The FISA-Gate Boomerangs

Victor Davis Hanson

"Many questions remain, but Democrats, including Obama, are probably not going to look good when we get the answers."

 "Some things still do not add up about the so-called Steele dossier, FISA warrants, the Nunes memo, and the hysterical Democratic reaction to it. 

A Big Deal or a Nothing Deal? 

1) Progressives and Democrats warned on the eve of the memo’s release that it would cause havoc throughout the intelligence agencies, by exposing classified means and processes. 

"When no serious intelligence expert claimed that the released memo had done such damage, the official response to the memo was suddenly recalibrated by progressives. It went from being radioactive to a “nothingburger.”

" The obvious conclusion is cynical: Cry Armageddon to prevent its release, then, after the release, resort to yawns to downplay its significance. An even more cynical interpretation is that Rod Rosenstein, James Comey, and other officials stridently objected to the release of the memo because they are named in it. Comey incoherently mocked the memo’s purported unimportance even while listing all its deleterious effects and the crises that would ensue.
. . . 

"What seems clear is that the present hysteria about the Trump administration was already deeply seeded in the federal government throughout the 2016 campaign and the 2016–17 transition. A number of powerful Obama officials thought they had both moral right and the administrative means to nullify Trump. And they were not shy in breaking the law to exercise them."

The Usual Idiots that Gave Us the FISA Mess

Adan Avelar

Christopher Chantrill  "Okay, so now the Nunes FISA Memo is out and it shows that the Justice Department and the FBI were used to wiretap the Trump campaign on behalf of the Democratic Party.

"I doubt that this game of using the FBI and the DOJ and the FISA court to assist the Democratic Party in its vital national work of spying on the opposition started with the 2016 election and the Trump campaign. I’ll bet you a nickel that “they” have been doing this for a while. That’s because the facts as they have come out do not suggest at all that the opposition surveillance team was doing it for the first time, or worrying that “we could do this, but it would be wrong.' " . . .

. . . 

"We know this about the Obama political operation: that, going back to Obama’s senate campaigns, Obama’s operation has used illegal methods to dig up dirt on the opposing candidate and win elections. They made their bones getting information about the opposing candidates’ sealed divorce records. Somehow the campaign used its local “deep state” contacts to unseal sealed and confidential court records. Hey, why stop now?

"A campaign with people willing to break the letter and the spirit of the law will inevitably staff its administration with similar folk.

"And then Shakespeare kicks in with “oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” That’s what happens when you have an administration headed by an idiot who got there by cheating. Once you start cheating you find that you can’t stop.

"I am coming to believe that the best way to understand politics and war is to assume that the principals are idiots. Let’s apply the principle to U.S. presidents since World War II." . . .

Chantrill then gives his assessment of each president from Truman to Obama and why he grades them thus. It appears he consider the jury still out on President Trump, once referred to in 2012 by Britt Hume as "zany".

Truman and Eisenhower: not idiots. . . . Lyndon Johnson: idiot.  . . .Richard Nixon: half idiot. . . . Jimmy Carter: idiot.  . . .Ronald Reagan: not idiot. . . . George H.W. Bush: idiot. . . . Bill Clinton: half idiot. . . . George W. Bush: idiot. . . .*Barack Obama: idiot. . . . 

* Blames Bush for the housing bubble, but I contend it was Barney Frank and liberals who forced foolish home loans on people who could not measure up financially. President Bush warned Frank but the Democrats blew him off and continued the policy until the market blew up. TD 

The Nunes Memo and the Death of American Journalism

"Remember when reporters spent their time digging for answers rather than advancing their favored political narratives?"

The American Conservative

"Charlie Savage is a clever guy. The New York Times reporter managed to get a full-fledged editorial into the news section of his paper when the controversial Nunes memo was released on Friday. He did it through a journalistic device that is likely to be more widely used in the future as standards of objectivity and fairness continue to wither: an “annotated” version of the original document.

