And trust me, the Demorats’ blood pressure right now is going 210/190. Numerous camshafts are being thrown and an abundancy of Leftist heads are exploding.
Big cases, retirement rumors as Supreme Court nears finish
by Mark Sherman
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court enters its final week of work before a long summer hiatus with action expected on the Trump administration’s travel ban and a decision due in a separation of church and state case that arises from a Missouri church playground.
The biggest news of all, though, would be if Justice Anthony Kennedy were to use the court’s last public session on Monday to announce his retirement.
I received information in January of this year that another opening was coming for 2017 following Antonin Scalia’s passing, which was filled by Neil Gorsuch. Imagine that. Turns out I’m likely correct.
Statistically speaking, let’s remember that two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy, are in their 80s, and Justice Stephen Breyer is 78. I call that a clue.
Overall, Demorats have taken a few blows recently. They are in a significant kerfuffle. You know: disarray. Confusion. Even insanity as, reading the news, you see they are doubling down on what hasn’t worked. They are leaning into the punches. Yay team.
Even the New York Times, the old Gray Lady herself, bleeding readers and hemorrhaging advertisers, admits The Donald is winning. As “bad” as he is, Hillary Clinton was obviously worse and continues to be so. Her saliva still breaches Demorat decks and hulls not unlike that of the Alien creature.
Demorats are 0 for 4 in recent special elections yet, listening to them and to their paid cheering section, the American Media Maggots, they had it all in the bag because these elections were going to be a “referendum against Trump.” $23 million dollars was spent on the Jon Ossoff election in Georgia, the most expensive House race in history. George Soros money. Leftist money. Celebrity Leftist money. Cash from everywhere except the contested district. Despite all that, Republican Karen Handel handed Ossoff his own head.
Speaking of AMM cheerleaders for Leftists, Newt Gingrich suggests:
Newt Gingrich speaks the truth: “We need to give up the term news media — call them ‘propaganda media’ and strip them of their credibility!” pic.twitter.com/zuce7dVTCL
Shockingly, the NY Times in a brief clear-headed manner writes under Maureen Dowd:
Democrats cling to an idyllic version of a new progressive America where everyone tools around in electric cars, serenely uses gender-neutral bathrooms and happily searches the web for the best Obamacare options. In the Democrats’ vision, people are doing great and getting along.
The Demorats are still following Hillary Clinton’s “it’s my turn, dammit, because I’ve paid the dirty political price to get here no matter my song, no matter my content.” Demorats hate that they still have to represent the little people, the proles, the serfs, the groundlings, the rabble, the unilluminated and unwashed in the inconsequential flyover states. They hate that they still have to represent a few Caucasoids. They hate that they still have to realize there is actually a pitiful smattering of life outside the DC Beltway or New York or Los Angeles or Chicago or San Francisco. They hate that they can’t attend even more cocktail parties in DC or tool around in larger limousines or spend with no limitations whatsoever. They hate that they may appear to be a bit responsible for their decisions though, thankfully, they haven’t fully gotten there yet.
In the meantime they have Russia and they have identify politics and they have Russia and they have race and they have Russia and they have gender and they have Russia and they control all the -ists extant.
What, truly, are the Demorats? They are the Party of No.
A few final points.
1. The Demorats made a rather stupid mistake by insisting the Republicans push they so-called nuclear option on SCOTUS nominees, thinking they would do no such thing. 51 is now the magic number. Button pushed.
2. With Neil Gorsuch on the SCOTUS bench, the Supreme Court is mostly back to where it was when Scalia was alive; that is to say, with Kennedy being a bit of a major pendulum.
3. If a second opening occurs — and it will — resulting in President Trump’s installation of a true applier of law instead of a shill for Leftists, momentum will move to the right in terms of decisions.
4. Notice a trend? I do. It’s only 2017. What do you think the possibilities are that, between now and, say, 2019 or 2020 another Supreme Court justice retires? I’d wager the likelihood is rather high.
5. If Trump acquires a third nomination and keeps the Senate, the Supreme Court will be more conservative for at least another generation. Case closed.
“Bitter, table for three ancient womenses please.”
First, Kathy Griffin, who considers herself a “comedian,” thought it was absolutely uproarious to release the above photo by Tyler Shields (Shields considered the photo a, quote, “piece of art.”) this past Friday, June 2nd. Of course, just as she predicted, it was met with wave after wave of gut-busting laughter due to the brilliant comedic content. Clearly, her humor is sophisticated, polished, highbrow, well-informed, cosmopolitan, advanced and perfectly nuanced for that slight Leftist flair.
