To start your day here is Carter Page, while working on the Trump campaign, in Moscow undermining America's foreign policy while praising Putin's.

NEW: I just found this video of Carter Page in Moscow, Russia speaking in support of Vladimir Putin, while working on the Trump campaign. He calls the American international affairs strategy "hostile," then goes on to talk about the "failure of US analysts & leaders" #TrumpRussia pic.twitter.com/LE2T6mMrcC

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) February 5, 2018

Yeah I have no idea why the federal courts authorized all of those FISA warrants, do you?

Believe it or not it may be retiring Congressman Trey Gowdy who put the final nail in the "secret memo" coffin.

When Trey Gowdy says Trump's vindication claim is garbage, Republicans are cooked. pic.twitter.com/zesgMvMKNN

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 4, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

CBS's Margaret Brennan pressed Gowdy on whether he believes the memo has "no impact on the Russia probe." 

"Not to me, it doesn't — and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it," Gowdy, who recently announced he will not seek reelection, said. 

"There is a Russia investigation without a dossier. So to the extent the memo deals with the dossier and the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] process, the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at Trump Tower. The dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge Analytica." 

He added that the dossier has "nothing to do with George Papadopoulos's meeting in Great Britain." 

"It also doesn't have anything to do with obstruction of justice. So there's going to be a Russia probe, even without a dossier," he said.

And that my friends, is that. 

Also keep in mind that Gowdy was the one that Nunes sent to read the actual documentation behind those FISA applications.

He then brought his notes to Nunes and his staff, and that is where this memo originated.

So if Gowdy is stating emphatically that the memo has "no impact on the Russia probe" THAT is game over.

Back in 2013 Carter Page was bragging that he was an adviser to the Kremlin.

Oh you found that letter did you? Damn!

Courtesy of Time: 

Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page bragged that he was an adviser to the Kremlin in a letter obtained by TIME that raises new questions about the extent of Page’s contacts with the Russian government over the years. 

The letter, dated Aug. 25, 2013, was sent by Page to an academic press during a dispute over edits to an unpublished manuscript he had submitted for publication, according to an editor who worked with Page. 

“Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin in preparation for their Presidency of the G-20 Summit next month, where energy issues will be a prominent point on the agenda,” the letter reads.

But wait, I thought the whole point of the Devin Nunes "secret memo" was that there was no legitimate reason to issue a FISA warrant against Page, and that the ONLY reason the FBI obtained one was due to that Christopher Steele dossier?

Do you hear that sound?

That is the sound of little right wing heads exploding in frustration.

Donald Trump tweets that the Nunes' memo "totally vindicates Trump."

This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018

Courtesy of Politico:  

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the controversial memo written by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and other GOP lawmakers "totally vindicates" him — a judgment shared by few but his staunchest defenders. 

"This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on," the president wrote on Twitter. "Their [sic] was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead)." 

Democrats and some conservatives said the memo did nothing to delegitimize Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation; if anything, some of them said it confirmed that the probe was not predicated on the anti-Trump dossier that the president and his allies have attacked.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Trump does not simply enjoy hearing misinformation that comforts him into believing that his presidency is going better than it is, but that he absolutely believes it to be true.

I read the memo yesterday, and if you read the memo yesterday, you know as well as I do that it did nothing to "vindicate" Donald Trump.

In fact it proved that the allegation the investigation was based on false evidence, completely false.

The initial investigation was the result of good intelligence, and the continued reevaluation of the FISA case against Carter Page demonstrated that there was increasing information that he was still clearly working with the Russians.

Oh, and just in case somebody fixes that tweet before this is published, yes Trump used the wrong "their" on his official Twitter page.

Release the Memo! Oh, is that it?

Upon memo’s release, Nunes claims GOPers "discovered serious violations" https://t.co/rS9sZAH0jr pic.twitter.com/lSRZmu7r8h

— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) February 2, 2018

Okay so the memo got released today.