"The memo, three and a half pages long and compiled by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, documents what the Wall Street Journal calls “disturbing facts about how the FBI and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court appear to have been used to influence the 2016 election and its aftermath.” The Journal adds, “You don’t have to be a civil libertarian to be shocked by the details.”

"Savage clearly isn’t shocked. But he shouldn’t be, at least not outwardly—not in his reporting on the document. His job is to be dispassionate. On the other hand, neither should he reveal his own stark bias through deft selections on what precisely he wishes to annotate and how he wishes to do so.

"Charlie Savage is not alone. The country’s liberal establishment has joined ranks in dismissing the memo. It has attacked its veracity, portraying it as a conscious effort to mislead the American people on FBI and Justice Department efforts to get a surveillance order on a U.S. citizen connected to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. This intense spin was on full display even before the memo was released, and then reached full flower afterward." 

"This was not surprising. The hysteria reflects a recent development in American politics whereby disturbing facts and suspicions, if they contradict the embraced narrative, are simply ignored or dismissed as combatants hammer away from their usual scripts. This isn’t confined to liberals; you can see it at a high pitch every night on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program.". . .

Emphasis mine, TD

Texts and emails pave the road to oblivion

Rich Terrell

Hillary Clinton unconsciously satirizes herself in Georgetown speech

Thomas Lifson   "The joke is on Hillary, perhaps the least self-aware person ever to be a major party presidential candidate (with the possible exception of John Kerry). Kathryn Blackhurst reports for Lifezette:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted Monday during a human rights event at Georgetown University that climate change will force women to “bear the brunt of looking for the food, looking for the firewood, looking for the place to migrate to …”

Such migration won’t be led by men, she maintained, but rather by women “when all of the grass is finally gone as the desertification moves south and you have to keep moving your livestock or your crops are no longer growing.”

"For a former secretary of state, she is amazingly out of touch with the demographic makeup of the wave of refugees that has overwhelmed Europe: overwhelmingly males, most of military service age. But hey, she's never let facts get in the way of her demagoguery before.

"Obviously, she’s never heard the old joke about newspaper headlines on the day the world ends.

God decided He was finally fed up with the human race and decided to end it for good. He called up a reporter at the New York Times to tell him the news: The world would end the day after tomorrow.

The reporter tried to talk God out of it, but God was firm and wouldn't be swayed. The reporter then asked if he had an exclusive. God said that He was going to call three other newspapers.

Headlines the next day:

The New York Times: "God says world to end tomorrow; story and analysis on page B11."

The Wall Street Journal: "God says world to end tomorrow; market to close early"

USA Today: "IT'S OVER!"

The Washington Post: "God says world to end tomorrow; women and minorities hardest hit."

"But the biggest joke of all is the name of the ceremony at which she delivered her craziness:

...the annual Hillary Rodham Clinton awards ceremony hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in Washington, D.C.

 Hillary Clinton Desperately Tries to Distract From FISA Memo Media Firestorm – Fails Miserably
Lucianne asks, "How long, oh, Lord how long,will Hillary be with us?"

US Backlash

While Democrats didn’t want you to see the Nunes memo, GOP votes for you to see theirs.

Weasel Zippers  "While Democrats didn’t want you to see the Nunes memo, GOP votes for you to see theirs. Nunes memo was made as part of the staff examination of the evidence. The Democratic memo was made purely to spin from GOP memo. But GOP sitll voted for it showing more class than Democrats.

"Via Daily Caller:

The House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence voted unanimously Monday evening to release the Democratic FISA memo to the public, sending the document to the president to decide whether he wants to approve its release.

Republicans voted to declassify the Democratic memo, which reportedly weakens allegations made in the memo crafted by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. The committee’s unanimous vote sends the Democratic memo to the White House, giving President Donald Trump five days to decide if he wants to declassify and release it to the American public, Politico reported.

While Trump has the power to block the memo from being released, the White House said it would “entertain” the possibility of approving its release.

Keep reading…

Phyllis Chesler: Obama’s anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism reigned at the IRS from 2010- 2017.

"How one courageous proactive journalist took on the IRS over this issue - and won."

