The Deep State War Heats Up :ph34r:

[4merper4mer]

47 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

Rocket Man... Who does Trump refer to as Rocket Man? 

 

Why does that matter? 

 

How did the DPRK's missile program advance so suddenly in the past 12 months? 

 

Who else has referred to himself as Rocket Man in the past? 

 

Where did that Rocket Man get billions of dollars in subsidies from? 

 

Why does that matter? 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/22/mattis-storm-clouds-gathering-over-korean-peninsula.html

 

What is the DPRK really? 

 

 

Is Kiki Dee in on it too?

[3rdnlng]

1 hour ago, Deranged Rhino said:

Rocket Man... Who does Trump refer to as Rocket Man? 

 

Why does that matter? 

 

How did the DPRK's missile program advance so suddenly in the past 12 months? 

 

Who else has referred to himself as Rocket Man in the past? 

 

Where did that Rocket Man get billions of dollars in subsidies from? 

 

Why does that matter? 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/22/mattis-storm-clouds-gathering-over-korean-peninsula.html

 

What is the DPRK really? 

Elton John was hinting around about it.

[Deranged Rhino]

21 minutes ago, 3rdnlng said:

Elton John was hinting around about it.

 

Who just launched a rocket last night?

[4merper4mer]

4 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

Who just launched a rocket last night?

 

Raghib?

[3rdnlng]

25 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

Who just launched a rocket last night?

Rocket Man

Elton John

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high, as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much, I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you didn't
And all this science, I don't understand
It's just my job, five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

Now I think it's gonna be a long long time
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
And I think it's gonna be a long long time

Songwriters: ELTON JOHN, BERNARD J.P. TAUPIN

© Universal Music Publishing Group

For non-commercial use only.

[/dev/null]

9 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

Who just launched a rocket last night?

Santa?

[Deranged Rhino]

5 minutes ago, /dev/null said:

Santa?

 

[Nanker]

16 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

Who just launched a rocket last night?

Elon John?  

 

So he's not going to build a solar roof shingle plant in Buffalo, he's going to do it in NK? 

 

[3rdnlng]

Now even the Washington Post is reporting on it.

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/no-longer-a-‘lonely-battle’-how-the-campaign-against-the-mueller-probe-has-taken-hold/ar-BBHfu14?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

 

For months, efforts to discredit special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign flickered at the fringes of political debate.

Now, the allegation that FBI and Justice Department officials are part of a broad conspiracy against President Trump is suddenly center stage, amplified by conservative activists, GOP lawmakers, right-leaning media and the president himself. The clamor has become a sustained backdrop to the special counsel investigation, with congressional committees grilling a parade of law enforcement officials in recent days.

"Until recently, it has been a lonely battle," said Tom Fitton, whose conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has helped drive the charges by unearthing internal Justice Department documents. "Our concerns about Mueller are beginning to take hold."

Subscribe to the Post Most newsletter: Today’s most popular stories on The Washington Post

The partisan atmosphere is a sharp departure from the near-universal support that greeted Mueller's selection as special counsel in May — and threatens to shadow his investigation's eventual findings. Trump, while vowing to cooperate with the special counsel, has also encouraged attacks on Mueller's credibility, tweeting that the investigation is "the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. political history."

The controversy, percolating for months, escalated dramatically in early December with the revelation of text messages in which one of Mueller's former top investigators, Peter Strzok, called Trump an "idiot" last year and predicted Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would win the election in a landslide.

As the deputy head of counterintelligence at the FBI, Strzok played a critical role in both the Clinton email investigation last year and the Russia probe before he was removed by Mueller this summer.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who met with Fitton earlier this year and has for months alleged that the FBI was working against Trump's election, said in an interview that many of his Republican colleagues now share his view that there has been an orchestrated effort against Trump.

"I've had all kinds of Republicans come up to me and say, 'This is unbelievable, it looks like the FBI was trying to put its finger on the scale here,' " Jordan said.

Among current and former law enforcement officials, the public attacks on the FBI are seen as an indirect way of trying to discredit Mueller and blunt future findings he may issue, a view shared by many Democratic lawmakers.

"There is a concerted push from the White House . . . and their allies to bring the investigations to a halt," Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview. "They are also trying to attack Mueller's credibility and the credibility of the FBI, so that whatever Mueller finds can be rejected . . . as a fake."

