Ruminations – 3apr17 (updated)

George Rebane

Well, it turns out that Obama's White House was indeed illegally monitoring Team Trump during both the campaign and pre-inaugural transition.  Outlets Bloomberg and the Washington Times (here) report on Susan Rice’s involvement in ordering the unmasking of Team Trump personnel.  This is likely to turn out as a criminal matter that maybe will stick to one of Obama’s most unabashed shills.  The information was revealed to Chairman Nunes during his recent White House intelligence briefing, and explains away why he “was acting so cagey last week.”  This could well turn out to be the gun that has been doing all the smoking lately.

‘Incidental (aka widespread/comprehensive?) monitoring and collection’ of communications data in the US is now confirmed.  The lamestream media along with the more timid Republican MoCs have yet to come to grips with this truth.  The Dems don’t want to touch this aspect of our intelligence industry and the operation of the Deep State, especially now apropos to Susan Rice.  RR recommended this line of questioning for House Intelligence Committee in ‘Questions Unasked and Unanswered’ which was immediately lambasted by the local Left’s intelligentsia who have left their crickets to carry the remaining water on this.

Union columnist George Boardman today brought up an interesting point (here) about our annual trimmigrant invasion and ‘fair trade pot’.  He explains, “Fair trade, the idea that we should care about how the goods and commodities we consume are produced, particularly when they come from developing countries, has gained enough traction to get the attention of manufacturers and retailers.”  And hopefully concludes, “While generally mellow and law abiding, trimmigrants have been known to sleep in their cars or under bridges, and to patronize free meal programs for the homeless, presumably to stretch the money they make harvesting the local pot crop. If they are paid a fair wage under a fair trade program, a lot of these problems disappear. It's a win-win for everybody.”  Now here’s a chance for our progressive purveyors of pot to walk their politically correct talk.

[update]  The battlements for Susan Rice are being rapidly erected by the Left.  The main spin is that ‘unmasking’ is not ‘wiretapping’, which, of course, always meant directed surveillance made possible by requesting selected communications of the comprehensive (aka ‘incidental’) surveillance now conducted by our intelligence community.  That Rice found an unbidden stack of Team Trump communication transcripts on her desk is nothing short of a miracle.  But they do happen, so posit it.  Rice then decided to order the unmasking of the contained US citizen IDs, and had them disseminated over the God’s half-acre conveniently authorized by her boss, the Big O.  Some leftwing worthies who don’t believe in miracles are also arguing that she may have just ‘requested’ those transcripts, which (seatbelts please) is not the same as having ordered them pulled from the database.  Bottom line, President Trump was right, he was ‘wiretapped’ and had to let the evidence find its convoluted way out into the sunshine.

Heard about California’s SB18, the ‘Children’s Bill of Rights’ that leviathan is working on in Sacramento?  The essence of the bill “establishes our state's ULTIMATE control of every aspect of our children's welfare without consideration for the parents' rights or unique knowledge of their child's individual needs. … the draft of the bill contemplates the state’s power to seize or restrict parents' access to children that aren't receiving what they (the state) determines to be the correct ‘research-based essential needs’ and ‘special care’ from their parents and guardians.”  Is this still only advancing toward autocracy, or have we already passed into the suburbs of tyranny?

Comments

[Walt]

It sure must suck to be a news LIB these days. Trump gets vindicated again.
Yes siree Bob,, he got servailed. And by "O"'s left hand woman no less.
What was she looking for? Did Trump pay the guy who made the tape that Rice blamed for the Benghazi attack?
She has splainn'n to do. Did she pass on the info to "O"? Is that why "O" allowed the "free flow" of info in the last few days of his gig? Yes, the shit is getting deeper for team "O". Let the perp walks begin.

[Walt]

I read that bit from Boardman. The words "illegal tender" comes to mind.
Hell. I can't even do a small job without a licence. At a 500 dollar limit,,, nope, not happening. Just renting and getting the tractor to the job hits the cap, without moving a shovel full of dirt. Yet the dopers want special treatment? Screw them!

[Bill Tozer]

We really need to go back to Susan Rice's Sunday show circuit following Benghazi to get in her head. She went out and spouted the Administration and Hillary's lie about a homemade Internet video no one saw as the cause of the disaster and security neglect. When she found out she was the fall guy and the story was a lie, she stayed with the Administration and was greatly rewarded. If she knowing lied about the security debacle and the true cause of Benghazi in 9/11/12, then she will lie about anything.
But, we must not focus on Susan Rice. She was'is the messenger. Who told her to spout the lies? Who told her to unmask? I, too, won't hold my breath.

