See 10 Key Takeaways From The New York Times’ Error-Ridden Defense Of FBI Spying On Trump Campaign: It's reasonable to assume that much of the new information in the New York Times report relates to leakers' fears about information that will be coming out in the inspector general report by Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist (dated May 17, 2018). The key points are below the fold, but you will need to go to the above link to read the entire essay, wherein each point provides specific evidence. An important read, and a lot to digest!The New York Times published an article yesterday [May 16, 2018] confirming the United States’ intelligence apparatus was used to spy on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.Under Point 10, the conclusion of the essay:
Here are a few quick takeaways.
1. FBI Officials Admit They Spied On Trump Campaign
2. Terrified About Looming Inspector General Report
3. Still No Evidence of Collusion With Russia
4. Four Trump Affiliates Spied On
5. Wiretaps, National Security Letters, and At Least One Spy
6. More Leaks About a Top-Secret Government Informant
7. Ignorance of Basic Facts
8. Insurance: How Does It Work?
9. Eavesdropping, Not Spying, And Other Friendly Claims
10. Affirms Fears of Politicized Intelligence
This New York Times story may have been designed to inoculate the FBI against revelations coming out of the inspector general report, but the net result was to affirm the fears of many Americans who are worried that the U.S. government’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies abused their powers to surveil and target Americans simply for their political views and affiliations. The gathered information has been leaked to media for years, leading to damaged reputations, and the launch of limitless probes, but not any reason to believe that Trump colluded with Russia to steal an election.Read it all HERE.
Time to bring back tarring and feathering?
Important Addendum:
Since I saw the John Adams miniseries, my opinion of tar and feathering lowered.
ReplyDeleteI had always assumed it was done with cold pitch and feathers.
It's a permanent disfigurement and torture.
I should probably stop using it a metaphor for public shaming due to it's gruesome nature.
Ed,
DeleteI almost didn't use the metaphor for the reason that you mentioned.
On the other hand, these Swamp Creatures have disfigured our republic to the point of our country's being barely recognizable compared to what it was founded to be.
The process of tarring and feathering is much too messy, but I do admire the commitment of our ancestors in forming citizen's committees to address the problem of corrupt or treasonous officials.
DeleteAnd yet the current swampy Administration supported and signed a reauthorization of expanded surveillance of American Citizens.
ReplyDeleteI’m running out of popcorn while enjoying the windmill tilting competition.
We can all laugh after John Brennan goes to prison...
ReplyDelete10 to 1 he'll end up in charge of the prison before his sentence is over.
DeleteThen lets just hope another inmate shanks him.
DeleteThe conjecture that any of these people will end up in prison also assumes that they are just like everyone else ... us. They aren’t. The law doesn’t apply to them in the same way that it applies to us, which is why I contend that the American political system is woefully (and now permanently) corrupt.
ReplyDeleteWe can readily see that the problem isn’t confined to one party or the other. Every suspension of our Constitutional rights since 9/11 (Patriot Act, FISA (secret courts), suspending the Fourth Amendment, and curtailment of free speech has delivered us to this point, where official agencies designed to enhance national security now spy on Americans with impunity to scandalize political candidates through unethical and illegal means. If these officials and agencies can use the weight and resources of the United States government to successfully target and punish someone like Donald Trump, then no one (me, you, the neighbor down the street) has any meaningful Constitutional safeguards from similar behavior.
It is 1984 and the pigs are running the show.
Sam,
DeleteI'm sure this graphic will correspond to the comment you made.
The 4th Amendment's been dead for decades, we all knew the alphabet agencies were unaccountable, we also knew our nation was run by A bipartisan/nonpartisan oligarchy.
ReplyDeleteThrow in a vast jungle of recondite regulations and unintelligible laws, and the state has the ability to take down whoever pisses off the elites.
Lesson: Shut up, keep you head down and your mouth shut.
No reasonable regime would expect politicians to do that, so their imperative is simply: Go Along to Get Along.
SF,
DeleteThe 4th Amendment's been dead for decades, we all knew the alphabet agencies were unaccountable, we also knew our nation was run by A bipartisan/nonpartisan oligarchy.
People should have known. But as long as things were going smoothly -- i.e., electronic devices working, TV broadcasting mindless shows, Wall Street performing well, jobs with perks available, etc., etc. -- people turned a bling eye.
As Duck has often stated (though he means something different than I): "We are a sorry people."
Well, at least the over-educamated idiots at the State Department can't pursue their RIDICULOUS Iraq policies anymore. My man Moqi will see to THAT!
