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Why the Sentencing of Kevin Clinesmith is an Insult to America
Townhall.com ^
| February 2, 2021
| Cliff Nichols
Posted on 02/02/2021 9:29:50 AM PST by Kaslin
Transcending even the importance of the very good question, “Where is Hunter?” is today’s reemergence of the following far more significant question that for many Americans has now lingered for much too long:
“Where the hell is Durham?”
For those who understandably may have forgotten, Durham is the federal prosecutor whose only available photo appears to be the one infrequently shown on the evening news bearing a facial expression that resembles the scowl of a pissed-off gopher. But, if this isn’t enough to jog your memory, he’s the guy who was appointed, now several years ago, by the recently departed Attorney General William Barr to investigate—and perhaps even prosecute?—certain government officials who many have been led to believe—based on incontrovertible facts?—allegedly attempted a coup d’état to overthrow a duly elected President of the United States.
So, some might ask: in light of everything else that is going on around our country and in the world, why is this important now?
It is because of the insult delivered to America by the sentencing last week of the only participant in this criminal conspiracy who has ever been charged and convicted of any crime since Durham took charge—Kevin Clinesmith.
And what was his punishment for intentionally working with others—including Brennan, Clapper, Rosenstein, Comey, Strozk and Page et.al.—to assassinate the presidency of Donald Trump?
Twelve months probation.
What? Really?
Admittedly, Clinesmith is the proverbial Skippy Smallberries among a cast of characters that included actual heavyweights who were allegedly involved with him in this outrageous conspiracy. But, really … even for him … no jail time? Just a few months probation?
The last time America looked, participation in any insurrection, sedition or treason intended to overthrow the government of the United States was a big bad for which many imagined the penalty would be—and should be—severe. However, that apparently is no longer the case when the matter is set before a judge whose sentencing of Clinesmith indicates he may side with the conspirators.
But, that’s not the entirety of the insult delivered to America by this mere slap on the wrist for the crime Clinesmith admitted to committing—his intentional forgery of an email he knew would be used by others as a predicate to fraudulently induce a FISA court to unlawfully allow Trump and his allies to be spied upon. Perhaps the greater sting this slap to our nation’s cheek was the message Clinesmith’s sentence conveyed to those Americans who have been waiting and hoping for justice to be delivered: that the legal exposure of the others involved in Clinesmith’s seditious criminal enterprise will also be minimal … if any at all.
The day Clinesmith was sentenced one nationally syndicated conservative talk show host’s paraphrased translation of this implicit message was delivered to America as follows:
What? Really?
Admittedly, Clinesmith is the proverbial Skippy Smallberries among a cast of characters that included actual heavyweights who were allegedly involved with him in this outrageous conspiracy. But, really … even for him … no jail time? Just a few months probation?
The last time America looked, participation in any insurrection, sedition or treason intended to overthrow the government of the United States was a big bad for which many imagined the penalty would be—and should be—severe. However, that apparently is no longer the case when the matter is set before a judge whose sentencing of Clinesmith indicates he may side with the conspirators.
But, that’s not the entirety of the insult delivered to America by this mere slap on the wrist for the crime Clinesmith admitted to committing—his intentional forgery of an email he knew would be used by others as a predicate to fraudulently induce a FISA court to unlawfully allow Trump and his allies to be spied upon. Perhaps the greater sting this slap to our nation’s cheek was the message Clinesmith’s sentence conveyed to those Americans who have been waiting and hoping for justice to be delivered: that the legal exposure of the others involved in Clinesmith’s seditious criminal enterprise will also be minimal … if any at all.
The day Clinesmith was sentenced one nationally syndicated conservative talk show host’s paraphrased translation of this implicit message was delivered to America as follows:
Clinesmith’s sentence today should be a wake up call to those listeners out there still hoping to see Durham finally arrest people like Clinton, Comey, Stozk, Brennan, Mueller and Clapper. If you’re one of these people, let me tell you something that by now should be clear. You’d be better off to just forget it. It probably isn’t ever going to happen.
