Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

[angelburst29]

Donald Trump's wiretapping was legal, the House Intelligence Committee Chairman said, thus confirming the president's claims previously denied by the FBI.

Unintentional Wiretapping of Trump Was 'Legal' as He Wasn't Subject of Probe
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051856416-trump-wiretapping-legal/

Rep. Devin Nunes said that Trump wasn't subject to the investigation.

"I have confirmed that on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the Trump transition," Nunes stated.

He added that Trump officials' names were attached to the collected intelligence data, which could be a violation of law.

Trump's surveillance is unrelated to the investigation into his team's ties to Russia, Nunes said. "None of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities, or of the Trump team," Nunes stated.

According to him, the data was gathered during November, December and January.

"I have seen intelligence reports that clearly show the president elect and his team were at least monitored and disseminated in what appears to be intelligence reporting channels," Nunes said.

On March 4, Trump took to Twitter to accuse Obama of having his Trump Tower headquarters' "wires tapped" prior to the 2016 presidential election, describing this as the former administration's "new low. The president went on to compare the alleged surveillance to McCarthyism and the Watergate scandal. The claims have been rejected by Obama's representative.

The US House and Senate Intelligence Committees have found no credible evidence to support Trump's claims.

US President Donald Trump's administration does not want to jump ahead or start guessing about House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' recent findings on surveillance before the commander-in-chief is even briefed, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a briefing on Wednesday.

White House Does Not Want to Speculate on Nunes Findings Until Trump Briefed
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051860181-nunes-trump-nunes/

Earlier in the day, Nunes said that the US intelligence community has incidentally collected some information about members of Trump’s transition team.

Nunes is set to provide the relevant information on this matter to Trump later today.

"I don't want to start talking or guessing what he [Nunes] may say or may not say. I think we will have more information… when the President is briefed," Spicer stated. "I do not want to jump ahead."

Spicer added that the White House is unaware whether Nunes has briefed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or any other intelligence agency on this matter.

Rep. Devin Nunes of California briefed US President Donald Trump at the White House on surveillance that had been conducted on some members of Trump's circle, which Nunes said may have been legal. Nunes was skeptical if the surveillance was morally right.

House Intel Chair: Some Surveillance of Trump Team 'Appears Inappropriate'
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051860720-house-intel-surveillance-trump-team/

Surveillance reports included the names of some individuals on Trump's team, Nunes said, which is "perhaps legal." He quickly followed up by saying, "but I don't know if it's right."

"I think the President is concerned and he should be," Nunes added. The committee still needs more time to investigate, but some of the espionage activity "seems to be inappropriate."

The individuals subject to surveillance "appear" to be under FISA warrants, adding that multiple FISA warrants are "out there." The NSA is cooperating very well with the investigation, Nunes commented.

Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, was not briefed by Nunes.

The FBI has rejected allegations that surveillance was conducted against Donald Trump prior to November 8. The data was collected in November, December, and January, Nunes explicated. Trump had taken to Twitter to blast the "bad (or sick)" President Barack Obama for "wiretapping," which Trump maintained could include broad forms of surveillance. Nunes confirmed that Trump himself was not the subject of an investigation. Nevertheless, Nunes "confirmed" that not once, not twice, but "on numerous occassions" US intelligence agencies "incidentally collected information about US citizens involved in the Trump transition." The individuals' names were explicity stated in intelligence data, potentially constituting a legal violation, he said.

The US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee has requested that four government entities provide information on former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's communications with and payments from Russian, Turkish or other foreign sources, the Committee said on Wednesday.

US House Oversight Committee Asks Gov't Entities to Provide Flynn Documents
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051857476-flynn-documents-fbi-pentagon/

The government entities asked to deliver the materials include the White House, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Department of Defense, the release added.

"[US Congressmen Jason] Chaffetz and [Elijah] Cummings requested that each agency produce documents relating to Flynn’s foreign contacts and payments, security clearance applications and other related documents between the time of his retirement in 2014 to present day," the Committee in a press release.

In the request letters to the four government entities, the Committee demanded all files relating to Flynn's direct and indirect interactions with foreign representatives and agents, including the Russian broadcaster RT.

The entities should prepare and deliver the documents that are currently in their possession by April 3, the release noted.

On February 13, Flynn announced his resignation after media reported he misled the Trump administration about the extent of his talks with Russian officials. However, Flynn conceded no wrongdoing in his resignation letter.

Failure to pick up eight Democrats in the US Senate to approve Judge Neil Gorsuch’ nomination to the US Supreme Court would force Republicans to change Senate rules, allowing a simple majority in the 100-member chamber to confirm Gorsuch, Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview on Wednesday.

US Senate Republicans Threaten Rule-Change if Dems Veto Supreme Court Pick
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051848233-god-dems-supreme-court/

Under present Senate rules, a 60-vote supermajority is needed to confirm a Supreme Court justice. However, a 52-seat majority offers Republicans the option of changing the rules to allow confirmation with a simple majority.

"If we don’t get 60 then the Republicans will be forced to change the rules," Graham told Fox News.

Graham noted that he voted for two of former President Barack Obama’s high-court nominees, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

"I’m hoping my Democratic colleagues will look at Judge Gorsuch the way I looked at Sotomayor and Kagan," Graham said. "I would not have chosen them, but they were qualified. That’s why I voted for President Obama’s picks."

