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Post 08 Feb 2018, 4:53 pm

Impeach Trump? Oh please! I dream of that. It would be much better with Pence. I am sure you would agree.

Or perhaps you wouldn't be happy then either.
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Post 08 Feb 2018, 4:56 pm

I can't stand Pence. He's completely awful. But he is within the reasonable parameters of the American political spectrum. Trump is not.
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Post 08 Feb 2018, 5:28 pm

freeman3 wrote:I suppose the FBI is behind Don, Jr meeting with someone he was explicitly told was representing the Russian government as part of an attempt by the Russian government to help Trump, said meeting where Don, Jr. was supposed to illegally obtain dirt on Hillary in order to help win a presidential election....


Which has positively nothing to do with the dossier. It seems like you're using a "red herring defense."

Whatever the merits here, the ONLY purpose of this is as a red herring is to prevent Trump from being impeached.


If Congress has the goods, impeach away. At this point, you don't--and you know it.

You want heads to roll at the FBI because they fudged a warrsnt application? Fine.


That's the tip of the iceberg. As someone who values civil liberties, I want to know what happened. If anything untoward happened, I want safeguards put in. If this is as bad as it looks, there are real problems with the FISA procedures that demand review and overhauling.

But it should not impede the investigation of Trump one iota.


Nor should it impede the investigation of Clinton one iota.

Unlike you, this isn't political for me. This is our government malfunctioning, potentially in an illegal way. We need to get to the bottom of this--all of this.

I find it hard to believe that Republicans care at all about this Page FISA application other than as a means to impede the Trump investigation.


What if this is all a fraud? What if Carter Page is not a Russian agent? What if the whole FISA application and subsequent warrants were shams?

Should we not know about it? Should we not all be outraged?

And if it turns out--as I believe it will--that Trump helped Russia in exchange for benefitting his own interests...then I think Republicans will or at least ought to feel ashamed that they tried to impede the Mueller investigation. Because that's what this is really about, isn't it?


There is no impeding Mueller here. The Mueller investigation, as Trey Gowdy and many others have said, should go forward.

For once, take off your partisan hat and demand that all of the truth come out. If it clears Trump, so what?
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Post 08 Feb 2018, 6:27 pm

In theory what you say is fine. The reality is that they are trying to smear the FBI...Then go after Rosenstein...and then allege that since he appointed Mueller that appointment is tainted...then fire Mueller.

This ain't checkers...and this FISA investigation is a rear-guard action to defend Trump. To think otherwise...is to be naive.
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Post 08 Feb 2018, 6:43 pm

freeman3 wrote:In theory what you say is fine. The reality is that they are trying to smear the FBI...Then go after Rosenstein...and then allege that since he appointed Mueller that appointment is tainted...then fire Mueller.

This ain't checkers...and this FISA investigation is a rear-guard action to defend Trump. To think otherwise...is to be naive.


Here’s the funny thing: you know the law. I know cops—and conservatives.

Line cops do not take this as “anti-FBI.” We know the FBI. We like those guys.

Conservatives are not all that fond of Trump. The issues are bigger than one man.
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Post 18 Feb 2018, 12:36 pm

The FBI defends its handling of the tip relating to a Youtube comment by Nikolas Cruz that he wanted to be a professional school shooter...

FBI spokesman: "After a thorough investigation...we were not able to determine who posted it."
Reporter: "But...you had the name."
FBI: "You expect our crack agents to find out who posted something when all we have is a name to go on? Our agents are good...but they're not miracle workers."
Reporter: "Nikolas Cruz=Nikolas Cruz?"
FBI: "Easy for you to say. Probably expect us to find out who shot JFK next."
Reporter: "That would be nice..."
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Post 18 Feb 2018, 4:20 pm

freeman3 wrote:The FBI defends its handling of the tip relating to a Youtube comment by Nikolas Cruz that he wanted to be a professional school shooter...

FBI spokesman: "After a thorough investigation...we were not able to determine who posted it."
Reporter: "But...you had the name."
FBI: "You expect our crack agents to find out who posted something when all we have is a name to go on? Our agents are good...but they're not miracle workers."
Reporter: "Nikolas Cruz=Nikolas Cruz?"
FBI: "Easy for you to say. Probably expect us to find out who shot JFK next."
Reporter: "That would be nice..."


Pretty bad. And, they had a tip from close to him too which fell through the cracks.

Unsatisfactory.
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Post 21 Feb 2018, 7:46 pm

How do you not act on such a tip? I now change my grade from a D- to F.

CNN website - FBI's Admission

The FBI has acknowledged receiving two tips that appear to relate to Cruz ahead of the shooting. One was a January 5 call to a tip line from someone close to him -- one that the FBI said it failed to act on.

