McCabe got fired.
I don’t know what all he did. Maybe they should have fired him long ago..
Maybe he should be in prison.
But to wait until 24 hours before retirement to fir e him is evil.
It isn’t justice, it’s spite. Not good government.
An abomination.
It’s to make a point Chas. Let it be a warning to anyone else who thinks they are above the law.
You can’t just let people violate policies and procedures, as well as the law, and think they can just walk away, pension intact, with no repercussions.
Besides, I’m sure he’ll file a grievance and get his full retirement. If not, maybe he’ll actually learn a lesson.
Either way, he made his bed, now he gets to sleep in it.
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fired outgoing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was set to retire in about 24 hours. From The Washington Post:
Sessions announced the decision in a statement just before 10 p.m., noting that both the Justice Department Inspector General and the FBI office that handles discipline had found “that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
He said based on those findings and the recommendation of the department’s senior career official, “I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.”
The move will likely cost McCabe a significant portion of his retirement benefits, though it is possible he could bring a legal challenge. McCabe has been fighting vigorously to keep his job, and on Thursday, he spent nearly four hours inside the Justice Department pleading his case.
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BREAKING: Jeff Sessions Fires The Former No. 2 At The FBI Two Days Before His Scheduled Retirement https://t.co/3cDF4lNysP
— Chris “Law Dork” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 17, 2018
And just to clear something up before a certain someone shows up to distort the facts, this was the recommendation of the IG and FBI that got him fired, not Trump.
“Though McCabe — who has been attacked by President Donald Trump — stepped down as deputy director in late January, he remained on the federal payroll, planning to retire on Sunday. The firing places his federal pension in jeopardy.
Unlike Trump’s removal of Comey last year, which produced widespread resentment inside the FBI, McCabe’s termination was recommended by the agency he served for 21 years.
Sunday is McCabe’s 50th birthday, which would have made him eligible for certain substantial retirement benefits.
The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility proposed the termination, based on the findings of the Justice Department’s inspector general. That office has been examining the bureau’s handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation.
“After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility,” Sessions said in a statement at about 10 p.m. ET Friday night. “The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
David French agrees with Chas, and of course the moron Trump had to issue a Gloat Tweet to cast further doubt on the legitimacy of the process.
So this tweet totally builds confidence that what happened was the result of an objective process, made independently of all political considerations. https://t.co/CDTA0jyWsK
‘Every election cycle we say that so and so is fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party, or the soul of the Republican Party. And, of course, most of the time it’s not true. Most of the time the fight is over whether the party in question should go to the left or the right on some policy issue, which is important but not really a matter of a party’s soul.
But this year it actually is true. The crucial issue of this election cycle is whether the Democratic Party will retain its soul — remain an institution committed to the basic democratic norms — respect for truth, personal integrity, the capacity for deliberation and compromise, loyalty to nation above party or tribe.
These fundamental issues are on the table because Donald Trump put them there.
Trump is a revolutionary figure not because he changed the G.O.P.’s position on trade or international engagement. He’s morally revolutionary.
In the decades before Trump, the Republican Party stood for an idea: character before policy. To Mitt Romney, John McCain, the Bushes and Ronald Reagan, personal character and moral integrity were paramount. They stood for the idea that you can’t be a good leader or a good nation unless you are a good person and a good people.
Trump asked the G.O.P. to reverse those priorities. He asked the Republican Party to accept the proposition that it doesn’t matter if your leader is a liar, a philanderer and a narcissist. It doesn’t matter if he is cruel to the weak and bigoted toward the outsider. What matters, when you’re in a death match in which the survival of your nation and culture is at stake, is having a bastard in charge who understands and is tough enough to win.”
Unfortunately, it is completely unrealistic to expect the Democrats to pull the nation back to honesty, morality and integrity. It was the lifelong Democrat Trump who led the Republicans to adopt the bad behaviors previously associated with Democrats. I do think this article is the type of piece we are going to see from the mainstream press for the next 34 months or until Trump is removed from office.
Re McCable–What the powerful do to the weak behind closed doors is rarely seen or talked about nationally. This time we can all see it, and although it is ugly, it’s not a bad thing. Losing a pension is devastating to a family. But it happens way too often. It would be a good thing if this national discussion about McCabe’s pension were to spark a larger debate about current corrupt business practices. One hates to see anyone lose any part of their pension without just cause. Fortunately, that does not seem to be happening now to Mr. McCabe, as there appears to be cause. But unfortunately, it happens to people at the bottom of the economic food chain all too often.
Debra, You make an interesting point. Pensions for private employees are largely a thing of the past. I work with the elderly every day and see their retirement incomes. Government workers still have large pensions. The vast majority of those who worked in the private sector have only Social Security and what they saved in an IRA, 401k or a tiny pension. Virtually no young people are beneficiaries of a private pension plan other than a 401k.
It is too late to study. The assets are gone. In some cases corrupt company owners or union bosses raided the pension fund. In many other cases, the companies underfunded their obligations (like Social Security does), and then when the companies failed there was no one to pay the benefits.
Baby Boomers absolutely rely on Social Security. Young taxpayers know better than to count on that program.
Trump is now fully at war with the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies. Comey’s book is coming out next month. McCabe will probably have a book, so that may help replace his lost pension. Trump will keep firing at the Justice Dept and the FBI, and Mueller will keep on indicting Trumpers. Writers like Brooks will frame Democrats as the defenders of honor, truth and the rule of law.
The 2018 election is going to be important. If the Dems win, you will see Trumpers being grilled by Congressional Committees every day. McCabe will likely be made a hero by the Dems.
So The Trump Cult and the Dems are both going to go all out to win in November. Many true conservatives will just sit it out and watch our two groups of enemies battle it out. Afterward, we can study the results as we might study the results of Stalingrad, another time when we rooted against both sides.
So Ricky blames Trump for the decision made by Sessions, the IG, the FBI, and DoJ.
Why am I not shocked?
“”Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.”
I don’t feel bad at all. Like Debra said, he abused his authority and this is the price he has to pay.
But why feel bad? He’s 50, a lawyer, and has at least 20 years of earning time left. He’ll be fine. So he has to work until 70 like the commoners. Boo Hoo.
I have spent a little time on Twitter the last couple of days. It helped me understand several things:
1. Very few people remember any details of the Reagan presidency.
2. If the only Republican President you can remember is Little Bush, Trump may seem conservative.
3. If you grew up under President Bill Clinton, Trump’s constant dishonesty probably doesn’t bother you.
4. Our Trumpkins here are smarter than the average Trumpkins. Sometimes they are humorously naive as @ 10:14, but they are definitely smarter than the average Trumpkins.
“Sessions’ decision to fire McCabe came as Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded a bureau oversight investigation, with a report expected to be critical of McCabe’s handling of the Clinton email probe, his handling of the bureau during the early months of the Russia investigation, and his ties to the Democratic Party.
Horowitz determined that McCabe hadn’t been forthcoming in regard to the handling of the FBI’s probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state in the Obama administration.
The inspector general’s finding sparked an FBI disciplinary process that recommended McCabe’s firing.”
—————-
“The text messages suggest that as of Sept. 28, 2016, Strzok, Page and McCabe were aware of new Clinton emails found on the laptop of disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, spouse of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
“Got called up to Andy’s earlier … hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s atty to sdny, includes a ton of material from spouse. Sending team up tomorrow to review…this will never end …” Strzok wrote in a text message to Page.
But it wasn’t until Oct. 27, 2016 that Comey was briefed on the newly discovered emails — meaning McCabe kept the director in the dark for a month.
Horowitz is specifically investigating McCabe and whether he wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the presidential election, in which Clinton lost to Trump.
According to testimony obtained by Fox News from an Office of Special Counsel interview with former Comey Chief of Staff James Rybicki, McCabe’s office did not notify him until the night of Oct. 26, 2016.
The OSC also interviewed FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson, who testified that Comey was first briefed on the material found on Weiner’s laptop on Oct. 27, 2016.
Anderson noted that the director’s office decided to “urgently” address the situation.
“Given the significance of the matter, um, uh, that we had to proceed quickly,” Anderson told investigators. “It was just too, too explosive for us to sit on.”
So it wasn’t until Oct. 28, 2016, that Comey sent a letter to Congress announcing the “recent developments” of the discovery of the Clinton and Abedin communications found on the laptop —which he had just been briefed on a day before. That letter reopened the Clinton email probe just a week before the election. The inspector general is investigating McCabe’s involvement in this timeline.
Several Republicans also have pointed with alarm to the Strzok-Page texts and their references to McCabe in relation to an “insurance policy” to prevent Trump from being elected president, and a “secret society” within the bureau.”
Ricky makes a couple of good points.
But we have Trump. I like his appointments and the country is prospering.
Much better than Hillary.
Given the choices, I would choose Trump again.
As for the Clintons, the world has had enough of them. Just go away.
Chas, I was thinking about you as I typed the post @ 10:33. There aren’t many of us left who were paying attention to politics in 1981.
For those of us who grew up watching Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith, the decline in public behavior is shocking and disturbing. However, for those who grew up with Jersey Shore and the Kardashians, Trump and Stormy Daniels and his other women seem “normal”.
My thought: finally, someone is being held accountable and fired for not doing his job. I wish those in power had been doing such a thing for years (Looking at you, banks).
Way too many “normal” people have been fired for lesser offenses and lost their pensions and their livlihoods. It’s nice to think there are some in government who aren’t too big to fail.
It can be tricky, of course, when your spouse has dreams that conflict with your ethical responsibilities in your job. But, what the heck, why not take $500K from the Democratic party for the possibility of a lucrative political career?
All that aside, a question.
Having exhausted ourselves with forgiveness at all costs without responsibility, are we now at risk of becoming Pharisees?
I posted this on another thread. I think it was yesterday:
I am reading a book called “Slouching Toward Gomorrah”
It says the evolution of the sixties (though it started before that) has created a situation that hs led to the inevitable downfall of America. He considers such as:
Abortion, homosexuality, pornography, drugs, high illegitimate births with welfare and high crime rate, most unpunished, euthanasia, unholy attitudes, etc. Summed up by Partick Monyhan: “Defining deviancy down”.
The book was written by Robert H. Bork. He has some experience.
Older people tend to wax nostalgically about the past but the past is rarely the golden age we make it.
Crime has been on decline since the 70s. The abortion rate is the lowest since Roe vs Wade. Drug use, esp alcohol, is down among teens. Teen pregnancy rate has never been this low. Bork’s book was 20 years ago and he was wrong.
The present is doing well and there 8s no need for doom and gloom.
Admittedly i know nothing about McCabe but to me and any normal person to fire a person a day before his pension kicks in is vindicative. And Trump’s tweet does cast a shadow on the legitimacy of the process.
Unfortunately Debra is right. There is not enough attention paid to pension theft. Pensions are deferred wages and should be treated as such. Any attempt to limit the ability of workers to access their pensions should be treated as theft and/or fraud.
As noted @9:41, the time of shadow boxing is over. This is war. Brennan speaks for many in the federal law enforcement community.
When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you. https://t.co/uKppoDbduj
If the Dems win, Adam Schiff will not simply be presenting a counter narrative to the silly distractions of Nunes. He is going to be going for Trump’s jugular. Most Americans believe there are shady financial dealings between Trump and Russia. If the Dems take the House, Schiff will have 2 years to probe.
I was thirteen in 1981. I actually liked Reagan back then and was of course a hopelessly naive child at the time but have since grown up.
