The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough Primary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2018
January 10, 2018
New nickname.
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sure sound like he is urging primarying feinstein and providing input and backing
♫ A little story about Sneaky Diane ♫
♫ Releasing testimony in the heartland ♫
Not one of his best. No alliteration or other catch.
Off topic but it was funny in the posted video to see Michael Wolff kinda fishing for a Trump awarded nickname and that Trump hasn’t awarded him one.
How's about "Dirty Dianne" or "Feckless and Felonious Feinstein"?
Look, Di Fi is not going to lose the Democrat primary in California--to any Republican. Now she might lose to an even worse Democrat. But in our jungle primary system here in California there will be two Democrat candidates for Senate on the general election ballot. One of them will be Dianne Feinstein. You can take that to the bank.
He sat directly across the table from her yesterday, and didn't have the guts to say something like this to her face. He talked about all of the really great people in the room.
He's like a seventh grader, attacking others on social media as though there were no adult consequences.
#President Weasel.
Feinstein used to be one of the few stand up Democrats when it came to national security. I bet the leaking is being done by staffers.
Hey, give Dianne Feinstein a break already will you? It is not like she has been involved in politics or in Washington very long, or on investigative committees much. How was she to know that releasing witness testimony to the public, in an on-going investigation is a no-no? I am sure it is just a coinkydink that this slip-up could only help Democrats. Doodoo happens, amiright?
Democrat behaves badly. Althouse writes about it, Chuck chanes the subject to an attack on Trump.
Yet Trump is the rude and crazy one.
Senile is closer to the truth. She's really lost a step.
There was a time I respected Feinstein, but listening to her over the last year on the Russia probe has changed that.
He sat directly across the table from her yesterday, and didn't have the guts to say something like this to her face. He talked about all of the really great people in the room.
He's like a seventh grader, attacking others on social media as though there were no adult consequences.
Did the leak happen before or after the meeting yesterday? My impression was he had the meeting in the middle of the afternoon, and then the leak was revealed later in the day.
Blogger Chuck said..."He sat directly across the table from her yesterday, and didn't have the guts to say something like this to her face. He talked about all of the really great people in the room."
If he had made a scene you would have condemned him for that. It's pretty easy being Chuck; no thinking required.
My only criticism: "possibly illegal way".
Call for Mr. Sessions. It's the President.
#BraveDiane.
Trump only heard what he wanted to hear from her regarding collusion. When she answered the question of collusion that Trump is referring to, she was not yet privy to the information is is privy to today.
"she was not yet privy to the information is is privy to today."
Like what?
Inga: "#BraveDiane."
Even more "courageous" than Hillary dodging sniper fire!
Feinstein's life was literally in danger.
Literally.
#SoBrave #MeTooNormandyInvasionGuys!
Comanche is right. The only challenge Sneaky Fromme Feinstein will get is from a bigger crazy. California is off its rocker.
I see it took LLR and #StrongDemDefender Chuck about 15 seconds to to shift the conversation of Feinstein leaking info.
That's how you know who the "real conservatives" are.
They are the ones deflecting for the dems 100% of the time.
"accidentally"
I see Inga has returned to mind reading mode again!
I wonder if there is a ouija board involved as well.
“Senile is closer to the truth. She's really lost a step.”
Even on one of her worst days, Diane Feinstein at 84 is sharper than Trump. During the bipartisan meeting yesterday, she posed a question to Trump about a stand alone DACA bill. Trump misunderstood her and agreed that would be a good plan, then one of the Republican participants had to cue him in as to what Feinstein was asking for, even then he still had trouble grasping it. He was in better form yesterday, but still has issues for a man of only 71.
"He was in better form yesterday"
Today's talking point: "He's crazy, but he was better yesterday."
Inga- please lay out the case that Trump and the Russians colluded.
Chuck, attacking someone during a negotiation is not a reliable persuasion technique. Any seventh grader knows that. Perhaps repeating seventh grade would be of benefit to you, except you would probably get your lunch money stolen and wind up crammed in a gym locker like you no doubt did the first time around. If you do, please send photos.
Feinstein is the most "machine" of the machine politicians.
She is the San Francisco establishment in person, the old money, not the silly party.
She is most directly connected to government-assisted regulatory capture system through her husband.
btw- why is it OK for the Clinton crime machine to dig into Trump, but it's somehow illegal for the Trump campaign to dig into Clinton?
Is that like how it's illegal for Scott Walker to win in Wisconsin?
“Today's talking point: "He's crazy, but he was better yesterday."
An observation, not a talking point. Today’s talking point for rightists, “Diane Feinstein is senile,”
As I said, she was far sharper than Trump in that meeting
"Inga- please lay out the case that Trump and the Russians colluded."
Yeah, I still want to know what information Feinstein "is privy to" today.
Inga said...
“Senile is closer to the truth. She's really lost a step.”
Even on one of her worst days, Diane Feinstein at 84 is sharper than Trump.
1/10/18, 11:24 AM
Exactly right! She is a fricken GENIUS! The only reason she is not President is the patriarchy!
“Inga- please lay out the case that Trump and the Russians colluded.”
Sorry I’m not employed by the Special Prosecutor Mueller. We’ll all have to wait to see if there is fire behind all the smoke. Patience my dear.
OT:
Iran's Supreme Leader is a Democrat.
Goodness knows what a Mueller level investigation of CA would turn up.
A great deal of it very ancient.
Mueller himself, btw, got his start in the SF/NorCal machine, the old "downtown interests" of San Francisco.
Inga: "An observation, not a talking point."
LOL
Yeah. Lefty talking points aren't talking points, they are simply "objective" observations! And conservative speech is violence and lefty violence is just speech. And we can change our biology just by wishing it were so.
Fantastic.
So what "is" a talking point?
Well, I guess it depends on what the meaning of "is", is.
"We’ll all have to wait to see if there is fire behind all the smoke."
If, Inga? IF?
“She is a fricken GENIUS!”
And a stable one at that!
Inga: "...all the smoke."
LOL
Lefties take time out from 24/7 accusing Trump of treason and collusion being a traitor and calling every member of his family a criminal to lecture us on patience and to wait for the end of the "investigation".
LOL
I wonder how many wounded #BraveDiane had to lug out of the conference room under fire?
Regardless of the number, she should be awarded a medal of Honor.
Because of the bravery.....and danger.
Mr. D said...
He sat directly across the table from her yesterday, and didn't have the guts to say something like this to her face. He talked about all of the really great people in the room."
I know, Chuck. It just stuns me that a politician would be cordial and polite to another politician when they are face to face and then attack her later on. The Democrats never do anything like that.
Too bad nobody smokes anymore. Trump could have thrown an ashtray at her. Why didn't he swear and scream at her about a topic they were not there to discuss? You would have approved of that, I'm sure.
A lot of the Republican Party candidates would have loved to have been called "sneaky".
The smoke that was manufactured by Clinton, Inc and the FBI?
Someone nailed it this morning (I apologize I can't credit who): The Democrats attempted to play the Republicans and they ended up getting played themselves by the Russians.
Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
Inga- please lay out the case that Trump and the Russians colluded.
