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[Ohio]

Here's a great summary of the "Russian Collusion" which you will never hear from the media ...

How the FBI and CIA Restarted the Cold War to Protect Themselves

On December 29, 2016, the Obama Administration – with three weeks remaining in its term – issued harsh sanctions against Russia over supposed election interference. Two compounds in the United States were closed and 35 Russian diplomats were ordered to leave the country. Russia responded by calling the actions “Cold War déjà vu.”

In the two years that have elapsed since, it has been learned that the “intelligence” that formed the basis for the sanctions was beyond dubious. A single unverified “dossier” compiled by an ex-British spy with no discernable connections to Russia was shopped to FISA judges and the media as something real.

The dossier was opposition research by the Hillary Clinton campaign, a fact that was not disclosed and actively hidden by off-the-book transactions through the law firm Perkins Coie. As a dog that chases its tail, the fake dossier was being used to cause the investigation which itself lent credibility to the notion of Russian interference.

The FBI and CIA thumbed the eye of an armed nuclear state based on false intelligence. Why? The answer is now obvious: to cover up their own election year shenanigans they thought would remain forever hidden in the inevitable Hillary Clinton victory.

Russian collusion had first come to the electorate’s attention in July. The DNC had lost a cache of its emails either to a phishing scheme or to a hacker. The emails showed the Clinton campaign and the DNC conspiring to fix primaries against Bernie Sanders.

The outcry among Sanders supporters was sufficiently loud that DNC chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned on the eve of the democratic convention. It was a huge scandal. To squelch it for their expected future boss Hillary Clinton, the FBI and CIA constructed a Rube Goldberg machine of “Russian collusion” to blame Trump.

The FBI never bothered to test the computers for a hack. That task was left to CrowdStrike, a private contractor whose CTO and co-founder, Dmitri Alperovitch, is a Russian ex-patriot and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank with an anti-Russian agenda. The Atlantic Council is funded by Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk, a $10 million donor to the Clinton Foundation. The fix was in. CrowdStrike dutifully reported that the Russians were behind the hack.

Lat year The Nation, a progressive publication, got a group of unaffiliated computer experts to test CrowdStrike’s hypothesis and they concluded that the email files were removed from the computer at a speed that makes an off-site download from Russia impossible.

Incredibly, Trump was placed on the defensive for email leaks that showed his opponent fixing the primaries. His campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, resigned because of past dealings with Russia. Trump protested by stating the obvious: the federal government has “no idea” who was behind the hacks.

The FBI and CIA called him a liar, issuing a “Joint Statement” that suggested 17 intelligence agencies agree that it was the Russians. Hillary Clinton took advantage of this “intelligence assessment” in the October debate to portray Trump as Putin’s stooge.

She said, “We have 17, 17 intelligence agencies, civilian and military who have all concluded that these espionage attacks, these cyber-attacks, come from the highest levels of the Kremlin. And they are designed to influence our election. I find that deeply disturbing.”

The media’s fact checkers excoriated Trump for lying. It was the ultimate campaign dirty trick: a joint operation by the intelligence agencies and the media against a political candidate. Trump won anyway against this level of cheating. It has since been learned that the “17 intelligence agencies” claptrap was always false. Powerful insiders at the FBI and CIA authored the intelligence assessment and deceptively packaged it as a consensus.

By December 2016, the FBI and CIA needed something to justify their illegal wiretaps and spying. If not the quid, they at least needed the pro quo: an event that could be portrayed through a hard squint as collusion. They were not without means. They had members of Trump’s transition improperly wiretapped. If they could catch one making a concession to the Russians, they could say “gotcha” – this proves you were always in bed with them.

That is when the CIA and FBI shopped their phony intelligence assessments to President Obama and he sanctioned Russia. Then they listened in on the Trump transition’s conversation with the Russian ambassador the next day. Surely General Flynn, Trump’s incoming national security advisor, would scoff at the sanctions and promise to lift them. That would be the pro quo that proved the quid. They would finally have anecdotal evidence that showed Trump delivering for Putin. General Flynn, though, was uncharacteristically noncommittal. It didn’t work.

