“When Simpson testified before Congress, he said he and Steele acted out of a sense of duty. “For him it was professional obligations. I mean, for both of us it was citizenship. You know, people report crimes all the time,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In his House testimony, though, he conceded not knowing if what he and Steele dug up amounted to a crime: “At the time that we — you know, that Chris decided to take this to the FBI, I wasn’t convinced of the facts of anything in terms of — I wasn’t convinced that there was a specific crime that occurred.”
So, congressional investigators want to know why — if Simpson acted purely on the basis of civic duty — he and Steele went to the press shortly before Election Day with allegations before the FBI completed its work.
Simpson’s lawyer, Josh Levy, did not return a call seeking comment.”
————–
“And all wondered why a Justice official — Ohr — who was not in the chain of command in the Russia counterintelligence probe, and whose wife worked for Fusion GPS on the Trump project, interviewed Simpson at all.
The Ohr interview and many other now-public actions in the Russia collusion case are “breaking every protocol at the fundamental level of intelligence gathering,” one highly decorated intelligence professional told me.
Whatever their assessment, Congress has a wide, new mandate to investigate the Simpson-Ohr-Steele contacts with renewed vigor and lots of questions that did not exist just a few short weeks ago: What was on the memory stick? What did Ohr do with the information? Did the FBI rely on it for future court actions? Did the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court that approved surveillance warrants know Ohr was getting information from the Simpson-Steele operation after Steele had been dismissed?
Those answers could make for a long, politically hot autumn in Washington.”
“Emails in 2016 between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr suggest Steele was deeply concerned about the legal status of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch, and at times seemed to be advocating on the oligarch’s behalf, in the same time period Steele worked on collecting the Russia-related allegations against Donald Trump that came to be known as the Trump dossier. The emails show Steele and Ohr were in frequent contact, that they intermingled talk about Steele’s research and the oligarch’s affairs, and that Glenn Simpson, head of the dirt-digging group Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the dossier, was also part of the ongoing conversation.
The emails, given to Congress by the Justice Department, began on Jan . 12, 2016, when Steele sent Ohr a New Year’s greeting. Steele brought up the case of Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska (referred to in various emails as both OD and OVD), who was at the time seeking a visa to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in the United States. Years earlier, the U.S. revoked Deripaska’s visa, reportedly on the basis of suspected involvement with Russian organized crime. Deripaska was close to Paul Manafort, the short-term Trump campaign chairman now on trial for financial crimes, and this year was sanctioned in the wake of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
“I heard from Adam WALDMAN [a Deripaska lawyer/lobbyist] yesterday that OD is applying for another official US visa ice [sic] APEC business at the end of February,” Steele wrote in the Jan . 12 email. Steele said Deripaska was being “encouraged by the Agency guys who told Adam that the USG [United States Government] stance on [Deripaska] is softening.” Steele concluded: “A positive development it seems.”
Steele also asked Ohr when he might be coming to London, or somewhere in Europe, “as I would be keen to meet up here and talk business.” Ohr replied warmly the same day and said he would likely travel to Europe, but not the U .K ., at least twice in February.
Steele emailed again on Feb . 8 to alert Ohr that “our old friend OD apparently has been granted another official [emphasis in original] visa to come to the US later this month.” Steele wrote, “As far as I’m concerned, this is good news all round although as before, it would be helpful if you could monitor it and let me know if any complications arise.” Ohr replied that he knew about Deripaska’s visa, and “to the extent I can I will keep an eye on the situation.” Steele again asked to meet anytime Ohr was in the U .K . or Western Europe.”
“There is a growing sentiment among many anti-Trump conservatives that the only way to stop the infection that is Donald Trump is to vote the opposite of him and “his” party until he is out of power.
While I am certainly no fan of Donald Trump, and many here at RedState feel the same way, we are practically united in the belief that this idea is complete and utter foolishness. Furthermore, this belief borders on the outright insane given the openly socialist tendencies of many of the Democratic Party’s candidates.”
——————
“If there is one thing we have maintained, it’s that Donald Trump remains not a disease but a symptom of what’s wrong with our political landscape. This compulsion to “own the libs” and to try to shout down the opposition isn’t healthy. It’s frightening.
