An FBI investigation into the Donald Trump election campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia was justified and not motivated by political bias against him, a government watchdog has concluded. A report by the justice department’s inspector general demolished three years of claims by the president that he was the victim of a “deep state” conspiracy and that the investigation was based on a dossier compiled by an ex-British intelligence operative, Christopher Steele. “The report issued today by the inspector general debunks the conspiracy theories about the Mueller report and the Russia investigation that President Trump and Republicans in Congress have pushed for years,” Jerrold Nadler, the chair of the House judiciary committee, and Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House oversight committee, said in a joint statement.

“Those discredited conspiracy theories were attempts to deflect from the president’s serious and ongoing misconduct, first urging Russia and now extorting Ukraine into interfering with our elections to benefit himself personally and politically.” But the inspector general Michael Horowitz’s report did pinpoint “serious performance failures” in the monitoring of a Trump aide, which the president’s allies seized on in an attempt to claim vindication. Horowitz identified 17 “significant inaccuracies or omissions” in applications for a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance or Fisa court to monitor the communications of the former Trump adviser Carter Page and subsequent warrant renewals.

The errors resulted in “applications that made it appear that the information supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case”, the report said, although the FBI had a legal “authorized purpose” to ask for court approval. The attorney general, William Barr, rejected Horowitz’s conclusion that there was sufficient evidence to open the investigation. “The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a US presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said.

…and Sara Carter for the right:

• Barr: FBI Launched An Intrusive Investigation’ Of A Presidential Campaign (SAC)

Department of Justice Attorney General William Barr responded Monday to the release of the DOJ Inspector General’s report stating that the FBI ‘launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.” Barr blasted the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team that led the investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign and the evidence uncovered by Inspector General Michael Horowitz that the bureau agents withheld exculpatory information from the secret court, failed to adequately vet the information supplied by former British spy Christopher Steele and moved forward to spy on the Trump campaign knowing they misled the FISA court.

“The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” said Barr. “It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory. Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration.” “In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, FBI officials misled the FISA court, omitted critical exculpatory facts from their filings, and suppressed or ignored information negating the reliability of their principal source,” Barr said.

“The Inspector General found the explanations given for these actions unsatisfactory. While most of the misconduct identified by the Inspector General was committed in 2016 and 2017 by a small group of now-former FBI officials, the malfeasance and misfeasance detailed in the Inspector General’s report reflects a clear abuse of the FISA process.”

And then there’s John Solomon:

• IG Report Lays Out Compelling Evidence FBI Misled FISA Court (Solomon)

The Justice Department inspector general’s report into the Russia collusion investigation lays out incontrovertible evidence that the FBI misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court through false information and omissions, according to sources familiar with its findings. The evidence that the judges were misled is so sweeping that it could provide grounds, if Attorney General William Barr chooses, to withdraw the FBI’s application for the surveillance warrants that began in October 2016 to target ex-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, the sources added. Such a move, while mostly legally symbolic since the probe is long since closed, would still amount to a resounding rebuke to an FBI probe that the bureau, Democrats and their media allies relentlessly defended.

[..] “The evidence of false statements, false information, deception through omission is going to raise an important debate about FISA,” one source told me. The report is expected to conclude the FBI’s decision to open a counterintelligence probe of the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia in 2016 was adequately predicated but that its subsequent reliance on the so-called Steele dossier and execution of FISA warrants to assist the probe were problematic. That reliance became even more troubling in early 2017 when the FBI conducted an interview with one of Christopher Steele’s sources that raised further concerns about the reliability of a dossier that was funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

One question, the sources said, is whether FBI officials with access to the facts failed to adequately divulge issues in the case to those officials who signed the warrant, which was approved Oct 21, 2016 and renewed three times in 2017. Inspector General Michael Horowitz is slated to release the report midday Monday after briefing certain congressional oversight committees.

“The New York Times is the Resistance’s obverse measuring device for divining reality..”

• The War of the Narratives (Kunstler)

Jim Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Stzrok, Lisa Page, Michael Atkinson — all either discharged or moved onto other thickets in the reeking wetland of Washington DC. Anyway, the coup ranged far beyond the bounds of Mr. Horowitz’s scope on FISA abuse. Among those many others, the IG was not authorized to interrogate former CIA chief John Brennan, the Lone Ranger of RussiaGate, or James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, Mr. Brennan’s faithful Tonto in the scam. Mr. Horowitz’s report will be necessarily incomplete. At most, it might provide a preview of the comprehensive legal review being carried out by the attorney general, Mr. Barr, and his deputy, the Connecticut federal prosecutor, John Durham.