Now the question arises as to if the whole Russiangate narrative was a hoax devised by people whose preeminent purpose in life is to protect the Obama Legacy. I do find it interesting that Rice made her requests to unmask in July, 2016 around the same time Bubba met with Loretta on the tarmac in Phoenix. A lot of things happened shortly before the DNC Convention in Philly. Time will tell.

[George Rebane]

We now find from our alert readers and the lamestream outlets that we are to pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain. Nothing out of the ordinary happened there; it was all legitimate business as usual. Please move along.

[Don Bessee]

I liked Joe Scarborough's take, what if Dick Chaney did this? Cue the CCC. ;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Look how far the progressive protectors of our "civil liberties" have fallen.

From Fish's link (Sandbox, 11:04 am):

In other words, no one is supposed to notice that one government did interfere in the U.S. election — ours. For months and months, the Obama administration was spying on Trump and leaking hints of its investigation to the press in the hopes of helping Hillary, who, by the way, colluded in the effort. Yet even the ruthless partisan Adam Schiff can’t “definitively” cite a single proof of collusion on Trump’s part, as he reluctantly acknowledged on Sunday. Given all the spying and leaking on Trump, wouldn’t we know by now if they had any evidence of collusion?

To say that Trump in this matter is more sinned against than sinning is an understatement. He was the blatant victim of political espionage and criminal leaking by the Obama administration, then when he complained about it, he was smeared anew. Two questions have swirled around this story: Did the Obama administration spy on Trump? Did Trump collude with the Russians? The answers are yes and no. The media wanted the answers to be no and yes. So now their game is to pretend like they didn’t ask the questions or that the “real story” is Trump’s imprecise tweeting. Notice that almost every story on the Rice revelation begins with throat-clearing about how it doesn’t “vindicate Trump’s tweet,” as if grading him on a tweet, in which he was clearly using wire-tapping as a synonym for spying and investigating, is the most pressing concern here.

https://spectator.org/the-media-gives-short-schiff-to-obamagate/

[BradC]

Why wouldn't the chief national security advisor of the USA have a right to know the names of players or potential players in the Russian hacking/election brouhaha? I cannot think of anyone with more authority (beside the president) who would have that right.

Our intelligent agencies are privy to all sorts of confidential info...and they have a responsibility to act responsibly with that info as part of their security clearance agreement with the government.

...but, I get that it is a pleasant diversion for Trumpers who have had to act like crickets for the past couple of months as the golfer in chief as been "on the job".

Here is some light reading on Trump,

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-our-dishonest-president/

[Don Bessee]

Funny how BC managed to miss ms Rice's denial just 10 days ago, totally at odd with todays, well ya I did. So she starts last July creating spreadsheets of the calls and callers. In Dec. 0 suddenly reverses 50 years of intel rules and lets raw intel suddenly pass between a dozen agencies then Flynn's name ends up in the press. Add the braggart Farkas on March 2nd detailing how they were spreading everything they could.

Sure BC, nothing to see here, keep selling that, no one is buying unless they have a pink knitted or tin foil hat on. ;-)

[George Rebane]

As Mr Croul (1209pm) gleefully points out, the LA Times has decided to publish a serialized novelette on their op-ed pages to detail the horrible fate our nation faces now that it has been slightly diverted from its headlong rush into global socialism. As one of our nation's premier progressive voices, the newspaper will leave no spin unspinned to deliver its la-la-land readership the precisely formulated brew to keep their Alt-Left base appropriately inebriated with thinly veiled invitations to take to the streets and erect a barricade or two.

[Russ]

Here is a comment that contains and interesting thought:

“If they were spying on Trump a year before the election, they were spying on other GOP candidates, too. And probably Democrats running against Hillary for the nomination.”

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, you to may have been spied on also. Did you ever wonder how Hillary seem to know your every strategic move, her pat answers at the debates, her counter ads to your campaign, she was camping in your head dude with the full strength of the US spying conglomerate.

[Bill Tozer]

https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/826039500879607/?type=3&theater

[Don Bessee]

Who saw what AG Sessions said about the 0 era draconian consent decrees with LE departments? No more scapegoating LE with ridiculous lefty ivory tower ideas that make citizens and LE less safe. BLM teaching unconscious racism classes, go figure. DO the crime, DO the time. ;-)

[Walt]

What a day. Come home and read the latest and find this.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/04/susan-rice-denies-ordering-intel-community-to-produce-spreadsheets-involving-trump-video/
Nope! wasn't me!!
Then a few hours later this is the headline.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/04/susan-rice-admits-to-unmasking-u-s-persons-in-intelligence-reports-denies-leaking-video/
Yup,, "I DID it." with plenty of excuses.
Now this is the latest.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/03/susan-rice-ordered-spy-agencies-to-produce-detailed-spreadsheets-involving-trump/
Third party "yes, she did".

Now we will hear " I stand on the 5TH!" when hauled in front of Congress.

