[Real Clear Investigations] More than three months after President Trump granted his attorney general unprecedented power to declassify intelligence files, key U.S. intelligence agencies are still withholding documents related to the Trump-Russia affair, say people with direct knowledge of White House discussions on the subject.
The source of the logjam: the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which Trump is in the process of shaking up after the resignations last month of its director, Dan Coats, and principal deputy, Sue Gordon. "Establishment" officials in that agency are still dragging their feet, say the sources, who spoke on condition that they not be further identified.
Sources who have seen the documents generally described their contents to RealClearInvestigations. They said the material still under wraps includes:
Evidence that Prseident Obama’s CIA, FBI, and Justice Department illegally eavesdropped on the Trump campaign --- cases separate from the FBI’s disputed FISA court-approved surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
An August 2016 briefing CIA Director John Brennan hand-delivered in a sealed envelope to Obama, containing information from what Brennan claimed was "a critical informant close to Putin." The informant is believed to have actually been a Russian source recycled from the largely debunked dossier compiled by ex-British agent Christopher Steele for the Hillary Clinton campaign.
An email exchange from December 2016 between Brennan and FBI Director James Comey, in which Brennan is said to have argued for using the dossier in early drafts of the task force’s much-hyped January 2017 intelligence assessment. That spread the narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the alleged Clinton campaign hacking to steal the election for Trump.
Copies of all FBI, CIA and State Department records related to Joseph Mifsud, the mysterious Maltese professor whose statements regarding Papadopoulos allegedly triggered the original Russia-collusion probe.
Transcripts of 53 closed-door interviews of FBI and Justice Department officials and other witnesses conducted by the House Intelligence Committee. The files were sent to the agency last November.
The transcripts "demonstrate who was lying and expose the bias that existed against Trump before and after his election," said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) of the House Judiciary Committee. They also reportedly contain evidence of a Democratic National Committee attorney maintaining Russia-related contacts with the CIA during the 2016 campaign.
#2
Send a company of MPs into the DNI offices in the wee hours. Escort all DNI personnel who happen to be there to the parking lot after a nice, thorough frisking. Secure the building. Fire all of the employees. Publish the documents.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
08/28/2019 9:57 Comments ||
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[Right Scoop] CBP has released footage of their new wall in San Luis, Arizona, where they’ve already built over 60 miles:
Now to be clear, while this wall is new, it is replacing what was already there. But that’s crucially important because in many cases the old wall didn’t stop people from coming though. This new wall does.
They followed up that video with this one from 2005 vs today, showing just how ineffective the old ’wall’ was at stopping illegals:
#1
Look at the picture. Lots of open land. The only thing that can stop Trump from designating the first mile inside the US and outside of incorporated areas as being a military zone is our tyrannical* judiciary.
* sitting for life, unaccountable to the people, obviously intent on assuming powers and purview never intended in the Constitution.
BLUF:
[American Thinker] McCabe is the canary in the coal mine. Based on his future employment with CNN, all is looking well for the other conspirators in the failed coup attempt. This is in no way a prejudgment of the integrity of Attorney General William Barr or his chosen prosecutor, John Durham, but the McCabe hiring by CNN may be a glimpse into the future results of the Horowitz report and the Barr-Durham investigation. All indications point to the fact that Durham is a no-nonsense truth-seeker and Barr a man with a passion for the rule of law, but even they know that if actual justice were to be handed out in the manner that it should, the country would be torn apart.
We must never forget that the conspirators had to receive approval from someone before going forward with the coup attempt against Trump. That someone is former president Barack Obama. For any of the coup conspirators to face actual justice would mean that the DOJ would take one giant step closer to investigating and indicting a former president, which must never and will never happen. So the same folks who brought you the investigations into Benghazi, Fast and Furious, The IRS, and Hillary's private email server crime will add another show to the fall season, with perhaps better optics and arguments but the same results: no indictments. Emphasis added.
#1
...We must never forget that the conspirators had to receive approval from someone before going forward with the coup attempt against Trump. That someone is former president Barack Obama
[GulfTimes] The Earth's lungs are on fire. As you might have already seen reported and as you read this, thousands of fires are currently destroying the Amazon rainforest in Brazil - the most intense blazes for almost a decade. Fires in Brazil have increased by 85% in 2019, with more than half in the Amazon region, according to Brazil's space agency. The planet is losing an important carbon sink, and the fires are directly injecting carbon into the atmosphere.
As the world watches in horror...take a moment to reflect on what the main reason for the long-term destruction of the Amazon rainforest is: it's the world's global demand for meat products. Brazil is home to around 200 million cows daft animals every one of 'em
, and is the largest exporter in the world, supplying one quarter of the global beef market. The desire for new land for cattle farming has been the main driver of destruction of the Brazilian Amazon since the 1970s ‐ and it's worsening.
