"From what seemed a position of strength, or at least the ability to stay on offense, they are now looking at the road ahead in a far more problematic position. The issue of impeachment was always in question, given House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s cautionary view. At this point, it is off the table. Beyond that are difficult questions about what investigations House Democrats should pursue and to what end. For nearly two years, Democrats have eagerly awaited the Mueller report, having already connected many of the dots of contacts between Trump associates and the Russians.... Democrats must now reckon with a far different set of political realities.... [I]s the absence of a conclusion or recommendation about obstruction a gift for the Democrats or a trap?... Trump claims 'total exoneration,' which is explicitly not true based on Mueller’s report. But it is exactly how he has played things as a candidate and as president, which is to say he exaggerates in his own favor and slams opponents as hard as he can.... Democrats put their faith in Mueller. Now they are questioning how and why he did what he did.... After two years of insisting that there was collusion, the Democrats have been undermined by Mueller."
From "For Democrats, the Mueller report turns their politics upside down" by Dan Balz (WaPo). I've been thinking that Barr's statement that Mueller didn't "exonerate" Trump on obstruction of justice is a trap for Democrats. They really ought to be careful — but they won't all be careful — about making new statements that will look bad when we get the actual text from Mueller.
Balz mentions (but doesn't link to) this Trump video, "Collusion Hoax!":
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Exactly the Democrats have to go into realpolitik mode if they are going to dethrone Trump otherwise they are going to solidify his base and expand his popularity into the Midwest and he will win again
No indictments re: obstruction IS a total exoneration. If you're not guilty, you're innocent. If they don't even try charging you... you're innocent. Period. Dems better wise up, all they're doing is setting the stage for even higher turnout of deplorables in 2020 if they keep stubboenly trying to drag the country down this road.
.... After two years of insisting that there was collusion, the Democrats have been undermined by Mueller."
I need not point out that the Dems (including the author of this article) were not undermined by Mueller, but by their own narrow view of their world and their insistence that everything in reality match their own fever dreams.
Danger: Lies Ahead.
We know who colluded with Russia.
Democrats.
Now it is time for consequences.
Dogged Congressman Adam Schiff -- a former Assistant US Attorney - is now free to pursue the lawsuits against Trump for Emolument Clause violations. .
A weary nation breathes a sigh of relief.
The view from my Facebook feed: But he wasn't exonerated!
I roll my eyes at this Guilty until Proven Innocent viewpoint.
The question is whether House Dems can do enough Investigation Theater to please their true believers without turning off the people in the middle who lean Dem or are persuadable.
I don’t think they can pull it off. They spent 8 years in the wilderness and won back the House by winning persuadable voters. They are now looking at the wilderness again.
I've been thinking that Barr's statement that Mueller didn't "exonerate" Trump on obstruction of justice is a trap for Democrats.
The fundamental right of due process is a 1st principle.
The 4th amendment is clear that Americans are protected from unwarranted searches and seizures.
Like the seizures of all communications in the Trump campaign by US intelligence agencies in conspiracy with Democrats and foreign intelligence agents in Russia, England, and Australia.
I think it is time for an investigation of treason as collusion isn't even a crime.
...he exaggerates in his own favor and slams opponents as hard as he can....
What? Politicians can't be politicians any more?
Do you think RBG might give it up now that it appears certain there will be no impeachment and more than likely that DJT will be re-elected?
Is this Christmas or something?
Michael Avenatti arrested for extorting millions from Nike?"
Southern District of NY?
Hmmm. Maybe, Michael Avenatti and Michael Cohen can share a cell....
I might just retire today and play guitar on a mountaintop for the rest of my life. Too much joy, too much joy...
The Democrats want to compel William Barr and Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller to testify before Congressional committees.
Bring it on !!!!
The Democrats seem to imagine that only Democrats will be asking the questions.
However, the Republicans too will be asking lots of questions.
I want to watch Mueller why he didn't recuse himself from this investigation, since he had so many conflicts of interest as the former FBI Director.
I want to know also why Mueller staffed his office with Trump-hating Democrats and why he persisted in conducting his witch-hunt for two years.
The Republicans have to play rough -- as rough as the Democrats have and will, and as rough as Trump has. There is a powerful and corrupt bureaucracy and Democrat support system that should be punished and beaten. Not physically beaten but close to physically. The way the Democrats tried to undermine the Trump administration seems like a big scandal to me!
I want Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller to tell Congress and the public what the evidence was that the Russians meddled in our elections -- more specifically, that the Russians did anything at all with John Podesta's e-mails and DNC files.
That stinking Mueller! He undermined the Democrats. And after they put their faith in him!
Big jerk.
Independents are not gonna follow them into the cave of the screeching moonbats. would be my bet.
Obstruction is the new collusion.
"Now they are questioning how and why he did what he did."
That's funny.
What, they expected him to fabricate stuff like Steele? to lie like Brennan? to provide insurance a la Strzok?
Making Adam Schiff look bad---or ridiculous--doesn't take much. He's a very bright guy--or so I am told. But at the same time there are those of whose who suspect that he's not the sharpest tool in the shed---and then Adam opens his mouth and removes all doubt on that point.
As many knew deduced a over year ago , Mueller and his stacked with Clinton attorneys Investigation was Trump's Trojan Horse arranged by Sessions and Rosenstein to draw out the Media into looking like total fools while the real Investigation of High Crimes was done in Utah by a large team of US Attorneys ordered by Sessions. That's where the 85,000 sealed indictments piled up. That work took two years, as did Q's slow education of opinion public that before those two years would not have accepted the depth of the real sick evil swamping DC. Not until all of this was completed, could Mueller bow out and we have disclosure. In those two years the Deep State's resources were being exhausted, their secret bases mapped out and the Media Industrial Complex's credibility totally destroyed. And the US Treasury started confiscating of the wealth stolen by political corruption, bribes, child trafficing and Drug dealing at the highest levels.
Trump is a genius level Movie Producer. Stay tuned.
If this came out before the election as expected and desired by the Dems, the country would be far better off.
It doesn't mean anything legally, but the Russian collusion thing always seemed unlikely to me becuase it just doesn't fit the Trump style. He's not the sneaky, stab-you-in-the-back kind of guy. He faces his enemies straight up and punches them in the throat. I think he would consider doing something like he was accused of as a pussy, unmanly play. Now, our modern Democrat pols, and specifically those associated with the Clintons and the Obamas definitely like to fight that way, and I believe they tried. Now some of them need investigated. The fact finding is mostly done already and is pretty clear. They conspired with Russians to damage their political opponent to influence an election and then to damage the duly elected President. It doesn't need yapped about on the TV every night. Just build the case and take it to a grand jury. Then 2020 might be a fair honest election.
what lies ahead
Loves of 'em.
what lies ahead
There'll be lots of 'em.
I think Balz gets everything exactly wrong.
Nancy Pelosi leads the house majority. She has made it clear for a long time that she is not interested in impeachment hearings.
The Democratic leadership in the House are planning to legislate.
Oh sure, there are some House committee chairs who are all hellbent to hold hearings about one thing or another. But the politics of what lies ahead is about legislation. Removing impeachment from the table makes that path forward much clearer.
After two years of insisting that there was collusion, the Democrats have been undermined by Mueller.
Mueller didn't undermine the Democrats. The Democrats were undermined by their own idiotic hubris.
There was always, always, precious little evidence of collusion between the Russian government & the Trump campaign. At best, the Mueller Investigation was going to find some other act of malfeasance with which to to hang Trump out to dry.
Well, he didn't. It was always a "Hail Mary Pass" & for those who were misled enough to believe otherwise, well, them's tha' breaks!
Remember when the Democrats and the Media apologized about lying about the YouTube guy being "responsible" for Benghazi?
Of course you don't. The Democrats never give up their lying narratives. We see it here. They will repeat the same garbage in a matter of weeks and conduct their lawfare in the Congress, the DOJ, and NY courts.
"They really ought to be careful..."
Why start now? Is this not the point in the evening when the drunken gambler, having already blown astonishing sums he can no longer reckon, decides that doubling-down is just the prudent move?
I don't think it is a trap- it is just a simple statement of fact. Like I wrote in earlier threads, it is apparent that Mueller was going for the obstruction angle all along, and I think it very likely he had Rosenstein's tacit approval for this angle for a long time, perhaps all the way back to August of 2017- what was that scope memo from mid August 2017 all about, for example?
Was the obstruction angle the Comey firing? I don't think so- Rosenstein's involvement in that firing made that path untenable both legally and politically. I think it very clear that it was the public attacks on the special counsel's office that Mueller wanted to go after. I think a lot of this hypothesis can explain the relentless squeezing of Flynn, Papadopoulos, Stone, Cohen, and Manafort- he was attempting to build the obstruction case on public comments and offers of pardons, and Trump smartly didn't take the pardon bait, nor did he take the provocations that seemed designed to force Mueller's direct firing. Trump did the smart thing and simply let the investigation continue.