1/10/18, 11:26 AM
She really, really, really wants it to be so, so it must be.
I'm so sick of Senator-for-life.
Inga supports anything done to remove Trump from office, no matter how high it goes or how illegal. Or how much it damages the foundations if the US.
Spying without a warrant and using the official tools of the USG on a presidential candidate/president-elect is bad.
Heads don’t need to roll, they need to be put on spikes at the entrances to DC and their entrails sent to all 50 states.
Nixon was an amateur. He now gets a pass.
The Clinton foundation got 150 million, from Russian interests, veselberg, renaissance capital, a passel of oligarchs.
Wasn't Devin Nunes removed from his chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, for some period of time, for somehow leaking confidential information to the press and to the Whitehouse? Shouldn't DiFi be removed from her committee position until a full ethics committee investigation into her actions? Inga, I am most interested in your opinion.
exiled: "I know, Chuck. It just stuns me that a politician would be cordial and polite to another politician when they are face to face and then attack her later on. The Democrats never do anything like that."
Trump is on topic and polite and respectful".
"Accidental Leftist" Chuck hardest hit.
Why would an ongoing investigation be brought up during a televised meeting on immigration?
What Seeing Red said at 11:46.
I am actually kinda glad democrats/uniparty flunkies like Inga and Chuck are so clueless and stupid. The dems are going to get wiped out in 2018 and much of their leadership is going to be indicted/jailed.
The only way we are going to get an opposition party on the left that actually cares about their constituents is burning the democrat party to the ground and starting it over new. As of now it consists of idiots too stupid to understand just how corrupt their party is.
Unclebiffy: "Wasn't Devin Nunes removed from his chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, for some period of time, for somehow leaking confidential information to the press and to the Whitehouse?"
No. He voluntarily relinquished temporarily the chairmanship of the committee for just the Russia investigation after the dems launched a fake complaint based on nothing to the Ethics committee.
The Ethics committee recently completed their mandatory look into Nunes daring to look at classified info in a SCIF that he was fully empowered to see and then said there were no issues.
Duh.
Nunes is back to full control of the committee.
LLR Chuck hardest hit. Again.
Let's stop talking about how stupid Chuck and Inga are. It is repetitive and boring, not to mention off-topic.
The real issue here is that DiFi released information that pollutes further testimony to the investigators. This is obstruction of justice, although I very much doubt DiFi can be charged.
Here is one of the key points of the Simpson testimony:
Q. At a news briefing on August 1, 2017 White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described Fusion GPS as a democratic linked firm. Is that an accurate description?…
A. I would not agree with that description.
I’ll add one more thing to the response to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which is her assertion that we are a Democrat linked opposition research firm. I think I addressed this earlier, but to be clear, we don’t have a business of — we’re not an appendage to the Democratic party.
This is basically an outright lie by Simpson because the context of the entire hearing was the dossier, which we now know was bought and paid for by the DNC and Clinton. Are we to believe that Simpson didn't know who his real client was? Simpson is going to have to testify again, or take the 5th amendment outright. If I were Grassley and Nunes, I would issue the subpoena today.
jaydub said...
Chuck, attacking someone during a negotiation is not a reliable persuasion technique. Any seventh grader knows that. Perhaps repeating seventh grade would be of benefit to you, except you would probably get your lunch money stolen and wind up crammed in a gym locker like you no doubt did the first time around. If you do, please send photos.
Oh, so the immigration "negotiation" is over? Of course it isn't. It's got a long way to go. Probably a lot farther now, than before. The Dems will be able to use what was said yesterday. Trump will leave it up to Republicans, and Dems will use Trump's inane comments to bludgeon those Republicans.
As for your insulting personal attack on me, again I say to Althouse; it is disgusting, the way that you have abdicated the moderation of personal attacks on your comments pages. It is your shame, Althouse. You have invited this, by failing to act when you were told about it, and by further withdrawing when I confronted you and Meade with your own previous commenting rules ("instructions," Meade called them) and then withdrawing them as your final act of futility on comment-moderation.
I am not going to reply, as I have done on some infrequent occasions in the past, with the sort of profanity that jaydub has earned. Rather, I am saying this to other intelligent readers of the Althouse blog. What a nasty Trumpist mosh-pit these pages have become.
In addition, fusion worked for planned parenthood in the daleiden matter as well as biotech scanner theranos
Seeing Red said...
Spying without a warrant and using the official tools of the USG on a presidential candidate/president-elect is bad.
Heads don’t need to roll, they need to be put on spikes at the entrances to DC and their entrails sent to all 50 states.
I don't think the peons on the left understand the gravity of the situation. But they really aren't very good at math. They think 1 million government agents is more than 40 million somehow.
On the other hand it looks like Trump is going to win this thing peacefully. I didn't think it was possible. I thought he would be impeached by now.
Blogger jaydub said...Chuck, attacking someone during a negotiation is not a reliable persuasion technique. Any seventh grader knows that. Perhaps repeating seventh grade would be of benefit to you, except you would probably get your lunch money stolen and wind up crammed in a gym locker like you no doubt did the first time around. If you do, please send photos.
And the snuggy they would give him would make his underpants capable of stretching over his head and being used like a hoodie.
Francisco: "The real issue here is that DiFi released information that pollutes further testimony to the investigators."
We know. But you just summed it up. There really isn't anything more to say about it.
Very straightforward.
As a dem concerned about future witnesses all getting their lies on the same page, DiFi had to leak it publicly. It would be too risky to have her staffers leak it selectively to the upcoming witnesses specifically.
This won't be the last "general" leak of critical information from key witnesses by dems to make sure that all future witnesses know exactly what is happening behind closed doors. It will, in fact, become SOP for the dems.
Expect each witness in turn to have all their testimony immediately leaked by the dems to facilitate coordination.
Drago, thanks for the clarification, but it was the Dems and the MSM demanding this from Nunes wasn't it? I might understand why the Dems might not want to apply the same standard to themselves as they do to others but shouldn't the MSM want to see the same standards applied to all parties...you know, since they claim to be nonpartisan.
It sure would be nice if Republicans would point out this contradiction every time they appeared on television today.
Francisco D said...
The real issue here is that DiFi released information that pollutes further testimony to the investigators. This is obstruction of justice, although I very much doubt DiFi can be charged.
It is classic obstruction of justice. Very close to the definition of. And I believe she released classified information as well.
She should be in jail.
As I forget who pointed out, the real money, in the old days, pre-derivatives and hedge funds, was in real estate.
The SF downtown machine was heavily into making hay out of the good old buy cheap from uninfluential people, fix City Hall (or the State Capitol) to get building permits or whatever it was that was required, make billions. I.e., NYC type stuff. Pillsbury Madison & Sutro was the white-shoe firm that was the consigliere of choice for them. The old-line real estate outfits included Sutro and Co., another ancient SF establishment firm, where Feinsteins husband Dick Blum got his start. Mueller got HIS start at Pillsbury Madison and Sutro.
Connections, connections. There are much bigger and older machines than the Clinton one.
that tweet will help her with her base. any primary she gets in California will be from the left.
