National security surveillance court finds FBI regularly does not follow rules
The largely secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court identified 'widespread violations' concerning improper searches for information on American citizens
Nevertheless, this was a productive day for me. Not having anything to write about, I decided to back up my system and install an updated OS. Which I did. I like to think that my time was put to better use than Judge Boasberg's.
Perhaps I too had a more productive day than Judge Boasberg.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Lee Smith’s recently published ‘The Permanent Coup’. In short, there isn’t much there that the most avid researchers and readers among us hasn’t already learned or surmised. But Smith does pull the entire conspiracy together very nicely.
In fact he makes a very compelling case that all of the various threads of attack against Trump over the last four years are part of a coordinated whole that certainly qualifies as a ‘conspiracy’ (in the ordinary English language meaning of the word) to destroy Trump and his Presidency. Time will tell whether Durham can put together prosecutable cases under criminal provisions of the United States Code. Bill Barr has said several times that they will bring cases where the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction. This is a high standard.
An important takeaway from Smith’s book is his unequivocal and well-expressed conclusion that this was Barack Obama’s operation. Chapter 12 is titled “Obama’s Coup” and it recounts the extensive evidence that this was Obama’s coup: “It had been his coup from the beginning”. Smith goes back to the initiation of Crossfire Hurricane and catalogs Obama’s involvement from the very beginning through the campaign, the election, the transition period and then into and throughout the Trump Administration all the way to today.
If Smith is right about Obama’s involvement and responsibility (and I am certainly inclined to agree with him), then one can perhaps better understand the challenge Barr and Durham have before them. Barr and Durham certainly have all of the information before them that Smith does…and more. I would suggest that it is highly likely that Barr and Durham would completely agree with the case Smith lays out.
So the prosecutorial challenge is: who to prosecute (consistent with Barr’s requirement that evidence sufficient to convict is present) and how high to go, recognizing that a second goal is to insure that the abuses effected by the perpetrators never happen again. Smith quotes Kash Patel (who had assisted Devin Nunes in his investigation and who was later seconded to Ric Grenell when he was Acting DNI) as knowing it would be a long road to get justice. He says: “What we are waiting for now is the final act of accountability.”
But Smith then concludes the book disappointingly by saying that “…the man ultimately responsible is unlikely to ever be held accountable.“
This is a dilemma I certainly hope Bill Barr is puzzling over.
It comes down to the Left's continuing control of the public square, despite the changes that have come with the internet and social media. Dems took out Nixon--whom they'd been gunning for ever since his anti-Communist days. The GOP, and especially after Clinton, is reluctant to go there. And that's perhaps the larger point that Gowdy had in mind.
Delete"It comes down to the Left's continuing control of the public square."
DeleteIf Barr, Gowdy etc. fear that control now, and imagine that this control won't be hugely strengthened if Barr/ham duck busting at least some Big Fish, I must fear that those guys don't live on the same planet as I do.
Given the historic magnitude of these crimes, there will never be a *better* opportunity to clean house.
@Mouse
Delete"Given the historic magnitude of these crimes..."
Mouse, I would like to see indictments of Comey, Clapper and Brennan for conspiracy to deprive the US of honest services (as Mark has articulated the crime, as well as any other crimes that are inherent in a bona fide coup attempt), as well as indictments of McCabe, Strzok, L Page, Priestap, etc. for fraud on the FISA Court, abuse of the FISA process, and lying to Congress. As well as indictments of (and state disbarment proceedings against) Weissmann and Mueller for prosecutorial misconduct.
In addition to indictments and ethical proceedings, I would like to see Durham write a comprehensive report describing the 'sprawling' conspiracy and clearly and unambiguously identifying Obama's role at the head of it. I would like the report to clearly state that the only reason he is not indicted is because he was a sitting president.
I want the report to expose the corrupt decision not to charge Hillary Clinton and the infiltration of the Trump Campaign by intelligence agents and the roles of Halper, Downer, and Mifsud in entrapping and framing C Page, Papadopoulos and Flynn.
I want the report to expose the corrupt actions of the Clinton Campaign in sponsoring the fraudulent Steele Dossier and lying to the government and the American People about the imaginary Russian DNC hack.
I want the report to expose the conspiracy between the perpetrators and members of Congress, including McCain, Reid, Schiff and Nadler, who, although they probably cannot be indicted, betrayed the trust given them by the American people.
I want the report to conclude that the conspiracy was an unprecedented, insidious, treasonous, and unconstitutional knowing and intentional assault on our system of government and on our country which can never be forgiven or forgotten and which can never happen again.
How's that for a start?