I have very little illusions about the era I grew up in. It was the 70s….the Stones had teenage girlfriends, no dress codes at school, open drug use, drunk driving, sexual harassment at work and school, men in power exploiting teen girls, etc.
When Ricky and others reminiscence about the good old days, some older women view Trump as an example of that era.
And no millenials don’t view the Kardashians as acceptable behaviour rather they rubber neck it as others would a car wreck on the freeway. But hey it draws viewers, is cheap to make, and gets sponsors therefore capitalism approves likes it. If you don’t like the morality shown on television blame capitalism.
“In the wake of recent revelations proving the now-debunked “Trump dossier” was crafted by Democratic opposition research firm Fusion GPS, paid for the Democratic National Committee and also funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, many people still aren’t aware of precisely how a political document made it onto the radar of the intelligence community.
To fully understand it, one must look no further than John Brennan – the man who voted for the Communist Party candidate in the presidential election of 1976, briefed in 2008 then-Senator Barack Obama for his presidential bid, and later went on to become President Barack Obama’s director of the CIA.
It was Brennan who first accepted Fusion GPS’ dossier at the CIA, and “the Obama loyalist drove the FBI to investigate Trump” as early as summer 2016.
From Brennan’s desk the salacious document, which alluded to golden showers and other nefarious rumors, gained traction throughout the intelligence community like a dirty comic book being passed around a seventh-grade locker room.
The presumption amongst the rank and file was that if the document was sufficient enough to merit the attention of the CIA director, it was important enough to be seen as serious intelligence.
There’s one serious problem with this: Brennan’s past is checkered with intelligence mishaps. In fact, his past track record nearly prevented him from becoming CIA director under Obama.
As CIA station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1996, Brennan missed intelligence that could have prevented the bombing of the Khobar Towers that killed 19 American servicemembers and injured nearly 500 others. Brennan’s team came under “heavy criticism for their lack of preparation and foresight for what was considered an intelligence failure.” According to the New York Times, “significant shortcomings in planning, intelligence, and basic security left American forces in Saudi Arabia vulnerable.”
That wasn’t Brennan’s only intelligence misstep.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11 it was Brennan who, as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, advised President George W. Bush to escalate the terror alert warning to an “orange terror alert” during Christmas 2003.
That intelligence was later proven false. In fact, it was called “bogus intel.””
————————
Oh look, and here he is again, from Michelle’s link above at 11:10am.
——————-
“Forget Watergate. It will be the distant past once the Inspector General’s reports—there apparently will be more than one—start to come out. This will be the “Gate of Gates.”
From the FBI and across the intelligence agencies an astonishing number of people are going to find themselves accused, one can safely predict at this point, of some atrocious behavior in a free republic. And it will not just be the small change of Peter Strzok (the dimwitted director of counter-intelligence) and his gal pal Lisa Page. It will include—on one level or another—James Comey, Loretta Lynch, John Brennan, James Clapper, Susan Rice and, almost inevitably, Barack Obama, not to mention others known and unknown.
All these people’s reputations will be damaged forever for the pathetic purpose of getting Hillary Clinton elected president and later for their determination to manipulate the FBI and intelligence agencies to wound as severely as possible Trump’s presidency. That they didn’t stop to think that they might be wounding America at the same time is extraordinarily selfish and nauseating.
Further, that a Russia collusion investigation was employed by these people for their nefarious purposes is darkly ironic because their technique itself reeks of Stalin’s NKVD.”
———————
“It was an extreme step. After Congress overhauled the CIA in the 1970s, the agency was not supposed to spy on Americans domestically except in extremely circumscribed circumstances. Now it was turning its spywork onto the elected officials tasked with overseeing it.
“Every officer is clearly, I would say rigorously, trained that CIA is a foreign intelligence service. We have a legal mandate to conduct intelligence operations on non-American entities … It’s very clear, the distinction, and then elaborate, the working out of what may and may not be done,” said Glenn Carle, a retired CIA officer.
Carle continued: “For the agency to penetrate a firewalled network used by the United States Senate is flat criminal activity. There’s no discussion about it. I’m literally laughing. You can’t rationalize that.”
———————-
“According to a subsequent inspector-general report, an unnamed CIA official – whom Vice News’s Jason Leopold has reported is Hostetler – got the agency’s Counterintelligence Center involved on 9 January by saying there was a “forthcoming D/CIA tasking”, a reference to Brennan. The unnamed official said Brennan wanted a report by “that afternoon” into Senate use of the network, stretching from 1 March 2009 to 31 December 2013. The CIA inspector general, David Buckley, would later find that “conflicting information” prevented him from determining “whether any of D/CIA Brennan’s senior staff, much less the DCI himself, approved any of the taskings.” But an agency attorney, unusually, gave an operational order.
Brennan learned at least the outline of what would become the breach on 9 January, the very first day it was conceived. The director would later say he knew then of some review, but did not specifically recall if anyone briefing him explained how they knew the location of, among other documents, the Panetta Review. Brennan discussed the issue with CIA personnel over the next two days, and tasked them to “use whatever means necessary” to find out how it was that the documents appeared on the Senate side of the firewall. Brennan said he only asked “are we sure” the documents were genuine CIA material and that he desired a better understanding of how RDINet worked.
While Brennan would later say he denied directing anyone at the CIA to examine the Senate’s use of the system, the technical staff, examined and passed around screenshots of what was on the Senate network drives. By 11 January – a Saturday – the CIA official Vice identified as Hostetler spoke with Brennan and learned Brennan had discussed the issue with Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff and a powerful ally. The official would later say he believed himself authorized by Brennan “to gather the necessary agency personnel and components who would normally be involved in such an effort”.
Hostetler, through a representative, declined to speak with the Guardian. Nor did the White House make McDonough available for an interview. But an official said: “Neither Denis McDonough nor anyone else at the White House was notified of the searches before they began. As such, and to be sure, the White House did not authorize them.””
HRW, Chas and I come from a time and a place you know not of. Men who acted like Trump or Harvey Weinstein in our part of the country were generally killed or beaten to a pulp by the husbands, fathers, brothers or neighbors of their victims. Hence, such rude behavior was rare.
Aj: Yes, it’s absolutely incredible that so many of these govt. officials have risked their careers/livelihoods, all for seeking to insure that Hillary would be elected president. The corruption in the Obama admin’s Justice Dept, FBI, etc. was very deeply-rooted, and it will take a lot more ‘draining’.
They had a well thought out plan to frame and overthrow a duly elected president from our highest levels in government, and hopefully Sessions and others will have the courage to keep working so that all those treasonous ones will be brought to justice.
Tychicus, I read your second paragraph. So The Cult believes all those “conspirators” took all those risks just so Trump could be impeached and convicted and Mike Pence could be President?
I now reserve the right to revise and extend my comments @ 10:33.
HRW, Do you give your students extra credit for correcting the grammar and/or spelling in his moronic Tweets?
The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!
Ricky you may think that back in the day other men wouldn’t tolerate bad behaviour of other men but in most cases they wouldn’t know. Women were usually quiet about it; afraid people would question their morals, their clothing choices, etc.
I rarely discuss Trump in class. It detracts from what I’m supposed to teach. When his name is raised by students, its for comic relief. I try to minimize the discussion or I’ll lose control of the class.
There are Trump supporters in Canada just not in my city and not among the young. I live in a district which votes 60% socialist, 25% Liberal and the conservatives and greens fight for third place. Last week anarchists caused 100, 000$ damage to protest gentrification. While it was almost universally condemned most residents were also quick to point out they had a point. And we also wondered why they missed the Starbucks windows. So in my city discussing Trump is just a waste of class time.
HRW, Most of my female relatives in pre-1960 West Texas were the wives of farmers who only came to town on Saturdays to shop and Sunday for church. That entire culture practiced the Mike Pence Rule so there would have been few chances for a Trump-like character to molest.
In addition the women on Dad’s side were almost 6 feet tall and strong from working on the farm, so they could have a dispatched a flabby Trump or Weinstein with a nearby hoe or shovel.
However, all of the men carried knives and many carried guns and they would have carefully watched a Trump-like or Weinstein-like figure from the minute such a character entered town. One false move would have been all it would have taken.
The Emmett Til story in Mississippi was a terrible tragedy. I think it was largely over a misunderstanding. However, it is not a surprising story to Southeners of a certain age. Men took extreme measures to protect the women in their families.
The ‘misunderstanding’ of Emmett Til is not a surprising story indeed?! My father tells of a church he briefly pastored in west Texas. He left when it became apparent that all the influence in the church was held by a deacon who could not and would not be persuaded that black people had a soul. Whenever I hear of these things I thank God that the Union won the war.
Debra, There was a time when I would have invited a Yankee sympathizer to return to Connecticut, but the last two years have changed me. You are a Trumpkin, so I must admit that you are the face of the modern white South. I will remember better days.
Ricky, Godless, lawless men have always roamed the earth, taking vengeance and imposing their own wills wherever they pleased, wreaking havoc on the weak—and eventually upon themselves. Secession is a tempting idea. But as far as I am aware, there is a process for adding States, but no provision is made for them to depart. So it seems to me the States are bound together and are meant to hammer out their differences.
Trump’s consultants (with the help of Facebook) did some really sophisticated work mining Facebook users’ info and then targeting those users. The Dems are really mad about this and will likely regulate this activity or roast Facebook when they come to power.
Ricky – Southern white men beating up or killing anyone who dishonors their family is not something to be proud of. Not much different from the Muslim idea of family honor. To say that there are some older Southern men who understand why Emmett Till was brutally beaten and murdered makes me shudder. I hope that “sympathize” is not included with the “understand”.
Kizzie, I agree that there are similarities between the old Southern Honor Code and some Muslim cultures. My father and I often discussed whether we preferred the old Southern culture to our modern American culture. We agreed that the Southern Honor Code was flawed and fell well short of a Biblical standard. We also agreed that the old Southern Honor Code was much preferable to the Northern (now American) culture which allows sexual predators such as Trump and Weinstein to assault and molest women to their heart’s content without ramifications. I have a good friend who caught his wife and another man in adultery. He shot and killed them both. In such a culture, men such as Trump would be less likely to promote or practice adultery.
I have known several Texans in the oil business who worked for years in Muslim countries. The ones who were conservative Christians and non-drinkers have told me they felt more at home in those Muslim countries than they felt in New York, San Francisco or certain other US cities.
There were no rude drunks, no strip joints, and no adult movie theaters. It was sort of like West Texas, right down to the sand and the oil underneath the sand.
No one knows exactly what happened between Till and Carolyn Bryant in that store. What is undisputed is 1. that after Till and friends left the store, Mrs. Bryant went and retrieved a gun from her car at which point all of the black youths fled; 2. Till whistled at Mrs. Bryant when she left the store to get the gun; and 3. Bryant’s husband and brother killed Till because of what happened in the store.
I think everyone can agree that it was a tragedy that Till was killed, but in the South in the 50s if you messed with another man’s wife you were putting yourself in danger. Till probably didn’t fully understand that fact. I think it is safe to say there weren’t a lot of Trumps or Weinsteins traveling through the South in the 50s grabbing women by their private parts.
“But in building a case for himself, McCabe just made life a lot tough for former FBI director James Comey and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
At least, that’s according to Jonathan Turley, professor of law at George Washington University Law School.