Later on Wednesday Gorsuch will spend his third day before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats this week have unsuccessfully pressed Gorsuch to discuss politics and Gorsuch has repeatedly stated that judges are above politics and simply responsible for determining whether laws passed by Congress are consistent with the US Constitution.

David Brock, the founder of left-wing news outlet Media Matters for America and a longtime friend of the Clintons, suffered a heart attack on Tuesday.

Clinton Friend and Media Matters Founder David Brock Suffers Heart Attack
http://freebeacon.com/politics/clinton-friend-and-media-matters-founder-david-brock-suffers-heart-attack/

Brock was a conservative journalist before becoming a major influential figure for many liberal groups, the Washington Examiner reports.

A press release was issued on Wednesday stating that Brock had a heart attack.

"David Brock suffered a heart attack while working in the Washington, D.C. office early Tuesday," the statement said.

"He was quickly transported to a local hospital, received prompt medical treatment, and we are looking forward to a swift recovery," the statement continued.

Brock became one of the Clintons' top political associates and has been involved in many liberal political groups, including Media Matters.

Five people employed by members of the House of Representatives remain under criminal investigation for unauthorized access to Congressional computers. Former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz employed at least one of those under investigation.

5 congressional staffers in criminal probe over unauthorized computer access
https://www.rt.com/usa/381692-congressional-staffers-criminal-investigation/

The criminal investigation into the five, which includes three brothers and a wife of one of the men, started late last year, as reported by Politico in February. The group is being investigated by US Capitol Police over allegations that they removed equipment from over 20 members’ offices, as well as having run a procurement scheme to buy equipment and then overcharge the House.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said last week Capitol Police are receiving additional help for the investigation. “I won’t speak to the nature of their investigation, but they’re getting the kind of technical assistance they need to do that, this is under an active criminal investigation, their capabilities are pretty strong but they’re also able to go and get the kind of help they need from other sources," Ryan said.

The brothers, Abid, Jamal and Imran Awan, worked as shared employees for various members of the House, covering committees relating to intelligence, terrorism and cybersecurity, which included the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces of the Armed Services Committee.

Imran’s wife, Hina Alvi, and Rao Abbas, both of whom worked as House IT employees, are also under investigation.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ - The group were banned from accessing the computers as a result of the investigation but, as of earlier this month, Imran Awan remains as an “technology adviser” to former Democratic National Committee chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was forced to resign in July following revelations that she worked to further Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the Democratic primary at the expense of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

News of the brothers’ investigation has sparked speculation that it may be tied to the hack of the DNC servers, the contents of which were first released by Guccifer 2.0 and later published on WikiLeaks.

Russian actors have been accused of being behind the hack, which Democrats claim contributed to Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump. There have also been reports that the DNC hack came from an insider.

An email between DNC staffers in April 2016, which was released by WikiLeaks, references a staff member named Imran and how this person has access to the passwords for Wasserman Schultz’s iPad.

Garret Bonosky, deputy director of office of the DNC chair, tells Amy Kroll: “I have to get [this iPad] thing figured out. Need to make sure I have her username and password before I delete and reload the app.”

“I do not have access to her ipad password, but Imran does,” Kroll replies, later writing: “Just spoke to Imran, call me whenever GB and I’ll update you, don’t delete anything yet.”

Another email from the DNC hack, dated December 2016, references Imran once again. Wasserman Schultz’s assistant Rosalyn Kumar tells scheduler Anna Stolitzka: “[Nancy] Pelosi is doing [a] closed door meeting. No staff or anyone allowed. Kaitlyn come to Rayburn room and get her iPad for Imran.”

6-FIGURE SALARIES - The brothers were paid high salaries for their work with various House members, above the median salary for Congressional staffers.

Imran, who started working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, received $164,600 in 2016, with close to $20,000 of that coming from Wasserman Schultz.

Jamal, who started working as a staffer in 2014, was paid $157,350.12 in 2016. Abid, who started working in 2005, was paid $160,943 in 2016.

Hina Alvi, who was employed as a staffer from February 2007, was paid 168,300 in 2016. Rao Abbas was paid $85,049 in 2016.

The Daily Caller reports that Imran received $1.2 million in salary since 2010, while Abid and Alvi received over $1 million each.

House Democrats supporting the employees have suggested that the Pakistani nationality of the suspects may have inspired the investigation.

Washington Free Beacon senior writer Adam Kredo on Tuesday discussed the Department of Justice finding malware on servers for Trump Tower mimicking supposed Russian ties.

Kredo: DOJ Found Malware in Trump Tower Servers ‘Mimicking’ Contacts to Russian Entities (Video)
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/adam-kredo-doj-found-malware-mimicking-ties-between-trump-tower-servers-and-russian-entities/

Kredo was talking with One America News Network's Liz Wheeler about the FBI investigating the Trump campaign for collusion with Russian ties.

Kredo first said that the investigation should go on, before discussing a rarely mentioned point.

"It wasn't very well reported, the Department of Justice revealed just last week that in fact some of these ties that they had witnessed between Trump Tower servers and Russian entities in fact, were stooged," Kredo said.