But, for conservatives to look to the Democratic Party, which is trending deep into socialist territory, and think that perhaps our salvation lies there is to have become so lost in your obsession with Donald Trump that you can no longer call yourself with any degree of accuracy a conservative.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and a growing number of Democratic candidates are proof that the older, more moderate Democrats are losing sway in their party. To give a party that is growing even more leftward by the minute power now because you don’t like the currently Republican president is absolutely insane.”
“The Baltimore school system is revising its academic standards for student athletes after district officials estimated that rules taking effect this year meant six high schools might not be able to field a single sports team this fall.
Under academic eligibility standards approved by the school board in 2016, students must have a grade-point average of at least 2.0 and no more than one failing grade to play interscholastic sports. For fall sports such as football, a student would need to have earned at least a 2.0 GPA during the previous year’s fourth quarter or in summer school.
The district is now delaying the implementation of that rule. Students will have until after first-quarter report cards before their eligibility for sports is determined based on GPA.
Officials said they want to give students and coaches time to adjust to the new standard. Previous rules required only that students have no more than one failing grade.
“We’re making sure we’re being fair to students who are affected by this and may not have fully understood what was at play before,” said Sarah Warren, the district’s executive director of whole child services and support.”
We have tried using academics as bait for this seventeen year old. He does not bite. He talks a big piece about how he is going to be so good at pitching or whatever but his grades never seem to quite make it. They should have an expectation and they should hold the children to it. But some are just going to choose to not work at school. And so I think we should not have mandatory education to sixteen Those who want it will not be held back by those like my son.
“Democrats view socialism better than capitalism by a significant margin, according to a new Gallup poll, with 57 percent viewing socialism in a positive light against just 47 percent viewing capitalism positively.
The poll shows a stark drop in Democrat’s attitude toward capitalism over the past two years, with Democrats going from 56 percent viewing it positively in 2016 to 47 percent in 2018.
Their attitudes toward socialism are largely unchanged from the poll last year; 57 percent view it positively now versus 58 percent in 2016, when democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) mounted a strong bid for the Democratic nomination for president. In 2010, 53 percent of Democrats viewed socialism positively.
There’s also been a significant decline in how younger Americans view capitalism. In 2010, 68 percent of those aged 18 to 29 viewed capitalism positively, but only 45 percent viewed it positively in 2018.
Republicans are far more likely to view capitalism in a good light, with 71 percent saying they have a positive view in the Gallup survey. Just 16 percent say they view socialism positively. Those numbers are similar to 2010, when 72 percent of Republicans had a positive view of capitalism, and 17 percent had a positive view of socialism.
Gallup noted the question wording does not define “socialism” or “capitalism” but simply “asks respondents whether their opinion of each is positive or negative.””
The Washington Post reports that the FBI has fired Peter Strzok, the anti-Trump man who assured his FBI girlfriend that “we’ll stop” Trump from being president. The FBI’s inspector general concluded that Strzok showed a “willingness to take official action” to hurt Trump’s electoral prospects. Though the inspector general went no further, there is reason to believe that Strzok acted on this “willingness.”
Strzok was escorted out of the FBI building in June and effectively relieved of work responsibilities, though he remained an FBI employee. According to Strzok’s attorney, the head of the FBI’s office of professional responsibility decided that Strzok should be demoted and suspended for 60 days. This decision, he says, was overruled by FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, who ordered the firing on Friday.”
——————-
Wandering Views 
Plagued by flaws.
http://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401185-the-handwritten-notes-exposing-what-fusion-gps-told-doj-about-trump
“When Simpson testified before Congress, he said he and Steele acted out of a sense of duty. “For him it was professional obligations. I mean, for both of us it was citizenship. You know, people report crimes all the time,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In his House testimony, though, he conceded not knowing if what he and Steele dug up amounted to a crime: “At the time that we — you know, that Chris decided to take this to the FBI, I wasn’t convinced of the facts of anything in terms of — I wasn’t convinced that there was a specific crime that occurred.”
