JAMES COMEY DELIVERS EXPLANATION OF BENEFITS

James Comey: EOB for the FBI.

For anyone opening a health insurance bill, and Explanation of Benefits is prime reading.

When you see the costs you want to know what insurance pays for, what you pay for.

Somehow reading the numbers is a comfort. There they are in black and white. The more serious the illness, the bigger the numbers.

It always feels better when modern medicine works. No one enjoys paying for failure.

Former FBI Director James Comey delivered an EOB to America during his testimony before Congress.

BoomerPdx explains how it works to an audience that includes twenty eight states, sixteen nations, and one hundred five cities.

Readers from Nanchang, China to Mumbai, India to Santo Antonio de Jesus, Brazil need to keep up with events in America.

Let’s get started.

The FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in longhand, is America’s national police force.

Currently, the FBI’s top priorities are:

1. Protect the United States from terrorist attacks,
2. Protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage,
3. Protect the United States against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes,
4. Combat public corruption at all levels,
5. Protect civil rights,
6. Combat transnational/national criminal organizations and enterprises,
7. Combat major white-collar crime,
8. Combat significant violent crime,
9. Support federal, state, local and international partners, and
10. Upgrade technology to enable, and further, the successful performances of its missions as stated above.

The top ten covers a lot of territory

So does James Comey.

During his tenure, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover secretly investigated the private and personal lives of many political figures, making him one of Washington’s most feared government officials. Comey and others have openly condemned Hoover’s behavior as an abuse of his power.

On Thursday, Comey said during testimony that he did not want similar concerns to arise from his interactions with President Trump about a salacious dossier that had surfaced in January.

When the FBI gets it right, we all win. Call it a protection benefit, and James Comey agrees.

Instead of collecting data on an enemies list, he seems interested America’s wellness.

Ignorance of the law no excuse for James Comey or anyone else.

Too many partisan political pundits try and provide cover for their pals.

Paul Ryan made a run when he explained how President Trump was new to politics and didn’t understand the traditions and customs of interdepartmental communications.

From the Washington Post:

He (Ryan) added: “I would just say that of course there needs to be a degree of independence between [the Department of Justice], FBI and the White House and a line of communications established. The president’s new at this. He’s new to government, and so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses. He’s just new to this.”

Ryan was later pressed on whether Trump’s behavior can be excused out of inexperience.

“I’m not saying it’s an acceptable excuse,” he said. “It’s just my observation.”

Party players like Speaker of the House Ryan won’t advance their agenda by burning their president. Experience shows what happens when they turn on one of their own. It takes the entire party down a notch.

Then they’d be on the outside looking in. Ryan may not like Washington D.C. better than his home state, but he’s in no rush to get back to cheese head Wisconsin.

The James Comey EOB.

When a man stands with his right hand raised to be sworn in, to give honest testimony, it’s a big deal.

If the man is the former head of  the FBI, it’s an even bigger deal.

But James Comey didn’t shrink from the task at hand.

“Although the law required no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me — and, more importantly, the FBI — by saying the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader,” Comey said. “Those were lies, plain and simple.”

Reading between the line, the former boss of America’s top police force gave America two thumbs up, telling us the FBI is on the job.

It’s a comfort to citizens, and more so for the rank and file FBI agents.

Their guy took care of them.

It’s not the first time a top man stood up for their people.

McCarthy vs U.S. Army.

In the spring of 1954, McCarthy picked a fight with the U.S. Army, charging lax security at a top-secret army facility. The army responded that the senator had sought preferential treatment for a recently drafted subcommittee aide. Amidst this controversy, McCarthy temporarily stepped down as chairman for the duration of the three-month nationally televised spectacle known to history as the Army-McCarthy hearings.

The army hired Boston lawyer Joseph Welch to make its case. At a session on June 9, 1954, McCarthy charged that one of Welch’s attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As an amazed television audience looked on, Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy’s career: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” When McCarthy tried to continue his attack, Welch angrily interrupted, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”

Overnight, McCarthy’s immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, 48 years old and a broken man.

Wisconsin Senator McCarthy vs President Eisenhower tip: never challenge a former five star general who led America to Victory in Europe, then gets elected President of the United States.

And don’t bring a book of matches to a flame thrower dual.

Eisenhower did what Comey did in standing up for the little guys.

What does a former Army Pfc make of an EOB by James Comey?

Thank you for doing the work, Mr. Comey.

To the rest of the world: Tanks didn’t roll, bombers didn’t fly, soldiers didn’t break ranks.