Scientists across the globe are now stating that the most practical solution people can adopt to help is to reduce ‐ or stop their meat intake.
Brazil remains the world's number one beef exporter, accounting for nearly 20% of global exports, and still growing. As of 2018, Brazilian beef exports reached a record 1.6 million tonnes. As a result, 80% of Amazon forest destruction is due to cattle ranching.
The reality is that every meat-eater on the planet is helping to fuel the Amazon forest fires. Fact.
I've written extensively for Arabs with digestive issues
before about how research consistently shows that drastically reducing animal food intake sic
and eating plant based foods is one of the most powerful things you can do to reduce your impact on the planet over your lifetime, in terms of energy required, land used, greenhouse gas emissions, water used and pollutants produced all this excrement and urine is drowning us, look at Seattle
- but on this occasion, the world is needs to act quickly to ensure we are doing the right thing for the future of our planet, for our future generations, our children and grandchildren.
Let me be very clear. Aah, yes... clarity.
These are not wildfires, but rather fires set by people seeking to create more space for more cattle in order to export more meat to the rest of the world. Beef is one of the most destructive foods for our planet - and claims the lives of millions of cows every year. Wat ?! No clarity ?
Just this month the UN declared that we must move away from consuming beef and instead adopt more plant-based diets if we are to fight climate catastrophe. Didn't turn out any better for Brontosaurs, did it ?
As you watch the news and witness the flames spread across South America, remember that eliminating meat is far bigger (in terms of impact) than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car. It is the demand for animal products that are responsible for so much of this.
It's time to cut the Amazon out of your diet completely, and protect our Earth's lungs before it's too late...some scientists suggest it already is.
* The author is an expert in vegan wellbeing and health. And here is his stupid face.
[Babylon Bee] ATLANTA, GA‐CNN has apologized to Stalin and Mao after a guest compared the brutal dictators to Donald Trump.
"I am so sorry to all of Stalin and Mao's brave supporters," said Brian Stelter in an on-air apology Tuesday morning. "We never meant to associate these great men with Donald Trump. We did not intend to disparage communism in that way."
"Sometimes, you really need to make the point that Trump is a totalitarian tyrant," said Stelter. "But dragging Stalin and Mao's names through the mud in the process is not the right way to go about that. There are good ways to criticize the president and bad ways, and we're sorry for the way this one came across."
The CNN host committed to only comparing Trump to Hitler, Genghis Khan, and serial killers like Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer going forward.
The apology was followed by a 2-hour-long tribute to the "great communist men who changed the world for the better."
[MSN] In late November 2016, I was enjoying Thanksgiving break in my hometown on the Columbia River in Washington state when I received an unexpected call from Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Would I meet with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss the job of secretary of defense?
I had taken no part in the election campaign and had never met or spoken to Mr. Trump, so to say that I was surprised is an understatement. Further, I knew that, absent a congressional waiver, federal law prohibited a former military officer from serving as secretary of defense within seven years of departing military service. Given that no wavier had been authorized since Gen. George Marshall was made secretary in 1950, and I’d been out for only 3½ years, I doubted I was a viable candidate. Nonetheless, I felt I should go to Bedminster, N.J., for the interview.
I had time on the cross-country flight to ponder how to encapsulate my view of America’s role in the world. On my flight out of Denver, the flight attendant’s standard safety briefing caught my attention: If cabin pressure is lost, masks will fall...Put your own mask on first, then help others around you. In that moment, those familiar words seemed like a metaphor: To preserve our leadership role, we needed to get our own country’s act together first, especially if we were to help others.
The next day, I was driven to the Trump National Golf Club and, entering a side door, waited about 20 minutes before I was ushered into a modest conference room. I was introduced to the president-elect, the vice president-elect, the incoming White House chief of staff and a handful of others. We talked about the state of our military, where our views aligned and where they differed. Mr. Trump led the wide-ranging, 40-minute discussion, and the tone was amiable.
#1
Mattis is the latest piece of proof that service to the country does not constitute immediate sainthood. He's in the same class with Jimmuah Cahtah, Wesley Clark, Petraeus, Stavridis, Powell and far too many others to name. I sure as hell do not ask my heart surgeon for golf advice, though he's played a few rounds on his fees over the years.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/28/2019 14:11 Comments ||
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#3
I had time on the cross-country flight to ponder how to encapsulate my view of America’s role in the world.
America First rather than America Last. Our Constitution was never written for us to be the world's policeman. Doing so has destroyed the checks and balances of the original document and will yet destroy its prosperity. Everything you claim you wish to defend will be destroyed if this is not rectified.
#5
#1 Mattis is the latest piece of proof that service to the country does not constitute immediate sainthood.
One thing that I hope comes from the Age of Falling Masks is that a critical mass of people on the Right get over their reflexive deference toward (not to say worship of) uniforms and medals.
