Apparently Republicans are holding a Pittsburgh, not Paris rally todayâŚin Lafayette Park.
Nothing like saying âfuck youâ to Paris in a Lafayette Park
I get some emails from the crazies. They love to bleed their plottings. (I write fiction, soâŚ) This one from Americans for Limited Government media@limitgov.org
For Immediate Release Contact: Robert Romano
June 2, 2017 Phone: 703-383-0880 ext. 101
Devin Nunes is a hero for the fighting FBI, NSA and CIA stonewalling of Obama unmasking abuse probe
June 2, 2017, Fairfax, Va.âAmericans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) for insisting that the FBI, NSA and CIA provide all unmaskings that occurred by the outgoing Obama administration throughout 2016 all the way through Jan. 20, 2017, which he said on the John Batchelor Program on June 1 were âWeâve been waiting since March 15 for that information. The intelligence agencies have been slow-rolling this, which is what led to these three subpoenas being issued to the appropriate agenciesâ against former CIA Director John Brennan, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice and former UN Ambassador Samantha Power:
"House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is a hero and has absolutely done the right think in demanding that the FBI, NSA and CIA turn over all unmaskings that occurred by intelligence agencies in 2016 leading up to inauguration. There is no question his committee has an absolute right to that information, and to provide oversight to ensure that those powers were not abused in a safe, classified setting. These agenciesâ refusal to comply with this request more than justifies the subpoenas that have now been issued.
"So far, these investigations appear to have not turned up evidence of Russia even hacking the DNC or John Podesta and posting emails on Wikileaks, let alone any collusion by Russian agents and the Trump campaign, leading to the question of just why it was that such a heavy-handed investigation was occurring. As Nunes stated in the interview, âat some point here, the Democrats are going to have to start to pull Russians out of their hats, because I canât find them.â It is up to Nunes and the House and Senate committees of oversight to find out what happened, and to see if these surveillance powers were abused, as they appear to have been.
âBecause, if these intelligence agencies refuse to be subjected to oversight when there is a real question about their surveillance powers being used by an administration against the opposition political party in a presidential election year, then under no circumstances should Congress reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. If you have ever had concern for civil liberties â left, right or middle â you need to listen to what Chairman Nunes is saying here. These abuses are chilling and they have to stop.â
To view online: http://getliberty.org/2017/06/devin-nunes-is-a-hero-for-the-fighting-fbi-nsa-and-cia-stonewalling-of-obama-unmasking-abuse-probe/
Attachments:
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, the John Batchler Program, June 1, 2017 at https://audioboom.com/posts/5978272-how-many-obama-officials-unmasked-american-citizens-what-is-to-be-done-devinnunes-marykissel?t=0
NUNES: "Every American is masked. All of the intelligence agencies are bound by law to mask all American citizens that get picked up in foreign collection. What has to happen then if you want to find out who that American is, thereâs a process and procedure in place for that, itâs actually very uncommon in most cases and seldom happens.
"But the concern that I have had that I expressed publicly â quite publicly, actually â a couple of months ago was that it became excessive, that Obama administration officials were unmasking people in the Trump transition and it made me quite uncomfortable. We requested that we see all unmaskings that were done for the past year. Weâve been waiting since March 15 for that information. The intelligence agencies have been slow-rolling this, which is what led to these three subpoenas being issued to the appropriate agenciesâŚ
"[T]hose three individuals [John Brennan, Susan Rice and Samantha Power] that we named are ones that we have a particular interest in, but I can say that those are not the only ones that we have an interest in, but look, we want to work with the intelligence agencies. We didnât want to have to subpoena them, but the process was moving way too slowly, so we picked these three individuals who we have a particular interest in and hopefully they are expedient. They have until next week [June 7] to give us the unmaskings that these three individuals have. I think they know now that we are seriousâŚ
"The big problem here is that the people that run these programs are protecting the United States, theyâre protecting U.S. citizens from terrorist attacks, from other adversaries that we have around the globe, and we have to protect the American citizens from being picked up in these types of foreign intelligence collection. However, what clearly has happened here, at a minimum, I donât know that itâs illegal, but itâs clearly an abuse of power that senior Obama administration would unmask someone, but also, what is illegal and I canât say that it was the Obama administration officials who did this but we know that names were unmasked in intelligence products and if you believe the Washington Post and the New York Times and NBC News, you know that names were unmasked and intelligence was leaked and Americans were picked up in intelligence products were leaked out to the media⌠which is, what? A crime. Itâs a crime to do that.
