Tuesday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

On the week before Christmas, the coup continues…

The Inspector General’s Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude: Not Only for the FBI but Also the U.S. Media

By Glenn Greenwald

JUST AS WAS TRUE when the Mueller investigation closed without a single American being charged with criminally conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election, Wednesday’s issuance of the long-awaited report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General reveals that years of major claims and narratives from the U.S. media were utter frauds.

Before evaluating the media component of this scandal, the FBI’s gross abuse of its power – its serial deceit – is so grave and manifest that it requires little effort to demonstrate it. In sum, the IG Report documents multiple instances in which the FBI – in order to convince a FISA court to allow it spy on former Trump campaign operative Carter Page during the 2016 election – manipulated documents, concealed crucial exonerating evidence, and touted what it knew were unreliable if not outright false claims.

If you don’t consider FBI lying, concealment of evidence, and manipulation of documents in order to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign to be a major scandal, what is? But none of this is aberrational: the FBI still has its headquarters in a building named after J. Edgar Hoover – who constantly blackmailed elected officials with dossiers and tried to blackmail Martin Luther King into killing himself – because that’s what these security state agencies are. They are out-of-control, virtually unlimited police state factions that lie, abuse their spying and law enforcement powers, and subvert democracy and civic and political freedoms as a matter of course.
In this case, no rational person should allow standard partisan bickering to distort or hide this severe FBI corruption. The IG Report leaves no doubt about it. It’s brimming with proof of FBI subterfuge and deceit, all in service of persuading a FISA court of something that was not true: that U.S. citizen and former Trump campaign official Carter Page was an agent of the Russian government and therefore needed to have his communications surveilled.

Just a few excerpts from the report should suffice to end any debate for rational persons about how damning it is. The focus of the first part of the IG Report was on the warrants obtained by the DOJ, at the behest of the FBI, to spy on Carter Page on the grounds that there was probable cause to believe he was an agent of the Russian government. That Page was a Kremlin agent was a widely disseminated media claim – typically asserted as fact even though it had no evidence. As a result of this media narrative, the Mueller investigation examined these widespread accusations yet concluded that “the investigation did not establish that Page coordinated with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.”

The IG Report went much further, documenting a multitude of lies and misrepresentations by the FBI to deceive the FISA court into believing that probable cause existed to believe Page was a Kremlin agent. The first FISA warrant to spy on Page was obtained during the 2016 election, after Page had left the Trump campaign but weeks before the election was to be held.

Read the entire article HERE.

IG Report Proves Adam Schiff Has Been Lying About Spygate Since The Beginning

Via The Federalist

Following the inspector general’s FISA report that proved nearly every sentence wrong in Rep. Adam Schiff’s last high-profile report, Schiff’s work should be deemed worthless.

On Friday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The committee vote sends the question to the full House, with a vote expected later this week.

That fast timeline won’t allow for much consideration of the question, however, forcing folks to rely on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s 300-page report detailing his committee’s “impeachment inquiry.” But following last week’ release of the inspector general’s report on FISA abuse that proved nearly every sentence wrong in Schiff’s last high-profile report (his self-titled “Correcting the Record—The Russia Investigation”), Schiff’s work product should be deemed worthless.

Schiff issued his “Correcting the Record” minority report on January 29, 2018, following the release of a memorandum by the then-chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), Devin Nunes. In his 10-page response, Schiff contradicted every point Nunes made. Schiff also contradicted reality.

Last week’s IG report made that clear. But it takes a re-reading of Schiff’s left-celebrated memorandum to grasp the extent of deception Schiff peddled at the time.

IG Vindicated Nunes, Damned Schiff
“FBI and DOJ officials did not ‘abuse’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process, omit material information, or subvert this vital tool to spy on the Trump campaign,” Schiff’s memorandum began. There’s a lot of lies to unpack in that one sentence—lies Schiff repeats throughout the memorandum. A montage of Schiff’s “no abuse” claims weaved throughout his memorandum contrast sharply with the IG’s findings.

