The actual news, as far as I can see, is that the FBI confirmed an investigation into something by someone having something to do with Russia, but refused to comment.
Then, the FBI and the NSA chiefs both confirmed that a number of serious felonies had definitely been committed.
NUNES: Would an unauthorized disclosure of FISA-derived information to the press violate 18 USC 798, a section of the Espionage Act that criminalizes the disclosure of information concerning the communication and intelligence activities of the United States?Gowdy's second line of questioning, which is too long to excerpt, went through a list of candidates for the honor of having committed that felony.
COMEY: Yes[.]
...
COMEY: All FISA applications review by the court collection by us pursuant to our FISA authority is classified.
GOWDY: The dissemination of which is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison?
COMEY: Sure, dissemination -- unauthorized dissemination.
GOWDY: Unauthorized dissemination of classified or otherwise legally protected material punishable by a felony up to 10 years in federal prison.
COMEY: Yes. Yes, as it should be.
So, in the Russia matter, it may yet prove that someone connected in some way to Team Trump did something wrong. However, it is definitely the case that at least one person in high position committed serious felonies -- and the list of people to investigate is not all that long. Most of them were ranking political appointees in the previous administration.
This is the point at which a smart, thoughtful opposition would ask itself, "Do we really want to have this fight, or might we quietly reach an accommodation that would let all this slide into the rear view mirror?"
I doubt that is what is going to happen here.
in the Russia matter, it may yet prove that someone connected in some way to Team Trump did something wrong
ReplyDeleteOK. That means that Trump's server in his HQ was under surveillance. There is a 1 in a 1,000,000 chance that such surveillance was NOT necessary to draw the italicized conclusion, of course.
You say "Wiretapped" I say "Surveillance." Smells just like Obozo either way.
I watched the whole thing on CSPAN, delayed by about 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAs I struggled to see past my own partisanship, I saw people from what I used to see as my own party attempting to make temporary and illegitimate advantage of our intelligence chiefs' responsible and well-explained refusal to comment on an ongoing investigation.
Those idiots need my vote in the next election, and they really worked hard to avoid getting it. And some of them were from my current home state.
I am one of those people who remembers Nancy Pelosi visiting Syria
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/world/middleeast/04cnd-pelosi.html
and John F'n Kerry meeting with the Vietnamese in Paris.
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/smart-john-kerry-negotiated-with-the-enemy-in-1970
So no, I am not impressed by the grandstanding.
Valerie
Do you know, I was recently told that the John Kerry meeting the Vietnamese in Paris thing never happened? It's just fake news, probably Russian propaganda -- and, to prove this, the lady making this assertion pulled up the issue on Google. Lo and behold, only wild-eyed right-wing sites even mentioned it in the first few pages of results.
ReplyDeleteKerry testified before the Senate that it happened, himself. It's his own sworn statement before the body he went on to join.
She'd never heard of it, refused to believe it, and Google was doing its best to help convince her that I was the one who was trapped in misinformation.
Humans are easy to fool. That is why many of their souls will burn for eternity. It'll make a nice bonfire at least.
ReplyDeleteYou're at odds with Abelard, here. Being fooled isn't sinful, though fooling yourself can be.
ReplyDelete