Kredo went on to explain that malware may have been installed on these servers to mimick contacts with Russian entities in an effort to portray that the Trump campaign had the Russian contacts.

On Monday, FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers testified before the House Intelligence Committee, where the two were unable to answer many questions on the matter of Trump Tower being monitored during the Obama administration.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would speak to the graduates of Liberty University in his first commemoration address as the country’s leader in May.

Trump Going to Give Commencement Speech at Liberty University
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051847376-trump-commemoration-address/

Trump previously spoke at Liberty University on two occasions, in 2012 and 2016. Trump is also reportedly a close friend of the president of the university, Jerry Falwell, Jr.

"I look forward to speaking to this amazing group of students on such a momentous occasion," Trump told CBN News. "Our children truly are the future and I look forward to celebrating the success of this graduating class as well as sharing lessons as they embark on their next chapter full of hope, faith, optimism, and a passion for life." Liberty University is a private non-profit Christian university located in the US state of Virginia.

Seth Williams, the top attorney for the US city of Philadelphia, was indicted on 23 charges of federal fraud and extortion, according to documents filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Court Indicts Philadelphia District Attorney on 23 Corruption Charges
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703211051824523-philadelphia-attorney-corruption/

Seth Williams, who served as Philadelphia District Attorney, is charged with ten counts of using interstate facilities to promote bribery, two counts of extortion and 11 counts of wire fraud.

"Defendant Williams signed, filed and caused to be filed state and city [records] that intentionally omitted reference to valuable benefits received in those years," the indictment stated.

In one incident, Williams allegedly accepted expensive items in exchange for helping a local business owner "limit security screening… at the US border when attempting to return to the United States after foreign travel." Williams is further accused of pressuring police officers to assist in the fraud.

In total, Williams is accused of accepting $88,000 in bribes, including vacations, luxury vehicles and other items and $9,000 in cash between 2011-2014 while serving as district attorney.

A federal grand jury indicted the Philadelphia district attorney Tuesday on charges related to what officials described as a five-year corruption spree that included accepting tens of thousands of dollars in concealed bribes, a trip to the Dominican Republic and a 1997 Jaguar from business owners.

Philadelphia district attorney indicted on bribery, corruption charges
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/21/philadelphia-district-attorney-indicted-bribery-corruption-charges/99467438/

The charges against Seth Williams, 50, a Democrat, also included confiscating money intended for a relative's nursing home care and using the funds for his own personal use. The Philadelphia Inquirer identified the relative as Williams' mother. (Article continues.)

 

[angelburst29]

The cyber firm investigating allegations of a Moscow-sponsored attack on US Democratic Party servers has a history of linking "Russian hacking" with imaginary events. But just days ago, FBI Director James Comey heralded CrowdStrike as a "highly respected private company" before the Senate.

Washington’s Cyber Investigator Tied ‘Russian Hacking’ to Non-Existent Events
https://sputniknews.com/military/201703231051865883-washington-cyber-investigator-russian-hacking/

Grant Ferowich — Long before they were fingering Russia as the culprits in the US hack, the firm, CrowdStrike, was alleging Russia had used malware to destroy Ukrainian weapons – another conclusion that has left experts scratching their heads.

Data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ (IISS) was manipulated to support CrowdStrike’s explosive assertion that Russian cyber operators hacked into Ukrainian howitzer artillery units to target other Ukrainian ground forces.

"The CrowdStrike report uses our data," the IISS London Press Office told Sputnik, "but the inferences and analysis drawn from that data belong solely to the report’s authors."

The accusation that Russia got Ukrainian weapons to fire at each other would be a bombshell, "except for the fact that the malware doesn’t ask for GPS location data," writes Jeffrey Carr, a cybersecurity expert who has taught at the US Army War College.

The CrowdStrike report on Ukraine also quoted "exaggerated figures of an 80 percent loss rate of Ukraine’s D-30 artillery caused in part by a variant of the same malware used in the DNC hack," Carr said.

"Open source reporting," the CrowdStrike Global Intelligence Team wrote, showed that "Ukrainian artillery forces have lost over 50 percent of their weapons in the two years of conflict and over 80 percent of D-30 howitzers."

According to the Artillery Land Forces of Ukraine, however, the number of "artillery weapons lost" are lower than what CrowdStrike suggested, "and are not associated with the specified cause."

CrowdStrike’s assertions constituted a conclusion IISS never suggested, "nor one we believe to be accurate," the British think tank said in a statement to Sputnik. The decline in artillery assets cited by CrowdStrike is more properly attributed to a transfer of those assets to air force teams, not their outright destruction.

Fancy Bear, the subject of CrowdStrike’s report, is the same malware that CrowdStrike said was used to infiltrate the DNC’s servers.

The fact that they would be tracking and helping the Russian military kill Ukrainian army personnel in eastern Ukraine and also intervening in the US election is quite chilling," CrowdStrike Chief Technology Officer Dimitri Alperovitch told the Washington Post in December.

Chilling, maybe. But based on real evidence? That looks less likely.

Six months after the FBI alleged that "Russian hackers" breached the Democratic National Committee, the FBI still had not bothered to request permission to access the breached servers, a DNC spokesman said in January.

CrowdStrike is pretty good," an intelligence official said that month, adding that there was no reason to believe CrowdStrike’s report wasn’t accurate.

