tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post6410385165611509939..comments2024-03-28T05:31:30.807-05:00Comments on Althouse: About those newly declassified Flynn transcripts...Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-12448125434778411672020-05-31T04:49:00.779-05:002020-05-31T04:49:00.779-05:00“Flynn clearly stepped out of bounds unless his ch...“Flynn clearly stepped out of bounds unless his charge from Trump/job description has been superseded or includes contacting/responding directly Foreign Ambassadors - who primarily liaise through StateDept.<br /><br />“I primarily take him to task for lack of situational awareness him being intelligence honcho and all<br /><br />“--- What is the job description of the National Security Advisor?<br /><br />“The national security adviser offers the president a range of options on national security issues. Among other duties, the national security adviser helps plan the president’s foreign travel and provides background memos and staffing for the president’s meetings and phone calls with world leaders. Flynn clearly stepped out of bounds unless his charge from Trump/job description has been superseded or includes contacting/responding directly Foreign Ambassadors - who primarily liaise through StateDept.”<br /><br />I think that you very much misunderstand the job of an NSA in a modern Republican Administration. The last place that a Republican Administration is going to trust to for day to day dealings with major world powers is the State Department. It is filled with careerist Deep State bureaucrats, very often very liberal, and no doubt in this Administration, heavily into #Resistance. They are more often than not Dems with impeccable credentials, having prepped well, then gone on to an Ivy League school, and probably grad school. The absolute last people someone like Trump would trust. If you want a major treaty, you go through the State Dept. that is where you go for visas, and Americans in foreign countries having problems. But if the Trump Administration wants to ask the Putin Administration informally about something, not important enough for a direct call between the two of them personally, it would still to this day, probably go just like these calls went, between the NSA and the Russian Ambassador to the US. Both, no doubt, talk daily to their principals. Interestingly, one of the interesting aspects to the calls was that there were several oblique references in the calls to the Russian bureaucracy and their inflexibility. All of these countries have their equivalents to our State Department, and much of modern day to day high level diplomacy seems to be getting around them, while still appeasing them. <br /><br />These discussions were exactly the sorts of communications that a modern NSA, esp in a Republican Administration, would be involved in. They are one or at two levels removed from the very top (I think that Flynn was operating more through Pence than with Trump directly). This couldn’t have been through State directly, because they were the ones imposing sanctions on our side, and demanding retribution on the Russian side. And it was too low down for the two principals to discuss personally. <br /><br />I should add that Congress has oversight over the State Dept, but not over the NSC, which is supposed to be the NSA’s staff. That is part of why IG Atkinson got fired - he took NSC business to Congress (to Schifty and his HPSCI). <br /><br />What really ballooned under Obama was the NSC as a parallel organization to the State Dept, IC, DOD, etc. It had started with a couple, under Kissinger, and had grown to 600 people by the time Trump took over, most of whom had been forwarded from various departments and agencies. during the impeachment, we found that it still had 600 staffers, many of whom were, not surprisingly, Obama holdovers, intent on sabotaging Trump’s foreign policy from within the West Wing of the WH. And that, again, was why Flynn had to go - because he was apparently planning on the sort of downsizing and streamlining of the NSC that was finally accomplished this year, after a number of NSC staff helped try to get Trump impeached. Flynn probably would have done it three years earlier. Bruce Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10815293023158025662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-71298053658006948582020-05-31T02:06:33.475-05:002020-05-31T02:06:33.475-05:00I confess to having wasted precious minutes by rea...I confess to having wasted precious minutes by reading the Chait piece TWICE. After the first reading, confused, I concluded that I must have been unable to appreciate the point he was making. I took a break. Drank a delicious martini, up, with blue cheese stuffed olives … to clear my head. Read it again, even more carefully. The martini didn’t help at all. But then, upon reflection, I think I cracked the code, so to speak. Obviously Chait had consumed at least two martinis before he threw together his barely comprehensible word salad, and then fell asleep at his keyboard before proofreading it. Damned deadlines. ..publish it and just hope that someone, anyone, maybe Inga, can interpret it as “Flynn bad; traitorous weasel” which apparently is what he meant to say. Terry Otthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09820634027576151546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82222827796396550572020-05-31T01:09:09.283-05:002020-05-31T01:09:09.283-05:00It is true that Person A, should he say to Person ...It is true that Person A, should he say to Person B, “I can’t talk about X,” could be said to have “discussed the issue of X with Person B.” In a literal, didactic, rather unfair way, yes that statement is literally true. But it’s hardly the hook to hang a 1001 violation and treason charge on a man. It doesn’t pass the smell test. Mike (MJB Wolf)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00936808380090258703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-88204427992855737962020-05-30T22:05:36.364-05:002020-05-30T22:05:36.364-05:00"all the dirty tricks"