I think the key change came at the end of last Summer, though- it was McCabe's revelation that Rosenstein was likely part of the plot to remove Trump from office. Having Rosenstein outed like that was a critical misstep by the plotters- it meant that Mueller's recommendations going through Rosenstein would no longer have political cover. Rosenstein faced a decision, neither of which leads to Muellermas- he could have resigned in which case the Mueller investigation comes under the control of someone not out to get Trump at all costs, or Rosenstein could retreat from the attempted coup and remove his head from the chopping block. Rosenstein chose the latter course, and when Sessions was fired after the mid-terms and Barr selected, that was the end of the plot as it pertained to Mueller.
Word slowly was leaked to the Democrat leaders in the House and Senate that Mueller was going to be unable to support their impeachment cause due to the fact that there was never any conspiracy in the first place. This retreat started tentatively in December, and after Barr was sure to be confirmed, it was put in place rapidly. It was part of the remarkable torpedoing of the Buzzfeed story by Mueller himself- that was the indication that the plot had failed spectacularly.
I think Rosenstein tried to resign because he knew was implicated and didn't want to stick around after it went tits up publicly, but Barr made him stay and help clean up the avocad.....er.....shit.
I wonder if all of the old people who were waiting for the report's release so they could die are happy. I hope so!
The Democrats went all in with HRC. That was a mistake, she was a flawed candidate. So rather than refresh their game, they are going to focus on the politics of butt hurt. Posting links on Facebook is not a winning strategy.
Anyone who votes for a Democrat from hereon out is simply a traitor.
To top off the day for Trump, Michael Avanetti has been arrested and charged in two cases, one in NY the other in CA.
Don Jr tweets, if he pleads quick enough, maybe he can share a cell with Cohen.
Heh
I never expected actual collusion, but the extent of the exoneration is surprising. I thought for sure Mueller would try to justify his investigation by concluding somebody did something and then we would spend the next 6 years arguing over how important it is. A clean bill of health that no one can argue about in good faith is a pleasing surprise.
However small ball it may be, the non-exoneration is bunk--Trump had every right to fire Comey for any reason or no reason. Absent a smoking gun, obstruction would have been impossible to prove. By saying Trump is not exonerated, Barr is saying Mueller couldn't prove a negative--which is an absurd standard. Doubly so now that any motive has been eliminated.
They won't be able to resist. Greene is now saying the POTUS is a racist and that is an impeachable offense. Nadler hassn't taken his foot off the gas. And they all saying "obstruction" or "full report".
Of course the full report includes things like grand jury testimony which can not be released. Expect the left to say pertinent facts are hidden.
Piers Morgan hits it out of the park on this
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6847671/PIERS-MORGAN-Mueller-report-shows-collusion-disgraceful-hoax.html
"the Democrats have been undermined by Mueller."
Is reporting the truth considered undermining? I guess it can be. It's sort of a weird way to interpret what happened. It's basically saying Mueller let them down by not lying by inventing some new artiface or pretense for further indictments. I mean, putting it that way is basically like admitting that they just wanted Mueller to lie, to conjure up false evidence or something. Which of course is exactly what they obviously wanted him to do, but they shouldn't just admit that.
In a sane world everyone should be happy that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and a sitting US President. That should be something that goes beyond politics. And framing all this as a political problem for the Dems (while it certainly is) is both revealing and very sad on some level. It's almost like admitting that this was never about the truth.
If you're not guilty, you're innocent.
Innocent until proven guilty is the American way. However, with social progress, the relationship was reversed, witches and warlocks are hunted, babies are aborted and cannibalized without due process and in cruel and unusual ways, and color is correlated (i.e. diversity) with inherited and shared responsibility.
Democrats are in a tough spot; one entirely of their own making. Adam Schiff and other Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee saw the classified evidence and consistently misrepresented what that evidence said. They relied on the fact the evidence was classified and that the Republicans could not prove the Democrats were lying without releasing classified information. They didn't believe Trump would declassify the information. (Because their friends in the intelligence community would claim that the information needed to remain classified for the safety of the nation!)
When Trump finally, reluctantly, released a heavily redacted version of the FISA warrant application and other documents, it demonstrated that the Democrats had been lying and that national security claims had been overblown, too. We're seeing something similar, but on a much larger scale, with the Mueller report. The Democrats saw much of the evidence that Mueller saw. They knew, or should have known, there was no conspiracy between Trump and the Russians. Yet, they counted on being able to maintain the fiction of that collusion indefinitely. It's as if they never expected the report to be issued. Or, if it were issued, that it would be too late to do Trump any good.
They were all too willing to profit off this lie for as long as they could. There should be a very steep price to pay for this kind of cynical behavior.
The interesting thing to watch will be which one of the FBI/DOJ conspirators rolls over when threatened with Leavenworth.
It’s their biggest hit, you can’t expect them to change the words now!
Let's not forget who a big chunk of the House Democrats are:
On December 6, 2017, 58 House Democrats (out of about 184 Dems total) voted to Impeach President Trump.
That's about 30%.
To repeat: 30% of ELECTED DEMOCRATS in the House voted to impeach Trump, during the Mueller Investigation, before he came to the obvious conclusion that there were no evidentiary grounds to indict.
These fuckheads are not serious people. They are a collective disgrace. Thankfully, they don't have much power, but God forbid, if they ever did get power.......
Do you think RBG might give it up now that it appears certain there will be no impeachment and more than likely that DJT will be re-elected?
You think that she was one of the elderly people holding off dying until the report was released that NPR was talking about?
Oh sure, there are some House committee chairs who are all hellbent to hold hearings about one thing or another. But the politics of what lies ahead is about legislation.
Which group is going to be grabbing the headlines, do you think? Sucking the oxygen out of the room?
Let's handicap the upcoming show down at High Noon. Trump commands the USMC and the US Army, Navy and Airforce/Space Force. He has the NSA computers acess containing everything, and added to that he was given the Russian intelligence data and the Saudi intelligence data that details how much and to whom they paid their pay to play bribes to DC Politicians for over 30 years. Not to mention the boy from NYC Trump has the data on the 9/11 false flag attack on NYC and he is pissed.
The Dems only have a destroyed CIA and their owned media, whatever Soros/McCain/ Clinton cash is left over, and some stupid British MI6 agents from their Five Eyes gang.
I don't believe that it would be out of place to consider appointing a special prosecutor to look into the Justice Department and the FBI and the unmasking of the identities of US citizens overheard in FISA wiretaps by Samanatha Powers. And while we're at it, how about a deeper look into the FBI agents assigned to handle the emails of the Hildebeast.
There is a high probability of illegal conduct that the Deep State has let skate. Until that gets yanked out root and branch, we will never be free of leftie tyranny.
Of course, they don't think it's tyranny since they believe fervently that they have a monopoly on virtue. As a result, anything goes.
- Krumhorn
- Krumhorn
CNN still has reporters lingering in front of Mueller's house.
Without Mueller and Avenatti, CNN may have trouble filling air time over the next year.
BWAAAAHAAHAAHAAAAAHHHAHHH!
I'd say Democrats were already upside down on the Russia investigation and this puts them right side up, if they forget criminal conviction and impeachment of Trump and focus on making their case to the voters.
That case can still include collusion and obstruction. The judgment of voters is not limited to what might constitute a crime or an impeachable offense. I certainly don't consider Trump's conduct to have been "exonerated" as far as reelection goes.
On the flip side, Trump spent an inordinate amount of time resisting the Mueller investigation that seems now to have been a waste of Presidential attention. Whose really to blame for that, Democrats or Trump's ego and impatience?
"Democrats put their faith in Mueller. Now they are questioning how and why he did what he did.... After two years of insisting that there was collusion, the Democrats have been undermined by Mueller."
Not all around fine person, and Wisco Democratic Party chair candidate Ben Wikler. This former smartest guy under 35, who is the perfect person to run the Democratic Party here in Wisconsin, went the full bat-shit crazy route, creating another conspiracy:
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Ben Wikler
Verified account
@benwikler
1h1 hour ago
More
Remember how Trump was absolutely obsessed with getting rid of Jeff Sessions because he wanted an Attorney General who would protect him from the Mueller probe? And then how he got one? I don’t know what’s in the report. But people, don’t we know what Barr’s job is?
Ben Wikler
Verified account
@benwikler
10h10 hours ago
More
Can someone explain to me why anyone should have a single iota of confidence that Barr’s summary of the Mueller report isn’t total hogwash?
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Yep, Barr is in cahoots with Trump to obstruct justice and is falsifying what's in the Mueller report!
Orange is the new black, and WRONG is the new YOU'RE FIRED!!
Winning!
The piece de resistance
Hitler reacts to the Mueller Report. .
