RussiaGate

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

SNL cold open nailed it.

 

[Toni]

SNL cold open nailed it.

What would be interesting is how the Republicans could justify their support for Moore if he had been chasing 14 year old boys and trying to get into their pants. Or been banned from the mall or had a special detail at high school football games assigned to keep him away from teenaged boys.

 

[Elixir]

SNL cold open nailed it.

What would be interesting is how the Republicans could justify their support for Moore if he had been chasing 14 year old boys and trying to get into their pants. Or been banned from the mall or had a special detail at high school football games assigned to keep him away from teenaged boys.

Why would that matter? As long as he's against abortion....

 

[Horatio Parker]

ABC News Suspends Brian Ross for 4 Weeks Without Pay: ‘Effective Immediately’

So why did Flynn lie about these contacts?

Excellent point. Why would Flynn feel the need to lie about those contacts? Its not like he was some fresh off the boat hayseed or anything.

Because he was ordered to is the likeliest explanation.

 

[Trausti]

My apology for interrupting the circle jerk here.

You can continue your circle jerk anytime, but please don't mention it to us again.

Continue on with your delusions.

People are being convicted and so perhaps you should spend less time jerking and more time reading factual material.

My mistake again. Apparently Flynn engaged in time travel in December to help Russia collude with the November election. That you folks get your undies wet over this silliness is bewildering.

 

[Trausti]

ABC News Suspends Brian Ross for 4 Weeks Without Pay: ‘Effective Immediately’

So why did Flynn lie about these contacts?

People lie about things all the time for no good reason. That Flynn had contacted the Russian Ambassador during the transition was no secret. The Obama State Department approved it. Moreover, the conversation was tapped; so the FBI already knew everything that was said. And everyone knew that. Yet, the whole point of this investigation is to uncover *collusion* between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the election. So far, nothing, except the sort of peccadillos you'd expect get when a high level prosecutor is desperate for results to justify the money spent on the investigation.

 

[braces_for_impact]

World awaits imminent Trump Tweet Shitfest

THAR SHE BLOWS!

Trump stoked the controversy with one of his Saturday tweets, in which he said part of the rationale for firing Flynn was that he had lied to the FBI.[Trump says he has nothing to fear from Flynn, then stokes new controversy with tweet]
“I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI,” Trump wrote in that tweet.
But critics pounced Saturday on Trump, arguing that if he knew at the time of his conversation with Comey that Flynn had lied to the FBI and was under investigation, it may constitute an attempt to obstruct that investigation.
“Are you ADMITTING you knew Flynn had lied to the FBI when you asked Comey to back off Flynn?” Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, asked in a tweet Saturday afternoon.

It's a pity our president is of such poor mental faculty, but it does make certain things easy, such as when he admits to shit, simply because he's too stupid to keep up with his own denials.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

You can continue your circle jerk anytime, but please don't mention it to us again.



People are being convicted and so perhaps you should spend less time jerking and more time reading factual material.

My mistake again. Apparently Flynn engaged in time travel in December to help Russia collude with the November election. That you folks get your undies wet over this silliness is bewildering.

Right...because if the infrastructure and connections are all set up to make illegal sweet deals in December, nothing possibly could have happened in November, October, September or any previous months when Papadapolous was convicted, regarding elections and Hillary's emails. Good job trying to change the subject over a CONVICTION! Where do you get your talking points, from Trump, or directly from Papa Putin?

 

[Horatio Parker]

ABC News Suspends Brian Ross for 4 Weeks Without Pay: ‘Effective Immediately’

So why did Flynn lie about these contacts?

People lie about things all the time for no good reason. That Flynn had contacted the Russian Ambassador during the transition was no secret. The Obama State Department approved it. Moreover, the conversation was tapped; so the FBI already knew everything that was said. And everyone knew that. Yet, the whole point of this investigation is to uncover *collusion* between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the election. So far, nothing, except the sort of peccadillos you'd expect get when a high level prosecutor is desperate for results to justify the money spent on the investigation.

There could be very good reasons for that. Namely, that Mueller is proceeding in a way that makes it hard for Trump to fire him. Indictments aren't carved in stone; charges can be added. In the meantime, enjoy the good vibes.

