RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/12/17/the_blues_at_st_james_comey

When your best explanation for humiliating failures is that you were incompetent, not criminal, you are in trouble. When your defense is that underlings are to blame, you can expect them to bite back. That’s the situation facing James Comey, former FBI director. His current story matches Richard Nixon’s lame admission: “mistakes were made.”

Not that Comey made those mistakes himself, mind you. Mere sloppiness by others, he says. That’s his new story. His old one was that the FBI did everything by the book and that his critics were dishonest partisan hacks. His self-righteous stance went down the garbage disposal last week when Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued his devastating report and then told a Senate committee that Comey was wrong when he said the report vindicated him and the bureau.

Comey is still drifting down that river in Egypt, denying he failed in his basic duties. Yet he signed surveillance warrants as “truthful and verified” when he knew (or should have known) they were neither. He and senior officials at the Department of Justice used the same misinformation four times to spy on Carter Page, claiming, without evidence, that Page might be a Russian agent.

Caught in these lies, Comey is reluctantly admitting that he relied on the FBI’s standard procedures for gaining warrants and that underlings may have been careless. They may well have been, but so was Comey. Moreover, it was the director himself who gutted the safeguards designed to prevent overzealous agents from deceiving the court.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/dec/16/trump-hits-new-approval-rating-high-amid-impeachme/

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Monday, December 16, 2019

President Trump hit a record-high approval rating in one of the country’s most influential polls Monday, as Democrats lost support for impeachment over the past six weeks of hearings.

Impeachment has cost Democrats their first House seat as well. Rep. Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey, an outspoken critic of the process, fled the Democratic Party to join the Republicans.

Democratic leaders aren’t changing course, though.

https://amgreatness.com/2019/12/16/nevertrump-conservatives-started-the-smear-campaign-on-carter-page/

If editors and journalists are truly serious about wanting redemption for the former Trump campaign advisor, they should first hold their own accountable.

In August 2015, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson sent an email that would launch the biggest political scandal in American history.

According to his new book, Simpson started fishing for haters of Donald Trump who might be interested in funding his budding opposition research project on the Manhattan mogul. Simpson admits that he didn’t know a lot about Trump at that point but suspected the Republican presidential candidate would provide a deep trove of dirt for political operatives to mine.

Simpson, however, did not reach out to Democrats or the Hillary Clinton campaign or the Bernie Sanders team. Instead, he contacted a “longtime Republican politico” to see if he might be interested in backing Fusion’s work. They spoke by phone later that same day.

“Simpson told the Republican operative that there were plenty of preliminary indications that Trump would be a fertile subject for investigation, and that some of the lines of inquiry would probably resonate with the media or primary voters,” Simpson wrote. (The book is oddly written in third-person.)

“The operative said he was interested but needed to secure funding for Fusion’s fee, about $50,000 for the first month.”

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/12/comey-croons-whos-sorry-now-lloyd-billingsley/

“Sure, I’m responsible, that’s why I’m telling you, I was wrong,” former FBI boss James Comey told Chris Wallace of Fox News on Sunday. “I was overconfident as the director in our procedures. And it’s important that a leader be accountable and transparent.” Wallace wondered if Comey had played down the use of the Steele dossier.

“If I was then I’m sorry that I did that,” Comey said, citing “significant questions about the reliability of some of the sub-source reporting.” Even so, the FBI committed no wrongdoing only “real sloppiness.” DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz “did not find misconduct by any FBI people,” only  “mistakes and negligence.”  All this from the man who branded FBI spying on Trump as “nonsense,” a claim he repeated in the interview.

“Comey is about two years too late,” former Rep. Trey Gowdy told Maria Bartiromo of Fox News. “We could have used him as head of the FBI helping Republicans figure out what was happening with FISA instead of thwarting us and obstructing us.” President Trump was also quick to respond.