Trump himself wa..."all the dirty tricks"<br /><br />Trump himself was a dirty trick, promoted by the Clinton campaign and the DNC to throw the Republican primaries into disarray.Roryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06544975859782391441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91982931981286406882020-05-30T21:37:56.777-05:002020-05-30T21:37:56.777-05:00I’ve been shocked by all the dirty tricks pulled a...I’ve been shocked by all the dirty tricks pulled against Trump since he became the GOP nominee.<br /><br />The Russian collusion hit from the Media, Democrats, and deep state has been astonishing in its effectiveness and vindictiveness against Trump and Anyone associated with him. <br /><br />They put Flynn through Hell.Ray - SoCalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11293232996007277071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-32575978115180777222020-05-30T21:25:22.031-05:002020-05-30T21:25:22.031-05:00wholelottasplainin' said...
Narayanan said...
...wholelottasplainin' said...<br />Narayanan said...<br />- Did Flynn give heads up to Trump or Pence before talking to Russia or FBI?<br />**************<br />That last question is utterly immaterial. Bruce Hayden (and Barr himself) have pointed out that it has been routine for members of an incoming administration to begin to make contacts with foreign governments to ensure a smooth transmisstion. IIRC he also said that the outcoming governments generally provide office space for such people to work out of. As for Flynn, he had been picked by Trump for the a post that would involve making and contacts and developing relationships with the Russkis, among others. There is NO evidence that Trump was blind-sided by Flynn's actions.<br />-------------=============<br />thanks for taking time to respond. Had the transition been simple baton passing between UniParty anointed many of the current issues would be papered<br /><br />Flynn clearly stepped out of bounds unless his charge from Trump/job description has been superseded or includes contacting/responding directly Foreign Ambassadors - who primarily liaise through StateDept.<br /><br />I primarily take him to task for lack of situational awareness him being intelligence honcho and all<br /><br />--- What is the job description of the National Security Advisor?<br /><br />The national security adviser offers the president a range of options on national security issues. Among other duties, the national security adviser helps plan the president’s foreign travel and provides background memos and staffing for the president’s meetings and phone calls with world leaders.Narayananhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03007500560335813723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-23659230582300418502020-05-30T20:18:35.992-05:002020-05-30T20:18:35.992-05:00"Am I the only one concerned that since Trump..."Am I the only one concerned that since Trump’s inauguration the Democrats and the news media have jointly decided that the United States should have an antagonistic policy towards Russia, and that they have colluded in an attempt to force Trump to adhere to that policy using the Mueller Investigation and, for instance, the news media response to Trump’s July 2018 summit with Putin?"<br /><br />Part of it, of course, is that focusing on the Ruskies means ignoring the Chinks, the Red Chinese. Part of why the Dems and their Deep State allies wanted Gen Flynn out of the Trump WH was that he was the one who most aware that the bigger threats to US interests were the ChiComs. Who gave the Wuhan Coronavirus, and turned it into a pandemic. But it goes much further with the Chinese engaging in aggressive foreign policy, etc. <br /><br />And, of course, another big part is that the Chinese have bought and paid for so many at the top of the Dem party, from the Biden family, on down, as well as big tech companies like Google and Twitter. All at least partially controlled by the Chinese. Bruce Haydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10815293023158025662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-77840324362589438402020-05-30T19:52:04.286-05:002020-05-30T19:52:04.286-05:00"They argued that the Constitution allows for..."They argued that the Constitution allows for only one president at a time and that if an incoming administration begins foreign policy negotiations before taking office, it confuses the issue of who holds power."<br /><br />The constitution also allows for a president elect, or they would have had the inauguration the day the electors voted in December. There was no confusion, Obama had the power, Trump had power to be realized in the future.Josephbleauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12407587570806062403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-20080509869174935402020-05-30T18:36:29.817-05:002020-05-30T18:36:29.817-05:00"ISIS is codeword for Democrats."