The machinations that followed, the secret memos and special counsel, the prosecution of Flynn anyway for what happened in his conversation, the whole sordid mess, is a cover-up. In the inverse logic of Russian collusion, the investigation itself supplies credibility to the collusion narrative. Any attempt to end the investigation is obstruction of justice.

One person has the constitutional responsibility end this nonsense. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who himself was duped into recusing himself by since discredited intelligence, should bow to recent disclosures of impropriety and say enough is enough. His Inspector General will be issuing a report to him sometime soon. Maybe then he will lift his recusal and start the prosecutions. People should go to jail for this.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Here's a great summary of the "Russian Collusion" which you will never hear from the media ...

Are you saying this is Whitewater all over again?

I must say I am flabergasted, the idea that Trump might be innocent never crossed my mind.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

Are you saying this is Whitewater all over again?

I must say I am flabbergasted, the idea that Trump might be innocent never crossed my mind.

Ahh ... the thought of revenge justifies it all!

[Ohio]

I found this article horribly interesting and ironic ...

Trump Is Going Full Alinsky – and His Opponents Are Flummoxed

Let's look at a few of the rules Trump has used to turn the new world order upside-down.

1. "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."
Remember how Trump told Kim his nuclear button is bigger than Kim's? And how Trump had no qualms about unleashing the fury of the U.S. military on Afghanistan and Syria – not a ground war, but a salvo of missiles and bombs, and threats for far worse from the U.S. if necessary? Does anyone think Iran and North Korea want to call Trump's bluff?

2. "Never go outside the expertise of your people."
Trump is sticking to what he knows best – negotiating, financing, and playing hardball. He is staying far away from the nuance of the Kerry-Obama cabal, instead delivering a simple and straightforward message to his geopolitical foes. This message is easy to understand, including by the American people, who can smell John Kerry's nonsensical diplomatic-speak from a mile away.

3 "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy."
North Korea and Iran know only threats and intimidation, tactics that have kept past U.S. presidents dancing to their tune. Trump added a new tactic, something not used by past administrations, which they haven't yet had to contend with: economic strength. Trump is using U.S. economic might as a national security club, imposing sanctions and tariffs to squeeze countries opposed to his agenda. Trump took it farther, threatening to stop doing business with countries continuing to do business with North Korea or Iran. China, France, and Germany will think twice before supporting N.K. or Iran over the U.S.

4. "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
Past administrations have promised to contain N.K. and Iran. They also conveniently, on the campaign trail, promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. All Trump is doing is fulfilling the promises made by others. Those howling with outrage look like fools for complaining about Trump doing what they themselves promised to do.

5. "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."
This is President Trump's forte. Using his Twitter account and speeches, calling out Little Rocket Man and the hypocrisy and incompetence of past administrations, he has his political opponents on their heels, playing defense. This is not presidential, according to the pinstriped suit crowd in Washington, D.C. Trump is uncouth and crude, sullying the office of the president. Yet he is getting stuff done, at a far faster rate than any of his predecessors. Willie Brown and David Brooks, liberal Democrat and swamp-dweller, respectively, have recently written about Trump's popularity and effectiveness and the dangers for Democrats in underestimating him and his appeal to voters.

6. "A good tactic is one your people enjoy."
Just watch one of his rallies. Supporters queue up hours before, and most never even make it to the arena. Trump is funny and entertaining. Imagine either of the Presidents Bush holding a similar rally. Or a President Kerry or Gore. That would be as exciting as watching paint dry. Trump's opponents don't like his tactics because they are defenseless against them, reduced to braying about Russia or Stormy or calling for impeachment. But his supporters can't get enough of Trump calling out the media and the Deep State.

7. "Keep the pressure on. Never let up."
Trump is ticking off his promises one by one. He hasn't reversed course, even if Congress stands in his way, as in the border wall. Much of what he campaigned on is happening – Paris climate accords, Iran nuke deal, trade deals, ISIS, judicial picks, and so on.

8. "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."
Trump frequently brags on his military and willingness to use it. When pulling out of the Iran nuke deal, he said, "If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before." Does Iran want to call Trump's bluff on that? By now, the world knows that Trump says what he means and means what he says.

