Amaryllis
Amaryllis's JournalFBI Director Confirms Agency Is Investigating Ties Between Trump And Russia (HuffPo)
4 minute video clip here with Comey - worth listening to. Wish I had a transcript. I'm sure there will be one later.
snip
“I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” Comey told the House Intelligence Committee. “That includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”
snip
The intelligence community publicly shared its assessment in January that the Russian government hacked Democratic entities and operatives and released damning information with the goal of helping Trump win the election. But the assessment did not indicate whether Trump and his campaign team were aware of or complicit in Moscow’s operations.
Since then, lawmakers have pushed law enforcement and intelligence officials to respond to repeated queries about ties between Trump associates and Russian intelligence. Comey, to the frustration of several lawmakers, has insisted he cannot publicly discuss the possible existence of an ongoing investigation. (Comey did, however, disclose information to lawmakers related to an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s email server days before the election. His letter to lawmakers was quickly leaked.)
But the FBI director has faced mounting pressure to speak publicly about the situation, amid a relentless series of leaks about seemingly bizarre communications between high-level Trump aides and Russian intelligence officials.
snip
“As you know, our practice is not to confirm the existence of ongoing investigations, especially those investigations that involve classified matters,” Comey said Monday. “But in unusual circumstances, where it is in the public interest, it may be appropriate to do so. This is one of those circumstances.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-comey-confirm-investigation-trump-russia-fbi_us_58cfe036e4b0ec9d29dd728c?
Comey & Rogers (director NSA) testify live Mon.10 EDT House Intel hearing on Russia investigation
House Intelligence Committee to Hold Open Hearing on Russian Active Measures Investigation
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) will be holding an open hearing on its investigation into Russian active measures during the 2016 election campaign.
The hearing will be held at 10:00 am on Monday, March 20 in room 1100 of the Longworth Building. It will be livestreamed on the HPSCI website here. (go to link below for link to livestream. Assume it will be on C-Span also?)
Who: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI)
What: Hearing on Russian active measures investigation (Open)
When: Monday, March 20, 2017, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET
Where: Room 1100, Longworth Building
The hearing witnesses include:
James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mike Rogers, Director of the National Security Agency
Media wishing to attend this hearing must be credentialed through the appropriate Congressional Media Gallery. Credentialed media will be allowed inside the hearing room from 9:00 am on a first come, first served basis.
http://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=770
My senator's aide said it's absolutely important to call even if we agree with him. 2 reasons why:
I am very fortunate to have two great senators and a great rep. I live in a very progressive city in a blue state and have talked to many progressives who say they don’t call because their view is in alignment with our senators and rep, so what’s the point of calling? So I asked one of my senator’s aides and one of my rep’s aides if it’s still important to call. They both said absolutely yes. Here’s why:
1. It’s a numbers game. They track how many constituents are for/against the positions the senatoir/rep are taking, so it’s critical the “agree with the senator” numbers are there. It helps hugely if they can point to constituent numbers to support their position when they are in Congress.
2. It energizes them. I never thought of this, but the aide told me that when they know have a lot of grass roots passion behind what they’re doing, it really helps to energize them. I had the image of a wave at a baseball game.
I make it a point to call every week or two and just say something to the effect of, ”Please tell the Senator that I really appreciate what he is doing and am so grateful to have a senator that I feel really represents me,” and will mention one or two of the things that are up that week that he is supporting or has done. The aides have always been very appreciative, and when I asked if that kind of message is helpful, the answer was always yes. Sometimes I even get into a little conversation with them; one of them told me once that there are a lot of really good people working behind the scenes, so don’t lose hope.
I know those of you in red states have very different problems to deal with, but I felt it was important to address what seems to be a common misconception among progressives I’ve talked with that calls don’t matter if their view is in alignment with our senators/rep,
Ellen Meets A 5-Year-Old Geography Expert Whose Map Hilariously Burns Trump
Five-year-old geography expert Nate knows about countries and flags, but he also knows what’s what when it comes to President Donald Trump’s affinity for Russia.
The preschooler showed his skills on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” Thursday, bringing along his map of the world with drawings of what lives in each country. Antartica had a penguin, Africa had a tiger and Russia had a Trump.
“Why is Trump on Russia?” DeGeneres asked.
“Because he likes Russia,” Nate replied.
Nate, if the whole geography thing doesn’t work out, you might have a career in comedy ahead of you.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ellen-degeneres-5-year-old-map-trump_us_58cc32a0e4b0be71dcf4ae51?
House Intel open hearing on Russia investigation - Comey & Rogers (director NSA) testify Mon. 10 am
House Intelligence Committee to Hold Open Hearing on Russian Active Measures Investigation
f t # e
Washington, March 17, 2017
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) will be holding an open hearing on its investigation into Russian active measures during the 2016 election campaign.
The hearing will be held at 10:00 am on Monday, March 20 in room 1100 of the Longworth Building. It will be livestreamed on the HPSCI website here. (go to link below for link to livestream. Should be on C-Span also.)
Who: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI)
What: Hearing on Russian active measures investigation (Open)
When: Monday, March 20, 2017, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET
Where: Room 1100, Longworth Building
The hearing witnesses include:
James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mike Rogers, Director of the National Security Agency
Media wishing to attend this hearing must be credentialed through the appropriate Congressional Media Gallery. Credentialed media will be allowed inside the hearing room from 9:00 am on a first come, first served basis.
http://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=770
GOP intel chair: Very possible US intel gathered Russia surveillance directly involving Trump
“It’s very possible” Donald Trump himself might be personally involved as part of the “incidental intelligence” gathered during United States’ government monitoring of the communications of Russian nationals located here. Incidental intelligence is what the intelligence community (IC) calls information involving or about people who were not specifically targeted by intelligence or counterintelligence investigations.