I suspect that Mr. Barr has instructed Mr. Horowitz to be careful with his conclusions, since any further attempts to obfuscate the facts and excuse official misconduct on squishy grounds such as intent will tend to worsen the already gross institutional damage done to federal law enforcement. One character who has not been heard from lo these many months is former deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr, who was not fired, but transferred to some harmless backwater of the Justice Department to answer agency parking violations, or something equally harmless. I suspect Mr. Ohr may have played a decisive role in the IG inquiry, and possibly flipped on his colleagues, since Mr. Ohr was in the uniquely uncomfortable position of having a wife, Nellie Ohr, in the direct employ of Fusion GPS, Hillary Clinton’s oppo research contractor. Mr. Ohr additionally consorted with Fusion’s front man, Mr. Steele, after Steele was officially fired as a paid FBI source. Mr. Ohr will surely play a role on the Durham side of things.

[..] The New York Times is the Resistance’s obverse measuring device for divining reality — whatever they report is likely to be the opposite of the facts. So, naturally, the Monday morning edition is playing-up the supposedly nefarious doings of Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine. In fact, Mr. Giuliani has managed to depose (and record on video) two Ukrainian chief prosecutors, Viktor Shokin and Yuriy Lutsenko who are deeply familiar with the machinations around the inquiries into Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian gas company that put coke-head Hunter Biden on its board of directors while dad Joe Biden was directing on-the-ground US policy there — and bribed the Ukraine government to back off its investigations.

The essence of this colossal radioactive hairball of an historic scandal pulsates in the malicious prosecution of General Michael Flynn. Weeks ago, his new attorney, Sidney Powell, filed requests for DOJ documents containing exculpatory information in the case. The prosecutors, put in by Robert Mueller, stalled on the request, so Ms. Powell asked for an official pause until the Horowitz report is issued, possibly containing information pertinent to the general’s case. Be alert to developments on that front.

Chris Hedges sums up how “The liberal class and the Democratic Party leadership [..] have squandered their credibility”.

• The Great American Shakedown (Chris Hedges)

The liberal class and the Democratic Party leadership have failed, even after their defeat in the 2016 presidential election, to understand that they, along with the traditional Republican elites, have squandered their credibility. No one believes them. And no one should. They squandered their credibility by promising that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would, as claimed by President Bill Clinton, create 200,000 new, well-paying jobs per year; instead, several million jobs were lost. They squandered it by allowing corporations to move production overseas and hire foreign workers at daily wages that did not equal what a U.S. unionized worker made in an hour, a situation that obliterated the bargaining power of the American working class.

They squandered it by allowing corporations to use the threat of “offshoring” production to destroy unions, suppress wages, extract draconian concessions and push millions of workers into the temp and gig economies, where there are no benefits or job security and pay is 60% or less of what a full-time employee in the regular economy receives. They squandered it by forcing working men and women to take two or three jobs to support a family, jacking up household debt to $13.95 trillion. They squandered it by redirecting wealth upward, so that during the Clinton administration alone 45 percent of all income growth went to the wealthiest 1%. They squandered it by wiping out small farmers in Mexico, driving some 3 million of them off their lands and forcing many to migrate in desperation to the United States, a human tide that saw the U.S. right wing and President Trump direct mounting rage toward immigrants.

They squandered it by turning our great cities into urban wastelands. They squandered it by slashing welfare and social service programs. They squandered it by supporting endless, futile wars that have an overall price tag of between $5 trillion and $7 trillion. They squandered it by setting up a surveillance system to spy on every American and then lying about it. They squandered it by catering to the big banks and gutting financial regulations, precipitating the 2008 economic meltdown. They squandered it by looting the U.S. Treasury to bail out banks and financial firms guilty of massive financial crimes, ordering the Federal Reserve to hand over an estimated $29 trillion to the global financiers responsible for the crash.

Mr. Fish / Truthdig

Tulsi has not explained why she won’t be in the debate.

• Why Tulsi Gabbard Should Not Skip The Next Debate (Mercier)

On the morning of December 9th, Americans woke up to devastating and shocking news that was the Afghanistan papers. Generals and leaders from the highest echelons of the American military apparatus — the Blob — admitting confusion, defeat, and carelessness in an effort that cost the American people trillions of dollars and countless lives. That night, the only candidate running for President to end these wars and bring our troops home, Tulsi Gabbard, announced that she would not be attending the December democratic debate, whether or not she met the threshold, and provided no explanation (other than the fact that she would instead spend that time in New Hampshire and South Carolina).

For a number of reasons, I have decided not to attend the December 19th “debate” — regardless of whether or not there are qualifying polls. I instead choose to spend that precious time directly meeting with and hearing from the people of New Hampshire and South Carolina.

— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) December 10, 2019

Congresswoman Gabbard is only one qualifying poll away from making the important debate and has crossed the 200,000 donor threshold as well. Just last week, the once self-proclaimed “top-tier” candidate Kamala Harris dropped out after a sharp decline in polling and fundraising that started with Tulsi’s blistering public attack of her record during the July debate. Since then, Tulsi has seen her poll numbers remain fairly steady around 2–4%, but has seen some strong polling performances in places like Iowa and New Hampshire. Another presidential debate is arguably one of the best ways to reach a large number of people and to generate media coverage. She should not sit on the sidelines.

Tulsi Gabbard is not Joe Biden now or Trump in 2016. Stepping away to protest unfair rules or bias against her would not make an impact at her polling level. She should utilize every chance in these critical days before the Iowa caucuses to put her ideas in front of the American people. While much of the attacks come to her from the Democratic party, she is, in fact, one of the most progressive candidates on the stage. She should’ve made it a mission to expand her base by talking about her landmark ‘single-payer-plus’ healthcare plan, climate change, education, and other issues of importance at the next debate. Two months before the first votes are cast, she is still virtually unknown by most Americans and has not been able to prove her policy chops on issues outside that of foreign policy.

It appears very likely Hillary will jump in. But not because of Bloomberg.

• Bannon: Hillary Will Run In 2020 To ‘Save Dems From Michael Bloomberg’ (ZH)

Steve Bannon thinks that Hillary Clinton is waiting for just the right moment to enter the 2020 race and “save the Democratic Party” from billionaire Michael Bloomberg. According to Bannon, Clinton’s recent interview with Howard Stern – under the guise of promoting her book – signals that she’s absolutely running. “Hillary Clinton is waiting for her shot to come in and say, ‘I’m going to save the Democratic Party,’ that Michael Bloomberg is a liberal or moderate Republican. He’s not a Democrat,” Bannon told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” The former Trump strategist added that he doesn’t think any of the current Democratic candidates are strong enough to beat Trump, and that Clinton is “waiting in the wings” to take him on again. That said, if Hillary is going to run, she better do so quickly as filing deadlines to be included on Super Tuesday primary ballots in several key states are rapidly approaching or have passed.

Along with FAA staff who met his warnings -4 months before the first crash -“with indifference”.

• Ex-Boeing Employee Who Warned About 737 Problems To Testify At Hearing (R.)

A former Boeing employee who warned of problems with 737 production will testify on Wednesday at a U.S. House hearing on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) review of the grounded 737 MAX. The aircraft has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes in five months killed 346 people. Federal officials say the FAA is not expected to authorize the plane to fly until January at the earliest. Former Boeing employee Edward Pierson, who had worked as a senior operations manager in the flight test and evaluation unit, will testify before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Pierson’s concerns were referenced at an Oct. 30 hearing – though he had not been named previously.

“All my internal warning bells are going off and for the first time in my life, I’m sorry to say that I’m hesitant about putting my family on a Boeing airplane,” Pierson wrote to Boeing management before the first crash, according to an email obtained by the committee. Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said on Monday that “although Mr. Pierson did not provide specific information or detail about any particular defect or quality issue, Boeing took his concerns about 737 production disruption seriously.” He added that after Pierson retired and raised the issue again “those concerns received renewed scrutiny at the highest levels of the company.”

Johndroe added “the suggestion by Mr. Pierson of a link between his concerns and the recent MAX accidents is completely unfounded.” Eric Havian, a lawyer for Pierson, said in a statement that Boeing refused to act on his client’s warnings, which came four months before the first crash, and that Pierson was speaking out “to ensure that Boeing can no longer place profits above safety.” He also said Pierson raised concerns with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board and was met with “indifference.”

Zelensky is under a lot of pressure from the Ukraine right. But he did it. Next up, Putin wants him to change the Ukraine constitution to give the Donbass special status.

• Ukraine, Russia Agree On Full Ceasefire In East Ukraine Before 2019-End (R.)

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine agreed on Tuesday to exchange all remaining prisoners from the conflict in east Ukraine by the end of the year, but left thorny questions about the region’s status for future talks. Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in their first face-to-face meeting, took part in nine hours of talks in Paris, brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The conflict in eastern Ukraine that broke out in 2014 has killed more than 13,000 people, left a large swathe of Ukraine de facto controlled by Moscow-backed separatists and aggravated the deepest east-west rift since the Cold War.

The body language between Putin and Zelenskiy, a comedian-turned-politician elected earlier this year on a promise to resolve the conflict, was chilly. There was no public handshake, and they avoided eye contact. But the talks did deliver specific commitments. A final communique set out the prisoner exchange and a renewed commitment to implement an existing ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region that has never fully taken hold as well as enhanced powers for international ceasefire monitors.