In an op-ed run Saturday by The Hill, Turley pointed to a line in McCabe’s statement criticizing his termination “that could be viewed as incriminating fired FBI director James Comey, not just in leaking sensitive information but also in lying to Congress.”
McCabe commented on leaking information to a former Wall Street Journal reporter about the investigation of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, saying he was authorized to “share” the information and did so with the knowledge of “the director,” which would have been Comey at the time.
Turley explained why this is “problematic”:
If the “interaction” means leaking the information, then McCabe’s statement would seem to directly contradict statements Comey made in a May 2017 congressional hearing. Asked if he had “ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation” or whether he had “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation,” Comey replied “never” and “no.”
As Turley noted, Comey “already faces serious questions over his use of a Columbia University Law School professor to leak information to the media following his own termination as director.”
“If this was determined to be a leak with his approval, Comey likely would be labeled not just a leaker but a liar,” the law professor added. “Worse, his second-in-command just lost his pension after more than 20 years with the bureau, while Comey is about to cash in on a book and publicity tour potentially worth millions.”
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“Former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a “dossier” of allegations linking U.S. President Donald Trump to Russia, must give a deposition in a U.S. libel case, lawyers for the Russian businessman involved said on Friday.
Businessman Aleksej Gubarev is suing the Buzzfeed website, which published the dossier in January last year, for libel in a Florida court over claims made about him and his companies and as part of his case his lawyers asked to take evidence from Steele.
Last November, a British court ruled Steele should undergo lengthy pre-trial questioning and in February his lawyers sought to have that order quashed, arguing it could put his sources at risk and harm UK national security
On Friday, the High Court in London agreed Steele should provide a deposition which would be used in the Florida trial, Gubarev’s lawyer said.
“The court has rightly ordered that Christopher Steele must now answer under oath the relevant and appropriate questions to be put to him in deposition. I expect the deposition to take place in the next eight weeks,” said lawyer Steven Loble.”
My good friend is a Christian and was at the time. I’m not sure about the wife. It is interesting that her family testified on his behalf at his trial. He still has a good relationship with his three children.
“In the final days leading up to his termination, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe reportedly threatened to “take people down with him” if he was fired.
And despite many in the media running interference for McCabe, reliable sources say the Inspector General Office of Professional Responsibility had “tons of stuff” on him, and it had little to do President Donald Trump and a lot more to do with “power” and “control.”
That’s according to Fox News Senior Correspondent Adam Housley, who reported on Twitter late Friday on the impact of McCabe being fired.
“I am told yesterday McCabe felt the heat and went to try and save his last two days and even told some he would take people down with him if he as fired. So…let’s see what comes of this. I know this…a ton of agents…a ton…were watching this very closely,” Housley tweeted.”
———————-
Sounds like it was long overdue.
As a reporter I will repeat this once more. I could care less if this helps Trump, or helps politically in any way. I just know a ton of men and women in the FBI who do damn good work and they were watching how this clique would be handled. McCabe has many who do not support
“The firing of Andrew McCabe, the discovery of his “private notes,” the ill-tempered response by other Obama loyalists and a yet to be disclosed Inspector General’s report on an investigation that began before Donald Trump had come to office are all pieces of a story that dwarfs the still absent evidence of anything Trump and company did to cooperate with Russians in changing votes in Michigan and Wisconsin.
So many Democrats and Republicans have asserted the lack of evidence in the Russian collusion issue its become comical if not annoying to endure as the uninformed continue to argue otherwise.
But few have had interest in addressing a separate issue that demands attention. For while the Russians attempted mass chaos. The more serious scandal appears to have covered up criminal behavior, illicit manipulation of the FISA process, and an attempt to undo the quite serious results of an election.
Is there anything more sacred in our representative republic?
The scandal that goes mostly unmentioned began before the election had even occurred but appears to have continued well past the final results of election night, with one candidate winning 30 of 50 states, and racking up a 304 to 227 victory in the electoral college.
A victory that looks increasingly historic in light of what increasingly appears to be the collusion of the then current administration with one campaign, and in instance after instance attempting to push their thumb on the scale of the outcome.
The Democrats’ illicit partnership with the Obama Justice Department and what appears to be an increasingly corrupted leadership at the Federal Bureau of Investigation was yet one more logistical hurdle that President Trump would have to overcome in his surprising and transformational win.”
GADSDEN, Ala. — An Alabama sheriff legally used more than $750,000 of funds meant to feed inmates to purchase a beach house. Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin told The Birmingham News he follows a state law passed before World War II that allows sheriffs to keep “excess” inmate-feeding funds for themselves.
Entrekin reported on state ethics forms that he made “more than $250,000” each of the past three years through the funds.
The sheriff’s annual salary is more than $93,000. He and his wife purchased a four-bedroom house with an in-ground pool and canal access in September for $740,000.
Entrekin got a $592,000 mortgage. The home is one of several properties with a total assessed value of more than $1.7 million that the couple own together or separately.
In a statement to NPR, Entrekin said the “liberal media has began attacking me for following the letter of the law.” …
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Honour based societies are more violent than rule of law societies. Within the USA, southern states have a higher rate of homicide and violence than other US states. The longer the adherence to rule of law the lower the violence; it even settled the Vikings. Other than satisfying a man’s masculinity, honour codes are basically useless if not a threat to law and order.
If Gowdy and I agree share an iota of agreement, the other side of the argument should take a second look.
Apply Ockham’s Razor;
Which is easier to believe 1) Trump is innocent and there’s a conspiracy involving media, law enforcement, govt bureaucrats, intelligence agencies, allied intelligence and Republican appointees OR 2) a man who has lied thousands of times in the last year, makes up “facts” even when in discussion with allied leaders, and cheats on all his wives is in fact guilty of either collusion or corruption or obstruction of justice or all three.
HRW, The South and the Frontier West had a hybrid system of justice. In the vast majority of cases the rule of law was applied. However, in certain heinous cases (or cases where the offender could intimidate or buy off the law) vigilantism or self-help was tolerated.
Kizzie, This is really what The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is all about. Jimmy Stewart believed in the law but Lee Marvin had intimidated the law. Stewart tried self help, but that too was going to fail until the vigilante John Wayne saved the day.
HRW, I agree that Honor systems are more violent. Our old hybrid system is now all but gone. The statistics on violence can now be largely explained by race. However, I would tolerate slightly higher incidents of violence in order to deter the Trump/Weinstein types.
Trey Gowdy, Republican on House Intelligence Committee, major contributor to Nunes memo, did not think Andy McCabe did anything seriously wrong. From February: pic.twitter.com/FN0kEzvE8m
hwesseli KNOWS that Pres. Trump has lied THOUSANDS of times in the last year (plus all the rest of it); therefore, he IN FACT HAS TO BE GUILTY of either collusion OR corruption OR obstruction of justice OR all of the above.
New England has much lower murder rates, rape rates, and violent crime rates than Texas. And Tennessee’s rates are almost equivalent to New England and TT
Since Mr. Trump became a presidential candidate, PolitiFact has evaluated more than 500 assertions and found 69 percent of them mostly false, false or “pants on fire” false. By comparison, it judged 26 percent of the statements by Mr. Obama that it evaluated as false and the same percentage for those by Hillary Clinton.
These are not scientific measurements, of course, because the selection of statements for examination is inherently subjective and focused on those that seem questionable, rather than a gauge of all public comments. Mr. Trump’s defenders say fact-checking organizations like PolitiFact are politically biased, which Mr. Adair and his counterparts adamantly deny. But even among Republicans examined by PolitiFact, Mr. Trump is an outlier.
While PolitiFact did not exist during most of President George W. Bush’s tenure, it has found that 42 percent of statements that it examined by Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the two previous Republican presidential nominees, were false. The party’s congressional leaders, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, judged on far fewer statements, were both at similar levels, 43 percent and 41 percent.
This will be fun to watch them turn on each other….
Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked “have you ever been an anonymous source…or known someone else to be an anonymous source…?” He said strongly “never, no.” He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends.
“Indeed, it does appear that Comey may have misrepresented the truth during his congressional testimony in 2017. The following is an excerpt from his questioning before Congress:
Director Comey, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation? COMEY: Never. GRASSLEY: Question two, relatively related, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation? COMEY: No.
Former deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was recently fired, told the story a little differently in a statement Saturday.
The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week.”
“However, there is a sound basis to form a tentative belief that the firing of McCabe was justified. That basis comes through in what Jurecic and Wittes write:
The FBI takes telling the truth extremely seriously: “lack of candor” from employees is a fireable offense—and people are fired for it. Moreover, it doesn’t take an outright lie to be dismissed. In one case, the bureau fired an agent after he initially gave an ambiguous statement to investigators as to how many times he had picked up his daughter from daycare in an FBI vehicle. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against the agent when he appealed, finding that “lack of candor is established by showing that the FBI agent did not ‘respond fully and truthfully’ to the questions he was asked.”
So if McCabe was less than candid in answering questions, his firing was justified and consistent with FBI practice. Was he? We don’t know. But the finding that McCabe did not meet FBI standards for honesty was made by career Justice Department officials, not Jeff Sessions or other political appointees. As Jurecic and Wittes say:
[A]lthough Sessions made the ultimate call to fire McCabe, the public record shows that the process resulting in the FBI deputy director’s dismissal involved career Justice Department and FBI officials—rather than political appointees selected by President Trump—at crucial points along the way. To begin with, the charges against McCabe arose out of the broader Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation.
While the inspector general is appointed by the president, the current head of that office, Michael Horowitz, was appointed by President Barack Obama and is himself a former career Justice Department lawyer. As Jack Goldsmith has written, the inspector general has a great deal of statutory independence, which Horowitz has not hesitated to use: Most notably, he produced a highly critical 2012 report into the Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” program. So a process that begins with Horowitz and his office carries a presumption of fairness and independence.
Once Horowitz was done, other career DOJ officials were handed the baton — officials whose work should also be presumed fair and independent.”
“Former CIA Director John Brennan appears to be rabid. In the tweet below regarding President Trump’s disparagement of Andrew McCabe, he is all but foaming at the mouth. Brit Hume :advises: “Be grateful Brennan didn’t say this to your face. You’d still be wiping the spittle off.” We’re thinking roughly along the same lines. Sharyl Attkisson separately asks: “A guy like this would never misuse intel or his authority—would he?” I think that is a rhetorical question.”
“He’s right. As we and many others have pointed out many times, there is no proper predicate for Mueller’s purported investigation. There was never a crime in the first place. Mueller was improperly given a general mandate to poke around and see if he could find someone to indict, for anything, or worse yet, trick someone into committing an indictable offense. The Mueller investigation is a final insult to the rule of law that was bequeathed to us, in effect, by the outgoing, corrupt Obama administration.
If anything needs to be investigated, it is the multiple crimes and improper actions of the the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC, including but not limited to their collusion with Russians to sway the 2016 presidential election–an effort that, happily, failed.”
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The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
Ricky: So Pres. Trump lies (as do all politicians), and he’s therefore guilty of collusion w/the Russians? That sounds like you, when you proclaimed Trump guilty of collusion with no evidence. It’s ridiculous.
(Btw, I just saw the end of the OKC-Toronto game – your Thunder played very well, though the Raptors were victims of several terrible calls, and ended up having Lowry foul out, then DeRozan and the coach were tossed out. Pretty intense in Toronto.)
