Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, May 24, 2023/Page 6A
Stye Aiiuancg
OPINIONS
“I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his repute for the freedom to think,
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.”
-James Russell Lowell
editorials
The Worst Political Scandal
in American History?
By Ben Shapiro
This week, Spe
cial Counsel John
Durham released a
316-page report de
tailing the origins of
Operation Crossfire
Hurricane — the
FBI’s investigation
into supposed con
nections between the
Trump campaign and
the Russian govern
ment. The report is an astounding expose
of corruption and collusion — not be
tween Trump and Russia, but between the
Hillary Clinton campaign, friendlies at the
FBI and top officials at the Obama admin
istration. As it turns out, Crossfire Hurri
cane was initiated based on sheer conjec
ture. That conjecture was trafficked by Hill
ary’s 2016 campaign. And that conjecture
served as the basis for a four-year-long
witch hunt into a bevy of allegations that
ultimately came to nothing.
The story began, Durham reports, in
late July 2016, when Australia provided in
formation to the U.S. embassy in London
surrounding conversations between Aus
tralian diplomats and low-level Trump for
eign policy adviser George Papadopoulos,
in which Papadopoulos had allegedly sug
gested that the “Trump team had received
some kind of suggestion from Russia that it
could assist” in the process of releasing in
formation about Hillary Clinton. This in
formation alone was utilized as the predi
cate for launching the full-blown Trump-
Russia investigation within three days after
receipt of the flimsy information. Top FBI
officials greenlit the investigation, includ
ing Peter Strzok, deputy assistant director
of counterintelligence and devoted Trump-
hater. The investigation, Durham notes,
was launched “before any dialogue with
Australia or the Intelligence Community,
and prior to any critical analysis of the in
formation itself.”
What could have prompted this eager
ness? The FBI, as Durham acknowledges,
was already in possession of the so-called
Steele Dossier, a compendium of lies and
innuendo created by Fusion GPS at the
behest of the Clinton campaign. The FBI
had also been approached by a second
source working with Fusion GPS in July
2016. There appears to have been a push
for an investigation prompted by the de
sires of the Clinton campaign and the per
ceived necessity of stopping Trump. The
FBI’s Assistant Legal Attache in London
knew the Papadopoulos information was
thin but told the Office of the Inspector
General that FBI management was “push
ing the matter so hard that ‘there was no
stopping the train,”’ making it his job to
“grease the skids.”
Meanwhile, in July 2016, U.S. intelli
gence agencies found out about Russian
intelligence suggesting that Hillary had ap
proved a campaign plan to gin up allega
tions of Trump-Russia collusion. On Aug.
3, CIA Director John Brennan “met with
the President, Vice President and other se
nior Administration officials, including but
not limited to the Attorney General (who
participated remotely) and the FBI Direc
tor” and briefed them on the so-called
Clinton Plan. Nobody decided to put a
hold on the Trump-Russia investigation,
despite the relevant fact that all involved
now knew of allegations that the entire situ
ation had been drummed up by the Clinton
campaign.
And so, in short, we now know that top
officials at the White House and the FBI
were aware of Hillary Clinton’s plan to dis
seminate information falsely claiming
Trump-Russia collusion; the FBI knew full
well that the intelligence it had making such
accusations was flimsy at best; they all went
ahead anyway. For the rest of the election
cycle and much of Trump’s presidency, the
Democrats, media and intelligence com
munity continued to parrot the Trump-
Russia collusion lie.
This collusion is significantly worse
than Watergate. It involves the former sec
retary of state and Democratic candidate
for president laundering false intelligence
information to the FBI; and the FBI, over
seen by the candidate’s political allies in the
Obama administration, using that informa
tion as the predicate to open a full-scale in
vestigation knowing full well that the Clinton
campaign could well be behind the allegations
in the first place.
This is patently insane. It destroys any
semblance of legitimacy in the FBI. It im
plicates former President Barack Obama,
President Joe Biden, James Clapper, John
Brennan and a bevy of other high officials
in weaponization of the government to stop
Donald Trump. The Russia hoax was much
more than a hoax, it turns out. It was a ne
farious plan, enacted at the highest levels of
government, to corrupt an election and
undermine a presidency.
Ben Shapiro, 39, is a graduate of UCLA and
Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro
Show," and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a
three-time New York Times bestselling author; his
latest book is "The Authoritarian Moment: How
The Left Weaponized America's Institutions
Against Dissent." To find out more about Ben
Shapiro and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at www.creators,
com.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM.
Graduation Advice
There they are.
The high school
class of 2023 has
been turned loose.
They've had
proms, award ban
quets, signed year
books, if they still
have those. Some
have taken a farewell
road trip.
They sweated through the graduation
ceremony with a speaker who might have
told them something they needed to hear;
probably not.
Many will say goodbye to lifelong
friends and not see them again.
They think this is the biggest event of
their lives. I hope not.
Many think their education is over
and those are probably right.
A high school diploma is a "learner's
license": The real education is about to
begin.