Nothing says “fun” like a good decapitation joke. Just ask ISIS.
Since then, however, there’s been just a bit of a kerfuffle involving her interpretation of comedy, to include the insertion of the United States Secret Service. Boy! No one could possibly have seen any of that coming, right?
Griffin apologized sans makeup on Saturday (going for the put-upon victim look so fashionable with Leftists today) when she realized the backlash was pretty much instantaneous and growing. As far as she was concerned, however, that was that. Nothing more to see here, move on. I’m a “comedian” after all.
Except that history, social media and a burgeoning negative response combined to provide its own little tsunami of backlash for Ms Kathy. One problem was that Barron Trump, President Donald Trump’s 11-year-old son, believed for a time his father truly was harmed when he was Griffin’s photo displayed on television. This event was later belittled by the Leftist lawyer Griffin had acquired for her scenario. Proper form. Belittle an 11-year-old in public media as a means of self-defense.
Of course, the internet tends to keep unsavory bits around in various closets longer than many would wish, including Kathy Griffin, whose mindset to this was already revealed back in December of 2016 to Vulture.com in which the headline read:
Kathy Griffin Thinks Comedy Should Go All Out on ‘President Piece of Shit’ Donald Trump
by Shira Levine
It’s a question a lot of comedians are asking themselves lately: What should comedy look like during the Trump presidency?
“It’s his turn. So I’m happy to deliver beat down to Donald Trump — and also to Barron. You know a lot of comics are going to go hard for Donald, my edge is that I’ll go direct for Barron. I’m going to get in ahead of the game.”
Now that’s an interview and some copy the likes of which you can be beamingly-proud.
But wait. Then came the second media gaggle in which Kathy Griffin, ensconced once again in Orchidée Impérialecake makeup and hot asphalt street sealer, in a rambling, self-serving and sometimes incoherent presser eschewed most every minuscule bit of responsibility whatsoever, laying the blame squarely and rightly upon the scary and oppressive shoulders of Donald and Barron Trump.
With her attorney, of course. And with a backdrop touting her attorney, of course. Because that’s what you do when you want to apologize and get things straight, is bring your attorney, Lisa Bloom, who is the daughter of Gloria Allred. Message received.
Then you double-down on “it’s not my fault, I’m not responsible.”
The full-court-press Leftist Insanity Tour press conference is below. Watch it if you dare.
I include this only to display the nakedly unhinged lengths to which Leftists will travel in order to find fault with everyone but themselves. Rivulets of tears, Kathy? Uh, no. Not even one damned good tear. We have an axiom in the cop trade and, as I said when interviewing suspects: you don’t get through unless you acquire actual tears and snot.
Sorry. Don’t see your tears much less your snot. You’re as believable as a time-share salesman. Or any one of today’s reporters.
‘There’s a bunch of old white guys trying to silence me!’ Kathy Griffin breaks down in tears claiming Trump family ruined her life – as her lawyer scoffs at report Barron was upset over severed head video
by Chris Spargo
Kathy Griffin broke down in tears speaking about the constant attacks from the public and members of the Trump family over the past few days
She said that she has been receiving constant death threats, which she described as detailed and specific
Griffin, 56, also said that President Trump ‘broke’ her and that she does not expect her career to recover from his family’s attacks
She added that she will not back down from this fight, saying: ‘I am not afraid of Donald Trump. He is a bully’
Griffin said that the photo shoot was inspired by Megyn Kelly, and the comment Trump made to the then-Fox News host about ‘blood coming out of everywhere’
It was also confirmed at the press conference that the Secret Service is investigating Griffin over the image
Later in the interview Griffin said that her career was likely over now as a result of this incident, and that President Trump had ‘broke’ her, moments after she declared: ‘There’s a bunch of old white guys trying to silence me!’
Griffin, 56, declared at one point that this would not be happening to her if she was a ‘white man.’
There we go. We knew we’d finally get there. It’s the White Man’s Burden to carry. She is not responsible. Everyone else is. It’s Caucasoids. Except that. Ahem. She is a Caucasoid. And amongst the palest of the pale. Caspar. Milquetoast. Becky. Ginger. She’s likely a Mud Shark as well.