The sides also said they had agreed, over the next four months, to work toward local elections in Donbass, a major stumbling block up to now. There were no details though on how the votes would be conducted, and Macron acknowledged there were still disagreements on the subject. “We have made progress on disengagement, prisoner exchanges, ceasefire and a political evolution,” Macron said at a news conference at which Zelenskiy and Putin sat separated by Merkel and Macron.

No idea if this is true.

• Ghislaine Maxwell Planning TV Tell-All About Epstein Scandal (NYPost)

Accused madam Ghislaine Maxwell is the latest in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal planning a major TV interview — in part to defend her disgraced pal Prince Andrew, according to a report Monday. The British media heiress, who has been repeatedly accused of procuring young girls for her pedophile ex, may already be in talks with a major US network, according to The Sun. A TV special would follow the Duke of York’s own disastrous BBC sit-down about his close ties to Epstein, as well as the tearful accusations key accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre made in an hourlong special for the same UK broadcaster.

“Ghislaine is in hiding and knows the only way to stop being hunted is to speak on her own terms,” a source told the paper. “She will do a sit-down interview with a big US network and defend the duke. Apparently, she’ll say Virginia Giuffre is lying and Andrew never had sex with her,” the source told the UK paper. Maxwell, 57, is understood to be at the heart of the FBI’s ongoing probe into Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring since his death in August. She has not been seen in public since he was arrested on federal charges in July.

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This topic has 17 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 5 years ago by zerosum.

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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December 10, 2019 at 9:48 am #52072

Raúl Ilargi Meijer
Keymaster

John Vachon Hull-Rust-Mahoning pit, largest open pit iron mine in the world, Hibbing, Minnesota Aug 1941 • FBI’s Trump-Russia Inquiry Wasn’t Bi
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle December 10 2019]

December 10, 2019 at 10:52 am #52073

Raúl Ilargi Meijer
Keymaster

I left out articles on the UK elections, it’s all just a wall of accusations on all sides.

I also left out the Turkey story, because that is developing. The EU talks about the Turkey-Libya deal where maritime “borders” were agreed between those two but not Greece, Cyprus, Egypt. Brussels does not want this hot potato. Also, Erdogan is threatening to invade Libya because of Haftar. Will keep following.

Then, John Solomon posted a whole series on the IG report, at johnsolomonreports.com. Lots of info.

Lastly, tomorrow is a travel day, so no Debt Rattle.

December 10, 2019 at 11:07 am #52074

V. Arnold
Participant

John Vachon Hull-Rust-Mahoning pit, largest open pit iron mine in the world, Hibbing, Minnesota Aug 1941

…and that was before Dec. 7th, 1941…

December 10, 2019 at 12:58 pm #52075

Dr. D
Participant

The real wealth of the nation, and what it costs. It’s why those cities exist, DeLuth, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo. But we don’t want wealth or its costs anymore, and like the Maya, the Mound Builders, Detroit is returning to forest, to be tomorrow’s mystery.

…Oh and like Ayn Rand said in 1954 if we got where we were headed. Seemed like sci-fi, nonsensical, hysterical, hyperbolic exaggeration, like “1984” and “Brave New World.” Nope. Detroit is returning to bushes, with illiterate people raising rabbits. …And that was already documentary fact in “Roger and Me”, in 1989.

In a huge surprise to no one:

“Wikipedia Fraud EXPOSED: Troll farms and the CIA have hijacked the once open platform”

Looks like Phil Cross has been busy editing Wikipedia 500 times a day, on weekends and holidays. Busy busy. No rest for the wicked.

The application of overwhelming and regular intervention is the prime feature of the day, but also including markets like Cryptos. There may be actual, real traders somewhere in the oil or bitcoin pits, but is overwhelmed by a 24/7 blizzard of fake orders illegally cross-trading between themselves, or illegally offering nothing then retracting when asked. …All totally illegal of course, as I imagine Philly-boy is illegal under terms of service too, since he’s pretty veritably not a single person and contributor, but a non-person influence agency. Maybe Coca-Cola should start their own Phil Cross and add Coke to every great moment in history. “That Genghis Khan, he sure loved a Coke!” Reported by Brian Williams, on the moon: “Neil Armstrong drinks Coke on the Sea of Tranquility.” Why not? Still a more plausible than these guys. Or the Dow, S&P, gold, BTC, and oil pits. Unlimited money is the root of it, the ability to hire, hide, and payoff all watchmen in ABC, the SEC, and every relevant agency and structure, and the trading public too, who somehow think they’re getting one over on the casino.