Tychicus, I have corrected you a couple of times before on this, but I will continue to do so. From the time a year ago when Trump issued the “Tapp” Tweets (which you and AJ defended as being accidentally correct) I have consistently predicted that Trump did not collude, but that he idiotically framed himself. Remember now? I will be honest. He is acting so guilty now that I think Gowdy and I are both thinking he may be smarter but more guilty than we thought. Nevertheless, I initially predicted “idiotically framed himself” and I will stick with that prediction until Mueller proves me wrong.
It was a good game. My son thought Brewer would be a good addition and he has been. Your coach has done an amazing job without Leonard. I hope he gets back for the Playoffs.
Where we’ve evolved to: Last March, Comey was afraid if agents working Russia investigation knew what Trump thought then it would bias them. (So he kept memo on Trump asking him to end Flynn investigation secret). Today, Trump and his lawyer just openly attack the investigators.
Soon to be in mine and @nytmike's story, Trump's lawyers recently received a list of questions from Mueller's team that the special counsel would seek answers to in an interview. Adds to the portrait of what took place today.
Ricky, @2:03 I understand the abhorrence of seeing men and women whoring their way to the top of the economic ladder, or taking advantage of those willing to do the same. But I wonder if you would still prefer increased violence against innocents if you knew your son, wife or grandchild would be kidnapped, tortured, and murdered while the killers walked away smiling. I prefer that people pay for the crimes that they actually commit. But I too, would be willing to forego some freedoms and liberties in exchange for a reduction in some evils. As the piece you linked @2:56 states: “Instead of targeting individuals or specific groups, the results imply that generic interventions to improve neighborhood conditions and support families may reduce racial gaps in violence. “ These are probably worthwhile investments.
The nature of man is such that we will not escape evil in this lifetime. And for whatever reason, different people groups seem to be prone to different evils. The black community in the US suffers from excessive violence internally. I have always thought that there is a certain Southern personality or ethos, whatever you want to call it, that is susceptible to the temptation of the particular evils that institutionalized black slavery gave rise to—or that gave rise to it in the first place. I don’t say that this is causal to current negative statistics on black communities, but it does not seem to be entirely irrelevant either.
The shedding of innocent blood violates the land. I think we have a residual curse in the land not just in the descendants of slaveholders, but in their spiritual brethren who were and sometimes still are oddly supportive of unrighteous racial attitudes such as the one mentioned earlier of the deacon who insisted that black people have no soul. The head of the snake has somehow survived the rebellion and the abolition of the institution of slavery only to re-emerge cloaked in other ideologies At least the leadership of the Baptist denomination was convicted enough to formally repent of knowingly or unknowingly housing and feeding these attitudes. Whether or not congregants have whole-heartedly followed suit is less certain.
Let’s start with what we know:
1. Russia tried to influence the 2016 election in favor of Trump and Sanders and against Hillary.
2. Trump has been extremely and strangely reluctant to criticize Putin and Russia.
3. Trump was a very inexperienced candidate and is a very inexperienced politician. His campaign staff was very inexperienced.
4. In a golf magazine interview, Eric Trump said that Trump has raised a bunch of money from Russia.
5. After the bankruptcies, no American bank will lend to Trump.
6. The only Western bank with loans to Trump is DeutschBank. However after a lawsuit those loans were moved from the commercial lending dept. to the private bank. DeutschBank has a history of money laundering for Russians.
7. Many rich Russians bought expensive real estate from Trump. At least one of those was for an inflated price.
8. Trump’s tenant and Campaign Manager Paul Manafort was engaged in money laundering with Russians and their allies.
9. Trump is completely immoral and indiscreet and is subject to blackmail. As one tiny example, on the same weekend he began his affair with Stormy Daniels, he had an affair with a Playboy bunny (Trump’s buddies at The National Enquirer paid to keep her quiet) and allegedly assaulted another woman.
10. Trump changed the Republican platform on Russia and has been reluctant to impose sanctions or even admit Russia interfered in the election.
Expanded prediction: 1. Putin has something on Trump. It may be financial. It may be sexual. It may be both. The CIA warned Israel about this between the election and the Inauguration.
2. Though there were pathetic contacts (the Trump Tower meeting and Papadopoulos) the Russians were too smart to collude with Trump or his campaign about their assistance. The most serious contacts during the campaign were probably between Roger Stone and Assange.
These were just tips that Wikileaks would be releasing Democrat email hacks. The goofy Stone Tweeted about this.
3. Trump’s incredibly guilty behavior (pressuring Comey, firing Comey, badgering Sessions and Rosenstein, the Nunes follies) for the last year can either be explained by a) his desire to keep secret whatever it is that Putin is holding over his head; or
b) the fact that he truly is an idiot.
Debra, As I stated @2:03, the reason that I am willing to accept the slightly higher violence associated with a hybrid system is that I want men like your candidate to be deterred from routinely sexually assaulting women and committing adultery with married women and bragging about it. If he knew that an angry husband might shoot him, he might develop bone spurs that would keep him from some trysts or assaults.
Ricky: No, you originally said that Trump probably colluded, which is why I asked you several times to provide something (anything!) to support your assertion. You changed your tune when you finally realized that there isn’t actual evidence, yet b/c of your absolute hatred of Trump you’ve continued to regurgitate liberal talking points and focus on ridiculous things like the wording of “Tapp” Tweets and Stormy Daniels.
Never mind that various areas of our government has been steeped in corruption – let’s not focus on that.
This whole investigation was a farce from the outset – there wasn’t actual evidence of crimes committed that needed to be investigated. It was started to actually LOOK FOR possible crimes committed – it’s all backwards. So what is actually behind all that? (You know what…)
What HAS actually been found are NUMEROUS crimes committed by the Obama administration, Clinton cartel members, anti-Trumpers, FBI officials, DOJ officials, etc. Shouldn’t we have a special investigation into those DEFINITE crimes and stop the crime hunt (fishing expedition) by Mueller’s special counsel?
We all know the campaign slogan “It’s the economy, stupid.” In this case, “It’s the corruption, stupid!”
HRW, The Raptors are really good. They now have one of my favorite players, Serge Ibaka. Ibaka, who is from the Congo, used to play for OKC. Tychicus knows all about Ibaka. He always saved his best for San Antonio.
I’m curious, Ricky. Does this hybrid honor system of yours include those who indulge in pornography? If Kate Upton’s father or brother or uncles are offended at the men gawking at salacious Sports Illustrated swimsuit spreads, can they shoot with impunity? Or will it be acceptable if they shoot her too?
If only people cared half as much about widespread banking and financial malfeasance as they do about Trump’s sex life…. :–/
Tychicus, You are sadly mistaken. If you remember, I spent most of last year calling Trump an imbecile, an idiot and a moron. Remember that? I didn’t call him a crook or a colluder. The reason I continually questioned his intelligence, is that it was his own idiocy that led to Mueller.
Do you remember what led to the appointment of Mueller? I will remind you:
1. Trump pressed Comey for “loyalty” and to go easy on Flynn.
2. Trump stupidly fired Comey and told several lies about why he did it:
A. He first said he fired Comey because of how Comey had treated Hillary.
B. When everyone stopped laughing, Trump tried to blame Rosenstein who had been requested by Trump to write a memo justifying Comey’s firing.
C. (My favorite part) In the interview with Lester Holt, he confessed that he had fired Comey because of the way he was conducting the Russia Investigation.
D. At that point, Rosenstein did what any competent, honest lawyer would have done: He appointed Mueller and gave him broad authority.
Was there collusion in that story. No, but there was plenty of idiocy which I identified each day.
Debra, We disagree. Though all were wrong, I do think it is more serious when Trump sexually assaulted a woman than when he cheated a subcontractor or conned a poor “student” at “Trump University”. In Texas, we still believe in chivalry.
Its not chivalry; sexual assault is worse than fraud.
I think Debra said it well but let me chime in.
African American culture was formed in the south in an era where honor counted more than rule of law. And just as white Southerns have a higher rate of violence than northern whites so do African Americans. Their culture adopted the same honor code and as the rule of law historically failed them, honour still plays a large role in their communities even though African Americans migrated north during the great migration.
Stripped down, the Mueller investigation originated in order to look into the reasons behind Comey’s firing. Exactly why did Trump fire Comey and was it because Trump wanted to “obstruct” inquiries into Russia-Trump relations? Nothing has changed, Mueller is slowly and methodically looking at the evidence. The dossier, McCabe, Hilary, Stormy etc are all sideshows that interest people for various reasons but there’s yet to be a full answer to the questions which launched the investigation.
I do wonder why some want to quickly shut it down. Don’t Republicans and Trump supporters want to know if Russia is meddling in their internal affairs? Let Mueller do his work.
Of course much of Mueller’s work could have been avoided if Trump had released his tax records and after his win either sold his companies or at the very least put them in a blind trust. The fact Trump didnt follow normal procedures in this regards leads me to believe there’s something in the money trail worth looking at; far more than some dossier.
Wandering Views 
McCabe got fired.
I don’t know what all he did. Maybe they should have fired him long ago..
Maybe he should be in prison.
But to wait until 24 hours before retirement to fir e him is evil.
It isn’t justice, it’s spite. Not good government.
An abomination.
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It’s to make a point Chas. Let it be a warning to anyone else who thinks they are above the law.
You can’t just let people violate policies and procedures, as well as the law, and think they can just walk away, pension intact, with no repercussions.
Besides, I’m sure he’ll file a grievance and get his full retirement. If not, maybe he’ll actually learn a lesson.
Either way, he made his bed, now he gets to sleep in it.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/03/former-fbi-deputy-director-mccabe-fired-right-before-retirement/
“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fired outgoing FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was set to retire in about 24 hours. From The Washington Post:
Sessions announced the decision in a statement just before 10 p.m., noting that both the Justice Department Inspector General and the FBI office that handles discipline had found “that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
He said based on those findings and the recommendation of the department’s senior career official, “I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.”
The move will likely cost McCabe a significant portion of his retirement benefits, though it is possible he could bring a legal challenge. McCabe has been fighting vigorously to keep his job, and on Thursday, he spent nearly four hours inside the Justice Department pleading his case.
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And just to clear something up before a certain someone shows up to distort the facts, this was the recommendation of the IG and FBI that got him fired, not Trump.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/sessions-fires-mccabe-he-can-retire-n856751
“Though McCabe — who has been attacked by President Donald Trump — stepped down as deputy director in late January, he remained on the federal payroll, planning to retire on Sunday. The firing places his federal pension in jeopardy.
Unlike Trump’s removal of Comey last year, which produced widespread resentment inside the FBI, McCabe’s termination was recommended by the agency he served for 21 years.
Sunday is McCabe’s 50th birthday, which would have made him eligible for certain substantial retirement benefits.
The FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility proposed the termination, based on the findings of the Justice Department’s inspector general. That office has been examining the bureau’s handling of the Clinton e-mail investigation.
“After an extensive and fair investigation and according to Department of Justice procedure, the Department’s Office of the Inspector General provided its report on allegations of misconduct by Andrew McCabe to the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility,” Sessions said in a statement at about 10 p.m. ET Friday night. “The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.”
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David French agrees with Chas, and of course the moron Trump had to issue a Gloat Tweet to cast further doubt on the legitimacy of the process.
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David Brooks with a challenge to the Democrats:
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From the article:
‘Every election cycle we say that so and so is fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party, or the soul of the Republican Party. And, of course, most of the time it’s not true. Most of the time the fight is over whether the party in question should go to the left or the right on some policy issue, which is important but not really a matter of a party’s soul.
