Posts Made By: James Lacey

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/10/heres-the-memo-that-blew-up-the-nsc/

This conspiracy laden memo was making the rounds in the White House, and when McMaster fired its author, Trump was furious.

The memo calls out those pushing for rights "based on sex or ethnicity," which is a "direct assault on the very idea of individual human rights and natural law around which the Constitution was framed." It also says that "transgender acceptance" is "denying a person the right to declare the biological fact of one's sex."

Is that last paragraph somehow related to the now completely discredited transgender ban tweets?

It's absolutely bizarre to think this is what's going on inside the White House and the NSC.

In any case, read the whole thing. The full text of the memo is available. For the uninitiated, Cultural Marxism is a dog whistle for "anti-white" from what I can tell. It's just bizarre to think that this is taking place inside the White House and the NSC.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/7k0rr1/we_are_the_washington_post_reporters_who_broke/

Q: Were there any allegations brought to your attention that were not reported due to lack of credibility?

A: Yes we chased all sorts of leads, tips, allegations and crazy rumors. We only reported what we were able to substantiate.

Q: Did Moore ever attempt to contact you directly and, if so, what did he say?

A: No, Roy Moore never once personally attempted to contact us.

Q: Some people, including many prominent politicians, have said that these are 40-year-old allegations and that diminishes their importance and that they were only brought up to prevent him from getting the seat in the Senate. How do you respond to that?

A: Naturally, when there is a race for U.S. Senate, especially a high profile one, reporters are going to begin doing all sorts of stories to try to illuminate the candidates. So it makes sense that reporters would be in the Gadsden area at this time, asking questions. Other than that, our only focus was reporting the story thoroughly and publishing if and when it was solid.

Q: The story said that you approached the accusers, not the other way around, but how did you know to investigate this in the first place?

A: While I was reporting another story in the Gadsden area, I heard that Roy Moore liked teenage girls, and as we began talking to more people, specific names began to emerge. It turned out that quite a lot of people in the Gadsden area had heard these stories about Moore over the years, and some had direct knowledge of the situation.

Q: What amount of contact, if any, did you have with the "National Democrat Party" in the course of developing the story?

A: None, zero, zilch.

Q: What are your thoughts on this mysterious "Bernie Bernstein" guy who apparently works for the Post?

A: There are no Post reporters or editors named Bernie Bernstein. It was clearly a hoax. Here's what our executive editor, Marty Baron said: "The response to our meticulously reported story about Roy Moore has been a stunning level of deceit, deception, and dirty tricks. The Moore campaign and others have lied about our motives and lied about our methods. And at least one individual — we’re still not sure who — has also pretended to be a Post journalist so as to falsely portray our journalistic practices."

Q: Has the "fake news" campaign made your job harder?

A: No and even people who cry "fake news" love to cite our stories in the Washington Post and other major news organizations when it suits them. Candidate Trump mentioned loving our story on Clinton and NY jobs during the campaign.

Q: What is your vetting process for stories like this?

A: We interviewed the women repeatedly, to make sure their recollections were consistent. We only reported details they were certain about, and when possible, we talked to people they had shared their stories with. We asked them if they had kept journals. We also, when possible, pulled public records that would corroborate their stories.

These praise lavishing spectacles the Trump administration orchestrates are beyond creepy. Between Carson's "prayer" that was completely devoid of any humility, and Pence's obsequious dear leader speech, I felt like I was watching some North Korea propaganda video. Trump's body language was strange too with his arms crossed and the scowl of a school boy who doesn't want to eat his cooked carrots. Rex and Mattis were palpably uncomfortable. It is a strange day in America that's for sure.

This episode this morning, shows clearly, how deep and disturbing Trump's character flaws are when it comes to his apparent total lack of ability to absorb any criticism maturely. Miller was sent to perform for an audience of one, and apparently, that audience was watching.

The interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLE7OUkX8P8

Trump's response:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/950023175907266560

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Jake Tapper of Fake News CNN just got destroyed in his interview with Stephen Miller of the Trump Administration. Watch the hatred and unfairness of this CNN flunky!

Score one for the like, really smart, and very stable genius.

I know it's going to be hard to believe, but Trump lied profusely about reactions inside the FBI to Comey's firing and the attitudes towards Comey by rank and file FBI employees. You really have to read the whole article to really appreciate the depth of the lies perpetrated by Trump and Sanders.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/i-hope-instance-fake-news-fbi-messages-show-bureaus-real-reaction-trump-firing-james-comey

When President Trump fired James Comey as FBI director last May, the special agent in charge of the Detroit field office, David Gelios, wrote an email to his staff:

I just saw CNN reporting that Director Comey has been fired by President Trump. I have no notification from HQ of any such thing. If I receive any information from HQ, I will advise. I’d ask all to stand by for clarification of this reporting. I am only sending this because I want everyone to know I have received no HQ confirmation of the reporting. I hope this is an instance of fake news.

In the Knoxville field office, Special Agent in Charge Renae McDermott wrote to the staff she leads: “Unexpected news such as this is hard to understand but I know you all know our Director stood for what is right and what is true!!! . . . He truly made us better when we needed it the most.”

The following day, in an email with the subject line “Follow up with your squads,” she followed up: “I need for all of you to make sure our/your folks are doing OK. Check with them today, tomorrow ….you get the idea.”

McDermott sent that latter email as the White House was launching its public broadside against Comey’s performance. In a May 10 press conference, the same day McDermott was asking her staff to make sure one another were “doing OK,” then-Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that the president had “lost confidence in Director Comey” and that “the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.” She stated that the president had “had countless conversations with members from within the FBI” in the course of making his decision to fire Comey. The following day, Sanders stated that she personally had “heard from countless members of the FBI that are grateful and thankful for the president’s decision” and that the president believed “Director Comey was not up to the task...that he wasn’t the right person in the job. [Trump] wanted somebody that could bring credibility back to the FBI.”