So, congressional investigators want to know why — if Simpson acted purely on the basis of civic duty — he and Steele went to the press shortly before Election Day with allegations before the FBI completed its work.
Simpson’s lawyer, Josh Levy, did not return a call seeking comment.”
————–
“And all wondered why a Justice official — Ohr — who was not in the chain of command in the Russia counterintelligence probe, and whose wife worked for Fusion GPS on the Trump project, interviewed Simpson at all.
The Ohr interview and many other now-public actions in the Russia collusion case are “breaking every protocol at the fundamental level of intelligence gathering,” one highly decorated intelligence professional told me.
Whatever their assessment, Congress has a wide, new mandate to investigate the Simpson-Ohr-Steele contacts with renewed vigor and lots of questions that did not exist just a few short weeks ago: What was on the memory stick? What did Ohr do with the information? Did the FBI rely on it for future court actions? Did the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court that approved surveillance warrants know Ohr was getting information from the Simpson-Steele operation after Steele had been dismissed?
Those answers could make for a long, politically hot autumn in Washington.”
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Colluding with Russians.
Again. Not Trump.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/emails-show-2016-links-among-steele-ohr-simpson-with-russian-oligarch-in-background
“Emails in 2016 between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr suggest Steele was deeply concerned about the legal status of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch, and at times seemed to be advocating on the oligarch’s behalf, in the same time period Steele worked on collecting the Russia-related allegations against Donald Trump that came to be known as the Trump dossier. The emails show Steele and Ohr were in frequent contact, that they intermingled talk about Steele’s research and the oligarch’s affairs, and that Glenn Simpson, head of the dirt-digging group Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the dossier, was also part of the ongoing conversation.
The emails, given to Congress by the Justice Department, began on Jan . 12, 2016, when Steele sent Ohr a New Year’s greeting. Steele brought up the case of Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska (referred to in various emails as both OD and OVD), who was at the time seeking a visa to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in the United States. Years earlier, the U.S. revoked Deripaska’s visa, reportedly on the basis of suspected involvement with Russian organized crime. Deripaska was close to Paul Manafort, the short-term Trump campaign chairman now on trial for financial crimes, and this year was sanctioned in the wake of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
“I heard from Adam WALDMAN [a Deripaska lawyer/lobbyist] yesterday that OD is applying for another official US visa ice [sic] APEC business at the end of February,” Steele wrote in the Jan . 12 email. Steele said Deripaska was being “encouraged by the Agency guys who told Adam that the USG [United States Government] stance on [Deripaska] is softening.” Steele concluded: “A positive development it seems.”
Steele also asked Ohr when he might be coming to London, or somewhere in Europe, “as I would be keen to meet up here and talk business.” Ohr replied warmly the same day and said he would likely travel to Europe, but not the U .K ., at least twice in February.
Steele emailed again on Feb . 8 to alert Ohr that “our old friend OD apparently has been granted another official [emphasis in original] visa to come to the US later this month.” Steele wrote, “As far as I’m concerned, this is good news all round although as before, it would be helpful if you could monitor it and let me know if any complications arise.” Ohr replied that he knew about Deripaska’s visa, and “to the extent I can I will keep an eye on the situation.” Steele again asked to meet anytime Ohr was in the U .K . or Western Europe.”
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The latest on Keith Ellison.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/08/the-latest-on-keith-ellisons-domestic-abuse-story.php
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Looks like maybe some never-Trumpers are beginning to see the light.
https://www.redstate.com/joesquire/2018/08/13/no-circumstances-will-support-democrats-2018-beyond/
“There is a growing sentiment among many anti-Trump conservatives that the only way to stop the infection that is Donald Trump is to vote the opposite of him and “his” party until he is out of power.
While I am certainly no fan of Donald Trump, and many here at RedState feel the same way, we are practically united in the belief that this idea is complete and utter foolishness. Furthermore, this belief borders on the outright insane given the openly socialist tendencies of many of the Democratic Party’s candidates.”