I read it. (You can also read it here.)

My very well thought out and cleverly worded response is, um....seriously?

Here is what the Washington Post had to say about it: 

The four-page, newly declassified memo written by the Republican staffers for the House Intelligence Committee said the findings “raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain (Justice Department) and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC),’’ calling it “a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process.’’ 

The memo accuses former officials who approved the surveillance applications – a group that includes former FBI Director James B. Comey, his former deputy Andrew McCabe, former deputy attorney general Sally Yates and current Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein — of signing off on court surveillance requests that omitted key facts about the political motivations of the person supplying some of the information, Christopher Steele, a former intelligence officer in Britain. 

The memo says Steele “was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations — an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI.’’ 

The memo is not an intelligence document and reflects information the committee has gathered, which Democrats, the FBI and Justice Department have criticized as incomplete and misleading.

Much of the focus of the memo, is that the surveillance of Carter Page...

Yeah, this dude.

...was almost wholly approved due to information provided in the Steele dossier, which the Republicans suggest is tainted by the fact that Democrats funded a portion of the investigation. (Remember originally it was the conservatives footing the bill.)

They also suggest that the information was tainted by the fact that Steele also discussed the dossier with various news outlets. (I am not really sure how that is a thing.)

However as Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson testified "sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump (campaign)."

That suggests that the FISA court likely had other information available to help decide whether surveillance was necessary, that the memo has conveniently left out.

Besides as the Wall Street Journal points out Carter Page was on the counterintelligence radar from as far back as 2013.

This is from a release by the House minority in response to this misleading memo:

“The Republican document mischaracterizes highly sensitive classified information that few Members of Congress have seen, and which Chairman Nunes himself chose not to review. It fails to provide vital context and information contained in DOJ’s FISA application and renewals, and ignores why and how the FBI initiated, and the Special Counsel has continued, its counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s election interference and links to the Trump campaign. The sole purpose of the Republican document is to circle the wagons around the White House and insulate the President. Tellingly, when asked whether the Republican staff who wrote the memo had coordinated its drafting with the White House, the Chairman refused to answer. 

“The premise of the Nunes memo is that the FBI and DOJ corruptly sought a FISA warrant on a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, and deliberately misled the court as part of a systematic abuse of the FISA process. As the Minority memo makes clear, none of this is true. The FBI had good reason to be concerned about Carter Page and would have been derelict in its responsibility to protect the country had it not sought a FISA warrant. 

“In order to understand the context in which the FBI sought a FISA warrant for Carter Page, it is necessary to understand how the investigation began, what other information the FBI had about Russia’s efforts to interfere with our election, and what the FBI knew about Carter Page prior to making application to the court – including Carter Page’s previous interactions with Russian intelligence operatives. This is set out in the Democratic response which the GOP so far refuses to make public. 

“The authors of the GOP memo would like the country to believe that the investigation began with Christopher Steele and the dossier, and if they can just discredit Mr. Steele, they can make the whole investigation go away regardless of the Russians’ interference in our election or the role of the Trump campaign in that interference. This ignores the inconvenient fact that the investigation did not begin with, or arise from Christopher Steele or the dossier, and that the investigation would persist on the basis of wholly independent evidence had Christopher Steele never entered the picture. 

I mean at this point it is almost giving it too much credit to call this memo a "nothing burger."

Here is what Twitter is saying about the release of the memo:

Senate Intel Vice Chair Warner on memo release:

"Unlike almost every House member who voted in favor of this memo's release, I have actually read the underlying documents on which the memo was based. They simply do not support its conclusions.”

Latest: https://t.co/X0E7hXhGni

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 2, 2018

This, all the way at the bottom of the Nunes memo, literally proves that the FBI didn't use the Steele dossier as its sole source for a FISA warrant. Papadopoulos was not mentioned in the dossier and he came on the FBI's radar before Steele even handed them his first report. pic.twitter.com/XOcMt6WjM8

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 2, 2018

#NunesMemo concedes that #Steele had provided reliable intel in the past. Pretty much undercuts the whole argument about the #FISA warrants being corrupt. #Nothingburger.

— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) February 2, 2018

LOL

A year attacking the Steele dossier.

A month hyping that the dossier started the whole FBI investigation.

Weeks hyping that they have a memo (a memo!) that will finally prove it!

So... is there some other memo?

Because this one says it was Papadopoulos, not the dossier.

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) February 2, 2018

There is literally so much fail here that I am not even sure that Fox News can make a mountain out of this pathetic little molehill.

But we know they're gonna try. 

The FBI used that infamous Russian dossier as part of their justification for requesting a FISA court order to monitor former adviser Carter Page.

Source

Courtesy of CNN:

The FBI last year used a dossier of allegations of Russian ties to Donald Trump's campaign as part of the justification to win approval to secretly monitor a Trump associate, according to US officials briefed on the investigation. 

The dossier has also been cited by FBI Director James Comey in some of his briefings to members of Congress in recent weeks, as one of the sources of information the bureau has used to bolster its investigation, according to US officials briefed on the probe. 

This includes approval from the secret court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor the communications of Carter Page, two of the officials said. Last year, Page was identified by the Trump campaign as an adviser on national security. 

Officials familiar with the process say even if the application to monitor Page included information from the dossier, it would only be after the FBI had corroborated the information through its own investigation. The officials would not say what or how much was corroborated.

Well ti appears that the Russian dossier compiled by former MI-6 agent Christopher Steele was not so uncorroborated after all.

Carter Page of course continues to protest his innocence, but bear this in mind:

To obtain court permission to target Page, the FBI and Justice Department would have to present probable cause that he was acting as an agent of a foreign power, including possibly engaging in clandestine intelligence gathering for a foreign government. Comey and other top Justice Department officials would have to sign off on the application, which government officials say involves a rigorous review process.

Yes they do not simply hand out FISA court orders like candy on Halloween.

Which of course brings us back to that post from Louise Mensch:

Sources with links to the intelligence community say it is believed that Carter Page went to Moscow in early July carrying with him a pre-recorded tape of Donald Trump offering to change American policy if he were to be elected, to make it more favorable to Putin. In exchange, Page was authorized directly by Trump to request the help of the Russian government in hacking the election.

Simply put, the threads are starting to come together in a way that makes the Trump presidency feel a little temporary. 

Don'tcha think?

Keith Olbermann reports on a blog post of Louise Mensch asserting that the FBI has taped evidence of Trump colluding with the Russians.

NEW: Have the Brits already nailed Trump? On tape? Offering to trade policy changes to Putin for election fixing? pic.twitter.com/ywNs84QIKo

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 18, 2017

Here is the assertion as written on Patribotics by Louise Mensch: 

Sources with links to the intelligence community say it is believed that Carter Page went to Moscow in early July carrying with him a pre-recorded tape of Donald Trump offering to change American policy if he were to be elected, to make it more favorable to Putin. In exchange, Page was authorized directly by Trump to request the help of the Russian government in hacking the election.

The post goes into far more detail and refers to previous posts to provide context, but that first paragraph right there is quite jaw dropping.

Now to be honest though I have been following Mensch on Twitter for quite awhile now I have hesitated to directly quote her or link to her posts because, well to be honest, because I was not certain of her trustworthiness as a reporter of facts.

In my defense many of the claims that Mensch makes are explosive, and would completely change the narrative about Trump's interaction with Russia.

However they are also often supported by anonymous sources, and though Mensch WAS the first person to report on the FISA court order, I remain somewhat skeptical that she has sources telling her things that the sources for the New York Times and Washington Post are keeping to themselves.

So I will present this here as a public service and invite your to hear what Olbermann says, and read Mensch's post, and then reach your own conclusions as to their validity.