That&...<i> "ISIS is codeword for Democrats."</i><br /><br />That's impressive, gadfly. Did you think that up yourself?Original Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01714345479248980398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-73771466391411634742020-05-30T17:55:36.979-05:002020-05-30T17:55:36.979-05:00they had an investigation of walid phares, who hap...they had an investigation of walid phares, who happens to be a maronite christian, on his support of the egyptian government, why because qatar backed the salafi militants behind morsi, who released a whole spell of them, narcisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07128976398798678295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10385905402330351682020-05-30T16:21:45.462-05:002020-05-30T16:21:45.462-05:00Well, I guess that settles it.
Yawn Well, I guess that settles it. <br /><br />Yawn Amadeus 48 https://www.blogger.com/profile/15907486643353591432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-85572219466632933272020-05-30T15:33:58.112-05:002020-05-30T15:33:58.112-05:00Bruce Hayden :
"The Obama Administration wa...Bruce Hayden : <br /><br />"The Obama Administration was fucking with the incoming Trump Administration with their expulsion of Russians…..<br /><br />…If someone tells you any differently, read the transcripts of his calls with the Russian Ambassador yourself."<br /><br />I did read them. It’s quite clear that the “the Obama Administration was fucking with the incoming Trump Administration” - so clear that not only was it obvious to the presumably quite sharp Russian Ambassador :<br /><br />KISLYAK : <i>And I just wanted to tell you that we found these actions have targeted not only against Russia, but also against the president elect</i><br /><br />it was even clear to the doofuses at CNN :<br /><br />https://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/29/opinions/russia-sanctions-ghitis/index.html<br /><br />“Obama puts Trump on the spot with Russia sanctions”<br /><br />The Obama Administration was pursuing its domestic policy objective of fucking with the incoming Trump Administration, by trying to engineer a punch up with the Russkies on the foreign policy front.<br /><br />Now, at the time, the Obama Administration was the actual US government. The future Trump administration was not. Consequently, at the time of Flynn’s calls, the Obama Administration’s efforts to screw with Trump by pursuing a fight with the Russkies was official government policy. So Flynn’s efforts to cool it with the Russkie Ambassador were screwing with official government policy. <br /><br />So all those pieces we’ve seen saying “Flynn did nothing wrong, look he was trying to cool it and that’s in US interests” are missing the point. It wasn’t what the then US government thought was in US interests. The legal government thought damaging relations with Russia was a <i>good</i> policy, contributing to their <i>good</i>domestic policy of screwing with Trump.<br /><br />So if the Logan Act were a thing, Flynn would be guilty as hell.<br /><br />En passant, I’ll note that from reading the transcripts – and perhaps someone knows the facts – it’s not at all obvious to me that the 29 Dec 2016 Flynn-Kislyak phone call is happening after the expulsions of 35 Russkies has been announced – or at least after Flynn is aware of them. He seems to be talking about rumors and possibilities. However whatever the rights and wrongs of that, I’ve seen an internet meme that the transcripts show that Flynn did not discuss “sanctions” as defined in Mueller’s statement of offense as the contents of EO 13757. This looks wrong. The sanctions on FSB and GRU are discussed and they are in EO 13757.<br /><br />Moving on :<br /><br />Cronus titan : <i>The transcripts have zero legal value.</i><br /><br />By which he means, zero legal value without the 302s of Flynn’s interview so that we can see if he was lying. I beg to differ. The transcripts, which even if they do show clear breaches of the Logan Act, do not show Flynn – to the smallest extent – as an agent in the pay of the Kremlin. Quite the opposite. If Flynn was a Kremlin agent, Kislyak could not conceivably have said what he said about the Obama measures being directed against the president – elect. It insinuates some common interest between Russia and Trump, which would be deranged in a phone call between an agent and his controller, which both knew would be being listened to by the US authorities. Flynn and Kislyak would have been more belligerent if they knew it was just a show for the amusement of FBI listeners in.<br /><br />The transcripts demonstrate that the DoJ is legally correct when it says that even if Flynn lied, such a lie was not material to any counter-intelligence investigation. Having cleared Flynn up to the point of dotting the final i, and crossing the final t, on 4 January, there’s nothing in the transcripts that could justify continuing the investigation, still less interviewing Flynn about it on 24 January.Lee Moorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04241137335422155018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-72448383476813432192020-05-30T15:24:10.631-05:002020-05-30T15:24:10.631-05:00"Am I the only one concerned that since Trump..."Am I the only one concerned that since Trump’s inauguration the Democrats and the news media have jointly decided that the United States should have an antagonistic policy towards Russia, and that they have colluded in an attempt to force Trump to adhere to that policy using the Mueller Investigation and, for instance, the news media response to Trump’s July 2018 summit with Putin?"<br /><br />-- The 80s called; they want their foreign policy back.Matt Sablanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15885240752820005149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-46888490314100670112020-05-30T14:45:06.843-05:002020-05-30T14:45:06.843-05:00Birches: "ISIS is codeword for Democrats....