Agencies like the FBI, Justice Department and the US Attorney General’s Office requested DNC cooperation, but the FBI "never requested access to the DNC’s computer servers," DNC deputy communications director Eric Walker said in January. Instead, law enforcement officials relied on a CrowdStrike analysis as a pretext for allegations that Russia had attempted to interfere in the 2016 elections.

In January, Sputnik pointed out the obvious fallacy in such reasoning: Just because CrowdStrike’s credibility had not been disproven does not therefore prove the opposite point, that CrowdStrike possesses credibility. The argumentum ad ignoratium fallacy, or "the argument from ignorance," is now rearing its ugly head as reports emerge that CrowdStrike may not be as infallible as officials at the DNC, intelligence agencies and US government at large previously believed.

 

[SummerLite]

So....Obamacare wasn't repealed, sigh... In this press conference, Trump explains not one Democrat voted for his bill (or Paul Ryans bill apparently) and now Obamacare is about to explode with premium increases anywhere from 50% to 106% and higher deductibles. To paraphrase, the Democrats truly own this mess now. He's hopeful that after things become even worse, the D's will come around and a bipartisan agreement can be reached for workable healthcare (I'm not holding my breath on that). I was disappointed to hear this at first but it isn't unexpected the way things are going. It was one of those reality flips. For years people have been saying how rotten Obamacare is and then suddenly its GREAT!

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[goyacobol]

So....Obamacare wasn't repealed, sigh... In this press conference, Trump explains not one Democrat voted for his bill (or Paul Ryans bill apparently) and now Obamacare is about to explode with premium increases anywhere from 50% to 106% and higher deductibles. To paraphrase, the Democrats truly own this mess now. He's hopeful that after things become even worse, the D's will come around and a bipartisan agreement can be reached for workable healthcare (I'm not holding my breath on that). I was disappointed to hear this at first but it isn't unexpected the way things are going. It was one of those reality flips. For years people have been saying how rotten Obamacare is and then suddenly its GREAT!
<...>

Thanks SummerLite. If Trump could only be that reasonable on the US empire regime change front he might be a "great" president I think. We just have to "wait and see" I suppose. I think he's "trying". Of course many of the MIC and intelligence agencies situations are not so easy to deal with. Not to mention other hidden players. :/ 4D STS

 

[JGeropoulas]

So....Obamacare wasn't repealed, sigh... In this press conference, Trump explains not one Democrat voted for his bill (or Paul Ryans bill apparently) and now Obamacare is about to explode with premium increases anywhere from 50% to 106% and higher deductibles. To paraphrase, the Democrats truly own this mess now. He's hopeful that after things become even worse, the D's will come around and a bipartisan agreement can be reached for workable healthcare (I'm not holding my breath on that). I was disappointed to hear this at first but it isn't unexpected the way things are going. It was one of those reality flips. For years people have been saying how rotten Obamacare is and then suddenly its GREAT!

Here's an interesting optimistic viewpoint:
https://www.sott.net/article/346264-Scott-Adams-Trump-and-healthcare

 

[JEEP]

So....Obamacare wasn't repealed, sigh... In this press conference, Trump explains not one Democrat voted for his bill (or Paul Ryans bill apparently) and now Obamacare is about to explode with premium increases anywhere from 50% to 106% and higher deductibles. To paraphrase, the Democrats truly own this mess now. He's hopeful that after things become even worse, the D's will come around and a bipartisan agreement can be reached for workable healthcare (I'm not holding my breath on that). I was disappointed to hear this at first but it isn't unexpected the way things are going. It was one of those reality flips. For years people have been saying how rotten Obamacare is and then suddenly its GREAT!

Here's an interesting optimistic viewpoint:
https://www.sott.net/article/346264-Scott-Adams-Trump-and-healthcare

From the Scott Adams article:

I have been predicting this story arc for some time now. So far, we're ahead of schedule.

In the 2D world, where everything is just the way it looks, and people are rational, Trump and Ryan failed to improve healthcare. But in the 3D world of persuasion, Trump just had one of the best days any president ever had: He got promoted from Hitler to incompetent. And that promotion effectively defused the Hitler-hallucination bomb that was engineered by the Clinton campaign.

In all seriousness, the Trump-is-Hitler illusion was the biggest problem in the country, and maybe the world. It was scaring people to the point of bad health. It made any kind of political conversation impossible. It turned neighbors and friends against each other in a way we have never before seen. It was inviting violence, political instability, and worse.

In my opinion, the Trump-is-Hitler hallucination was the biggest short-term problem facing the country. Congress just solved for it, albeit unintentionally. Watch the opposition news abandon the Trump-is-scary concept to get all over the "incompetent" theme.

No one wants an incompetent president, but calling the other side a bunch of bumblers is routine politics. We just went from an extraordinary risk (Trump=Hitler) to ordinary politics (The other side=incompetent). Ordinary politics won't spark a revolution or make you punch a coworker. This is a good day for all of us. It just doesn't look that way because the news is distracting you with the healthcare issue, which is also important, but a full level down in importance from electing Hitler (in your mind).

I hope he's right & the Trump/Hitler screeching fades away along w/ the more & more blatant assassination references as well - Color Revolution fail!