But this year it actually is true. The crucial issue of this election cycle is whether the Democratic Party will retain its soul — remain an institution committed to the basic democratic norms — respect for truth, personal integrity, the capacity for deliberation and compromise, loyalty to nation above party or tribe.
These fundamental issues are on the table because Donald Trump put them there.
Trump is a revolutionary figure not because he changed the G.O.P.’s position on trade or international engagement. He’s morally revolutionary.
In the decades before Trump, the Republican Party stood for an idea: character before policy. To Mitt Romney, John McCain, the Bushes and Ronald Reagan, personal character and moral integrity were paramount. They stood for the idea that you can’t be a good leader or a good nation unless you are a good person and a good people.
Trump asked the G.O.P. to reverse those priorities. He asked the Republican Party to accept the proposition that it doesn’t matter if your leader is a liar, a philanderer and a narcissist. It doesn’t matter if he is cruel to the weak and bigoted toward the outsider. What matters, when you’re in a death match in which the survival of your nation and culture is at stake, is having a bastard in charge who understands and is tough enough to win.”
Unfortunately, it is completely unrealistic to expect the Democrats to pull the nation back to honesty, morality and integrity. It was the lifelong Democrat Trump who led the Republicans to adopt the bad behaviors previously associated with Democrats. I do think this article is the type of piece we are going to see from the mainstream press for the next 34 months or until Trump is removed from office.
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Re McCable–What the powerful do to the weak behind closed doors is rarely seen or talked about nationally. This time we can all see it, and although it is ugly, it’s not a bad thing. Losing a pension is devastating to a family. But it happens way too often. It would be a good thing if this national discussion about McCabe’s pension were to spark a larger debate about current corrupt business practices. One hates to see anyone lose any part of their pension without just cause. Fortunately, that does not seem to be happening now to Mr. McCabe, as there appears to be cause. But unfortunately, it happens to people at the bottom of the economic food chain all too often.
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McCabe :–)
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Debra, You make an interesting point. Pensions for private employees are largely a thing of the past. I work with the elderly every day and see their retirement incomes. Government workers still have large pensions. The vast majority of those who worked in the private sector have only Social Security and what they saved in an IRA, 401k or a tiny pension. Virtually no young people are beneficiaries of a private pension plan other than a 401k.
It is too late to study. The assets are gone. In some cases corrupt company owners or union bosses raided the pension fund. In many other cases, the companies underfunded their obligations (like Social Security does), and then when the companies failed there was no one to pay the benefits.
Baby Boomers absolutely rely on Social Security. Young taxpayers know better than to count on that program.
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Trump is now fully at war with the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies. Comey’s book is coming out next month. McCabe will probably have a book, so that may help replace his lost pension. Trump will keep firing at the Justice Dept and the FBI, and Mueller will keep on indicting Trumpers. Writers like Brooks will frame Democrats as the defenders of honor, truth and the rule of law.
The 2018 election is going to be important. If the Dems win, you will see Trumpers being grilled by Congressional Committees every day. McCabe will likely be made a hero by the Dems.
So The Trump Cult and the Dems are both going to go all out to win in November. Many true conservatives will just sit it out and watch our two groups of enemies battle it out. Afterward, we can study the results as we might study the results of Stalingrad, another time when we rooted against both sides.
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I don’t object to what was done.
It’s how it was done.
Low class.
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Trump low class? But he has gold toilets.
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So Ricky blames Trump for the decision made by Sessions, the IG, the FBI, and DoJ.
Why am I not shocked?
“”Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.”
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Chas,
I don’t feel bad at all. Like Debra said, he abused his authority and this is the price he has to pay.
But why feel bad? He’s 50, a lawyer, and has at least 20 years of earning time left. He’ll be fine. So he has to work until 70 like the commoners. Boo Hoo.
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The plot thickens…….
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/03/from-strzok-to-contreras.php
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http://thefederalist.com/2018/03/16/revealed-peter-strzok-had-personal-relationship-with-recused-judge-in-michael-flynn-case/
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https://saraacarter.com/explosive-text-messages-reveal-judge-in-flynn-case-was-friends-with-strzok/
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I have spent a little time on Twitter the last couple of days. It helped me understand several things:
1. Very few people remember any details of the Reagan presidency.
2. If the only Republican President you can remember is Little Bush, Trump may seem conservative.
3. If you grew up under President Bill Clinton, Trump’s constant dishonesty probably doesn’t bother you.
4. Our Trumpkins here are smarter than the average Trumpkins. Sometimes they are humorously naive as @ 10:14, but they are definitely smarter than the average Trumpkins.
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More on McCabe….
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/17/former-fbi-deputy-director-andrew-mccabe-fired.html
“Sessions’ decision to fire McCabe came as Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded a bureau oversight investigation, with a report expected to be critical of McCabe’s handling of the Clinton email probe, his handling of the bureau during the early months of the Russia investigation, and his ties to the Democratic Party.
Horowitz determined that McCabe hadn’t been forthcoming in regard to the handling of the FBI’s probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state in the Obama administration.
The inspector general’s finding sparked an FBI disciplinary process that recommended McCabe’s firing.”
—————-
“The text messages suggest that as of Sept. 28, 2016, Strzok, Page and McCabe were aware of new Clinton emails found on the laptop of disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, spouse of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
“Got called up to Andy’s earlier … hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s atty to sdny, includes a ton of material from spouse. Sending team up tomorrow to review…this will never end …” Strzok wrote in a text message to Page.
But it wasn’t until Oct. 27, 2016 that Comey was briefed on the newly discovered emails — meaning McCabe kept the director in the dark for a month.
Horowitz is specifically investigating McCabe and whether he wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the presidential election, in which Clinton lost to Trump.
According to testimony obtained by Fox News from an Office of Special Counsel interview with former Comey Chief of Staff James Rybicki, McCabe’s office did not notify him until the night of Oct. 26, 2016.
The OSC also interviewed FBI Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson, who testified that Comey was first briefed on the material found on Weiner’s laptop on Oct. 27, 2016.
Anderson noted that the director’s office decided to “urgently” address the situation.
“Given the significance of the matter, um, uh, that we had to proceed quickly,” Anderson told investigators. “It was just too, too explosive for us to sit on.”
So it wasn’t until Oct. 28, 2016, that Comey sent a letter to Congress announcing the “recent developments” of the discovery of the Clinton and Abedin communications found on the laptop —which he had just been briefed on a day before. That letter reopened the Clinton email probe just a week before the election. The inspector general is investigating McCabe’s involvement in this timeline.
Several Republicans also have pointed with alarm to the Strzok-Page texts and their references to McCabe in relation to an “insurance policy” to prevent Trump from being elected president, and a “secret society” within the bureau.”
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Ricky makes a couple of good points.
But we have Trump. I like his appointments and the country is prospering.
Much better than Hillary.
Given the choices, I would choose Trump again.
As for the Clintons, the world has had enough of them. Just go away.
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Chas, I was thinking about you as I typed the post @ 10:33. There aren’t many of us left who were paying attention to politics in 1981.
For those of us who grew up watching Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith, the decline in public behavior is shocking and disturbing. However, for those who grew up with Jersey Shore and the Kardashians, Trump and Stormy Daniels and his other women seem “normal”.
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So 99% of Americans agree with the last sentence of Chas’ post @ 10:44:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/03/16/democrats-its-time-you-dump-hillary-clinton-christian-schneider-column/430158002/
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My thought: finally, someone is being held accountable and fired for not doing his job. I wish those in power had been doing such a thing for years (Looking at you, banks).
Way too many “normal” people have been fired for lesser offenses and lost their pensions and their livlihoods. It’s nice to think there are some in government who aren’t too big to fail.
It can be tricky, of course, when your spouse has dreams that conflict with your ethical responsibilities in your job. But, what the heck, why not take $500K from the Democratic party for the possibility of a lucrative political career?
All that aside, a question.
Having exhausted ourselves with forgiveness at all costs without responsibility, are we now at risk of becoming Pharisees?
FYI: https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/reckoning-fbi-begun/
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I think HRW predicted this would happen. Mueller is following the money.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/03/16/mueller-is-peeling-back-the-layers-of-trumps-finances/?utm_term=.e33abf4463e6
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I posted this on another thread. I think it was yesterday:
I am reading a book called “Slouching Toward Gomorrah”
It says the evolution of the sixties (though it started before that) has created a situation that hs led to the inevitable downfall of America. He considers such as:
Abortion, homosexuality, pornography, drugs, high illegitimate births with welfare and high crime rate, most unpunished, euthanasia, unholy attitudes, etc. Summed up by Partick Monyhan: “Defining deviancy down”.
The book was written by Robert H. Bork. He has some experience.
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Older people tend to wax nostalgically about the past but the past is rarely the golden age we make it.
Crime has been on decline since the 70s. The abortion rate is the lowest since Roe vs Wade. Drug use, esp alcohol, is down among teens. Teen pregnancy rate has never been this low. Bork’s book was 20 years ago and he was wrong.
The present is doing well and there 8s no need for doom and gloom.
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Admittedly i know nothing about McCabe but to me and any normal person to fire a person a day before his pension kicks in is vindicative. And Trump’s tweet does cast a shadow on the legitimacy of the process.
Unfortunately Debra is right. There is not enough attention paid to pension theft. Pensions are deferred wages and should be treated as such. Any attempt to limit the ability of workers to access their pensions should be treated as theft and/or fraud.
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As noted @9:41, the time of shadow boxing is over. This is war. Brennan speaks for many in the federal law enforcement community.
If the Dems win, Adam Schiff will not simply be presenting a counter narrative to the silly distractions of Nunes. He is going to be going for Trump’s jugular. Most Americans believe there are shady financial dealings between Trump and Russia. If the Dems take the House, Schiff will have 2 years to probe.
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I was thirteen in 1981. I actually liked Reagan back then and was of course a hopelessly naive child at the time but have since grown up.
I have very little illusions about the era I grew up in. It was the 70s….the Stones had teenage girlfriends, no dress codes at school, open drug use, drunk driving, sexual harassment at work and school, men in power exploiting teen girls, etc.
When Ricky and others reminiscence about the good old days, some older women view Trump as an example of that era.
And no millenials don’t view the Kardashians as acceptable behaviour rather they rubber neck it as others would a car wreck on the freeway. But hey it draws viewers, is cheap to make, and gets sponsors therefore capitalism approves likes it. If you don’t like the morality shown on television blame capitalism.
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Brennan is a deep state partisan shill who is neck deep in all of this. Hardly a reputable source on anything. He’s part of the problem.
Try again.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/john-brennans-intelligence-failures-have-hurt-our-security-and-our-democracy/article/2639397
“In the wake of recent revelations proving the now-debunked “Trump dossier” was crafted by Democratic opposition research firm Fusion GPS, paid for the Democratic National Committee and also funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, many people still aren’t aware of precisely how a political document made it onto the radar of the intelligence community.
To fully understand it, one must look no further than John Brennan – the man who voted for the Communist Party candidate in the presidential election of 1976, briefed in 2008 then-Senator Barack Obama for his presidential bid, and later went on to become President Barack Obama’s director of the CIA.
It was Brennan who first accepted Fusion GPS’ dossier at the CIA, and “the Obama loyalist drove the FBI to investigate Trump” as early as summer 2016.
From Brennan’s desk the salacious document, which alluded to golden showers and other nefarious rumors, gained traction throughout the intelligence community like a dirty comic book being passed around a seventh-grade locker room.
