[Town Hall] Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page sat down with Townhall during the Conservative Political Action Conference to discuss his upcoming book on what he went through during the FBI's investigation into him.
Michael Horowitz, the Department of Justice's Inspector General, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee the FISA applications the FBI used in their investigation into Trump campaign members, such as Page, were based on the debunked Steele Dossier.
"Nevertheless we found that investigators failed to meet their basic obligations of ensuring that the FISA applications were scrupulously accurate. We identified significant inaccuracies and omissions in each of the four applications, seven in the first and a total of 17 by the final renewal application," Horowitz said.
Page told Townhall that Horowitz's report is just the tip of the iceberg and more details on the the Department of Justice's misconduct will be revealed.
"There have been so many investigations, so many initial steps to uncover the wrongdoing. Unfortunately, it's been one half-truth after another and what we saw in the Inspector General report...was terrible wrongdoing against President Trump and going back to when he was a candidate," Page said.
"I am in the process of explaining the full truth about actually what happen," Page said about the Steele Dossier's role in the FBI's investigation.
#2
Besoeker, from your past comments, I seem to recall you were weaving some kind of theory regarding Page as a Deep State double agent? Or false flag operative, a plant of some sort?
#3
Lex ~ The guy a USNA top grad and former Naval intelligence officer who has a beltway history of association with the Bureau. I simply cannot believe he was unwitting of the true nature of his Trump Campaign assignment. As you may recall, as soon as he departed the Campaign, all FBI and FISA interest in Carter Page vaporized. It was almost as if it never happened.
#5
He was very likely a Bureau and IC mole, plant, source on the inside. The FISA warrant enabled monitoring of US Person (USP) Carter Page, and 'incidental intelligence collection' A Jim Clapper term, not mine.
You may remember DNI Jim Clapper appearing before a congressional committee a couple of years ago and being asked (paraphrasing), "does the US intelligence community conduct intelligence collection or electronic surveillance on USP." (again, I'm paraphrasing)
[Breitbart] The suspect in a string of murders that left six dead in three cities was released under federal supervision because the government wanted to hire him as an informant for the ATF, the DEA, and the Detroit Police Task Force.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that the suspect, Kenyel Brown, supplied information to the ATF and that many of the crimes that occurred before the alleged murders took place while he was on supervised release, WXYZ reported.
Craig said that after Brown was an informant for the ATF, a Detroit police officer assigned to a DEA task force recruited Brown to be an informant for the task force on gangs and drugs. It also happened to be the same day Brown was released from supervised release on October 29, 2019.
The police chief said Brown’s information was used once, and the agency paid him $150 for his time. Craig said Brown’s tip did not provide to be of use to the authorities.
According to Craig, there was a miscommunication between the agencies about Brown’s past crimes while still under federal supervision.
When the department learned he was a double-murder suspect in River Rouge, the Detroit police immediately deactivated his status as an informant with the department. He was also named a person of interest in murders in Detroit and Highland Park.
The bloodshed ended on February 24, when Brown fired a single, fatal gunshot to his head, the Detroit Free-Press reported.
#1
...Rather convenient that single, fatal gunshot to the head. Removes the need for a lot of awkward questions.
Mik
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/04/2020 6:25 Comments ||
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#2
to the back of the head...yeah...convenient
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2020 8:57 Comments ||
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#3
Who knew that you could commit Arkancide in Detroit?
Posted by: BA ||
03/04/2020 10:09 Comments ||
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#4
Do have to wonder about the back of the head shot. It's a 'send a message' assassination or the work of a coward who doesn't want to look the victim in the face.
The shot through the face sends the message that this might have been a suicide. Especially if you follow up by getting their dead hand to grip the gun and pull the trigger for a second shot to get the residue where it needs to be.
#1
Car repairs also. Dealerships control. New software say every five years requires new purchase of $5000 dollars. The vendors delivering product to stores, same upgrades required. Either you purchase or your out of business. So say it is a company like Pepsi. Delivery driver is monitored constantly. GPS, Time to stop. Time in stop. Car or truck repairs you are told you will be paid this amount and it will take whatever time they say. Go over on time then that's on you. Same thing in factory work. Efficiency rating. State police tickets written. Computers were supposed to make life better. They have imposed more oppressive control. Imagine Medical industry. This is our world today. EMP look out.
[PJ] Long time Democratic aide and former Bill Clinton staffer Paul Begala told the AIPAC conference that it is a "certainty" that Donald Trump will remove Vice President Mike Pence on July 16 when the Democratic nominee is scheduled to give his acceptance speech at the Milwaukee convention. Begala says the president will replace Pence with former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley "to try and get those suburban moms."