Let’s see. How many Caucasoids have held up what can only be interpreted as the severed head of ANY President of the United States
Uh, yeah. Ahem. Zero.
Presidential children are also under the gunsights of Leftists. Bloom agrees.
Her lawyer Lisa Bloom also suggested during the press conference that despite reports, Barron was likely not that upset after seeing the image of Griffin with the decapitated head by stating the child was ‘allegedly’ traumatized.
‘We don’t know that. You’re assuming that everything that Trump says is true, and in fact, we know that everything Trump says is false,’ said Bloom.
Of course. It’s all Barron’s fault anyway.
After making a few jokes and stating that she stands by the apology she released earlier this week, Griffin said: ‘The president and his grown children and the first lady are personally trying to ruin my life forever.’
So I suppose because the president and/or his family responded to the event itself on social media, those acts are forbidden? They are proscribed?
Griffin also tried to explain the reason behind the photo and video shoot by saying: ‘I am not good at being appropriate.’
I’m massively ugly, but I’m not even in another galaxy this emaciatingly ugly. KG needs an immediate steak, some slabs of bacon and a few McDonald’s shakes. I know cockroaches or mealworms with greater appetites. “Clavicles & Wattled Necks R Us.” Just ask Nancy Pelosi and Hillary.
‘I’m not for everybody,. I am barely an acquired taste frankly,’ admitted Griffin.
‘I’ve had everybody turn on me. And I just want to make people laugh.’
That being said, Griffin declared: ‘I am not laying down for this guy.’
The comedian did not however say anything about her relationship with President Trump, who she has known for 20 years.
Then, no shock.
At a rambling press conference Friday, Griffin tearfully predicted her career is over and said Trump “broke me.” Since the video was posted Tuesday, she has lost her job co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve special and had all her upcoming comedy shows cancelled. Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have publicly criticized the video.
Let the Leftist Pity Party commence.
Apparently President Trump’s children are subject to beat-downs and ridicule by every Leftist female, not just Kathy Griffin, as Nancy Pelosi said this about the Trump family and grandchildren.
Nancy Pelosi just made an awful remark about whether Trump’s grand kids breath air! Disgusting. She is no better than Kathy Griffin. pic.twitter.com/3Jw5Z5fdDM
The only inference, I suppose, is that instead of breathing air like most humans, Trump’s eight grandchildren inhale brimstone from the fiery depths of Hell. What else can one conclude from this insane and despicable statement? I wonder: would she have had the temerity to say this of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton? You know the answer.
But wait; there’s more.
Let us not forget that even after seven months Hillary Clinton cannot come to terms with her staggering presidential loss and continues to bleat that it’s everyone’s fault but her own, to include misogynistic womenses, tidal pull and sunspots.
And oh, yes, the DNC was to blame for insufficient support — otherwise translated as AYFKM, or, Are You Fucking Kidding Me? The DNC purposely hosed Bernie Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton to the point where itis being sued by Sanders supporters.
Led Zeppelin had the perfect tonal solution for her current plight as you can joyously hear in their 1976 song from the album “Presence.”
Because, in fact, it was all nobody’s fault but hers. (A shameless excuse to listen to a great band whilst you read the rest of the post.)
By the way, want some of the bitter truth about Hillary Clinton? Here is one of the women Bill Clinton took abed whilst married to Hillary, Sally Miller.
Let’s see: Kathy Griffin. Nancy Pelosi. Hillary Clinton. This does not yield the Ultimate Responsibility Female Crew for 2017.
Let’s remember folks, if you’re a Leftist, you’re nothing unless you possess some massive and important form of victimhood.
It’s a ruse, folks, it’s all a ruse to get you to bite the hook willingly and, whilst hooked, let loose with all your cash and then, further, make you feel guilty about having been hooked in the first place and then not having willingly surrendered your life sufficiently early.
But now, every photo, video, comment or story can be chalked up to comedy, right, and must be excused in the name of comedy, right?
My thanks to the SHR Media Network for allowing me to broadcast in their studio and over their air twice weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as appear on the Sack Heads Radio Show™ each Wednesday evening.
This was BZ’s first night running the new SHR laptop, bristling as it does with a full 16 gigs of buttery RAM goodness and a nice sound card. Not particularly adept at technology (but better than Sack Heads Clint), BZ found himself challenged this night.