The caller provided information about "Cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting," the bureau said.

The information should have been assessed as a "potential threat to life," but the proper protocols weren't followed and the FBI's Miami office was not notified, the agency said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau is investigating what happened.
"We have spoken with victims and families, and deeply regret the additional pain this causes all those affected by this horrific tragedy," Wray said in a statement.

The FBI's admission prompted Florida Gov. Rick Scott to call on Wray to resign.

In addition to the call, a video blogger said he warned the FBI in September about a possible school shooting threat from a YouTube user with the same name as Cruz.

An FBI agent confirmed a field officer in Jackson, Mississippi, received the tip and interviewed the person who shared it.

But no additional information was found to help identify the person who posted the comment and no connection was made to South Florida, said FBI special agent Robert Lasky, who is in charge of the Miami division.

The FBI's missteps have raised questions about whether it could have prevented the shooting. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review Friday into how the Justice Department and FBI respond to indications of potential violence.

The Justice Department will review not just how the Cruz tip was missed, but how authorities respond to similar situations, Sessions said.

"We will make this a top priority," Sessions said in a statement. "It has never been more important to encourage every person in every community to spot the warning signs and alert law enforcement. Do not assume someone else will step up -- all of us must be vigilant. Our children's lives depend on it."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, also called for the House and Senate to conduct investigations into how the FBI reviews public tips in similar instances.
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Post 21 Feb 2018, 8:00 pm

It was pretty horrendous.

But, guns!

Take the guns away and rely on the govern . . . Never mind.
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Post 18 Dec 2019, 11:47 am

It turns out my original grade of the FBI was fairly accurate. What a shame.
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Post 19 Dec 2019, 12:53 pm

What? Law enforcement cherry-picked a warrant application? Shocking news!

I still have the belief that the FBI is a cut above state law enforcement. (Remember how the OJ case exposed sloppiness in the LAPD?; I think the criminal justice system would grind to a crashing halt if every criminal defendant had the resources of an OJ.) But the Carter Page fiasco was the intersection of politics, national security, and a very flawed FISA court. It's not like FBI agents don't have political beliefs; it's important that the FBI has strict rules in dealing with political cases and the rules are followed, so that unconscious bias (or, worse, conscious bias) does not crop up. The problems with the Carter Page appear to lie mostly with the FBI not following its own rules.

The FISA court is flawed because you dont have an adversarial party--the criminal defense attorney--being able to review these applications to make sure they're valid. The FISA judges are reluctant to second-guess law enforcement, and law enforcement knowing they have no one really second-guessing their application, and believing that the warrants are necessary...are tempted to cut corners. It's human nature really. They need to know if they cherry-pick these warrants to mislead the FISA court...then that will jeopardize a case brought as a result of the warrant. That is not true now.

So, in my opinion, let's not throw the entire FBI under the bus just to suit Trump's willingness to destroy our institutions for his personal gain. The important thing with regard to all exercise of government power is that there be effective oversight. When that is missing...abuses will occur.
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Post 11 Nov 2021, 5:53 pm

Is everyone still happy with the Steele Dossier report? I guess it has been completely debunked.

Comments or apologies?

(BTW... Between the Fauci falsehoods, Steele report lies, and Covid mis-truths, I find myself becoming less and less trusting of the State.)

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Post 12 Nov 2021, 9:10 am

Distrust in institutions, including government, began to grow in the 1960s.

https://www.americanprogress.org/articl ... ed-states/

There a lot of reasons for that... most importantly that the politics are not working in peoples interest..

"Political scientists Benjamin Page and Martin Gilens have found that average Americans have little or no influence over U.S. public policy and that “when large majorities of Americans favor policy changes—when 70 to 80 percent want change—they get it less than half the time.”"

The American constitution did not consider party politics, and over time a duopoly evolved which has exacerbated extremism. You finally end up with institutions being politized which are not in other mature democracies .
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Post 12 Nov 2021, 9:56 am

Do you (RickyP) still believe the Steele Dossier, that you used to mis-characterize the previous President?
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Post 12 Nov 2021, 11:36 am

I don't need the Steele Dossier to characterize Trump.

But, you should be careful about saying the Steele dossier has been debunked.The charges against Danchenko don't discredit even if he is convicted. And thats doubtful.

It doesn’t ‘discredit’ large parts of the Steele dossier, since not all of the input from the dossier came from Danchenko or Dolan, nor was all of the information provided BY Danchenko false, or fabricated either. Danchenko is charged with lying about it to the FBI, specifically regarding his own inputs, and those he forwarded from Dolan, not that the information was false.