Posted by Tina
It’s impossible to be an observer of the actors on today’s political stage without stressing a bit. Politicians and their associates get away with egregious offenses and the wheels of justice grind away and nothing ever comes of it…except that we become aware of even more political intrigue and corruption.
Andrew McCarthy is not a fan of Paul Manafort but he is a big fan of the rule of law. His latest piece in National Review, Meuller Scorches the Earth,” is excellent as always:
It was not enough to get a search warrant to ransack the Virginia home of Paul Manafort, even as the former Trump campaign chairman was cooperating with congressional investigators. Mueller’s bad-asses persuaded a judge to give them permission to pick the door lock. That way, they could break into the premises in the wee hours, while Manafort and his wife were in bed sleeping. They proceeded to secure the premises — of a man they are reportedly investigating for tax and financial crimes, not gang murders and Mafia hits — by drawing their guns on the stunned couple, apparently to check their pajamas for weapons. Mueller’s probe more resembles an empire, with 17 prosecutors retained on the public dime. So . . . what exactly is the crime of the century that requires five times the number of lawyers the Justice Department customarily assigns to crimes of the century? No one can say. The growing firm is clearly scorching the earth, scrutinizing over a decade of Manafort’s shady business dealings, determined to pluck out some white-collar felony or another that they can use to squeeze him. …
… The way it’s supposed to work, the Justice Department learns of a crime, so it assigns a prosecutor. To the contrary, this Justice Department assigned a prosecutor — make that: 17 hyper-aggressive prosecutors — and unleashed them to hunt for whatever crime they could find. If you sense that this cuts against the presumption of innocence, you’re onto something. Because of that presumption, coupled with such other constitutional rights as the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable police searches, prosecutors are supposed to be measured in the use of their awesome powers, to employ only as much compulsion as seems appropriate under the circumstances. You don’t get a search warrant when a subpoena will do; if you have to get a warrant, you don’t do a covert pre-dawn entry when ringing the bell in the daytime will easily get you in the door.
DC is chock full of corruption. The Clintons seem to be tied to most of it one way or another. This reminds me of the scandalous behavior of officers under orders from Janet Reno during the Clinton years. How is it that in America a child was ripped from the arms of his family in the dark of night at gun point and without due process to be sent back to a communist country headed by a brutal dictator?
How is it today that our government has managed to get away with surveilling journalists and intimidating and targeting citizens through agencies such as the IRS, OSHA, the FBI and the ATF?
Byron York points to an element of corruption in his article in the Washington Examiner, “Byron York: Showdown looms over Trump dossier; FBI misses third deadline to turn over subpoenaed documents”:
A third deadline has now passed for the FBI and Justice Department to give the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed documents related to the Trump dossier. And for a third time, the bureau has not produced the material.
The dossier is a collection of what former FBI Director James Comey called “salacious and unverified” allegations of collusion between Russia and Trump campaign figures in the 2016 campaign. The Russia allegations were compiled by a former British spy, Christopher Steele, who was commissioned by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which is thought to have been paid for the work by wealthy supporters of Hillary Clinton. The FBI reportedly considered taking over the dossier project in the fall of 2016, when the campaign was at its height, leading Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley to say the dossier matter raised “questions about the FBI’s independence from politics.”
Both Grassley and the House Intelligence Committee have been interested in learning if the FBI ever used the “salacious and unverified” dossier as a basis for requesting surveillance on anyone in the Trump circle. Those questions only intensified this week with reports that the FBI wiretapped Trump associate and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort during the transition period.
Four weeks ago, on Aug. 24, the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the FBI and Justice Department, seeking all internal FBI reports “incorporating, relying on, or referring to” information provided by Steele, his sources, or Fusion GPS. The committee also asked for documents on any FBI or Justice “efforts to corroborate, validate, or evaluate” Steele’s information. And the subpoena sought any surveillance applications that included any information or were based on any information, provided by Steele.
How is it that the FBI gets away with dragging their feet when asked to produce documents that are pertinent to their investigation?
So when do we break in to the homes of FBI guys in the middle of the night to collect information at the point of a gun? It might be more productive than any of the outrageous activities and investigations we’ve witnessed thus far.
I think most Americans want the bad apples of DC removed, regardless their political leanings, so that law and order can be restored and so the work of our government can be conducted as it should be according to the law and our Constitution.
Your thoughts?
EXCELLENT! And your last paragraph says it all!!!!