 

[griffin]

Found today at SFGate, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, “Willie Brown, you know what the motto should be for the Trump administration?”

“No.”

“Elect a clown, and you get a circus.”

 

[JGeropoulas]

Found today at SFGate, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, “Willie Brown, you know what the motto should be for the Trump administration?”

“No.”

“Elect a clown, and you get a circus.”

The alternatives would be "Elect a psychopath, and you get a pathocracy" or "Elect a Clinton, and you get screwed".

...
I hope he's right & the Trump/Hitler screeching fades away along w/ the more & more blatant assassination references as well - Color Revolution fail!

Yeah, Trump sure better watch out for those crazed "lone gunmen--or gunwomen" and Anthony Weiner better watch out for Clinton-assisted "suicide".

 

[JGeropoulas]

Nunes Must Ask FBI's Comey About Montgomery Mass Surveillance Case
By Larry Klayman, attorney and founder of Judicial Watch
NewsMax
Sunday, 19 Mar 2017
…
As I have written in this Newsmax blog and elsewhere particularly of late, my client, former NSA and CIA contractor Dennis Montgomery, holds the keys to disproving the false claims of those representatives and senators on the House and Senate intelligence committees, reportedly as well as FBI Director James Comey, that there is no evidence that the president and his men were wiretapped.

Montgomery left the NSA and CIA with 47 hard drives and over 600 million pages of information, much of which is classified, and sought to come forward legally as a whistleblower to appropriate government entities, including congressional intelligence committees, to expose that the spy agencies were engaged for years in systematic illegal surveillance on prominent Americans, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, other justices, 156 judges, prominent businessmen such as Donald Trump, and even yours truly. Working side by side with Obama's former Director of National Intelligence (DIA), James Clapper, and Obama's former Director of the CIA, John Brennan, Montgomery witnessed “up close and personal” this “Orwellian Big Brother” intrusion on privacy, likely for potential coercion, blackmail or other nefarious purposes.

But when Montgomery came forward as a whistleblower to congressional intelligence committees and various other congressmen and senators, including Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who, like Comey, once had a reputation for integrity, he was “blown off;” no one wanted to even hear what he had to say. The reason, I suspect, is that Montgomery’s allegations were either too hot to handle, or the congressional intelligence and judiciary committees already knew that this unconstitutional surveillance was being undertaken. Moreover, given the power of the NSA, CIA, and DNI, for congressional committee heads to take action to legitimately and seriously investigate and if necessary recommend prosecution of officials like Clapper and Brennan could, given the way Washington works, result in the spy agencies disclosing and leaking (as occurred recently with General Michael Flynn), the details of their mass surveillance, ruining the careers if not personal lives of any politician who would take them on.

After Montgomery was turned away as a whistleblower, he came to me at Freedom Watch. With the aid of the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who I had come to respect and trust over the years of my public interest advocacy, we brought Montgomery forward to FBI Director James Comey, through his General Counsel James Baker. Under grants of immunity, which I obtained through Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Curtis, Montgomery produced the hard drives and later was interviewed under oath in a secure room at the FBI Field Office in the District of Columbia. There he laid out how persons like then-businessman Donald Trump were illegally spied upon by Clapper, Brennan, and the spy agencies of the Obama administration. He even claimed that these spy agencies had manipulated voting in Florida during the 2008 presidential election, which illegal tampering resulted in helping Obama to win the White House.

This interview, conducted and videoed by Special FBI Agents Walter Giardina and William Barnett, occurred almost two years ago, and nothing that I know of has happened since. It would appear that the FBI’s investigation was buried by Comey, perhaps because the FBI itself collaborates with the spy agencies to conduct illegal surveillance. In landmark court cases which I filed after the revelations of Edward Snowden, the Honorable Richard Leon, a colleague of Judge Lamberth, had ruled that this type of surveillance constituted a gross violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. (See _www.freedomwatchusa.org for more information.)

A few months ago, given FBI’s seeming inaction in conducting a bona fide timely investigation of the treasure trove of information Montgomery had produced and testified to, I went to Chairman Bob Goodlatte of the House Judiciary Committee, as I had done earlier with Senator Grassley, since Montgomery had revealed that judges had been spied upon, and asked his staff to inquire of Director Comey the status of the investigation. I have heard nothing back from Goodlatte or his staff and they have not responded to recent calls and emails.

So last Thursday [3-16-17], I traveled to Capitol Hill to personally meet with Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Ca.) of the House Intelligence Committee and, when his scheduler claimed that he was “unavailable,” forcefully pushed for a meeting with one of his committee lawyers, Allen R. Souza, and fully briefed him about Montgomery and the FBI’s apparent cover-up. I told this staff intel lawyer to inform Chairman Nunes of the facts behind this apparent cover-up before the committee holds its hearing on the alleged Trump wiretaps and questions Comey this [past] Monday, March 20, in open session. My expressed purpose: to have Chairman Nunes of the House Intelligence Committee ask Comey, under oath, why he and his FBI have seemingly not moved forward with the Montgomery investigation.

[This past week during the hearings, Nunes did not question Comey about this, but a few days later, told the press that he’s seen intelligence that shows that communications of some of Trump’s staffers have been captured as part of surveillance of another person, and that nothing obtained had anything to do with Russia. More troubling, Nunes said that transcripts of this intelligence had been unmasked to reveal specific names of those Trump staffers—something rarely done which can only authorized by a few people.]