I would agree that the American people deserve prosecutions for what happened as well as a full report. However any charges are framed, we know that the target has been and continues to be our constitutional order. The Dems are trying to change that and subvert than through extra-constitutional means. What they have attempted against Trump has been treasonous and seditious--in the commonly understood sense of the term, even if not chargeable as such under US law.
DeleteLike many (most?) of us who come to Mark's wonderful site, I have friends and family who are devout Dems and Trump-haters. I mostly avoid arguments about Trump with these people, although there are occasional flare-ups which leave everybody unhappy. It seems to be an insoluble problem.
DeleteBut if I am entirely honest, as much as I have come to appreciate Trump's strengths and overlook or minimize his weaknesses, at the end of the day the reason I cannot and will not ever support the Other Party is because of their 'treasonous and seditious' attempt to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. This is, to me (a hopeless believer in our Constitution) an absolute, 100% disqualifier.
But what about Trump? My sister says...Irrelevant, I say.
This article from AmCon today may interest you tangentially:
DeleteHow John Dos Passos Left the Left
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-john-dos-passos-left-the-left/
@Mark
DeleteThanks for the link...I read Dos Passos in college during the tumultuous early 70s and am aware of his journey. I remember thinking at the time...I wonder if all liberals end up conservative?
I've spent a lifetime avoiding--to the extent possible--20th century American novelists. I enjoyed the comments re Hemingway, and I detested the Fitzgerald I was forced to read.
DeleteI read them all in college...every one that Rossi mentions...I was an 'American Civilization' major in college (a major my alma mater has since dropped, perhaps after concluding it was an oxymoron...or more likely after concluding that various victim, race and gender studies were more appropriate for the left-wing petri dish the college has since become...)
DeleteI'll have to refresh a little more on Dos Passos but Rossi's description of Dos Passos' journey has the refreshing ring of authenticity to it. Its easy when one is young to be outraged by the obvious failures of democracy and capitalism (as, for example, in the case of AOC) and much harder to understand their virtues. Even harder for youth to see the existential threat posed by concentrated power in elites and 'the ends-justify-the-means' authoritarianism.
In that vein, let's hope the investigation of our conservative and principled attorney general can result in a meaningful reaffirmation of the Constitution and the rule of law, and of government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Yeah, quite a start, Cassander, perhaps too much of one, for it to all be presented before the election.
DeleteRather than seeing Durham wait to write a comprehensive report", I'd rather see, first, a smaller report, zeroing in on (w/ enough evidence on) how "the *target* has been, and continues to be, our constitutional order."
It's key, that enough of such a report be released before the election, for voters to get a clue as to the historic magnitude of these crimes.
This having more impact, if it's preceded by major busts.
"Timing" is one of the many challenges before Barr.
DeleteBarr is concerned with legal accountability. I suspect that he also knows that if he fails other actors may attempt other forms of accountability.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that it has come to that.
Twitter thread that seems to show that the covid lockdowns were a scam, orchestrated by China.
ReplyDeleteThe West fell for it, except for Sweden and UK, although UK finally gave in.
China in cahoots with Dems???
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1270925788389486593.html
Xi is in charge of China. Xi is a global oligarch. None this has anything to do with party affiliation, or even nation states. This is Cloud People vs Dirt People, globally. Parties and the mechanisms of State are merely tools. If ideas such as Christianity, the Constitution, or Western Civilization itself cannot be usefully applied towards domination they are to be burned to the ground.
DeleteWhat I hate is the very new norm of current or just former government officials or elected politicians “writing” a book about the injustices that occurred while they were on duty. This appears to be mainly from the Republican side.
ReplyDeleteHow about y’all fight while a gov employee.
- TexasDude
>> Paul Sperry
ReplyDelete@paulsperry_
· 12h
DEVELOPING: Investigators have learned that Obama CIA Director John Brennan ran a secret task force out of Langley with its own separate budget to investigate Trump campaign and alleged ties to Russia. Task force set up before FBI officially launched its own probe on 07/31/16 <<
>> https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1303170472071356418 <<
Today might not be such a slow news day!
Delete@EZ:
DeleteI believe Brennan's 'task force', as you might as well, was part of an overall conspiracy which included as main principals, with differing roles at various times: Brennan, Comey, Clinton, Clapper, Mueller, and Schiff. Because I have (again) typed too many words to get my point across, this comment is divided into two parts.
The conspiracy was to defeat, and when that failed, to destroy Trump, who the conspirators viewed as both an existential threat to Obama's legacy, as well as his and their reputations, and, quite possibly, their continuing freedoms.
It was as simple as:
1. Brennan's initial job was to set the trap to either destroy or hopelessly compromise Trump when Page, Papadopoulos, Manafort and Flynn were recruited into the Trump Campaign (in my opinion by dark ops guys like Clovis and former MI Rep M Rogers); and then to engage Halper, Mifsud and Downer (with assists from 'friendly foreign governments') to actively set traps for Page, Papadopoulos, Manafort and Flynn.
