Tag: FISA

Things the media is choosing not to report

As the Christine Blasey Ford drama sucks all the air out of the room, there are some things the media is either lightly reporting or ignoring outright.  These would be huge “stop the presses” moments if it were about Republicans.  It involves blatant racism, domestic abuse, and international intrigue.  But it doesn’t look good for Democrats and we are within two months of an election.

  1. Beto O’Rourke tells a black student that we need cheap, illegal labor because no one else will pick cotton.

The media is simply ignoring this one.  At a town hall on Wednesday, Beto O’Rourke was asked by a black student about his policy towards illegal immigrants.  Specifically, the student asked him if illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship and American-paid benefits even though they came here voluntarily without following our laws.  Beto first compared illegal immigrants sneaking in to the country to black slaves being brought here against their will.

Beto went on to tell how the manager of a cotton gin he went to visit said people born here in the US won’t take jobs working for him anymore, and that’s why we need to import “immigrants” from Central America and Mexico to help our economy.  It’s the exact same argument southern Democrats used for why we needed slavery in the first place.  Even more disturbing, he is literally telling this black student that we need illegal immigrants because blacks won’t pick cotton anymore.  Not a peep from the media.  Here’s the video:

 

2. Keith Ellison abused his girlfriend

While Democrats are making the argument that Brett Kavanaugh is not qualified to serve because of an accusation that 36 years ago he as a teenager touched another teenager over her clothes, the media is not spending too much time on credible accusations of domestic violence against Keith Ellison.  Ellison’s girlfriend has now posted medical records detailing the abuse.  But rather than seeing an outcry of #metoo support, the NYT headline is simply that Ellison denies allegations of abuse.

If Christine Blasey Ford is to be believed, isn’t Karen Monahan?  There have been the typical 11th page acknowledgements, but other than that, Representative Ellison’s physical abuse of his girlfriend has been a big yawn for the media.  No one in Hollywood who has come out in blind support of Ford has asked for Ellison’s resignation either.

3. Christine Blasey Ford is 0-3 on the witness count

This is another one that has received light coverage.  Christine Blasey Ford has named other people who were at the party where she was allegedly groped by Kavanaugh.  So far three who have responded, including Ford’s lifelong friend  Leland Keyser, have said Kavanaugh wasn’t there.  None have placed him at any party ever with Ford.  Leland Keyser, who told the Washington Post she believed her friend, wrote to the Judiciary Committee that she had never been at a party or gathering with Kavanaugh.

This is devastating to Ford’s case.  A liberal believing something has little to do with reality.  When it comes to official correspondence that carries penalties if someone lies, Keyser would not back her friend’s claim.  Ford’s attorneys dismissed Keyser’s denial to the Washington Post, saying it would make sense since it happened so long ago and Ford never talked about it.  But Keyser isn’t just denying the allegations.  She’s denying ever being at a party or gathering with Kavanaugh.

4. Democrats violate the constitution and demand the FBI and DOJ defy President Trump’s order to declassify FISA documents and Comey texts

If it were a Republican investigation and a Democrat President, do you think this wouldn’t be 24/7 front page news?  Trump has ordered that the FISA applications that used the Russian dossier to gain authority to spy on his campaign should be declassified and shared with the public.  He is also ordering texts between major players, including Comey and McCabe, to be declassified.  The President has the constitutional right to order this.  In fact, the body evidence revealed already demands that these things be shared with the public.

Democrats Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff, and Mark Warner have issued a letter to the FBI and DOJ ordering them not to proceed until they have strategized with them about it.  That is unconstitutional.  Those agencies cannot disobey a Presidential order and delay this declassification.

But the more pertinent question is why?  Why would Democrats be so scared of what might be contained in those memos, interviews, FISA applications, and texts?  None of the Republicans are ordering agencies to defy the President.  Where is the media’s curiosity?

Who colluded with Russia?

It’s time to play spot the criminal.  Who colluded with Russia?  See if you can figure it out.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hillary Clinton is the only person in the story who actually colluded with the Russians to try to meddle with the election.  She used her contacts in the Obama administration to get the phony information to the friendly FBI agents who were out to stop Trump.  The Trump Russia dossier bought and paid for by Clinton, and created by a British spy working with Russian agents was deemed “salacious and unverified” by none other than former FBI director James Comey.  If we are going to accuse anyone of Russian collusion, it has to be Hillary Clinton.

Impeachment!

Representatives Meadows and Jordan in the House of Representatives have just introduced a resolution to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for high crimes and misdemeanors. There are five articles written against Rosenstein.

Article I deals with Rosenstein’s refusal to recuse himself from the Russia investigation or appoint a second special counsel to investigate the conflict of interest and misconduct by the FBI.  Rosenstein was in charge of the FISA application to spy on Carter Page that was based in part on paid opposition research from the Clinton campaign.