Trivializing Flynn's lies as if he were talking about the number of drinks he had or how often he looks at porn isn't very convincing. This the NSA talking on the record to the FBI about official govt business. Legitimate business.

 

[Ford]

So why did Flynn lie about these contacts?

People lie about things all the time for no good reason.

Yeah, and people always lie about the same thing in groups. Flynn lied about meeting with the Russians. Donny Jr. lied about meeting with Russians. Jared lied about meeting with Russians. Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions lied about meeting with Russians. Pauly "The Laundryman" Manafort lied about meeting with Russians. In fact pretty much everyone in the Trump organization who met with Russians subsequently lied about it or conveniently "forgot" about those meetings. That's completely not suspicious in any way.

This is all normal. They just coordinated their lies for no good reason. And then when Comey was busy investigating all these contacts, it was perfectly normal for Trump to fire him and then brag to the Russians about how he stymied the investigation.

Yep. Nothing to see here. Move along.

 

[poster]

I think a more important question is why the justice department decided to ask Flynn about his conversations with Kislyak when they already had tapes of his telephone conversations? Might it have been in the hopes of entraping him if his memory wasn't exactly perfect and didn't match the information on the tapes?

I find myself in a daily state of torture because I'm sickened by this flagrant display of the civil rights violations of people whose actions and politics I find repugnant. I sometimes wish I could rejoice at the specticle of embarassment of Trump and his dispicable administration like so many others who consider themselves as liberals are doing, but I just can't. These are serious violations in the name of nationalism we're witnessing. The thing is, Trump would probably do the same thing to anyone he despised if he could.

So terrible a place we've come to.

For anyone who might be interested in what exactly is happening to our freedoms:

Russia-gate enthusiasts are thrilled over the guilty plea of President Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about pre-inauguration conversations with the Russian ambassador, but the case should alarm true civil libertarians.

What is arguably most disturbing about this case is that then-National Security Adviser Flynn was pushed into a perjury trap by Obama administration holdovers at the Justice Department who concocted an unorthodox legal rationale for subjecting Flynn to an FBI interrogation four days after he took office, testing Flynn’s recollection of the conversations while the FBI agents had transcripts of the calls intercepted by the National Security Agency.

In other words, the Justice Department wasn’t seeking information about what Flynn said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak – the intelligence agencies already had that information. Instead, Flynn was being quizzed on his precise recollection of the conversations and nailed for lying when his recollections deviated from the transcripts.

For Americans who worry about how the pervasive surveillance powers of the U.S. government could be put to use criminalizing otherwise constitutionally protected speech and political associations, Flynn’s prosecution represents a troubling precedent.

Though Flynn clearly can be faulted for his judgment, he was, in a sense, a marked man the moment he accepted the job of national security adviser. In summer 2016, Democrats seethed over Flynn’s participation in chants at the Republican National Convention to “lock her [Hillary Clinton] up!”

Then, just four days into the Trump presidency, an Obama holdover, then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, primed the Flynn perjury trap by coming up with a novel legal theory that Flynn – although the national security adviser-designate at the time of his late December phone calls with Kislyak – was violating the 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from interfering with U.S. foreign policy.

But that law – passed during President John Adams’s administration in the era of the Alien and Sedition Acts – was never intended to apply to incoming officials in the transition period between elected presidential administrations and – in the past 218 years – the law has resulted in no successful prosecution at all and thus its dubious constitutionality has never been adjudicated.

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/01/the-scalp-taking-of-gen-flynn/

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

are you sure that's all true?

What is arguably most disturbing about this case is that then-National Security Adviser Flynn was pushed into a perjury trap by Obama administration holdovers at the Justice Department who concocted an unorthodox legal rationale for subjecting Flynn to an FBI interrogation four days after he took office, testing Flynn’s recollection of the conversations while the FBI agents had transcripts of the calls intercepted by the National Security Agency.

Seems to frame it in a way to appeal to conservatives who think about conspiracies instead of just objective facts, too.

I mean, so what if it's 4 days after he took office...sounds like minimizing something for no reason. If it's 4 days since he took office then it's also just a month since he was making illegal deals with the Russians...