Tonight in the Saloon we discussed:
BZ has to deal with a new laptop, Windows 10, and trying to make Skype work;
BZ admits to being your basic Mark I, Model I Techno Luddite;
The studio is, oh joy, hot as hell once again;
Happy Stories: CCW holder in Texas kills man who murdered a bar employee;
Let’s larf our arses off at Leftists: revisiting liberal tears shed on November 9th;
President Trump signs religious liberty EO on the National Day of Prayer;
House passes AHCA by a squeaker; the good and bad of it all; 20 Republicans vote against it as did every Demorat;
Freedom Caucus member Tom Garrett voted for the ACHA; why would he?
Will the GOP ACHA screw over employer healthcare accounts?
Mike Pasqua and I talk comic books; who is better? DC or Marvel? Marvel, of course;
James Comey: “Lordy, that would be really bad;” we need to REMOVE James Comey;
I instigate official BZ Overtime in order to make my quite necessary point;
Please join me, the Bloviating Zeppelin(on Twitter @BZep and on Gab.ai @BZep), every Tuesday and Thursday night on the SHR Media Network from 11 PM to 1 AM Eastern and 8 PM to 10 PM Pacific, at the Berserk Bobcat Saloon — where the speech is free but the drinks are not.
As ever, thank you so kindly for listening, commenting, and interacting in the chat room or listening via podcast. My apologies for not monitoring the chatroom because the second screen wasn’t working yet; it will next week.
Want to listen to all the Berserk Bobcat Saloon archives in podcast? Go here.
Truer words, as above, have not recently been written. It’s all about James Comey.
And the testimony of FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday before the US Senate Judiciary Committee on FBI Oversight only serves to underline and prove one thing: Mr Comey needs to be forced to resign, and immediately.
Certainly Hillary Clinton thinks so. It was Comey and the Russians who did her in despite saying she is taking “absolute personal full responsibility” for her loss. Uh, no. She doesn’t take full responsibility. She spoke to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at a Women for Women International event in New York.
“I take absolute personal responsibility. I was the candidate, I was the person who was on the ballot. I am very aware of the challenges, the problems, the shortfalls that we had,” Clinton said, before adding that she was “on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey’s letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off.”
This is the same Hillary Clinton who was enraged that the election wasn’t simply handed over to her as required by us underlings, proles. commoners, serfs and unwashed rabble.
[It’s interesting to note that Hillary Clinton is writing a book about her loss, Huma Abedin is writing a book and Barack Hussein Obama is making $400,000 speeches to Wall Street.]
The very next day following Clinton’s fuzzy softball interview, Director Comey’s testimony in the Senate was jam-gepacked with bursting volumes of self-serving and contradictory statements. (The full testimony can be read here. Full video is here.) Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley originally called the Wednesday oversight hearing of the FBI to examine what the agency knows about a 2015 terrorist attack in Garland, Texas. Things got a bit off-topic, however.
Comey: Anthony Weiner Received Classified Clinton Emails
by Kristina Wong
FBI Director James Comey hit back Wednesday against Democratic criticism of his decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the 2016 election.
He said although it made him “mildly nauseous” to think he could have had some impact on the election, he believes he did the right thing and to this day, would not change his mind.
In explaining his decision to reopen the investigation, he said investigators found metadata on the seized laptop of Anthony Weiner — top Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s husband — that showed there were “thousands” of Clinton’s emails on the device, including classified information.
Investigators believed the emails could include emails missing from her first three months as secretary of state.
Comey said after repeatedly telling members of Congress that the FBI had concluded its investigation into Clinton, the only right thing to do was to let Congress know the case was reopened.
“I could see two doors and they were both actions. One was labeled ‘speak,’ the other was labeled ‘conceal,’” he said.
But wait. Was classified information really involved in any of those emails?
He said Abedin forwarded “hundreds of thousands” of emails to Weiner, 40,000 of which they reviewed. Three thousand of those were work-related, and 12 of them contained classified information, he said.
But he said Abedin and Weiner were not charged with any wrongdoing since investigators did not find a general sense of criminal intent — a decision that Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) scoffed at.
The hearing conducted on Wednesday featured Senator Diane Feinstein asking a question that, in retrospect, she wished she never touched.
She received a lot more information, damning information, than she wanted. She opened the door and FBI Director James Comey walked right through it. I suspect she was hoping Comey would simply reply that the information was classified. Sorry, senator. Feinstein was just pissed, regarding 702 data**, that her Demorat ox got gored.