Article II covers Rosenstein’s obstruction of justice in refusing to turn over subpoena’d documents and refusal to notify witnesses that Congress was seeking their testimony.  Interestingly, this article also hits Mueller for instructing material witnesses to refuse to provide testimony to Congress.  Congress has oversight over the Justice Department and refusing to comply with their requests amounts to obstruction of justice.

Article III accuses Rosenstein of obstruction of justice by using redaction to hide material evidence from Congress.  These redactions include hiding potentially embarrassing information about the cost of Andrew McCabe’s $70,000 conference table, hiding the relationship between Peter Strzok and FISC Judge Rudolph Contreras, hiding the names of high ranking FBI and Obama administration officials, and other redactions used to hide information from Congress.  Rosenstein’s decision to redact the relationship between Strzok and Contreras is especially important given Strzok’s promise to “stop Trump” and the FISC’s decision to issue a secret warrant based on Clinton’s paid opposition research.

Article IV suggests that Rosenstein used an improper basis to appoint Robert Mueller as special counsel and hid the basis through improper use of redaction.  Rosenstein still refuses to provide Congress with a less redacted version of his scope memo for Robert Mueller.

Article V deals more directly with Rosenstein’s supervisory role in the authorization of FISA searches.  Rosenstein is accused of failing to vet Christopher Steele’s phony dossier and failing to fully notify the FISC of the circumstances surrounding the creation of the dossier.  Article V also hits Rosenstein again for his refusal to appoint a second independent Special Counsel to review wrong doing by the Obama Justice Department and FBI in these matters.

A couple important things to note in the impeachment articles: Robert Mueller is mentioned for compelling witnesses not to testify to Congress.  This could be an issue for the Mueller investigation in the near future.  Strzok’s relationship with Judge Rudolph Contreras could lead to a call for an investigation into the secretive workings of the FISC itself.

You can read the articles of impeachment here.

 

Need to know 7/23/18

Iran, in trouble with their people and staring down the barrel of new US sanctions, began a tweet war with Trump over the “mother of all wars”.  Trump responded in all caps that Iran’s leaders would suffer consequences few others have.  In the end it’s likely all blowing smoke.  Iran doesn’t have nuclear capabilities and the US isn’t about to go invade another Middle Eastern country.  But the developments continue to show that despite the rhetoric and narrative, Trump has been tougher on Russia allies than Obama was.

Rouhani warns Trump about mother of all wars

Speaking of rhetoric on Russia, Trey Gowdy had a warning for Trump administration officials that they should steer Trump to take Russia more seriously or consider leaving their posts.  Gowdy has consistently chided the Trump administration for not being tough enough on Russia’s election interference, however he has also acknowledged the extreme prejudice shown by Obama’s intel apparatus. In addition to noting that James Comey, James Clapper, and John Brennan continue to show their anti-Trump bias in editorials, Gowdy recently took Inspector General Michael Horowitz to task over his failure to call out anti-Trump bias deeply rooted in the FBI.  Texts from Peter Strzok reveled that the Russia/Trump collusion investigation was an “insurance policy” to “stop Trump”.  But so far, nothing has actually tied Trump to Russia or proven collusion.

Anti-Trump bias in the FBI can’t be put aside

Speaking of bias, the FISA court warrant to spy on Carter Page and the Trump campaign has been released through a Freedom of Information Act request.  This extraordinary release marks the first time a secretive FISA warrant has been released.  It proves two things.  The first is that Hillary Clinton’s paid for political propaganda dossier played a major role in getting the warrant.  Second, that the secret warrant to spy on a US citizen during the Obama administration was obtained simply because there was suspicion that Russia was trying to recruit him.  It’s also important to know that the warrant was issued after Page was no longer with the Trump campaign. Spying on a US Citizen because there is a belief that a foreign power might try to recruit them is likely a violation of the 4th Amendment.

For some good reading, here is Andy McCarthy’s argument why suspicion that someone is being recruited by a foreign government is not good enough to secretly spy on a US Citizen.

If you want to read through the FISA Warrant, you can do that here.

What do Sacha Baron Cohen and James O’Keefe have in common?  Both used hidden cameras to expose the other side.  It’s interesting to see how many lend credence to what Cohen exposes compared to those who dismissed O’Keefe’s videos out of hand  because they felt he was using trickery or deceptive editing.  O’Keefe’s undercover operations exposed massive Democrat voter fraud and routine illegal activities being carried out by Planned Parenthood.  Cohen got a racist Georgia politician to drop his pants and shout the N word.  I wonder if the Left will dismiss Cohen so quickly.

Sacha Baron Cohen gets former GOP lawmaker to make racist jokes