If Gov’t Shuts Down, Trump Plans to Handle It Very Differently Than Obama Did

Tim Pearce  "The Trump administration will leave national parks and monuments as accessible as possible in the event the federal government is shut down, The Washington Post reported.

"The move breaks from the actions of the last administration and is aimed at minimizing the effects from a disruption of federal services.

“ 'We fully expect the government to remain open, however in the event of a shutdown, National Parks and other public lands will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures,” Interior Department Spokeswoman Heather Swift told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.

Park Ranger: “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can."closed down more than 400 parks and monuments across the country.

"The administration blamed the shutdown and forced furlough of 20,000 U.S. Parks Service employees on the closures.

"The move was widely criticized by Republicans accusing then-President Barack Obama of unnecessarily making the shutdown more upsetting to Americans than was necessary.

"Critics pointed to the precedent set during the shutdown of 1995-96. The Clinton administration had allowed states to pay to keep parks open and reimbursed them after the shutdown was over." . . .

Guy Benson in 2013: Park Ranger: “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can."

. . . "The rangers are from the government, and they’re only here to help. “It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation,” an angry Park Service ranger in Washington says of the harassment. “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.” . . .

. . . "Finally, a quote from a veteran New York Times reporter, within the context of how [Obama] treats the press: "Sanger, who has worked for the Times in Washington for two decades, said, 'This is most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered.'”

Linda Tripp Laughs Last at the Clintons

Suzanne Fields  "What fools (and hypocrites) these mortals be. Two decades have passed since Linda Tripp blew the whistle on sexual hijinks in high places with her tapes of Monica Lewinsky, the young intern who described to her confidant and colleague the passionate ordeal of a sexual liaison with the president of the United States. She blew the whistle, she says, to protect her friend. Twenty years on, she's still a villain for many women who remember those times.

" But history's on her side.

Trip before and after. Photo added by TD

"Tripp withdrew to a private life after the scandal, and now she comes in from the cold to reappear on a changed landscape littered with the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Charlie Rose. She suggests that former President Bill Clinton should take his place on the pedestal of predators with current celebrities of stage, screen and politics.

""When the president gets a pass for something that egregious," she tells DailyMailTV, "he essentially gave tacit permission to all those who followed to do the same."

" In the revival of memories of those dark days of revelation, Tripp emerges as the heroine before her time was ripe, who went out on a fragile limb to protect a friend who would hate her for what she was doing. "He was the leader of the free world and she was an intern, a kid, who happened to be extremely emotionally young for her age," she says of Lewinsky. "This was part of his pattern where women were a means to an end. It was almost a servicing agreement, but she romanticized it."

" Although Bubba didn't lose his job, as many of the current batch of exposed alleged offenders did, one U.S. senator, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, now says he should have. She thinks he should have resigned in shame." . . .

Bombshell Memo Details FISA Abuses So Serious It Could Bring Changes To The FBI/DOJ

Matt Vespa  "With shutdown theater in high gear, some stories get buried. The government runs out of money at midnight tonight, but there was another story that was trending on social media last night. The House Intelligence Committee voted to release a four-page memo on FISA abuses that have disturbed lawmakers to their core. Some were saying the actions described were akin to the KGB. The vote to release the memo to all members was along party lines, and House Republicans seem adamant that the information should be released to the public. The consequences of these abuses have some members of Congress commenting that deep, structural changes could be coming to the Department of Justice and the FBI (via Fox News):

A four-page memo circulating in Congress that reveals alleged United States government surveillance abuses is being described by lawmakers as “shocking,” “troubling” and “alarming,” with one congressman likening the details to KGB activity in Russia.

Speaking with Fox News, the lawmakers said they could not yet discuss the contents of the memo they reviewed on Thursday after it was released to members by the House Intelligence Committee. But they say the memo should be immediately made public.

“It is so alarming the American people have to see this,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said.

“It's troubling. It is shocking,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said. “Part of me wishes that I didn't read it because I don’t want to believe that those kinds of things could be happening in this country that I call home and love so much.”

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said he believed people could lose their jobs after the memo is released.

“I believe the consequence of its release will be major changes in people currently working at the FBI and the Department of Justice,” he said, referencing DOJ officials Rod Rosenstein and Bruce Ohr.

"The DOJ and FBI have been subjected to increased scrutiny by Congress and some in the media over the allegation that the Trump dossier may have been (and by saying that, I mean most likely) was the spark that prompted wiretaps for Paul Manafort and Carter Page, two aides to then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 election. It’s an allegation that will continue to fester since the FBI refuses to turn over documents related to the file, which was a Democrat-funded opposition research project executed by research firm Fusion GPS, who hired a former MI6 operative to collect information. The Hillary Clinton campaign retained Fusion for this purpose. Bruce Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion and he met with the firm and tried to conceal those meetings. He was then demoted once this fact became known." . . .

Victor D Hanson Explains The Complete Corruption of the Obama Administration helped Sabotage Hillary

A Bombshell House Intelligence report exposing extensive FISA abuse could lead to the removal of senior government officials

House committee document could mean trouble for anti-Trump “deep statists”  . . . "The clear upshot of bombshell information about wrongdoing by pro-Clinton forces in the FBI would be the removal of these officials and, perhaps, their criminal prosecution. Another upshot might be some weakening of support for Mueller and his investigation and weakening of support for impeaching Trump based on Mueller’s findings (if things come to that). But termination of Mueller investigation may be a bridge too far." . . .