——————
“If there is one thing we have maintained, it’s that Donald Trump remains not a disease but a symptom of what’s wrong with our political landscape. This compulsion to “own the libs” and to try to shout down the opposition isn’t healthy. It’s frightening.
But, for conservatives to look to the Democratic Party, which is trending deep into socialist territory, and think that perhaps our salvation lies there is to have become so lost in your obsession with Donald Trump that you can no longer call yourself with any degree of accuracy a conservative.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and a growing number of Democratic candidates are proof that the older, more moderate Democrats are losing sway in their party. To give a party that is growing even more leftward by the minute power now because you don’t like the currently Republican president is absolutely insane.”
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That’s not how this is supposed to work.
How about we focus on academics at practice instead of meaningless games?
Just a thought…..
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-ci-academic-standards-revisions-20180809-story.html
“The Baltimore school system is revising its academic standards for student athletes after district officials estimated that rules taking effect this year meant six high schools might not be able to field a single sports team this fall.
Under academic eligibility standards approved by the school board in 2016, students must have a grade-point average of at least 2.0 and no more than one failing grade to play interscholastic sports. For fall sports such as football, a student would need to have earned at least a 2.0 GPA during the previous year’s fourth quarter or in summer school.
The district is now delaying the implementation of that rule. Students will have until after first-quarter report cards before their eligibility for sports is determined based on GPA.
Officials said they want to give students and coaches time to adjust to the new standard. Previous rules required only that students have no more than one failing grade.
“We’re making sure we’re being fair to students who are affected by this and may not have fully understood what was at play before,” said Sarah Warren, the district’s executive director of whole child services and support.”
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We have tried using academics as bait for this seventeen year old. He does not bite. He talks a big piece about how he is going to be so good at pitching or whatever but his grades never seem to quite make it. They should have an expectation and they should hold the children to it. But some are just going to choose to not work at school. And so I think we should not have mandatory education to sixteen Those who want it will not be held back by those like my son.
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You can bet this will be mentioned in numerous campaign ads. Apparently college indoctrination is working.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/gallup-poll-democrats-view-socialism-positively-capitalism-10-points/
“Democrats view socialism better than capitalism by a significant margin, according to a new Gallup poll, with 57 percent viewing socialism in a positive light against just 47 percent viewing capitalism positively.
The poll shows a stark drop in Democrat’s attitude toward capitalism over the past two years, with Democrats going from 56 percent viewing it positively in 2016 to 47 percent in 2018.
Their attitudes toward socialism are largely unchanged from the poll last year; 57 percent view it positively now versus 58 percent in 2016, when democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) mounted a strong bid for the Democratic nomination for president. In 2010, 53 percent of Democrats viewed socialism positively.
There’s also been a significant decline in how younger Americans view capitalism. In 2010, 68 percent of those aged 18 to 29 viewed capitalism positively, but only 45 percent viewed it positively in 2018.
Republicans are far more likely to view capitalism in a good light, with 71 percent saying they have a positive view in the Gallup survey. Just 16 percent say they view socialism positively. Those numbers are similar to 2010, when 72 percent of Republicans had a positive view of capitalism, and 17 percent had a positive view of socialism.
Gallup noted the question wording does not define “socialism” or “capitalism” but simply “asks respondents whether their opinion of each is positive or negative.””
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It’s about time!
I bet that smirk is gone from his face now. 🙂
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/08/fbi-fires-peter-strzok.php
“FBI FIRES PETER STRZOK
The Washington Post reports that the FBI has fired Peter Strzok, the anti-Trump man who assured his FBI girlfriend that “we’ll stop” Trump from being president. The FBI’s inspector general concluded that Strzok showed a “willingness to take official action” to hurt Trump’s electoral prospects. Though the inspector general went no further, there is reason to believe that Strzok acted on this “willingness.”
Strzok was escorted out of the FBI building in June and effectively relieved of work responsibilities, though he remained an FBI employee. According to Strzok’s attorney, the head of the FBI’s office of professional responsibility decided that Strzok should be demoted and suspended for 60 days. This decision, he says, was overruled by FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich, who ordered the firing on Friday.”
——————-
Now get the rest out as well.
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Heh. 🙂
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