I don't know what "Accidental Leftist" Chuck is complaining about.
He receives non-stop, around the clock praise, support and encouragement from all the lunatic lefties on this blog site.
For some inexplicable reason.
Cut back on the agitate, chuck, its not good for your health.
Yes Simpson had the transcript sealed, because it didnt put him in a good light.
This contratempt resembles the one between nosenko and golisyn, but the stakes were less serious.
She's 84 so Feinstein the Fossil would be a good nickname.
Francisco D. wrote:
"The real issue here is that DiFi released information that pollutes further testimony to the investigators."
Feinstein may have had that motive, but on reading Simpson's full testimony, it really can't help future witnesses to shape their testimony- Simpson never answered the key questions or answered them with what are basically lies or lies of omission. The best that future witnesses can do is avoid outright lies- they can't really support Simpson because he offered them nothing on which to hang future lies.
Notice the part about the "mole" in the Trump camp he claimed Steele described- does anyone with an IQ above 90 not realize that this was an outright lie because they, GPSFusion, have already walked that back today by claiming it was Papadopoulos, or more accurately, the Australian diplomat that has been in the news just the last couple of weeks. Simpson's lies are basically unfixable at this point.
Unclebiffy: "Drago, thanks for the clarification, but it was the Dems and the MSM demanding this from Nunes wasn't it?"
Yes, and Nunes wisely (in a political sense) gave up committee control FOR JUST THAT ISSUE while he continued to labor on the much more important (as we see now) investigation into the lefty wiretapping/surveillance of the Trump campaign, Trump family members, Trump associates, and everyone else Hillary wanted watched.
And that is the effort that has a paper trail and leads to all the important questions. The Trump / Russia thing is nothing and will be exposed as such.
Once it is, the dems will simply say, well, we had to check it out, right?
But the surveillance issues.....those are much larger and important.
Again, LLR and #CNNStrongDefender Chuck hardest hit.
This is info needed by the crooks so they can get their story straight.
@Chuck What a nasty Trumpist mosh-pit these pages have become."
Irony much?
Chuck said...
I am not going to reply, as I have done on some infrequent occasions in the past, with the sort of profanity that jaydub has earned. Rather, I am saying this to other intelligent readers of the Althouse blog. What a nasty Trumpist mosh-pit these pages have become.
Classic lack of self awareness.
Stop pretending you are not being a nasty condescending jerk on a fairly regular basis just like you were in this post. You earn everything you get and you return it with interest. If you were actually here in good faith people might treat you with more respect.
Chuck at 11:55:
"Oh, so the immigration "negotiation" is over? Of course it isn't. It's got a long way to go. Probably a lot farther now, than before. The Dems will be able to use what was said yesterday. Trump will leave it up to Republicans, and Dems will use Trump's inane comments to bludgeon those Republicans."
Have you considered that since DiFi released the confidential testimony that it was perhaps her fault that these negotiations might fail. I mean the president was reacting to her unethical and possibly illegal action that started this whole kerfuffle, amiright?
Except that -- as Trump very well knows -- Feinstein is facing a tough primary challenge by a leading Hispanic Democrat who is flanking her to her left in a state which has veered very far to the left. Trump is pointing out what "everybody in DC knows" to a wider audience.
But they were stalling for time, at that point, this wee before we knew judge contreras role in the fisa court.
Nisenko was a kgb defector who said the soviet's had washed their hands of oswald, he had numerous flags in his CV. golisyn said otherwise
"Yes Simpson had the transcript sealed, because it didnt put him in a good light."
I am puzzled by his change in position (and Feinstein facilitating him). @Tim at large did us a service last night by reading it. There appears to be little in it helpful to The Resistance. I understand the point that it allows others to coordinate their testimony but on what, specifically, eludes me.
Brought up elsewhere -
Has anyone actually seen, or even requested the text, of the FISA court order?
I wonder if it exists.
Sneaky, like a mule nibbling sugar cubes in your pocket, sneaky.
She's 84
She's old. I'm not. Assuming that evolution respects my fitness function, I will be old, eventually.
Unclebiffy: "I mean the president was reacting to her unethical and possibly illegal action that started this whole kerfuffle, amiright?"
Uh oh.
Now you've done it.
You've mentioned something untoward about a dem.
LLR Chuck hates that...with a white hot passion.
By even mentioning it where LLR Chuck might come across it you have demonstrated courage....not DiFi-level Medal of Honor bravery, naturally, but still.
"Has anyone actually seen, or even requested the text, of the FISA court order? I wonder if it exists."
Isn't that supposed to be included in the documents just handed over to Nunes?
Sundance today was expressing doubt that it even exists.
Original Mike asked:
"I am puzzled by his change in position (and Feinstein facilitating him)."
What has changed is that we know who was funding Simpson's work, and Congress now has the bank records. Simpson may well be hoping that the release allows future witnesses to support his testimony, but as I wrote above this won't work since Simpson's lies and lies of omission can't be supported any longer without telling even bigger lies- I don't think any witness is going to do that- at best for Simpson is this- future witnesses take the 5th, as Simpson will do when he is called before Congress again.
To everyone, if you want to know why Simpson wanted this testimony sealed in August- just read it and remember to forget who funded it. Then remember that we know the DNC was funding it and that Simpson had hired Nellie Ohr, who he "forgot" worked for him. Releasing the testimony is a Hail Mary attempt to save Simpson from charges of lying to Congress by enlisting support. It won't and can't work, though.
OM: " I understand the point that it allows others to coordinate their testimony but on what, specifically, eludes me."
It tells them to double/triple down on the idea that pappydappywappydopolus was a credible "insider" source whose random off the cuff comment to some Aussie at a reception was THE reason for the FISA warrant (...okay, stop laughing, they are already arguing that!)
I couldn't help but notice that, gee whiz, there is certainly alot of controversy surrounding the BS FISA warrant Hillary's pals at the FBI slapped together but you don't see #SuperDuperFightBehindEnemyLines DiFi that interested in even seeing, much less leaking that.
FISA court order? I wonder if it exists
There is no tape trail. They have bit bleached the e-mail trail. Why would there be a court order trail? Perhaps some circumstantial crumbs, maybe a muffin top, but where's the loaf?
That said, there is precedent for emanations from the penumbra ("twilight fringe"), which are untraceable and unreproducible outside of some peculiar minds.
OM: "Sundance today was expressing doubt that it even exists."
That would be astonishing, because that would mean the lefties in the FBI/NSA etc proceeded as if they did have one when they did not.
I can't believe they didn't create the lies necessary to at least generate appropriate paperwork.
Is Sundance suggesting after the first FISA warrant request was rejected that the dems simply went ahead with spying on a domestic political opponent anyway?
Nunes is supposed to now have the application for the warrant and the court's authorizations, according to Nunes. I think the applications and the warrant do exist- if they didn't it wouldn't have been dragged out this long. It was dragged out because the dossier was they only thing underlying all of it.
"Releasing the testimony is a Hail Mary attempt to save Simpson from charges of lying to Congress by enlisting support."
-- If I thought Democrats or their agents and allies suffered consequences for breaking the law, this would make sense. I think she leaked it because she *believes* him. She honestly thinks Trump is a Russian double agent.