This bombshell revelation came when the Chair, GOP Representative Devin Nunes, and Ranking Member, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence met with the press to discuss their investigation into Trump’s allegation that now-former President Barack Obama wire-tapped Trump’s phones during the presidential campaign.
Watch and listen to this exchange between NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Katie Hunt and Nunes: (video link in article)
Hunt: “Do you have any reason to believe that the President himself or anyone working for him in the White House would be one of these names that may have been swept up in something that could then have ultimately been leaked, like what happened to Michael Flynn?”
Nunes: “Well, I think it’s very possible. But, like I said, we should know that by Friday.”
Hunt: “Do you think the President himself might be one of those people that was swept up in this?”
Nunes: “It’s possible. I mean look…”
More:
http://shareblue.com/gop-senator-very-possible-us-intel-surveillance-of-russian-officials-gathered-info-directly-involving-trump/
Theory on why it's taking so long for info to be declassified - the scope of corruption is so vast..
Of course there are the obvious political motivations for not wanting info to get out. But if the web of deception is as vast as we believe, and they keep finding more threads to follow, that takes one huge investigation - the scope of which we have never seen.
So maybe to prematurely reveal what they had would have compromised the pursuit of other threads of intel, resulting in driving people underground or leaving the country, cover up of evidence, more Putin initiated mysterious deaths... etc.
What do you guys think?
Edited to add: My thinking was prompted by seeing Feinstein's reactiion to the Comey meeting yesterday.
Stop Piling On Rachel Maddow For Not Taking Down Trump (HuffPo)
snip (lots of snip here)
But unlike a blog post, which can run 100 words or 1,000, Maddow has an hour to fill every show, and she used her hour to make a broader point: These two pages of tax returns are just one small piece of a bigger story, and journalists and Americans alike should continue to push Trump on the issue if he will not fall in line with the presidential precedent set before him.
Perhaps she waited too long to reveal the numbers. But had she had pulled them out in minute one, many people would have switched the channel soon after and missed her message. That prolonged opening segment, in fact, was very much in line with the typical Maddow episode ― a thoughtful, if winding, monologue that delves into a topic in a way Twitter conversations cannot.
“My priority is to get the story right and put it into proper context, and explain the weight of it and why it is important,” Maddow told the AP.
At the beginning of her lede-burying segment, Maddow said she hoped that the two pages of the return would lead to a conversation about where the reporting could head from here. She then discussed why it is so important that the U.S. find out if its president had foreign bank accounts and sources of income. Near the end, she explained that only more tax information can reveal that.
“We can’t know any of that without getting his tax returns,” she said. “That’s why presidents release their tax returns. That’s why there will continue to be unrelenting pressure to find Donald Trump’s tax returns, to expose Donald Trump’s tax returns.”
She added, “And that pressure will remain every single day that he remains as president ― unless and until he releases them, the pressure will never let up.”
It was the best point of the episode, and the best point she could have made with the documents she had. Unfortunately, by the time she made it, people had stopped listening.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rachel-maddow-trump_us_58c95d96e4b01c029d780b71
PLEASE someone on EDT start Rachel thread with Details for us on left coast who get it 3 hours later
A TV watching thread like during debates and such...so we on PDT don't have to wait three hours to find out what is happening with tax returns!
Corporate America Just 6 States Short of Constitutional Convention- Pushed by ALEC and Kochs
March 14, 2016
Corporate America Is Just 6 States Short of a Constitutional Convention
If ALEC succeeds in rewriting the constitution to mandate a balanced budget, we’ll be stuck with supply-side economics for at least a generation.
BY Simon Davis-Cohen
In February, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) signed on to a call for a constitutional convention to help defeat “the Washington cartel [that] has put special interest spending ahead of the American people.”
Cruz, along with fellow Republican presidential aspirants Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Gov. John Kasich (Ohio), has endorsed an old conservative goal of a Constitutional amendment to mandate a balanced federal budget. The idea sounds fanciful, but free-market ideologues associated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a secretive group of right-wing legislators and their corporate allies, are close to pulling off a coup that could devastate the economy, which is just emerging from a recession. Their scheme could leave Americans reeling for generations. A balanced budget amendment would prevent the federal government from following the Keynesian strategy of stimulating the economy during an economic depression by increasing the national debt. (Since 1970, the United States has had a balanced budget in only four years: 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.)
Article V of the Constitution lays out two routes for changing the law of the land: An amendment can be proposed by Congress or by a constitutional convention that is convened by two-thirds of the states (34). Either way, three-fourths of the states (38) have to ratify it. Previously, changes to the country’s founding document have been achieved by the first process. But as of today, 28 states—six shy of the two-thirds threshold required by Article V—have passed resolutions calling for a constitutional convention to consider a balanced budget amendment.
The ALEC-affiliated Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force (BBATF), which proffered the pledge signed by Cruz, is hoping to meet that 34-state threshold by July 4. BBATF is one player in an astroturf movement backed by the billionaire Koch brothers and embraced by right-wing state legislators.
A balanced budget amendment has long been a holy grail for the Right since the 1930s. In the 1980s, conservatives made a push for a balanced budget constitutional convention and, 20 years later, the idea was resurrected as part of the Tea Party platform. That’s when BBATF was formed to carry the movement forward. With 16 resolutions held over from the previous wave of conservative activism, BBATF has since passed resolutions in Alabama (2011), New Hampshire (2012), Ohio (2013), Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Louisiana (2014), South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah (2015) and West Virginia (2016), bringing the total to 28. This year, BBATF is targeting 13 states: Arizona, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. In six of these states Republicans control both legislative bodies and the governorship, making passage a real possibility and leaving BBATF one state shy of the magic 34.
More - important information:
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18940/alec-balanced-budget-corporate-constitutional-convention
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