The Washington Post adds a soupcon of doubt!

FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2022

Lawrence / Joe / Mika seemed sure: Last evening, Lawrence was totally sure.

He opened his show with one of his rants. The Secret Service had conducted a fraud! One of the largest ever!

Eight hours later, Joe and Mika were also sure—and Willie chimed in too. The Secret Service was in the wrong. The Inspector General was right!

(To see how sure Joe and Mika were, you can just click here. Then, click on "Somebody's Lying.")

As they displayed the certainty of their rants, none of these people actually knew what had actually happened. There was no possible way they could know. They were simply providing our failing blue tribe with the story our tribe would like.

And then, later this morning, it happened! The Washington Post came along with this report, casting a rather large shadow of doubt on the Inspector General:

SACCHETTI AND LEONNIG (7/15/22): Cuffari, nominated by Trump in 2019 and confirmed by the Senate, has faced significant criticism since he took over the office. His first-year audits plummeted to historic lows, he clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the veracity of an inspection of a detention center, and he blocked investigations into the Secret Service’s handling of George Floyd protests in Lafayette Square and the spread of the coronavirus in its ranks, documents show.

The OIG’s office is under investigation by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an independent entity in the executive branch, for undisclosed allegations of misconduct, according to an internal email circulated to the office in January.

The nonprofit Project On Government Oversight (POGO), an independent watchdog, has called on President Biden to remove Cuffari.

Cuffari’s office did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday, and DHS had no immediate comment on his allegations.

A person briefed on the Secret Service’s reaction to Cuffari’s letter said the agency rejects his characterizations that they eliminated or deleted records after Cuffari’s office requested them.

The report goes on from there. As you know, Leonnig is Carol Leonnig. She literally wrote the book on the Secret Service, though she isn't the gang's best friend. 

This morning's report in the Washington Post makes the (Trump-appointed) IG sound a little bit shaky. Is it possible that, in this instance, it's the IG who's basically wrong?

For ourselves, we don't have the slightest idea how this matter will turn out. That, of course, is the obvious point. The same was true of Lawrence last night, and of Joe and Mika this morning.

These instantly scripted tribal performers were serving Mikey his Maypo. Whatever their motives or thinking might be, they were instantly handing our floundering tribe the story our tribe would like.

It's almost always pure Storyline now, even on our own cable channels. Again and again and again and again, it's mandated preconceived Storyline pretty much all the way down.

We don't know who's right or who's wrong in this case. That, of course, is precisely the point:

We don't know who's right and who's wrong. But neither did Lawrence, Joe, Mika!

Full disclosure: Almost surely, MSNBC slow-walks its transcript production to prevent fuller discussion of modern "journalism" of this unfortunate type. 

Even as we type this report, the most recent transcript of Lawrence's show dates from Thursday, June 30. For such tired old transcripts, you can just click here

This is the way the game is played, business division-wise.


17 comments:


  1. Thanks for documenting this microscopic portion of the recent liberal atrocities, dear Bob. We suppose.

    ...but aren't there more important liberal atrocities to report, dear Bob? Y'know, liberal atrocities that appear to be threatening all life on Earth? That sort of thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You mean the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, correct?

      Delete
    2. The Civil Right Act of 1964 was passed with more Republican support than Democratic support.

      Delete
    3. Once again, David in Cal pretends there was no political realignment of the parties in direct response to the Civil Rights legislation of the '60s.

      Tell us again that Lincoln was a Republican you jackass.

      Delete
    4. David in Cal,
      The Liberal wing of Republicans. The Conservative Democrats and Republicans were totally against it.
      ---------
      Conservative Democrats were racists.
      Conservative Republicans are racists.
      This isn't Republicans vs. Democrats.
      This is Conservatives vs. Humanity.

      Delete
    5. BTW, David, aren't you a proud Conservative?

      Delete
  2. Any defense will do if you don't want to believe a report. Somerby is leaning over backwards to defend the Secret Service against accusations that it has deleted messages for Jan 5 & 6, messages that might reveal important information about what led up to and occurred on the day of Trump's insurrection. It seems likely that the Secret Service is either protecting itself or Trump by withholding the requested messages.

    Either the requested messages have been provided or they have not. There is no gray area. If they have not been provided, either they exist or they do not. That is not a gray area either.

    Somerby thinks that if a separate investigatory body has criticized Cuffari, on some unstated basis, then all questions concerning those missing messages are moot. That is untrue. Cuffari's OIG may be under investigation for reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with those missing messages. The accusations of misconduct are "undisclosed", which means that Somerby has no idea what the basis for them is.

    If someone wished to undercut the investigation of the OIG, what better way than to investigate it via CICIE (which is described as an independent entity in the executive branch)? This can be seen as nothing more than an effort to protect the Secret Service and to discredit the findings of the OIG with respect to Trump's actions on 1/6. To complicate matters, POGO has called for Cuffari's removal. But what does that have to do with whether or not the Secret Service has destroyed messages? Nothing whatsoever. Either those messages exist and should be provided in response to an authorized request, or they do not exist and their failure to respond needs to be explained.

    But who does Somerby suspect? Not those executive branch entities interfering with the OIG's investigation. He suspects the OIG itself, the folks who requested messages and received none. And if the messages do exist, but the problem is Cuffari, then they should still be given to the second-in-command in OIG. It is not an excuse to withhold information.

    But Somerby thinks Mika and Joe are the problem. Not the Secret Service for failing to supply requested info, whatever anyone thinks about Cuffari. This sounds like a political struggle within the executive branch, over whether or not the Secret Service destroyed some records. The evidence here consists of the messages themselves. If they have not been handed over, then Joe and Mika are correct, and the Secret Service is derelict. These other investigations of the investigators have nothing to do with that. So, the complaint Somerby has raised about Mike and Joe ignoring the critics of Cuffari, have nothing whatsoever to do with the Secret Service and whether it has destroyed evidence important to figuring out what Trump did on 1/5 and 1/6.

    Somerby's defense of Trump is noted. The loss of those messages helps no one except Trump. The Secret Service works for the government, not Trump personally. Their failure to assist the investigations is wrong. They should be investigated for it, especially if someone destroyed the messages.

    It troubles me that Somerby so consistently disregards the American people in deciding what is right and wrong, ethical or not, concerning 1/6. His loyalties do not seem to be with our country, its government and its people, but with specific wrongdoers who are being held accountable for their actions, including Trump. That puts Somerby squarely with the Republicans, because that is the way they view things too. And that is why our country is in trouble. Not because of Mika or Joe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don’t worry, if it turns out the MSNBC broadcasters are correct, Bob will be happy not to mention it.

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  3. Somerby cannot tell the difference between political retaliation and whistle-blowing. What a surprise!

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  4. Convict rich criminals, and reap the benefits of prison reform.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The inspector general at DHS is having trouble getting info too. That makes it less likely it is Cuffari lying and not an effort to stonewall investigation on behalf of Trump. I don’t think Mika and Joe are wrong.

    ReplyDelete
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