It's been used against us way too many times (McCain, Poppy, the Blue city polizei who arrest Trump supporters for defending themselves) and we can't afford it anymore.
#6
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You know, Berserker, I almost believed that was also him.😀 Until I remembered the news site copy-paste gimmick.
But he's right in a way. America does need to put the domestic policies in order first. The world can take care of their problems or die. Trump knows this too, it's just that the deepState has every President on his toes for all his term so he can't concentrate on what's actually important. Most of these diplomatic fiascos and aggressions can be traced back to Democrat policies and deepState bungling. Drain that Swamp, and you'll find the problems outside were mostly self-made.
Mattis is a good guy. Boy scouts are useless in war anyway. Trump just doesn't like to keep people in positions of power for too long, I think. It's his prerogative to find the 'right fit' for the jobs his Presidency depends on. If people too committed to their own selves stay in that job, we know what happens.
#7
"Put your own mask on first, then help others around you. In that moment, those familiar words seemed like a metaphor: To preserve our leadership role, we needed to get our own country’s act together first, especially if we were to help others."
That is a good analogy though
Posted by: European Conservative ||
08/28/2019 17:38 Comments ||
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#8
Right, put on your mask first, because if you pass out first, your three year old grandson is not gonna get the mask over your fat head. So maybe that does apply.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/28/2019 17:44 Comments ||
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#9
Get news and analysis on politics, policy, national security and more, delivered right to your inbox
#11
I don't see anything objectionable in what Mattis wrote here.
He disagreed with Trump on many things, and told him so, and resigned, honorably, without becoming a drama queen or going on the left-wing bloviator cable shows.
I don't think it's accurate to put him in the same class as Carter, W. Clark, Powell or Petraeus.
Mattis is a 100% straight shooter who has never, ever departed from the principle of our military's subordination to our politicians and the political process.
[AmericanThinker] Senator Kamala Harris recently said that "the bonds between the people of the United States and the people of Israel are unbreakable and we can never let anyone drive a wedge between us...Israel should never be a partisan issue." This is what George Orwell would call "doublespeak," as the major Democratic presidential candidates are fast forging that partisan wedge. When they discuss Israel, they advocate for policies that harm American interests and the American-Israeli strategic partnership.
To me, a pro-Israel presidential candidate regardless of party affiliation would adhere to at least most of the principles below. He or she would:
[WND] The late historian and political philosopher Harry V. Jaffa noted the significance that the preamble to our Constitution concludes with the words "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity."
This is how the drafters of our Constitution saw its purpose.
Jaffa continues, saying, "a blessing is what is good in the eyes of God. It is a good whose possession ... belongs properly only to those who deserve it."
In light of this, let's consider a just-released Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that appeared under the headline "Americans Have Shifted Dramatically on What Values Matter Most."
"Patriotism, religion and having children rate lower among younger generations than they did two decades ago," the headline continues.
Of all surveyed, 61 percent "cited patriotism as very important to them, down 9 percentage points from 1998, while 50 percent citied religion, down 12 points. Some 43 percent placed a high value on having children, down 16 points from 1998."
Among those ages 18-38, 42 percent cited patriotism as "very important"; less than one-third cited having children; and 30 percent cited "religion, belief in God."
The founders of the country saw the nation's existence, its faith and its posterity as a package deal. It all went together.
Now we have a young generation, our future, that dismisses the importance of all the elements of that package. What might this tell us about where we're headed?
The operative questions are: Does the country have a future, a posterity, without children? And will there be children if there is no marriage and family? And will there be marriage and family if there is no religion and God?
#4
Sometimes it pays to do your research. Earnest Pickleford, co-inventor the "glove compartment" at Packard in the early days of the last century was most certainly racist, as presumably non-whites would not be expected to own or wear gloves.
His wife Lady Belle however requires special treatment (fortunately most of this article is now lost), as she being of a much more gentille demeanor would be more complicit in this tragedy. Thus young women of the 16-36 year range have the heaviest burden to pay for reparations in this instance.
#5
For some reason Youtube is saying file not found. Here's the video again.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
08/28/2019 4:13 Comments ||
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#6
This is not stupidity. This can only mean one thing. It's a concerted effort to insult, defile, utterly demoralize American cities. They are taking revenge the classical jungle way.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Real Clear Investigations] More than three months after President Trump granted his attorney general unprecedented power to declassify intelligence files, key U.S. intelligence agencies are still withholding documents related to the Trump-Russia affair, say people with direct knowledge of White House discussions on the subject.
[Right Scoop] CBP has released footage of their new wall in San Luis, Arizona, where they’ve already built over 60 miles:
[Babylon Bee] ATLANTA, GA‐CNN has apologized to Stalin and Mao after a guest compared the brutal dictators to Donald Trump.