Read the entire article HERE.

Yes, Virginia, the governor really can use the National Guard to enforce gun control

Via The Washington Examiner

With dozens of Virginia counties declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, some Democratic lawmakers have said the governor should use the National Guard to enforce future gun control legislation — but can he?

Virginia Democrats, who control the legislature and governorship, have proposed several measures, including an “assault weapons” ban, universal background checks, and a red flag law. In response, 75 counties vowed they will not enforce future gun control legislation. Virginia Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin told the Washington Examiner on Thursday that Gov. Ralph Northam “may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law” if local authorities refuse to do so themselves.

The president, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, is the only person who can nationalize the Guard, but state governors have the latitude to use it to enforce state law, legal experts said.

“Until nationalized, it’s a creature of the state. So that’s what leads me to believe that, yes, the governor can activate the National Guard to enforce even a state law,” Gary Solis, a military law professor at Georgetown University, told the Washington Examiner.

The Posse Comitatus Act places strict limitations on how the military can be used to enforce the law, but the National Guard’s unique status as a state unit is an exception. Many governors have activated the National Guard to enforce the law in the past.

Read the entire article HERE.

Transgender Professor: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ‘Queerest’ Holiday Special

Via Breitbart

A biological male transgender English professor derides “conservatives” for missing that the 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is all about “queer” people.

Jennifer Finney Boylan, a New York Times opinion writer who teaches at Barnard College, wrote Wednesday:

I’m sure that conservatives who love this old holiday chestnut will be infuriated by this suggestion. But if you watch the show without understanding that its central conflict is the way people who are different are constantly shunned and humiliated — well, I don’t know what show you’re watching. It’s not Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I can tell you that, a show in which, at the climax, “even Santa realizes that maybe he was wrong.”

As an aside, Boylan mocks conservatives further with the observation they are totally unaware that any Christmas special or song that mentions helping the poor is a plug for socialism and a purposeful insult to capitalism.

“What do they suppose is meant in Good King Wenceslas by the line, ‘Ye who now shall bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing’”? Boylan asks, and then mocks, “But please. Do enjoy your $60 Keep America Great hat tree ornament finished in 24-karat gold.”

Boylan insists it is crystal clear the Rudolph Christmas movie is so “queer,” with many LGBTQ themes running through it, that the show could actually be “any episode of Queer Eye or Steven Universe or The L Word.”

Proof of this, the writer says, is that the Glee Christmas special once featured the Rudolph theme song, “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year.”

Getting down to the nitty-gritty, Boylan writes about the “queer code in Christmastown,” particularly when Rudolph’s father, Donner, is embarrassed about his son’s red nose and comes up with a fake one for him to wear.
Read the entire article HERE.

Hallmark Channel Caves To LGBT Lobby In Development As Predictable As Plot Of Hallmark Christmas Movie

Via The Babylon Bee

STUDIO CITY, CA—The Hallmark Channel has caved to the LGBT lobby after briefly pulling an ad featuring two women getting married.

The move is being criticized as trite and predictable, “just like a Hallmark Channel movie plot.”

“We totally saw this one coming,” said one viewer from California. “The company faces backlash from a small but vocal minority, and sure enough, they cave. Isn’t this a rerun? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this one before.”

Some people said the development was “kinda comforting,” though, since it’s a tried and true formula where there aren’t any surprises. Viewers said having the same plot repeat itself over and over is better than having to watch a confusing new plot, like if a company were to stand up to the LGBT lobby and stay true to traditional values despite the financial cost.

“Sometimes it’s nice to know that the world continues to spin, the sun continues to rise in the east, and companies will continue to cower before the powerful LGBT lobby day in and day out,” said one Hallmark Channel fan in Iowa. “There’s something reassuring about it all.”

“It’s kinda heartwarming, to be honest.”

Check out all of the Bee’s great takes on politics and culture HERE.

Be sure to subscribe to Def-Con News to get Breakfast For The Brain in your morning mailbox.