So it turns out that the FBI was actually pretty sure that one of Trump's campaign advisers was secretly working as a Russian spy. Update!

Spy? Do I look like a spy to you?

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of an adviser to presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign, law enforcement and other U.S. officials said. 

The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Page’s communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials. 

This is the clearest evidence so far that the FBI had reason to believe during the 2016 presidential campaign that a Trump campaign adviser was in touch with Russian agents. Such contacts are now at the center of an investigation into whether the campaign coordinated with the Russian government to swing the election in Trump’s favor.

The article goes on to say that currently Page is not officially accused of a crime, nor is there any certainty that he will be in the future.


This by the way is NOT the "incidental collection" of data which Devon Nunes spoke of last month.

This is a full blown investigation into somebody that the FBI was able to convince a federal judge poses a serious threat.

Here's more:

The government’s application for the surveillance order targeting Page included a lengthy declaration that laid out investigators’ basis for believing that Page was an agent of the Russian government and knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of Moscow, officials said. 

Among other things, the application cited contacts that he had with a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013, officials said. Those contacts had earlier surfaced in a federal espionage case brought by the Justice Department against the intelligence operative and two other Russian agents. In addition, the application said Page had other contacts with Russian operatives that have not been publicly disclosed, officials said.

For his part Carter Page said this:  

“This confirms all of my suspicions about unjustified, politically motivated government surveillance,” Page said in an interview Tuesday. “I have nothing to hide.” He compared surveillance of him to the eavesdropping that the FBI and Justice Department conducted against civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Oh yeah, Carter Page is JUST like MLK.

Let's not forget that even the Russians who recruited him thought Carter Page was "an idiot."

I will go out on a limb and suggest that there may be a few more of these FISA court orders for other members of Trump's campaign, and current administration, that we just have not heard about yet.

Update: Like I said. 

Source: Carter Page isn't the only Trump campaign ally who was the subject of a FISA warrant. A second target was recorded also. Tick tock..

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) April 12, 2017

Former DNI James Clapper definitively states that there was NO FISA warrant to tap Donald Trump's phones. Update!

James Clapper: "There was no such wire tap activity amounted against" Donald Trump. #MTP pic.twitter.com/eNGFKe0vxY

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 5, 2017

Of course earlier the President's spokesman also denied that he had any involvement in any such action against the Trump campaign: 

"A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement Saturday. "As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."

Which of course now leaves Donald Trump revealed as a conspiracy theory spouting madman.

Louise Mensch, who I identified as being the likely original source of the FISA story, tweeted this in response to Clapper's statement.

My own FISA story nowhere mentions a wiretap. Nor does @julianborger story nor does BBC story - but Trump "just learned" he was taped

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) March 5, 2017

There is a FISA warrant issued on the Alfa Bank server in Trump Tower and all comms between two Russian banks, any US persons involved. https://t.co/7FefUAiGlP

— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) March 5, 2017

It should be noted that though it is likely that Mensch's initial reporting was the impetus for all of this, that it was the Right Wing exaggerations which fired Trump up and sent him on that Twitter tantrum.

And those exaggerations were based on a misreading of the initial story, and of course a desire to put blame on the Obama Administration.

You can see that for yourself in this insane rant from Mark Levin on Fox News earlier today.

And now we have this.

Statement from @PressSec pic.twitter.com/WeSnymiyDB

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) March 5, 2017

I swear every day is just a little bit more insane than the day before.

Update: Comey chimes in!

Courtesy of the New York Times:

The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday. Mr. Comey has argued that the highly charged claim is false and must be corrected, they said, but the department has not released any such statement.

Well that just left Trump to dangle in the wind all on his own.

Donald Trump is now accusing President Obama of tapping his phones.

Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

Okay as of right now most news outlets have no freaking idea what Trump is talking about here.

Now it is possible that somebody brought an article written by our friend Louise Mensch back in November to Trump's attention.

Here is the article:  

Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia. 