But what really happened here? Again, just like July of 2016, Comey makes an argument for prosecution — first, against Hillary Clinton now, here, against Huma Abedin — and then does nothing about it. How did Weiner come to be in possession of classified information? Huma Abedin sent it to him. This is a violation of 18 USC 793 — Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, to wit:
(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
As I wrote in July of last year regarding Director Comey’s decision to refuse sending the Hillary Clinton case on to DOJ:
To me it is quite clear that FBI Director James Comey, about whose probity I wrote quite a number of times on the blog, has dishonored his law enforcement oath, showing that he has no fidelity, no bravery and no integrity with regard to his decision to not recommend prosecution of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But in today’s hearing with Trey Gowdy and Jason Chaffetz as documented at Politico, James Comey revealed his flawed and craven, cowardly political thinking when one is familiar with law enforcement prosecutorial thresholds as I am.
Director Comey determined a manner in which to weasel his way out of recommending the prosecution of Clinton. At Thursday’s hearing he went out of his way — again, just like Wednesday — to make his own case and then fall back on a position/decision that isn’t his to make.
But the most insightful part has arrived. Comey outs himself:
Chaffetz then asked whether it was that he was just not able to prosecute it or that Clinton broke the law.
“Well, I don’t want to give an overly lawyerly answer,” Comey said. “The question I always look at is there evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that somebody engaged in conduct that violated a criminal statute, and my judgment here is there is not. “
And this is how James Comey attempts to rationalize his decision. He states he does not believe his case established guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
NEWSFLASH: It is not UP to YOU, Director Comey, to assemble a case that yields a determination of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” That threshold is up to the DOJ or more pointedly a Grand Jury, not you or your organization. All you need to compile a case for submission is “probable cause.” That’s what real cops and real DAs in America do. Their jobs. They stay in their lanes and do their jobs.
As noted about Comey’s wrong-headed decision to give a pass to Hillary Clinton regarding the classified information on her server and in her emails, there are crimes of specific intent and general intent. Comey insists he must have specific intent before forwarding a case to DOJ. That’s wrong. There are sections, as above, that demand no such thing. Watch:
“She had no sense that what she was doing was a violation of the law.” Really, Mr Comey? “We couldn’t prove any sort of criminal intent.” You might try reading the law, Mr Comey. Federal law. The law you’re tasked with following and upholding.
Senator Ted Cruz had questions.
The fact patterns in Hillary Clinton’s case and Huma Abedin’s case do violate federal law as indicated by Senator Cruz above and common sense.
Director Comey’s job is not to be the attorney, but to be the compiler, and assembler of cases and, then, submitting a case to the Department of Justice. He essentially has and is usurping the function of prosecutors by withholding cases from the DOJ.
Tucker Carlson, below, interviews Democrat Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio and, more pointedly, former US Attorney Jim Digenova. Listen to Digenova’s clear and cogent case against FBI Director James Comey.
On Wednesday, for good measure, Director Comey decided to throw former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch under the bus — deservedly but quite willingly.
Now there is information from RightScoop.com, announced by Catherine Herridge of Fox News:
REVEALED: FBI found email that Lynch would do everything she could to protect Hillary from CRIMINAL CHARGES
Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge says this is one of the biggest headlines out of the hearing today with the FBI director, pointing out that the FBI had found an email was obtained by Russian hackers that indicated that former DOJ hack Loretta Lynch would do everything she could to protect Hillary from prosecution:
This was the story from Wednesday. And who covered it? Anyone but Fox?
Note how Director Comey refuses to answer. The fix was in. Comey is a disreputable political hack and has proven himself time and again to be so.
FBI Director James Comey must go. He is too self-centered, too much the political animal and, frankly, too narcissistic to continue in his current position. He insists he is apolitical but every movement he makes and statement he gives proves otherwise.
Section 702 permits the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to jointly authorize targeting of persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States, but is limited to targeting non-U.S. persons. Once authorized, such acquisitions may last for periods of up to one year.
Under subsection 702(b) of the FISA Amendments Act, such an acquisition is also subject to several limitations. Specifically, an acquisition:
May not intentionally target any person known at the time of acquisition to be located in the United States;
May not intentionally target a person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States if the purpose of such acquisition is to target a particular, known person reasonably believed to be in the United States;
May not intentionally target a U.S. person reasonably believed to be located outside the United States;
May not intentionally acquire any communication as to which the sender and all intended recipients are known at the time of the acquisition to be located in the United States;
FBI Director James Comey spoke publicly in DC on Monday in front of the House Intelligence Committee, stating there were in fact investigations occurring with regard to Russia’s meddling in the presidential election and also between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.