ReplyDeleteGood link.
DeleteAt least I can now put my tin foil away. I guess we can say we told you so but small comfort as we continue on our perilous journey headed to who knows where.
ReplyDeleteBunkerville,
DeleteNo comfort whatsoever, IMO.
Remember when the MSM, if they smelled blood in the water would get into a feeding frenzy? Party affiliation didn’t matter. They would go for the jugular.
ReplyDeleteGary Hart as to Jennifer Flowers and of course Wilbur Mills and Fanny Fox come to mind. Scandal, out came the knives.
Now, protect the leftist scum and their RINO sloth backstabbers Truth be Damned!
So much for the B.S. that is referred to as a Free Press. All lying sacks of SH..!
Hello, Joseph. Welcome back!
DeleteThe msm is an arm of the Democratic Party. "Plain as the nose on your face!"
The F.B.I. investigated four unidentified Trump campaign aides in those early months, congressional investigators revealed in February ...
ReplyDelete-----------
Somehow this necessarily becomes "spied on the Trump campaign".
No effort is made to explain the reason for the investigation or how it may or may not be related to the campaign.
Get a clue, McDuck. John Brennan hated Trump. That's ALL it took.
Delete:)
DeleteOh look, shiny objects.
DeleteIt's all about Clinton.
Get real.
It's all about electing Clinton in 2016, NOT BERNIE or TRUMP!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletefrom American Thinker
DeleteThe FBI is asked--way back as early as 2015, but who knows? -- to be helpful to the Dems and they agree. What they do is they hire non-government consultants with close Dem ties to do "analytical work" for them, which happens to include total access to NSA data. Advantages? For the Dems, obviously, access to EVERYTHING digital. A gold mine for modern campaign research. For the FBI there's also an advantage. They get to play dumb -- gosh, we didn't know they were looking at all that stuff! They also don't have to falsify anything, like making [stuff] up to "justify" opening a FI [full investigation]on an American citizen and then lying to the FISC to get a FISA on the USPER [US person] and having to continually renew the FISA and lie all over again to the FISC each renewal. And the beauty of it all is, who's ever going to find out? And even if they do, how do you prove criminal intent?
So everything's humming along until a pain in the a** named Mike Rogers at NSA does an audit in 4/2016, just as the real campaign season is about to start. And Rogers learns that 85% of the searches the FBI has done between 12/2015 and 4/2016 have been totally out of bounds. And he clamps down -- no more non-government contractors, tight auditing on searches of NSA data. Oh sh*t! What to do, just give up? Well, not necessarily, but there's a lot more work involved and a lot more fudging the facts. What the FBI needs to do now is get a FISA that will cover their a** and provide coverage on the GOPers going forward. That means, first get a FI on an USPER [US person] connected to the Trump campaign (who looks, in [April] or [May] 2016, like the GOP candidate) so you can then get that FISA. That's not so easy, because they've got to find an USPER with that profile who they can plausibly present as a Russian spy. But they have this source named Halper.
So they first open a PI [preliminary investigation]. That allows them to legally use NatSec Letters and other investigative techniques to keep at least some of what they were doing going. But importantly this allows them to legally use Halper to try to frame people connected to the Trump campaign -- IOW, find someone to open a FI on so they can then get that FISA. However the PI is framed, that's what they're looking to do. It has legal form, even if the real intent is to help the Dems. And you can see why this had to be a CI [counterintelligence] thing, so in a sense the Russia narrative was almost inevitable -- no other bogeyman would really fit the bill, and especially on short notice.
So that's what they do, and Halper helps them come up with Papadopoulos and Page, so by the end of July they've got their FI. Problem. Their first FISA is rejected, but eventually, 10/2016, they get that.
And then Trump wins and Rogers visits Trump Tower. And the Deep State has a fit.
Corroborating evidence.
DeleteBeantown,
DeleteQuite the system, huh?
No doubt! And RIPE for abuse!
DeleteThersites,
DeleteIt's damn creepy. Makes my skin crawl.
What's worse is that the entire media "Narrative" gets shaped by the side who leaks to their complicit MSM source first.
DeleteThe "Ignorance About Basic Facts" section spends it's time on the Clinton e-mails.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that have to do with the topic at hand?
That was the "excuse" for opening the investigation into"corraboration" BY the Campaign. It is now known that the FBI informant planted the suggestion.
DeleteBeantown,
DeleteOh, Duck knows! He just cannot admit that he knows. I sure that you know why.
...a "glitch" in the media narrative? Can't be! :)
DeleteTheir leak traps are PERFECT!
