It Was Always Going to End This Way

During an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr said that ...

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During an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, Attorney General Bill Barr said that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” In what seems to be a clever attempt to appease the president, Barr also said during the interview that he had appointed John Durham as special counsel to investigate the Russia-Trump probe in October. Will news of Durham’s appointment appease Republicans? Is there a legal defect in the Durham appointment? Sarah and the guys give us the breakdown. On today’s episode, our podcast hosts also analyze Trump’s election litigation madness, the ethics of COVID-19 vaccine prioritization, and last week’s killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Show Notes:

-Attorney General Bill Barr’s interview with the Associated Press.

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  1. WBS

    Rob Burgundy, below, thinks the Dispatch should stop talking about the election results after the POTUS went on 46-minute diatribe that would make Alex Jones blush? Yeah. Nah.

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  2. Bill Brewbaker

    Maybe my favorite line on any Dispatch podcast thus far. DF at about 32:30 -- "And then there are those people who say 'The Election was stolen. What was the score of the Auburn-Alabama game?'" I'm not sure how many of those people there actually are, but I suspect they are disproportionately represented here in Tuscaloosa.

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    Jason

    Good idea to incentivize vaccines either with $ and as a “passport” to different high risk work and other activities...

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    Jason

    NB-children under 18 are not approved for the vaccine since they were not represented in the study population and their immune systems are somewhat different than adults and sometimes need different vaccine doses: Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC's Meet the Press that it could take months before those younger than 18 in the U.S. general public could get a coronavirus vaccine, if approved by regulators.

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    Rev Snow

    Special counsel. Aye-yi-yi.

    Roughly I am in the same place as the panel on the Durham investigation. I think the matter is worth looking into. I think there are questions that have not yet received clear public answers. I think the amount of failures and departures from standards already exposed are enough to justify further inquiry. I hope we get as much public disclosure -- including declassification -- as possible. I want Durham to continue until a solid conclusion.

    And if we look through our rosiest glasses, a special counsel appointment increasing both the level of independence and the difficulty of a top-down termination seems like a step in making that more likely.

    But doesn't that require us to ignore how special counsel investigations have actually unfolded over the last generation? Do we imagine that Durham has a strength of character and discipline greater than Ken Starr or Patrick Fitzgerald or Lawrence Walsh? These things have a demonstrated tendency to expand without limit. The Mueller probe had many critics with some justification, but in this universe it remained remarkably focused in its ambitions. Why would we expect to be lucky again? When someone proposes that the Durham probe expand its ambit to include questions about Hunter Biden laptops and on and on and on, what forces will hold that back?

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    Rev Snow

    General comment about podcasts presented by The Dispatch: they are getting longer. Bumping up against uncomfortably longer. If you have an incentive you can impose to make them shorter, please put it into effect.

    No, this is not meant as a specific attack on Steve Hayes.

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    1. StoneInstruments

      Eh, disagree. I love the hear what’s on the minds

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    2. linda

      Sir, you are a killjoy and that's all I'm going to say because we are coming up on Christmas.

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    3. Stephen Nielson

      I actually enjoy the length. Is there a reason why you want them to make them shorter? I listen to them while I work and keep thinking, man I wish they made these longer.

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      Rev Snow

      FWIW, I'm already listening at 1.7 speed (2.0 for Jonah). Still too much.

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    Angie

    Thanks, as always guys...it was interesting
    Since I have been exposed and I am high risk and not sure if I am going to get it and it be mild, or serious if I get it and it is asymptomatic ( seems unlikely, I am high risk in several categories...lol), or not get it...I am still being really cautious

    I can't afford a test, and there are no free ones available for me because I don't qualify...and they aren't crazy about doing one just because anyway..not sure what I will do once the quarantine is over..then there is the issue that some people can get it again and wondering what to do with my high-risk issue then...

    I also think I will be low on the totem pole to getting the vaccine actually, even though I am high risk...for a variety of reasons...

    Since I also can't seem to even get an interview, let alone a job, this all might be moot anyway...lol

    Either way, even when I can go out, think I will be just as cautious as I have been, until I get vaccinated...

    I don't know. things are bad here and just have to play it by ear

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    1. linda

      Angie, had a phone visit with my doc on Wednesday. If you are registered as high risk with your dr then you will go to the front of the line. I am high risk due to both age and heart failure and they told me I would be getting the vaccine as soon as it reached my state. I am a insurance member one of the the groups that was very active with the Moderna vaccine and they are compiling lists right now of first getters.

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        Angie

        Thanks...I am hoping so

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    Chany Ockert

    To add to the vaccine conversation. If the state make the decisions for whom receives the vaccine when it becomes widely available, I worry about Montana and our Indian reservations. The impact of the pandemic has been hidden on the reservations. I'm worried that they will be last in line... rural, poor, and without political power.

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  9. Anonymous

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    1. Stephen Nielson

      Rob, so the Dispatch has condemned the rioting many times. Election officials are getting sent nooses, people are plotting to kidnap and execute a governor. This is not NORMAL. Encouraging the fringe whether it be right or left must be called out.

      I think many of us want the crazies to be reformed. Sure make the elections more secure, I'm all for that. I mean CISA (which was created by Trump who then fired its executive) went all in on securing the elections. GA has passed many additional laws to secure the election, it even cleaned up its voter roles in 2018 which eliminated 500,000 old voters from the roles. Keep on securing the elections, but massive widespread fraud that overturned the election -- there just is no evidence of this, and the crazy folks either need to put up the evidence or go the way of McCarthyism and just die out.

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    2. Stephen Nielson

      Rob, so the Dispatch has condemned the rioting many times. Election officials are getting sent nooses, people are plotting to kidnap and execute a governor. This is not NORMAL. Encouraging the fringe whether it be right or left must be called out.

      I think many of us want the crazies to be reformed. Sure make the elections more secure, I'm all for that. I mean CISA (which was created by Trump who then fired its executive) went all in on securing the elections. GA has passed many additional laws to secure the election, it even cleaned up its voter roles in 2018 which eliminated 500,000 old voters from the roles. Keep on securing the elections, but massive widespread fraud that overturned the election -- there just is no evidence of this, and the crazy folks either need to put up the evidence or go the way of McCarthyism and just die out.

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      1. Stephen Nielson

        Not sure why the double post happened, tech glitch it looks like.

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    Kenton A. Hoover

    I like Sarah's proposal (though I've heard it from more than just her) but I have an alternative that saves money. Call mine a modest proposal.

    Vaccination involves a "passport". Doesn't really matter what it is, but access to services as things reopen require the passport.

    Vaccinate using the following criterion:

    1) Medical
    2) High-Risk Seniors in High-Risk Environments (SNF, RAFE)
    3) First Responders
    ...
    Everyone else.
    AND THEN journalists and political figures who are not in the prior categories. It aligns incentives, ensuing that those who consider themselves controllers of the public discourse are motivated to keep the heat on so that those who would otherwise be forgotten, ignored, or considered disposable become crucial to the normal lives of journalists and political figures being allowed to resume.

    Just a thought.

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    1. Stephen Nielson

      This thought process actually freaks out a lot of very conservative folks, especially those of us in technology. A widespread government tracking program where you have to show papers to get access to privileges is greatly feared by a lot of people. It is interesting though when you think about widespread demands by many of the same conservatives for voting to be permitted only if you have a valid id.

      The proposal might be a good thing, but just note it will be a uphill fight for republican conservatives.

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