It was clear to me, from the outset, that it was politics, politics, politics. Something of which Director Comey has become quite adroit in at least the past year.
The line was drawn in this fashion: Demorats wanted President Trump’s wiretap allegation smashed and derided, whilst Republicans were primarily concerned with the leaking of classified information.
Trey Gowdy begins the interaction with Director Comey and sets the foundation for his line of questioning involving FISA and safeguards.
Please note that Congressman Gowdy specifically utilizes the term “wiretap” to describe the acquisition of communications belonging to an “unnamed US citizen.” Again, Comey outs the Trump investigation but refuses to discuss anything to do with the leaks at all. Do you see my point and my resulting frustration?
FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia. pic.twitter.com/cUZ5KgBSYP
I highlight this portion because of its incredible importance. Do you see?
GOWDY: Admiral Rogers said there are 20 people within the NSA that are part of the unmasking process. How many people within the FBI are part of the unmasking process?
COMEY: I don’t know for sure. As I sit here, surely more, given the nature the FBI’s work. We come into contact with U.S. persons a whole lot more than the NSA does because we may be conducting — we only conduct our operations in the United States to collect electronic surveillance — to conduct electronic surveillance, so I don’t — I can find out the exact number, I don’t know it as I sit here.
GOWDY: Well, I think, Director Comey, given the fact that you and I agree this is critical, vital, indispensable, a similar program is coming up for reauthorization this fall with a pretty strong head wind right now. It would be nice to know the universe of people who have the power to unmask a U.S. citizen’s name. Because that might provide something of a roadmap to investigate who might’ve actually disseminated a masked U.S. citizen’s name.
COMEY: Sure. The number is relevant but what I hope the U.S. — the American people realize is the number’s important, but the culture behind it is in fact even more important. The training, the rigor, the discipline. We are obsessive about FISA in the FBI for reasons I hope make sense to this committee but we are — everything that’s FISA has to be labeled in such a way to warn people this is FISA, we treat this in a special way.
So we can get you the number, but I want to assure you the culture of the FBI and the NSA around how we treat U.S. person information is obsessive and I mean that in a good way.
GOWDY: Director Comey, I am not arguing with you and I do agree that culture is important, but if there are 100 people who have the ability to unmask and the knowledge of a previously masked name, then that’s 100 different potential sources of investigation and the smaller the number is, the easier your investigation is.
So the number is relevant. I can see the culture is relevant. NSA, FBI, what other U.S. government agencies have the authority to unmask a U.S. citizen’s name?
COMEY: I think all agencies that collect information pursuant to FISA have what are called standard minimization procedures, which are approved by the FISA court that govern how they will treat U.S. person information. So I know the NSA does, I know the CIA does, obviously the FBI does. I don’t know for sure beyond that.
GOWDY: How about the department of — how about Main Justice?
COMEY: Main Justice, I think does have standard minimization procedures.
GOWDY: All right, so that’s four. The NSA, FBI, CIA, Main Justice. Does the White House have the authority to unmask a U.S. citizen’s name?
COMEY: I think other elements of the government that are consumers of our products can ask the collectors to unmask. The unmasking resides with those who collected the information.
And so if Mike Rogers’s folks collected something and they sent it to me in a report and it says U.S. person number one and it’s important for the FBI to know who that is, our request will go back to them. The White House can make similar requests of the FBI or of NSA but they can’t on their — they don’t own their own collect and so they can’t on their own unmask. I got that about right?
ROGERS: No, that’s correct.
COMEY: Yeah.
GOWDY: I guess what I’m getting at, Director Comey, is you say it’s vital, you say it’s critical, you say it’s indispensable. We both know it’s a threat to the reauthorization of 702 later on this fall. And by the way, it’s also a felony punishable by up to 10 years.
So how would you begin your investigation, assuming for the sake of argument that a U.S. citizen’s name appeared in the Washington Post and the New York Times unlawfully. Where would you begin that investigation?
COMEY: Well, I’m not gonna talk about any particular investigation…
GOWDY: That’s why I said in theory.
COMEY: You would start by figuring out, so who are the suspects? Who touched the information that you’ve concluded ended up unlawfully in the newspaper and start with that universe and then use investigative tools and techniques to see if you can eliminate people, or include people as more serious suspects.