During my meeting with House Intelligence Committee counsel Allen R. Sousa I politely warned him that if Chairman Nunes, who himself had that same day undercut President Trump by also claiming that there is no evidence of surveillance by the Obama administration, I would go public with what would appear to be the House Intelligence Committee’s complicity in keeping the truth from the American people and allowing the FBI to continue its apparent cover-up of the Montgomery “investigation.” [which would explain Nunes urgency to brief President Trump, which has been harshly condemned by other hearing panel members, especially the Democrats who say this undermines any faith that Nunes is acting impartially as Chairman.]

And, that is where it stands today. The big question: will House Intelligence Committee Chairman Nunes do his job and hold FBI Director Comey’s feet to the fire about the Montgomery investigation? [As of now, the answer is “No”, unless Comey (hopefully) is recalled to testify]
Original article:
_http://www.newsmax.com/LarryKlayman/chariman-nunes-fbi-james-comey-montgomery-whitsleblower/2017/03/19/id/779551/


…
Montgomery’s claims aren’t new, as other whistleblowers have alleged the same. Former head of the NSA’s digital spying team William Binney also came forward. Binney disclosed as fact the U.S. was spying on everyone in the U.S. and storing the data forever, and the U.S. was quickly becoming an Orwellian state. The Feds tried to intimidate him into shutting up:

“Numerous FBI officers held a gun to Binney’s head as he stepped naked from the shower. He watched with his wife and youngest son as the FBI ransacked their home. Later Binney was separated from the rest of his family, and FBI officials pressured him to implicate one of the other complainants in criminal activity. During the raid, Binney attempted to report to FBI officials the crimes he had witnessed at NSA, in particular the NSA’s violation of the constitutional rights of all Americans. However, the FBI wasn’t interested in these disclosures. Instead, FBI officials seized Binney’s private computer, which to this day has not been returned despite the fact that he has not been charged with a crime.

On top of prior allegations, Russ Tice [former NSA intelligence analyst] also alleged that the Obama administration tapped judges and SCOTUS…even “tapped members of Congress and the military.”

Stratfor emails published by Wikileaks also showed the Democrats manipulated the 2008 presidential election, Business Insider reported. This means that Montgomery may have already had his evidence corroborated twice.

The FBI had Montgomery’s testimony and evidence for over two years and did nothing despite having the holy grail of “intrusion on privacy, likely for potential coercion, blackmail or other nefarious purposes.”


Full article, including video of Russ Tice in an RT interview:
_https://wearechange.org/bombshell-cia-whistleblower-dennis-montgomery-leaks-47-hard-drives-exposing-obama-administration-massive-surveillance-of-govt-employees/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wrc+%28We+Are+Change%29

 

[JEEP]

Found today at SFGate, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, “Willie Brown, you know what the motto should be for the Trump administration?”

“No.”

“Elect a clown, and you get a circus.”

And perhaps Snoop Dogg's music vid w/ mock execution of a clown dressed as Trump kicked it off:

Snoop Dogg 'shoots' Trump clown in video

A music video featuring Snoop Dogg is causing controversy because of a scene with a mock execution of a clown dressed as President Trump.Source: CNN

http://<iframe width="854" height="...Hs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Snoop's vid - and if you had a clown phobia before . . . ]

http://<iframe width="854" height="...JE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[And what about all the terrifying clowns in the woods that keep happening?]

_http://www.cnn.com/videos/entertainment/2017/03/15/snoop-dogg-donald-trump-ronald-klump-lavender-music-video-ekr-orig-vstop.cnn

Just a coincidence - right?!

Yeah, Trump sure better watch out for those crazed "lone gunmen--or gunwomen" and Anthony Weiner better watch out for Clinton-assisted "suicide".

You mean like two gunshots in the back?

 

[JEEP]

Armed crazed clowns in woods > clown in the street arrested in VA for 'wearing a mask':

Virginia man dressed as Joker charged with wearing mask in public

WINCHESTER, Va. — Virginia police wasn’t joking about the state’s mask law when they arrested a man who dressed and painted his face to look like The Joker on Friday.

Police received several calls about a “suspicious” man dressed as The Joker roaming around the town about 2 p.m.

Officers spotted Jeremy Putnam, 31, wearing a black cape and carrying a sword while walking on Papermill and South Pleasant Valley roads, police said in a news release.

He was arrested a short time later and charged with wearing a mask in public. If convicted, he faces five years in jail.

Virginia’s mask law forbids anyone over 16 years old to wear anything that would “conceal” his or her identity in public. Though Putnam’s “Joker” makeup wasn’t exactly a physical mask, it still covered up his identity.

Any “hood or other device” is also included in the ban.

Traditional holiday and theater costumes are part of the exception.

Hmm - so carrying a sword wasn't an issue - just face paint? Funny how this guy looks a lot like Dylan Roof to me:

Any connection between Mask of Sanity & these events w/ clowns - bread & circuses on some level?

 

[angelburst29]

A pro-Trump demonstration on Saturday in Huntington Beach, California, broke into violence, with anti-fascist demonstrators with pepper spray brawling with pro-Trump protesters.