"So, weâre trying to get to the bottom of these crimes if in fact they were committed and to date, itâs the only crimes that we know have been committed and all this other Russia collusion stuff, you know, I keep looking for Russians, I know yesterday Hillary Clinton said that a thousand Russians [helped Trump]⌠She said that intelligence sources had told her that, that was news to me. You know, at some point here, the Democrats are going to have to start to pull Russians out of their hats, because I canât find them. So if thereâs a thousand Russian agents that were helping Donald Trump, Iâd like to know who they are so that I can rush those down to the Department of Justice⌠but we donât have that yet. But what I do know is that stories have been leaked to the newspapers that involve American citizens who were supposedly picked up in intelligence and unmasked and leaked to the press, thatâs what I know, that would be a crimeâŚ
"I think it would be very unusual for any ambassador under any circumstance at any level to unmask names of American citizens no matter where they were serving, whether at the UN or in the UK or in Germany or China. I think it would be very unusual for an ambassador to request an unmasking so Iâm not going to get into what I know at this point but I can tell you that we would not be asking this if we didnât have probable cause to suspect that there was an abuse of power hereâŚ
"We will see whether or not the FBI produces the unmaskings that were done by these three individuals. If the FBI continues to not provide the information to Congress, or the NSA or the CIA, for that matter â look the bottom line is that these programs are really important to protecting the American people and everybody that works in the intelligence agencies, you know that they want to protect the American people, but I will tell you that these programs are in jeopardy.
"Right now, thereâs no possible way we could reauthorize the foreign intelligence programs, we wouldnât have the votes today. I mean, Democrats donât typically give us the votes, and I can tell you that most of my Republican colleagues wouldnât give us the votes to extend these programs. So at the end of the day, America will be left⌠less safe, because people expect the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee to be able to inspect and provide oversight over names that senior administration officials unmask. If they unmask American citizens, people expect the Congress to know who they were unmaskingâŚ
âThis is only the beginning, there are many more officials that we have concerns about abusing the intelligence programs.â
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.
Americans for Limited Government is a non-partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free market reforms, private property rights and core American liberties. For more information on ALG please visit our website at www.GetLiberty.org.
June 2016 huhâŚinteresting. Sounds like Devon was hunting to provide some focus for Trump and the Russian hackersâŚ
The âunmaskingâ was going to involve asking âAre you now or have you ever been an American?â
Every day I have a moment of dismay thinking anyone actually has to care what someone as dumb as Nunes thinks, does or says. But then of course that goes triple for Trump.
Apropos Paris (OT but interesting)
Netflix here in Germany has a documentary film from a French film crew embedded in the Macron campaign (if you get Netflix and it is available in your country I can highly recommend it). I just watched it and it reminded me of something I had been told but forgot: at the very end, when he has won the second round and goes to the pyramid behind the Louvre to accept the win, there was music played from the stage as he approached it: first, Beethovenâs Ode to Joy, and then the Marseillaise.
Whatâs interesting about this is that Ode to Joy is the European Union ânationalâ anthem. Playing it first underscored Macronâs commitment to the EU, and to the world.
(Also cool was that when he sent the video message to the US with âmake the earth great againâ he broke with French tradition and did it in English.)
I hope he keeps up being as fearless and strong as he has started out. He may turn out to be a great man.
And to make sure their message isnât misunderstood in France theyâll all be wearing their new MAGA hats.
Probably all still eating freedumb fries.
Thatâs a real head scratcher; I wonder which party was pushing this nonsenseâŚWho could it be?? Satan???
From the article: "Nunesâ committee, without informing committee Democrats, issued subpoenas Wednesday to the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency, demanding to know why some Trump associatesâ names had been unmasked in some reports.
âThe Post reported, citing unnamed current and former officials, that a tally of U.S. spy agencies found that Nunesâ committee requested âfive to six unmaskings of U.S. organizations or individuals related to Trump or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton between June 2016 and January 2017.ââ
So, the response will be: âSix unmaskings, which may have included more than one name each, were because you requested us to do so. The few others were because someone else who had the authority and a legitimate, non-political reason requested us to do so.â Nunes is so full of nothing, itâs almost pitiful - but, I just canât have pity for such a jerk.
Compliments and a baseball cap toss to NBCâs Keir Simmons for his amusing chase of Sergey Gorkov at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, since renamed the Trump Leadership Void.
Our lovely small world and her omnipresent cameras wash away old Soviet flummery to reveal the tiny little banker spy with his delicate little blood-stained hands and hints of Jaredâs after shave, another auntie like Putie.
Trump sure has a problem with the geys!
And to think, Nunes was thinking of rejoining the House committee once his ethics inquiry was over. Seems to me like another one needs to start.
"Despite his recusal from the Russia probe, Nunesâ committee, without informing committee Democrats, issued subpoenas Wednesday to the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency, demanding to know why some Trump associatesâ names had been unmasked in some reports."
Rice, Brennan and Samantha Powers should all say âWe are private citizens now, and we donât feel like playing reindeer games with Republican witch hunters anymore, and we donât have to!â They should all assert their 5th amendment rights until Flynn waives his and agrees to testify wihtout immunity and Donald Trump releases tax returns dating back to his first involvement with Russian banks.
Any Republicans expressing outrage should be met with one simple consistent refrain. âyou first, once Flynn and Trump release information, so will we.â
I donât know, maybe it would backfire. But there doesnât seem to be any price to be paid for not releasing tax returns, or lying on disclosure forms, or secret meetings with Russians I say fuck it.
The French donât even have a word for Lafayette.
There are times when itâs right to go to war with the intelligence community (this isnât one), but you shouldnât do it if youâre an idiot.
We live in dangerous times.
Free Peer to peer browser extension called hola! allows you to access streaming services from other countries. Binged watched a show on Canada Netflix before it appeared on the US site.