"The White House would like to have the best of both worlds," he added. "They make the public case that they are cooperating, while their allies do the dirty work."

In response, Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer overseeing the response to the Russia investigation, said in a statement that "the President respects the Special Counsel and his process and will continue to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel."

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

© J. Scott Applewhite/AP Special counsel Robert S. Mueller departs the U.S. Capitol after a closed-door meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in June.

Some of the key players in the campaign against the special counsel probe are veterans of politically charged investigations, having helped drive attacks against the Clintons in the 1990s and during last year's presidential campaign.

One leading critic is David Bossie, a former Trump deputy campaign manager. He was a congressional investigator who examined President Bill Clinton's campaign finances in the late 1990s and currently leads Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group that produced movies critical of Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.

Bossie now makes frequent appearances on Fox News and other conservative media outlets, arguing that the special counsel is being used to try to delegitimize Trump. He said it is crucial to make a sustained fight against the probe.

"It is not that I wake up and say, 'How do I match the Clinton playbook?' " Bossie said. "I just have the experience of understanding the rapid-response aspect of messaging. You have to be out there with a counter, set-the-facts-straight message or highlight what the problems are very quickly, or these things get away from you."

He argues there is no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

"I'm not against Mueller; I'm against the concept of an investigation as a red herring," he said.

Fitton's Judicial Watch group, too, has a long history of investigating the Clintons, having filed numerous lawsuits against the administration of President Bill Clinton. During the 2016 campaign, the organization obtained thousands of emails written by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state.

This year, Judicial Watch has helped stoke the attacks against the Mueller probe with material it obtained through lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act requests. The nonprofit group, which has a $35 million budget and 50 employees, does not release the names of its roughly 500,000 donors, Fitton said.

Fitton has frequently gone on Fox News, conservative websites and Twitter to report his findings. On Dec. 2, after Fitton tweeted that Trump "needs to clean house at FBI/DOJ," Trump retweeted another user's summary of Fitton's statement.

In one email obtained through a Judicial Watch lawsuit, Andrew Weissmann, a senior lawyer working for Mueller, wrote in January that he was "so proud" of then-acting attorney general Sally Yates's decision to defy Trump's executive order banning travel by certain immigrants. The FOIA request was filed in May and was received in the fall, Fitton said. Other requests have taken longer or been rejected all together, he said.

Judicial Watch also obtained emails regarding FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe that the group says show he was involved in helping his wife, Jill, run as a Democratic candidate for a state Senate seat in Virginia.

McCabe was told in one email that then-Director James B. Comey had "no issue" with McCabe's wife seeking the seat. Another document said Clinton attended a June 2015 fundraiser for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's political action committee, which in turn gave nearly $500,000 to Jill McCabe for her state Senate bid.

Republicans have also raised questions about the FBI's handling of a dossier produced by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who was hired by a research firm called Fusion GPS to investigate Trump's ties to Russia. Senate Intelligence Committee investigators on Thursday interviewed Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official whose wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS in 2016.

In a recent court filing, Fusion GPS said it was being targeted by congressional committees "coordinating with the President [and] his personal lawyers . . . to misdirect attention to Fusion . . . due to their perceived role in exposing the ties between the Trump campaign and the Russians."

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's outside attorneys, has called for a second special counsel to be appointed to investigate the Fusion GPS matter. He said in an interview that his proposal "is in no way related to Robert Mueller," with whom he said he has "a professional and cooperative relationship."

The pressure on Mueller's team has increased as prosecutors unveiled charges this fall against four former Trump advisers.

Less than two weeks after former national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, the Justice Department disclosed anti-Trump and pro-Clinton texts that Strzok exchanged with another senior FBI official, Lisa Page, while they were having an affair and overseeing sensitive political investigations of those candidates.

The texts were uncovered in July by the Justice Department's inspector general, which has been investigating FBI decision-making during the probe into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.

When the IG warned Mueller in the summer about what the probe had found, Mueller immediately removed Strzok from his team. Strzok was reassigned to a job in the FBI's human resources division.

Page had also worked on the Mueller team, but left two weeks earlier for what officials said were unrelated reasons.

The Post has reported that in a 2015 text, Strzok said that Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who sought the Democratic nomination against Clinton, was "an idiot like Trump. Figure they cancel each other out." In 2016 texts, Strzok wrote, "God, Hillary should win 100,000,000-0" and that he was "worried about what happens if [Clinton] is elected."