Greene is now saying the POTUS is a racist
At best, Trump is an orange, perhaps cherry, supremacist. At worst, he is a rabid diversitist. In reality, he is neither an orangutan nor does he indulge in color judgments and politics.
rhhardin said, "Obstruction is the new collusion."
Interesting comment in light of this Lawfare article back in January.
There is a need for prominent Republicans to broadcast the facts of the law governing disclosure of the special prosecutor work. The Demos need to have this thrust back in their teeth every time they demand disclosure. They just want to deflect the main findings' impact by arguing about all the crapola surrounding Mueller's indictments.
“I think Balz gets everything exactly wrong.
Nancy Pelosi leads the house majority. She has made it clear for a long time that she is not interested in impeachment hearings.
The Democratic leadership in the House are planning to legislate.
Oh sure, there are some House committee chairs who are all hellbent to hold hearings about one thing or another. But the politics of what lies ahead is about legislation. Removing impeachment from the table makes that path forward much clearer.”
Henry gets it exactly right.
Apparently, the reason Mueller didn't find any evidence of collusion is because Adam Schiff has it and won't give it up.
Priceless John Brennan interview by John Brennan with Joe & Mika.
Shorter Brennan on Russian treason: Oops, My bad.
“We know who colluded with Russia.
Democrats.
Now it is time for consequences.”
“Anyone who votes for a Democrat from hereon out is simply a traitor.”
Democrat Derangement Syndrome on display.
It would be fitting if Trump, for all his impetuousness, has been extremely careful about how he's managed the entire Russian collusion story. It appears he was well aware of some sort of spying on his campaign ("my wires were tapped") from the very beginning. Once in office, having access to national intelligence resources, he may well have determined the extent of actual collusion, that is, between the Clinton campaign and government agencies and the source of the Russian collusion story. In view of how well he's beaten up on the "fake news" media, it's not a big stretch to think he may have some nasty stuff planned for the Clinton campaign and lawbreakers within the Obama administration. Investigating the latter would have been politically impossible before the Mueller report. It probably isn't now.
What I haven't seen mentioned is that the very people who are now saying that Trump wasn't totally "exonerated" -- that there is evidence of collusion, so he should be punished -- are the same people who were perfectly comfortable when Comey recommended no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. He said something like "no reasonable prosecutor" would pursue the case, based on the evidence. That was good, this is bad.
Partisanship is endemic to our two-party system, so Dems gotta do what they do as much as the Reps will do what they do: slash at each other's throats with gusto and zero self-awareness. The major difference, of course, is the complete complicity of the corporate media on the Dem side of the fight.
Much as it's fun to say that President Trump now has a cleared path to re-election--and it may indeed be true--the reality has always been with the performance of the economy. If it heads into recession during the election year, expect the Dems to pivot effortlessly to "it's the economy, stupid," as if Mueller and collusion never existed.
The sine qua non however will be, as it's been since the escalator ride, the President's performance. What I've learned is to expect the unexpected. The joy for me is that the Dem/MSM/LLR colluders are constitutionally (heh) incapable of doing this. "All they needed to do was not be crazy" is simply beyond their capability.
So while it may be true to state that "for Democrats, the Mueller report turns politics upside down," the greater, more enjoyable truth is that it is the President who continues as the happy warrior to turn politics upside down.
I myself am non exonerated from all of the crimes I never committed.
Courtesy of our hard-hit friends at DU, an amusing exercise in getting the metaphor backwards.
Does Inga’s Trump/Putin love include the fracking? And dumping the Iran deal? Then there’s Syria. Israel. The defense buildup.
let's walk this back.
He wasn't found guilty, thus he is innocent
He wasn't even charged, thus he is innocent
Obstructed what? An investigation that found no evidence of a crime? Can't obstruct nothing
Obstructed who? Mueller? Mueller stayed on the job and didn't mention feeling obstructed?
Can't obstruct if the person you are accused of obstructing doesn't notice
Obstructed Comey? The FBI Director is appointed by POTUS and works for the AG, who recommended he be fired for cause. The DOJ IG found cause. POTUS fired him? was an investigation stopped by this legal firing? No.
There were early signs of this craziness
https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/why-so-many-people-believed-trump-watches-a-gorilla-channel.html
"The report identifies no action that in our judgement constitutes obstructive conduct, had a nexus to an impending or contemplated proceeding, and were done with corrupt intent, each of which, under the Department's principles of Federal prosecution in guiding charging decisions, would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to establish an obstruction-of-justice offense."
Sounds like exonerate on to me.
I've been thinking that Barr's statement that Mueller didn't "exonerate" Trump on obstruction of justice is a trap for Democrats. They really ought to be careful — but they won't all be careful — about making new statements that will look bad when we get the actual text from Mueller.
Barr purports to quote the exact text of the Mueller report in the line about how it "does not exonerate him." That isn't just a paraphrase by Barr. See page 3 of Barr's letter (the last sentence of the first paragraph on that page).
Can someone explain to me why these FISA judges are protected by anonymity? 4 fraudulent FISA warrants approved. Zero accountability.
They are either too incompetent or too corrupt to serve on the bench.
Why are they allowed to hide, especially when the Left is demanding b"transparency". The public has a right to know how and why they screwed up.
Contact the Senate Judiciary Committee:
Senator Lindsey Graham
290 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Office: (202) 224-5972
Fax: (202) 224-3808
Question:
Did Trump spend the last two years criticizing Mueller with the reverse-psychological intent of getting Democrats to defend him, so that when the report finally came out, the Democrats would look more hypocritical than usual if they didn't accept the results?
In other words, is Trump really playing 5 dimensional chess?
These people are truly beclowning themselves with the "no exoneration" angle.
"So you're telling me there's a chance?" --Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey), Dumb and Dumber
The lack of a clear decision re obstruction is a trap--most people who are not deranged will understand that with no underlying crime (and the report is, per Barr, clear on that, and with Comey having told Trump he was not under investigation, there is no basis at all to charge obstruction--no crime and no process to obstruct. Most people will get that, if it is pushed.
But did you notice what WaPo did--saying that impeachment "... was always in question, given House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s cautionary view." As if Trump should be impeached, except that Pelosi was just being negative, rather than what she said: in the absence of a clear and compelling crime, there is no point. Pelosi wasn't being some old killjoy, she was dealing with the fact that at the time she spoke there was no evidence of a crime that would justify impeachment. But WaPo let a much different impression.
A free and honest press is a great thing, maybe some day we will try one.
I wonder if the Democrat/socialist/anti-capitalist/one worlder complex are going to need to find some scapegoat to exorcise their demons. If so I suspect their target might be someone (other than Trump) with the initials HRC who is forced to drink the hemlock. They might even find willing accomplices on the other side of the political spectrum willing to assist.
From what seemed a position of strength, or at least the ability to stay on offense, they are now looking at the road ahead in a far more problematic position. The issue of impeachment was always in question, given House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s cautionary view. At this point, it is off the table.....
This is all CYA BS.
It was only in their insane minds.
They should have talked to people in the flyover states. They live in a closed loop/bubble and they are detached from the reality of most of the country.
And they’re supposedly smarter or more intelligent than we are.
They are vile as well.
No tolerance.
No diversity of thought.
They don’t walk the talk they shove down our throats.
We are long past the “trust but verify” stage.
For the younger crowd here, you might want to take a page out if we oldsters who know nothing supposedly and take to heart what we were taught when we were young:
Only trust 15-20% of what you read and hear.
Especially the young. You have the world at your phone tip. There really is no excuse.
Don’t be stupid and shoot the messenger because you don’t like the messenger’s politics. We are all stopped clocks and right 2x a day.
"Anyone who votes for a Democrat from hereon out is simply a traitor."
I don't endorse this point of view. It's a bit hyperbolic. I will say, however, that "from here on out" is superfluous.
"For Democrats, the Mueller report turns their politics upside down"
Since they're currently unhappy the President isn't a Russian Agent, perhaps their politics need turning right-side up.
Or is right-side up, too difficult for the leftists to condone?
So! Who wants to talk about global warming? You’re being manipulated on a lot of that topic, too! And for a lot longer.
The Democratic leadership in the House are planning to legislate.
Oh sure, there are some House committee chairs who are all hellbent to hold hearings about one thing or another.
Which will become foremost in the minds of the voters? Which will they picture when the word "Democrats" is given to them?
Trump can now tear through the DOJ to restore the liberties which were lost under Obama. In doing so, he is doing his job.
Are the House committee chairs doing their job by continuing to investigate the President? If there is any doubt among Independents, it's a losing strategy.
Someone online recently re-named CNN (formerly the "Clinton News Network") "Collusion Nonsense Network."
A good SNL skit would be the Dems putting all the possible reasons they can think to impeach Trump on a whiteboard.
SNL isn't interested in skits like this.