The Hill:
The former "Crossfire" co-host "guaranteed" Trump will throw Pence "under the bus" because of his handling of the coronavirus, which the president tapped Pence to lead a task force on last week.
"This is not a prediction. It’s a certainty. On Thursday, July 16 ‐ that’s the date the Democrat gives his or her acceptance address ‐ on that day, to interrupt that narrative, Donald Trump will call a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. He’s going to dump Mike Pence and put Nikki Haley on the ticket to try to get those suburban moms," Begala predicted during a panel discussion at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C.
"You watch. Guaranteed," Begala said. "Trump put Pence in charge of coronavirus to throw him under the bus."
Begala is supposed to be some kind of expert. Either he's been asleep or just hasn't been paying attention for the last three years if he's going to use the words "certainty" and "Donald Trump" in the same sentence.
This is not the first time that Haley's name has been floated to replace Pence. Haley denied it most recently last November.
After putting Pence at point on Coronavirus, he's going to replace the man with a Nevertrumper, whose biggest claim to fame is rolling over for the woke mobs on the Stars and Bars..
#3
The one thing Trump values more than his ego is loyalty. Pence has been as loyal as they come. If he isn't the VP next term it will be because he wanted to go.
[RonPaulInstitute] There are many influential supporters of nuclear war, and some of these contend that the use of "low-yield" and/or short-range weapons is practicable without the possibility of escalation to all-out Armageddon. In a way their argument is comparable to that of the band of starry-eyed optimists who thought, apparently seriously, that there could be such a beast as a "moderate rebel."
In October 2013 the Washington Post reported that "The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, US-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country's civil war," and the US Congress gave approval to then President Barack Obama's plan for training and arming moderate Syrian rebels to fight against Islamic State extremists. The belief that there could be any grouping of insurgents that could be described as "moderate rebels" is bizarre and it would be fascinating to know how Washington's planners classify such people. It obviously didn't dawn on them that any person who uses weapons illegally in a rebellion could not be defined as being moderate. And how moderate is moderate? Perhaps a moderate rebel could be equipped with US weapons that kill only extremists? Or are they allowed to kill only five children a month? The entire notion was absurd, and predictably the scheme collapsed, after expenditure of vast amounts of US taxpayers' money.
And even vaster amounts of money are being spent on developing and producing what might be classed as moderate nuclear weapons, in that they don't have the zillion-bang punch of most of its existing 4,000 plus warheads. It is apparently widely believed in Washington that if a nuclear weapon is (comparatively) small, then it's less dangerous than a big nuclear weapon.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
03/04/2020 00:12 ||
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#2
First of all, the notion that Russia would take the first step to nuclear war is completely baseless, and there is no evidence that this could ever be contemplated
What an idiotic claim. The exact opposite is true. Just two of many examples are these documents from the Soviet general staff during the Brezhnev era - excerpt:
Under these conditions, the commanders and headquarters staff of the Eastern Forces were supposed to quickly ascertain the deadlines for the beginning of an enemy nuclear attack and to carry out reconnaissance of important targets as well as prepare aerial forces, rocket troops and artillery to the highest level possible, all the while making arrangements for a first nuclear strike on the enemy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2020 4:34 Comments ||
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#5
Call me crazy, but I don't want to die in a nuclear war started by insane DC elites who can't see anything but their own objectives. It's a controversial opinion, I know, but I'm sticking with it.
We're not in the Brezhnev Era any more. Time to update our worldviews. There are frightening ghouls in DC and the Pentagon who think we can just pop off a couple of small nukes and it will end there.
Frankly, I remember the most common scenario for a nuclear war to start. See if it sounds familiar. Warsaw Pact starts an invasion over the inner-German line. Goes poorly, NATO battlefield commanders begin urgently requesting release of tactical nuclear weapons to break up Pact formations. Faced with the prospect of the Red Army in Antwerp, the political decision is made to release nuclear codes for use by local commanders. The Soviets begin replying with their own tactical nukes. NATO then starts using larger nukes on Pershings to hit logistics centers behind the lines. Things escalate and there is a single strategic nuclear strike, on Minsk for example. This triggers a full scale exchange. All sides lose, nuclear winter begins for the next 10,000 years. Anyone else remember this one, or is it just me?
Ron Paul isn't right 100% of the time, but nobody is. I think his plan to audit the Federal Reserve is an excellent one. They print our money and sell it back to us at a profit.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
03/04/2020 4:38 Comments ||
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#7
Anyone else remember this one, or is it just me?