The presumption amongst the rank and file was that if the document was sufficient enough to merit the attention of the CIA director, it was important enough to be seen as serious intelligence.
There’s one serious problem with this: Brennan’s past is checkered with intelligence mishaps. In fact, his past track record nearly prevented him from becoming CIA director under Obama.
As CIA station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1996, Brennan missed intelligence that could have prevented the bombing of the Khobar Towers that killed 19 American servicemembers and injured nearly 500 others. Brennan’s team came under “heavy criticism for their lack of preparation and foresight for what was considered an intelligence failure.” According to the New York Times, “significant shortcomings in planning, intelligence, and basic security left American forces in Saudi Arabia vulnerable.”
That wasn’t Brennan’s only intelligence misstep.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11 it was Brennan who, as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, advised President George W. Bush to escalate the terror alert warning to an “orange terror alert” during Christmas 2003.
That intelligence was later proven false. In fact, it was called “bogus intel.””
————————
And there’s plenty more.
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Oh look, and here he is again, from Michelle’s link above at 11:10am.
——————-
“Forget Watergate. It will be the distant past once the Inspector General’s reports—there apparently will be more than one—start to come out. This will be the “Gate of Gates.”
From the FBI and across the intelligence agencies an astonishing number of people are going to find themselves accused, one can safely predict at this point, of some atrocious behavior in a free republic. And it will not just be the small change of Peter Strzok (the dimwitted director of counter-intelligence) and his gal pal Lisa Page. It will include—on one level or another—James Comey, Loretta Lynch, John Brennan, James Clapper, Susan Rice and, almost inevitably, Barack Obama, not to mention others known and unknown.
All these people’s reputations will be damaged forever for the pathetic purpose of getting Hillary Clinton elected president and later for their determination to manipulate the FBI and intelligence agencies to wound as severely as possible Trump’s presidency. That they didn’t stop to think that they might be wounding America at the same time is extraordinarily selfish and nauseating.
Further, that a Russia collusion investigation was employed by these people for their nefarious purposes is darkly ironic because their technique itself reeks of Stalin’s NKVD.”
———————
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And who can forget this….
Neck deep in the CIA spying on the Senate, which is explicitly forbidden.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/10/cia-senate-investigation-constitutional-crisis-daniel-jones
“It was an extreme step. After Congress overhauled the CIA in the 1970s, the agency was not supposed to spy on Americans domestically except in extremely circumscribed circumstances. Now it was turning its spywork onto the elected officials tasked with overseeing it.
“Every officer is clearly, I would say rigorously, trained that CIA is a foreign intelligence service. We have a legal mandate to conduct intelligence operations on non-American entities … It’s very clear, the distinction, and then elaborate, the working out of what may and may not be done,” said Glenn Carle, a retired CIA officer.
Carle continued: “For the agency to penetrate a firewalled network used by the United States Senate is flat criminal activity. There’s no discussion about it. I’m literally laughing. You can’t rationalize that.”
———————-
“According to a subsequent inspector-general report, an unnamed CIA official – whom Vice News’s Jason Leopold has reported is Hostetler – got the agency’s Counterintelligence Center involved on 9 January by saying there was a “forthcoming D/CIA tasking”, a reference to Brennan. The unnamed official said Brennan wanted a report by “that afternoon” into Senate use of the network, stretching from 1 March 2009 to 31 December 2013. The CIA inspector general, David Buckley, would later find that “conflicting information” prevented him from determining “whether any of D/CIA Brennan’s senior staff, much less the DCI himself, approved any of the taskings.” But an agency attorney, unusually, gave an operational order.
Brennan learned at least the outline of what would become the breach on 9 January, the very first day it was conceived. The director would later say he knew then of some review, but did not specifically recall if anyone briefing him explained how they knew the location of, among other documents, the Panetta Review. Brennan discussed the issue with CIA personnel over the next two days, and tasked them to “use whatever means necessary” to find out how it was that the documents appeared on the Senate side of the firewall. Brennan said he only asked “are we sure” the documents were genuine CIA material and that he desired a better understanding of how RDINet worked.
While Brennan would later say he denied directing anyone at the CIA to examine the Senate’s use of the system, the technical staff, examined and passed around screenshots of what was on the Senate network drives. By 11 January – a Saturday – the CIA official Vice identified as Hostetler spoke with Brennan and learned Brennan had discussed the issue with Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff and a powerful ally. The official would later say he believed himself authorized by Brennan “to gather the necessary agency personnel and components who would normally be involved in such an effort”.
Hostetler, through a representative, declined to speak with the Guardian. Nor did the White House make McDonough available for an interview. But an official said: “Neither Denis McDonough nor anyone else at the White House was notified of the searches before they began. As such, and to be sure, the White House did not authorize them.””
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And if he’d lie under oath, he’d lie on Twitter.
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/02/11/former_cia_director_john_brennan_investigated_for_perjury.html
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HRW, Chas and I come from a time and a place you know not of. Men who acted like Trump or Harvey Weinstein in our part of the country were generally killed or beaten to a pulp by the husbands, fathers, brothers or neighbors of their victims. Hence, such rude behavior was rare.
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AJ, Your cult leader lies as often and as easily as he breathes. Were you complimenting Brennan @1:00?
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Aj: Yes, it’s absolutely incredible that so many of these govt. officials have risked their careers/livelihoods, all for seeking to insure that Hillary would be elected president. The corruption in the Obama admin’s Justice Dept, FBI, etc. was very deeply-rooted, and it will take a lot more ‘draining’.
They had a well thought out plan to frame and overthrow a duly elected president from our highest levels in government, and hopefully Sessions and others will have the courage to keep working so that all those treasonous ones will be brought to justice.
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Tychicus, I read your second paragraph. So The Cult believes all those “conspirators” took all those risks just so Trump could be impeached and convicted and Mike Pence could be President?
I now reserve the right to revise and extend my comments @ 10:33.
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HRW, Do you give your students extra credit for correcting the grammar and/or spelling in his moronic Tweets?
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The sane former public servants are not backing down from the dishonest lunatic. They are showing much more courage than the Republicans in Congress.
However, Comey may be giving the American people too much credit.
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Ricky you may think that back in the day other men wouldn’t tolerate bad behaviour of other men but in most cases they wouldn’t know. Women were usually quiet about it; afraid people would question their morals, their clothing choices, etc.
I rarely discuss Trump in class. It detracts from what I’m supposed to teach. When his name is raised by students, its for comic relief. I try to minimize the discussion or I’ll lose control of the class.
There are Trump supporters in Canada just not in my city and not among the young. I live in a district which votes 60% socialist, 25% Liberal and the conservatives and greens fight for third place. Last week anarchists caused 100, 000$ damage to protest gentrification. While it was almost universally condemned most residents were also quick to point out they had a point. And we also wondered why they missed the Starbucks windows. So in my city discussing Trump is just a waste of class time.
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HRW, Most of my female relatives in pre-1960 West Texas were the wives of farmers who only came to town on Saturdays to shop and Sunday for church. That entire culture practiced the Mike Pence Rule so there would have been few chances for a Trump-like character to molest.
In addition the women on Dad’s side were almost 6 feet tall and strong from working on the farm, so they could have a dispatched a flabby Trump or Weinstein with a nearby hoe or shovel.
However, all of the men carried knives and many carried guns and they would have carefully watched a Trump-like or Weinstein-like figure from the minute such a character entered town. One false move would have been all it would have taken.
The Emmett Til story in Mississippi was a terrible tragedy. I think it was largely over a misunderstanding. However, it is not a surprising story to Southeners of a certain age. Men took extreme measures to protect the women in their families.
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The ‘misunderstanding’ of Emmett Til is not a surprising story indeed?! My father tells of a church he briefly pastored in west Texas. He left when it became apparent that all the influence in the church was held by a deacon who could not and would not be persuaded that black people had a soul. Whenever I hear of these things I thank God that the Union won the war.
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The ’60s or ’70s?
Our pastor puts the start of the national drift at around the late 1800s.
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Debra, There was a time when I would have invited a Yankee sympathizer to return to Connecticut, but the last two years have changed me. You are a Trumpkin, so I must admit that you are the face of the modern white South. I will remember better days.
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DJ, It was July 3, 1863 at 1:00 in the afternoon.
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Ricky, Godless, lawless men have always roamed the earth, taking vengeance and imposing their own wills wherever they pleased, wreaking havoc on the weak—and eventually upon themselves. Secession is a tempting idea. But as far as I am aware, there is a process for adding States, but no provision is made for them to depart. So it seems to me the States are bound together and are meant to hammer out their differences.
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Trump’s consultants (with the help of Facebook) did some really sophisticated work mining Facebook users’ info and then targeting those users. The Dems are really mad about this and will likely regulate this activity or roast Facebook when they come to power.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
It is another example of how Trump ran the first modern campaign while Hillary ran a 1990s campaign.
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This is a pretty balanced thread on McCabe:
https://twitter.com/asharangappa_/status/974864167583838208
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Ricky – Southern white men beating up or killing anyone who dishonors their family is not something to be proud of. Not much different from the Muslim idea of family honor. To say that there are some older Southern men who understand why Emmett Till was brutally beaten and murdered makes me shudder. I hope that “sympathize” is not included with the “understand”.
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Kizzie, I agree that there are similarities between the old Southern Honor Code and some Muslim cultures. My father and I often discussed whether we preferred the old Southern culture to our modern American culture. We agreed that the Southern Honor Code was flawed and fell well short of a Biblical standard. We also agreed that the old Southern Honor Code was much preferable to the Northern (now American) culture which allows sexual predators such as Trump and Weinstein to assault and molest women to their heart’s content without ramifications. I have a good friend who caught his wife and another man in adultery. He shot and killed them both. In such a culture, men such as Trump would be less likely to promote or practice adultery.
I have known several Texans in the oil business who worked for years in Muslim countries. The ones who were conservative Christians and non-drinkers have told me they felt more at home in those Muslim countries than they felt in New York, San Francisco or certain other US cities.
There were no rude drunks, no strip joints, and no adult movie theaters. It was sort of like West Texas, right down to the sand and the oil underneath the sand.
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So here is Wikipedia on Emmett Till:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
No one knows exactly what happened between Till and Carolyn Bryant in that store. What is undisputed is 1. that after Till and friends left the store, Mrs. Bryant went and retrieved a gun from her car at which point all of the black youths fled; 2. Till whistled at Mrs. Bryant when she left the store to get the gun; and 3. Bryant’s husband and brother killed Till because of what happened in the store.
I think everyone can agree that it was a tragedy that Till was killed, but in the South in the 50s if you messed with another man’s wife you were putting yourself in danger. Till probably didn’t fully understand that fact. I think it is safe to say there weren’t a lot of Trumps or Weinsteins traveling through the South in the 50s grabbing women by their private parts.
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Did McCabe just finger Comey?
Looks like it.
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2018/03/17/why-mccabes-response-to-his-pink-slip-just-made-life-tough-for-comey-and-could-finally-end-mueller-probe-614371#
“But in building a case for himself, McCabe just made life a lot tough for former FBI director James Comey and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
At least, that’s according to Jonathan Turley, professor of law at George Washington University Law School.
In an op-ed run Saturday by The Hill, Turley pointed to a line in McCabe’s statement criticizing his termination “that could be viewed as incriminating fired FBI director James Comey, not just in leaking sensitive information but also in lying to Congress.”