@Yancey Ward
That explanation makes sense to me. Trump knew he didn't collude with Russia, and believed very strongly that no one in his campaign did either. So allowing the investigation to continue while calling it a witch hunt was the perfect play; and he cooperated with the investigation along the way for good measure.
Trump's opponents still don't understand him, nor do they accept and give him credit for what he is good at. Instead they attack the evil buffoon they imagine him to be, and then are shocked when their traps and tactics fail.
Sixty-three million Deplorables rejected the collusion story all along. And The Sixty-three million Gullibles who believed won't be eager to make fools of themselves again in the eyes of their Deplorable friends and relations. For that's happened. Everyone who believed the main slime media on collusion and trumpeted that belief has been made to look stupid among the people they know. You think that will pass away without a ripple? And do you think that intricate financial dealings and the contested meaning of IRS regulations as summarized in Excel speadsheets and as challenged by bloggers read by Deplorables - do you think an impenetrable web like that issuing anonymous leaks will generate stories that Gullibles will believe? Gullibles, still wincing at being played for fools over collusion? And, if Gullibles try, and their Deplorable buddies laugh and say it's "Mueller time again", what are the Gullibles going to do? They know the media took them for a ride. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Breaking News. It is offical. Rachel Maddow IS Putin's Poodle.
Fact. Jack.
They will overreach. It's in their DNA.
"Expect the left to say pertinent facts are hidden."
Yesterday, someone here yesterday sarcastically supplied the proper response to the Freder-Ingas of the world. I'm to start using it:
The Russians hacked the Mueller report!
Heh.
"and when Sessions was fired after the mid-terms"
Has anyone poked Sessions to see if he's still alive? What a disappointment he turned out to be. Putting the country through 2 years of this crap so he could avoid any appearance of impropriety.
A Prediction 3 Days Before the 2016 Election on How the Democrats Would Use Russia-gate to Try to Depose Trump
Consortium News reprints an article that was written by its editor Joe Lauria and that was published on November 5, 2016.
The 2016 article includes the following passages:
If Hillary Clinton loses a very tight election her ace-in-the-hole could be Russia.
Corporate media reacted harshly when Donald Trump said in the last debate that he would wait and see what happens before accepting the election results. "I will keep you in suspense," he said. Trump has alleged that the vote will be rigged.
If Trump loses by a razor-thin margin we can expect a demand for recounts and possible legal challenges. Some of his more violent supporters have also threatened trouble.
But what if Clinton loses a close election? In the wake of Wikileaks and FBI revelations Clinton’s sizable lead has evaporated and a tight result is looking more and more possible.
On her campaign plane a few hours after the last debate Clinton was asked if she would pledge to accept the results. She ignored the question and instead launched into an attack on what Trump had said.
If Clinton should lose a squeaker, she has two options to try to overturn the election and make herself president -— and both involve blaming Russia. She can try to influence America’s bizarre electoral college system, or get at least two allies in Congress to challenge its certification of the election.
[....]
The Clinton camp’s accusation after the first WikiLeaks revelations, just before the Democratic Convention, that Russian intelligence was behind the leak was later amplified in early October by James Clapper, director of national intelligence, who blamed "Russia’s senior-most officials" for intending to “interfere with the U.S. election process” by authorizing the hack of the Democratic National Committee.
Clapper went significantly further, however, claiming that a Russian company was behind attempted hacks of electoral computer systems in various states.
The Obama administration’s claim was widely accepted by the news media even though no evidence of Russian tampering was publicly given. With just days to go to the election the story has been revived by the pro-Clinton media. CNN Anchor Jake Tapper on Friday incorrectly said the U.S. was accusing the Russian government, not a company, of threatening election computers.
In the last debate, Clinton said the hack "has come from the highest levels of the Russian government. Clearly from Putin himself in an effort, as 17 of our intelligence agencies have confirmed, to influence our election." The 17 agencies were represented by Clapper. Clinton also offered no evidence.
If Clinton loses by a few electoral votes she could challenge the results by claiming that Russia tampered with the election. The public has been prepared with unproven allegations that are widely disseminated by corporate media and widely believed. With the media not previously demanding evidence of such a claim and if the intelligence agencies back her up, her only challenge might be to convince the needed number of Republican electors to change their votes to put her over the top.
[....]
Clinton’s camp would be faced with turning a number of electors around to vote against the Republican candidate and switch their vote to her. Clinton has to convince them that a changed vote would uphold American democracy against the interference of a supposedly hostile state that threw the election for Trump.
Clinton has to convince such so-called “Faithless Electors” to vote against their state’s popular will. This has happened in seven previous elections. ...
[The 2016 article continues]
If there was a tweet of the day award, Kurt Schlichter should get it for today. "If you believed in the collusion thing you are stupid and should feel bad.
Democrat officials should have seen this coming down the pike over a year ago.
Over on MSNBC Joy Reid is saying that Trump tried to influence the 2016 election and that this is possibly an impeachable offense. She doesn't mention it but I think he may have colluded with his campaign also.
I take no joy from this. It is proof that the Obama administration tried to take down a sitting, duly elected President. Clapper, Comey, Brennan among others (who shall not be named). I am sad and disgusted by the part our news agencies played. I will be sad when they go to jail for it. Not because they don't deserve it, I feel it's imperative that they do, but because it the Republic is now under constant threat from within. I would have rather Trump be proven to be a Russian, although it was clear from day one he wasn't, than see a coup attempt. I am sad that half the country can be led by the nose so easily.
God bless the President of the United States, but this is sad for the country. I take no joy from any of this.
Oy, these people need help. I think we are still in the 'Anger' portion of the Kubler Ross stages of grief. I heard during lunch that they will definitely get Trump on illegal campaign donations for his inauguration ball. Wow, we sure have climbed down from treason with Russia to champagne paid for under the table by donors seeking favor with the president elect.
What traditionalguy said at 1245? The Qanon theory. Brian Cates (drawandstrike), Thomas Wictor, and others of their ilk have been saying this for more than a year. There's been investigations going on by professionals who don't leak. How many people had a clue Avenatti was about to be indicted? No one. Serious professionals don't leak.
Huber is one of two investigations going on. Nobody knows what he is investigating. I forget where the other one is going on, but it was revealed in Senate testimony- but not who was doing it. There may be others.
Looks like AG Barr took more than two days to clear obstruction charges
BAG,
Loved that Hitler spoof.
"Sir, the report contains jack fucking squat. A fortune cookie contains more damning information."
The media was either lying or lied to. They seem too incurious to have been lied to, don’t they? I mean, if you made a huge screw up of your business because you were lied to, wouldn’t you be demanding the liars be questioned? But the media isn’t doing that.
I don't believe that it would be out of place to consider appointing a special prosecutor to look into the Justice Department and the FBI and the unmasking of the identities of US citizens overheard in FISA wiretaps by Samanatha Powers.
I'll bet a nickel that Horowitz has been sitting on a lot waiting for Mueller to end his probe and let Horowitz go ahead with the real stuff.
Investigate Mueller!!! He's a Russian Mole!!! Then a NEW Trump investigation! Yea.. that's the ticket!
Never fear. The ever forthcoming Eric Holder AG of the O-so -open -and-transparent Obama administration says that AG Barr’s letter is troubling in its brevity and lack of full disclosure. He’s hopeful the House investigation will continue.
Inga said...
Democrat Derangement Syndrome on display.
Yup. DDS. They'll be here all week.
"Anyone who votes for a Democrat from hereon out is simply a traitor."
Here I am. Call 911.
Democrats and LLRs undermined by the truth.
Gospace & Traditional guy, I'd sure love for this to be true but it seems far fetched. I think Nunes and Jim Jordan where trying to get Huber to testify as to what he had been doing for the last 2 years as he apparently had not deposed any witnesses or questioned people who had information on Comey and the other assclowns. Perhaps there will be movement now the deep state can't hide behind an ongoing Mueller investigation. I want Trump to declassify anything that won't help Clinton, Brennan and Clapper to escape the noose. I want these pricks hanging from a lamp post by the time this is done as a warning to the rest of the coup planners.
'Democrat Derangement Syndrome on display."
The very people who asserted every Trump voter was a traitor with no evidence now refuses to accept that democrats who believe a clear hoax put forth by democrats working with Russians are not traitors.
Discuss.
I hope Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-Jenny Craig) does in fact keep "investigating."
That would be grand!
He should subpoena Mueller.
He should subpoena Barr.
He should subpoena Stormy Daniels.
He should subpoena more documents.
Of course, the House is not part of the executive branch. So, if Nadler "finds" the incriminating evidence of the Russian-Trump conspiracy, he should immediately make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice and turn over all such evidence for immediate criminal investigation and prosecution.
