Talking sports with the inimitable Mr. Carlson

My friend Brad Carlson, multimedia sensation that he is, will have me on his radio show tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. Central. We'll be previewing the NFL season, with particular attention to the NFC North. Brad is a diehard but rational Vikings fan. I am a diehard but (mostly) rational Packers fan. If you're in the metro, tune in to AM1280; it's also available in a variety of other formats that Brad details here. It's always a good (and good natured) time; the only drama will be to see if I can accurately pronounce the names of Olabisi Johnson and Marquez Valdez-Scantling, among others.

The Sanctimony Bulk Pack

James Comey is a tall man and his self-regard towers over even his expansive height. Jonathan Turley reminds us of a few things:

The inspector general has confirmed what was clear and obvious. The memos were FBI material, and Comey did violate provisions of the Federal Records Act and FBI rules clearly barring their removal and disclosure. Moreover, the inspector general agreed that it was not necessary to guarantee an investigation into Trump. Investigations were ongoing and the report cites other “options” that Comey refused to use. The report concludes, “What was not permitted was the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”

The reason Comey violated these rules was as obvious then as it is now. Leaking the memos was designed to improve his stature in the media and it worked. Comey transformed himself into a badly needed hero to use against the villain Trump. He knew the memos would change the focus of media coverage to his new role as a federal government whistleblower.

No one owes James Comey an apology.

Something else to watch

My alma mater, Beloit College, is a lefty place. They do have a Young Americans for Freedom chapter on campus and the YAF is bringing in some really heavy hitters to campus this upcoming semester:

Here comes Dick

Given the reaction on campus that Erik Prince received last year, this should be fun. And I suspect the world, or at least the academic world, will be watching.

The old-fashioned way

Some people decry Ilhan Omar because of her anti-Semitism. That's not what could bring her down, though. Simple, old-fashioned graft just might:

An independent government watchdog says Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's campaign may have committed serious campaign finance fraud.

Omar's campaign spent $21,547 on travel for the E Street Group, run by Tim Mynett, whose wife is now accusing him of leaving her for Omar. Tom Anderson, who is with the conservative National Legal and Policy Center, said the travel payment may actually be Omar using campaign funds for personal use, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

"We believe Representative Ilhan Omar may have touched the third rail of campaign finance law: disbursing campaign funds for personal use," Anderson said. "It's a brazen act Representative Omar was caught doing before in Minnesota and all of the evidence we've seen tells us she’s probably doing it again."

Omar has operated under the assumption that the Esme Murphys of the world will cover for her. If the "probably" turns into "is," she'll have to leave. There are dozens of the DFL politicos who would love to have her seat in Congress. We're watching this one.

Musical interlude

More than 70 years ago and it still stands up.

All hell's breaking lose, but it's not even that interesting

Trump is nuts. Trump's a genius. Joe Biden's doing fine. Joe Biden's sinking. China is winning. China is caving. We're already in a recession. What recession -- it's a boom!

I feel fine.

Back online

Our computer had a long, slow slide to oblivion. We have a new one now (it's even shiny!), which will make it easier to get back to the blogging business.

Whether or not I'll blog more often than I have recently is an open question. Time is a factor; it was my practice to get up waaaaay too early in the morning to blog. A lack of sleep and a too-often sedentary lifestyle is a good way to end one's blogging permanently, if you know what I mean and I think you do. So I'm not likely to do that anymore. But I do want to find time to blog, so I'll be experimenting with it a bit.

Two cents

I don't think Trump is serious about gun control. Do you?

Ten days in

One thing is obvious at my new gig: trial lawyers and regulators may not have a stake in the business, but they drive much of the activity. I'd always suspected as much, but until you're in the environment, you don't really get to experience it. It's something else.

The headline we all expected

We also would have accepted "Arkancide"

As inevitable as the dawn:

Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced millionaire who was facing federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide early Saturday in his Lower Manhattan prison cell, three law enforcement officials told ABC News.

Epstein hanged himself, law enforcement sources said. He was transported in cardiac arrest at 6:39 a.m. from Metropolitan Correctional Center to New York Downtown Hospital, according to sources.

We got a sneak preview of some of Epstein's clientele yesterday:

On Friday, a federal appellate court in New York unsealed around 2,000 pages of documents from a now-settled civil defamation case between Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an alleged Epstein victim, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein associate.

Giuffre accused Maxwell of recruiting her while she was working as a locker-room attendant at Mar-A-Lago in 2000 and bringing her to Epstein's home for a massage. She claims that she eventually became a teen sex slave to Epstein, and a victim of sex trafficking, beginning at age 17, at the hands of both Epstein and Maxwell.

The newly-unsealed documents showed that Giuffre alleged that Epstein and Maxwell directed her to have sex with, among others: Prince Andrew; criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz; former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson; former Senator George Mitchell; a well-known prime minster, who she wouldn't name; and a foreign man who was introduced to her as a "prince."

Dershowitz has denied everything, in forceful terms. Mitchell and Richardson deny the allegations in the linked article from ABC. It's likely coincidental that Richardson and Mitchell's political party isn't mentioned in the article, because why would that matter, right?

The rumors that have long simmered, and that matter most of all, concern Bill Clinton, famous for his horndoggery and credibly accused of untoward behavior by many other women.

It will be interesting to see if the prosecutors decide to redouble their efforts against Maxwell in order to get the story out. Had Epstein been Scott Walker, it all would just mysteriously leak out to the press. But he wasn't, so the story may end here. We'll see.

Random observation

Your mileage may vary on this, but this is what I'm seeing right now.

• Trump is a front man, but he's not a political philosopher. He's less concerned about underlying theories and more concerned about what might work. For all his faults, he understands that governing is the job, but he's willing, even eager to delegate much of the day-to-day work to subordinates. Many of his subordinates are excellent; they are the ones who the MSM doesn't discuss much.
• Every Democrat in the race wants to rule, not govern. They all have, to varying degrees, a political philosophy and a particular approach to communicating that philosophy, but every one of them wants to rule.

That's the choice. It's been the choice for a while now, but at this point the differences couldn't be more stark.

Ownership

The guy who shot up a Walmart in El Paso appears to be a bad dude who hates Mexicans. The guy who shot up the Oregon district in Dayton (I've been to that bar, by the way) was a Bernie/Warren supporter.

Politicians don't own these guys. We can play tit for tat all damn day on it. Let's not.

The new gig has begun

Started today. Will be there for 18 months. I have a lot to learn, but I am thrilled to have the opportunity.

Thank you for your support and your prayers. A lot of my former colleagues are still looking, so I feel fortunate indeed.