Barefaced Thuggery

     The word thug derives from a foreign source, the Thuggee of India. That cult worshipped Kali, the Hindu goddess of death. Human sacrifices to her were part of the cult’s rituals. In particular, the Thuggee liked to sacrifice anyone caught peering into actions of the Thuggee. Rather efficient use of resources, that.

     The Federal Bureau of Investigation isn’t supposed to be a religious cult. Neither, one would assume, is it supposed to perform human sacrifices to its deity. Yet it appears that over the past decade or so, it’s been transformed from a well-equipped federal investigative and counterintelligence agency into a cult of sorts. Its chosen deity is the Deep State. The enemies it chooses to sacrifice are any who dare to question the Deep State or the “elected” officials who safeguard its interests.

     Clarice Feldman has posted an excellent compendium on the FBI’s pursuit of Rudolph Giuliani over absurd “suspicions” that he has acted as an unregistered foreign agent of Ukraine. There is no demonstrable crime – no “predicate,” in legal language – under which such an intrusive investigation could be justified. The “suspicions” themselves appear to have been artifacts of a Washington Post story – “story” being here more indicative of a piece of fiction than a specimen of reportage.

     Feldman lays out a conclusive case for this “investigation” being a political witch-hunt. The chief “witch,” of course, is the 45th president of these United States, Donald J. Trump, who employed Giuliani as a lawyer and spokesman during his time in office. On this subject, quoth Power Line’s Scott Johnson:

     The Foreign Agents Registration Act is the last refuge of a prosecutorial scoundrel. That was my reaction to the New York Times story yesterday reporting that Rudy Giuliani is under investigation for an alleged FARA violation….The FBI showed up at Giuliani’s apartment around 6:00 a.m. this past Wednesday morning to seize his cell phones and computers with warrants issued in the investigation. Giuliani is himself a former United States Attorney of some notable accomplishment….He is President Trump’s former lawyer and when it comes to federal criminal procedure, he knows what he’s talking about.

     Giuliani maintains that the warrants used to search his office and residences and seize his property are illegal. Scott Johnson isn’t so sure, but the authority on the matter rests in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution:

     The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. [Emphasis added by FWP]

     So for those warrants to be valid, there has to be “probable cause” – which has never been adequately described – and “supported by Oath or affirmation.” Who provided the oath or affirmation? In other words, who alleged that a crime had been committed? That, too, has gone unspecified.

     We are seeing one of the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies being used as a political bludgeon to crush the enemies of the Deep State and its protectors, the Usurper Regime. The message is clear: You dare to stand with one who stood against us? You will suffer for it. Whether there is ever an indictment or a trial is irrelevant. The process, as in so many previous cases, is intended to be the punishment.

     The Obamunists’ success at transforming the federal government into a political tool went deeper than any of us outside the corridors of power could have known…until today. Indeed, that they managed to suborn the FBI, long admired for its institutional integrity, is a capper of sorts. No one has much trouble believing that the other alphabet agencies could be corrupted; they were already three-quarters “in the bag” when the Obamunists came to power.

     “The aim of the High is to remain where they are,” wrote George Orwell. The dynamic of power-seeking guarantees that in the absence of constraints, the race for power will go to the most ruthless: those pursuers to whom nothing else matters. Now that the Deep State has loyal “elected” officials for defenders, and those officials themselves seek to make their tenure permanent, there’s a swelling sense that there’s no further point to concealment of the elite’s real intentions. The masks can come off. The mailed fist can shed the velvet glove. And the Constitution of the United States can be dismissed as a quaint, historically interesting document inapplicable to our time. (“No amendment is absolute.” – Joe Biden)

     Welcome to the Former United States of America, where “rights” are permissions, “law” gets lip service only, and loyalty parades are held daily. Don’t forget to tip your waitresses. And do try the veal.