A Putin for all Sessions

[Symmetry]

There's no real big deal about having Russian contacts, but lying about, or covering up, having Russian contacts is a big deal. Especially when there are allegations that the Trump campaign was aided by the Russian government.

What's wrong with being aided by the Russian government? Clinton was aided by the Ukrainian government.

The only difference is our friends are winners who will now be rewarded. Clinton's friends are losers who will now be punished. There may not be a Ukraine in four years. But that's the risk you take when you choose to play at the high stakes table.

Hmm- you've moved from "what's wrong with having Russian contacts" to "What's wrong with being aided by the Russian government?"

Are you saying that Trump's campaign was aided by Russia?

How would I know?

If they were, though, I'd have no problem with it.

I don't care how the sausage is made as long as we get breakfast.

So you would have no problem with an independent investigation?

Sure, as much as I have a problem with unicorns.

As you've been told, the procedure for independent investigations expired 18 years ago so talking about an independent investigation is as lucid as talking about appointing a unicorn as said independent investigator.

Do you wanna live in reality or in a Castle of Delusions? You need to face the fact that the world you love has now come to an end and will be remade into something that, for you, will be a permanent nightmare. It's important you come to face this fact instead of pretending there is some magical lever, or unicorn, or special prosecutor, you can pull to turn it all back. Because those things don't exist.

Meh- I give it a week. Trump is already demanding a congressional investigation that nobody really understands.

[saxitoxin]

Meh- I give it a week.

You give what a week?

I just want to clarify so I know specifically what to taunt you about a week from now.

[patches70]

Meh- I give it a week. Trump is already demanding a congressional investigation that nobody really understands.

What do you mean nobody? I can certainly buy that you don't understand, but nobody? Seriously?

He wants an investigation on the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the campaign. There will be an investigation eventually no matter what.

Now, for those who say "Trump doesn't know what he's talking about", I can assure you Trump Tower was indeed wiretapped. Of this there is no doubt.
The timeline for the wiretap is as follows, back in June 2016 the White House administration made a FISA request to monitor communications between Trump and various Trump advisors. The request was denied because the scope was too broad (I'll get into that below, the legalities section). Then in July we got the leaked DNC emails showing the DNC coluding to deny Sanders any real chance of winning the nomination. Then in October the Podesta emails hit interwebz.
Immediately after the Podesta email leak the White house filed another FISA request, narrowing the wiretapping to Trump Tower servers looking for suspected links to Russia, which none were found. Now with the approved FISA request the USG under the Obama administration continues the wiretapping and expanding the tapping under the auspices of the approved FISA request. This wire tapping continued until just before the Trump inauguration. The Obama administration is now using the high tech surveillance powers of the federal intelligence services against a political opponent. Let that sink in for a moment.
In January 1017 Buzzfeed drops their "Trump pissing" dossier, which was laughably absurd. None of the allegations are verified and some are proven outright false. Soon after in January 107, in the closing week(s) of the Obama administration, as the New York Times reports, Obama issues an Executive Order allowing the NSA to share it's globally collected personal communications with 16 government agencies. This EO gives new powers to the NSA and allows collected information, with reduced protections, intelligence on private individuals to be leaked or circulated improperly. It's not hard to see the implications already.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/02/15 ... ew-powers/
The day before Trump is inaugurated the New York Times reports that the FBI, CIA, NSA and the Treasury department are surveilling several Trump associates and campaign advisers for suspected Russian ties. This is reported by other news agencies, such as Mother Jones, Politico, The Daily Caller and others. What isn't clear is how they found out about this because it was all supposed to be classified and the investigations were supposed to be secret. We'll get back to this in the legalities section later.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/p ... .html?_r=0
Then in February you have the Flynn news breaking in which Flynn soon resigns.
Then in February you have the New York Times again reporting (citing four current and former American officials) that the Trump campaign had repeated contacts with the Russians. Trump campaign denies the charges and the New York Times admits that they don't actually have any evidence of supposed contacts. At this point the White House and Republicans start asking about illegal intelligence leaks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/p ... cking.html
Then in March we have the Sessions stuff. At this point the New York Times reports that the outgoing Obama administration "rushed to preserve" intelligence related to supposed Russian contacts with the Trump administration. They preserved it by disseminating it among as many government agencies as they could.
All of the above is absolutely, incontrivertably true. There is no question of that. We have an Obama administration that sought and eventually got authorization to evesdrop on the Trump campaign, continued to monitor the Trump campaign even though no evidence of wrongdoing was found and then relaxed the NSA rules allwoing the information to be disseminated to the point to insure that the private conversations of private individuals would be leaked to the media.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/p ... .html?_r=0

Now, the legalities of such acts. Ben Rhodes said on March 4, 2017 that "No President can order a wiretap" as a way to refute Trump's claim that "Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower". Mr Rhodes is incorrect in this statement though. Chapter 36 of Title 56, section 1802 (a US law for those that don't get the title) states-