GOWDY: Do you know whether Director Clapper knew the name of the U.S. citizen that appeared in the New York Times and Washington Post?
COMEY: I can’t say in this forum because again, I don’t wanna confirm that there was classified information in the newspaper.
GOWDY: Would he have access to an unmasked name?
COMEY: In — in some circumstances, sure, he was the director of national intelligence. But I’m not talking about the particular.
GOWDY: Would Director Brennan have access to an unmasked U.S. citizen’s name?
COMEY: In some circumstances, yes.
GOWDY: Would National Security Adviser Susan Rice have access to an unmasked U.S. citizen’s name?
COMEY: I think any — yes, in general, and any other national security adviser would, I think, as a matter of their ordinary course of their business.
GOWDY: Would former White House Advisor Ben Rhodes have access to an unmasked U.S. citizen’s name?
COMEY: I don’t know the answer to that.
GOWDY: Would former Attorney General Loretta Lynch have access to an unmasked U.S. citizen’s name? COMEY: In general, yes, as would any attorney general.
GOWDY: So that would also include Acting AG Sally Yates?
COMEY: Same answer.
GOWDY: Did you brief President Obama on — well, I’ll just ask you. Did you brief President Obama on any calls involving Michael Flynn?
COMEY: I’m not gonna get into either that particular case that matter, or any conversations I had with the president. So I can’t answer that.
But wait. I have what I consider to be an obvious question but one I’ve not yet heard people ask. Director Comey stated the investigation has been ongoing since July of 2016. If so, wouldn’t an integral part of such an investigation be surveillance of the Trump campaign and others aligned or linked therein?
Yet Mr Comey says there was no surveillance going on. How can that be? Was the FBI conducting half an investigation? A fraction of an investigation? How otherwise can one explain the information collected regarding General Michael Flynn? How was it gathered? How was it distributed? How did it get leaked and by whom? How does one acquire telephone conversation content — on Michael Flynn or Trump’s conversations with Australia’s PM Turnbull or Mexican President Nieto for example — absent wiretapping or surveillance in the first place?
In the process of conducting said highly important investigations wouldn’t you want to use all the tools at your disposal and, furthermore, collect as much pertinent evidence as possible? Of course you would. The statement makes no sense.
Where was James Comey with regard to Obama’s aides improperly accessing the names of Americans swept up in foreign surveillance or whether they leaked classified documents to the US press? Director Comey could confirm that, well, yes, we’re closely examining President Trump’s Russian “collusion” but otherwise could not confirm there was any sort of investigation on the matters of felonious leaking by government officials (Who else could have done so?) and would not talk about it. Why not? What’s the difference?
Another very important question. By the FBI’s own account and everyone else’s, including the Russians, it was believed with certainty that Hillary Clinton was a shoe-in for the presidency. Why, then, did the Russians magically decide to assist Donald Trump — as James Comey alleges — when people were convinced Trump would lose in a spectacular manner?
It doesn’t make sense. Neither the investigation nor the assumption about the Russians.
Perhaps the biggest question is this: will the leakers be identified and, if so, will they be arrested? Or is it in the best interest of the deep state to obfuscate the matter to the point that the leakers are never found?
Because, trust me, if the leakers are prosecuted and there is federal penitentiary time attached, you’ll hear sphincters slamming shut all around DC and the warm breezes will turn cold. That’s called a chilling effect.
FBI’s Russian-influence probe includes a look at far-right news sites
by Peter Stone & Greg Gordon
WASHINGTON – Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.
Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said.
In other words, the FBI under Comey is investigating “fake news.” What is fake news?
The bots’ end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News, the sources said. Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the bot attacks are part of an FBI-led investigation into a multifaceted Russian operation to influence last year’s elections.
For every individual arguing that InfoWars or Breitbart is fake news, I can provide a great deal of documentation indicating, over numerous years, that what people term the mainstream media such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and many others are equally or more fake than those two named above, and have been specifically colluding with the Democrats and Leftist-themed ideologues for a lengthy period of time.
The FBI investigating “fake news” is indeed disturbing. It is no less true now than any time prior that one must be an enlightened consumer of news and, as an adult, know enough about your country, your surroundings and your world in order to make the best informed decision regarding the portrayal of information to you by various news organizations. In other words, it blows to be stupid and there are penalties for being so, though we know that a “sucker is born every minute.”