DeleteWhen Donald Trump joined the Czechoslavakian Communist Party in 1976....
ReplyDeleteDon't worry; the NY Times is already sharpening its knives against anything that would make anything they believe in look bad, this included. This will all go away and the Dems win again.
ReplyDeleteSo often, this stuff reminds me of when I heard a federal agent who'd worked Fast & Furious bemoaning the fact that, when Bush was in, the word was to sell guns to the 'bad guys' in MX, and KEEP WATCH so they could figure out who's running guns, drugs, etc....silently, clandestinely WATCH. Why else would you supply guns to bad actors?
Suddenly, he said, when Eric Holder took over, they were told to give the guns to the bad guys, as usual. THEN LEAVE. Don't watch, don't wait. Leave. The agent was devastated, fearful, curious. And quitting..
I watched THE FBI STORY with James Stewart the other day...some of it's predictably a kind of propaganda....it's not the workings of the FBI I found as fascinating as seeing people do their jobs with the intent of keeping Americans safe. Today, I think today we're feeling more like how that poor, betrayed federal agent who quit feels
I still don't see that the Federalist article made the case that investigation of individuals associated with the campaign is an investigation of the campaign especially when some of the individuals were under investigation before becoming attached to Trump.
DeleteCareful, Z. A piece of propaganda made under J.Edgar Hoover's supervision in the days of McCarthy and the Hays code may be less than objective.
DeleteAs the terrific Ms Hemingway says "This is a stunning admission for those Americans worried that federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies might use their powers to surveil, leak against, and target Americans simply for their political views or affiliations."
DeleteManafort was an UNREGISTERED (illegal) lobbyist for Seko, Markos and Savimbi among others and you can honestly say he was being investigated simply for his views and affiliations?
DeleteFlynn was very friendly with Russian intelligence assets and lied to the Vice President about his Russian connection but he's only being investigated for "political views and affiliations"(well, got the affiliations correct)?
Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to making false statements but he's being targeted for his "political views and affiliations", right?
Carter Page may be the biggest scum bag of the bunch and is totally in bed with Russian oil and gas oligarchs but it's his lobbying to drop sanctions not his "political views" which triggered the investigation.
Probable cause all around but you think these are innocents who are going to "Make America Great Again".
You can't illegally wiretap American citizens because they might be scumbags, McDuck. You need probable cause. And all the probable cause in this case was invented/ manufactured by John Brennan and planted for use in gaining a twice denied FISA warrant.
DeleteYou telling me the evidence against Manafort and Flynn was "manufactured"?
DeleteGet real, Farmer.
Quit carrying water for these rogues.
No. The evidence required to open the case was manufactured (henceforth all evidence collected iuss inadmissable). Once they started spying, they didn't find the "counter-intelligence case" they claimed was there (collusion), they found petty crimes like "lying".
DeleteThe Obama Admin was using the intelligence gathered, and then "unmasking" the sources so that they could spy on the campaign, NOT so that they could prove collusion. Collusion would have been a side-benefit of their "opposition research".
DeleteAnd let's face it, if they really wanted a counter-intelligence case, the DNC would have turned their hacked servers over to the FBI for analysis. They didn't.
The Steele dirty dossier was "manufactured" to get FISA surveillance warrants.
Delete...to "cover up" (justify) the original counter-intelligence case Brennan openned, but was denied FISA warrants for (and believe me, there really has to be NO EVIDENCE/probable cause to get turned down for a FISA warrant, let alone TWO).
DeleteSO stop carrying water for the Deep State lest you don't mind if the entire intelligence apparatus of the US government get's turned over to the 2020 Trump Campaign for Bernie Oppo research.
Deleteps - Why didn't the DNC turn over their servers? They were also colluding with the Clinton Campaign to STOP Bernie (as the Wikileaks release of hacked e-mail subsequently PROVED).
DeleteZ,
Deletethe NY Times is already sharpening its knives against anything that would make anything they believe in look bad, this included. This will all go away and the Dems win again.
Very likely.
Beantown,
DeleteWhy didn't the DNC turn over their servers? They were also colluding with the Clinton Campaign to STOP Bernie
Duh!
I think that most Americans see that. But what can we do about it? Swamp Creatures won't step up to the plate.
All the countries "eggs" are in the IG's basket. In a few weeks, we'll know who wins.
DeleteIt hasn't got anything to do with my supporting a police state.
DeleteHentoff wanted to maintain a representative republic and he'd be a lot more concerned about folks like you and Farmer warping reason to maintain the Trump kleptocracy.