I wondered what I would tell a gradu
ating class if I had the chance.
Here goes!
Extend your education. Not every
body needs a college education. Public
technical colleges will teach you a skill or
craft that will serve you well. People will
always need plumbers, nurses and air con
ditioning technicians. People want to be
comfortable.
Having a skill other people need is
like a license to print money.
Learn a language. A second language
opens doors and improves your quality of
life.
Find a hobby that requires you to de
velop a skill. The time will come when
you will need satisfaction at your own
pace and might turn into a lucrative avo
cation.
Things belong to those who want
them most. The person who wins is often
not the smartest, best educated, or best
looking. The winner is usually someone
who doesn’t take "no" for an answer.
Go see a play, attend a concert, change
the buttons on your radio. Force variety
onto your life.
Take risks. Don't be afraid to try
something new. Predictable people are
boring.
Shut up and listen. You don't learn
anything while you are talking, and peo
ple will think you are fascinating if you let
them do the talking.
You only get two shots at a first im-
Please see Dear page 11A
By Joe Phillips
Dear Me
What is fueling Georgia
Power's rate increases?
If you hap
pen to be a
Georgia Power
Company cus
tomer, I have
some good
news and some
bad news. Let’s
get the bad
news out of the
way first. Your
bill is going up
$16 per month starting June 1. That’s
on top of what you are already paying
for your service. And the good news? It
is not really a rate increase. The com
pany is just passing along its fuel costs
to you for the next three years. Feel
better now?
The Georgia Public Service Com
mission, one of our state’s least known
and most impactful elective bodies,
approved the measure unanimously
last week to pass along those fuel costs
which amounts to an additional $6.6
billion for its 2.7 million customers
over the next three years. This is less
than six months after they had ap
proved a roughly $4 per month actual/
factual rate increase, which amounts to
$1.8 billion.
By the way, the PSC has approved
two additional 4.5 percent rate in
creases which will go into effect in
2024 and 2025, with the exact dollar
amount still to be decided.
It seems that the $16 per month
customers will be paying for higher
fuel costs is due to the impact of the
Russia-Ukraine war. Georgia Power
says it has already amassed fuel costs of
some $2.2 billion that customers will
need to cough up, as well as another
$4.5 billion expected fuel expenses in
the next two years.
The decision to pass along those
costs was approved after a five-minute
discussion. PSC commissioner Bubba
McDonald said approving the $16 in
crease was “very painful for all of us.”
(Probably not as painful for Bubba. He
doesn’t live in an area served by Geor
gia Power.) The commissioner went
on to say, “But it is a reality. We owe the
bill and we’ve got to pay it.” I’m con
fused. I thought Georgia Power owed
it. Why do we have to pay it?
That same question was raised by
environmentalists, manufacturing in
terests and consumer advocates who
spoke in opposition to the increase in
what amounted to a futile spitting-in-
the-wind exercise. The Public Service
Commission and staff said, “Sorry, our
hands are tied.” They claim they are
legally bound to allow Georgia Power
to collect “all reasonable fuel expenses”
from its customers. At the risk of
sounding like I fell off a turnip truck,
$6 billion doesn’t sound quite so rea
sonable to me. It sounds like a whop
ping big number. I guess the adjective
is in the eye of the beholder.
The PSC also has been overseeing
the construction of Georgia Power’s
two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle
near Augusta. When approved in 2012,
the third and fourth reactors were esti
mated to cost $ 14 billion, with the first
electricity being generated in 2016. My
By Dick Yarbrough
calendar says we are nearing June 2023
and they aren’t up and running yet.
And the $14 billion? It has ballooned
to $32 billion. How has the PSC let it
get to this point? Who is minding the
store?
I am getting eye-glaze writing
down all these numbers, and you are
probably getting eye-glaze from read
ing them, but maybe, like me, you have
heard little blowback from our intrepid
public servants under the Gold Dome
who make the laws that allow/force
the Georgia Public Service Commis
sion to lay off so much of Georgia
Power’s expenses on its customers, in
cluding the $16 increase set to go into
effect in June.
That may be because they don’t
want to bite the hand that feeds them
and, my goodness, does the company
feed them well. I am a former member
of the State Ethics Commission, which
has some fancy name now, and after
some digging around their obfuscated
website, I discovered Georgia Power
lobbyists hosted 116 meals during this
past legislative session and spent thou
sands of dollars feeding legislators,
their spouses, the committees that reg
ulate them, three of the Public Service
Commissioners and the Lt. Gov.’s of
fice. No wonder our intrepid public
servants are so quiet. Their tummies
are full.
As a regulated utility, Georgia
Power has a 10.5% guaranteed return
on equity (ROE), one of the best in the
nation, thanks to the Georgia Public
Service Commission. PSC vice chair
man Tim Echols says this unusually
high return is deserved because of
Georgia Power’s “superior service.” Re
ally? I guess we will just have to take
his word for it. Like the majority of the
members of the PSC, he doesn’t live in
Georgia Power’s service area, either.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at
dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box
725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139.
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