Do we know when Fusion hired Nellie Ohr?
OT: Druge has a item from the NY Post's Page Six.
Huma Abedin has withdrawn her divorce petition. Perhaps to maintain spousal communications privilege or confidences privilege?
"Is Sundance suggesting after the first FISA warrant request was rejected that the dems simply went ahead with spying on a domestic political opponent anyway?"
I believe so, yes.
Who knows how that went down, but its interesting that given whats already been released (the dossier, presumably the grounds for the warrant) that information still isn't.
"She honestly thinks Trump is a Russian double agent."
At that level I don't think anyone "honestly" believes anything.
Truth, as truth, is irrelevant. There is a purpose behind every act, but it has nothing, ever, to do with "truth".
"Is Sundance suggesting after the first FISA warrant request was rejected that the dems simply went ahead with spying on a domestic political opponent anyway?"
I'm not sure, I only read the first couple paragraphs. His stuff does get tedious.
"Huma Abedin has withdrawn her divorce petition. Perhaps to maintain spousal communications privilege or confidences privilege?"
I kinda feel sorry for her. Live with Weiner or go to jail.
Yancey Ward said...
Nunes is supposed to now have the application for the warrant and the court's authorizations, according to Nunes. I think the applications and the warrant do exist- if they didn't it wouldn't have been dragged out this long. It was dragged out because the dossier was they only thing underlying all of it.
I think you are right.
There are too many lifers in the FBI/NSA bureaucracy that are still tied to the notion that we are a nation of laws and procedure. They had to at least pretend to follow the law no matter how flimsy the excuse.
For their sake I hope so at least. I wonder what percentage of the population even understand now just how treasonous Obama was.
Let’s not be singing Diane Feinstein‘s praises. she’s the one who put out information on the zodiac killer that the police were trying to keep secret in order to catch him. how many people’s death did she cause?
OM: "I'm not sure, I only read the first couple paragraphs. His stuff does get tedious."
That would be kind of a "big f'n deal" (thanks Slow Joe!) so you'd think if he/she thought it that news would not buried in tedious detail.
Don't bury the lede! Assuming that is the lede.
We won't know for sure if it is until LLR Chuck begins to defend it. Then you will know it's true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt6VF94h1F0
This is best looked at as a game of virtual chess, where the pieces and board, and even the players, are not flesh-and-blood. Everyone involved wants to make voters believe that there is some reality, actual this-universe-physical-matter here.
But there isn't. Its all process this and process that, fury in a virtual world.
sdharms: "how many people’s death did she cause?"
All US citizens, so they don't count.
But if the zodiac killer had whacked an illegal alien, well, then she would be a lot more careful.
"There are too many lifers in the FBI/NSA bureaucracy that are still tied to the notion that we are a nation of laws and procedure."
Are there? Procedure, maybe. Laws?
Let’s not be singing Diane Feinstein‘s praises.
Yes, let's not. She has held a concealed weapons permit (and for good reason) but does not want ordinary citizens to be able to defend themselves.
"Let’s not be singing Diane Feinstein‘s praises. she’s the one who put out information on the zodiac killer that the police were trying to keep secret in order to catch him. how many people’s death did she cause?"
Re the Zodiac killer, and much else, "Season of the Witch", David Talbot
In many ways, this traces the birth of modern US politics. Required reading.
"But if the zodiac killer had whacked an illegal alien, well, then she would be a lot more careful."
Not an issue at the time. But other things were.
Even on one of her worst days, Diane Feinstein at 84 is sharper than Trump.
I'm starting to believe that even on his ordinary days Trump is more than a match for anyone in Washington.
Here's whar he said.. Given how closely he follows this, it's worth noting.
"IMPORTANT – We are no longer taking it for granted a FISA warrant was ever given to the DOJ because NO-ONE can prove a FISA warrant exists. Heck, no-one can even point to anything that directly claims a FISA warrant was even requested. There are inferences, suspicions, media reports based on anonymous leaks, but no direct or reasonable evidence beyond innuendo. We are eighteen months past the reported origination dates, and there’s not a single official who will state a 2016 FISA warrant was applied for or granted. Therefore we must begin to question that basic assumption."
Where did the idea that there was a warant start? Wasn't it the NYT? I don't remember.
buwaya said...
"There are too many lifers in the FBI/NSA bureaucracy that are still tied to the notion that we are a nation of laws and procedure."
Are there? Procedure, maybe. Laws?
They still believe in the power law even if they don't believe it should be evenly applied and even if they think their own agenda supersedes the law.
They still believe it is a useful tool.
Huma is paying the devils price for her soul. She bargained it away for power and influence for her and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Now she has to pay the piper: living with Hillary and married to Weiner, a Jew... and she cannot escape. I'd feel bad for her, but she made her bed and chose to lie in it and now that she's got the fleas, she can enjoy herself immensely.
--Vance
"I'm starting to believe that even on his ordinary days Trump is more than a match for anyone in Washington."
Right, going into the negotiation by saying that he has no demands, and he'll go w/ whatever the others want, sure takes some serious skilz.
Oh, and why don't y'all toss in some pork spending. No prob. DJT will sign whatever you want.
(eaglebeak)
The reason it was sneaky of Feinstein to release the full transcripts is that the committee is STILL HEARING WITNESSES, and it is a basic NO-NO to let witnesses hear what other witnesses have said.
That sort of thing enables witnesses to conform their testimony, or use their knowledge of others' testimony to refute those others, etc.
That's why you go one witness at a time in a grand jury, and one witness at a time in a court.
Don't know what Feinstein's mental state is, but this was outrageous and quite vicious.
DJT is draining the swamp w/ his negotiation deal art skill.
Got it.
"It is your shame, Althouse. You have invited this, by failing to act when you were told about it, and by further withdrawing when I confronted you and Meade with your own previous commenting rules ("instructions," Meade called them) and then withdrawing them as your final act of futility on comment-moderation."
You are possibly the biggest vagina in the universe, Cuck.
I like "Squeaky Finestein" better. Reminds me of Squeaky Fromm. San Francisco is the black hole of the USA. How far have you fallen SFO?
anti-de Sitter space said...
"I'm starting to believe that even on his ordinary days Trump is more than a match for anyone in Washington."
Right, going into the negotiation by saying that he has no demands, and he'll go w/ whatever the others want, sure takes some serious skilz.
I used to think you were intelligent in many of your posts though somewhat dishonest with yourself.
Posts like this make me think you are just not very bright. Your posits below this post are just more vapid snark.
Do you honestly not see what Trump did with that meeting?
"Sneaky D" for short.
"Right, going into the negotiation by saying that he has no demands, and he'll go w/ whatever the others want, sure takes some serious skilz."
A very good opening. Forces the other side (if they are chumps) to make the first offer. And then the "rube" starts whatabouting. Sincerely, and entirely above-board, of course, of course, and not making demands.
Drago asked:
"Is Sundance suggesting after the first FISA warrant request was rejected that the dems simply went ahead with spying on a domestic political opponent anyway?"