Ducky! "Careful, Z. A piece of propaganda made under J.Edgar Hoover's supervision in the days of McCarthy and the Hays code may be less than objective."
DeleteSTOP being naive...your silly belief that nobody was pushing Communism before the McCarthy is silly. I'll never forget an L.A. Times article of about 30 years ago....relatives of most of those fingered by the hearings admitting their grandfather, father, etc, had been Communists. One only has to watch several of even some of my favorite films to see how they were so subtly preparing America for the socialism only you and your ilk could desire for this once-great Republic. I have never been able to find that article since; yes, I looked very hard about 10 years ago..it's gone. Also gone was an expose of Scientology..."part 1 of a series..." story after story of murders, etc...Part 2 never showed up.
Don't be naive, Ducky, because you believe your sources doesn't make them true. Just being anti capitalism doesn't make it right.
@ Nostradumbass:
ReplyDelete"It hasn't got anything to do with my supporting a police state."
No, I suppose not. Supporting a police state is just the "Progressive" thing to do.
"Warping reason" is the thing I hear and translate as "I'm losing the narrative" and Trump is a 3rd rate piker when it comes to your political heroes.
Clinton Crime Family and Pay to Play are the favorites of the Commie, Socialist, Marxist, Progressive set.
How come all this crap always is portrayed as coming down on Conservatives and lands squarely on the leftists?
To be honest Trump financially supported Democrats for decades so I'm not about to confuse him with someone not out to destroy America.
ReplyDeleteSo Trump is in trouble for trying to be an asset of hostile foreign governments while Republican. All he has to do is admit he's still a Democrat and all this goes away.
P_______H_______E_______W_______!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!
DeleteSemantics: investigating vs. spying.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to learn when the investigating of/spying on Trump's campaign began -- and from how far up the chain of command this activity was ordered.
Related or not, John Brennan isn't happy -- or is worried about where he'll be a year from now:
Senator McConnell & Speaker Ryan: If Mr. Trump continues along this disastrous path, you will bear major responsibility for the harm done to our democracy. You do a great disservice to our Nation & the Republican Party if you continue to enable Mr. Trump’s self-serving actions.
The above was a Tweet reacting to a Tweet from the POTUS:
I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!
The system at work. Aka "The Swamp":
ReplyDeleteTrump Campaign Spy’s Past Exposed: Worked to Flip Past Pres. Election Too as CIA Spook
Excerpt:
Delete...Halper is no run-of-the-mill FBI operative. He has a history of being involved in shady CIA operations to infiltrate and derail U.S. elections.
“To begin with, it’s obviously notable that the person the FBI used to monitor the Trump campaign is the same person who worked as a CIA operative running that 1980 Presidential election spying campaign,” Greenwale wrote.
Yes, it was Halper, a former Nixon insider and the same man at the center of the anti-Trump scandal today.
Nearly 40 years ago, a largely buried scandal was playing out in Washington. In involved some famous Republicans, including old names that even today are firmly in the “Never Trump” camp.
“Halper was responsible for a long-forgotten spying scandal involving the 1980 election, in which the Reagan campaign — using CIA officials managed by Halper, reportedly under the direction of former CIA Director and then-Vice-Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush — got caught running a spying operation from inside the Carter administration,” the Intercept explained.
In other words, there may be a structure within the foreign policy and intelligence communities that goes back to at least the time when George H.W. Bush ran the CIA.
That behind-the-scenes power structure — “Deep State,” to borrow the term — was on the side of Hillary Clinton and believed that Trump needed to be stopped at any cost...
Wowzer! Dated 1983, NYT:
ReplyDeleteREAGAN AIDES DESCRIBE OPERATION TO GATHER INSIDE DATA ON CARTER.
Time for me to re-read Robert Novak's The Prince of Darkness.
There's nothing illegal about US citizens spying on the government. It's only illegal when the government spies on its' citizens.
Delete...or when the Deep Staters abuse their positions from within Government to "private ends" (the election of a preferred candidate). In either case, it's only those within the Government who should be prosecuted.
DeleteJoe,
DeleteThere's nothing illegal about US citizens spying on the government. It's only illegal when the government spies on its' citizens.
Agreed.
There's nothing illegal about US citizens spying on the government, unless they are partisan operatives/contractors working to disrupt the will of voters.
DeleteSam,
DeleteOr spying on the opposite powers candidate for office and putting out information to smear.
Sheesh. What has happened to this country's moral compass?
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhat has happened to this country's moral compass?
Delete"Set you principles aside and vote for (McCain, Romney, Trump) anyway..."