We don’t have enough criminals in this country….just like the UK….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPZRoLzu-E
Pat Condell is, as they say across the pond, brilliant. Thanks for sharing.
Your title says it all. Who will investigate the investigators?
Under the leadership of the Obama administration our government became so corrupt those involved at the various depts. are now covering up their involvement to keep their jobs and stay out of jail.
Americans died in Fast and Furious and the attorney general was only held in contempt of congress. More Americans died in Benghazi and the cover up has resulted in no one being held accountable. Still today over 30 CIA employees from the annex are silenced from disclosing what they were doing and what they saw the night of the attack. The IRS goes after citizens who hold a different political view than the president and again no one is held accountable. Instead the director retires and all committee investigations cease. Why?
All of the above are known facts that could have led to a grand jury and criminal charges, but didn’t. Today the kitchen sink has been thrown at this administration to find a reason to bring charges based on the intent for a meeting that took place. Remember the FBI director said no charges would/could be filed against Clinton because they could not prove “intent.”
The scales of justice is no longer in balance and the people know it. That’s why Trump won.
Excellent article from American Thinker.
“B. Using the Full Force of FISA to spy on a political opponent
Obama has a long history of spying on his opponents and releasing information damaging to them. It’s a lifelong pattern. He got two opponents’ sealed divorce records unsealed in order to use unsubstantiated claims in pleadings by estranged spouses against them. As President, he continued this practice. By way of example, the Obama Administration did that with IRS, collecting information about the activities and donors of conservative and pro-Israel citizen groups while it refused to grant them the tax-exempt status to which they were entitled. The EPA collected private information from farmers and ranchers and released it to environmental groups to help them in their battles against those farmers and ranchers. There’s no reason to suppose that this pattern didn’t carry over to the 2016 election, and plenty of evidence that it did.”
….
“The editors of the Wall Street Journal also suspect that the dossier was used to obtain the FISA warrant, and, if so, that requires a congressional investigation:
The FISA court sets a high bar for warrants on U.S. citizens, and presumably even higher for wiretapping a presidential campaign. Did Mr. Comey’s FBI marshal the Steele dossier to persuade the court?
All of this is reason for House and Senate investigators to keep exploring how Mr. Comey’s FBI was investigating both presidential campaigns. Russian meddling is a threat to democracy but so was the FBI if it relied on Russian disinformation to eavesdrop on a presidential campaign. The Justice Department and FBI have stonewalled Congressional requests for documents and interviews, citing the “integrity” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
But Mr. Mueller is not investigating the FBI, and in any event his ties to the bureau and Mr. Comey make him too conflicted for such a job. Congress is charged with providing oversight of law enforcement and the FISA courts, and it has an obligation to investigate their role in 2016. The intelligence committees have subpoena authority and the ability to hold those who don’t cooperate in contempt.”
…..
“I agree with Daniel Greenfield. Based on what I’ve read and observed, while the initial surveillance was to stop Trump and help Clinton, Obama used FISA to provide a “national security” cover for politically spying on Trump right up to the inauguration. As he notes, the first 2016 application was made the month after Trump obtained the nomination and the second in October, the month before the election.
As the unmasking picked up pace after the election, the reasonable assumption is that its purpose was to undo the results of the election or hamstring the incoming President.
Now Obama and his allies are or should be terrified that the scope of the illegal surveillance is revealing their criminal acts.
This is why I believe Mueller is growing increasingly desperate to find one crime by one person he can force by threat of jail to provide any shred of anything that might be used to justify their illegal espionage. Greenfield’s conclusion is apt: “The left is sitting on the biggest crime committed by a sitting president. The only way to cover it up is to destroy his Republican successor. A turning point in history is here. If Obama goes down, the left will go down with him. If his coup succeeds, then America ends.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/09/it_was_the_deep_state_that_colluded_with_the_russians_not_trump.html#ixzz4tby4r5ot
Yes the Clinton’s and Bush’s are all up in it.
Billy boy got his start in AK as gov. Regan’s admin Iran Contra where both Bill and CIA’s Pappy Bush were 100% involved and both became a President? Their families are the presidential choices for years?
Hillary’s part was laundering money and other actions while working at the Rose Law firm. President George HW Bush pardoned former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra defendants, charging that the Independent Counsel was attempting “criminalization of policy differences? Once CIA always CIA.
