You Can't Find The Beef When There's No Cow: The Case For Forcing Our Politicians To Do Their Homework
When children are in elementary school, they are taught by the end of fourth grade that when they give a speech or write a paper, they have to research and cite source material. It seems obvious that the President of the United States and the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee {I use that term loosely since the term seems to be an increasing oxymoron when it comes to Nunes and his history}.
How do we know this? Both Nunes and Trump have admitted they haven't read the source material for the FISA application. It is interesting that both Nunes and the President had clearance to review the document, but neither one did their homework. Instead, Trey Gowdy read the documentation. Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler read the documentation. Gowdy, an extremely conservative republican from South Carolina has not openly supported the Nunes memo and has tweeted that he has faith in the FBI and DOJ and that it doesn't impugn Mueller in any way. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement of either Trump or Nunes. I wondered earlier why Gowdy announced his retirement from congress. Now I guess it may be because doing your homework in a lethal sin in today's republican politics.
So what do we have after all of this hullaballoo? We have a 3 and 1/2 paqe memo written by staffers of Devin Nunes who also haven't done their homework. It is a series of misstatements and overstatements based on a document {the Steele dossier} that the President and the Republican party would like to see go away. Why? For all the hyperbole that the document was a hit job done by a Trump hater and is totally untrue, the reality is just the opposite. The documented information is that Steele didn't even know who was paying Fusion GPS. He did his work and submitted it. His checks came from Fusion. The republicans don't want people to realize that the dossier was initially commissioned by republican operatives and only after the investigation was in full swing did the DNC take over the funding of the work. The republicans like to say that the material is salacious and untrue. There may be material that is salacious, but just as Steele indicated, it has been proven to be about 80% accurate. A pretty good standard for opposition research.
The reality is that none of this is being done to question the FISA process, nor is it being done with any real expectation of impugning either top FBI or DOJ officials. Almost every republican voted to reauthorize FISA just weeks before. This entire travesty is designed to provide cover for President Trump as the Mueller investigation closes in around the President. In some ways it is a brilliant strategy. It is not focused on changing the minds of any one who understands the process of FISA or of anyone who is hostile to the Trump Presidency. It is red meat for the base. It is a collaboration with Fox News and Trump's buddy, Sean Hannity {who also hasn't done his homework} to work the Trump faithful into a frothing frenzy. It is designed to cast Trump as the victim of a deep state gone rogue. It is designed to keep Trump's base "certain" that their hero can do no wrong. And for those who only hear the Fox News side of the story, it will probably work.
The pity is that this game that the republicans are playing is wreaking havoc with our national security. Our enemies are getting a glimpse of how we gather intelligence information. They are getting some insight as to the processes that we have to go through to get FISA warrants. They are also learning that if they can get the public to distrust our own law enforcement agencies, they may be able to get away with a slightly more sophisticated spy recruiting approach.
The nation has a right to be concerned about what is happening here. It just isn't for the reasons the republicans would like us to believe. Maybe there should be a teacher/principal on call in both Congress and in the White House to make sure that the leaders of our nation do their homework. If not they should get a failing grade.
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The total incompetence and incredible ignorance of this administration is truly mind-boggling.
learning that if they can get the public to distrust our own law enforcement agencies, they may be able to get away with a slightly more sophisticated spy recruiting approach.
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Seems as they have already recruited many of the GOP house already
And most of them WILL need another job pretty soon, so it's a win/win! [For the GOP and the Russians that is]
So you can't prove that the original FISA warrant was obtained in good faith and try to deflect to the Mueller investigation, which was not the point of the memo. The point was politically motivated officials lied to a judge about the source of the dossier. Anything beyond that is liberal rabbit holes and paranoid fantasies. You'd rather deflect than deal with the substance of the memo.
The original FISA warrant wasn't the big bombshell point of the meh mo.
SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The warrant was the foothold the political operatives in the FBI used to set up fake Russian collusion claims.
Prove these are fake Claims! Right now they are nothing more than your wishful delusions.
I don't have to disprove any claims coming from the left. They are the ones with the burden of proof. It doesn't help their case when even Diane Feinstein says there was no Russian collusion with Trump.
I read on another thread the other day that a poster said it was President Trump's responsibility to disprove whatever was on the fake dossier. Only in libland does one have to disprove a non-existent.
Such lunacy.
It's hard for these morons to make a case for lying when they haven't read the source material. What part of stupid as the definition of Nunes don't you Understand? He didn't even read what was in any of the packets.
You mean like the Dems didn't read the PPACA before passing it? Seems to be a lot of that going around in the political world.
As for the faux investigation into Trump- if they aren't investigating both sides for involvement with foreign powers before the election; then they are nothing more than a bad political joke. Made worse by all of the partisan BS that is being found at the DOJ and the intelligence agencies.
How much longer are we supposed to give these morons to find what is supposed to be readily available for the world to see? Or at least to the Dems and left that is. I think Comey should be bared from any further governmental service after laying out the case for trying Clinton for negligence (which is written right into the law for the whole world to see) on sending secrets over unsecured private lines; and then letting her off the hook by saying it did not rise to level of being prosecuted. Of course he threw Lynch under the bus once questioned before Congress; but didn't have any tapes to back himself up. Nor did he have any recordings/documents of the Clinton questioning. Of course he did tape Trump; guess he only sucks at his job when Democrats are being investigated.
After the last 8 years of the the left using the federal agencies as their personal whips towards anyone that didn't agree to them; it is the height of hypocrisy for them to even try to question anyone else. They can bitch all they want; but for the next 4 to 8 years they should expect to receive as good as they gave.
I can't stand Trump; and didn't vote for either him or HRC- but he is no more of a criminal than Obama or Clinton. Fry one, then you have to fry them all.
This has NOTHING to do with the FISA Court itself. It has EVERYTHING to do with what the Actual evidence is, and how it is presented to the FISA Court . The FISA Courts rely on the information given to them ......PERIOD !
There in-LIES the Crux of the REAL issue in this hoopla !
The left would rather focus on made up conspiracies about Trump firing Mueller than little pesky things like massive civil liberty violations at the highest level of our intelligence agencies.