...or better, keep your principles and vote for Hillary/3rd Party's w/no chance.
DeleteAt this point in time, what difference did not voting for Hillary make? ;)
DeleteEasy. She ain't president. Next question!
DeleteThe funny thing is you actually believe that.
DeleteEr, um, Trump's in charge of his government teehee.
DeleteTC,
Delete"Set you principles aside and vote for (McCain, Romney, Trump) anyway..."
The "problem" with the GOP as being an arm of the Uniparty began before McCain. One piece of evidence: nation building under GWB. I could go back further, but don't have time right now.
More evidence of the Uniparty....Our worthless Congress Critters -- GOP ones:
Delete...In the House, Republicans pushed back against President Trump’s proposal to cut a measly $15 billion from several programs. For Congress, $15 billion is pocket change, but even this small amount is too much for the Republican Party, which fears Democrat campaign commercials accusing Republicans of not caring about children and wanting to evict grandma from her home....
From
The Republican fear factor by Cal Thomas.
I know, AOW. Hillary Clinton's been secretly in charge of the government since the Lewinsky scandal. ;)
DeleteI just added this link to the body of the blog post...
ReplyDeleteImportant Addendum:
Stopping Robert Mueller to help us all
ON the Deep State front, former FBI Director James Comey's leaker of choice and originator of the "insurance policy" strategy, Ben Wittes, is setting up the Never-Trump world for a string of resignations (ala "Saturday Night Massacre") to head off any further investigation into Obama/Clinton Intelligence Agency abuse, just as he promised in his insurance policy strategy.
DeleteIn other words, if the president really gives Rosenstein or Wray an order demanding that they open a particular investigation, I believe both men will resign rather than comply. The question then becomes how many people will follow them out the door if they do so.
DeleteThe first is that Trump has repeatedly threatened crises in the past, got everyone worked up over them, and then backed off. He was going to fire Robert Mueller—and he hasn’t fired Robert Mueller. He was going to fire Rod Rosenstein—and he didn’t fire Rod Rosenstein. He was going to fire Jeff Sessions—and he didn’t fire Jeff Sessions. He has repeatedly intimated his willingness, even eagerness, to take steps that would provoke a major crisis for the rule of law. But since firing then-FBI Director James Comey, he’s always stopped just short of actually doing it.
DeleteHe was going to lock Hillary up...
He was going to drain the swamp...
He was going to repeal Obamacare...
He,was going to end DACA and force Mexico to pay for a border wall...
He was going to support and strengthen law enforcement...
He was going to confront China's currency manipulation...
He was going to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program...
He's going to keep bullshitting.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWell beamish, at least he's promising. Nobody else in the presidential field was willing to take on anything beyond ribbon cuttings and approval of corporate mergers.
DeleteI wonder how many Never-Trumpers will follow their beamish-Wittes "principles"...
DeleteTrump hires the best people mmmkay.
DeleteBut Beamish, look at all he's done for the working class:
DeleteRising mortgage rates
Rising gas prices
Rising medical costs
... he rocks.
Rising mortgage rates beat declining home values eight days a week in everywhere but socialist utopias. As for rising costs, again, signs that people actually HAVE JOBS and aren't sucking at the Government's teet. All good news for people who actually work for a living and haven't become Democratic parasites. :)
DeleteRising rates will generate lower prices.
DeleteThe job market was expanding long before tRump and has expanded with the business cycle. Wages have not.
Yeah, government teat. The Full Ayn Rand for everyone, right.
Ayn Rand did demonstrate the Full Ayn Rand of Socialist destruction, too. Why else move to Galt's Gulch, McDuck? Surely not because the Socialist Utopia was distributing its economic fruits compassionately?
DeleteIt's cute when statists fight each other.
DeleteP_______H_________E_______W_______!
DeleteGeeze, Louise, please get some Febreeze!
Gee, no resignations by "principled Never-Trump officials". I guess fat paychecks over-rule principles every time...
DeleteWho paid you to vote for Trump?
DeleteExactly. I didn't quit my job and join "the Resistance". I got on the Trump train.
DeleteThe Resistance is running out of steam.
DeleteThersites,
DeleteThe Republicans have taken a six-point lead over Democrats on the generic ballot in a new tracking poll from Reuters newswire service.
WHOA!
Trick question. Principles cabn't be set aside. You either have them or never did.
DeleteThere is no such thing as a principled politician, or voter either, for that matter.
DeletePrinciples are not desires, beamish. So yes, they can easily be set aside unless they are "congruent".