Pro-Trump MAGA rally erupts into violent clash with counter protesters in California (Videos)
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/25/pro-trump-maga-rally-erupts-into-violent-clash-with-counter-prot/22011867/

At the outset of the march, a permitted event that began at noon, there was simple antagonism, with the MAGA crowd and the anti-Trump group trading jeers.

The violence erupted, according to the Los Angeles Times, when an anti-Trump protester fired pepper spray at the organizer of the event. Afterward, the black mask-clad protester was set upon by the pro-Trump crowd.

In the videos tweeted out by reporters on the scene, pro-Trump demonstrators can be seen swinging "Trump" flags at the heads of the anti-Trump protesters.

We'll update this story with more information as it becomes available.

 

[JGeropoulas]

...
US Senate Republicans Threaten Rule-Change if Dems Veto Supreme Court Pick
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703221051848233-god-dems-supreme-court/

Under present Senate rules, a 60-vote supermajority is needed to confirm a Supreme Court justice. However, a 52-seat majority offers Republicans the option of changing the rules to allow confirmation with a simple majority.
...
Later on Wednesday Gorsuch will spend his third day before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats this week have unsuccessfully pressed Gorsuch to discuss politics and Gorsuch has repeatedly stated that judges are above politics and simply responsible for determining whether laws passed by Congress are consistent with the US Constitution.
...

It's just amazing (psychopathic?) how politicians are so brazen in their lies and hypocrisy--given the continuous video documentation of their words and actions. The Democrats in all seriousness, are questioning Judge Gorsuch as if he's a complete unknown to them. Yet in 2006 when he was nominated to become the Federal Judge he is now, he was confirmed by simplest means available: a voice vote in the Senate–which included 45 Democrats.

Current Democratic senators who voted for his confirmation at the time include Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (Vt.).

Many other Senate Democrats in 2006 voted to confirm Gorsuch, including such notables as John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barrack Obama

 

[angelburst29]

President Trump's new Innovation Office is a predictable step given his pledge to run a more efficient government using the example of business, political analyst Victor Olevich said.

New White House Innovation Office is 'Logical Step' in Trump's Reform Plan
https://sputniknews.com/us/201703271052013126-trump-kushner-white-house-department/

President Trump is setting up a "White House Office of American Innovation" which will be headed by his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

The new department has been conceived as a "SWAT team" comprised of able former business executives. Trump hopes it will be able to implement ideas from the business world to improve the work of the federal government.

The new office is particularly focused on innovation in technology and data and is working with tech giants such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, the Washington Post reported.

Kushner told the newspaper that the administration wants to borrow some principles of government from the private sector.

"The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens," Kushner said.

The White House has said that more details about the new office will be announced on Monday.

Vladimir Bruter, a political analyst at Russia's International Institute of Humanities and Political Research, told RT that Kushner's role as the head of the new department demonstrates the belief that Trump has in him.

"I think that Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka are people who the President trusts a lot and are very helpful for him. Strictly speaking, from the very beginning, Kushner received the status of presidential assistant in a very complex area, the Middle East peace process. It's very important to have somebody next to you who shares your views and can give the right advice at a critical moment and in the right direction," Bruter said.

Bruter said that the President is also seeking to bolster his position after the failure to get a new healthcare bill through Congress.

"The failure to abolish Obamacare has already shown that the administration needs to strengthen its lobbying efforts. If Trump's administration had been more attentive to opposition-minded Republicans, a solution would have been found in Congress. Therefore, Trump needs to consolidate all the forces at his disposal," Bruter said.

Political analyst Victor Olevich said that the creation of the new office is logical given Trump's pre-election promise to bring business know-how to the White House.

"The creation of a new White House department, an office of innovation, is entirely logical. During his election campaign, Donald Trump promised to fix relations between the state and business and make American bureaucracy more economical, cheaper and more effective. And to attract business in order to achieve this," Olevich said.

The Trump administration is pushing a hard bargain with Israel to limit its settlement activity because it knows that Palestinians and the Arab states won't support a peace process without that concession, analyst and former Israeli civil servant Dan Arbell told Radio Sputnik.

Israel 'Surprised' by Trump Administration's Demand to Limit Settlements
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703271052010493-israel-palestine-trump-talks/

US President Donald Trump is keen to broker a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians and the White House has been discussing the issue with the Israeli government in recent weeks.

Last month, the US President broke with decades of US policy by saying that Washington will not insist on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but wants to achieve a solution that "both parties like."

At a press conference with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump called on Israel to reduce its settlement-building on Palestinian land. "I'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit," he told Netanyahu.

[...] Dan Arbell, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy and a 26-year veteran of the Israeli Foreign Service told Radio Sputnik that while the Trump administration is keen to broker a deal, it appears to be putting considerable pressure on Israel for concessions.

"I think that the Israeli government has been quite surprised by the fact that the Trump administration is insisting on limiting settlement activity, that Israel does not have a carte blanche to do whatever it pleases in terms of construction in the occupied West Bank," Arbell said.

The US wants an assurance that Israel will restrict settlements in order to maintain Palestinian engagement in a process that has stalled since negotiations attempted by John Kerry collapsed in 2014.

The number one issue for them is to stop Israeli settlement activity. If the Trump administration does not work to limit Israeli settlement activity then the Palestinians would probably not come to the negotiating table."