Israel National News  "After a “long, lonely and expensive seven year struggle,” one that she alone, on behalf of Z STREET bore, Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the founder of Z STREET has just won a significant legal victory which grants her organization tax-exempt status and definitively exposes Obama’s IRS as obsessively anti-Israel.

"There was a repeated effort during the Obama administration to bar organizations that support Judea and Samaria from being eligible for tax-exempt status.

"Ironically, Marcus founded Z STREET in 2009 in order to “educate Americans about the Middle East and Israel’s defense against terror.”

The Z Street application was at first delayed, then frozen, because the IRS claimed as a defense, that Israel was viewed as a “terrorist entity,” and a country “with terrorism.”

Many of us suspected that Obama’s administration had politicized Homeland Security, the DOJ, the FBI, and the American relationship to the United Nations in ways that favored Islamism, Islamic terrorism, Palestine, Iran, and that demonized Zionism and Israel’s attempts at self-defense.

Z STREET”s successful lawsuit exposes how the Obama administration, through its power to grant or withhold tax-exempt status to groups, politicized and corrupted a policy of even-handedness, transparency, and accountability at the IRS.

"Like the Western media, professoriate, international organizations, and very much like an Islamic world view, the American IRS viewed Israel, especially Israelis who lived “across the Green Line—the nonborder that delineates pre-1967 Israel from the territories it acquired in the Six Day War” as related to “terrorism” or as “terrorists.' ” . . .

Time for the US to walk away from the PLO

Caroline Glick

Trump and Pence burned in effigy by Arabs in Bethlehem

"On Tuesday in Bethlehem, the Palestinians demonstrated the choice the Americans now face in their dealings with Fatah – the supposedly moderate PLO faction that controls the Palestinian Authority and the PLO. President Donald Trump and his advisers can play by Fatah’s rules or they can walk away.

. . . 

"After the Americans entered the hall where the meeting was scheduled to take place, some of the rioters barged in. They held placards condemning America and they shouted, “Americans Out!”

. . . 

The burning effigies themselves were a natural consequence of PLO and Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s call last month for Trump’s “house to be destroyed.”

. . . 

Palestinian anti-Americanism is notable given that the US has given more assistance to the Palestinians than any country other than Israel. Americans have spent the last 25 years pressuring Israel to make more and more concessions to the Palestinians.

In large part, anti-Americanism among Palestinians redounds to two things. First, incitement. For 25 years, the US-financed PA has used all the tools at its disposal to indoctrinate the Palestinians to hate America almost as much as they hate Israel.

. . . 

“I can tell you that Israel does want to make peace,” Trump said.

The Palestinians, he continued, are “going to have to want to make peace too, or we’re going to have nothing to do with it any longer.”

If this is how Arabs present Israel to their children, I can't wait to see how Palestinian children's TV deals with America:

Destroy! No...WAIT!

darkangelpolitics

Tim Allen Takes on Political Correctness in New Documentary

Legal Insurrection

“Nothing kills comedy quite like people who are constantly offended”

 "Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager have partnered to make a documentary film about political correctness and the danger it presents to comedy and free speech, particularly on college campuses. The film is called “No Safe Spaces” and will be released this fall.

"This is a very real issue, as we’ve pointed out in countless other posts. The environment on college campuses has become so toxic that many famous comedians will no longer perform at them.

The cast of the film was recently joined by conservative comic Tim Allen. He’ll fit right in.

"Marisa Schultz reports at the New York Post:

Tim Allen joins docudrama taking down PC culture

Actor Tim Allen has joined the cast of new movie aimed at disrupting the liberal and PC culture in Hollywood, on college campuses and in comedy.

Allen’s “Last Man Standing” sitcom was canceled last year and outraged fans believe ABC pulled the plug because the family comedy highlighted conservative values. ABC denied it was over politics.

Allen has signed onto the docudrama “No Safe Spaces” that’s expected to hit theaters in the fall.

Fellow comedian Adam Carolla and conservative radio show host Dennis Prager are making the movie to promote free speech at a time they say the entertainment industry, media and college campuses too often shut down or blackball controversial viewpoints.