Delete"Never compromise your desires" - Jacques Lacan
The desire of the Other, which we are qua parlêtre, also corresponds to the desire to remain within the Other. Active subjectivisation is possible only in the intersubjective Symbolic after we have temporarily suspended it and “reshaped” it through the imposition of a new Master-Signifier and the emergence of a new (partly subjectivised) jouissance connected to it. In other words, the political truly starts at the very point where the evil purity of an anarchic and destructive ethics – which nevertheless constitutes the precondition of the former – is compromised. - Lorenzo Chiesa, "Lacan with Artaud"
DeleteSam,
DeleteI agree -- particularly as I look back over the last several decades of American history.
Sam,
DeleteI disagree. We all have principles. Whether or not we follow them depends upon whether they are "legal" or "ethical" but even more importantly, congruent with our desires (which are highly variable depending upon the immediacy and likelihood of results to be derived through their application).
Thersites,
DeleteWhether or not we follow [our principles]depends upon the choices we are presented -- particularly with candidates for office.
Too often, I have voted according to my principles, only to see the Demorat win office. Damn.
In retrospect, following my principles would have resulted in abstaining. But where is the civic virtue in doing that?
Deletefrom my radical mentor, Slavoj Zizek:
Delete“Better to do nothing than to engage in localized acts whose ultimate function is to make the system run more smoothly. The threat today is not passivity, but pseudo-activity, the urge to "be active", to "participate", to mask the Nothingness of what goes on. People intervene all the time, "doing something"; academics participate in meaningless "debates," etc.; but the truly difficult thing is to step back, to withdraw from it all. Those in power often prefer even "critical" participation or a critical dialogue to silence, since to engage us in such a "dialogue" ensures that our ominous passivity is broken. The "Bartlebian act" I propose is violent precisely insofar as it entails ceasing this obsessive activity-in it, violence and non-violence overlap (non-violence appears as the highest violence), likewise activity and inactivity (the most radical thing is to do nothing).”
Would you have voted in last weekend's election in Venezuela, were it even your "civic duty". IMO, If the system becomes corrupt, there's no virtue in supporting its' continuance, civic or otherwise.
Well, Thersites, I don't see voting in Venezuela''s elections to matter at all toward the outcome thereof. For the foreseeable future, Venezuela is kaput. Here in our country, voting CAN possibly delay the dragon.
DeleteGiven the degree of "official spying" and "official leaking" of intelligence products in the 2016 election, one wonders for how much longer our "votes" won't simply be the products of skillful and deliberate manipulation by intelligence leakers. Manufactured consent is not informed consent.
DeleteIt's a real scandal!
DeleteSorry FJ. Principles are the foundation of a belief system.
DeleteNihilists need not apply.
https://youtu.be/7AEMiz6rcxc
Delete@beamish - Nihilism is also a belief system. So are Ego's/SuperEgo's.
DeleteNietzsche, "Will to Power"
3. Belief in the "Ego." The Subject
481 (1883-1888)
Against positivism, which halts at phenomena--"There are only facts"--I would say: No, facts is precisely what there is not, only interpretations. We cannot establish any fact "in itself": perhaps it is folly to want to do such a thing.
"Everything is subjective," you say; but even this is interpretation. The "subject" is not something given, it is something added and invented and projected behind what there is.--Finally, is it necessary to posit an interpreter behind the interpretation? Even this is invention, hypothesis.
In so far as the word "knowledge" has any meaning, the world is knowable; but it is interpretable otherwise, it has no meaning behind it, but countless meanings.--"Perspectivism."
It is our needs that interpret the world; our drives and their For and Against. Every drive is a kind of lust to rule; each one has its perspective that it would like to compel all the other drives to accept as a norm.
482 (1886-1887)
We set up a word at the point at which our ignorance begins, at which we can see no further, e.g., the word "I," the word "do," the word "suffer":--these are perhaps the horizon of our knowledge, but not "truths."
483 (1885)
Through thought the ego is posited; but hitherto one believed as ordinary people do, that in "I think" there was something of immediate certainty, and that this "I" was the given cause of thought, from which by analogy we understood all other causal relationships. However habitual and indispensable this fiction may have become by now--that in itself proves nothing against its imaginary origin: a belief can be a condition of life and nonetheless be false.
I meant nihilism in the sense of rejecting both Nietzsche's formulations of Master and Slave Morality and its inevitable creation of your own (convenient?) morality...
DeleteOne where you see Donald Trump randomly shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue (as he once boasted he could do) and you decide whether or not he's done something wrong based on who the hell it was he shot. Something like that.
