouble with the law before his arrest.

The un-American Department of Injustice has made life hell for hundreds of peaceful Trump rally participants—locking them up, throwing away the key, harassing their families, withholding evidence and obliterating their constitutional rights to stifle dissent, punish the Democrats' political enemies and weaponize J6 till kingdom come. Don't take my word for it. A D.C. magistrate overseeing some of the cases, Zia Faruqui, decried the gargantuan prosecutions of nearly 900 defendants, including at least two Americans who were left to languish in custody after being "lost" for weeks without scheduled hearings.

"It feels like the government has bitten off more than it can chew here," Faruqui complained in March.[Judge: Massive scope of Jan. 6 probe led to rights being 'trampled', by Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 7, 2022 ]

Yes, the vengeful federal beast has an insatiable appetite and bottomless resources to ruin lives. The D.C. witch-hunt prosecutors threw a pile of charges at Christian that made sensational headlines, including "assaulting, resisting or impeding officers," as liberal National Public Radio reported. Christian pleaded not guilty to all charges in March 2021 but, 14 wearying months later, entered an agreement to plead guilty to a single felony charge of "obstructing a federal proceeding."

Here is what I wrote to the judge in Christian's case, the Honorable Trevor McFadden, to share what I know about this bright young man as he faces up to 20 years in prison next week:

Judicial Watch announced today that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is releasing only 65 pages out of over 1,600 pages of records related to the Biden administration’s unprecedented raid on the home of former President Trump.

The records are being sought under August 2022 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the National Archives and Records Administration failed to respond adequately to a February 2022 FOIA request (Judicial Watch v National Archives and Records Administration (No. 1:22-cv-02535). Judicial Watch asks for:

All records regarding the referral from NARA to the Department of Justice regarding the records management procedures of former President Donald Trump (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/national-archives-asks-doj-investigate-trumps-handling-white/story?id=82781128 ). This request includes all related records of communication between any official or employee of NARA and any official or employee of the Department of Justice and/or any other branch, department, agency, or office of the federal government.
All records regarding the retrieval of records from President Trump or any individual or entity acting on his behalf by the National Archives and Records Administration. This request includes related records of communication between any official or employee of NARA and President Trump and/or any individual or entity acting on his behalf.

On October 3 the Archives released documents for only two categories of records: 1.) all emails between NARA officials and representatives of former President Trump and 2.) NARA emails to external entities other than Trump representatives related to the 15 boxes as of March 31, 2022.

The Archives recently sent Judicial Watch two letters in which it stated it found 309 pages relating to Category 1 but was releasing only 11 pages, less than one percent, nine pages in full and 2 in part.

The Archives wrote it found 1,303 pages of emails in Category 2 but was releasing only 54 of those pages, 39 in full, 15 with redactions. Again, less than one percent of the records.

The National Archives released a few pages of correspondence with Congress and an email with former President Trump’s representatives in which the Archives asserted alleged authority over records in Trump’s personal possession.

NARA referred to numerous FOIA exemptions as the reasons for its withholdings:

"Steele didn’t give the FBI anything during that meeting that corroborated the claims in his explosive dossier."

The FBI and the DOJ continued to work with Steele even though they had every reason to believe that his claims were highly suspected and motivated by partisan agendas.

Despite that, they were willing to throw $1 million in taxpayer dollars at him for some anti-Trump materials.

Shortly before the 2016 election, the FBI offered retired British spy Christopher Steele “up to $1 million” to prove the explosive allegations in his dossier about Donald Trump, a senior FBI analyst testified Tuesday.

The cash offer was made during an overseas October 2016 meeting between Steele and several top FBI officials who were trying to corroborate Steele’s claims that the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia to win the election.

FBI supervisory analyst Brian Auten testified that Steele never got the money because he could not “prove the allegations.”

Auten also said Steele refused to provide the names of any of his sources during that meeting, and that Steele didn’t give the FBI anything during that meeting that corroborated the claims in his explosive dossier.

The funny thing here is that the FBI was trying to “verify” materials made-to-order by the Clinton campaign, likely relying on sources linked to Putin’s own intel establishment, and one hand had no idea what the other hand was doing. The FBI was trying to verify garbage manufactured to fit a Clinton campaign narrative. It couldn’t be verified because Steele was sloppy. And his sources were apparently even sloppier. The dossier wasn’t supposed to be published (the media still hates Buzzfeed for doing it) because it was so laughably bad.

Clinton’s people at the DOJ presumably understood that the dossier was garbage, but it’s possible that they didn’t. Partisan bias has a way of getting people to believe in the nonsense that they want to believe in. And instead of realizing that it was a cynical ploy to justify Watergate 2.0, they instead had people at the FBI chasing their tails trying to “prove” it was real.

Not exactly a new phenomenon in American politics, but still kind of amusing when it involves top FBI figures being dispatched to prove that stuff made up by Clinton’s smear artists was true because most of the political machine was no longer capable of even understanding that it was in the business of promoting lies and had come to believe the lies it was...

Visage à trois #525

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

Three Additional Bonus Videos:

Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #706

California makes it illegal for doctors to disagree with politicians

Conformity of thought is now required whether it is online, on college campuses, or, if you are in California, in a physician-patient relationship.

PayPal recently introduced a $2,500 fine for anyone involved in “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” that — in “PayPal’s sole discretion” — “promote misinformation.”

After a firestorm of criticism, PayPal withdrew the policy, claiming the whole thing was a misunderstanding and was not official policy — hardly a convincing explanation from a site with a history of banning those it considers politically incorrect.

But California physicians have had no such relief.

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed California Assembly Bill 2098, making it the first state to attempt to censor what physicians can say about COVID-19 to their patients. This is a dangerous, and likely unconstitutional, effort that other states must resist.

The statute instructs that “It shall constitute unprofessional conduct for a physician and surgeon to disseminate misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19, including false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.”

California law requires the Medical Board of California to take action — up to and including license revocation — against any licensed physician charged with unprofessional conduct. But under the First Amendment, content-based speech regulation by government entities is presumptively unconstitutional and may be justified only if the government proves that it is narrowly tailored to serve...