On Thursday, the US Senate approved the appointment of David Friedman as ambassador to Israel. Friedman has attracted criticism for opposing the two-state solution and making inflammatory statements about liberal Jews.

Although congressional Democrats and the mainstream media will never admit it, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ statement yesterday that the personal communications of the Trump campaign and possibly Trump himself were collected by U.S. intelligence agencies through "incidental collection" is a bombshell.

The Meaning of Devin Nunes’ Revelation of “Incidental” Spying on the Trump Campaign by the Obama Administration
https://townhall.com/columnists/fredfleitz/2017/03/23/the-meaning-of-devin-nunes-revelation-of-incidental-spying-on-the-trump-campaign-by-the-obama-administration-n2303106

Specifically, Nunes said:

"None of this intelligence collection was related to Russia or investigations of Russian activities or the Trump team.

"The U.S. Intelligence Community on numerous occasions collected information on U.S. citizens involved with the Trump transition. Nunes said this collection was legal and incidental.

"Details associated with U.S. persons associated with the incoming administration, details with little or no intelligence value, were widely disseminated in Intelligence Community reporting.

In response to this new information, Nunes asked the FBI, CIA and NSA directors to provide a full account of these surveillance activities. Nunes posed these questions that he wants the Intelligence Committee to investigate:

"Who was aware of this collection?

"Why was this collection not disclosed to Congress?

"Who requested and authorized the additional unmasking of the names of Trump officials from intelligence reporting?

"Whether anyone directed the Intelligence Community to focus on Trump associates.

"Whether laws, procedures or regulations were broken."

So what does this mean?

I believe this new information confirms that the Obama administration really was using U.S. foreign intelligence agencies to conduct domestic surveillance of the Trump campaign. Nunes’ information suggests this may have been done by scouring intelligence collected for other reasons to find references to Trump aides that Obama officials could leak to the news media to hurt Trump before and after the election.

If intelligence agencies were including personal information about Trump officials of no intelligence value in intelligence reports, this could be a serious instance of intelligence politicization by intelligence officials and possibly a violation of the law.

Nunes’ disclosure that names of other Trump officials were “unmasked” from intelligence reports that had nothing to do with Russia or an investigation of these officials is very disturbing. Unmasking the name of a U.S. citizen from an intelligence report is a serious matter and is only done in extraordinary circumstances. [When information on a member of Congress is incidentally collected by NSA, it is destroyed and not disseminated unless there is a compelling national security reason not to do so.] Based on what Nunes said and intelligence leaks against Trump before and after the election, I believe there is a strong possibility this unmasking was politically motivated.

Nunes’ information could move this story past the Trump Tower wiretapping and GCHQ allegations, both of which appear to be false and have distracted attention from real issues. I have believed for some time that Obama officials abused U.S. intelligence agencies to collect information to hurt Trump before and after the election through FISA warrants to collect against Trump campaign officials and by looking for references to Trump officials in NSA and CIA reports collected for other reasons. Nunes’ statement suggests the latter might have occurred. We still don’t know whether the FISA warrants were requested.

Nunes’ press conference may help congressional Republicans and the Trump administration recover from the damage done by the circus-like House Intelligence Committee hearing on Monday that Democratic members exploited – helped by the fickle FBI Director James Comey -- to promote unproven and scurrilous allegations against the Trump team and downplay illegal leaks of national security information to hurt Trump. The media has ignored the contentions by Republican committee members and President Trump that the abuse of U.S. intelligence and the leaking of intelligence to hurt Trump are where the real crimes were committed in this case. Nunes’ disclosure bolsters this argument. This information also at least partially vindicates President Trump on his allegations that the Obama administration spied on him.

Addendum: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff released a statement via Twitter criticizing Nunes for the above disclosure before he shared this information with the House Intelligence Committee. Schiff said it is not possible to conduct a credible investigation when Nunes makes disclosures in this way. This is laughable since Schiff proved by his conspiracy theorizing and mudslinging for the cameras at the Intelligence Committee hearing on Monday that he has no interest in a credible investigation. Kudos to Congressman Nunes for fighting back against Schiff and his politicization of intelligence oversight to smear President Trump.


Gen McInerney: Obama Was Listening to Trump Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7VvyUjkhWc (4:33 min.)

 

[aaronfransen]

Trump - sheep or proverbial wolf?

I have a bit of a strange theory.

Everyone expected Trump to make nice in the world, to recall all the armies and stop bombing the middle east into the dark ages. So far that's not happened, and in fact it appears that the game has been cranked up a notch instead.

What if that's on purpose? Trump *does* want to get out of the middle east, but he can't do it by himself.

What if all the nice talk he's been making about the military (never mind increasing their budget) was to get them on his side. What if at some point he knows he's going to need a little "might" to take on (a) the CIA and (b) the Federal Reserve.

If it's made known that the CIA was responsible for the intelligence that led to all the civilian deaths lately, there's Trump's cue to go after the CIA. And if he does that, the so-called elite wouldn't dare challenge him if he goes after the Fed. Of course they won't go without a fight, and we're going to start seeing more terrorism in the US as a means of fighting Trump.

Crazy, I know. But possible it's just crazy like a fox.