Trump's Card

[Levin]

Gerrymander news

Pennsylvania Senate President pro tempore Joseph Scarnati announced on Wednesday that he will not comply with a state supreme court order to redraw Pennsylvania’s congressional lines. His open defiance of a court order raises the serious possibility that he may be held in contempt for brazenly violating the law.

The latest episode (ep 5.1) of the Mic Dicta podcast had an section on the current status of gerrymandering cases in the US. It also looked at the death penalty and Milo's case.

[Satchmo Distel]

Surely there must be some Republicans who think that delegitimizing the FBI is bad for the country?

[San Bernardhinault]

I think you're making a leap here, Satchmo - which is that any Republican cares about what's good for the country, unless it aligns with what's good for the Republican Party.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Or, more especially, what's good for them personally.

[Incandenza]

We're very close to Constitutional crisis territory (if we weren't in there already)

President Trump cleared the way on Thursday for the release of a secret memo written by Republican congressional staffers and said to accuse federal law enforcement officials of abusing their surveillance authorities.

Mr. Trump, who had a brief window to block the memo’s disclosure on national security grounds, was expected to tell Congress on Friday that he had no objections and would likely not request any material be redacted, according to a senior administration official. It would then be up to the House Intelligence Committee, whose Republican leaders have pushed for its release, to make the document public.

The president’s decision came despite a growing chorus of warnings from national security officials who say that releasing the document would jeopardize sensitive government information, including how intelligence is gathered, and from Democrats who say it is politically motivated and distorts the actions of the Justice Department and the F.B.I. by omitting crucial context.

But Mr. Trump wanted the memo out. He had told people close to him that he believes it makes the case that law enforcement officials acted inappropriately in seeking the highly classified warrant on one of his campaign advisers, Carter Page.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Thursday defended the memo and its primary author, Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California, saying the document was not an attack on institutions like the F.B.I. and Justice Department, and was not meant to undermine the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

[Lang Spoon]

A thousand tiny Reichstag moments. We won’t know the moment when folk should have exercised the original meaning of the Second Amendment. Reichstag is of course too strong, but there is no restraint against authoritarian kleptocracy as the EU presents to Hungary etc (not very successfully). Putin and Erdogan showing the way. Youse will all be in a list soon enough. He’d get away with postponing 2020, just see if he doesn’t. Madisonian separation of powers is dead as a viable concept.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Look at Ryan there. What a policy wonk he is.

[Flynnie]

I think you're making a leap here, Satchmo - which is that any Republican cares about what's good for the country, unless it aligns with what's good for the Republican Party.

Delegitimizing the FBI would probably be for the good of the country, though.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Memo released.

I've never seen anything like this.

[ursus arctos]

Nunes is special

[WOM]

John John John.....


John McCain
(@SenJohnMcCain)
The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s.

[Tubby Isaacs]

What power does the Senate have here?

[Flynnie]

John John John.....


John McCain
(@SenJohnMcCain)
The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s.

Shut up and die already

[San Bernardhinault]

Well, having just read it, it appears to be the exact mixture of nothingburger, and typical ill-targeted rambling conspiranoid nonsense which doesn't actually get to a point, that I would have predicted all along.

[Tubby Isaacs]

.

@chrislhayes
1h1 hour ago
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We know now the FBI was actively investigating both campaigns during the 2016 election but only chose to publicly announce (repeatedly!) their investigation of Clinton while keeping the Trump campaign investigation *completely* secret the entire time.

@chrislhayes
1h1 hour ago
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If *anyone* working on the Trump investigation wanted to hurt Trump in 2016 they could have leaked details of the investigation. They did not. In fact, FBI sources went so far as to tell the Times there was no Russia connection!
(There *were* a number of anti-Clinton leaks)

@chrislhayes
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And all this is, apparently, evidence that the FBI was engaged in a conspiracy to get Clinton elected?

[Flynnie]

Well, having just read it, it appears to be the exact mixture of nothingburger, and typical ill-targeted rambling conspiranoid nonsense which doesn't actually get to a point, that I would have predicted all along.

My favorite bit is the end where they admit the Steele dossier didn't start the investigation

[ursus arctos]

To embed Tweets

1) Copy the link to the tweet (the first option from the drop down menu that appears if you click the downward arrow in the upper right corner of any tweet)

2) Click "Go Advanced" at the bottom of the Quick Reply box

3) Paste the link between Tweet and /Tweet tags (in square brackets, as with any other tag)

No, there is no button that does this. Yes, you do need to "Go Advanced"

[Tubby Isaacs]

Thanks.

I'll do that next time.

[ursus arctos]

No problem

https://twitter.com/BeschlossDC/status/959474182856863747

What a putz

[Tubby Isaacs]

Does Nunes actually say the FISA was granted ONLY on the basis of the Steele dossier?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Fuck, this Nunes goon is younger than me.

[Incandenza]

The memo is the conservative version of Rachel Maddow's tax return episode

[ursus arctos]

*Likes*

[Tubby Isaacs]

Republican intelligence committee member Chris Stewart on now, says there was "very little" apart from the dossier. So it wasn't just the dossier then.

Wolfie is on his arse.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't get why Nunes, if he is recused, has been allowed to do this memo lark.