...Birches: "ISIS is codeword for Democrats....<br /><br />And the right has a problem with conspiracy theories? Hahaha"<br /><br />It is factual to say that obama's administration downplayed the rise and danger of ISIS in order to advance their more overarching strategic goal: empowering Iran to become the dominant player in the middle east.<br /><br />Another area in which Flynn has insider information on the policy and its effects in the field which, if made public, would be quite embarrassing to the obama admin.Dragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04079148433908004715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-38584996369047662442020-05-30T14:21:18.857-05:002020-05-30T14:21:18.857-05:00AA, thank you for finally addressing what I believ...AA, thank you for finally addressing what I believe to be one of the most dangerous threats to our Country - all embodied in this one 'terrorist' act by the 'State' and 'MSM' players against General Flynn. <br /><br />I previously asked you, as a law scholar and your law experienced bloggers to address the Flynn clown show by the Federal prosecutors, Courts and MSM. This article I hope is the beginning of more to come. In addressing the main issue here - if the 'State' can go after a decorated 3 Star General - what chance does the average citizen have in our Republic?hstadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16651012668289648446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25194555108221801482020-05-30T14:16:47.831-05:002020-05-30T14:16:47.831-05:00hombre said...
Until now Republicans have seen the...<i> hombre said...<br />Until now Republicans have seen the enemy as external hostile powers. Democrats, like despots everywhere, have always seen the enemy as their internal political opponents.</i><br /><br />This was the key to victory for the Chinese communists. While the nationalists focused on fighting the Japanese the communists focused on fighting the nationalists. Mao went on to kill 60 million people during the "peace" afterward and 98% of Americans couldn't even name the Nationalist leader. Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09159859859522615418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-50078823932666982732020-05-30T14:07:56.757-05:002020-05-30T14:07:56.757-05:00Blogger Big Mike said...
Am I the only one co... Blogger Big Mike said...<br /><br /> Am I the only one concerned that since Trump’s inauguration the Democrats and the news media have jointly decided that the United States should have an antagonistic policy towards Russia, and that they have colluded in an attempt to force Trump to adhere to that policy using the Mueller Investigation and, for instance, the news media response to Trump’s July 2018 summit with Putin?<br /><br /> 5/30/20, 11:29 AM"<br /><br />No, I was livid about it in the first 90 days. It seemed like the democrats and their media partners were trying to start WWIII just so they could get Trump out of the whitehouse. They are dangerous, evil people.Dude1394https://www.blogger.com/profile/07985533174017949978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-30872979345712237562020-05-30T14:07:20.386-05:002020-05-30T14:07:20.386-05:00I've never seen "ISIS is code for Democra...<i>I've never seen "ISIS is code for Democrats" before.</i><br /><br />Interestingly I have heard American Taliban or Taliban Wing referring to conservatives many times including by elected officials, high ranking institutional officials, and by left wing commenters on this site: the full range of powerful to useless. Yet no left winger on this site has ever criticized them. So it's strange one single instance of this type of rhetoric is worthy of criticism from people who routinely pass on similar criticism of their allies. <br /><br />Why sometimes it seems left wingers simply refuse to judge themselves by the standards they hold others to. Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09159859859522615418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-7367886505069988202020-05-30T13:55:14.931-05:002020-05-30T13:55:14.931-05:00Gotta give gadfly points for creativity, though. ...Gotta give gadfly points for creativity, though. I've never seen "ISIS is code for Democrats" before. Quite the knee-slapper!Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06093453920666892035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-472192824410106622020-05-30T13:45:38.038-05:002020-05-30T13:45:38.038-05:00They argued that the Constitution allows for only ...<i>They argued that the Constitution allows for only one president at a time and that if an incoming administration begins foreign policy negotiations before taking office, it confuses the issue of who holds power.