“Nothing kills comedy quite like people who are constantly offended,” Carolla told the Post. “It’s impossible to be funny if we’re not allowed to poke fun at each other and that’s what’s happening with a new generation of people who seem to be offended for a living.

"Here’s a clip from the film:

. . . More at the link.

From Lloyd Marcus, "The Unhyphenated American": "Sadly, Another Black History Month"

"A glaring example of Leftists not really giving a rat’s derriere about blacks is the Congressional Black Caucus’ response to Trump announcing in his SOTU that black unemployment is at a record low."

Noisy Room

"I am a 69 year-old proud American who happens to be black. The American Left (Democrats, Hollywood and fake news media) exploit Black History Month as an opportunity to further their lie that America is eternally racist and a hellhole for blacks. BHM should feature the truth that America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it; regardless of race, color, creed or gender. Blacks are only 12% of the U.S. population. Therefore, black millionaires and billionaires like Oprah, Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Kaepernick and countless others confirm my point; white America made these blacks extremely wealthy.

"And yet, sadly, most millennial blacks believe the Left’s lie that their opportunities for success are limited. They believe white cops murder black men on sight. They believe white America is obsessed with conceiving dirty tricks to keep blacks down.

"It is interesting that the American Left which includes the NAACP and Congressional Black Caucus despises and seeks to destroy successful blacks who bear witness to the greatness of America. I am talking about blacks like world renowned retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, businessman extraordinaire Herman Cain and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Without lowered standards or special concessions due to their skin-color, these blacks achieved success the old fashion way. They earned it.

"Imagine driving down a dusty country road on a spring day in the 1950s. You see a dirty little black boy in a field picking cotton. Only in America could that black boy grow up to become one of the most powerful men in the world, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. You will never see the American Left using Justice Thomas’ remarkable American story during BHM to inspire black youths. Leftists only feature blacks whom they claim achieved success in spite of America’s rabid racism or sexism.

"The American Left strives to convince all Americans that they are victims of either Christians, conservatives, Republicans, the rich or straight white men. " . . .

Explosion over the Washington Swamp

"In other words, the Obama administration used a dossier concocted by Russian agents to legitimize its surveillance of their political opposition."

terrellaftermath

Gary Gindler  . . . "As a result, we know that the chain of events associated with the case of Trump's "criminal collusion with Putin" looks like this:

• Trump's political opponents during the primaries hired the firm Fusion GPS, which specializes in opposition research, to dig up some dirt on Trump
• After Trump won the primaries, Fusion GPS lost the customer, but just for a short while
• The new customers of the dirt on Trump become the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC
• The new customers requested dirt on Trump from Fusion GPS, not only in the American domain but also in the international arena
• To add international dimension, Fusion GPS hired a subcontractor – former resident of British intelligence in Moscow Christopher Steele, known for his open anti-Trump beliefs
• Christopher Steele hired some former agents of the Russian intelligence services (against whom he once fought during the Cold War)
• The agents of Russian intelligence services concoct a dirty file on Trump (linguistic analysis confirmed that this dossier was written in "Russian English" with minimal editing by native English speakers)
• It is still unclear as to what extent these Russian agents were the "former" agents of the Russian intelligence services (that is, to what extent this dossier is fiction, and to what extent is it the deliberate work of the KGB/FSB disinformation effort)
• Trump's dossier, compiled by the Russians, gets to the FBI through the Assistant Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, who received it from his wife. At that time, she was working for Fusion GPS and was a part of the anti-Trump research team
• The FBI used this dossier as one of the key arguments in the secret intelligence court FISC to obtain a warrant to wiretap the Trump campaign

"In other words, the Obama administration used a dossier concocted by Russian agents to legitimize its surveillance of their political opposition.

"According to the memo, FBI leaders knew precisely where the dossier came from, but in the application to the FISC, they presented the dossier as a proven fact, and not as opposition research. It was not just a mere bureaucratic mistake -- the FBI used the dossier in such a way not once, but at least four times." . . .