Former colleagues defended him, saying Strzok's personal opinions had no impact on how he conducted investigations.

"To think Pete could not do his job objectively shows no understanding of the organization," said Michael Steinbach, former executive assistant director of the FBI's National Security Branch, adding: "We have Democrats, we have Republicans, we have conservatives and liberals. . . . Having personal views doesn't prevent us from independently following the facts."

But as news of Strzok's text messages spread, Trump jumped on the story, tweeting: "Report: 'ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE' Now it all starts to make sense!"

Republicans in Congress took the cue, seizing upon the texts to attack the credibility of the FBI and the Mueller investigation.

"The senior levels of the FBI have been infected with an intractable bias that seemed to favor Hillary Clinton and work against President Donald Trump," said Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida on Fox News on Wednesday, adding, "It's time for Bob Mueller to put up or shut up: If there's evidence of collusion, let's see it."

The calls for Mueller's ouster are strongest in the House, where a group of Republicans have been calling for the special counsel to resign.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan has said Mueller's investigation should proceed without interference. But he has allowed several committee investigations that are calling into question the integrity of the probe.

"The House has a constitutional obligation to exercise congressional oversight, and the speaker is supportive of our committee chairmen carrying out their work," said Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong.

In recent days, for example, three House committees grilled McCabe over his participation in the FBI's Russia investigation and his role in the FBI examination into Clinton's use of a private email server.

Democrats called it a thinly veiled attempt to weaken McCabe and slow down Mueller's probe. McCabe plans to retire in a few months when he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits, people familiar with the matter told The Post.

"Those people should be investigating the real crime, which is Russia's interference in our democracy, and instead they're being hauled before a six-hour series of interviews," said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.).

At the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and a small group of Republican lawmakers are discussing writing a report next year that would highlight alleged "corruption" at the FBI, according to people familiar with the plans. Such a report would focus on information about the conduct of FBI officials in the course of the Russia investigation, those people said.

On the Senate side, one of the loudest voices has been Republican Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who chairs the Judiciary Committee and has raised questions about the impartiality of Mueller's probe.

He has called for McCabe to be fired and shown a willingness to dig into Mueller's past tenure as FBI director, complaining Thursday that the FBI and DOJ have been too slow to rout out people peddling "political influence."

Grassley has also called for a second special counsel to look at decisions the FBI and DOJ made at the time that the Obama administration approved a uranium deal giving Russia a significant stake in the U.S. market. The inquiry would bring de facto scrutiny on Mueller, who was FBI director at the time.

Grassley said that his staff is in touch with Nunes's staff, though he would not specify exactly what elements of their committees' parallel inquiries they were communicating about.

"I wouldn't want to say there's coordination," Grassley said. "There's communication."

He insisted that he was not aiming to discredit Mueller, adding that he has "got confidence [Mueller]'s going to be able to do what he's doing."

Trump, meanwhile, has continued to urge on the questions. This month, he tweeted that after the FBI's "phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more) . . . its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[B-Man]

 Latest Reports of FBI/DOJ Counterintelligence Operation Give Evelyn Farkas Statements New Light…

 

In the past six weeks a stunning amount of evidence has been accumulating that shows how the Obama Administration weaponized the FBI and DOJ and launched a political campaign spying operation into candidate Donald Trump.

 

There have been daily revelations showing a considerable collaboration between the White House, Hillary Clinton, the DNC, Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson; his wife Mary Jacoby, DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr and his wife Fusion GPS employee Nellie Ohr, Russian Dossier author Christopher Steele, FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page; and the highest levels of officials within the FBI, including Chief Legal Counsel James Baker and FBI Asst. Director Andrew McCabe.

 

All of the evidence points in one transparently obvious direction; toward a 2016 collaborative effort structured to use a counterintelligence operation to conduct wiretaps and surveillance on the presidential campaign of candidate Donald Trump.

 

Accepting all of that mounting evidence, does this March 2017 interview with former Obama administration official Evelyn Farkas (Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense), appearing on MSNBC, make more sense now?

 

Quote

 

I was urging my former colleagues, and, and frankly speaking the people on the Hill [Democrat politicians], it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can – get as much intelligence as you can – before President Obama leaves the administration.