Contrary to earlier reporting in the New York Times, which cited FBI sources as saying that the agency did not believe that the private server in Donald Trump’s Trump Tower which was connected to a Russian bank had any nefarious purpose, the FBI’s counter-intelligence arm, sources say, re-drew an earlier FISA court request around possible financial and banking offenses related to the server. The first request, which, sources say, named Trump, was denied back in June, but the second was drawn more narrowly and was granted in October after evidence was presented of a server, possibly related to the Trump campaign, and its alleged links to two banks; SVB Bank and Russia’s Alfa Bank. While the Times story speaks of metadata, sources suggest that a FISA warrant was granted to look at the full content of emails and other related documents that may concern US persons.

As you can see this talks about a FISA court request from the FBI concerning one particular server.

The fact that they would have needed a warrant of course means that this is NOT, in any way, like what Nixon did during his administration, nor does it necessarily suggest that the FBI was allowed to tap Trump's phones.

What DO know is that American intelligence agencies WERE tracking the phone calls coming in and out of Russia and that THAT was how they found out that a number of Trump's campaign staff and administration staff had been in contact with certain unsavory folks connected to the Russian government.

Apparently Trump's current freakout is linked to Mark Levin's radio show where he cited these articles and then exaggerated what they said to suggest that the Obama Administration used "police state" tactics to undermine the Trump campaign.

Was Obama using NSA against Trump campaign? https://t.co/xzAOf11y3k

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) March 3, 2017

Remember Trump only trusts Right Wing news outlets and talk shows that make shit up, or exaggerate facts to fit their agenda.

I think Trump has really rounded the bend on this one. 

President Obama addresses NSA uproar.

I actually DO feel better having now heard he President speak on this issue.

However....it must be noted that while the President says he "welcomes the debate," in the very same response he also says that it is important that leaks not occur because it warns potential terrorists of what the government is doing to stop them, when WITHOUT those leaks we would not be having the debate that he now says he welcomes. I found that a little unwieldy.

I also think that it is important to note this part of what the President said, "You can't have 100 percent security, and also then have 100 percent privacy, and zero inconvenience."

It is sad that it is true, but it is also undeniable that it is true.

Barack addresses the many supporters who are angry at his support of the FISA bill.

I want to take this opportunity to speak directly to those of you who oppose my decision to support the FISA compromise.

This was not an easy call for me. I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect. I wouldn't have drafted the legislation like this, and it does not resolve all of the concerns that we have about President Bush's abuse of executive power. It grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that may have violated the law by cooperating with the Bush Administration's program of warrantless wiretapping. This potentially weakens the deterrent effect of the law and removes an important tool for the American people to demand accountability for past abuses. That's why I support striking Title II from the bill, and will work with Chris Dodd, Jeff Bingaman and others in an effort to remove this provision in the Senate.

But I also believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. The exclusivity provision makes it clear to any President or telecommunications company that no law supersedes the authority of the FISA court. In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. But in a free society, that authority cannot be unlimited. As I've said many times, an independent monitor must watch the watchers to prevent abuses and to protect the civil liberties of the American people. This compromise law assures that the FISA court has that responsibility

The Inspectors General report also provides a real mechanism for accountability and should not be discounted. It will allow a close look at past misconduct without hurdles that would exist in federal court because of classification issues. The recent investigation uncovering the illegal politicization of Justice Department hiring sets a strong example of the accountability that can come from a tough and thorough IG report.

The ability to monitor and track individuals who want to attack the United States is a vital counter-terrorism tool, and I'm persuaded that it is necessary to keep the American people safe -- particularly since certain electronic surveillance orders will begin to expire later this summer. Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I've chosen to support the current compromise. I do so with the firm intention -- once I’m sworn in as President -- to have my Attorney General conduct a comprehensive review of all our surveillance programs, and to make further recommendations on any steps needed to preserve civil liberties and to prevent executive branch abuse in the future.