"subjecting" also makes questions sound like torture...

NSA intercepts, really? okay, where's the evidence?

 

[blastula]

World awaits imminent Trump Tweet Shitfest

And Trausti is trying to upstage him.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I think a more important question is why the justice department decided to ask Flynn about his conversations with Kislyak when they already had tapes of his telephone conversations? Might it have been in the hopes of entraping him if his memory wasn't exactly perfect and didn't match the information on the tapes?

I find myself in a daily state of torture because I'm sickened by this flagrant display of the civil rights violations of people whose actions and politics I find repugnant. I sometimes wish I could rejoice at the specticle of embarassment of Trump and his dispicable administration like so many others who consider themselves as liberals are doing, but I just can't. These are serious violations in the name of nationalism we're witnessing. The thing is, Trump would probably do the same thing to anyone he despised if he could.

So terrible a place we've come to.

For anyone who might be interested in what exactly is happening to our freedoms:

Russia-gate enthusiasts are thrilled over the guilty plea of President Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about pre-inauguration conversations with the Russian ambassador, but the case should alarm true civil libertarians.

What is arguably most disturbing about this case is that then-National Security Adviser Flynn was pushed into a perjury trap by Obama administration holdovers at the Justice Department who concocted an unorthodox legal rationale for subjecting Flynn to an FBI interrogation four days after he took office, testing Flynn’s recollection of the conversations while the FBI agents had transcripts of the calls intercepted by the National Security Agency.

In other words, the Justice Department wasn’t seeking information about what Flynn said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak – the intelligence agencies already had that information. Instead, Flynn was being quizzed on his precise recollection of the conversations and nailed for lying when his recollections deviated from the transcripts.

For Americans who worry about how the pervasive surveillance powers of the U.S. government could be put to use criminalizing otherwise constitutionally protected speech and political associations, Flynn’s prosecution represents a troubling precedent.

Though Flynn clearly can be faulted for his judgment, he was, in a sense, a marked man the moment he accepted the job of national security adviser. In summer 2016, Democrats seethed over Flynn’s participation in chants at the Republican National Convention to “lock her [Hillary Clinton] up!”

Then, just four days into the Trump presidency, an Obama holdover, then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, primed the Flynn perjury trap by coming up with a novel legal theory that Flynn – although the national security adviser-designate at the time of his late December phone calls with Kislyak – was violating the 1799 Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from interfering with U.S. foreign policy.

But that law – passed during President John Adams’s administration in the era of the Alien and Sedition Acts – was never intended to apply to incoming officials in the transition period between elected presidential administrations and – in the past 218 years – the law has resulted in no successful prosecution at all and thus its dubious constitutionality has never been adjudicated.

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/01/the-scalp-taking-of-gen-flynn/

I love passive-aggressive defenses.

 

[Elixir]

What is arguably most disturbing about this case is that then-National Security Adviser Flynn was pushed into a perjury trap by Obama administration holdovers at the Justice Department who concocted an unorthodox legal rationale for subjecting Flynn to an FBI interrogation four days after he took office, testing Flynn’s recollection of the conversations while the FBI agents had transcripts of the calls intercepted by the National Security Agency.

Might want to wait until the extent and nature of the the variance between exactly what was represented vs. the facts is known. Sounds like a lot of rationalizing about the actions of a non-political (prior to trump) Department, trying to characterize the entire judicial process as a liberal enterprise.
I find that revelatory, as it shows the slip of neo-con preference for autocratic authority over representative democracy.

 

[TV and credit cards]

In other words, the Justice Department wasn’t seeking information about what Flynn said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak – the intelligence agencies already had that information. Instead, Flynn was being quizzed on his precise recollection of the conversations and nailed for lying when his recollections deviated from the transcripts.

I've been through an investigation or two in the navy for missing stuff. No one ever required "precise recollections". Then again, I suppose it's a matter of what you're forgetting. For example, loosing a few details here and there is a world apart from forgetting you put a crate of grenades.

 

[poster]

In other words, the Justice Department wasn’t seeking information about what Flynn said to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak – the intelligence agencies already had that information. Instead, Flynn was being quizzed on his precise recollection of the conversations and nailed for lying when his recollections deviated from the transcripts.