They were spying without a specific warrant. People within the Obama Administration were using unmasking requests and "about queries" to the NSA to get electronic communication data for US based citizens not covered by a specifically tailored FISA or other warrant. This was uncovered by Mike Rogers who stopped the NSA from answering such queries because it was being done illegally. Rogers put an end to this in October of 2016.
Remember- the NSA collects a vast amount of data that is supposed to be protected when it covers US citizens who live in the US. There are explicit guidelines for how this data is supposed to be studied that fulfills the obligations under the 4th and 5th amendments. In other words, if you want to look at it, you are supposed to get a valid court order that satisfies probable cause. What Rogers found is that the people masked in intelligence reports from unrelated FISA warrants (in this case, probably Paul Manafort) were being unmasked en masse by people in the Obama Administration, and when these people were unmasked, many of the same people were then sending "about queries" to the NSA whose agents were apparently just acquiescing to the requests without the proper warrants covering these people.
It would work like this- Person A, a US citizen, is found talking to Person B who is covered by a FISA warrant, but in the intelligence report, Person A's identity is masked- this is how the law is written. However, to better understand the report, an authorized reader can request that Person A's identity be unmasked. Once this identity is known, the reader, perhaps an FBI/DoJ investigator could then fashion a real-life warrant application and get it approved, and then send an "about query" to the NSA to get the contents of Person A's electronic communications. This would all obey the law to protects a citizen's constitutional rights. However, it appears that Rogers was finding that there were no warrants authorizing the "about queries" that the NSA was responding to, and he stopped the practice altogether in October 2016 and informed the FISC that he was doing so.
Chuck at 11:55 AM
I say to Althouse; it is disgusting, the way that you have abdicated the moderation of personal attacks on your comments pages
I too desire more moderation of personal attacks.
"How far have you fallen SFO?"
SFO is the airport.
SF has always had an insiders club, like any big city. Its always been a bit of an imperial capital, the HQ of the productivity of its region, and like Versailles, the place where money was spent, but not, ultimately, where it came from. The interests that owned the city, as in most cities, are those that are the second-order of money-makers, those who make it out of the wealth that's already there, that is money itself, the law, limited real-estate, etc.
I think it quite likely that the October FISA warrant, if it does exist, was a last ditch effort to make legal, post hoc, everything the FBI's national security division had been doing up to that point. It may well be that the motivation for that last minute application was Roger's stopping of the "about queries" until a legal means of monitoring the activity could be put in place.
One of the most tantalizing pieces of evidence was Rogers' apparently unapproved visit to Trump Tower and the president-elect a couple of weeks after the election, after which people in the Obama Administration asked for Rogers to be fired. Was it just a coincidence that Trump moved the entire transition team to New Jersey the day after that meeting?
The other thing you have to remember about this story is Nunes' statement about the unmasking/about queries he finally got to see after Coats finally took his position as ODNI. He explicitly stated that none of it arose from the Russian/Trump Campaign investigation. This supports the theory that the FBI was using unrelated FISA warrants to bootstrap surveillance of the Trump Campaign officials by abusing the NSA.
It the above theory is true, this is a major scandal. Sundance is at least correct about the impact if it is true, and most of the evidence does support it being true.
The REAL man-made San Francisco, that is the architecture and etc. that is so admired (well, a lot of it anyway) is the work of people who no longer exist. SF is in a way an archaeological site, like Rome or Petra. Those beaux-arts, Victorian, art-noveau wonders, even the "social realism", have nothing to do with who owns them now.
These people, the designers, contractors, planners, owners, craftsmen - that built the city are long gone, as are their descendants. There are very few "native-born" in the city, and even fewer actual descendants of its builders. My wife is a "native", but even her parents were newcomers in their day.
There is an almost complete disconnect, culturally, between the petit-bourgeois Catholic city of the 1880's-1950's, the creators of its architecture, and the present. The people who own property here would have hated, with a near-rabid passion, the men who built their homes.
At the end of this, I think Trump's March tweet about being electronically monitored are going to be proven as essentially true.
Chuck @ 11:55
Why? Are you special?
Grow a pair and grow up.
Oh, let's call it what it is, ass-covering.
Deflection
Lying
Typical prog shenanigans.
"Do you honestly not see what Trump did with that meeting?"
I see him verbalizing what we've all already seen him do w/ all other legislation that he's signed. I.e., let Congress figure it out, and then he'll sign whatever it is that they come up w/.
Presumably yur suggesting that you don't live in the real world. IOW, you've convinced yourself that the so-called swamp/GOPe isn't writing all legislation sans DJT direction. You think that DJT is laying out the legislative policy, and then he's whipping Congress Critters into line.
Got it.
@Buwaya,
All of your observations re SF are spot-on. I would add only 3 things:
1. Geographically, SF is a stunning city. The hills, the water, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, North Beach - it's close to a European capital.
2. When I was single 25 years ago, the general rule was that you lived and worked in SF, but when you found the right girl, you moved to the suburbs (either north to Marin or east to Berkeley or even Walnut Creek) to get married, buy a house, raise the kids.
3. The housing/rental market in SF are so remarkably high, that much of the guts of colorful leftist movements have been priced out of the market. They can't afford to live there!
"One of the most tantalizing pieces of evidence was Rogers' apparently unapproved visit to Trump Tower and the president-elect a couple of weeks after the election, after which people in the Obama Administration asked for Rogers to be fired. Was it just a coincidence that Trump moved the entire transition team to New Jersey the day after that meeting?"
This hangs together like nothing else in this scandal. FBI spies (yes, "wiretaps") Trump. Rodgers discovers this and informs Trump. Trump moves operations the very next day. Obama administration tries to fire Rogers. Whether or not there was a warrant is kind of a detail.
However, let me make 1 thing crystal clear.
My stance is not partisan politics. I'd say the same if it was reversed.
This is when politics is put aside. This goes to our foundations.
This is just another facet of what happened to Walker and the AG holding "investigations."
using the FBI, the IRS, because you have delusions of grandeur it is your right to rule, or you are a true believer or useful idiot or everyone is stupid sets a very dangerous path, one the world has been down many times just in the 20th century alone.
We know how those turned out.
China is following that path still.
Some overlapping questions for those who understand these things:
1. Does a senator need a security clearance to serve on a committee dealing with Top Secret information? If so, can DOJ / FBI / NSA - whoever's in charge of clearances - pull DF's clearance and thereby force her off this committee, and any other committee dealing with confidential information?
2. If not - if serving on the committee gives you some kind of automatic clearance to see Top Secret information, could DOJ refuse to provide any further TS information to any committee of which she is a member?
3. I've read (I don't know where) that committee members take an oath to keep things confidential. Would that affect the answer to #2?
4. Surely there's some way to keep someone who has so grossly violated basic information security from doing it again?
For those who have forgotten Nunes' press conference in March:
Link.
There really is only one way to "incidentally collect" intelligence on the Trump Transition personnel- it is by requesting unmasking and then submitting about queries on the now identified person. If the story about the October FISA warrant is correct, and that a server in Trump Tower was the target of that warrant, then it was probably possible to eventually collect data on anyone working in the Tower afterwards, though you might have to string together several chains of one on one conversations to get to someone covered explicitly by the warrant.