Now, I understand why some of you feel differently about the current bill, and I'm happy to take my lumps on this side and elsewhere. For the truth is that your organizing, your activism and your passion is an important reason why this bill is better than previous versions. No tool has been more important in focusing peoples' attention on the abuses of executive power in this Administration than the active and sustained engagement of American citizens. That holds true -- not just on wiretapping, but on a range of issues where Washington has let the American people down.

I learned long ago, when working as an organizer on the South Side of Chicago, that when citizens join their voices together, they can hold their leaders accountable. I'm not exempt from that. I'm certainly not perfect, and expect to be held accountable too. I cannot promise to agree with you on every issue. But I do promise to listen to your concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn your ongoing support to change the country. That is why we have built the largest grassroots campaign in the history of presidential politics, and that is the kind of White House that I intend to run as President of the United States -- a White House that takes the Constitution seriously, conducts the peoples' business out in the open, welcomes and listens to dissenting views, and asks you to play your part in shaping our country’s destiny.

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That's ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have. After all, the choice in this election could not be clearer. Whether it is the economy, foreign policy, or the Supreme Court, my opponent has embraced the failed course of the last eight years, while I want to take this country in a new direction. Make no mistake: if John McCain is elected, the fundamental direction of this country that we love will not change. But if we come together, we have an historic opportunity to chart a new course, a better course.

So I appreciate the feedback through my.barackobama.com, and I look forward to continuing the conversation in the months and years to come. Together, we have a lot of work to do.

I read it twice and was struck by two things.

One, Barack is definitely his own man and he makes his choices based on careful consideration of both the pros and cons.

Two, there is a very good chance that Obama is keeping things very close to his chest about what he plans to do about the Bush administrations criminal activity once he becomes President.

I sometimes feel that Obama has every intention of investigating the hell out of the Bush administration once he is in office, but realizes that if he showed his hand too early the Bushies would be in a blind panic and it might be enough for them to do some very serious damage to his chances and to our country in an attempt to cover their own asses. There are a lot of people, both Republican and Democrat, who may be terribly embarrassed by an investigation into how we allowed ourselves to be lied into an illegal war. If they were to combine forces they may be able to keep Obama out of office.

It is just a thought.

Well at least Russ Feingold has not lost his way on the FISA bill.

The more I think about this the more I am convinced that the best decision for ALL progressive politicians is to vote against this bill.

Even if they are currently running for President.

AT&T whistleblower says FISA bill may have doomed the Constitution for good.

Mark Klein, the retired AT&T engineer who stepped forward with the technical documents at the heart of the anti-wiretapping case against AT&T, is furious at the Senate's vote on Wednesday night to hold a vote on a bill intended to put an end to that lawsuit and more than 30 others.

[Wednesday]'s vote by Congress effectively gives retroactive immunity to the telecom companies and endorses an all-powerful president. It’s a Congressional coup against the Constitution.

The Democratic leadership is touting the deal as a "compromise," but in fact they have endorsed the infamous Nuremberg defense: "Just following orders." The judge can only check their paperwork. This cynical deal is a Democratic exercise in deceit and cowardice.

Congress has made the FISA law a dead letter--such a law is useless if the president can break it with impunity. Thus the Democrats have surreptitiously repudiated the main reform of the post-Watergate era and adopted Nixon’s line: "When the president does it that means that it is not illegal." This is the judicial logic of a dictatorship.

The surveillance system now approved by Congress provides the physical apparatus for the government to collect and store a huge database on virtually the entire population, available for data mining whenever the government wants to target its political opponents at any given moment—all in the hands of an unrestrained executive power. It is the infrastructure for a police state.

The Democrats are either completely clueless about what the administration is trying to get away with or are in collusion with them. And if the latter is the case then who do we trust?