Just you...and Major General Smedley Butler
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2020 4:44 Comments ||
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#8
It's just incredible that a Marine Major General, twice a Medal of Honor recipient, who thwarted a fascist coup to overthrow the US government, is considered a villain by you people.
Un-fucking-believable.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
03/04/2020 5:29 Comments ||
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#15
Well Herb is right about the debate
We had the equivalent of a full chair throwing debate the morning of prefix 5 school at Oberammergau about how long it would take for the use of one tactical nuke on an autobahn ridge to escalate into a full nuclear exchange
I thought then and still think that deploying one small nuke is a one way ticket to an extinction level nuclear war
Once a nuclear weapon has exploded and killed people, the nuclear-armed nation to which these people belonged is going to take massive action. There is no alternative, because no government is just going to sit there ...
And
But there is no precedent for nuclear war, and nobody ‐ nobody ‐ knows for certain what reactions will be to such a situation in or near any nation.
When a text contains two paragraphs so logically inconsistent, I disregard the entire text as fear mongering balderdash.
And no matter what some 'expert' or some pol says, I don't think you'll ever really meet many 'influential supporters of nuclear war' when it comes to actually making the call.
There has only been one nuke attack, on Japan. Everybody was so mortified (maybe rightly so), the human race practically cancelled out that option mentally right then. If they hadn't, an outrage like 9/11 would have led to only one irreversible outcome - the destruction of Afghanistan and subsequent radiation fallout for parts of pakistain. Jihad would have been finished for Asia.
#21
(1) The article incoherently jumps from "War is bad, Nuclear War is horrible" to " we don't know, so we can't even discuss it!".
(2) The underlying thesis seems to be implying that nuclear war between US/NATO Vs. Soviet Union/PRC/Warsaw Pact is the exact same thing as an "exchange" with Iran or North Korea because ... "Nuclear Warfare is DoublePlus Bad!"
...and I agree with #15 SPOD that the keeping Tactical Nuclear Warfare "Tactical" is a fool's ambition. I lived within the primary blast zone of a major USAF airbase and it was only in my twenties that the specter of being vaporized started to abate...
#22
There are atomic demolitions whose purpose is to literally move a good portion of a mountain top to the valley below. It's not used against troops, installation, or people (unless they so happen to be underneath the big slide).
#23
Are there really people discussing limited nuclear war these days? Who outside of the Rand Paul Institute is discussing this?
Desire for smaller warheads doesn't mean you really want limited nuclear war, it more likely means you'd like multiple warheads on the same rocket as a further deterrent.
[WND] Bernie Sanders has given us a peek into his worldview. It goes something like this: Hitler built great highways. Mussolini made the trains run on time. And Fidel Castro educated the illiterates of Cuba.
What a disgusting spectacle it was, watching this presidential candidate pay media homage to the leading mass murderer in the history of this hemisphere! Anybody like me, who fell deeply in love with the whole Castro setup and had remained in that state of glowing admiration for almost two weeks ‐ by which time the regime's bloodthirsty nature was revealed in the thousands of executions by firing squad after a 10-minute trial, or no trial at all! ‐ had to feel like a bully was opening old wounds, which hurt just as much now as they did originally when Fidel and Ché Guevara were taking such delight in Castro's "revolutionary justice."
The Castro regime, when questioned about those reckless firing squads, replied "We don't execute according to old-fashioned law. We execute according to revolutionary justice."
That quote is really an almost diplomatic version of the Castro regime's policy on its elimination of any real or potential opposition. What Ché Guevara actually said was, "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution. And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."
I was one of those naive young journalists who thought Fidel would bring democracy to Cuba and then, in the style of Simón Bolivar, go about liberating and bringing democracy to all the nations of Latin America. The betrayal of trust like ours still hurts. To hear Bernie Sanders casually talking about the wonderful deeds Castro brought to Cuba was sickening and acutely disgraceful.
#1
Has it ever dawned on the Bernie Bros that, in his strange and shabby non-career of 5 decades in a backwater, the man has never actually faced a robust national election in which he was taken seriously by a serious opponent and called to account for his ludicrous bullshit?
He's like a weekend oftball player about to face his first big-league hardball pitcher. And forkball. And sliders and split-finger fastballs that warp and wiggle past you at 100mph.
[The Week] It is a cliché to say that certain eras "end not with a bang, but a whimper," but the old trope is true in Afghanistan. U.S. and Taliban officials signed an agreement over the weekend that should lead to the withdrawal of American troops from that country — a development mostly overshadowed by the spread of coronavirus and developments in domestic presidential politics.
That shouldn't be the case. Attention must be paid. Along with the war in Iraq, the Afghan experience defines the U.S. interactions in the world in the 21st century — a righteous display of might that ultimately devolved into an unending, unsolvable, exhausting slog.