The history is deep on corruption and it never stopped. At what point do the citizens become responsible for turning a blind eye?
Corruption has grown beyond belief yet people follow their deception game. Keep people fighting with this Republican and Democratic party bull in which both party favs are the same in respect to the Criminal Gov activities. The Deep State is right in front of us. They do not even hide anymore.
The CIA is now involved in Domestic ops? That is 100% illegal. CIA must go Kennedy was 100% correct and everything changed after they took him out.
The complicity of many elected and the citizens is part of the problem.
We may have a few differences but we all agree more than one thinks. At what point do people drop political identity and unite? Time is running out.
The ball is in the peoples court before it makes it’s last bounce and the American Democracy experiment falls.
Politics is a problem not a game.
“President George HW Bush pardoned former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra defendants, charging that the Independent Counsel was attempting “criminalization of policy differences?”
Have to beg to differ with you and agree with GHWB on this one TTP.
Reagan was fighting the scourge of communism (legally) in the nations of South America. Democrats were subverting his policy on the side of the communists and against the US. Their main goal was to discredit Reagan to regain power. See here and here It’s always been about power for Democrats.
They had the power of the press (100%) on their side then…constant negative articles intended to undermine US efforts succeeded in turning the people against our efforts in SA. Their ignorant and subversive game to undermine our president ultimately resulted in the spread of communism in South and Central America, the rise in power of the drug cartels, a terrorist presence, and crime…lots and lots of crime and desolation (see Venezuela).
Anyone who thinks US efforts to thwart the spread of communism is a bad thing is nuts.
Lefties in America hug communists (oppression and poverty) and work against US influence (freedom and opportunities to prosper). Because of that the principles found in our Constitution, that could uplift people south of our border, are greatly diminished for the people in our southern hemisphere. Not a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
“At what point do people drop political identity and unite?”
I think we are there, or nearly there, however, if you think the radical left communists that now control the Democrat Party aren’t in the mix you’re more blind than you think.
There may be Republicans who are compromised, or stupid when it comes to strategy, but most are still aligned politically with the ideas of our founders rather than those of Lenin and Marx.
It’s a fools game, and lazy, to imagine that the two parties are identical even if some members on the right have sold their souls.
If you have evidence that Republicans would like to destroy or bypass the Constitution in favor of socialism please share it. There’s a boat load of evidence that the Democrat party works against the Constitution, including the illegal use of government agents, in favor of their absolute power and the ideals of Lenin and Marx.
So pardon me if I do not get upset over one incident.
Comey, Mueller, McCabe and the top alphabet agency people are in a major coverup mission. They are dirty. The field workers are suppressed and silenced.
Trumps people are guilty of some crimes yes but the big criminals are covering up decades of ratlines and they all are fighting for power.
You see Trump going after Bill and Hillary? No he turns a blind eye.
By the way Charles Ortel has the goods to take down the Clinton foundation by the foundations document filings and financials you ought to listen to his evidence. He is quite good.
We also have reason to believe Trump is in it for profits too. He is no outsider he is an insider. They all work for the deep state and reign in profits after office.
Obama just made his 2nd speech deal for wall street………. 400K?
Quid pro quo and we are the sacrificed.
Corruption in a quid pro quo situation requires more than a simple exchange of money for services, no matter how outrageous the sum may seem to us. Corrupted quid pro quo involves bribery and extortion.
It’s not Trumps job to “go after” anyone. He has to depend on the Justice Department, FBI and Congress for that. It appears we have a deep problem within these agencies.
In eight years we never saw the Obama administration do anything but aggressively “go after” the left’s opponents, including private citizens, and cover up, delay, and destroy evidence in matters that could harm them.
How do we expose and rid ourselves of the bad apples? Any ideas?
“Trumps people are guilty of some crimes…”
Name them please.
Well, yesterday it was reported that Jared Kushner has been using a private e-mail account for WH business.
Lock him up?
Watching episode 6 of The Vietnam War series on PBS is seeing history repeat itself with the riots today here and in other countries. How did we come so far since the 60s to end up right back to those same horrible divided country days?
“Most divided the country has been since the Civil War.” Sound familiar?
Did Trump read Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” and is he using the left’s playbook against them and the DC establishment?
Fighting Fire with Fire: A Republican Finally Co-opts Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/09/fighting_fire_with_fire_a_republican_finally_coopts_alinskys_rules_for_radicals.html#ixzz4ti1dlp1p