But Trump's handpicked Attorney General William Barr couldn't possibly do an unbiased investigation. So Barr should appoint a Special Counsel. And that Special Counsel should be Robert S. Mueller. And.....
Wait a minute. I've heard this song before.........
It has been clear for over 2 years that the ludicrous and treasonous claims by the dems/left and LLR's were so moronic that no adult could actually believe them to be true (Hollywood is excluded from that analysis as they aren't paying attention due to their pedophile rape culture and rampant sexual assault grooming of actors and actresses).
Thus, given that these charges were so transparently false, laughably false, that any lefty/LLR who even entertained the possibility that such stupid adolescent charges could be true was clearly, undeniably, doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin.
Either knowingly (traitors) or unknowingly (too stupid to breath).
Go ahead lefties and LLR's: choose.
So what's the endgame here for the right? They want everyone else to have complete faith in that liar Trump and trust everything he has to say? (Which is a strange request given how often he contradicts himself anyway).
Not going to happen.
Everyone else wants someone decent, who's not going to give anyone - esp. from their own party - reason to appoint a special counsel working a two-year probe and enough evidence to convict dozens leading all the way up to their personal lawyer, in the first place.
Trump is still a liar, his character still sucks, he is a criminal, he's as corrupt as they come, he's unstable, he can't deliver any major promise, fixates on the wrong things, and he will never bring the country together peacefully. If he has a vision for anything you'd have to exhume George Orwell to figure out what it is.
We want an honest, mentally stable president. Not a guy whose greatest achievement is to (barely) clear his name after a two-year criminal investigation. That bar might be high enough for Republicans, but it's not befitting any American president worth celebrating.
Yeah, the dems "connected the dots" but just because you connect some dots does not mean anything is real. You can connect dots in the night sky and call it the big dipper, but there is no object "big dipper".
One of the big things they claimed was Flynn having illegal contact with Russia, but incoming officials always reach out to countries like Russia, it is part of their job to ensure a smooth transition. Flynn was only found guilty of lying to the FBI and would not have if he had spoken less and more carefully. The Trump tower meeting looks like it was a setup. Aside from those, they got nothing.
See, it SHOULD turn it upside down. But, from everything I'm seeing, it is mostly people just saying, "Oh, well, I guess Trump hid it well then," or that "Maybe we should look into Mueller's Russian connections too."
I've seen practically zero hot takes from the left that amounted to: "My God, for years, the politicians and media I trusted were just flat out wrong, and the ones I didn't trust were right. How do I reconcile that with my biases and beliefs?"
"I don't believe that it would be out of place to consider appointing a special prosecutor to look into the Justice Department and the FBI and the unmasking of the identities of US citizens overheard in FISA wiretaps by Samanatha Powers."
-- I don't see how anyone can disagree with this. Remember: Powers insists someone *used her credentials without her knowledge to gain access to secure information.* This should have been investigated *the moment she said that.* That's an honest to God security concern.
"Did Trump spend the last two years criticizing Mueller with the reverse-psychological intent of getting Democrats to defend him, so that when the report finally came out, the Democrats would look more hypocritical than usual if they didn't accept the results?"
-- I don't see why he'd expect that. Look at how the Democrats flipped from "Comey's got to go," to "Comey is a Great American Victim of Orange Man Bad." I think Trump criticized Mueller for the same reason Trump criticizes everyone he thinks is anti-Trump: Because he can.
As bad as the corporate-media Democrats - and the way they pinned their hopes on this - are, I still think it's funny how this is the sort of thing Republicans celebrate like it was Christmas Day. A more popular Bill Clinton was impeached - he couldn't carry his party through the 2000 election.
People just don't like Trump. He's not a nice human being. He's about as unlikeable as Nixon, maybe worse.
But the Republicans are in la la land and think this report proves what a great president he is.
They're like the left was 50 years ago. Delusional. War is over - if you want it.
Bad presidency gets good - if you want it.
Nope. It's still a very bad presidency.
Not because they don't deserve it, I feel it's imperative that they do, but because it the Republic is now under constant threat from within.
Yeah. That's called living in a democracy and not under tyranny.
Jefferson said we should have a rebellion every 20 years.
We've been living under Republican party oppression for way too long.
"I'll bet a nickel that Horowitz has been sitting on a lot waiting for Mueller to end his probe and let Horowitz go ahead with the real stuff."
He has been given a wonderful opportunity to be a hero, to be the one who measured up to the task of cleaning up the FBI and helping bring to justice all the corrupt FBI, Justice and Obama officials who abused their power in attempting a coup. I hope he measures up. Is he big enough for the job, does he have the courage, a Trump like backbone to get the job done? I'm hoping.
"Here I am. Call 911."
Are you at all embarrassed by your party? How will you talk about Voter's Rights without being laughed out of the room?
Are you shamed that your party attempted to overthrow the President? How will you justify it? Are you worried how that will reflect on your character?
Are you happy that Trump didn't collude with Russia? Or does that make you sad? If so, why?
Do you understand that Democrats will be hounded by us for a decade?
Since you are fine allying yourself with traitors, is there anything left you wouldn't stoop too?
How do you face yourself in the mirror?
Dan Bongino has said there was more evidence proving the existence of Bigfoot than Trump collusion with Russia. Seems accurate.
The Clintons have cost this country several decades of lost time. Billy chasing his dick and Hillary chasing the ruble.
"So what's the endgame here for the right?"
-- Uh... this is it, I guess? The end of the collusion narrative, and some egg on the media's collective faces? Like, not as exciting as Marvel's End Game, but, hey, it works.
Someone w/o a lick o' sense said:
"Yep, Barr is in cahoots with Trump to obstruct justice and is falsifying what's in the Mueller report! "
***************
Yeah, given that Barr won't release ANY of Mueller's report, it'll be easy. Really easy to do that.
Snort
Trump: What? You thought Muellermas was over? Well, step out of that new car and look behind curtain #3! Tell em what ELSE they have won, Sarah!
Sanders: Lindsey Graham will Ask AG Barr To Appoint a New Special Counsel to Investigate How the DOJ, FBI, and IC Leaders Cooked up the Russia Hoax
(cue Price Is Right "Winner" track)
(cue balloons)
(cue Hillary and Obama models in Prison Orange #5)
PBS is preempting "Forgotten" with a Mueller Report Frontline. I'm not bothering to watch to see what they leave out, namely the FBI shenanigans.
HoaxPPT is back and pushing Putin's lies again.
There is nothing so predictable than the lefties clawing their way back into Putins lap in hopes of a nice pat on the head. They will never be physically close enough to Putin to rub his inner thigh and whisper sweet flexibility nothings into his ear.
No. Not possible.
They will have to settle with aligning all their policies with Putin's desires...as they've done for the last 100 years.
TICS said, People just don't like Trump. He's not a nice human being. He's about as unlikeable as Nixon, maybe worse. But the Republicans are in la la land and think this report proves what a great president he is.
Even though the "la la land" silliness is projection, I would just remind the historically myopic writer of the magnitude of the "unlikeable" Nixon's re-election.
We've been living under Republican party oppression for way too long.
Funny, here in California, it's just the opposite.
If this came out before the election as expected and desired by the Dems, the country would be far better off.
The possibility exists that Mueller colluded with Pelosi to delay the release of his findings until after the midterms in order to give the socialists the full benefit of their blackhearted lies and sophistries. Cui bono? and all that — by the Inga Standard of Evidence™️ Mueller should be wearing an orange jumpsuit by now.
And framing all this as a political problem for the Dems (while it certainly is) is both revealing and very sad on some level. It's almost like admitting that this was never about the truth.
As Young Hegelian brilliantly outlined for us the other day, the discovery of truth in the post modern leftie universe is an epistemologically different process from the objective search that us normal decent folks undergo as we acquire knowledge. For the post modern lefties, there is no objective reality other than the self-serving emotional narrative they can scream loudest, in unison, and accompanied by aggressively stupid table pounding. It is a willful blindness, and actual truth is not the objective.
- Krumhorn
I don't want to live under Google-CNN-MSDNC corporate hack demcoratic tyranny.
nO THANK YOU.
The evil Axis of Steyer and Soros. Follow the tyrannical money.
These men want to bulldoze you.
"Yeah. That's called living in a democracy and not under tyranny."
?? I don't understand the logic of your comment. Are you saying we need a coup attempt every 20 years? I thought we had a great system where the transfer of power was peaceably achieved by voting. It seems to have worked fairly well so far. I have yet to see a tyrant in power in the USA. How have you been oppressed by those bad Republicans? I did hear about a gulag in Nevada somewhere, but im not sure about that.
(Insert insult here)
For the new or occassional readers:
Blogger Trump International Crime Syndicate (Ritmo Brasileiro) said...
It's good to know that the stupidest threads are just ripe for the threadjacking. I'll be sure to leave a trail of turds on every one of the brain droppings here that suit my fancy.