“Morgan Stanley: Central Banks Are Injecting $100 Billion Per Month to Crush Vol and Spike Markets”

BTW, the Fed changed Repo reporting to something crazy like a 1,000-month geometrically-weighted moving average, so although overnight spikes to 10% or 100% may be happening, we can never know or see it – the truth – again. Ah, Capitalism! Where there’s no price discovery, no price signaling, no profit or loss, and no bankruptcy! Only, me, my pals, and a haystack of cashola, and Epstein’s favorite chicks in the back!

“Contrary to Conventional Wisdom, US Farmers Are Having Their Best Year Since 2013“
“The United States Department of Agriculture recently announced that US net farm income this year will climb to its highest level since 2013. This is very significant as US farmers are not faring nearly as poorly as many pundits and media outlets continue to often report. As a result, US farmers collectively have not been in any real uproar and are not jeopardizing Trump’s re-election chances.”

While I don’t believe this either, it’s contrary to the common media, which as far as I can tell, hasn’t asked any farmer anything, probably because they’re afraid of being contaminated by their deplorableness even over the phone. 1st the Farm reports are wildly optimistic. 2nd, you have survival bias, where many farms DO go under, but their sales are picked up by ADM conglomerates. 3rd, prices RISE due to shortages, which is something, somehow, every reporter always misses. The WORSE the year, the BETTER for prices (for anybody who has some). And these are just off the top of my head, yet to see a report that bothers to pursue them.

Here’s one we do know, that this article finds:

Trump’s $60B he set aside for the trade war is finally reaching farm “income”, which is a generous term, because it’s bailout/welfare, but the BLS does the same thing often for food stamps, SS, unemployment and other payouts, counting them as GDP instead of the OPPOSITE of GDP, which on any normal balance sheet, they would be, being debt. Still, good news in a way: will probably slow bankruptcies as attempted by China. …And the media. As I’ve said, they’ve simply reported this trade BS, asked nothing, interviewed nobody, and ignored epic, record, late, and non-plantings, snowed-in harvesting, and equipment/field destruction. And why? Exclusively to sour farmers on Trump and directly election-tamper, as ever. However, farmers are not idiots and know what their eyes look like on their own backyard, and what their neighbors say in their own states. …And they also know that reporters hate farmers with shivering genocidal fury and lie with every waking breath. I wouldn’t count on it swinging the election much: nice try.

Speaking of: the polls are now in, and as said by me and many others, Trump is beating ALL Democratic candidates handily. No one knew about Hunter, Burisma, Ukraine, nuttin’, UNTIL – da de dah! The media started covering it every day by COVERING IT UP. And again, so…after 15 candidates, 1 election, two parties and the U.S. media destroyed, it’s just another accident by a Neanderthal-browed man-child, who never intended or planned any of it, totally on accident, nor has he ever planned or done anything else ever, and certainly not realizing the media will only report if it’s HIS mis-deeds, then arranging the Zelinsky call and leaking it accordingly. No. That would be impossible because you’d need the brains of a 12-year-old to do that, and the media does not. But we know they are illiterate, as will be proven again today with the IG report they won’t be able to read accurately, so QED.

So anyway: thanks Schiff, Nadler, Pelosi, and thanks to all the press! Without your feckless, idiotic, and wildly overzealous, illegal and partisan actions, Trump would not be front-runner and looking into the possibility of a landslide in 2020. All you had to do was shut up, follow the people, follow the law, and run Tulsi or even Buttigeig with appropriate (fake) media support. This is what happens when you always double-down on risk instead of backing up, moderating, and cutting your risk. …Aaaaand that’s how Bush and the Neocons also lost. Now on to the complete loss to their identical, conjoined twin, the NeoLibs.

Let’s skip IG for today and go elsewhere: What? The Pentagon and every paper was lying with every waking breath? About War and about Afghanistan? For 20 years? Oh noes! But I thought you couldn’t hide something big, involving a lot of people, and over a long time! It’d be a “conspiracy.” And now we’ll be discredited like a bunch of bloodthirsty idiots and fools just like Russia when they went there and Britain before, and lost not only there, but their empires as well? Whoo’d a knoon? It’s our national anthem:

Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, and lie.

December 10, 2019 at 3:40 pm #52076

zerosum
Participant

questions lies, lies ??

if the web had not been invented.

What would we know
What would we believe
Would we have illusions, lies, fantasies,
Does knowledge free us or does knowledge enslave us?

Yesterday’s la-la-land is dead
Are we just characters in another bad movie?
Are we still living in a different kind of matrix?
Is there a spoon that is being bent?
Were there ever any jolly green giants living in harmony with all forms of life?
What have the enablers done to us that makes us accept all the bad things being done everywhere in the world?
Why can millions of people demonstrate against the systems and the enablers can still keep the system operational?