9 "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
From Kim in North Korea to crooked Hillary, Mueller, Comey, and the Deep-Staters trying to destroy his presidency, he calls these people out. He names names and misdeeds, via tweets and impromptu remarks. The enemies of Donald Trump become the enemies of his supporters, personalized and polarized.

President Trump, knowingly or unknowingly, has co-opted Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, using them effectively to advance his agenda. How ironic that the tactics of the left are being used against the leftists themselves. The left knows the rules only for playing offense. Now that the rules are being used against it, it is at a loss as to how to react and respond. For Trump-supporters, typically being on the losing end of Alinsky's rules, it's a refreshing treat to finally be on offense, scoring touchdowns, leaving Democrats and NeverTrumps babbling and unable to stop or slow the Trump train.

[awareness]

Originally Posted by Ohio

I found this article horribly interesting and ironic ...

Trump Is Going Full Alinsky – and His Opponents Are Flummoxed

There you go, chugging down the right wingnut Kool-Aid again.

But interesting article. Here I thought, as has been claimed in the past by the right, that Saul Alinsky was a left wingnut devil.

[awareness]

From healthcare to tax and immigration, Rev William Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign are driven by faith to focus on the disadvantaged

As one group of faith leaders celebrates the fruits of a decades-long alliance with the Republican party, another is mounting a multi-faith challenge to the dominance of the Christian right, in an attempt to recapture the moral agenda.

“There is no religious left and religious right,” Barber, a pastor and political leader in North Carolina, told the Guardian. “There is only a moral center. And the scripture is very clear about where you have to be to be in the moral center – you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant.”

Barber, a co-chair of the campaign, says some conservative faith leaders have “cynically” interpreted the Bible’s teachings to demonize homosexuality, abortion, scientific facts and other religions. They are guilty, he says, of “theological malpractice” and “modern-day heresy”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...oples-campaign

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by awareness

From healthcare to tax and immigration, Rev William Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign are driven by faith to focus on the disadvantaged

As one group of faith leaders celebrates the fruits of a decades-long alliance with the Republican party, another is mounting a multi-faith challenge to the dominance of the Christian right, in an attempt to recapture the moral agenda.

“There is no religious left and religious right,” Barber, a pastor and political leader in North Carolina, told the Guardian. “There is only a moral center. And the scripture is very clear about where you have to be to be in the moral center – you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant.”

Barber, a co-chair of the campaign, says some conservative faith leaders have “cynically” interpreted the Bible’s teachings to demonize homosexuality, abortion, scientific facts and other religions. They are guilty, he says, of “theological malpractice” and “modern-day heresy”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...oples-campaign

Apparently there is little faith left in the British Kingdom, so their religious editors come over here to divide American Christians.

The whole premise is false, but it sure fits your narratives.

You covered five different threads with one link.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by awareness

From healthcare to tax and immigration, Rev William Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign are driven by faith to focus on the disadvantaged

As one group of faith leaders celebrates the fruits of a decades-long alliance with the Republican party, another is mounting a multi-faith challenge to the dominance of the Christian right, in an attempt to recapture the moral agenda.

“There is no religious left and religious right,” Barber, a pastor and political leader in North Carolina, told the Guardian. “There is only a moral center. And the scripture is very clear about where you have to be to be in the moral center – you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant.”

Barber, a co-chair of the campaign, says some conservative faith leaders have “cynically” interpreted the Bible’s teachings to demonize homosexuality, abortion, scientific facts and other religions. They are guilty, he says, of “theological malpractice” and “modern-day heresy”.

So he firstly defines the moral center as taking the side of "the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant."

We all would agree with that.

Then he pulls a bait'n'switch, condemning others as guilty for opposing homosexuality, abortion, scientific facts, other religions.

What kind of Bible is he reading? His own imagination? Using that he now condemns them as heretics performing theological malpractice.

The Guardian writer here is behaving just like Putin, whose goal is to drive wedges. He cares little for the Bible, and he is really not choosing sides, but rather pitting both sides against each other. Nearly no one recognizes this.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by awareness

There you go, chugging down the right wingnut Kool-Aid again.

But interesting article. Here I thought, as has been claimed in the past by the right, that Saul Alinsky was a left wingnut devil.

Why is it drinking Kool-aid to take note that Trump has merely used leftist tactics for good?