On criticizing the FBI: The Seattle Times argues with itself

On Sunday, two articles ran in The Seattle Times that take two different stances on whether it is proper to critique the FBI’s performance.

One argument was in their Sunday op-ed, claiming it is irresponsible for the president and House Republicans criticize the FBI’s investigation of Trump. The second article, originally from The New York Times, criticizes the FBI under James Comey for the lack of action taken to protect young gymnasts from a serial child molester.

RELATED: Why the Seattle crime report is fiction

For nearly a year the FBI ignored the victims of US gymnastics “doctor” —  now a convicted child molester, Larry Nassar. Apparently, in the estimation of The Seattle Times, it is not dangerous for journalists to critique the FBI’s performance, just Republican politicians. This is not a question of subject matter — a rape investigation versus a national security investigation — The Seattle Times itself echoes Hillary Clinton’s criticism of the bureau that the FBI cost Hillary the election.

With this level of cognitive dissonance on display in The Seattle Times, consider what the headline of their op-ed could mean to Nassar’s victims.

The headline of the op-ed seems to say something that the very FBI agents taken to task by the NY Times might have said to the young victims of rapist Larry Nassar: “Don’t be fooled by reckless attempt to discredit FBI.”

Americans must have patience and faith that former FBI Director Robert Mueller, a Republican, will conduct a fair investigation. Until he’s finished and findings are presented, it’s too soon to pass judgment.

Applied to the brutal rapes of young gymnasts by their so-called doctor, one can imagine these words coming out of an FBI spokesperson’s mouth:

[The families of girls raped by Larry Nassar under the guise of medical exams] must have patience and faith that former FBI Director [James Comey], a Republican, [conducted] a fair investigation.

The editorial board of The Seattle Times is doing to Republicans what the FBI did to the gymnasts and their families. The editorial board is ignoring easily compiled evidence that the FBI is a deeply flawed and selectively abusive organization. Are we to wait until after a possibly biased investigation wraps up? Should the parents of the rape victims have waited patiently rather than demanding attention?

The Seattle Times simply cannot believe its own stance

The Seattle Times editorial board is horrified as we all are by the Nassar rapes. These are people who have fought to help rape victims and to expose child sex trafficking. They were right to run The New York Times piece about the FBI ignoring the Nassar victims. The clear fact is this, The Seattle Times knows it is right and proper to question the FBI when facts indicate the bureau is off track.

The Seattle Times fails to explain what makes the GOP’s criticism of the FBI “reckless”

Sadly, The Seattle Times does not explain what is reckless about the congressional investigation of the FBI lead by GOP members and opposed by Democrats. Likewise, they fail to make the case that the investigation is a distraction. The Seattle Times simply decrees it to be reckless. This as close as The Seattle Times gets to backing up its claim:

The memo cherry-picks a few morsels from the classified record to insinuate that the FBI’s investigation is tainted by partisan bias. This is far-fetched given that respected Republicans lead the investigation. It’s also rich coming from a president who benefited from the FBI’s publicized investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email handling.

Note the last line? The Seattle Times, by its own definition of cherry-picking, recklessly attacked and impugned the FBI’s handling of the email scandal Hillary Clinton created all on her own.

Note, also, that The Seattle Times lazily suggests that being a Republican would prevent James Comey and his team of careerists from attempting to position themselves to keep their jobs under a Hillary Clinton administration. No one in Washington D.C. thought Trump would win. The investigation run by the Republican Comey that The Seattle Times claims harmed Hillary should have — if facts and law prevailed — seen her recommended for indictment for the textbook definition of acting with “gross negligence” with her emails. That phrase was struck from Comey’s draft speech by anti-Trump / pro-Hillary careerists and mouthed as “extreme carelessness” by careerist James Comey. The Seattle Times would have us believe the letter R is more important to careerists than their jobs and pensions.

The FBI and DOJ are long overdue for a real investigation into their pattern of partisanship

Because The Seattle Times is unfamiliar with — and seemingly happy to remain ignorant of — why some people question the FBI’s handling of the Trump investigation, some reminders are in order.

Selective enforcement from a biased team

Hillary Clinton, Huma Abednin, and Chery Mills all lied to the FBI on numerous occasions. None of them were charged. General Flynn, a Trump official, pleaded guilty to lying on at least one occasion. Why is it a crime for Flynn to lie but not Clinton, Abedin, and Mills? Could that be due to the fact that the core investigative team hated Trump but liked and supported Clinton? Out of nearly 35,000 employees, the FBI chose the same teams to run the Clinton and Trump investigations. That teams were clearly pro-Hillary and anti-Trump. Or, could it be that, as careerists, they thought for certain Hillary Clinton would win so they did what any careerist would do and got out of her way?

Lying to the FISA Court:

The FBI chose to mask the source of the information it presented to the FISA Court. It came from a dossier funded by the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s campaign with cash funneled — one could say laundered — through a law firm and was compiled by a spy previously jettisoned by the FBI for ethical breaches (for the comment trolls: the dossier was not funded by the Free Beacon, but the Beacon did pay for anti-Trump oppo that went into it).

A politicized FBI

The Seattle Times states that the Letter R next to the name of Comey and Mueller makes them immune to a partisan or personal or career-preserving attack on Trump. This is purposeful sophistry. John McCain is a Republican who helped merchandise the dossier to intelligence operatives. McCain, the Republican, was happy to help the Democrat-run Department of Justice.

It takes a willing suspension of skepticism to not see the pro-Hillary politics at play in the DOJ, parent of the FBI. Loretta Lynch did not just happen to have her private jet park next to Bill Clinton’s private jet as some coincidence. It was planned. James Comey (a Republican, as the Seattle Times notes), lied about the existence of FBI documents related to the Bill Clinton, Loretta Lynch meeting. The FBI told the media and watchdog groups there were no records related to the get-together. That was false. Judicial Watch finally got those notes through the court and we know the meeting was planned in advance. We also know — through the texts of the Trump-hating, Hillary-supporting FBI agents who were locked in an extramarital affair — that Hillary Clinton was never in danger of facing any charges whatsoever.

The Seattle Times either did not remember any of this or somehow believes it should not raise our suspicions.

A weaponized DOJ

Barack Obama’s IRS admitted wrongdoing and used taxpayer money to pay fines for illegally targeting and abusing conservative groups. That was clearly a successful effort to keep them out working in the election. The IRS had a partner in that: Barack Obama’s Department of Justice. When the IRS illegally began targeting donors of those groups, the Department of Justice stepped in to lend a hand. This is the same Department of Justice that allowed narco-terrorists in Mexico to come to America illegally, get guns illegally and take them back to Mexico illegally. Those weapons were used to murder Americans, including a DHS agent. Unlike the George W. Bush administration, which tracked such weapons to better surveil the cartels, Eric Holder’s team simply let them go with no tracking. This is the same DOJ that ran Operation Chokepoint, which illegally aimed to do what Congress could not: shut down legal gun dealers. Chokepoint used the tactics of thuggery to threaten banks that did business with gun dealers, which was an attempt to end their ability to take credit cards as a form of payment.

We need The Seattle Times and they need conservative media

I value The Seattle Times and I say so often on my radio show. Local news, our Republic, and society need a vital, skeptical, investigative press and The Seattle Times often fulfills that role.