Why do we seem to be irrelevant, ineffective, ?
Is the butterfly effect real?
Can strange attractors be reset by the butterfly effect?

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fisa-report-reveals-clinton-meddled-2016-election
FISA Report Reveals Clinton Meddled In 2016 Election

If Russia spending $100,000 on Facebook ads constitutes election interference, and Donald Trump asking Ukraine to investigate the Bidens is too – then Hillary Clinton takes the cake when it comes to influence campaigns designed to harm a political opponent.

Whatever the case – the act of Simpson paying Steele to peddle fiction to the media for the purpose of harming Trump, by itself, constitutes blatant election meddling by every standard set by the left over the past three years.

We’re sure Hillary can explain that if and when she jumps into the 2020 race.

December 10, 2019 at 6:22 pm #52077

Raúl Ilargi Meijer
Keymaster

Looks like a realistic risk. And Russia won’t be able to stay out. The “rebels” are Russians.

Putin: If Kiev gets control of rebel-held border with Russia, a Srebrenica-type massacre may follow

Moscow is concerned that if Kiev troops take control of the border between Russia and eastern Ukraine without ironclad guarantees to anti-government militias, a massacre not unlike the one in ex-Yugoslav Srebrenica may occur.

Speaking of Kiev’s demands on Tuesday, Putin said there needs to be absolute certainty that people in eastern Ukraine would be safe once control of the border changes hands, considering that there is not even an amnesty in place.

“We agreed [on the roadmap] in 2015. They have an amnesty law, some decisions have been taken, but nothing has been put into force,” Putin told the presidential human rights council. Without guarantees, “I can imagine what would happen next. There will be a Srebrenica.”

[..] Putin said he was not certain that President Volodymyr Zelensky would be able to keep a check on Ukrainian radical nationalists, who gained significant prominence in the country since the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, in which nationalist fighters played a key part.

“We have seen the way Zelensky talks to the nationalists, and it’s not clear who has the upper hand there,” he explained.

December 10, 2019 at 10:23 pm #52078

boscohorowitz
Participant

“Tulsi has not explained why she won’t be in the debate.”

It is possible that she has decided that using the DNC machine has gotten her as much press as it’s worth, and now she will go around them, probably straight through the internet. As tired and mentally inactive as most Americans are, they’re even more tired and brain-weary of duopoly electoral facades.

I’m not selling hope, just examining logical ramifications of her career as I know it to date. If she mans the Twitter et al guns properly, she could be surprisingly effective. To be honest, I am not for the prospect. It’s too much like putting a cherry on top of a ratshit sundae. America obviously needs tp be deeply humiliated to learn the first thing about being a nation among peers. Trump’s doing a swell job of maintaining and expanding our increasingly poor global reputation.

As for the Ukraine: always a popular spot for starting odd-numbered world wars.

Why do I love having Trump in office, moral hemorrhoids and all? (Well, at this point, I do.) Here’s why: he’s batshit nuts, not stupid; and even batshit nuts knows that starting a nuclear-edged conflict is just plain stupid and bad, bad, bad.

So I hope this impeachment jive show gives the Dems what they want: political cover and time to hopefully avoid being at least publicly humiliated or even incarcerated (it happens now and then). They obviously lost interest in winning presidential elections after Obama, and even then, they only let him win grudgingly.

Their corrupt incompetence will leave Trump in orifice for another term. I don’t think he can stop military mayhem of one sort or another, but maybe he can confine it to the standard shit-zones like Saudi Arabia, a place unlikely to incite nuclear conflict.

I’m looking forward to seeing Lindsay Graham and Nancy Pelosi on Dancing with the Stars. Graham in a tutu and Nancy in lederhosen.

December 10, 2019 at 10:38 pm #52079

boscohorowitz
Participant

“No idea if this is true. • Ghislaine Maxwell Planning TV Tell-All About Epstein Scandal (NYPost)”

It fits in with the tactical scenario. Keep worrying about his reputation after death, and cause of death. This assures that most people believe Epstein is dead. Those busy busy wily Israelis.

December 10, 2019 at 10:51 pm #52080

boscohorowitz
Participant

Washington has apparently smelled the gunpowder and decided they should try something other than waving their wiener in Putin’s face. Occasionally the DC trogs stumble in the right direction.