Trump himself blasted Comey too, stating in an interview that the former director was "a showboat. He's a grandstander" and that the FBI "has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that. You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil—less than a year ago. It hasn't recovered from that." A few days later, the New York Times reported that Trump had told Russian officials visiting him in the Oval Office the day after Comey’s firing that Comey was a “nut job.”


Over the next few days, a wealth of evidence emerged to suggest that Trump and Sanders were playing fast and loose with the truth. But we now have the documents to prove that decisively. Their disclosure was not a leak but an authorized action by the FBI, which released to us under the Freedom of Information Act more than 100 pages of leadership communications to staff dealing with the firing. This material tells a dramatic story about the FBI’s reaction to the Comey firing—but it is neither a story of gratitude to the president nor a story of an organization in turmoil relieved by a much-needed leadership transition.

Found: Trump's 400 lb guy in his basement.

https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477

Defendants and their co-conspirators thereafter destroyed evidence for the purpose of impeding the investigation. On or about September 13, 2017, KAVERZINA wrote in an email to a family member: "We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues." KAVERZINA further wrote, "I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people."

For now, the most important thing about this is that it confirms in stunning detail that Russia did carry out a long-term and sophisticated attack on our Democracy despite the GOP talking points otherwise and the President's denials. Wars fought over smaller events than this are common. Witch hunt indeed.

No indictments against Americans yet, but it would be safe to assume they are coming.

I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!

Donald J. Trump
Feb. 20, 2018

Obama Administration:

Personally warned Putin against interfering

Imposed sanction on Russia individuals and elites

Expelled 35 Russian diplomats

Closed two Russian compounds in the US known for their use in spying

Signed the Magnitsky act in Dec. 2016

Trump Administration:

Refused to even acknowledge there was interference until the facts recently became incontrovertible, and even then lied about what he has said in the past.

Has not imposed Russian sanctions overwhelmingly approved by Congress after the Magnitsky act.

Publicly admitted he believes Putin when Putin says he was not involved.

I read Scalia's opinion. The opinion is 64 pages long and took me about 75 minutes, but I was not hurrying. Honestly, each page is more like a half-page with the margins and spacing, so it's more like 32 pages. If you skip the footnotes, which I largely did, then it's even shorter. It's quite accessible to any layman like myself in my humble opinion.

I didn't read any of the dissents but assuming that Scalia's characterizations of them are accurate, I agree with him that Stevens and other dissenters are entirely wrong in some cases.

Some of what's below many of us already know, but I think some of it is noteworthy and worth repeating in some cases.

The big highlights in my opinion are:

1. There is no doubt that the second amendment provides for the individual right to keep and bear arms (including guns) for self-defense with no connection to the militia service.

2. Any law that prohibits gun ownership is unconstitutional.

3. Any law that requires that you effectively render a gun useless to keep it is unconstitutional. This ban includes requirements that the gun is disassembled or has a trigger lock on it.

4. It is debatable that in our modern society where we have a standing national army, large police forces and a severe problem with gun violence that the second amendment is outmoded. However, this debate cannot render the second amendment extinct. That would require of course another amendment to the constitution.

5. While the second amendment does guarantee the right to keep and bear arms, that does not imply unlimited rights. As we all know, there are real and sensible restrictions on gun ownership.

Some other interesting bits and pieces:

1. The second amendment is grounded in similar English law that predates the constitution by around one hundred years that also established the right to keep and bear arms for English Protestants under the rule of the Stuart Kings.

2. Before ratification of the Bill of Rights, some states in the Union had similar laws in their constitutions that codified the right to keep and bear arms.

3. The authors of the constitution were well aware of the fact that nobles and elites in Europe had in the past used their ability to disarm everyday people to solidify their hold on power.

4. When the second amendment says free State, it means a free group of people unified by a similar identity.

What did I learn? Well, the decision was a close 5-4, and one more liberal like Stevens on the court would have tipped the scale the other way. Such an outcome would not, of course, rendered the second amendment extinct, but it would have certainly changed gun laws in this country and almost certainly opened the way to make them more restrictive. However, since Heller, nearly all current gun control laws challenged in court have been found to be constitutional. Heller in no way casts doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of guns by felons or the mentally ill or laws prohibiting carrying firearms in sensitive places like schools, or regulations limiting the sales of commercial arms.

While Heller was an important ruling, I don't think it upset the status quo much. America went two-hundred years without challenging the meaning of the second amendment. The overwhelming consensus of Americans is I'm sure that it means what it says; the right of individuals to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Clark Nelly, an attorney for Dick Heller, said in effect that taking that right seriously, even if you may not agree with it personally, is good medicine for the body politic. I have to agree.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/13/555597223/trump-replacing-secretary-of-state-tillerson-with-cia-director-mike-pompeo?sc=tw

Trump Replacing Secretary Of State Tillerson With CIA Director Mike Pompeo

President Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday morning in a tweet that followed a year of frequent tension between the two leaders.

Trump unceremoniously fires a wealthy oil tycoon who was arguably not qualified for his role at all, and Trump manages to make me feel sorry for the guy. It is a crazy world in Trump land. It looks like Sessions better start executing some drug dealers or he is next.

Trump is live-tweeting Fox and Friends at the moment. He seems to be mainly fond of that paragon of conspiracy peddlers Hannity.

.@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.
5:16 AM - 19 Mar 2018

The Hannity segment Trump is promoting has Hannity predicting criminal charges against McCabe and Comey. An utterly wild claim given that the IG report is not public.

Nothing builds confidence that what the President does is the result of an objective and independent process free of all political considerations than live-tweeting Fox and Friends!