The war began on 9/11, when hijackers flew passenger planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — another plane crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside — killing 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers. More than 2,300 American servicemembers have died in Afghanistan over the last generation, while estimates say that 157,000 people died there during the war — including more than 43,000 civilians. Everything about the war has been a tragedy.
The invasion of Afghanistan is the only U.S. military offensive that I have wholeheartedly rooted for during my adult life. A few weeks after 9/11, I drove from my home in Kansas to New York — via the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania — to witness history for myself. Smoke was still wafting from the bowels of the Twin Towers. Like Americans everywhere, I wanted revenge.
I didn't believe for one second that the Al Qaeda terrorists hated us "for our freedom," the easy explanation offered Americans during the early days of "why do they hate us?" questioning after the attack. But thousands of civilians had been killed — in the first days after 9/11, it was widely believed that tens of thousands of civilians had been killed — and in the heat of the moment, it seemed that such massive violence must be met with equally massive violence. When Vice President Dick Cheney went on TV the next weekend to hint at the likelihood of torture in the coming conflict — promising U.S. personnel would work on "the dark side, if you will" — even that seemed to make sense to a nominal pacifist like myself.
I was wrong. We — all of us who cheered the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan — were wrong.
We were wrong because we ignored world history. There was a reason that Afghanistan — occupied over the years by the British, then by the Soviets — was already known as "the graveyard of empires." For cultural and geographic reasons, no would-be conqueror of the country has ever fully subdued its people. Responding to the 9/11 attack was not necessarily America's big mistake. Staying and trying to recreate Afghanistan in something like our own image was the crucial error, both hubristic and well-intentioned — we thought we could be the conquerors who left the country better than we found it. We are not. Article re-posted using proper font. Feel free to add in-line comments that may have been deleted. Thank you for your post.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
03/04/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
I had no problem with going after Osama, but my reading of history told me it wasn't a great place to try to occupy and reform.
These things are always (supposedly) black and white in hindsight.
#2
Nothing wrong with a punitive expedition. Salt the earth, destroy AQ's/juhad's haven.
But under W's Christian mission civilisatrice, the punitive expedition morphed into Three Cups of Tea, Hoorah for Afghan Girls' Education, and Let's Make Afghanistan Safe For Graft Democracy bullshit.
#4
The invasion was correct, but the lengthy occupation was wrong...
OBL did not hate us for our freedom, but his attack on us was part of a plan to establish himself as a modern Saladin by mobilizing the masses to stand behind him when he attacked the great Satan...
The 9/11 attacks started with the assassination of Massoud (to consolidate power in AF) just prior to the attack on us...and was to culminate with the assassination of Saddam.
OBL would have been able to consolidate regional and religious power by placing a figure head in charge in Iraq (largest standing army in ME), receiving tribute from the Gulf States via threat, and ruling from his protected base in AF.
We had to invade to disrupt his plan and we did so. Staying there and trying to reform that country was the bridge too far.
#5
GW Bush had it right when he 'declared victory' and moved the fight to Iraq, but public pressure to fight the 'good' war in Afghanistan forced it to be renewed (even though it did not end the Iraq effort.)
#6
Never heard of that OBL plan with Iraq. You sure this wasn't some weirdo after-the-fact justification of the war we started under false pretenses? You know, the whoppers about Saddam giving Al Qaeda WMD. Boy, I don't know how anyone fell for something that unbelievable. It would be like Jews giving Zyklon B to the Nazis.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
03/04/2020 4:27 Comments ||
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#9
The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk on the British experience in Afghanistan should have been required reading for US military and policy makers once the punishment phase was over in Afghanistan and the nation building began.
Posted by: York Harding ||
03/04/2020 12:57 Comments ||
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#10
Herb, I don't see the 9/11 attack as post facto justification in the invasion of Iraq v.2 even if OBL had designs on placing a true believer proxy leader there (if he was successful killing Saddam). That is the whole thing about dictatorships, they can be replaced with one bullet. AQ and the Iraqi leadership were at odds and did not appear to be um, co-conspirators that is for sure.
OBL was very strategic and believed in the long game...if you read the portions of the 9/11 report that Obama declass'd you can see inferences that he intended to dirty up the Saudi gov't with the 9/11 attack as well...who really knows whether Bandar was connected with Zubaydah/Bassan/Bayoumi...maybe he really did support...the truth is likely buried. Although if the Saudi gov't took a hit for the attack it benefited OBL.
#11
W bet that Islam was compatible with Democracy.