December 10, 2019 at 11:38 pm #52081

zerosum
Participant

Yesterday there were 17 mistakes.
Today …
https://johnsolomonreports.com/
Just how bad was the FBI’s Russia FISA? 51 violations and 9 false statements
December 9, 2019

December 11, 2019 at 12:48 pm #52082

V. Arnold
Participant

Ilargi; you okay?
Way past your normal posting window…

December 11, 2019 at 1:37 pm #52083

zerosum
Participant

You must have missed it. He’s travelling today.
We got to help ourselves today.

December 11, 2019 at 1:42 pm #52084

Dr. D
Participant

Yes, and four individuals who were spied on, not just Carter or two. …P.S. totally proven, as I said, Page was an FBI(etc) informant from way back. …And now they think he’s a Russian? Maybe you should investigate yourself and your own background checks if that’s true. OR you have rock-evidence he’s definitively a double agent now. OR, and most likely of all, HE WAS PLANTED IN THE CAMPAIGN AS AN INFORMANT FROM THE GET-GO. Also Manafort, most likely, which is why he’s still in jail, most likely. Anyway, four people, each with two wire-tap hops, I should think they could wiretap most of the east coast as planned, and as I warned the day the word “Patriot Act” was first heard. “Oh Herr Docktor, they would NEVER use that power to spy on Congressmen and Judges and opposition candidates!” even as that was the very FIRST thing they did within weeks, like the KGB and every secret-state in the history of this poor blue planet. What was it Santayana said? People who are gum-durned idiots who don’t bother to learn a fool thing will burn badly and destroy us all?

51 crimes right off the top, for omitting, but also ACTIVELY misrepresenting evidence to FISA. …Oh and FISA, run by the eerily-quiet Mr. Roberts, saw all this in court 3-12x (4 people x 3 renewals) and didn’t say “Hold on pilgrim! Go get me some additional support and make me really, really SURE you’re not just spying on an opposition President for personal entertainment.” Nope. Roberts say, “Yes sir, how high, how long sir?” Because not like the FBI has made serial fabrications about something high-profile like 4 times a year for 50 years or anything, Eastwood’s movie being but one, but they JUST had the FBI lab basically doing no tests and phoning back any results the agents wanted for years, while smoking all the meth they sent. With (gender-undefined)Boy Scouts like them, who needs Satan’s minions? He can eat lunch: you’re doing fine on your own. Now are any of the honest agents going to DO anything about it? Like whistleblow or arrest their own betrayers? Apparently nope. So are they not therefore, by definition, also dirty agents and the whole agency too? You decide, but I’m talking about Bush’s man Mr. Roberts here, and that whole 3rd branch of government who authorizes everything they’re told, no matter how hilariously, transparently anti-legal. ACA taxes anyone? Civil Forfeiture? 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments?

So, they’re really going to do it, and I didn’t believe, but was told. This week, this Tuesday, Trump has stellar economy, stellar employment, rising approval, just got the USMCA through by holding them down and shoving it down their throats with a funnel after 30 years of Clinton (Bush) NAFTA devastating the country…so obviously they must impeach him. What? The people will get whiplash you so double-talk them. And #2, like Mueller, for a process ‘crime’ * that wouldn’t have existed except for their investigation and for #1 “Abuse of Power” which I think still remains undefined. It’s bribery? Quid pro quo? An attempt to remove the DNC’s weakest candidate in an ill-fated attempt to run against someone actually viable and harder? Can’t tell since it changes every day. One thing that doesn’t change is Ukraine and their PM both declare that NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED, no pressure was applied. Now they could lie, but a) it’s legal record and therefore there is by definition an honest dispute to be had, and b) Why would they? If they remove Trump, even by LYING about his intent, they would get an administration that owes them its existence and would give them all the billions they ever dreamed of. Makes no sense, but doesn’t need to: media refuses to report that the guy they claim was robbed is in court, on the stand, telling the jury he wasn’t robbed, he doesn’t know of any robberies anywhere, and the whole case is brought by the mental fantasies of the prosecutor. “Strike that from the record, your honor, the Jury must not hear the victim is not a victim at all and there is no crime!” Okay, boys, whatever. So what do you think will happen in the Senate?

*obstruction is pretty debatable under separation of powers and needs to go to the Supreme Court

On Ukraine, Russia, like eastern-thinkers, isn’t in a hurry. They’ve won every war so far by letting their enemies idiotically waste themselves, get bored, collapse, and leave. Ukraine and the West ALREADY lied every day for 5 years in the Normandy agreement, and 10,000 exchanges a year, there hasn’t been a single day of ceasefire, Trump’s U.S. and NATO are still (heavily) arming the Banderite Nazis, nor were any of the other points upheld. So clearly there’s no possibility of just handing over the border, nor any need. They’re up to something, but I wouldn’t worry. Maybe they are arranging pieces for when we go broke and they buy us some bus tickets to get our soldiers safely out of their backyard. Market-timer Armstrong isn’t giving a date, but he’s suggesting we’re going into ’08 part two shortly.