Sadder still, this message was delivered even by this talk show host with a tone of voice that suggested his agreement with the position that, if you are one of these listeners clinging to such empty hopes, you must be some kind of unsophisticated rube who is in need of an education as to how things work in the real world.
But in the minds of many such Americans here is why it is so very important that both he and the judge must be found wrong.
Because, Americans know that, if their government is allowed to disparage our notions of justice before our very eyes, it will also necessarily be trashing other absolutely vital principles that are incorporated in, and foundational to the notion of what justice is—and must be—for our nation to remain the great example to the world of what liberty and freedom is supposed to look like. For true justice is the culminations of other invaluable principles at play in America that are not often exhibited elsewhere in the world.
True justice, for instance, requires the rule of law to prevail over the rule of man. Which, in turn, requires by definition that all people will be treated equally under the law by their government. And that equality, in turn, is absolutely necessary for all to enjoy the benefits of certain rights bestowed upon us by our Creator, which for that reason alone were revered by our founders as unalienable by the constitutionally-based government they sought to establish.
For the Founders knew that any government that is allowed by its people to untether itself from the constraints placed upon it by such moral absolutes, can only eventually result in a nation in which the only rights remaining to the people will be those that are authorized to exist by a government run by flawed humans beings. That is, a government that will eventually vest those few in power with an unchecked license to rule the citizens of America as they see fit—a government that given time can only evolve into some form of totalitarian tyranny, if it hasn’t already.
Perhaps this will help explain why so many Americans remain committed to insisting that their government restore, deliver and guarantee justice in this nation. Quite simply, they are hoping to avoid becoming shackled by exactly the type of tyrannical government from which our nation’s founders placed their very lives in jeopardy to free themselves—and us—from bondage.
In short, for those Americans whose thinking has not been muddied by the dogmas of cancel-culture, justice is and will always remain a foundational imperative that is necessary for them to hold to the belief that we still have a government that is committed to the preservation of the most basic God-given rights to which they were raised to believe all mankind should entitled: i.e, the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That, in a nutshell, is perhaps why so many millions of people in this nation—who are not rubes—continue to ask:
Where the hell is Durham?
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; billbarr; fbi; johndurham; kevinclinesmith; lisapage; peterstrzok
1
posted on
02/02/2021 9:29:50 AM PST
by
Kaslin
To: Kaslin
2
posted on
02/02/2021 9:34:16 AM PST
by
Jan_Sobieski
(Sanctification)
To: Kaslin
They’re just showing us how much power they really have. They can destroy us in court, but their crimes will not be punished.
3
posted on
02/02/2021 9:40:19 AM PST
by
Little Ray
(The Government is always its own largest and most important Special Interest. .)
To: Kaslin
Durham is not going to do a darn thing, nothing.
His only usefulness is keeping conservatives ‘hopeful’.
The sooner we can get beyond expecting anything approaching justice the better off we will be.
America would be a more moral country if DC burned to the ground with no survivors.
4
posted on
02/02/2021 9:50:51 AM PST
by
glasseye
(It's okay to hate democrats...)
To: Kaslin
“Clinesmith’s sentence today should be a wake up call to those listeners out there still hoping to see Durham finally arrest people like Clinton, Comey, Stozk, Brennan, Mueller and Clapper.”
You can’t wake people up who want to be in a hopium-induced coma, unfortunately.
5
posted on
02/02/2021 10:07:12 AM PST
by
Boogieman
To: Little Ray
“They’re just showing us how much power they really have. They can destroy us in court, but their crimes will not be punished.”
The killer of Ashli Babbitt will not face charges and his/her name will not be released. Meanwhile, Derek Chavin, who allegedly killed George Floyd, was publicly fired from his job and is facing a murder trial.
6
posted on
02/02/2021 10:09:56 AM PST
by
Soul of the South
(The past is gone and cannot be changed. Tomorrow can be a better day if we work on it.)
To: Kaslin
“Trust Durham” say the Qballs.
L
7
posted on
02/02/2021 10:10:51 AM PST
by
Lurker
(Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
To: Kaslin
WHERE IS THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE CRIME SYNDICATE THAT SPAWNED him
WHERE IS THE RICO CASE?