10/16/10, 10:28 AM
Still childish after all these years. Or, young at heart.
We've been living under Republican party oppression for way too long.
Yes, the oppression of Democrats natural and God given right to rule. I mean there’s stuff right now we want to take away from their supporters and give to our supporters!
The thing to remember is that in the law, there are questions of fact and conclusions of law. You can see this bviously in AG Barr’s summary of the Mueller report. As questions of fact, despite millions of dollars, countless interviews, subpoenas, search warrants, etc, there was no collusion found between any Americans and the Russians to affect the election (ignoring, of course, the putative collusion between Christopher Steele and the Russians to slime Trump). And esp none by Trump or anyone working for him. None. No facts supporting any viable theory of collusion means that no real legal analysis needs to have been done. On the Obstruction of Justice side though the facts were fairly well established. Most were quite public. For example, Trump fired Comey. We all know that, so there were no real questions of fact to determine. The question rather was whether or not firing Comey constituted Obstruction of Justice. Mueller punted those questions, laying out pros and cons, essentially saying that that decision was above his pay grade. AG Barr and DAG Rosenstein, working together, and consulting with the experts in the DoJ, determined that in each and every case, there was not criminal Obstruction of Justice, even ignoring that Trump was legally entitled to perform those actions under Article II of our Constitution. For example, the firing of Jim Comey couldn’t be Obstruction of Justice because it was for good cause, laid out by Rosenstein in his letter to AG Sessions. That it was for verifiable good cause meant that bad motives would be irrelevant to whether or not it was Obstruction- it wasn’t. Making their conclusions even stronger, was that they were explicitly made without regard to intent (which typically requires a valid underlying charge) and Presidential Executive power. To paraphrase a bit, one of the required elements of Obstruction of Justice is intent, but they didn’t even need to ask about that element because other required elements were missing.
Probably any one who has successfully limped through their first year of law school can see what was going on in the second part of AG Barr’s summary letter. One of the harder things for many to learn early in their law school careers is the difference between facts, conclusions, and dicta. I was taught to use a multicolored marker technique, with one color used for each. Anything he said about intent, bad motives, or Presidential Executive power was dicta, because he (and Rosenstein) were able to dispose of the issue without addressing those questions. But, arguably, by mentioning those two aspects, he was essentially emphasizing how bullet proof their determination of no Obstruction of Justice was.
Let me add that when you read something legal drafted by a well regarded lawyer like Barr, I think that it is prudent to assume that what he is saying is being said intentionally. That means that you should be interpreting it as it was meant to be interpreted. And anytime you read something legal, you always need to be on the lookout for what is not said, and ask “why?” I would suggest that most of those with legal training who continue to believe that there might still have been Obstruction of Justice by Trump or his people, after having read AG Barr’s summary, probably shouldn’t be allowed to practice law, because they can’t understand what he said, fairly explicitly in my view.
so, i've been fishing in Arizona and Wyoming; and just got back: have been reading the past posts.
Seems like some of our regular posters have sort of thinned out; except for occasional mentions that while they've spent the last year smearing our President; they never Specifically said that he should be impeached for 'collusion'. Apparently, they still want him removed, by any means necessary, though; presumably because he is effective?
Fen, I know people who supported the second Gulf War and people who opposed it. I know people still believe the Clintons made a practice of killing off their enemies. The financial crisis that wiped out a huge amount of savings and security had its roots in government decisions made 20 years earlier from policies that were supported obliviously by both parties on a variety of pretexts. The AIDS epidemic in the 80s was completely ignored as a public health crisis by the executive agencies responsible for managing public health crises. The attempt to remove Trump from office with the collusion mess was an irresponsible fiasco. Likewise the birther movement that attempted to invalidate Obama's presidency. I don't believe in purity regimes.
“Trump’s Gravest Threat Yet Rose From Manhattan,” we were told by Bloomberg’s Chris Strohm, referring to the Southern (“Sovereign”) District of New York. It’s precisely the same location, ironically, the Showtime series “Billions” depicts (reveals?), in which an out-of-control U.S. attorney uses his position to create a bogus investigation into a target’s finances for the sole purpose of tempting some response that can later be prosecuted as “obstruction of justice.” - http://thefederalist.com/2019/03/25/new-york-deputy-u-s-attorney-jumps-sinking-russiagate-ship/
Sounds just like a theory that somebody posted here yesterday. Keep jabbing, prodding, and poking the target until you provoke a response and label that response “obstruction of justice,” because, goddammit, Trump never should have beat Hillary!
Fen, to sum up, I don't take these people shouting treason seriously, whether on the left or the right. Show me Herbert John Burgman, and I'll take you seriously.
"I don't believe that it would be out of place to consider appointing a special prosecutor to look into the Justice Department and the FBI and the unmasking of the identities of US citizens overheard in FISA wiretaps by Samanatha Powers."
“-- I don't see how anyone can disagree with this. Remember: Powers insists someone *used her credentials without her knowledge to gain access to secure information.* This should have been investigated *the moment she said that.* That's an honest to God security concern.”
As suggested, there had been a rapidly increasing rate of unmasking of the identities of US Persons during the year running up to when the entire project was shut down by NSA Dir Rogers in May, 2016, after finding widespread abuse. The unmasking were apparently running at better than one a day through winter and spring of that year. Someone legally has to take responsibility for requesting the unmaskings, and that was ostensibly Powers, whose job as UN Ambassador essentially required zero unmaskings, and not the hundreds done in her name. She was an intelligence consumer, and not intelligence producer, who might need to unmask the identity of a US Person. Ditto for a number of other unmasked in the Obama White House.
As a reminder for what is going on here. The 4th Amdt requires a warrant, or in existent circumstances probable cause, for searches involving US citizens and legal resident aliens (together “US Persons”). The PATRIOT Act expanded FISA to allow searching of electronic information and communications in certain situations. For example, the UN Ambassador has his phone tapped by our govt. on a regular basis, because he works for a foreign power. But before analysts have the identities masked of any US Persons he talks to before they can review his communications. This is part of FISA required “minimization”. If an analyst finds a pressing counterintelligence or counterterrorism reason to find out who the Russian Ambassador is talking to, he can request that person’s identity be unmasked. When it comes back that the person was Lt Gen Flynn, Trump’s selection for his National Security Advisor, the analyst should have stopped right there, and destroyed his copy of the unmasked communications. That is another part of minimization. Which we know he didn’t, because it was (illegally) used to by FBI agents, including the odious Peter Strzok, to impeach Gen Flynn in their White House meeting. But keep that in mind - FISA unmaskings essentially have to provide equivalent protection for US Persons as a search warrant does, under the 4th Amdt. In the last years of the Obama Administration, this was far from the case, with the 4th Amdt Rights of American citizens being riutinely violated by such rampant (and political) unmaskings.
The financial crisis that wiped out a huge amount of savings and security had its roots in government decisions made 20 years earlier from policies that were supported obliviously by both parties on a variety of pretexts.
Bush administration people were testifying before Congress in 2006 asking the Democrats,. who had just taken over, to reform Fannie/Freddie and slow the "liar loans." Barney Frank said, "Lets take another roll of the dice." and Maxine's response was unprintable.
Now the TARP was a good example of bipartisan corruption,.
One of the harder things for many to learn early in their law school careers is the difference between facts, conclusions, and dicta.
I spent years teaching medical students the difference between history and physical. History is what the patient tells you. Physical is what you find. You'd think that is an easy distinction but it took students half a year at least to get it,.
The concepts sound similar.
The ONLY collusion to throw an American election was by Hillary/dems/left/libs/LLR's with Russia, Ukraine, the UK, Australia and possibly other nations.
And the collusion is so thick you can spread it with a knife.
Not to mention Brennan and the FBI traitors running operatives into the Trump campaign and then weaponizing their own planted stories.
The hallmark of communist and far left socialist totalitarians the world over.
George Papadopoulos never spoke with any Russians. He was set up by Halper and then reeled in by the Clinton Foundation donor and old Clinton pal Australian Alexander Downer. Who then promptly sent the planted story (which, by the way, was all a lie ANYWAY as Downer has testified (the FBI did not accurately characterize what he claims he heard from Papadopoulos)) off through State Dept Channels and leading to the Ultimate Democrat Patsy-Schmuck McCain who bit down on the hoax ploy like a starving dog on a bone.
The entire left remain, as they've always been, volunteers on Team Soviet and now Team Russia.....assuming they don't run away with Team Islamic Supremacy first.
All in all, they have a difficult choice ahead of them. So many "good choices" from a lefty totalitarian point of view!
“The possibility exists that Mueller colluded with Pelosi to delay the release of his findings until after the midterms in order to give the socialists the full benefit of their blackhearted lies and sophistries. Cui bono? and all that — by the Inga Standard of Evidence™️ Mueller should be wearing an orange jumpsuit by now.”
