Visiting Column #29 -- Lisa Page and Buck Weaver

There is probably little expectation that Lisa Page, the adulterous FBI lawyer who was a major part of the Russia collusion hoax, knows the name George "Buck" Weaver.

I'm not surprised; I'm betting that you have never heard of Buck Weaver either.  But they're rather linked, now that Mrs. Page has decided to "break her silence", the newspeak term for when someone decides to write a book or do a paid interview, whether or not they were silent before (hint: she was not).

Buck Weaver was the third baseman on the 1919 Chicago White Sox.  Yes, those White Sox, the ones who lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds after concocting a scheme to throw the Series, and engaging noted gamblers to help them.  For the record, despite what you have heard, it was the players who decided to throw the Series and brought in the gamblers, not the other way around, but I digress.

Eight White Sox players were in some way a part of the scheme, including Weaver.  Of course, their relative involvement was very different.  Swede Risberg and Chick Gandil were the ringleaders; they originally brought in Weaver, "Shoeless Joe" Jackson and Happy Felsch, and two pitchers, Lefty Williams and Eddie Cicotte, figuring that would be enough to tip the balance.  Fred McMullin, a utility infielder, overheard some of the plotting and had to be brought in.

Weaver, however, effectively pulled out right after the initial meeting.  He loved the game and didn't want to corrupt it.  He attended no further meetings, told no one about the plot, and hit .324 throughout the Series.  He received not a penny, of course, since the plotters knew he was "out" after the first meeting and didn't discuss anything with him thereafter.

Of course, the defenders of "Shoeless Joe" claim that he played on the square, too, and point to his .375 average for the Series, which sounds a bit exculpatory until you dig into the numbers and realize that he hit much better, a .500 average, in the three games that the White Sox tried to win (and indeed won) and far worse in the five games they threw (.286).  Weaver, on the other hand, hit .333 in the thrown games and .309 in the games they tried to win.  Oh yeah, "innocent" Shoeless Joe got paid, too.

So Lisa Page.

The other day, she decided to tweet out a few things and got her name in the news, with a story quoting her as saying "There's no fathomable way I've committed any crime."  In other words, outside of adultery, she's as innocent as it comes.

Well, not so fast.

Let us go back to the infamous "insurance policy" text that was sent to her by Peter Strzok.  Cleaned up a bit from the original text shorthand, it reads as follows:  “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40.”


Here is what that text says to anyone who reads it with an open mind.  Lisa Page had previously told Strzok and their boss, Andrew McCabe, in McCabe's office, that Donald Trump was not going to get elected, so there was no need to "do" anything.  Strzok then texts her to say that while he'd like to believe that, it was too "risky" that Hillary Clinton might not win, and they had to "do" something to make sure Trump didn't win, or was neutralized if he did.

That, of course, is treason.  And being treason, it was the job of an honorable FBI employee to notify the proper authority -- in this case, someone other than Andrew McCabe, who allowed that discussion in his Government office on Government time -- that there was an indication of a plot to remove the president as stated by Peter Strzok.  It was her job to do so, to notify authorities, even if she had been sleeping with the guy for goodness knows how long.


She did not do that, and there's no evidence she even considered doing so.

So Buck Weaver.

As you might know, the eight players involved played through the subsequent (1920) season until, late in September, they were all indicted on charges of defrauding the White Sox organization and the American League, and were suspended, including Weaver.  Several of the players, given putrid legal advice and victimized by a corrupt conflict of interest on the part of their lawyers, signed confessions.

Ultimately, the players were all acquitted by a White Sox-loving jury after the confessions all mysteriously disappeared from the State's records. Without evidence, there went the legal case.  It didn't matter, of course.  Everyone knew that the Series had been thrown, and newly-appointed Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned all eight from organized baseball for life, a ban that was never lifted.

Buck Weaver protested that he hadn't truly participated in the plot; however, Landis pointed out that he had been present in the first meeting, certainly knew about the plot, but did not point it out to his management or ownership, which in Landis's view was sufficient participation.  For years, Weaver tried every-which way possible to get reinstated into the game he loved, but it was all to no avail.

So Buck Weaver and Lisa Page.

Lisa Page cannot really make a statement like "There's no fathomable way I've committed any crime" and then be taken seriously. She, being a lawyer and a Federal employee, was present and participatory when another Federal employee actually made a statement, documented in a text, suggesting that he would be taking steps to neutralize a duly-elected U.S. president if he were to be elected.

She knew that to be treasonous, and yet, blinded by whatever, failed to notify any authority of that fact.  She is every bit as guilty of participation by her silence as was Buck Weaver by his.  I can't say for sure if she could be convicted in a court of law (unlike her, I'm not a lawyer), but it would surely be a trial where her acquittal would not be a slam-dunk.

She thinks there's no "fathomable way" she's committed a crime?  Well, I can fathom up a couple to consider, if she can't.

I'm more sympathetic toward Buck Weaver.

Copyright 2019 by Robert Sutton
Like what you read here?  There are over 1,000 posts from Bob at www.uberthoughtsUSA.com, and after four years of writing a new one daily, he still posts thoughts once in a while as "visiting columns", no longer the "prolific essayist" he was through 2018, but still around.  Appearance, advertising, sponsorship and interview inquiries cheerfully welcomed at bsutton@alum.mit.edu or on Twitter at @rmosutton