2. Clinton's job was to hire Fusion and Steele to write the phony Dossier and, through the bumbling Steele, see that it was disseminated throughout the Obama Administration and the MSM and otherwise play up the imaginary DNC Hack and Russia Hoax to smear Trump. Of course, her main job was to win the election, but in this she failed miserably...to what will be the eternal regret of her and her co-conspirators.
3. Comey's job was to close the trap by 'innocently' (no political bias here!) 'discovering' 'collusion' and opening the Crossfire Hurricane 'investigation', then obtaining the FISA against Page to find dirt on Trump to use to bring him down, and then by 'investigating' Flynn to prevent him from working for Trump. All of the FBI clown characters we have come to know as this story has unraveled were, with varying degrees of loyalty and talent, working for Comey.
4. Clapper's job was to co-ordinate the phony January 2017 intelligence assessment, then the Flynn trap and then execute the 'kill shot' forcing Flynn out of Trump's government. Flynn was viewed as having information sufficient to destroy Obama's legacy.
5. When Comey ultimately failed (by failing to 'kill' Trump), Mueller and Weissmann were recruited to prosecute Flynn, Papadopoulos, and Manafort (the targets previously set up by Brennan) in order to (attempt to) turn them against Trump and bring him down. They, too, (probably surprisingly to them) failed to turn their targets on Trump. Even Manafort, sentenced to 90 months in prison for unrelated crimes, would not turn on Trump.
6. When Mueller failed to find collusion with Russia, the conspirators (by late 2017 increasingly desperate to get Trump) attempted to manufacture 'obstruction of justice' claims against Trump, which they did in Part II of the 'Mueller Report'.
Delete7. Schiff was then activated to turn the obstruction claims into impeachable offenses. He, too, failed and, in even greater desperation, was forced to turn to a made up phone call exchange and novel and invented charges of 'abuse of power' and 'obstruction of Congress' to impeach Trump. Trump was impeached by a partisan Democratic House, but again, Schiff ultimately failed. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
8. When I named the principal conspirators above, I consciously left out Barack Obama. I probably should have named him up front, because I believe he most probably authorized and directed the conspiracy from the very start. I name him here, though, because it was after the failure of Brennan, Comey, Clinton, Clapper, Mueller, and Schiff to get Trump that Obama's participation has been forced out into the open.
By facilitating the nomination of a senile and demented man, Joe Biden, to run for President, Obama has had to come out from his own hiding place to directly oppose Trump's reelection and reveal himself as the puppet master standing behind Joe Biden. As the election season heats up (and it will be hot!) I predict it will become apparent that all of them (Obama, Biden, Brennan, Comey, Clinton, Clapper, Mueller, and Schiff) have been acting in a coordinated, ongoing and criminal conspiracy to prevent Trump from governing and to prevent their secret abuses from seeing the light of day.
Because they will be shown to have acted in an extra-Constitutional and criminal conspiracy, I strongly suspect they will fail again, on November 3, 2020.
Or, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words...
Deletehttps://twitter.com/PortiaAdams1775/status/1303173489785032704/photo/1
https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/08/americas-reign-of-judges-has-left-us-with-an-unrecognizable-constitution/
ReplyDeleteA new excerpt from Anton'slatest book.
I read it and liked it, but Anton doesn't extend it to a critique of the American constitutional founding. I may comment on that later, along with another article at The Federalist.
DeleteAnother juicy tidbit:
ReplyDelete>> White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said he has seen "additional" documents that are pertinent to U.S. Attorney John Durham's criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation.
Meadows, a former congressional investigator, told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo on Tuesday that he does not have an update on Durham's work but noted that these records he has viewed reflect poorly on top FBI officials who were involved in the origins of the operation looking into ties between President Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.
"Additional documents that I’ve been able to review say that a number of the players, the Peter Strzoks, the Andy McCabes, the James Comeys, and even others in the administration previously are in real trouble because of their willingness to participate in an unlawful act and I use the word unlawful at best, it broke all kinds of protocols and at worst people should go to jail as I mentioned previously," Meadows said. <<
>> https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/mark-meadows-additional-documents-spell-trouble-for-ex-officials-in-durham-investigation <<
Elsewhere, Catherine Herridge reporting Strzok claims he has never been interviewed by Durham.
If Meadows' claims are accurate, Durham may not need Strzok's testimony.
It seems if any agency gets really slammed it'll be the FBI. Brennan was clever, and that will preserve the CIA to a great extent. But when you're talking about investigations of US citizens, that's the FBI. They're responsible for all the dishonesty and bad decisions.
Delete