I didn't want Obama to be President for 8 years, didn't vote that way at all. But I lived through the Obama Presidency mostly intact. I didn't want Hillary or Trump to be President, both are repulsive to my principles and in juxtoposition really a false dilemma. I don't understand the appeal to Hillary, I don't get how people spent 0.34 seconds considering Trump and not vomiting. Bost are or were post-1962 Democrats so the decision to reject them (and Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, etc.) was easy. Anyone who ever called themself a Democrat after 1962 is unforgivably anti-American. F**k 'em. Irredeemable.
And so, I will live through the two or so years of Trump, mostly intact, and not get any of that on me.
Take Mike Pence for example. He's had many opportunities to punch Trump in the mouth on national television, yet he hasn't. Which means he can't be trusted with simple ethical decisions.
Delete@ beamish,
DeleteWelcome to the new "Party-State".
The formula of the Party-State, as the defining feature of twentieth-century Communism, thus needs to be complicated: there is always a gap between Party and State, corresponding to the gap between the Ego-Ideal (symbolic Law) and the Superego, for the Party remains the half-hidden obscene shadow which redoubles the State structure. There is here no distance, its organization embodying a fundamental distrust of the State organs and mechanisms, as if they need to be continually kept in check. A true twentieth-century-style Communist never fully accepts the State: there always has to be a vigilant agency outside of State control, with the power to intervene in the State's business.
- Slavoj Zizek, "Living in the End Times"
Trump is Super-Ego, "the half obscene shadow which redoubles the State structure. There is here no distance, its organization embodying a fundamental distrust of the State organs and mechanisms, as if they need to be continually kept in check."
This is why he can shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Ave and no one would care. After Obama, we no longer trust the State. We want an "outside the legal system Super-Hero" to fix things. Many see Trump as THAT entity.
All the Democrat's want to do is turn the Government into the Party's puppet, so they can spy on the opposition party's, leak to the Press, and deflect any challenge to their authority over the State.
DeleteAnd so the principles of "legality" (apply to the communal) often conflict with "ethical" (apply to the individual) principles. Police will "spy" on criminal suspects and use "force" against them. How "ethical" is That?
DeleteSo you can't say "I only follow ethical principles". You HAVE to make compromises, depending upon the situation. And voting necessarily crosses these boundaries between principles suited to individuals, and those more suited to communities.
And in most elections, you may have binary choices, but these are "forced choices", not "free choices".
DeleteI voted for Trump not because I agreed with his principles or policies, but because of his voiced disgust at the direction our pay-to-play Government has been headed. I don't expect him to fix it, just buy the country some time to organize a majority opposition to it.
That, and a new found appreciation of the Capitalist Discourse which has been driving our Government and our social relations in the direction it has been headed.
DeleteAs you can tell from the above link, Lacan discourses are not the pathelogical universe of the "hysteric". ;)
DeleteAs for me, I'm just a dude. And a "dude" abides!
Delete"They're nihilists. That must be exhausting." ;)
DeleteOnly the jester could speak the truth in the King's court, I guess.
The joke of Trump just stopped being funny.
lol!
DeleteIt always WAS "the Russians"!
You should know better, beamish. Jokes are "racist, sexist, and homophobic" and therefore NOT PERMITTED, EVER!
DeleteRighteousness and PCness must proceed hand in hand, FOREVER!
In a post-truth world, it's "the narrative" that must ALWAYS prevail.
Delete...just ask the Deep State Never-Trumpers you support.
DeleteNah. I love and live in reality. It's nice here.
DeleteTu quoque is still a fallacy.
Any loser can claim to "win" by redefining winning.
DeleteAsk Hitler how his narrative workrd in the Ardennes.
Reality? LOL!
DeleteIsn't THAT where this conversation started when I said that your principles had to be aligned with your desires/jouissance?
And you say "Never Trumper" like it's a bad thing.
DeleteYou might not be aware of this, but the only people eating dog shit sandwiches ordered them at the counter. Knowingly. Bon apetit!
Desires / jouissance...
DeleteI won't settle for a shit sandwich, or pretend to enjoy one, or in Trump fashion try to mock people who don't have shit-breath.
I hate to break it to you beamish, but all of the Government Bureaucracy's jouissance originates in Trump... so you are about as far away from "reality" as is possible for one to get. :)
DeleteThusly, forever will the GOP be divided between conservatives and shit-eaters.
DeleteIt sure beats the Deep State's Nihilism...:)
DeletePlease don't confuse the two.
Delete"It sure beats the Deep State's Nihilism...:)"
DeleteYou have a little something in your teeth there. Ewww!