(1) Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year if the Attorney General certifies in writing under oath that—
(A) the electronic surveillance is solely directed at—
(i) the acquisition of the contents of communications transmitted by means of communications used exclusively between or among foreign powers, as defined in section 1801(a)(1), (2), or (3) of this title; or
(ii) the acquisition of technical intelligence, other than the spoken communications of individuals, from property or premises under the open and exclusive control of a foreign power, as defined in section 1801(a)(1), (2), or (3) of this title;
(B) there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party; and
(C) the proposed minimization procedures with respect to such surveillance meet the definition of minimization procedures under section 1801(h) of this title; and
if the Attorney General reports such minimization procedures and any changes thereto to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at least thirty days prior to their effective date, unless the Attorney General determines immediate action is required and notifies the committees immediately of such minimization procedures and the reason for their becoming effective immediately.

So yeah, the President can indeed order a wiretapping. He simply tells the AG to wiretap someone. The AG has to get FISA approval, but the AG could be doing so at the request of the President.
Now, I'm not saying that Obama ordered the wiretap, I have no idea, but the notion that the President can't order a wire tap isn't true. He can.
Now, the above law is also relevant to the FISA court. Remember the first attempt the Obama administration tried back in July but was denied by FISA? It's because the request ran afoul of this particular law. Right under the "(A) the electronic surveillance is solely directed at—", the wiretapping is only for the collection of intelligence from foriegn powers. Obama's original request was for only Trump and Trump advisers. All American citizens. It is illegal and outside the legal boundaries of the FISA court to target private American citizens. There is a whole other set of courts for that, public courts, traditional courts. You get the picture? The FISA courts are secret courts, they aren't supposed to be used on American citizens and certainly not on American citizens inside American territory.
Now before anyone says that it's crazy to think the USG would wiretap US citizens because that's illegal (it is) through the FISA courts, but then would have to have forgotten about how in 2013 James Rosen was illegally wiretapped
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ju ... 63bf04c79c
or how The associated press also in 2013 was also wiretapped in the same investigation for government leaks-
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2013/0 ... erm-source

Now, you may ask, "But Patches, if the FISA court is a secret court, how the hell do you know about all this?" Easy, I read the news. The Guardian reported on all this back in early January-
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... a-contacts

Now, those who say "But Obama denied Trump Tower was wire tapped" one would be advised to go back and look at Obama's actual denial. Obama only denied that he ordered the wiretap. He never denied that there was a wiretap. This is echoed by Jon Favreau (former Obama speech writer) and Phillip Rucker (WaPo's White House bureau chief) who both noted that Obama never denied there was a wiretap. I am not sure how to post their twitter feeds, but if you look at their twitters dated March 4, 2017 at 1:00PM and 1:16PM respectively you can read them there.

Now, as to the legalities, the leaking of any of this information is absolutely illegal. Whomever leaked this material can find themselves facing severe prison sentences. Not that I'm confident that whomever it was will be found, let alone charged. The information was too widely spread across more than 16 Federal agencies, something that couldn't have been done before Obama's January EO.

In an ironic twist of fate, the Trump administration said that they support the renewal of the spy law without reforms that incorporates the FISA court-
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-t ... SKBN16855P
Which is hilarious because Obama just gave Trump a nice lesson on how to misuse this power and you can bet Trump is going to do the same.

Now, Trump has really done something here. There are either wiretaps at Trump Tower and Trump will use them to attack his political opponents just like the previous administration did, or there aren't any wire taps in which case means the previous administration had no reason to suspect any collusion with Russia during or any other foreign government.
So, which do you think it is?
Now, if you are one who thinks Trump is crazy to say that Trump Tower was wire tapped, then you'd have to really turn a blind eye to all the leaks and the news stories stating that there are indeed wiretaps in Trump Tower. If you think Trump is crazy for accusing Obama of being behind it, well, there is some plausible deniability there absolutely. But who doesn't have any plausible deniability is Lynch, no FISA court request can be granted without the AG's signature.

Also, one last thing, one thing that is absolutely out of bounds, illegal, immoral and unethical, is wiretapping someone only because they are a political opponent. I don't know if Obama ordered the wiretapping, I don't know if the wiretapping was motivated because of political opposition. In fact, I can think of one way one could be safe to assume it was politically motivated. Lynch met Bill "slip it to her" Clinton privately on an airport runway for nearly an hour not too long ago during the campaign. Ya'll might have forgotten, there was a bit of a stink about it and Lynch apologized for it and said it was inappropriate. But I wonder, because the wiretaps were in full swing at the time and had been for weeks, maybe a month or two, what exactly did Lynch and Bill "Blue Dress" Clinton talk about? If Lynch mentioned word one, a single detail of anything picked up on those wiretaps, Lynch could find herself on the wrong side of a witness box. Alas we'll probably never know.
Well, except one thing, Trump now has all the same powers Obama did. Ya know, it might have been helpful if way back when people could have just paid a tad bit more attention because you've just let Trump have the finger on the might and power of the POTUS. Some of you might have trusted Obama (for the life of me I can't see why) but ya'll never stopped to think "You know, Obama's not going to be POTUS forever, what if the next guy isn't so stand up? I wonder if all these expanded Executive powers are going to come back to bite us all in the ass?"