LADY JOUSTICE IS VOMITING THROUGH HER BLINDFOLD.
8
posted on
02/02/2021 10:13:16 AM PST
by
Candor7
((Obama Fascism:http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html) )
To: Kaslin
To expand on the awakening…. and based on a recent call for clarity… here is some brutally obvious points about DC that connect through the stop-Trump operation commonly known as “spygate”.
Robert Mueller had two goals as special counsel.
- Goal #1 was to continue the fraudulent DOJ/FBI “Stop Trump” operation initiated by James Comey, Andrew McCabe and their crew technically named Crossfire Hurricane.
- Goal #2 was to bury the illegal action; to create the cover-up needed for everything that took place in the “Stop Trump” operation.
It is the second goal that most people never reconciled; however, it is also that second goal that’s the most important.
Everyone in DC knew Mueller’s objective. Every person in every branch of government and every federal agency knew Mueller’s real purpose.
When you accept what Mueller’s objective was, I mean really accept it, then and only then can you move to the second part of that awakening. Everyone else knew exactly what that purpose was, including AG Bill Barr and OIG Michael Horowitz. They all knew.
Everything was essentially a process of systemic contingencies; ‘if this, then that’. If this happens then we react with that. If this is likely to come out, then we proactively respond with this – that allows control. That is the nature of a cover-up operation.
From that baseline it becomes an exercise in intellectual honesty to see the bigger picture.
The entire system was united against the ‘outsider’ that Trump represented. Every action taken by Rosenstein, Barr, Wray, Bowditch, Boente, Horowitz and the special counsel team itself was done purposefully, because they knew the Mueller/Weissmann objective was to cover-up all of the unlawful schemes previously used against Trump.
Generally people accept that Mueller Inc was in place to target Trump. However, the lesser admitted reality is that Mueller was in place to cover for the branches, agencies and institutions that were part of the originating targeting.
All leaks to the media, by any entity – including the special counsel, were purposeful with this goal in mind. All information released was done purposefully with this goal in mind. All action taken by those in support of the Mueller unit were taken with full knowledge of what that second goal and intent was.
No-one was ever unaware of the purpose of Robert Mueller.
Everyone knew.
That list of everyone includes:
- Bill Barr,
- Rod Rosenstein,
- James Comey,
- Andrew McCabe,
- Lindsey Graham,
- Ron Johnson,
- Chuck Grassley,
- Peter Strzok,
- Lisa Page,
- Susan Rice,
- Sally Yates,
- Loretta Lynch,
- Mitch McConnell,
- every member of the Senate intel committee;
- every member of the House intel committee
- … and yes, including John Durham and every member of every DOJ office everywhere.
The legislative branch knew. The judicial branch knew. The executive branch knew. The FISA court knew… All of the insiders knew the Mueller probe was one big vacuum to suck up all of the evidence that would have exposed a corrupt system to We The People.
They did all of this because the scale of the originating scandal was so severe it would be almost impossible for our nation to cope with the consequences. That fearful knowledge is also what’s behind the reality we are currently seeing with thousands of National Guard troops guarding Washington DC…. just in case. Another systemic contingency.
On TV some voices railed against goal #1, the investigation itself; however, no-one every publicly talked about goal #2, the cover-up. Yet they all knew it.
Bill Barr knew the cover-up operation when he repeatedly praised Robert Mueller. So too did Lindsey Graham and all of the other voices in/around the DC system.
This is why all of those characters acted with disregard for any information that surfaced. They were all participants; and they knew the system would protect itself from sunlight.
Once you begin to accept this uncomfortable truth, then you start to realize just how far some voices went to keep the pantomime going. Everything was orchestrated to keep everyone focused on the “injustice” within the details.
Think about the last four years, systemic contingencies everywhere. No-one ever publicly talked about what Mueller was really in charge of doing in the goal of protecting the institutions and systems within them. The people inside that system all knew that Mueller was their protector. Mueller was protecting very corrupt people.