It must be a b*tch being nothing but a split subject, with no-one to talk or listen to you... :)
DeleteYeah. I'm sure the fish appreciate all the bait you cut and ran from.
Delete"Winner."
DeleteI'd refer you to your comment at 2:56. :)
Delete"Das Kriterium der Wahrheit liegt in der Steigerung des Machtgefühls.Das Kriterium der Wahrheit liegt in der Steigerung des Machtgefühls." - Nietzsche, WtP #534
Delete...but now I repeat myself.
DeleteAnd I'll refer you to Roy Moore and Don Blankenship and others of Trump's "best people."
Delete:)
Delete:P
DeleteLet me know when Trump addresses <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/24/study-no-1-reason-americans-poor-theyre-not-working/>this problem</a>
DeleteTil then, we can be happy about his anti-government union executive orders issued today.
(Trump isn't completely bad, lol)
http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/24/study-no-1-reason-americans-poor-theyre-not-working/?utm_campaign=ACTENGAGE
DeleteFirst the contract form Wikipedia
ReplyDeleteJust connecting the dots:
From May 2012 to July of 2017, Halper was paid a total of $1,058,161 USD by the US government.
Halper and Page’s 14 months of contact ended in September 2017, the same month the last FISA warrant against the former Trump campaign aide expired.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/20/stefan-halper-carter-page/
ReplyDeleteNO, YOU are indicative of the very worst scum that travels the blogosphere of America!.YOU kind of people say is worth considering because they offer NOTHING of value and travel regularly in lies, deceit, indecency, and hypocrisy. ITS PEOPLE like YOU, and your friend SHAW , as well as a few others who are not deserving of what America offers. You Progressives shit stains are the very type that Crooked Hillary depends on for support and those like you are America's biggest internal problem and threat to our republic.
You are the Bottom of the Barrel, the type of Assholes that this country needs to rid itself of.
Rational Shit stain you, and those like you clearly DEFINE who the real enemy of America are. LOOSERS OF AMERICA
LOOSER even than the morals of Stormy Daniels?
DeleteG___E___D___O___U___D___A___H___E___R___E___!
Speaking of professional criminals, Jackie, how about tRump's lawyer taking 400 large from a Ukrainian oligarch?
ReplyDeleteOf course tRump knew nothing about it.
Not yet proven, but Ducky knows! Poor Trump, to have to keep track of every transaction every one of his lawyers over the years have done and be blamed for them, too!. You libs must think much more of him than I do, that's for sure....
ReplyDeleteMcDuck,
ReplyDeleteYou can also think of it THIS way. The Ukranians had to pay $400k Large to GO AROUND a crooked-Left Deep State State Department in order to get a meeting with someone who might actually LISTEN to them for a change. The Clinton-Kerry State Department was a pay-to-play operation requiring payoffs to the Clinton/Kerry Foundations for access. so they can be excused if they thought that "bribes" were a requirement.
Yeah Farmer, the meeting at the White House was last June. Shortly after the Ukrainian president returned home, his country's anti-corruption agency stopped its investigation into Trump's former campaign manager, Manafort.
ReplyDeleteSomeone listened.
Oh don't worry, Jack. He'll get PLENTY of answers without any help from you. Apparently a great many habitués here just love to waste time batting verbal whiffle balls back and forth across barren fields.
ReplyDeleteLife is a quid pro quo, McDuck. And separating the "personal" from the "communal" aspects of that quid pro quo can be complicated. The real question is, "What did the Ukraine get in return?"
ReplyDeleteI know Cohen was supposed to have received $400K... e-r-r-r-r, $600K. Different sources, different amounts. I guess the BBC doesn't have the old WaPo's two source confirmation requirement.
ReplyDeletePS - And as former too-tall FBI director Jim Comey's favorite leak source Ben Wittes says, "Shouldn't Mueller have subpoenaed those Cohen bank records AGES ago?"
ReplyDeleteTesting comment notification.
ReplyDeleteNot working?
DeleteThis is encouraging:
ReplyDeleteHow Trump is making it easier to say 'You're fired!' to bad federal bureaucrats!
Excerpt:
President Trump has ordered a crackdown on poor performance and misbehavior within the ranks of the federal workforce, senior administration officials said Friday.
Mr. Trump signed a trio of executive orders that reform civil service rules by expediting termination for cause, revamping union contracts and limiting taxpayer-funded union work at agencies, said a senior administration official....
More at the above link.
HALLELUJAH!
DeleteTesting comment notification.
ReplyDelete