By the Quackster Standard of Evidence, the earth is flat and all the crazy people who think it’s round should be charged with heresy.
“The ONLY collusion to throw an American election was by Hillary/dems/left/libs/LLR's with Russia, Ukraine, the UK, Australia and possibly other nations.
The entire left remain, as they've always been, volunteers on Team Soviet and now Team Russia.....assuming they don't run away with Team Islamic Supremacy first.”
Democrat Derangement Syndrome on steroids.
Michael K -- Have you read Michael Lewis's Liars Poker? Liars Poker lays out exactly how the financial companies discovered they could milk the mortgage market by hiding risk. It was published in 1989. The gaming of Fannie/Freddy was a consequence, not a cause.
* * *
Bruce brings up the Patriot act -- another example I could have added to my list of destructive government actions that we all end up living with.
Communist voting and Muslim Brotherhood supporting Obama CIA a**hat Director speaking on the LLR "go to" network MSNBC:
"Well, I don't know if I received bad information but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was. I am relieved that it's been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election."
Ladies and gentlemen, the democrats idea of a great CIA Director.
And he was really. He gave the Russians, the Chinese and the Iranians everything they ever wanted and he weaponized the intelligence agency he headed up against domestic political opponents.
So, yeah. From a lefty point of view, he was a PERFECT CIA Director.
Perfectly perfect.
Henry does not believe in purity regimes. That’s great, but ultimately irrelevant, given the utter lack of purity on offer. We can’t have purity, but we still ought to have accountability. And the people who have foisted this malevolent Russiagate nonsense need to face some consequences for their actions.
Well downer was a board member with Huawei. Which is a Chinese state security front, technically fmr pla which means active measures, I guess akin to sostenes behn itt.
Best of the Web:
The Mueller report confirms that the Obama administration, without evidence, turned the surveillance powers of the federal government against the presidential campaign of the party out of power. This historic abuse of executive authority was either approved by President Barack Obama or it was not. It’s time for Mr. Obama, who oddly receives few mentions in stories about his government’s spying on associates of the 2016 Trump campaign, to say what he knew and did not know about the targeting of his party’s opponents.
If he was briefed, for example, on plans by the Justice Department to seek wiretaps on Trump campaign associates, it’s hard to believe Mr. Obama would not have been highly interested in the matter. Going all the way back to his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, Mr. Obama had aggressively advocated for preventing federal abuse of surveillance powers.
In September of 2004, the Chicago Tribune reported that candidate Obama “is ripping the controversial USA Patriot Act for violating U.S. citizens’ civil liberties in the battle against terrorism.” The Tribune reported:
Answering a Tribune questionnaire on the issue of terrorism, Obama vows to support the repeal of several provisions of the act because he believes it failed to strike the appropriate balance between homeland security and protection of civil liberties.
...“The act goes too far in violating our fundamental notions of privacy, thus seriously eroding the very ideals at the heart of our country’s greatness,” Obama said in his questionnaire.
According to the Tribune, Mr. Obama said that “a cornerstone of our democracy” is “that actions of a sometimes overzealous and overreaching Executive Branch are subject to challenge.”
FullMoon said...
For the new or occassional readers:
Blogger Trump International Crime Syndicate
10/16/10
It's not often that someone has both nothing substantive to add to his hit job on a commenter AND the need to dig back nine years into what must be quite a stash he's keeping to dredge up his hit job.
Just like the Republican party. No new ideas, ever. Just pointless personal attacks. And always the same ones at that. Recycled over and over again.
Both lacking in response to the post as well as in substance.
I have yet to see a tyrant in power in the USA.
This Trump supporter apparently begs to differ.
Don't think we're catching these not-so-isolated reveals? We are.
Mr. D. I agree with you. Accountability is in the wheelhouse.
Much like James Comey who blew the whistle on stellar wind and unexpectedly presided over a greater panopticon.
"We've been living under Republican party oppression for way too long."
Funny, here in California, it's just the opposite.
Billions of budget surplus dollars, an unemployment rate within 5% of the country's overall, and still the global leader of technology, new industries and culture. I can see why Republicans would hate it.
I guess once it becomes a deficit-spending tax shelter that can't sustain any industry but war-mongering, then Republicans would like it. Good thing that will never happen!
War and sacrificing the middle class for the tribute of billionaires. I wonder how long Republicans think they can force these strange priorities down the throats of America?
Whatever the media's faults, I see a phrase like "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and wonder if it's not just some projection for a raging case of "Trump Subservience Syndrome."
“It's not often that someone has both nothing substantive to add to his hit job on a commenter AND the need to dig back nine years into what must be quite a stash he's keeping to dredge up his hit job.
Just like the Republican party. No new ideas, ever. Just pointless personal attacks. And always the same ones at that. Recycled over and over again.
Both lacking in response to the post as well as in substance.”
One would think under the new standard of commenting that Full Moon’s dreck wouldn’t make it through the moderation process.
God ! Ritmo evades moderation.
Henry said...
Inga said...
Democrat Derangement Syndrome on display.
Yup. DDS. They'll be here all week.
3/25/19, 5:23 PM
Oh, we'll be here a lot longer than that. You'll never live this down.
Inga said...
Well you Trumpists, soon there will be an end to your Trump worship, with the end of the investigation and when the results are revealed for the entire world to see. I just hope you all won’t have some mental breakdown over what will happen. The Nation will survive, but I’m not so sure some of your psyches will.
2/3/18, 3:20 PM
The investigation has ended and it's like Christmas and the 4th of July rolled into one as far as I'm concerned.
“Don't think we're catching these not-so-isolated reveals? We are.”
We read similar things here daily.
"Well, I don't know if I received bad information but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was. I am relieved that it's been determined there was not a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government over our election."
What? You had an "intelligence" failure?
No worries, Johnny.
When Strzok texted there was no there there, you assumed it had to be somewhere.
Easy mistake..ahem.
Sorry to hear you're not sleeping well. Try to get some rest.
So it's really a case of projection, with Russia and most everything else.
It's not often that someone has both nothing substantive to add to his hit job on a commenter AND the need to dig back nine years into what must be quite a stash he's keeping to dredge up his hit job.
Whazza matta? Using your own words about hijacking a thread is an allusion to murder?
You are one sick puppy.Get help, and don't forget to
M A G A
California Is In Great Financial Shape – And Headed For An Epic Crisis
Surplus masks deep fiscal problems, especially in school districts
But flooding the Southern border will do wonders for Cali's tech industry.
It takes a special type of lack of awareness to brag on California and complain about the middle class being sacrificed in one short post.
Inga: "Democrat Derangement Syndrome on steroids"
The collusion between those parties has already been admitted to, under oath.
Keep going Hoax dossier/Collusion Truther gal. Putin wants you too.....
HoaxPPT: "Whatever the media's faults,...."
They served as the dems and Putin's narratives enablers.
That's all.
Oh yeah, they worked hand in glove with democrats to go full Stasi on domestic political opponents.
Then they worked hand in glove with democrats to try and overthrow a duly elected President.
Other than those small "faults", not much going on really.
You hacks have been completely exposed.....and we're just getting started.....
Ist’s pretty telling that pptapes answers verified accounts of the Obama administration abusing the surveillance powers of the NSA for political advantage with a video of a single nutjob Trump supporter. Not sure where the support for the description “non so isolated” comes from. “Reality based community”? Not so much.
Remember when that Maddow fan took a gun and shot up that softball practice shouting that Trump was a traitor? Good times, good times.
Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???. Obama’s CIA director
Today he says he might have had bad information and “suspected more than was true”
But hey, Trump’s a traitor and some American ought to do something! But there is the matter of that crazy nobody.
"I wonder if all of the old people who were waiting for the report's release so they could die are happy. I hope so!"
Wickedly brilliant.
Pops, Pops, wake up!
Whaaaa? Son is that you?
Yes, Pops. You made it! The report is released!
Oh, thank God. Did they nail the rat bastard?
Let's see, Pops. They are reporting on MSNBC right now.
[TV critter] .... no collusion. I repeat no collusion.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Pops? POPS! Code Blue! Code Blue!
It seems like the Mueller report is being treated like a trial, rather than a gathering of evidence. I keep on being reminded of the OJ Simpson trial - not so much for the outcome but for the media circus and how divisive such shows are.
Inga...Allie Oop said...
“The possibility exists that Mueller colluded with Pelosi to delay the release of his findings until after the midterms in order to give the socialists the full benefit of their blackhearted lies and sophistries. Cui bono? and all that — by the Inga Standard of Evidence™️ Mueller should be wearing an orange jumpsuit by now.”
By the Quackster Standard of Evidence, the earth is flat and all the crazy people who think it’s round should be charged with heresy.