Everything now visible, the blatant disregard and the ‘in-your-face’ approach with the JoeBama administration, is downstream from that origination point. That’s why they all walk around as if they do not care…. because they have nothing to worry about.
Start from the position that everyone knew the purpose and intents of Robert Mueller, including people very close to President Trump, and then you start to realize just how brutally corrupt this DC system is. President Trump was satiated by people who knew Robert Mueller was protecting all of those who tried, and failed, to keep him out of office and then hamstring him once he entered the system.
Everyone knew.
No-one did not know.
The only difference is… some were active participants, and some -out of fear- just sat silent to the cover-up operation. That reality is why the FISA court did not react to Kevin Clinesmith aggressively. Everyone knew…
9
posted on
02/02/2021 10:20:43 AM PST
by
Bratch
To: Kaslin
Everything was essentially a process of systemic contingencies; ‘if this, then that’. If this happens then we react with that. If this is likely to come out, then we proactively respond with this – that allows control. That is the nature of a cover-up operation….
By mid-2018 there was a concern amid the deepest part of the deep state. Congress was asking President Trump for declassification of key documents, the Weissmann/Mueller special counsel held control authority over those documents, and -during the prior five months- Weissmann and team had been working through a careful process to diffuse a dangerous sunlight situation…. the communication amid the players was critical.
At the same time President Trump was frustrated. Openly and publicly frustrated. The OIG, Michael Horowitz had released a report saying the FBI did nothing wrong in the Clinton investigation (no bias). President Trump was railing against the ineffectual AG Jeff Sessions and contrasting ever increasing research by those outsiders starting to put the puzzle together. On June 5th 2018 President Trump tweeted:
In the background, and unbeknownst to the public, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein was working to facilitate the needs of Robert Mueller, quietly expand the scope of authorities to assist Mueller’s attack-dog Andrew Weissmann, and secretly was in direct communication with a man named Bill Barr to work the control angle against the office of the President, Donald J Trump…..
In mid 2018 it was apparent and predictable -as more information surfaced- the president would move to remove his ineffectual Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ Sessions would be removed, it was a matter of ‘when’ Trump would pull the trigger. Sessions recusal was a key element to the activity of the DC operation against Trump; if Sessions was removed, all of those in charge of constructing the cover-up operation would be at risk. Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein and now Bill Barr were developing a plan of action.
To make matters worse, by June 2018 there was an explosive DOJ issue; an issue that would expose part of the plot against President Trump; an issue that needed to be carefully managed; an issue the special counsel had been defusing since February; an issue that couldn’t be controlled any longer, and was just about to reach the surface. Mueller, Weissmann and Rosenstein needed to prepare the groundwork…. They needed Barr.
On June 7th 2018 the issue was released. The Security Director for the Senate Intelligence Committee, James Wolfe, was indicted for participating in a series of leaks to the media.
On March 17, 2017, Wolfe had leaked the Carter Page FISA application to his allies in the media to help frame the need for the special counsel. Wolfe was working at the behest of SSCI Vice-Chairman Mark Warner, but was caught by a sting operation conducted out of the Washington Field Office of the FBI ran by SSA Brian Dugan.
After Agent Dugan busted Wolfe in December 2017 he was required to turn over his full investigative file to the Mueller team because they held investigative authority over all things “Trump/Russia” related. Agent Dugan turned over his evidence against both Mark Warner and James Wolfe in late January 2018. Immediately the special counsel went to work diffusing the evidence within the file.
Wolfe’s primary leak source, Ali Watkins, now working at the New York Times, was notified that all of her contact information with Wolfe was captured by Agent Dugan. This gave her time to assemble a defense and provided all media with a head’s up that someone in the FBI knew about the legislative branch effort to remove President Trump.
Weissmann and Mueller’s second move to diffuse the issue was to inform Senator Mark Warner that his communication with Chris Steele’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, was also captured by FBI Agent Dugan. This gave Senator Warner time to create a defense and position himself against the investigative discovery.