And as if that were not bad enough it looks like the administration might be looking to up the ante: “The Homeland Security Department is talking about expanding the program to use military satellites really, for domestic purposes. They say the primary driver is natural disasters — like the recent flooding in the midwest — to pinpoint areas that are most hard hit and to help with responses, first responses. But they also leave open the possibility that this could be used for other purposes, law enforce many purposes. Tracking potential terrorists but also tracking potential drug operations.”

“And that is where the concerns about civil liberty abuses come in. First of all, there are strict laws about the act that limits the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement purposes. But the precision of these satellites, they can literally capture crystal clear images of your car as you leave the studio this afternoon. And capture them in computer databases — in the governmentcomputer databases. And it raises all sorts of concerns. To some degree, the administration is paying the price of what is for — what many in congress see as way over stepping — in the electronic surveillance era.”

If the Democrats and Obama are truly going to rescue our country from the criminals who have usurped power they sure as shit better get their act together NOW! We are rapidly running out of time.

Why did 94 House members switch from opposing retroactive immunity for phone carriers to supporting it? Here is a hint,$$$$!!

On March 14 of this year the House passed an amendment that rejected retroactive immunity for phone carriers who helped the National Security Agency carry out the illegal wiretapping program without proper warrants. Ninety-four House Democrats voted in favor of this measure--rejecting immunity--on March 14, then ‘changed’ to vote in favor of the June 20 House bill--approving immunity.

“Why did these ninety-four House members have a change of heart?” asked Daniel Newman, executive director of MAPLight.org, “Their constituents deserve answers.”

MAPLight.org's research department compiled PAC campaign contributions from Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint and correlated them with the voting records of all House members who voted on last week’s FISA bill. (The analysis used data from CRP; contributions were from January 2005 through March 2008). Here are the findings:

Comparing Democrats' Votes (March 14th and June 20th votes):
Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$8,359 to each Democrat who changed their position to support immunity for Telcos (94 Dems)

$4,987 to each Democrat who remained opposed to immunity for Telcos (116 Dems)

88 percent of the Dems who changed to supporting immunity (83 Dems of the 94) received PAC contributions from Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint during the last three years (Jan. 2005-Mar. 2008). See below for list of these 94 Dems.


All House Members (June 20th vote:)Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint gave PAC contributions averaging:

$9,659 to each member of the House voting "YES" (105-Dem, 188-Rep) $4,810 to each member of the House voting "NO" (128-Dem, 1-Rep)

This is fucking embarrassing!

If the Democrats can be bought off this easily then how are the American people ever going to see justice served on the Bush administration and their cohorts?

In my opinion these so-called Democrats better be watching their asses during the next election or their seat may end up being filled by a real progressive who is not looking to line his pockets or gets frightened off when George Bush goes "boo".

Fucking pussies!

Obama clarifies his position on this outrageous FISA bill being voted on today.

“Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. There is also little doubt that the Bush Administration, with the cooperation of major telecommunications companies, has abused that authority and undermined the Constitution by intercepting the communications of innocent Americans without their knowledge or the required court orders."

"That is why last year I opposed the so-called Protect America Act, which expanded the surveillance powers of the government without sufficient independent oversight to protect the privacy and civil liberties of innocent Americans. I have also opposed the granting of retroactive immunity to those who were allegedly complicit in acts of illegal spying in the past."

“After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act."

“Under this compromise legislation, an important tool in the fight against terrorism will continue, but the President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over. It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance – making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people. It also firmly re-establishes basic judicial oversight over all domestic surveillance in the future. It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. By demanding oversight and accountability, a grassroots movement of Americans has helped yield a bill that is far better than the Protect America Act."

“It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives – and the liberty – of the American people.”

I hate this! I am one of those who kind of started believing that Barack could walk on water, and change politics with a wave of his hand. This is the sad truth of our political system, in that with two very strong parties compromises must be made and NOBODY gets what they wanted.

I ABSOLUTELY want that retroactive immunity portion taken out, but I am not very hopeful that it will happen.