And Epstein just HAS to be dead: when has the FBI and DoJ ever lied to us? I mean except every time they’ve opened their mouths every day in my lifetime.

December 11, 2019 at 3:18 pm #52085

zerosum
Participant

USMCA WAS DONE BY LAWYER FOR LAWYERS
USMCA is for the benefit of business
As usual, prices will go up. (The lawyer need to be consulted and paid their rake)
See below. Included my corrections.

Home

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, will replace the current NAFTA agreement that governs trade in North America. The trade agreement has been negotiated by the governments of The United States, Mexico and Canada, but (it) still must be ratified be by certain groups within these governments.
The trade agreement will have a big impact on many parts of the economy. There will be winners (businesses) and losers. (consumers)
USMCA.com was created to make it easy to search the agreement and comment on different aspects of it. To get started, select a section below.

December 11, 2019 at 4:16 pm #52086

John Day
Participant

http://www.johndayblog.com/2019/12/not-extinct-yet.html
Were Other Humans the First Victims of the Sixth Mass Extinction?
This article opens the paradigmatic question of the essential natural characteristics of social groups of Homo Sapiens. It looks at the genetic and fossil history of our engagements with Denisovans Neanderthal and other human races. We shared genes, then exacted genocide upon them. It was a fairly quick progression, even in ancient times, something like a thousand years. Later, with ships, bankers, guns and smallpox, the Americas would be conquered much faster.
To my mind, the essential competitive edge described here is sociopathy, the ability to kill without hesitation or reluctance, and to do so at any scale. Perhaps those other human races lacked sociopathy. We can imagine ourselves completely without it in our society, but questions arise about how things happen in wars and finance, and power relations.
Sociopaths seem to have been essential to our human tendency to overgrow our systems of food production. Sociopaths lead us to population reduction when this happens. It’s brutal, but having sociopaths in a group is a competitive advantage to lacking sociopaths in a group.
We are at a difficult juncture in history, massively overgrown on the long term support system of agriculture and nature, by the one-time pulse of fossil fuels, fossil water, and the discovery of iron, copper, rare-earth metals and uranium.
We have the intellectual and cognitive ability to meet our global needs as humans and as parts of nature, differently, but our nature is to be ruled by our sociopathic members in times of crisis.
We see it around us, wherever there is mass killing and expropriation of wealth. Our sociopaths get ignored or whitewashed. Their sociopaths, and even citizens, get tarred.
The best I can come up with is that the sociopathic rulers are now as threatened as ordinary citizens, by the vast destructive power they wield. Self-preservation dictates that they condone non-destructive methods going forward, but they are human and they panic, too. Meanwhile, they experiment with new forms of war, with their mass control of other humans, through finance and media, as well as armies.
It’s up to us to keep the pressure down and derive day to day solutions which do not involve execution, expropriation and genocide.
This will be a long, slow process, subject to immediate catastrophic failure, but what else is there to do?
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-humans-victims-sixth-mass-extinction.html

December 11, 2019 at 11:50 pm #52087

V. Arnold
Participant

You must have missed it. He’s travelling today.
We got to help ourselves today.

Now that you mention it; I totally forgot.
Thanks

December 12, 2019 at 9:32 am #52088

Isometrist
Participant

I see “President” Trump has found time to support his main constituency even with this oh-so-serious impeachment process underway (it’s called Pantomime Season or General Election n Britain BTW)

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order today purporting to target anti-Semitism on college campuses. However, the measure is understood on all sides as an attempt to outlaw the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and criticism of Israel more generally. https://www.mintpressnews.com/how-trump-new-anti-semitism-bill-criminalizes-dissent/263396/

Yet folks keep telling us that “Pres” DJT is battling those pesky denizens of the deep state, fighting for the ordinary man and underage model, sorry woman.

If only we Brits had a Donald: a statesperson who could stand above the paid-for sycophants (psychophants maybe?) that fill our hallowed halls of democracy, and fight for the people.

But wait: crazy hair covering baldness – check; sockpuppet for small Middle Eastern state – check; dodgy family – check; foot-in-mouth syndrome – check; sexual affairs and tales of assault and unwanted attention – check; gaffes, spaffs and inappropriate laffs – double check; helps sell advertising in newspapers and primetime tv – checkmate!

Trump and Johnston – the best double act since Thatcher and Reagan, and that’s not saying much…

December 12, 2019 at 11:27 pm #52107

zerosum
Participant

Democracy and peace means saying,
“Yes. Dear”
Author

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