Get out the fresh popcorn. This might be fun. Anyone for "fried" Rice?

[Don Bessee]

Too greasy Walt. ;-)

[Walt]

Then how bout this Don?,, Every time Suzi takes the 5TH, a shot of Wild Turkey goes down.
(so break out THAT "5TH".)
We should be hammered by the tenth question.

[Bill Tozer]

"By the way, have you noticed that there have been lots of intelligence leaks in the press? There’s an old saying in the criminal law: The best evidence of a conspiracy is success. The criminal law also has another good rule of thumb: Consciousness of guilt is best proved by false exculpatory statements. That’s a genre in which Susan Rice has rich experience."

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446415/susan-rice-unmasking-trump-campaign-members-obama-administration-fbi-cia-nsa

[Account Deleted]

Brad, Brad, Brad - "Why wouldn't the chief national security advisor of the USA have a right to know the names of players or potential players in the Russian hacking/election brouhaha?"
Gee, Brad - how did they 'know' about this supposed brouhaha?
Looks like you just admitted they were listening in on American citizens' phone calls with no justification. Other than wanting to use American govt spying technology to see what the political opposition is up to.

[Walt]

Now how come our Leftys are overly silent? How come they have yet to come riding waiving that evidence they said exists of Trump sleeping with the Ruskys? LIB news should have PLENTY by now.(if it ever existed in the first place)
LIB news is still yapping about "coulton" but not a shred of proof.. Where is it??

[Don Bessee]

LOL Walt @ 550! ;-)

[Bill Tozer]

https://www.facebook.com/JudgeJeanineFans/photos/a.110035152675347.1073741828.109955466016649/475723169439875/?type=3&theater

[No More BS]

Walt, 6:42 the Leftys are silent because they are caught! And in Paul case, per today's Union story about KVMR funding being cut, he is going to have to get a real job! "No time to spar with the Righties, I've got to get some plants in the ground, my gravy train is over"!

[Bill Tozer]

https://www.facebook.com/lastamericapatriots/photos/a.235087906641439.1073741826.235086849974878/826449920838565/?type=3&theater

[ScenesFromTheApocalypse]

I see that Scott Adams is writing on selective reporting.

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/159226601511/how-a-hypnotist-sees-a-verbal-slip

Given that Trump has found a series of fault lines that philosophically split the country, it'll be interesting watching the MSM give up eyeballs to people who see opportunity in serving the deplorable half. I don't doubt that there are youtube commentators (ie. some guy with a camera) with as many views as some networks.

[Bonnie McGuire]

This discussion is too funny if you don't think our government wont spy on you. For many years I wrote my political opinions in the newspaper. Eventually, along comes this guy who has a horse and two dogs who rents a house across the road from us. He had been a special forces tech guy. Anyway, eventually he moved. The new people who rented the house wondered why the phone in the barn was connected to our house. I asked a friend who worked for the telephone company about it. He said if the gov wanted them to tap our phone they would comply. I imagine the guy listening in found us to be pretty boring, and moved on. The media is stirring people up with a constant barrage of gossip to entertain us. Notice how all the internal investigations keep going on, nothing done about it, and then being replaced by a new distacting investigation that makes it appear they're on the job protecting America. Like Hillary Clinton commented, "What difference does it make?" She was probably referring to the nasty swamp after you're in it too deep.

[Bill Tozer]

This Susan Rice/ Obama thing is a big, big, big deal. Bigger than most can wrap their heads around at the present time. Time will tell.

[Bill Tozer]

Hmmm. Nunes is off the congressional investigation into Russiagate. After his trip to read Intel, Adam Schiff was uncharactericly quiet after reading about Susan Rice. No way do the House Dems want to go there. Focus on Russia!

New narrative is the Right is obsessed with Susan Rice. Obsessed being the buzz word. Boy, Susan Rice's name has not be bantered about for a couple years and suddendly the Cons are insanely obsessed with her...for some mysterious reason. They are blaming this "nothing to see here" story on Brietbart. When CNN tells its viewers do not pay any attention to the Susan Rice scandal, you know we are on right trail. Especially since that was the first things that VOX and Slate fired off to defend the impeccable Susan Rice.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/05/nuclear-option-forget-russiagate-rice-scandal-constitution-crisis/

[Bill Tozer]

It's spreading like bark beetles in the southern Sierras and getting worse! Yo Ben Rhodes, time to lawyer up. O is off hiding on some private island in the deep blue sea so you are own your own, good buddy. Maybe Valerie Jarret will answer her phone. Might be a good time to take a nice long world tour on some private yacht . Just trying to help.

http://ilovemyfreedom.org/breaking-susan-rice-scandal-just-got-even-worse-information-everyday-lives/

Spreadsheets? I don't see no stinkin' spreadsheets.