Morons.

[saxitoxin]

Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the "Sessions ties to Russians" Neo-McCarthyist hysteria from the savage, warmongering Clintonistas -

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook

Two vital points stand out here: 1) the key to sustaining fears over foreign adversaries is depicting them as all-powerful and ubiquitous; and 2) once that image takes root, few will be willing to question the propaganda for fear of being accused of siding with the Foreign Evil: “the thesis no American dare any longer challenge without himself becoming suspect.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the ... -playbook/

[saxitoxin]

Former U.S. Ambassador to Soviet Union Praises Sessions for Meeting with Russian Officials

Our press seems to be in a feeding frenzy regarding contacts that President Trump’s supporters had with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and with other Russian diplomats. The assumption seems to be that there was something sinister about these contacts, just because they were with Russian diplomats. As one who spent a 35-year diplomatic career working to open up the Soviet Union and to make communication between our diplomats and ordinary citizens a normal practice, I find the attitude of much of our political establishment and of some of our once respected media outlets quite incomprehensible. What in the world is wrong with consulting a foreign embassy about ways to improve relations? Anyone who aspires to advise an American president should do just that.

Ambassador Kislyak is a distinguished and very able diplomat. Anyone interested in improving relations with Russia and avoiding another nuclear arms race—which is a vital interest of the United States—should discuss current issues with him and members of his staff.

Finding a way to improve relations with Russia is in the vital interest of the United States. Those who are trying to find a way to improve relations with Russia should be praised, not scapegoated.

http://jackmatlock.com/2017/03/contacts ... n-embassy/

[mookiemcgee]

Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the "Sessions ties to Russians" Neo-McCarthyist hysteria from the savage, warmongering Clintonistas -

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook

Two vital points stand out here: 1) the key to sustaining fears over foreign adversaries is depicting them as all-powerful and ubiquitous; and 2) once that image takes root, few will be willing to question the propaganda for fear of being accused of siding with the Foreign Evil: “the thesis no American dare any longer challenge without himself becoming suspect.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the ... -playbook/

So the party with absolutely no power right now are the McCarthyists?

But the orange haired donkey screaming about how 1.5 billion people hate America and must be wiped off the face of the planet... He's not a warmonger right?

[saxitoxin]

Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the "Sessions ties to Russians" Neo-McCarthyist hysteria from the savage, warmongering Clintonistas -

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook

Two vital points stand out here: 1) the key to sustaining fears over foreign adversaries is depicting them as all-powerful and ubiquitous; and 2) once that image takes root, few will be willing to question the propaganda for fear of being accused of siding with the Foreign Evil: “the thesis no American dare any longer challenge without himself becoming suspect.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the ... -playbook/

So the party with absolutely no power right now are the McCarthyists?

But the orange haired donkey screaming about how 1.5 billion people hate America and must be wiped off the face of the planet... He's not a warmonger right?

Do you have a link to Trump saying "1.5 billion people ... must be wiped off the face of the planet?"

Not counting the aftermath of his crimes against the Libyan people or his gun running to the Saudis and Bahrainis or Israelis, Obama brutally butchered 10,000 people - mostly Muslims - under his reign, often in the most horrific, vile ways imaginable, such as when he ordered Anwar al-Awlaki's 15 year-old son burned alive with Hellfire missiles. Obama must be made to pay for his crimes against humanity, ideally in a Siberian labor camp.

[saxitoxin]

The great progressive stalwart, The Nation, has denounced Democratic McCarthyism and called for all progressive forces to unite behind Trump against the bloodthirsty Clintonistas -

 Why We Must Oppose the Kremlin-Baiting Against Trump

The bipartisan, nearly full-political-spectrum tsunami of factually unverified allegations that President Trump has been sedi
tiously “compromised” by the Kremlin, with scarcely any nonpartisan pushback from influential political or media sources, is deeply alarming. Begun by the Clinton campaign in mid-2016, and exemplified now by New York Times columnists (who write of a “Trump-Putin regime” in Washington), strident MSNBC hosts, and unbalanced CNN commentators, the practice is growing into a latter-day McCarthyite hysteria. Such politically malignant practices should be deplored wherever they appear, whether on the part of conservatives, liberals, or progressives.