McCabe commented on leaking information to a former Wall Street Journal reporter about the investigation of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, saying he was authorized to “share” the information and did so with the knowledge of “the director,” which would have been Comey at the time.
Turley explained why this is “problematic”:
If the “interaction” means leaking the information, then McCabe’s statement would seem to directly contradict statements Comey made in a May 2017 congressional hearing. Asked if he had “ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation” or whether he had “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation,” Comey replied “never” and “no.”
As Turley noted, Comey “already faces serious questions over his use of a Columbia University Law School professor to leak information to the media following his own termination as director.”
“If this was determined to be a leak with his approval, Comey likely would be labeled not just a leaker but a liar,” the law professor added. “Worse, his second-in-command just lost his pension after more than 20 years with the bureau, while Comey is about to cash in on a book and publicity tour potentially worth millions.”
————————-
Here’s the rest of the Turley piece.
http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/378919-mccabe-just-made-life-tough-for-comey-and-the-special-counsel?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=idealmedia&utm_campaign=thehill.com&utm_term=68707&utm_content=1
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Lawlessness begets more of the same. It’s too bad your good friend [and his wife] was not a Christian.
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Good. Put him under oath.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-court-steele/london-court-rules-uk-spy-behind-trump-dossier-must-give-evidence-in-u-s-libel-trial-idUSKCN1GS2L2?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5aac537c04d3016535e8c232&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
“Former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled a “dossier” of allegations linking U.S. President Donald Trump to Russia, must give a deposition in a U.S. libel case, lawyers for the Russian businessman involved said on Friday.
Businessman Aleksej Gubarev is suing the Buzzfeed website, which published the dossier in January last year, for libel in a Florida court over claims made about him and his companies and as part of his case his lawyers asked to take evidence from Steele.
Last November, a British court ruled Steele should undergo lengthy pre-trial questioning and in February his lawyers sought to have that order quashed, arguing it could put his sources at risk and harm UK national security
On Friday, the High Court in London agreed Steele should provide a deposition which would be used in the Florida trial, Gubarev’s lawyer said.
“The court has rightly ordered that Christopher Steele must now answer under oath the relevant and appropriate questions to be put to him in deposition. I expect the deposition to take place in the next eight weeks,” said lawyer Steven Loble.”
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My good friend is a Christian and was at the time. I’m not sure about the wife. It is interesting that her family testified on his behalf at his trial. He still has a good relationship with his three children.
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That shows that anything can be forgiven. Good for him.
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Debra, Kyle Smith of National Review wants in on our bet. He says he wants fudge rather than white chocolate.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/the-coming-shellacking/
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Fire Mueller?
It’s time.
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Go ahead. Make our day!
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We’ll get there, but first some more justification for the latest.
Such a stand up guy!
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2018/03/18/from-inside-fbi-they-had-tons-of-stuff-on-mccabe-and-he-threatened-to-take-people-down-with-him-614585
“In the final days leading up to his termination, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe reportedly threatened to “take people down with him” if he was fired.
And despite many in the media running interference for McCabe, reliable sources say the Inspector General Office of Professional Responsibility had “tons of stuff” on him, and it had little to do President Donald Trump and a lot more to do with “power” and “control.”
That’s according to Fox News Senior Correspondent Adam Housley, who reported on Twitter late Friday on the impact of McCabe being fired.
“I am told yesterday McCabe felt the heat and went to try and save his last two days and even told some he would take people down with him if he as fired. So…let’s see what comes of this. I know this…a ton of agents…a ton…were watching this very closely,” Housley tweeted.”
———————-
Sounds like it was long overdue.
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You just can’t argue with the uninformed.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2018/03/18/the-coming-collusion-bloodbath-n2462040
“The firing of Andrew McCabe, the discovery of his “private notes,” the ill-tempered response by other Obama loyalists and a yet to be disclosed Inspector General’s report on an investigation that began before Donald Trump had come to office are all pieces of a story that dwarfs the still absent evidence of anything Trump and company did to cooperate with Russians in changing votes in Michigan and Wisconsin.
So many Democrats and Republicans have asserted the lack of evidence in the Russian collusion issue its become comical if not annoying to endure as the uninformed continue to argue otherwise.
But few have had interest in addressing a separate issue that demands attention. For while the Russians attempted mass chaos. The more serious scandal appears to have covered up criminal behavior, illicit manipulation of the FISA process, and an attempt to undo the quite serious results of an election.
Is there anything more sacred in our representative republic?
The scandal that goes mostly unmentioned began before the election had even occurred but appears to have continued well past the final results of election night, with one candidate winning 30 of 50 states, and racking up a 304 to 227 victory in the electoral college.
A victory that looks increasingly historic in light of what increasingly appears to be the collusion of the then current administration with one campaign, and in instance after instance attempting to push their thumb on the scale of the outcome.
The Democrats’ illicit partnership with the Obama Justice Department and what appears to be an increasingly corrupted leadership at the Federal Bureau of Investigation was yet one more logistical hurdle that President Trump would have to overcome in his surprising and transformational win.”
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“You just can’t argue with the uninformed.”
That’s what Cohn and Tillerson said. It is what poor Kelly tells his wife every night when he gets home from work.
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AJ’s favorite Congressman gives some tough advice to Trump:
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Journalism.
Alabama sheriff legally used $750K in inmate food funds to buy beach house
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alabama-sheriff-legally-pocketed-750k-from-inmate-food-funds-bought-beach-house/
______________________________
GADSDEN, Ala. — An Alabama sheriff legally used more than $750,000 of funds meant to feed inmates to purchase a beach house. Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin told The Birmingham News he follows a state law passed before World War II that allows sheriffs to keep “excess” inmate-feeding funds for themselves.
Entrekin reported on state ethics forms that he made “more than $250,000” each of the past three years through the funds.
The sheriff’s annual salary is more than $93,000. He and his wife purchased a four-bedroom house with an in-ground pool and canal access in September for $740,000.
Entrekin got a $592,000 mortgage. The home is one of several properties with a total assessed value of more than $1.7 million that the couple own together or separately.
In a statement to NPR, Entrekin said the “liberal media has began attacking me for following the letter of the law.” …
__________________________
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Ricky
Honour based societies are more violent than rule of law societies. Within the USA, southern states have a higher rate of homicide and violence than other US states. The longer the adherence to rule of law the lower the violence; it even settled the Vikings. Other than satisfying a man’s masculinity, honour codes are basically useless if not a threat to law and order.
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If Gowdy and I agree share an iota of agreement, the other side of the argument should take a second look.
Apply Ockham’s Razor;
Which is easier to believe 1) Trump is innocent and there’s a conspiracy involving media, law enforcement, govt bureaucrats, intelligence agencies, allied intelligence and Republican appointees OR 2) a man who has lied thousands of times in the last year, makes up “facts” even when in discussion with allied leaders, and cheats on all his wives is in fact guilty of either collusion or corruption or obstruction of justice or all three.
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HRW, The South and the Frontier West had a hybrid system of justice. In the vast majority of cases the rule of law was applied. However, in certain heinous cases (or cases where the offender could intimidate or buy off the law) vigilantism or self-help was tolerated.
Kizzie, This is really what The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is all about. Jimmy Stewart believed in the law but Lee Marvin had intimidated the law. Stewart tried self help, but that too was going to fail until the vigilante John Wayne saved the day.
HRW, I agree that Honor systems are more violent. Our old hybrid system is now all but gone. The statistics on violence can now be largely explained by race. However, I would tolerate slightly higher incidents of violence in order to deter the Trump/Weinstein types.
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Trey Gowdy on McCabe:
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hwesseli KNOWS that Pres. Trump has lied THOUSANDS of times in the last year (plus all the rest of it); therefore, he IN FACT HAS TO BE GUILTY of either collusion OR corruption OR obstruction of justice OR all of the above.
I sure wouldn’t want hwesseli as a judge…
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New England has much lower murder rates, rape rates, and violent crime rates than Texas. And Tennessee’s rates are almost equivalent to New England and TT
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Ha. That was strange. ‘Both combined was part of the comment, not my name.
Debra here—
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Debra, See paragraph 3 of the 2:03 post. New England is pale.
Click to access 375ae6e995f80f2b76dd36900c876c76d84b.pdf
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Tychicus, Trump is to lying as Usain Bolt is to sprinting or Elizabeth Taylor was to marrying.
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From the article:
Since Mr. Trump became a presidential candidate, PolitiFact has evaluated more than 500 assertions and found 69 percent of them mostly false, false or “pants on fire” false. By comparison, it judged 26 percent of the statements by Mr. Obama that it evaluated as false and the same percentage for those by Hillary Clinton.
These are not scientific measurements, of course, because the selection of statements for examination is inherently subjective and focused on those that seem questionable, rather than a gauge of all public comments. Mr. Trump’s defenders say fact-checking organizations like PolitiFact are politically biased, which Mr. Adair and his counterparts adamantly deny. But even among Republicans examined by PolitiFact, Mr. Trump is an outlier.
While PolitiFact did not exist during most of President George W. Bush’s tenure, it has found that 42 percent of statements that it examined by Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the two previous Republican presidential nominees, were false. The party’s congressional leaders, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, judged on far fewer statements, were both at similar levels, 43 percent and 41 percent.
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This will be fun to watch them turn on each other….
——————————–
http://dailycaller.com/2018/03/18/trump-calls-out-comey-for-lying-under-oath/
“Indeed, it does appear that Comey may have misrepresented the truth during his congressional testimony in 2017. The following is an excerpt from his questioning before Congress:
Director Comey, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation? COMEY: Never. GRASSLEY: Question two, relatively related, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation? COMEY: No.
Former deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was recently fired, told the story a little differently in a statement Saturday.
The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week.”
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I doubt Trump cares, he’ll be happy to take the blame.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/03/career-doj-employees-and-an-obama-appointee-sank-mccabe.php
“However, there is a sound basis to form a tentative belief that the firing of McCabe was justified. That basis comes through in what Jurecic and Wittes write:
The FBI takes telling the truth extremely seriously: “lack of candor” from employees is a fireable offense—and people are fired for it. Moreover, it doesn’t take an outright lie to be dismissed. In one case, the bureau fired an agent after he initially gave an ambiguous statement to investigators as to how many times he had picked up his daughter from daycare in an FBI vehicle. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against the agent when he appealed, finding that “lack of candor is established by showing that the FBI agent did not ‘respond fully and truthfully’ to the questions he was asked.”
So if McCabe was less than candid in answering questions, his firing was justified and consistent with FBI practice. Was he? We don’t know. But the finding that McCabe did not meet FBI standards for honesty was made by career Justice Department officials, not Jeff Sessions or other political appointees. As Jurecic and Wittes say:
[A]lthough Sessions made the ultimate call to fire McCabe, the public record shows that the process resulting in the FBI deputy director’s dismissal involved career Justice Department and FBI officials—rather than political appointees selected by President Trump—at crucial points along the way. To begin with, the charges against McCabe arose out of the broader Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation.
While the inspector general is appointed by the president, the current head of that office, Michael Horowitz, was appointed by President Barack Obama and is himself a former career Justice Department lawyer. As Jack Goldsmith has written, the inspector general has a great deal of statutory independence, which Horowitz has not hesitated to use: Most notably, he produced a highly critical 2012 report into the Justice Department’s “Fast and Furious” program. So a process that begins with Horowitz and his office carries a presumption of fairness and independence.
Once Horowitz was done, other career DOJ officials were handed the baton — officials whose work should also be presumed fair and independent.”