The SSCI vice-chair previously knew Wolfe was busted for the leak because FBI Director Chris Wray, and FBI legal counsel Dana Boente, demanded Agent Dugan tell Warner and SSCI Chairman Burr about the evidence against Wolfe. However, Warner did not know Dugan used a back-door search warrant to capture his text messages with Adam Waldman. Those text messages needed a fast and urgent counter narrative which would justify them.
During the period from February to June 2018 the damaging Wolfe background was being managed. On June 7th enough action had taken place to eliminate the risks in the Dugan files which would outline the multi-branch plot against President Trump. The Wolfe indictment was unsealed with the approval of the special counsel.
It was now time to deploy the insurance policy against President Trump’s reaction….
On June 8th Bill Barr executed the delivery of his pre-written letter to Rod Rosenstein, as they had planned. If Jeff Sessions was fired by Trump, the letter provided a baseline for Bill Barr to be recommended as a replacement Attorney General. That was the plan… now they waited to see what Trump would do.
President Trump kept up his public confrontation against AG Jeff Sessions, begging him to do something, anything, to stop the attacks from the DOJ against his office. However, Trump never pulled the trigger to remove Sessions…. instead he took sketchy advice from others in/around the office and did not trust his instincts. In hindsight this was a big mistake.
By September 2018 the pressure from legislative supporters for Trump to declassify documents controlled by the special counsel (they held authority over all documents) was at a fever pitch. Congress was begging Trump to declassify.
When it looked like President Trump was going to take unilateral action, DAG Rod Rosenstein stepped in and told President Trump if he declassified any documents the special counsel would look upon that action as direct evidence of his interfering with their investigation. Declassification would be weaponized against him.
Rosenstein’s threat worked…. Trump backed down (September 21st):
Rosenstein had bought time for the Mueller team to continue their operations against the Trump administration…
The day after the November mid-term election Trump finally fired AG Jeff Sessions. Losing the House to democrats was an outcome of waiting for justice amid a system that was filled with corrupt and deceitful actors working against the executive office.
♦ On November 30th former President George H.W. Bush died. In response to the loss of the former President, First Lady Melania Trump and President Trump extended the offer to the Bush family to stay at the Blair House during commemorations.
An extension of grace was seen by the deep state as an opportune moment…
During the early December remembrances and private meetings, former President George “Dubya” Bush put the finishing touches on the plan. President Bush recommended his friend Bill Barr to be the permanent replacement for Jeff Sessions. The June 8th letter to Rod Rosenstein was referenced as a baseline to solidify the recommendation.
Once again, President Trump trusted…. The bad actors had now successfully executed the Bill Barr (insurance policy) part of the strategy against the office of the president. Barr knew if he spoke a good game he would keep President Trump satiated… so he did.
Almost everyone fell for it and the media played their part in railing against Barr.
In addition to the hindsight timeline, one of the “tells” inside the scheme was how Bill Barr talked about the honor and integrity of Robert Mueller and DAG Rod Rosenstein. By heaping praise upon them he was affirming their status as not being questioned. The actions, actual behaviors by Mueller and Rosenstein, were being overlooked.
The rest, as they say, is history…
P.S. Bill Barr quietly appointed John Durham on October 19th 2020, just outside the 90 day window of reversal, for the exact same reason as the appointment of Robert Mueller. A special counsel insurance policy to protect the deep state.
10
posted on
02/02/2021 10:25:27 AM PST
by
Bratch
To: Kaslin
Not near as big of an insult as the failure to prosecute the murderer of Ashli Babbitt, which is a total failure of the justice system.
11
posted on
02/02/2021 10:26:11 AM PST
by
Colo9250
(Name the rat that assassinated Ashli Babbitt now! )
To: Boogieman
It’s worse than just that. The entire story is just ignored. Yes this is a major injustice - you try forging evidence and submit it to a court. I’d wager Clinesmith’s fine your penalty would be harsher. But Clinesmith is just a tiny piece chipped off the iceberg that gets to float away unnoticed.
12
posted on
02/02/2021 10:26:55 AM PST
by
monkeyshine
(live and let live is dead)
To: Kaslin
“Where the hell is Durham?”