The allegations are driven by political forces with various agendas: the Hillary Clinton wing of the Democratic Party, which wants to maintain its grip on the party by insisting that she didn’t lose the election but that it was stolen by Russian President Vladimir Putin for Trump; by enemies of Trump’s proposed détente with Russia, who want to discredit both him and Putin; and by Republicans and Democrats stunned that Trump essentially ran and won without either party, thereby threatening the established two-party system.

https://www.thenation.com/article/why-w ... nst-trump/

One Party! One Nation!

[mookiemcgee]

Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the "Sessions ties to Russians" Neo-McCarthyist hysteria from the savage, warmongering Clintonistas -

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook

Two vital points stand out here: 1) the key to sustaining fears over foreign adversaries is depicting them as all-powerful and ubiquitous; and 2) once that image takes root, few will be willing to question the propaganda for fear of being accused of siding with the Foreign Evil: “the thesis no American dare any longer challenge without himself becoming suspect.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the ... -playbook/

So the party with absolutely no power right now are the McCarthyists?

But the orange haired donkey screaming about how 1.5 billion people hate America and must be wiped off the face of the planet... He's not a warmonger right?

Do you have a link to Trump saying "1.5 billion people ... must be wiped off the face of the planet?"

There is only one trump quote that matters.

"I did try and f*ck her.
She was married.
I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there.
And she was married.
Then all of a sudden I see her, she's totally changed her look.
I've gotta use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her.
You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them.
I'm like a magnet.
Just kiss I don't even wait.
And when you're a star they let you do it.
You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy.
You can do anything."

[saxitoxin]

Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the "Sessions ties to Russians" Neo-McCarthyist hysteria from the savage, warmongering Clintonistas -

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook

Two vital points stand out here: 1) the key to sustaining fears over foreign adversaries is depicting them as all-powerful and ubiquitous; and 2) once that image takes root, few will be willing to question the propaganda for fear of being accused of siding with the Foreign Evil: “the thesis no American dare any longer challenge without himself becoming suspect.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the ... -playbook/

So the party with absolutely no power right now are the McCarthyists?

But the orange haired donkey screaming about how 1.5 billion people hate America and must be wiped off the face of the planet... He's not a warmonger right?

Do you have a link to Trump saying "1.5 billion people ... must be wiped off the face of the planet?"

There is only one trump quote that matters.

"I did try and f*ck her.
She was married.
I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there.
And she was married.
Then all of a sudden I see her, she's totally changed her look.
I've gotta use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her.
You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them.
I'm like a magnet.
Just kiss I don't even wait.
And when you're a star they let you do it.
You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy.
You can do anything."

f*ck yeah, he takes what he wants; it's great

[mookiemcgee]

Glenn Greenwald deconstructs the "Sessions ties to Russians" Neo-McCarthyist hysteria from the savage, warmongering Clintonistas -

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook

Two vital points stand out here: 1) the key to sustaining fears over foreign adversaries is depicting them as all-powerful and ubiquitous; and 2) once that image takes root, few will be willing to question the propaganda for fear of being accused of siding with the Foreign Evil: “the thesis no American dare any longer challenge without himself becoming suspect.”

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the ... -playbook/

So the party with absolutely no power right now are the McCarthyists?

But the orange haired donkey screaming about how 1.5 billion people hate America and must be wiped off the face of the planet... He's not a warmonger right?

Do you have a link to Trump saying "1.5 billion people ... must be wiped off the face of the planet?"

There is only one trump quote that matters.

"I did try and f*ck her.
She was married.
I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there.
And she was married.
Then all of a sudden I see her, she's totally changed her look.
I've gotta use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her.
You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them.
I'm like a magnet.
Just kiss I don't even wait.
And when you're a star they let you do it.
You can do anything... Grab them by the pussy.
You can do anything."

f*ck yeah, he takes what he wants; it's great

the world through your eyes must look alot like the world I see through the eyes of rick grimes.

[riskllama]

you know "grimey"?

[mookiemcgee]

you know "grimey"?

I am Rick Grimes!

(disclaimer - I am also Tyler Durden, and Neegan)

[Symmetry]

Ah- it does on-

Another meeting with the Russians that Sessions "forgot" to mention:

Jeff Sessions: Donald Trump’s Attorney General likely met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak a third time

And, of course, Flynn officially declared that he was a foreign agent during the Trump campaign:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-aide-flynn-lobbying-helped-turkey-46011946

President Donald Trump was not aware that his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had worked to further the interests of the government of Turkey before appointing him, the White House said Thursday.

The comments came two days after Flynn and his firm, Flynn Intel Group Inc., filed paperwork with the Justice Department formally identifying him as a foreign agent and acknowledging that his work for a company owned by a Turkish businessman could have aided Turkey's government. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday called the action "an affirmation of the president's decision to ask General Flynn to resign."

Things don't look good in Trump news.