Sara Carter

The government official said that after reading the document “some of these people should no longer be in the government.”

"A review of a classified document outlining what is described as extensive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse was made available to all House members Thursday and the revelations could lead to the removal of senior officials in the FBI and Department of Justice, several sources with knowledge of the document stated. These sources say the report is “explosive,” stating they would not be surprised if it leads to the end of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation into President Trump and his associates.

"The House Intelligence Committee passed the motion along party lines Thursday to make the classified report alleging extensive ‘FISA Abuse’ related to the controversial dossier available to all House members. The report contains information regarding the dossier that alleges President Trump and members of his team colluded with the Russians in the 2016 presidential election. Some members of the House viewed the document in a secure room Thursday.

"Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., offered the motion on Thursday to make the Republican majority-authored report available to the members.

“ 'The document shows a troubling course of conduct and we need to make the document available, so the public can see it,” said a senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the document. “Once the public sees it, we can hold the people involved accountable in a number of ways.” . . .

Secret (for now) memo may blow the lid off FISA warrant and Mueller investigation  . . . "[Dan] Bongino’s Twitter feed contains quite a few further tweets about the possibilities he sees for karma coming due.

"I must caution that the roll out of this will take time, and actually firing Mueller

Bongino

would be highly problematic for President Trump, even if it is established that the origins of the Mueller investigation were corrupt. Paul Mirengoff of Powerline:

Evidence that the Mueller investigation stems from serious wrongdoing by the FBI might cause Trump to pull the plug. He might think it gives him the cover he needs to do what, I assume, he has long wanted to do.

But will it truly give him that cover? Mueller and his backers already seem to be shifting their focus, at least with regard to Trump, to alleged obstruction of justice. It will be easy for Mueller and his backers in the Democratic Party and the media to argue that this aspect of the investigation ought not be shut down, regardless of how the “collusion” investigation arose. . .

More here:
INTEL EXPERTS: "Heads Will Roll" When FISA Intel Memo Released Rosenstein and Ohr Will Be Fired

Hillary Derangement Syndrome. Something like the Tunnel Dweller's ODS obviously

Robert Arvay

The very Constitution itself would have become a swirl of words that would mean anything the radical left deemed.  Our history would be taught only in terms of condemnation. . . . I would no longer view my political opponents as merely mistaken, but as evil, just as they now regard us.

"I have a confession to make.  I have HDS – Hillary Derangement Syndrome.   It is dormant, but only because Hillary Clinton did not become president of the United States.  Had she, I would now be every bit as deranged as are those who exhibit Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"It would have started on election night.  I watched on television as Hillary-supporters wept in disappointment, even anguish, as it became clear to them that their expected victory celebration had suddenly turned into the lamentation of their crushing defeat.  In a bizarre way, I felt sorry for them – not because I wished they had won, but because I had pessimistically expected to be in their state of mind.  I had expected to be disgusted by the sight of a fiendishly grinning Hillary Clinton coming on stage to don the crown she so fervently believes is her birthright.  The depth of my sorrow for America would have been more painful than the grief experienced by the 'Clintonistas.'

"After that brief moment of empathy, I felt overjoyed.  The Trump victory had rescued the nation from a fate worse than we knew at the time.  Given the revelations of corruption that have surfaced since then, the suppuration of bureaucracy is even more sinister than we had imagined.

"Expecting a Hillary victory, I dreaded what I knew was coming.  The Second Amendment would soon be dead, killed by a million regulations and proscriptions put in place by executive orders upheld by a Merrick Garland liberal Supreme Court." . . .

Pelosi Aghast: Trump Has “All But Destroyed President Obama’s Phenomenal Legacy”…

Weasel Zippers

Pictured: Obama with San Fran Nan

"Via DCCC email:"

Not only has President Trump disrespected President Obama by calling him “the most ignorant president in our history,” he’s all but destroyed President Obama’s phenomenal legacy.

I watched as Trump reversed President Obama’s commitment to the Paris climate agreement, insulting our global partners and endangering our environment. He slashed the individual mandate, intentionally destabilizing President Obama’s signature health law.

He’s destroyed President Obama’s policies on DREAMers, offshore oil drilling, and even his Iran nuclear deal.

My Democratic colleagues and I are fighting back relentlessly, but without a majority in either House of Congress, we have nearly no power to stop him.

Vowing to 'rip' Trump 'a new one,' Obama's ex-presidency devolves into third-world coup plotting 

It's tinhorn dictator stuff and it needs to be called out.

"Far from content living his golden years on the $400,000 speech and lecture circuit of other former presidents, President Obama has been busy with clawing back for his old power. He's actually covertly plotting to oust his democratically elected successor, President Trump, vowing to his associates to "rip him a new one," in the 2018 midterm elections. Seems he's not all that interested in watching his youngest daughter grow up.

"That's the word from DCWhispers, which reports that Obama's Kalorama mansion, in the heart of the capital's most tony district, is the center of significant comings and goings among the Obamatons, who, led by his consigliere, Valerie Jarrett, are busily raising funds for the project, as Obama eggs them on." . . .

This blog* said many times over the previous administration that America had become a third-world country led by a third-world president. TD

*I, me.