I think the lesson that the passing of this bill should teach progressives is that we desperately need a substantial majority of Democrats in the Senate and a large one in the House. The we can say fuck it to these bullshit compromises.

John Edwards calls on Senate Democrats to filibuster revisions that protect AT&T from prosecution for spying on us.

When it comes to protecting the rule of law, words are not enough. We need action.

It's wrong for your government to spy on you. That's why I'm asking you to join me today in calling on Senate Democrats to filibuster revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that would give "retroactive immunity" to the giant telecom companies for their role in aiding George W. Bush's illegal eavesdropping on American citizens.

The Senate is debating this issue right now -- which is why we must act right now. You can find your Senators' phone numbers here or call the Senate Switchboard at 1-(202)-224-3121.

Granting retroactive immunity is wrong. It will let corporate law-breakers off the hook. It will hamstring efforts to learn the truth about Bush's illegal spying program. And it will flip on its head a core principle that has guided our nation since our founding: the belief that no one, no matter how well connected or what office they hold, is above the law.

But in Washington today, the telecom lobbyists have launched a full-court press for retroactive immunity. George Bush and Dick Cheney are doing everything in their power to ensure it passes. And too many Senate Democrats are ready to give the lobbyists and the Bush administration exactly what they want.

Please join me in calling on every Senate Democrat to do everything in their power -- including joining Senator Dodd's efforts to filibuster this legislation -- to stop retroactive immunity and stand up for the rule of law. The Constitution should not be for sale at any price.

Thank you for taking action.

John EdwardsJanuary 24, 2008

Finally we see some real leadership from our Presidential candidates!

Chris Dodd shows the Democrats how it is done!

After nearly 10 hours of discussion Monday, the Senate decided to delay a final vote on a controversial domestic spying bill until the new year, under the threat of a protracted filibuster from Sen. Chris Dodd.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent the afternoon Monday huddling with Senate leaders and fellow Democrats to try to work out a deal over an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As the FISA update was written, it included a provision for legal immunity to telecommunications companies that facilitated a warrantless wiretapping scheme that Dodd and other Democrats said was illegal.

"We have tried to work through this process, and it appears quite clear that on this bill we are not going to be able to do that," Reid said around 7:30 p.m. Monday, after senators had spent the day debating propositions of the FISA update.

Dodd, a 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, canceled campaign events in Iowa and spent the day urging his colleagues to block a proposal to shield phone and Internet companies that gave the National Security Agency private call and e-mail records from an unknown number of Americans under the program President Bush authorized after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy," Dodd said in a statement released after Reid pulled the bill. "The President should not be above the rule of law, nor should the telecom companies who supported his quest to spy on American citizens. I want to thank the thousands of Americans throughout the country that stood with me to get this done for our country."

Senator Dodd is definitely the hero of the day. If he had not shown such courage and integrity we would be watching the Bush administration winning yet another battle to protect their criminal enterprises.

But what happens the next time? Will the Senate finally find their backbone and stand up to the administration for once?

Bush is lying about Congress dropping the ball on the FISA update.

In his speech today, Bush said:

When Congress sends me their version, when Congress listens to all the data and facts and they send me a version of how to close those gaps, I'll ask one question, and I'm going to ask the DNI: Does this legislation give you what you need to prevent an attack on the country? Is this what you need to do your job, Mr. DNI? That's the question I'm going to ask. And if the answer is yes, I'll sign the bill. And if the answer is no, I'm going to veto the bill.
And so far the Democrats in Congress have not drafted a bill I can sign. We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk.

There's only one problem with Bush's statement: it isn't true.

A key Democrat in the negotiations, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), says that a deal had in fact been reached with McConnell, who has been busy lobbying Congress on a FISA update all week. "We had an agreement with DNI McConnell," Hoyer spokeswoman Stacey Bernards tells TPMmuckraker, "and then the White House quashed the agreement."

Bush is trying to get as much leeway as he can to spy on all communication coming and out of this country. Do you trust him with this information?