Mike Sylwester said...
I too desire more moderation of personal attacks.
1/10/18, 12:57 PM
#metoo
(or is that not a "thing" anymore?)
@Weevil - members of Congress have lost their security clearances, or the like. I think that it was Dem Sen Jay Rockefeller who was stripped of his chairmanship (and, I believe, membership in the Gang of 8) for leaking classified information, or some such.
Let’s test Buckley’s “phone book maxim” via a third and maybe fourth Senator per state that are called up via a lottery like jury duty. You can’t opt out but could delay service once if called, and each Citizen Senator would serve one three-year term. Like Jury Duty your employer would have to allow you leave (same salary as all senators) and keep your job afterward. This would also allow exceptional citizen-senators to build a record on which they could run if they wish. To paraphrase Buckley, I would trust these common congressmen more than the egomaniacs who generally run and win.
(Cross posted because it fits this thread well.)
What would really help transparency would be release, unredacted, all FISA applications in which Trump personnel were involved. If they exist, I would like to see the June 2016 application that was denied and the one, apparently, narrowly crafted one of October 2016. The differences between the two could probably reveal everything you need to know. I now strongly suspect the second one was an attempt to make legal everything that had been going on in the preceding 4 months.
While Podesta and Fawn Hall smuggled things out, the Clinton Impeachment files weren't. You were allowed in the room to read them, nothing more.
If this is the game going forward, release them.
Trump only heard what he wanted to hear from her regarding collusion. - Princess Sky Screamer
You know, it's really too bad Santa didn't bring you some self-awareness for Christmas.
buwaya
The insider club in SF is evaporating under the weight of the tech crowd. Sure, there are the Wilsey and Trainia bunch, the opera crowd, the remaining Swigs but the truth lies in the fact that the Pacific Union Club is actually looking for members. Doubt that is so at the Bohemian but it would be worth checking out.
Fun SF fact: There was (is?) a no talking rule at the Pacific Union club at breakfast. Good policy.
In March, Clapper said, on TV--not under oath (as if that matters to him)--that there was "no FISA Order." What does it mean?
It would seem, based on what the Internet says--and you can't put lies on the Internet--that all the wiretapping was illegal.
But, if that's so, why would Flynn plead to a false statement that could only be proven false by the transcript of a wiretap. He would have had a full defense.
Did the British listen in and tell Obama or the FBI? One has to assume the answer is sordid.
Anyway, Diane, for whom I blame Harvey Milk, handed all the potential defendants the template laid down by the chief co-conspirator. Seems like obstruction of justice.
Chuck's like a seventh grader, attacking others on social media as though there were no adult consequences.
FIFY Chuck.
Blogger BJM said...
Huma Abedin has withdrawn her divorce petition.
--
But.."divorce pants"!
You guys are not thinking clearly about these leaks. Sure, it allows other people to coordinate testimony. But that could be accomplished by any number of methods.
These leaks prove to people that Glenn Simpson is still on the Clinton Team.
Ask yourself: Why might it be important for Glenn Simpson to prove he was still on Team Clinton?
Chuck,
What do you think of Fenstein's actions?
President-Mom-Jeans said...
"It is your shame, Althouse. You have invited this, by failing to act when you were told about it, and by further withdrawing when I confronted you and Meade with your own previous commenting rules ("instructions," Meade called them) and then withdrawing them as your final act of futility on comment-moderation."
You are possibly the biggest vagina in the universe, Cuck.
LOL. Perfect
It’s not a “nickname” it’s taxonomy.
walter,
Huma needs spousal privilege.
Meade with your own previous commenting rules (“instructions," Meade called them)
They are more like “guidelines.” Most people with normal human emotional response can handle the vagaries.
Did the British listen in and tell Obama or the FBI? One has to assume the answer is sordid.
The Brits have zero rules protecting privacy, or at least they give privacy very very extremely little weight versus the needs of the state.
The United Kingdom recently passed legislation providing the government with sweeping new surveillance powers on Internet activity, unprecedented in any Western democracy.
The Investigatory Powers Bill will authorize the UK government’s mass surveillance program of online activity. This will mandate a record be kept for one year of every citizen’s Web activity, including phone metadata. All Internet service providers will be required to keep Internet connection records for their customers, and will be paid to do so by the government. Then, law enforcement will be able to request this information at will, without any judicial oversight whatsoever.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/uk-becomes-surveillance-state-passes-new-spying-law-on-all-citizen-web-activity
Folks, as those of you who have read the transcripts know, the matters discussed by the Fusion GPS person and the senators aren't classified. As Sen. Grassley's counsel made clear, if a classified meeting was necessary, it would have been arranged.
U.S. Senators have various levels of security clearances; Sen. Feinstein, for example, sits on the Senate select committee on intelligence, so it's reasonable to presume that she has a fairly high security clearance.
Congress, as some of you know, represents the people of the United States. Sen. Feinstein didn't violate basic information security, she didn't divulge classified material, but she acted because she is concerned that information Americans might find relevant to the Russia investigation was being withheld from scrutiny by her fellow citizens for political reasons.
This is what's at stake here: there has been and remains significant concern from US law enforcement and intelligence personnel that the sitting President, while a candidate, was the victim of a blackmail scheme that has resulted in his being something ranging from the dupe, to the stooge, to the witting agent of the Russian intelligence services. That's what the Fusion GPS people were trying to find out. Read the transcripts for yourself and make your own decision, that's what Sen. Feinstein is allowing us to do.
Some of you may say, big deal, we're not at war with Russia, this isn't treason, we happened to elect an vain and unqualified person as President and now we have to live with it (or celebrate it, as some of you do). So go for it, if like Ann Althouse you happen to see Trump as a subtle humorist and unacknowledged political savant.
But remember, not everyone thinks the way you do. And while it's fun to witness the anger this vain and tendentious fellow inspires among the liberals, I wonder among you Trumpists: would you like see such a person in charge of more things than just the presidency? Would Trump make a good school board president, police chief, youth football coach? What do you say, Ann? You keep posting these things without commentary, though you're pretty good at picking up the occasional copy-editing error in the Times.
There was almost nothing in that released transcript that was new. It just showed that Fusion GPS was playing games, and a lot of new information seems to have come out since that Simpson didn’t offer up when given the opportunity.
It will be interesting to get Steele under oath.
“You know, it's really too bad Santa didn't bring you some self-awareness for Christmas.”
What did you get for Christmas Jim? A man bra?
walter said...
Chuck,
What do you think of Fenstein's actions?
No opinion. I expect that if Senators Cornyn, Flake, Cruz, Graham, et al were really hacked off about it, I might get interested. I don't think they cared all that much.
I don't waste a whole lot of time on studying the Russia stuff. I really don't think much of it. I am waiting for Mueller to finish his work. Then I'll see what there is.
But this is fun reading in the meantime; the number of times in the last year or so when Trump has accused others (including Senator Cruz) of illegality, as he did with Feinstein:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/01/10/the-legal-expert-has-logged-on-the-illegal-acts-trump-has-spotted-since-2015/?utm_term=.a9ca58912f31
Birkel said...
walter,
Huma needs spousal privilege.
