We just hit a thousand posts, folks. Thanks to all for staying with us!

To be clear, the thousand post mark comprises two blogs: The Jeffersonian at 840 pieces, and Conversations with Dio at 160 pieces. What is the next marker? Let’s make it 1,111, something reachable before I’m dead.

Thanks again for reading. This post, by the way, is 1,001.

“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.” ~ V. S. Naipaul

Let’s begin tonight with a few remarks about James Comey, the bungling bureaucrat who apparently could not figure out when inaction would yield results far superior to anything he might do. So many things occurred during the 2016 campaign, few would have noticed if he had deferred action on Hillary Clinton’s email server until after the election. Moreover, after Attorney General Lynch’s tarmac meeting with former president William Jefferson Clinton – or Slick Willie as people liked to call him in Arkansas – Comey could certainly deflect public pressure from his boss to conclude his agency’s investigation.

Yet he expected Hillary Clinton to win the election, and presumably he did not want her to win it under a cloud. Far better, given the assured electoral outcome, to clear her of formal charges, and protect his beloved FBI before Labor Day. Then she could cruise toward November without having to wonder what the Department of Justice planned to do to her, or rather, what it planned to do with her case.

What a blunder. First, no matter what the polls said, we knew it would be a close election, and you cannot call a close election. Why would the FBI director, head of an agency that is at all times expected to keep itself clear of politics, make a decision based on the expected outcome of an election? Only a person who does not understand politics at all could make a mistake like that.

Man, those guys are the bozos they’ve always been. You cannot teach these people anything, because they refuse to learn.

I had some sympathy for Comey at the time. During that tumultuous summer, I would remark pretty frequently, “He’s in a difficult situation.” Then the more I learned about the FBI’s activities during the campaign, the more I thought, “Man, those guys are the bozos they’ve always been. You cannot teach these people anything, because they refuse to learn.” They pride themselves on competence over at the FBI, but they consistently prove they do not even know what it signifies.

Which brings us to Peter Strzok, fired in mid-August from the FBI, thirty-two days after his ten-hour revue before the Congressional oversight people. Believe me, I did not select the word revue by accident. Many may not have found this hearing funny, but no satire could equal it for revealing what actually goes on in government. That’s what we call oversight these days.

What makes me want to write about Peter Strzok after he lost his job? The day the FBI fired him, August 13, he and his friends set up a GoFundMe page to cover his lost income, and his legal bills. His goal was $150K, but in less than half a day, he had already bilked, I mean collected that amount, so the goal increased to $350K! I suppose he’ll be happy to bank as much as people are willing to give him, independent of what he needs.

Strzok’s political behavior during the FBI’s investigation makes him look blithely blind, and his colleagues duplicitous for tolerating it. Now he wants to rip people off, just like a parking lot shyster who walks around with little toys in his arms and begs gas money from people ready to be scammed. Read what Friends of Special Agent Peter Strzok say about this dishonorable man, so he can separate hardworking citizens from their cash.

What sort of person would commit these partisan remarks to writing, while he investigates an election campaign?

What a weasel. I don’t even want to mention he’s an adulterer, though you can judge his character from that. Alright, I do want to mention it, but not so as to distract from Strzok’s shortcomings as a government employee in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In his text-message correspondence with Lisa Page, his lover, he shows himself not only reckless, but plainly stupid. What sort of person would commit these partisan remarks to writing, while he investigates an election campaign? No one who gives any thought to the responsibilities of his job, that’s who.

Peter Strzok has said repeatedly that his opinions about Trump did not affect the way he conducted his responsibilities as a special agent. Yet he did not send these messages to his mother, during off hours. He sent these messages to a senior FBI legal advisor in the middle of a hectic, tense, and complex investigation, and the senior advisor responded in kind. Lisa Page reported to Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, which means her legal advice reached both McCabe and Director Comey. How do these messages not count as affecting the way you carry out your duties as employees of the bureau?

The fact is, Page and Strzok corrupted the investigative process from the moment they closed the bedroom door for privacy, never mind the first time they tapped Send on their phones. You cannot perform your responsibilities well once you dissemble and lie about your work-life balance. “What do you mean,” Strzok’s boss says, “you sleep with the deputy director’s senior legal advisor, and you tell me that doesn’t affect your leadership of the FBI’s investigation of the campaign? Do you think I’m an idiot?” Yet the bureau’s review process required months to dismiss him.

Strzok’s defense, that he never let his political opinions affect his job performance, is practically irrelevant when you consider Lisa Page’s position in the bureau, and her position as Strzok’s paramour. Page resigned immediately when the affair came to light. No one had to explain to her how her behavior compromised her reputation, and the bureau’s. Do we have to resort to “boys will be boys” to explain the light hand on Strzok’s shoulder, until the FBI decides after the Congressional hearing they don’t want him around anymore?

Let’s hope we don’t have to hear from this handsome jerk with a smile again, now that he begs for his lost salary from people who want to forgive his sins before he even admits them.

Whatever the reason, Democrats and Republicans cannot make their points so well when the controversial special agent offers such a bogus defense. Challengers and defenders alike cannot play their point-scoring games when their football reveals himself as a slippery moron. I wonder how many of the friends who posted the GoFundMe page actually worked with Strzok in the bureau? What do his colleagues think of his professional behavior?

I did not listen to a recording of the ten-hour Congressional hearing on July 12, but I wager any pointed challenge of Strzok’s attempt to indemnify himself was rapidly buried by a point-scorer on the other side. In that environment, Strzok’s lack of integrity – the clear significance of his actions – does not reveal itself so starkly. He never even admitted he made a mistake! His friends probably told him benign evasion would help the controversy subside. Let’s hope we don’t have to hear from this handsome jerk with a smile again, now that he begs for his lost salary from people who want to forgive his sins before he even admits them.