 

Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left; so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy, um, that the Trump folks – if they found out HOW we knew what we knew about their, the Trump staff, dealing with Russians – that they would try to compromise those sources and methods; meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence.

 

So I became very worried because not enough was coming out into the open and I knew that there was more.  We have very good intelligence on Russia; so then I had talked to some of my former colleagues and I knew that they were also trying to help get information to the Hill.” [ie. Democrat politicians] (link)

 

 

 

More at the link:................OH, and I don't give a sh*t if you don't like the site.

 

 

 

.

[Deranged Rhino]

Someone is nervous:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-obama/obama-urges-leaders-not-to-split-society-with-online-biases-idUSKBN1EL0LH

[Deranged Rhino]

This deserves a longer post to go with it, but I'm unable to write it currently. I'll come back with more about why this is a REALLY big development - and why Brennan and Clapper are flipping out over this move:

 

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/12/nsa-finally-gets-independent-inspector-general/144844/

 

The NSA just got its own IG.  

[DC Tom]

17 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

This deserves a longer post to go with it, but I'm unable to write it currently. I'll come back with more about why this is a REALLY big development - and why Brennan and Clapper are flipping out over this move:

 

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/12/nsa-finally-gets-independent-inspector-general/144844/

 

The NSA just got its own IG.  

 

Uh...that's kind-of a big deal.  

[Deranged Rhino]

1 hour ago, DC Tom said:

 

Uh...that's kind-of a big deal.  

It's a HUGE deal. 

 

The guy they picked is interesting too. 

*********

 

This is interesting too... (More to say about this as well)

 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/12/13/Is-Iran-s-IRGC-launching-special-patrols-to-fend-off-rebellion-.html

[3rdnlng]

8 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

It's a HUGE deal. 

 

The guy they picked is interesting too. 

I love it.

[Deranged Rhino]

*********

 

This is interesting too... (More to say about this as well)

 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/12/13/Is-Iran-s-IRGC-launching-special-patrols-to-fend-off-rebellion-.html

[DC Tom]

1 minute ago, Deranged Rhino said:

*********

 

This is interesting too... (More to say about this as well)

 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/12/13/Is-Iran-s-IRGC-launching-special-patrols-to-fend-off-rebellion-.html

 

You know, there is a whole shitpot full of overly dramatic, hyperventilating Democrats who I'd like to ship over there for a week, just so they can learn the real meaning of #Resistance.

[B-Man]

10 times the intel community violated the trust of US citizens, lawmakers and allies The Hill, by Sharyl Attkisson

Original Article   No matter where you stand politically, a growing body of facts raises the question: Is there systemic corruption or misfeasance at work inside America’s intelligence agencies? By that, I don’t mean people stealing money. I mean officials who are stealing our privacy — using the tools of intelligence-gathering and law-enforcing, which are meant to protect Americans, to instead spy on them, to gather information that isn’t the government’s business (at least not without a court’s approval). And, in some instances, it appears, to punish or silence those with whom they disagree — personal and political foes, in and out of government.     .

[B-Man]

MAYBE THIS EXPLAINS THE APPARENT (to be charitable) DOJ/FBI COVERUP ON CLINTON EMAIL WHITEWASH?

 

Turns out that Hillary Clinton got contributions totaling more than $381,000 in 2016 campaign contributions.

 

Trump? Just 24 DOJ employees sent his campaign a total of $12,535.

 

No wonder they’ve been stalling  the House Select Committee on Intelligence on its August 2017 request for documents related to the Clinton email probe and related matters?

 

Those data reflect only contributors who specifically listed DOJ as their employer. There may well be many more Trump or Clinton donors who didn’t list DOJ as their employer, since giving your occupation is voluntary

 

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/maybe-this-explains-the-apparent-to-be-charitable-doj-fbi-coverup-on-clinton-email-whitewash-turn/

[Nanker]

18 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

It's a HUGE deal. 

 

The guy they picked is interesting too. 

*********

 

This is interesting too... (More to say about this as well)

 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/12/13/Is-Iran-s-IRGC-launching-special-patrols-to-fend-off-rebellion-.html

"Storch has a track record of supporting whistleblowers, having served as chairman of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Whistleblower Ombudsman Working Group, which established the Whistleblower Ombudsperson program.

Prior to his confirmation, Storch served as deputy inspector general at the Justice Department and a federal prosecutor."

 

Bricks be a-shittin' at the NSA.