3/25/19, 8:29 PM
I think this really differentiates the thinking of the right vs the thinking of the left. The former, believes that people should be locked up for the actions they perform, whereas the left believe that people should be locked up for their thoughts and beliefs. Even further, the left cannot see a distinction.
It’s this inability to see through this false equivalency is why the left will continue harping on this. It’s simply a matter of convincing people that the actual evidence doesn’t matter, that as long as they can trap Trum in a tweet, it’s good enough for criminal misconduct.
stlcdr
The post Mueller Report reminds me of the post O J trial in that the congressional Democrats are going to continue searching for the "real killer".
The elephant in the room is Obama and his intel community who staged an attempted coup.
But flooding the Southern border will do wonders for Cali's tech industry
Where are the tech lords going to get the serfs to do the scut work needed to maintain their lifestyles?
“Bruce brings up the Patriot act -- another example I could have added to my list of destructive government actions that we all end up living with.”
The part of the PATRIOT Act that I know best (and that isn’t saying much) are the FISA modifications and additions. This was enacted in the aftermath of the 9/11/01 attacks on the US, and then the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq soon thereafter. One of the causes of the 9/11 attacks having been successful was the “Wall” built by Clinton DoJ political appointee Jamie Goerlich (who went on to sit on the Board of Fannie May, whose egregious lending practices were a significant cause of the housing loan market crash). The Wall was instituted to make sure that the criminal and national security sides of the DoJ and esp FBI couldn’t communicate. Essentially the Wall was erected to prevent the FBI from doing precisely what they did with Trump, FISAgate, and the Steele Dossier, which was to move back and forth between criminal and national security (counterintelligence in this case) aspects and laws. They were essentially using national security tools to find dirt for criminal investigations of political opponents. But back in early 2001, with the Wall still in place, important leads were not being put together by the FBI, as the hijackers planned their fateful hijackings, because the two sides of the FBI weren’t allowed to communicate. And probably one of the results of the legislative fix to Goerlich’s Wall in the PATRIOT Act went too far, ultimately making it too easy for investigations to move back and forth between national security and criminal in the FBI.
The FISA changes though were a bit different. FISA was originally enacted in response to Church Commission recommendations to counter Nixon era intelligence gathering abuses. It was written at a time when land ones were pretty much the only way to communicate telephonically, and it took time to install new phone lines. So, the method of gaining a warrant to (physically) wiretap phones of our enemies was intentionally cumbersome. Think of the Soviet Embassy getting a new phone line from AT&T. The new line took weeks, and by then the FISA warrant was in place. Skip forward 25 or so years, and what we were facing chasing OBL around Afghanistan by his people was the heavy use of burner phones. Technologically we (the NSA) could intercept phone calls between al Quida in their caves in Afghanistan. But FISA prevented it, because they didn’t have a FISA warran. Or, maybe more accurately, they couldn’t legally intercept phone calls between foreigners and people in the US - like the 9/11 hijackers. The Bush Administration was doing it anyway, claiming that the old FISA interfered significantly with their Article II war fighting powers. The result was that Title I of FISA was loosened up a bit, making it much easier and quicker to electronically follow networks of fast changing cell phones. In particular, they could now legally intercept phone calls from enemies (and unfortunately innocent civilians), record them, and get an expedited warrant in the next day or so, instead of having to have the warrant in place before they could record conversations. That was probably for the good. But the other thing that was new since FISA was enacted in the mid 1970s was the Internet. Much of modern communications, esp between our enemies in our War on Terror, is electronic, yet we really didn’t have a viable structure in place to surveillance it, without the possibility of violating the 4th Amdt rights of US Persons. Thus, Title VII was added to FISA that allowed the FBI (etc) to search the immense amount of data worldwide that the NSA was scooping up and storing at its huge database facility in UT. Both Title I and Title VII have Minimization requirements in order to protect the 4th Amdt rights of US Persons. But they are arguably not strong enough, having been written in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the midst of our war with al Quaeda.
Inga...Allie Oop said...
“It's not often that someone has both nothing substantive to add to his hit job on a commenter AND the need to dig back nine years into what must be quite a stash he's keeping to dredge up his hit job.
Just like the Republican party. No new ideas, ever. Just pointless personal attacks. And always the same ones at that. Recycled over and over again.
Both lacking in response to the post as well as in substance.”
One would think under the new standard of commenting that Full Moon’s dreck wouldn’t make it through the moderation process.
Ya know, it is time to remind each and every anti Trump media and LLR personality of the vile, moronic, accusatory baseless comments they have made in the past.
Upon rare occasion I like to do that here for two of the regulars. They really hate seeing their own words and thoughts , dreck, in Ingas native tongue,cut and pasted for all to see.
Causes them to cry for mammaAA and beg for mercy. Makes me smile every time. Hardest part is deciding which inanity to use among thousands and thousands and thousands of their mindless comments.
Exrtemely satisfied they are no longer able to hijack threads because of the new, moderate, moderation.
Michael K said...
God ! Ritmo evades moderation.
Doc, all you personally have to do is mention McDonalds and it drives goofy crazy. Then, just sit back, don't respond to his replies, and watch him disintegrate. Many the time you destroyed him with a simple reference and made me smile as he had a tantrum and responded with seven or eight paragraphs of recycled middle school insults.
His obvious feelings of inferiority when attacking you, a fine, decent, accomplished surgeon and teacher, is what convinced all of us here that he is a resentful medical school dropout.
"It's not often that someone has both nothing substantive to add to his hit job on a commenter AND the need to dig back nine years into what must be quite a stash he's keeping to dredge up his hit job."
Whazza matta? Using your own words about hijacking a thread is an allusion to murder?
You don't "use words." You repeat them over and over and over and over again. You must have posted that a few hundred times. Don't they teach originality in contracting school? Or I guess originality is just for people smart enough to have an actual point to make.
You are one sick puppy.Get help, and don't forget to
M A G A
Check it out: Trump's cause and his politics are so unattractive that his supporters have to browbeat the very majority of the country who want nothing to do with him. Usually celebration is for things that other people enjoy. But the right-wing knows how unpopular they are, that they invite and welcome contempt. And sing slogans about it.
Well, at least you're aware enough to know how unloved you and your silly president-in-name-only are.
Doc, all you personally have to do is mention McDonalds and it drives goofy crazy. Then, just sit back, don't respond to his replies, and watch him disintegrate. Many the time you destroyed him with a simple reference and made me smile as he had a tantrum and responded with seven or eight paragraphs of recycled middle school insults.
Mike doesn't view it that way, because unlike you he's smart enough to know when he's lost an actual substantive point (which he does all the time when fighting me), and accomplished enough to not feel good about it.
His obvious feelings of inferiority when attacking you, a fine, decent, accomplished surgeon and teacher --
LOL!
Slurp, slurp, slurp!
When you can't bring Mike down to your level - that self-satisfaction you get from your juvenile mediocrity - you can at least, er, "kiss" up to him. Yum yum yum. Essence of Mikey goes down smooth for the Moon!
And we know how repetitive the Moon gets. Many a thread he'd revisit days or so later, asking for a showdown of sorts now that no one was there to witness his witless game of posting dozens of inferior comments that he'd later delete, just to get a response. It was fun watching the change he'd go through... all of a sudden becoming serious and showing a pride that he knew he didn't merit in public just 36 hours before.
.....and we're just getting started.....
With what, exactly? Newly emboldened egomania on Twitter? So impressive. Let's pretend we can build a country with actual infrastructure and a middle class with that.
HaHaHa! Dance goofy, Dance !
Ritmo Re-Animated said...
Yes. Make love to my brain. Or something.
Should I have proposed marriage right off the bat? I hope you're not like that.
I'm only green once a year during Mardi Gras. Or at bedtime.
Think of all the love we'll be able to make out in the garden, or by the lake, at nightfall if need be. Or not.
Shouting would consider that much too primeval. But you and I can be natural like that. Together. You think these detractors call the hippies "dirty" on account of hygiene?
No ma'am.
Imagine being covered in the flowers that you're being made love to on top of.
I dare you to pass that up.
Plus, I've got the finances and the taste to enjoy that old house. I love Wisconsin. And I travel with room for two as often as you'd like. When we're not getting stuck in the charming shops of Madison or other, more rustic corners of the state.
I'm just starting.
11/6/11, 5:44 PM
Many a thread he'd revisit days or so later, asking for a showdown of sorts now that no one was there to witness his witless game
After composing all day, you rushed right home to post this gem.Hoist on your own Picard, ha ha!
M A G A
oh, and Climate Change
M A G A
oh, and Climate Change
Oh, he loves Trump and hates science (and the natural world) so put away the contractor-to-literate-human decoder ring and just observe the joy he takes in knowing he has no point to make. What masochism! A true spectacle to behold.
Michael K said...
God ! Ritmo evades moderation.
--
It's avacado. "Everyone knows" it's avacado!!!!!!!!"
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