“So now Comey’s admitting he was wrong,” Trump tweeted. “Wow, but he’s only doing so because he got caught red-handed. He was actually caught a long time ago.” And as the president wondered, “So what are the consequences for his unlawful conduct. Could it be years in jail?” And “Where are the apologies to me and others, Jim?” At this writing no apology has appeared, and Trump is right that Comey’s unlawful conduct goes back some distance.

https://pjmedia.com/spengler/i-accuse-the-leadership-of-the-democratic-party-of-responsibility-for-violence-against-jews/

Violence against Jews now accounts for 58% of all crimes of religious hatred reported to the FBI. It isn’t just the Jersey City massacre: Violence against Jews by blacks is now endemic in Hasidic neighborhoods in Brooklyn. This is the direct result of anti-Semitic agitation by hatemongers like Louis Farrakhan. The Democratic Party tolerates congressmen in its ranks with public ties to Farrakhan. When Farrakhan calls for the murder of Jews, and black political leaders propitiate this foul demagogue, deranged fringe elements will turn violent.

From The Daily Caller:

At least seven House Democrats are known to have direct ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite and racist who has called Jews “satanic” and said white people “deserve to die.”

California Reps. Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, Illinois Rep. Danny Davis, Indiana Rep. Andre Carson, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks and Texas Rep. Al Green have all attended meetings with Farrakhan while in Congress, according to photos, videos and witness accounts of the meetings reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

I accuse the leadership of the Democratic Party of responsibility for the murders of my brethren in Jersey City. It is a howling disgrace that Rep. Keith Ellison was until 2018 Deputy Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Where are the demands that elected officials and party leaders repudiate Farrakhan?

A majority of British Jews used to vote Labour. This time around more than 90% voted against the Jew-hater Jeremy Corbyn. When will American Jews display the same concern for their own self-preservation?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-incredibly-incurious-mr-comey-11576540870?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

James Comey has finally admitted some “sloppiness” over the surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The former FBI director should re-read Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report because it lays out a record of willful incuriosity about Christopher Steele and his dossier that is hard to credit as mere incompetence.

The report quotes Bill Priestap, a key FBI player in the 2016 Crossfire Hurricane probe into the Trump campaign, that the FBI had “concerns” about Mr. Steele’s “reporting the day we got it . . . [S]ome of it was so sensational, that we just, we did not take it at face value.”

But if the FBI was initially skeptical, it isn’t evident in the IG report. The report shows how the FBI avoided taking any action, or asking any question, that might have undermined its use of the dossier in its application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The Crossfire team obtained Mr. Steele’s dossier on Sept. 19, 2016. The FISA court didn’t grant its warrant on Mr. Page until Oct. 21, 2016, giving it weeks to explore Mr. Steele’s revelations. The former British spook had operated as a confidential FBI source since 2013, which meant he had his own “Delta” file, containing all information concerning sources.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/16/ig-report-proves-adam-schiff-has-been-lying-about-spygate-since-the-beginning/

IG Vindicated Nunes, Damned Schiff

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.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-economy-shakes-free-of-recession-fears-in-striking-turnaround-since-august/ar-AAK9ByW

The U.S. economy is heading into 2020 at a pace of steady, sustained growth after a series of interest rate cuts and the apparent resolution of two trade-related threats mostly eliminated the risk of a recession.

This marks a dramatic turnaround in momentum since August, when some forecasters predicted a 50 percent chance of a downturn starting by the end of next year.

Many economists credit the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate reductions and the slightly improved trade picture for propelling the stock market to fresh record highs and causing forecasters to bump up their predictions for how long the economy can keep growing and adding jobs without stumbling. 

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15302/adam-schiff-telephone-subpoenas

The House of Representatives, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will not punish Schiff. Unethical, invasive, illegal activity is permissible as long as its focus is against President Trump.

If all political enemies can be “legally” targeted under the Schiff template, we can slide further and faster towards the failed state we are incrementally becoming.

Schiff’s conduct is outrageous and is a threat to the Constitution. He is operating outside the law…. Expulsion from Congress seems appropriate. One thing is for certain: if Schiff’s conduct stands unchallenged, the country and our Constitution will have suffered irreversible harm.

With the both the Democrats’ furious drive to impeach the president and the Justice Department Inspector General’s report on FBI surveillance abuse swirling on Capitol Hill, it’s easy to miss something that seems to be a footnote or detail. In “normal” times, the subject would be a banner headline, not a footnote, but we hardly live in such times now.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, targeted his political enemies with secret subpoenas of their phone records and then made those records public. Were his enemies the subject of the Intelligence Committee investigations? No. The victims of Schiff’s criminal abuse of his subpoena power – his personal political enemies – were the Ranking Member of Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA); veteran, award-winning, journalist John Solomon; and the personal attorney of the President of the United States, Rudy Giuliani.