Not if Weiner gets shankled.
John Pickering:
Every word you typed was in service of a lie. The FBI had an "insurance policy" against a Trump presidency because control of the federal government is worth, approximately, $4,000,000,000,000 per year.
And the vested interests in those four trillion dollars are protecting themselves.
You are a liar.
President, while a candidate, was the victim of a blackmail scheme that has resulted in his being something ranging from the dupe, to the stooge, to the witting agent of the Russian intelligence services. .
Yeah, I know. That’s why the Democrats offered up a candidate that took 145 Million dollars from Putin cronies and deleted huge amounts of evidence from that time in the form of emails and records of meetings, and, you BTW, approved Putin’s Uranium One deal, and Kiboshed Keystone XL for him!
I know Democrats are deeply concerned about Russian influence on US politicians and so the FBI took a hard and serious look the other way at her actions.
Spare me the preaching hypocrite.
AGAIN:
You guys are not thinking clearly about these leaks. Sure, it allows other people to coordinate testimony. But that could be accomplished by any number of methods.
These leaks prove to people that Glenn Simpson is still on the Clinton Team.
Ask yourself: Why might it be important for Glenn Simpson to prove he was still on Team Clinton?
Chuck is too emotionally involved to see the beauty of the nickname game. Right now on my newsfeed there's a Vox article with a headline using "sneaky" Feinstein. They're so eager to attack Trump that they reinforce his narrative. Chuck hardest hit.
It is so easy to be certain when you ignore certain facts that are part of the record in any case, isn’t it Mr Pickering?
Simpson came off as a partisan, slippery, liar.
President Moron is good at that, Fabi.
A co-founder of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS acknowledged in a new court document that his company hired the wife of a senior Justice Department official to help investigate then-candidate Donald Trump last year. - Fox News
Anybody remember anything about this in the transcript? Seems like kind of a strange oversight for a person trying only to provide the facts and all the facts to finally clear the air!
Pickering? Pickering?
"Ask yourself: Why might it be important for Glenn Simpson to prove he was still on Team Clinton?"
To remain on the payroll?
I'm drawing a blank otherwise.
It was also sneaky of her to beclown Trump on his supposed signature issue yesterday--so sneaky that the Stable Genius was ready to swallow whole the Democratic position until McCarthy pointed out to him that she wasn't saying what Trump thought she was... But at least he drank water like a normal person.
Birkel said...
Ask yourself: Why might it be important for Glenn Simpson to prove he was still on Team Clinton?
1/10/18, 1:59 PM
Are you suggesting that Feinstein wants to make sure he doesn't suddenly "suicide"?
buwaya:
To maintain the monolithic support he needs to avoid bad things happening.
I'm not saying he would commit suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head three times. I'm saying the forces in the FBI could easily be turned against Glenn Simpson to tarnish him as a witness. He could be convicted of all sorts of things (Ham Sandwich Nation) if the full force of the Deep State were turned against him.
Think outside the box. You're not cynical enough.
Come on!
Does the guy living just this side of legality
1) getting paid from campaign funds laundered through a prominent Dem law firm
2) paying "journalists" to push stories
3) paying foreign sources
4) paying the Russian lawyer
5) intimately working with FBI wives
And et cetera, ad infinitum!
Does that guy have no legal exposure if the Deep State turns on him? Get it together. This isn't conspiracy crap. It's the leverage that maintains the cartel.
Every successful cartel has to have its enforcement mechanisms.
John Pickering said...
1/10/18, 2:13 PM
You make some valid points and she may have had all the best intentions. We all know it is a small step from "collusion" to using the force of the Government against your enemies. Suppose he decided to use the IRS to go after his ideological enemies, or wire-tap reporters, or use the DoJ, NSA, FBI, or BATF to go to work on his enemies! Where would it end?
I am sure that Feinstein would be just as brave if she had any information on those sorts of actions too, right? Cause she is JUST looking out of all Americans, right?
Poor Chuck.
So derrier-hurt over the exposure of his deep state lefty allies as well as Mulvaney's cutting off part of the dems gravy train at CFPB.
Poor poor Chuck.
And you just know its only going to get worse for him.
The tax cut bill probably sent him back to therapy....allegedly. I'm just repeating what I heard.
Birkel,
Good point, or points, about a sleazy character, but on the whole I doubt he has THAT much to worry about. Anyone that sleazy has more than enough blackmail material on his very many counterparties. At some point his exposure is more asset than liability.
Money is another matter.
"but on the whole I doubt he has THAT much to worry about. Anyone that sleazy has more than enough blackmail material on his very many counterparties."
That would make me more worried, if I were him.
Stable Genius names Sneaky Diane
Human beings have the ability and Power to Name. Humans may seek to bring order to our chaotic and dynamic world through the process of naming. The power to name can be experienced in our everyday lives; for example, nothing grabs the attention of a misbehaving child more effectively than a parent–the bestower of the child’s names–calling him by his first, middle, and last names.
Sneaky Diane joins Little Marco, Low Energy Jeb, Little Rocket Man, Pocahontas, and Sloppy Steve, and Jeff Flakey in infamy.
"That would make me more worried, if I were him."
Killing him would be beyond suspicious and absurdly high-profile besides.
"Humans may seek to bring order to our chaotic and dynamic world through the process of naming."
This is a common delusion. Naming something doesn't change it, nor does it simplify it, nor does it help in understanding it. Worse, it can misdirect the analyst.
"Killing him would be beyond suspicious and absurdly high-profile besides."
They'd just blame Trump.
Could it be.... Conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act??
Special counsel Robert Mueller has added a prosecutor with significant cybercrime expertise to his team.
Ryan Dickey, a senior lawyer in the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, has been detailed to Mueller’s team since early November, a U.S. official told POLITICO.
In the meantime, Congressional Republicans are announcing their retirements one after another, I wonder why?
Damn. Was planning to vote against ancient DF in primary but POTUS reminds us of the benefits of seniority and name recognition.
"something ranging from the dupe, to the stooge, to the witting agent of the Russian intelligence services."
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
"sure sound like he is urging primarying feinstein and providing input and backing"
Scott Adams speculated about running in his Periscope this morning.
He said he didn't really want to do it, but -- if I remember correctly -- that if he ran he would win. Isn't that what Trump told Oprah, lo, these many year ago.
Wow, Inga, it will be great when he looks at the DNC computers where the “crime” occured.. Wait, that’s not happening! Plus the dossier said that Trump had moles (plural) at the DNC!
Scott Adams would (probably) run a fun campaign.
Sen Fienstien didn't release these documents for transparency, she did it to let the corrupt DOJ, FBI employees under suspicion of collusion in framing the case against Trump to know what Simpson had said behind closed doors.
Remember Simpson refused to testify in public, but once the DOJ released documents last week and an agreed to let the DOJ and FBI employees testify suddenly Simpson's lawyers raised hell in the press to get the testimony released. The reason was because Simpson knew there would be discrepancies between his and the government employees' testimonies. No worry now due to Sen Fienstien's dirty work, the corrupt DOJ and FBI employees can tailor their testimonies to comply with Simpson's.
buwaya said...