If he was right the world would be a much better place and it all would have been worthwhile, but he was wrong. They are compatible in small groups but not as a culture, not as a nation. Turkey has been trying for decades and still has to crack down once in awhile.
#14
You know, the whoppers about Saddam giving Al Qaeda WMD.
There was video of cadres from Al Qaeda and other jihadi groups practicing poisoning dogs with aerosolized chemicals at Salman Pak, Saddam Hussein’s site for advanced training of his extra special forces on one side and a variety of jihadis and the IRA on the other. They had their very own commercial jet plane for practicing hijacking techniques, too. It’s all in the Rantburg archives, Mr. McCoy.
#17
Also recommend Edward Rice's "Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton." Burton reputedly spoke 29 languages, was a spy soldier and adventurer across Afghanistan, India, Africa, the Middle East.
[Spioenkop] Turkish air and ground strikes which commenced late on the 27th of February 2020 on positions of the Syrian Arab Army (SyAA) and affiliated forces hit a large number of targets throughout Idlib and Aleppo, leading to the complete collapse of government forces along this part of the frontline and allowing rebel forces to continue their advance after recapturing the strategic town of Saraqib. Launched in retaliation after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an airstrike, Turkey has now entered a new phase in its war in Syria, and at present the long-term implications can only be guessed at.
To purposely strike a Turkish military position only to get completely annihilated in retaliatory strikes raises the issue of whether the current organisation in charge of regime operations is capable of dealing with the situation it faces. The catastrophic outcome of the regime's (and Russia's) attempt at directly challenging Turkey's resolve must have not only amazed those following the offensive, but also the regime's military itself. Completely misjudging the impending danger and incapable of properly anticipating Turkey's retaliatory strikes, the Syrian military totally collapsed in the face of drones and artillery. Instead of engaging or at least deterring Turkish aircraft and drones from freely striking government forces on the ground, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) and Syrian Arab Air Defence Force (SyAADF) have so far done nothing to stop the Turkish Air Force from penetrating into Syrian airspace.
What is certain is that for rebel forces Turkey's new phase could not have come at a better time. As the tide of the war is now in favour of the regime, rebel forces lost the offensive posture many groups managed to cling on to for much of the war. With rebel forces in Idlib verywhere on the defensive and losing, Idlib has largely been cut off from the largest supplier of weaponry and ammunition to factions opposing the Syrian government: The Syrian Arab Army. The latter's failure to redistribute, protect, or at least destroy major arms depots like Ayyash ensured a seemingly endless supply of vehicles, weaponry and ammunition
to opposing forces in Syria. Nowadays mostly relying on small batches of munitions purchased on the black market or received from foreign powers, the only way for rebels in Idlib to stock up on heavier equipment like tanks is through smash and grab attacks on poorly defended but overstocked regime positions and now, a Turkish-backed offensive launched against the city of Saraqib.
A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles, weaponry and ammunition and can be seen below.
This list only includes captured vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed by Turkey and captured by Idlibi rebel forces is undoubtedly higher than recorded here. Small arms and munitions are currently not included in this list, but will be added after the release of Calibre Obscura's list tomorrow.
This list will be updated as additional footage becomes available.
Long list and links can be seen at the link. Click on the headline if interested, dear Reader.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
03/04/2020 00:39 ||
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#1
I'm on the "Can't they both lose?" side in this.
I certainly don't want the Turks to win and get uppity but I don't want the Russkis to either.
#5
Putin can't win this if the Erdogan escalates. Turkey can bring much more force to bear in Syria than can Syria, Russia and Iran combined. Hell, the Russians main base is within MLRS range by the Turks and can be shut down/destroyed at any time.
In addition, while Turkey is within NATO, there is only a limited amount of force Russia can use against Turkey.
Posted by: Zenobia Spawn of the Texans7934 ||
03/04/2020 16:58 Comments ||
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#6
Maybe Trump can play Teddy Roosevelt and broker a peace between the neo-Tsar and the Japanese Emperor neo-Sultan
#8
If Turkey escalates and Russia/Syria responds and hits Turkish soil.... I say fuck 'em. NATO or not, you chose this fight. NATO is a defensive alliance and you were the aggressors.
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.
[Breitbart] The suspect in a string of murders that left six dead in three cities was released under federal supervision because the government wanted to hire him as an informant for the ATF, the DEA, and the Detroit Police Task Force.
[PJ] Long time Democratic aide and former Bill Clinton staffer Paul Begala told the AIPAC conference that it is a "certainty" that Donald Trump will remove Vice President Mike Pence on July 16 when the Democratic nominee is scheduled to give his acceptance speech at the Milwaukee convention. Begala says the president will replace Pence with former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley "to try and get those suburban moms."