I've been through an investigation or two in the navy for missing stuff. No one ever required "precise recollections". Then again, I suppose it's a matter of what you're forgetting. For example, loosing a few details here and there is a world apart from forgetting you put a crate of grenades.

I think the point of the quote is that the entire plan was to make Flynn the first casulty of the administration. There was nothing in the way of new information Flynn could provide because they already knew everything they could possibly want to know - they had transcripts.

 

[Horatio Parker]

I've been through an investigation or two in the navy for missing stuff. No one ever required "precise recollections". Then again, I suppose it's a matter of what you're forgetting. For example, loosing a few details here and there is a world apart from forgetting you put a crate of grenades.

I think the point of the quote is that the entire plan was to make Flynn the first casulty of the administration. There was nothing in the way of new information Flynn could provide because they already knew everything they could possibly want to know - they had transcripts.

So who is the evil genius perpetrating this plot? Mueller?

 

[Ford]

I've been through an investigation or two in the navy for missing stuff. No one ever required "precise recollections". Then again, I suppose it's a matter of what you're forgetting. For example, loosing a few details here and there is a world apart from forgetting you put a crate of grenades.

I think the point of the quote is that the entire plan was to make Flynn the first casulty of the administration. There was nothing in the way of new information Flynn could provide because they already knew everything they could possibly want to know - they had transcripts.

So who is the evil genius perpetrating this plot? Mueller?

And how is Flynn the first casualty when there's already been one guilty plea and two indictments?

 

[poster]

I've been through an investigation or two in the navy for missing stuff. No one ever required "precise recollections". Then again, I suppose it's a matter of what you're forgetting. For example, loosing a few details here and there is a world apart from forgetting you put a crate of grenades.

I think the point of the quote is that the entire plan was to make Flynn the first casulty of the administration. There was nothing in the way of new information Flynn could provide because they already knew everything they could possibly want to know - they had transcripts.

So who is the evil genius perpetrating this plot? Mueller?

Not one - Intelligence during the Obama administration. Looking back on the election, it appeared the intellegence leaders didn't really like either candidate.

From Dec 2016

As Official Washington’s latest “group think” solidifies into certainty – that Russia used hacked Democratic emails to help elect Donald Trump – something entirely different may be afoot: a months-long effort by elements of the U.S. intelligence community to determine who becomes the next president.

I was told by a well-placed intelligence source some months ago that senior leaders of the Obama administration’s intelligence agencies – from the CIA to the FBI – were deeply concerned about either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump ascending to the presidency. And, it’s true that intelligence officials often come to see themselves as the stewards of America’s fundamental interests, sometimes needing to protect the country from dangerous passions of the public or from inept or corrupt political leaders.

[...]

So, what to make of what we have seen over the past several months when there have been a series of leaks and investigations that have damaged both Clinton and Trump — with some major disclosures coming, overtly and covertly, from the U.S. intelligence community led by CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey?


Some sources of damaging disclosures remain mysterious. Clinton’s campaign was hobbled by leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee – showing it undercutting Clinton’s chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders – and from her campaign chairman John Podesta – exposing the content of her speeches to Wall Street banks that she had tried to hide from the voters and revealing the Clinton Foundation’s questionable contacts with foreign governments.

Clinton – already burdened with a reputation for secrecy and dishonesty – suffered from the drip, drip, drip of releases from WikiLeaks of the DNC and Podesta emails although it remains unclear who gave the emails to WikiLeaks. Still, the combination of the two email batches added to public suspicions about Clinton and reminded people why they didn’t trust her.

But the most crippling blow to Clinton came from FBI Director Comey in the last week of the campaign when he reopened and then re-closed the investigation into whether she broke the law with her sloppy handling of classified material in her State Department emails funneled through a home server.

Following Comey’s last-minute revival of the Clinton email controversy, her poll numbers fell far enough to enable Trump to grab three normally Democratic states – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – enough to give him a victory in the Electoral College.

The piece goes on the explain taking Trump down also.

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/12/18/a-spy-coup-in-america/