Scott Adams would (probably) run a fun campaign.
It would require Scott Adams to talk about such boring and uninteresting things. Like issues.
Or maybe not! Maybe, Scott Adams would just campaign on making everybody feel good and laugh a bit. He'd aim some "kill shots" at his opponents, and hypnotize the California electorate. (But who would be able to distinguish a hypnotized Californian from a non-hypnotized Californian?) He could tweet out some carefully-deliberated misspellings, and try to get a majority of midterm voters to "see" the movie that was in his head.
Simple. For a guy who doesn't vote and isn't actually a member of any political party.
Although he'd need about $20 million of his own post-divorce Dilbert dollars to win the seat.
Speaking as someone who didn't vote for Trump and was never a supporter*: Anyone who is not disturbed by the actions taken by the FBI during the election are blinded by their own biases.
The idea that it's ok to violate a person's fourth amendment rights because partisans in the FBI had "concerns" -- and nothing else!-- about Trump being a Russian stooge is just bullshit. Their "concerns" should not give them the directive to trample on people's rights, especially during a heated and very close presidential campaign.
The FBI should've made sure to follow procedures carefully to avoid the appearance of tampering with the election. They did the opposite. People need to be fired and some may need to go to jail to prevent the encouragement of this ever happening again.
And Feinstein's action yesterday stinks of corruption, desperation, and incompetence-- I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt that she's more incompetent than corrupt, but I know I am perhaps being too kind. I suspect she was stupid enough to be convinced by the corrupt and desperate players in this mess to do what she did in the interest of saving the Republic from the icky Republican Trump.
I'm willing to turn on Trump if someone could point out just one actual crime that the man is guilty of. I'm seeing nothing. As others have said, why is OK for Hillary to collude with Russians to hurt Trump, but it's a crime if Trump does it? This Russia collusion investigation is a sick joke that has gone on for too long.
But it will make a great movie some day.
____
*But I understand why people support him, and I dislike Trump's enemies -- the Clintons and especially the assholes in the media -- far more than I dislike Trump, so I'm happy that he's skewering them.
In my comment above, I neglected to quote what I was responding to:
This is what's at stake here: there has been and remains significant concern from US law enforcement and intelligence personnel that the sitting President, while a candidate, was the victim of a blackmail scheme that has resulted in his being something ranging from the dupe, to the stooge, to the witting agent of the Russian intelligence services.
In related political criminality news, Huma and Wenner have pulled their divorce suit from court not because reconciliation, but Grand Juries I suspect.
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
9:14 AM · Jan 10, 2018
Isn’t Mueller a Republican? Isn’t Rosenstein a Republican? Isn’t Sessions a Republican? Which Republicans does Trump want to take over this investigation? What does he expect them to do?
LOL
Feinstein announces she leaked the testimony because she was pressured!
So very, very, very #Brave of her!
She's the newest Brave Brave Brave Brave Sir Robin of the left!
#InfiniteCourage
Inga and LLR Chuck hardest hit.
“Inga and LLR Chuck hardest hit.”
LOL! Oh no I don’t think so.
“Feinstein announces she leaked the testimony because she was pressured!”
Really?
“The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice. The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public.”
Diane Feinstein
Feinstein announces she leaked the testimony because she was pressured!
Is this true? I didn't know that when I posted my comment above. If so, then she is indeed more incompetent than corrupt, as I suspected.
"The only way to set the record straight is to make the [redacted] transcript public.”
Drago, I really must ask you why you as a rule mischaracterize every time you post a comment? Why is it that you are such a dishonest commenter? Can’t you fight the battles honestly on their own merits? Feinstein didn’t say she felt pressured to “release” the Fusion GPS testimony transcript, as you claimed, she said she got pressured and didn’t give Grassley a headsup.
“Feinstein announces she leaked the testimony because she was pressured!” Says Drago. Drago got caught lying about Steele yesterday, he claimed Steele “testified under oath in a London COURTROOM”. It did not happen, the case hasn’t yet been heard in court. Depositions were made. Drago has no access to those depositions do claims he makes about them are only conjecture on his part. Drago, seriously try to not keep posting things like this. It’s sloppy.
Manu Raju
Manu Raju
@mkraju
FEINSTEIN says she’s sorry to Grassley for not giving him a headsup about the release of the Fusion GPS transcript. “I meant to tell him, and I didn’t have a chance to tell him, and that concerns me,” she told us. “I just got pressured, and I didn’t do it.”
2:12 PM · Jan 10, 2018
299 Retweets
644 Likes
Manu Raju
Manu Raju
@mkraju
·
3h
Replying to @mkraju
Feinstein also pushed back on Trump’s tweet saying she potentially acted illegally in releasing the Fusion transcript. “I didn’t do anything illegal. ... That transcript has become so abused that time has come for people to take a look at it.”
Manu Raju
Manu Raju
@mkraju
·
2h
Replying to @mkraju
Asked who pressured her, Feinstein says: "I wasn't pressured" without reconciling her two statements. Her office later said she misspoke and wasn't pressured to release transcript
It may not be illegal to leak closed interviews like this. But it is unethical. She can't be trusted with Congress's secrets.
If Feinstein wants transparency: Who paid Fusion?
"If Feinstein wants transparency: Who paid Fusion?"
Hillary paid Fusion. I want to know who Fusion paid.
The only pressure Sen Feinstein was under was to make sure corrupt DOJ and FBI officials weren't flying blind when they testify in front of the committee. We will never know whether they are lying or Simpson is. This release was not for the "public" to know, it was for the DOJ and FBI suspects to know.
There's still no indictment for Abedin. No Democrat ally is in danger of perjury charges. This was released for some other reason.
Knowing that the senate had asked for a perjury investigation, Feinstein's action is nothing short of obstruction of justice.
Matt
It's 2018, only President Trump is capable of obstruction of justice according to Democrats.
Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein suggested a “bad cold” may have impaired her mental faculties and caused her to release Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee without telling committee chairman Chuck Grassley.
Feinstein published Simpson’s testimony on Tuesday, catching Republicans by surprise. Simpson’s testimony, taken during August of last year, covered his firm’s role in producing the infamous anti-Trump dossier for the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.
Feinstein, 84, expressed regret on Wednesday for keeping Sen. Grassley in the dark, and suggested it was because of a “bad cold.”
“The one regret I have is that I should have spoke with Senator Grassley before,” she told NBC News. “And I don’t make an excuse but I’ve had a bad cold and maybe that slowed down my mental facilities [sic] a little bit.”
John Pickering said...
fellow citizens for political reasons.
This is what's at stake here: there has been and remains significant concern from US law enforcement and intelligence personnel that the sitting President, while a candidate, was the victim of a blackmail scheme that has resulted in his being something ranging from the dupe, to the stooge, to the witting agent of the Russian intelligence services. That's what the Fusion GPS people were trying to find out. Read the transcripts for yourself and make your own decision, that's what Sen. Feinstein is allowing us to do.
That's the biggest line of bullshit I've ever read.
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