</i><br /><br />There's a simple way to tell if left wingers applying this standard are doing so only because it satisfies their partisan political goals.<br /><br />Is there a circumstance where a left wing politician has done this or worse where they have not applied the standard. Since this has happened - for example with left wingers reassuring Iran they will return to appeasement as soon as Dems control the Presidency again - we can discard this conclusion as partisan nonsense. There's no justification to apply this standard in this case but not in worse cases where the roles are reversed. What Flynn did is far less conflicting because (1) there's little to no conflict in the first place, all he told them was not to escalate a sanction war, and (2) a new President was already elected and he was the incoming appropriate representative whereas Dems interfering with our foreign policy have no position at all. Since it's not even close which interference is worse Chait's absurd focus solely on Flynn show he is attacking Flynn because he is an enemy and defending the left wing deep state because they are his allies. In other words he is a typical mainstream journalist. Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09159859859522615418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-58458027948793786602020-05-30T13:44:44.319-05:002020-05-30T13:44:44.319-05:00Drago: ‘The lefties are literally going to die on ...Drago: ‘The lefties are literally going to die on this idiotic "hill".’<br /><br />No. They aren’t. They are playing to a cadre of idiots who may well compromise a majority of the country. <br /><br />Embarrassing isn’t it?hombrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12670099074010641958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-65484307517700246242020-05-30T13:36:32.193-05:002020-05-30T13:36:32.193-05:00I suppose you're right bgates.
ISIS is codewo...I suppose you're right bgates.<br /><br />ISIS is codeword for Democrats....<br /><br />And the right has a problem with conspiracy theories? HahahaBircheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00045640752795693223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-32325923731424216952020-05-30T13:35:35.635-05:002020-05-30T13:35:35.635-05:00Until now Republicans have seen the enemy as exter...Until now Republicans have seen the enemy as external hostile powers. Democrats, like despots everywhere, have always seen the enemy as their internal political opponents. Obama had no external enemies that he did not inherit. ISIS was the “junior varsity.” We were not attacked by Muslim terrorists. Syria never crossed the “red line.” All we needed with Russia was a “reset button.” Iran would be our peaceful friend with the right bribe.<br /><br />Trump is not as stupid as the Republicans. Democrats and their mediaswine consorts are anti-Constitutional, seditious enemies of the Republic and he sees that. For example, these NY and NYT articles have nothing to do with “truth in the eye of the beholder.” Flynn was not obliged to uphold Obama’s discretionary policies. He was obliged to smooth the way for transition to a new administration. The articles are simply doubling down on Obot corruption.hombrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12670099074010641958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-86680144961588382332020-05-30T13:15:41.955-05:002020-05-30T13:15:41.955-05:00Of course, the star witness to that story was the ...<i>Of course, the star witness to that story was the victim of a "robbery" right afterwards, so I am not optimistic we will ever get to the bottom of it.</i><br /><br />I wonder if we will ever hear from the Medical resident at GW hospital who was ordered out of ICU when the still living "robbery victim" was admitted? Probably not me as I am too old to live that long.Michael Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18127450762129879267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-29007690850507751052020-05-30T13:11:52.464-05:002020-05-30T13:11:52.464-05:00Obama, McCain, and Romney all talked to foreign of...Obama, McCain, and Romney all talked to foreign officials during their campaigns. That seems to be standard procedure now.<br /><br />Jonathan Chait is the fellow who proposed the theory that Donald Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987, so he obviously has a dog in the fight and an axe to grind when it comes to Russian collusion theories.Lurker21https://www.blogger.com/profile/05692740653467688670noreply@blogger.com