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Regarding Brennan’s Tweet…..
Rabid dog.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/03/brennan-barks-but-the-caravan.php
“Former CIA Director John Brennan appears to be rabid. In the tweet below regarding President Trump’s disparagement of Andrew McCabe, he is all but foaming at the mouth. Brit Hume :advises: “Be grateful Brennan didn’t say this to your face. You’d still be wiping the spittle off.” We’re thinking roughly along the same lines. Sharyl Attkisson separately asks: “A guy like this would never misuse intel or his authority—would he?” I think that is a rhetorical question.”
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The reason the reaction to Trump has been so rabid this weekend?
They know he’s right.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/03/trump-rips-mueller-investigation-hes-right.php
“He’s right. As we and many others have pointed out many times, there is no proper predicate for Mueller’s purported investigation. There was never a crime in the first place. Mueller was improperly given a general mandate to poke around and see if he could find someone to indict, for anything, or worse yet, trick someone into committing an indictable offense. The Mueller investigation is a final insult to the rule of law that was bequeathed to us, in effect, by the outgoing, corrupt Obama administration.
If anything needs to be investigated, it is the multiple crimes and improper actions of the the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC, including but not limited to their collusion with Russians to sway the 2016 presidential election–an effort that, happily, failed.”
———————-
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Ricky: So Pres. Trump lies (as do all politicians), and he’s therefore guilty of collusion w/the Russians? That sounds like you, when you proclaimed Trump guilty of collusion with no evidence. It’s ridiculous.
(Btw, I just saw the end of the OKC-Toronto game – your Thunder played very well, though the Raptors were victims of several terrible calls, and ended up having Lowry foul out, then DeRozan and the coach were tossed out. Pretty intense in Toronto.)
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Tychicus, I have corrected you a couple of times before on this, but I will continue to do so. From the time a year ago when Trump issued the “Tapp” Tweets (which you and AJ defended as being accidentally correct) I have consistently predicted that Trump did not collude, but that he idiotically framed himself. Remember now? I will be honest. He is acting so guilty now that I think Gowdy and I are both thinking he may be smarter but more guilty than we thought. Nevertheless, I initially predicted “idiotically framed himself” and I will stick with that prediction until Mueller proves me wrong.
It was a good game. My son thought Brewer would be a good addition and he has been. Your coach has done an amazing job without Leonard. I hope he gets back for the Playoffs.
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Interesting point on Comey:
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The reason Trump has been so rabid this weekend:
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Ricky, @2:03 I understand the abhorrence of seeing men and women whoring their way to the top of the economic ladder, or taking advantage of those willing to do the same. But I wonder if you would still prefer increased violence against innocents if you knew your son, wife or grandchild would be kidnapped, tortured, and murdered while the killers walked away smiling. I prefer that people pay for the crimes that they actually commit. But I too, would be willing to forego some freedoms and liberties in exchange for a reduction in some evils. As the piece you linked @2:56 states: “Instead of targeting individuals or specific groups, the results imply that generic interventions to improve neighborhood conditions and support families may reduce racial gaps in violence. “ These are probably worthwhile investments.
The nature of man is such that we will not escape evil in this lifetime. And for whatever reason, different people groups seem to be prone to different evils. The black community in the US suffers from excessive violence internally. I have always thought that there is a certain Southern personality or ethos, whatever you want to call it, that is susceptible to the temptation of the particular evils that institutionalized black slavery gave rise to—or that gave rise to it in the first place. I don’t say that this is causal to current negative statistics on black communities, but it does not seem to be entirely irrelevant either.
The shedding of innocent blood violates the land. I think we have a residual curse in the land not just in the descendants of slaveholders, but in their spiritual brethren who were and sometimes still are oddly supportive of unrighteous racial attitudes such as the one mentioned earlier of the deacon who insisted that black people have no soul. The head of the snake has somehow survived the rebellion and the abolition of the institution of slavery only to re-emerge cloaked in other ideologies At least the leadership of the Baptist denomination was convicted enough to formally repent of knowingly or unknowingly housing and feeding these attitudes. Whether or not congregants have whole-heartedly followed suit is less certain.
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So let’s flesh out my prediction a little bit:
Let’s start with what we know:
1. Russia tried to influence the 2016 election in favor of Trump and Sanders and against Hillary.
2. Trump has been extremely and strangely reluctant to criticize Putin and Russia.
3. Trump was a very inexperienced candidate and is a very inexperienced politician. His campaign staff was very inexperienced.
4. In a golf magazine interview, Eric Trump said that Trump has raised a bunch of money from Russia.
5. After the bankruptcies, no American bank will lend to Trump.
6. The only Western bank with loans to Trump is DeutschBank. However after a lawsuit those loans were moved from the commercial lending dept. to the private bank. DeutschBank has a history of money laundering for Russians.
7. Many rich Russians bought expensive real estate from Trump. At least one of those was for an inflated price.
8. Trump’s tenant and Campaign Manager Paul Manafort was engaged in money laundering with Russians and their allies.
9. Trump is completely immoral and indiscreet and is subject to blackmail. As one tiny example, on the same weekend he began his affair with Stormy Daniels, he had an affair with a Playboy bunny (Trump’s buddies at The National Enquirer paid to keep her quiet) and allegedly assaulted another woman.
10. Trump changed the Republican platform on Russia and has been reluctant to impose sanctions or even admit Russia interfered in the election.
Expanded prediction: 1. Putin has something on Trump. It may be financial. It may be sexual. It may be both. The CIA warned Israel about this between the election and the Inauguration.
2. Though there were pathetic contacts (the Trump Tower meeting and Papadopoulos) the Russians were too smart to collude with Trump or his campaign about their assistance. The most serious contacts during the campaign were probably between Roger Stone and Assange.
These were just tips that Wikileaks would be releasing Democrat email hacks. The goofy Stone Tweeted about this.
3. Trump’s incredibly guilty behavior (pressuring Comey, firing Comey, badgering Sessions and Rosenstein, the Nunes follies) for the last year can either be explained by a) his desire to keep secret whatever it is that Putin is holding over his head; or
b) the fact that he truly is an idiot.
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Debra, As I stated @2:03, the reason that I am willing to accept the slightly higher violence associated with a hybrid system is that I want men like your candidate to be deterred from routinely sexually assaulting women and committing adultery with married women and bragging about it. If he knew that an angry husband might shoot him, he might develop bone spurs that would keep him from some trysts or assaults.
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Don’t watch basketball but biased officiating has been a constant complaint among Raptor fans. Obviously this game won’t help.
Amused it was Sessions who ultimately fired McCabe for a lack of candor when testifying.
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Ricky: No, you originally said that Trump probably colluded, which is why I asked you several times to provide something (anything!) to support your assertion. You changed your tune when you finally realized that there isn’t actual evidence, yet b/c of your absolute hatred of Trump you’ve continued to regurgitate liberal talking points and focus on ridiculous things like the wording of “Tapp” Tweets and Stormy Daniels.
Never mind that various areas of our government has been steeped in corruption – let’s not focus on that.
This whole investigation was a farce from the outset – there wasn’t actual evidence of crimes committed that needed to be investigated. It was started to actually LOOK FOR possible crimes committed – it’s all backwards. So what is actually behind all that? (You know what…)
What HAS actually been found are NUMEROUS crimes committed by the Obama administration, Clinton cartel members, anti-Trumpers, FBI officials, DOJ officials, etc. Shouldn’t we have a special investigation into those DEFINITE crimes and stop the crime hunt (fishing expedition) by Mueller’s special counsel?
We all know the campaign slogan “It’s the economy, stupid.” In this case, “It’s the corruption, stupid!”
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HRW, The Raptors are really good. They now have one of my favorite players, Serge Ibaka. Ibaka, who is from the Congo, used to play for OKC. Tychicus knows all about Ibaka. He always saved his best for San Antonio.
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I’m curious, Ricky. Does this hybrid honor system of yours include those who indulge in pornography? If Kate Upton’s father or brother or uncles are offended at the men gawking at salacious Sports Illustrated swimsuit spreads, can they shoot with impunity? Or will it be acceptable if they shoot her too?
If only people cared half as much about widespread banking and financial malfeasance as they do about Trump’s sex life…. :–/
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Tychicus, You are sadly mistaken. If you remember, I spent most of last year calling Trump an imbecile, an idiot and a moron. Remember that? I didn’t call him a crook or a colluder. The reason I continually questioned his intelligence, is that it was his own idiocy that led to Mueller.
Do you remember what led to the appointment of Mueller? I will remind you:
1. Trump pressed Comey for “loyalty” and to go easy on Flynn.
2. Trump stupidly fired Comey and told several lies about why he did it:
A. He first said he fired Comey because of how Comey had treated Hillary.
B. When everyone stopped laughing, Trump tried to blame Rosenstein who had been requested by Trump to write a memo justifying Comey’s firing.
C. (My favorite part) In the interview with Lester Holt, he confessed that he had fired Comey because of the way he was conducting the Russia Investigation.
D. At that point, Rosenstein did what any competent, honest lawyer would have done: He appointed Mueller and gave him broad authority.
Was there collusion in that story. No, but there was plenty of idiocy which I identified each day.
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Debra, We disagree. Though all were wrong, I do think it is more serious when Trump sexually assaulted a woman than when he cheated a subcontractor or conned a poor “student” at “Trump University”. In Texas, we still believe in chivalry.
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In Texas you still believe in murder. Trump can’t hold a candle to you guys.
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Its not chivalry; sexual assault is worse than fraud.
I think Debra said it well but let me chime in.
African American culture was formed in the south in an era where honor counted more than rule of law. And just as white Southerns have a higher rate of violence than northern whites so do African Americans. Their culture adopted the same honor code and as the rule of law historically failed them, honour still plays a large role in their communities even though African Americans migrated north during the great migration.
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Stripped down, the Mueller investigation originated in order to look into the reasons behind Comey’s firing. Exactly why did Trump fire Comey and was it because Trump wanted to “obstruct” inquiries into Russia-Trump relations? Nothing has changed, Mueller is slowly and methodically looking at the evidence. The dossier, McCabe, Hilary, Stormy etc are all sideshows that interest people for various reasons but there’s yet to be a full answer to the questions which launched the investigation.
I do wonder why some want to quickly shut it down. Don’t Republicans and Trump supporters want to know if Russia is meddling in their internal affairs? Let Mueller do his work.
Of course much of Mueller’s work could have been avoided if Trump had released his tax records and after his win either sold his companies or at the very least put them in a blind trust. The fact Trump didnt follow normal procedures in this regards leads me to believe there’s something in the money trail worth looking at; far more than some dossier.
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HRW, I hope you had a good Spring Break.
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Very relaxing. Back to work tomorrow. Time to check my work email. One less thing to do in the morning.
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I may be able to get us to 100 just with timelines. A little review might be helpful.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/feb/15/russia-investigation-and-donald-trump-timeline-rec/
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This one is a little more complete. It has all three major events of October 7, 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/02/05/a-so-far-complete-timeline-of-the-investigation-into-trump-and-russia/?utm_term=.2dccb5066799
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This one is a timeline of obstruction.
http://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-of-obstruction-of-justice-events-in-trump-russia-investigation-2018-1#february-14-2017-trump-met-with-comey-and-asked-him-to-let-go-of-investigating-flynn-6
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This one is the best. Check out March 15, 2017. There was a time before Nunes joined the Cult and became a stooge.
http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-russia-timeline/
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100
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