Perhaps we should ask what there was to learn from the hearing today with FBI Director James Comey. I conclude below with the real lesson to be intuited from the hearing, but in terms of hard facts we discovered there are, well, no real hard facts. There is still no evidence that Russia hacked the election or somehow influenced the presidential election despite what the American Media Maggots emphatically say. There is still no evidence that Russia colluded with the Trump campaign or his staffers. We learned that James Comey is rather selective in terms of the political topics he’s willing to address.
We learned that no evidence was provided that indicated Obama wiretapped Trump. But if that were true, then why has Fox News summarily fired Judge Napolitano for saying this?
Why indeed.
House Intel Chair Devin Nunes weighed in, and he wasn’t terribly happy.
Did you notice Director Comey was a bit nonplussed at her direct first question? I did. She has taken Comey aback. He did not anticipate such pointed and informed questions from a neophyte. When Comey said he didn’t have a DNI, that was bullshit. He did. It was James Clapper. The lying James Clapper. The lying under oath James Clapper. You know. That guy.
Did you also hear James Comey admit to Rep. Stefanik that, along with the Demorats and DNC, the Republicans were tapped as well? He stated so. But what was the difference between the GOP being tapped and the DNC being tapped? That’s right. The lack of corruption in the content of the emails and information.
But let me say this. Elise Stefanik has a great career ahead of her because she appears fearless, resolute, and unimpressed by dark, carved wood. You get my drift. “When did you notify the White House?” Boom. Done. Owned.
Let us transition.
“I am a faithful servant to the Constitution.” So said Judge Neal Gorsuch in his opening statement with regard to his SCOTUS nomination, on Monday. The actual flames and grilling begin Tuesday morning at 9:30. First, here’s the Demorat take on Gorsuch, from CBS.
Then there are the actual words of Judge Gorsuch himself as he makes his opening statement.
Bottom line regarding Neil Gorsuch? He will be confirmed. I also predict the Demorats will not choose to use their filibuster against him. You’re dealing with an individual who
Presided over 2,750 case on the 10th Circuit;
Wrote 175 majority opinions;
Wrote 65 concurrences or dissents;
Had 72 in-person meetings with US Senators
Charles Krauthammer may have jinxed things when, on Monday, he said: “Too stupid. Even the Democrats won’t do it.”
But never minimize the ability of Demorats and Leftists to see racists and sexists everywhere. Joe Dinkin, National Communications Director for the Working Families Party (yes, that is a party) states that Neil Gorsuch is a white supremacist and nationalist because Gorsuch hasn’t overtly and publicly disavowed President Trump’s travel ban. It’s a Muslim ban, you see. So Gorsuch wears a white robe and a pointy hat. Insanity.
In conclusion, do not doubt that there is a message to be acquired from Comey’s hearing today, and the message to President Trump as well as his advisors, staff and assistants comes from not just Director James Comey, the Demorats and a portion of the GOP, but much of the embedded deep state as well.
The message is: back off. Leave the DC swamp as it is. Undrained. The creatures prefer it unmolested. If you fail to heed our warning, we’ll destroy you at all costs and by any means necessary.
If you were President Trump you’d have to be asking yourself: whom can you trust?
That potential pool is dwindling by the day.
BZ
P.S.
You should now be asking yourself: is FBI Director James Comey the source of the leaks?
And trust me, the Demorats’ blood pressure right now is going 210/190. Numerous camshafts are being thrown and an abundancy of Leftist heads are exploding.
Overall, Demorats have taken a few blows recently. They are in a significant kerfuffle. You know: disarray. Confusion. Even insanity as, reading the news, you see they are doubling down on what hasn’t worked. They are leaning into the punches. Yay team.
Of course, the internet tends to keep unsavory bits around in various closets longer than many would wish, including Kathy Griffin, whose mindset to this was already revealed back in December of 2016 to 
My thanks to the SHR Media Network for allowing me to broadcast in their studio and over their air twice weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as appear on the Sack Heads Radio Show™ each Wednesday evening.
Truer words, as above, have not recently been written. It’s all about James Comey.
But wait. Was classified information really involved in any of those emails?
The hearing conducted on Wednesday featured Senator Diane Feinstein asking a question that, in retrospect, she wished she never touched.
FBI Director James Comey spoke publicly in DC on Monday in front of the House Intelligence Committee, stating there were in fact investigations occurring with regard to Russia’s meddling in the presidential election and also between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.