13
posted on
02/02/2021 10:40:56 AM PST
by
Bonemaker
(invictus maneo)
To: Kaslin
14
posted on
02/02/2021 12:07:42 PM PST
by
Uncle Miltie
(FIBBERS: Earned distrust is disabling.)
To: Bratch
Trumps whole comms were sucked up and delivered to Hillary.
Nobody ever talks about the surveillance PRODUCT, because under FISA’s two-hop rule, once you get Carter Page, you get everybody.
Including Trump.
They were reading and listening to everything TRUMP said or did, and delivered it to Hillary.
That can’t ever come out. The entirety of the Federal Government turned to protect itself from dissolution.
15
posted on
02/02/2021 12:13:51 PM PST
by
Uncle Miltie
(FIBBERS: Earned distrust is disabling.)
To: Uncle Miltie
16
posted on
02/02/2021 12:15:29 PM PST
by
Uncle Miltie
(FIBBERS: Earned distrust is disabling.)
To: Uncle Miltie
That can’t ever come out. The entirety of the Federal Government turned to protect itself from dissolution.
Yep.
Another too big to fail scenario.
17
posted on
02/02/2021 12:46:30 PM PST
by
Bratch
To: Kaslin
“The collapse or erosion of the legitimacy of a regime is one of the critical developments in the emergence of what scholars of revolution have come to identify as a “revolutionary situation,” a condition of society in which not only the power but also the authority of the incumbent regime is vulnerable. There is a good deal of back-and-forth among scholars as to what the other features of a revolutionary situation are, but most agree on at least two others in addition to the crisis of legitimacy.
One is a “critical event” that exposes the incapacity of the regime to govern and to carry out the other functions it is supposed to be able to carry out. If the crisis of legitimacy is the collapse of the authority of the regime to do what it is supposed to do, the critical event is the collapse of the power of the regime to do it. The critical event is what Lenin was thinking of when he wrote that no government ever falls unless it is first dropped. The critical event is the act of dropping it. In the French Revolution, the critical event was the financial crisis and insolvency of the government, which required Louis XVI to call the Estates General for the first time in 175 years. Once the Estates took their seats, they proceeded to rid the country of the King, the Queen, the Church, the aristocracy, and the other vestiges of the old regime, and there was little or nothing Louis and his allies could do to stop them (or at least nothing they were willing to do). In the Russian Revolution, the critical event was the collapse of the Russian army in the First World War.
In the English Revolution of the 1640s it was a war with Scotland, coupled with rebellion in Ireland, that required Charles I to call Parliament in order to get money with which to fight the war. Today there is no obvious “critical event” in the United States such as these historic ones, but such is the situation in this country that such an event could occur at any time. The perennial budget crises, the increasing arrogance of the courts, the incompetence of the government to control crime and immigration, and the decline of legitimacy itself all suggest that a revolutionary critical event could occur in the United States in the not-too-distant future. What if the Congress should just refuse to approve a budget and the government has to shut down more or less permanently? What if the Crips or the Bloods or some other gang decides to take over a city or even a state? What if some states or parts of the country secede or refuse to pay taxes, enforce federal laws, or obey federal court orders? What if the armed forces refuse to carry out the orders of the Commander-in-Chief to enforce federal laws and court orders? I do not predict that any of these situations will occur, but it is no longer unimaginable (as it was in, say, the 1950s) that they will not occur, and if any of them do occur, it could constitute the very “critical event” that precipitates revolution.” Revolution is in the Air by Samuel Francis
18
posted on
02/02/2021 1:28:09 PM PST
by
Pining_4_TX
(‘You can drive out Nature with a pitchfork, but she keeps on coming back.’ – Horace)
To: Kaslin
Gotta say I was 100% snookered by Barr. Talked a great game. Just never did anything with regard to Russiagate and FISAgate.
I thought Durham was going to be a tiger. Snookered.
It’s downright embarrassing. The American Empire has got to be on it’s last legs.
To: Kaslin
This is why people gathered on Jan.6th in DC. We don’t have that option now, we have been shut down.
20
posted on
02/03/2021 11:23:06 AM PST
by
Toespi
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