Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

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Mongrel
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:14 am

Also, McCabe's full statement, which WaPo quotes lines from in that article, is something else:

Statement by Andrew McCabe

I have been an FBI Special Agent for over 21 years. I spent half of that time investigating Russian Organized Crime as a street agent and Supervisor in New York City. I have spent the second half of my career focusing on national security issues and protecting this country from terrorism. I served in some of the most challenging, demanding investigative and leadership roles in the FBI. And I was privileged to serve as Deputy Director during a particularly tough time.

For the last year and a half, my family and I have been the targets of an unrelenting assault on our reputation and my service to this country. Articles too numerous to count have leveled every sort of false, defamatory and degrading allegation against us. The President's tweets have amplified and exacerbated it all. He called for my firing. He called for me to be stripped of my pension after more than 20 years of service. And all along we have said nothing, never wanting to distract from the mission of the FBI by addressing the lies told and repeated about us.

No more.

The investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has to be understood in the context of the attacks on my credibility. The investigation flows from my attempt to explain the FBI's involvement and my supervision of investigations involving Hillary Clinton. I was being portrayed in the media over and over as a political partisan, accused of closing down investigations under political pressure. The FBI was portrayed as caving under that pressure, and making decisions for political rather than law enforcement purposes. Nothing was further from the truth. In fact, this entire investigation stems from my efforts, fully authorized under FBI rules, to set the record straight on behalf of the Bureau, and to make clear that we were continuing an investigation that people in DOJ opposed.

The OIG investigation has focused on information I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor. As Deputy Director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter. It was the type of exchange with the media that the Deputy Director oversees several times per week. In fact, it was the same type of work that I continued to do under Director Wray, at his request. The investigation subsequently focused on who I talked to, when I talked to them, and so forth. During these inquiries, I answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me. And when I thought my answers were misunderstood, I contacted investigators to correct them.

But looking at that in isolation completely misses the big picture. The big picture is a tale of what can happen when law enforcement is politicized, public servants are attacked, and people who are supposed to cherish and protect our institutions become instruments for damaging those institutions and people.

Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey. The release of this report was accelerated only after my testimony to the House Intelligence Committee revealed that I would corroborate former Director Comey's accounts of his discussions with the President. The OIG's focus on me and this report became a part of an unprecedented effort by the Administration, driven by the President himself, to remove me from my position, destroy my reputation, and possibly strip me of a pension that I worked 21 years to earn. The accelerated release of the report, and the punitive actions taken in response, make sense only when viewed through this lens. Thursday's comments from the White House are just the latest example of this.

This attack on my credibility is one part of a larger effort not just to slander me personally, but to tain the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally. It is part of this Administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the Special Counsel investigation, which continue to this day. Their persistence in this campaign only highlights the importance of the Special Counsel's work.

I have always prided myself on serving my country with distinction and integrity, and I always encouraged those around me to do the same. Just ask them. To have my career end in this way, and to be accused of lacking candor when at worst I was distracted in the midst of chaotic events, is incredibly disappointing and unfair. But it will not erase the important work I was privileged to be a part of, the results of which will in the end be revealed for the country to see.

I have unfailing faith in the men and women of the FBI and I am confident that their efforts to seek justice will not be deterred.
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Grath
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Grath » Sat Mar 17, 2018 7:37 am

Mongrel wrote:Welp, WaPo is now reporting that McMaster is indeed gone

Also they now have a "It has been [X] days since the last White House firing." ticker. xD

Won't that just be stuck at 0? They should do hours instead.

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Cait » Sat Mar 17, 2018 8:52 am

Thad wrote:
A friend speculated that Trump himself may be the source of these rumours. I could see that.

I think you mean John Barron may be the source of these rumors.

No, I think you mean David Dennison may be the source of these rumors.

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Joxam » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:01 pm

Wrong, that's his fuck name, cait.
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:17 pm

Grath wrote:
Mongrel wrote:Welp, WaPo is now reporting that McMaster is indeed gone

Also they now have a "It has been [X] days since the last White House firing." ticker. xD

Won't that just be stuck at 0? They should do hours instead.

On some level the fact that we've reached the point where a paper as staid as the Washington Post is being this flippantly silly about the President and White House staff is mind-blowing.

On another level it's just another day in colonel-Batshit-land.
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Thad » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:41 am

Joxam wrote:Wrong, that's his fuck name, cait.

That's right. Clearly he meant that I meant that Mongrel meant Carolin Gallego.

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Thad » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:11 pm

Vox has a pretty good rundown of the McCabe firing.

It looks a lot like the Comey firing: there may actually have been grounds for firing him, but it's pretty fucking clear that the real reason he was fired was that Trump wanted to shut down the Russia investigation.

McCabe acted improperly enough that it is possible to justify his termination. But Trump and Sessions have acted improperly enough that it is hard to trust the process that led to McCabe’s termination, or to believe that this is anything but what it looks like: an effort to punish and humiliate a perceived political enemy, and to send a message to others who might investigate Trump that they do so at their peril.

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:53 pm

In nicer news, two congressmen have offered McCabe a short temp job (supposedly two days, but in reality I think he'd have to work a full pay period to avoid any technicalities) so he can get his retirement after all (This works because he's technically already met the requirements for his federal pension to be "in full" due to 20+ years in a law enforcement role, he only needs to meet the federal requirements for length of overall employment to access retirement funds) and McCabe is apparently seriously considering the offers even though they're (so far) from very deeply Blue Democrats.
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:53 pm

Meanwhile...

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:37 pm



Trump is Elmer Fudd (or, if you play MTG, Travis Woo).
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Thad » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:31 am

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:43 pm

Maybe Trump didn't misread those big block letters or even meant to defy his aides at all...

John Brennan just broadly hinted on Morning Joe that he thinks the Pee Tape is real.

#iwanttobelieve
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby François » Wed Mar 21, 2018 4:00 pm

The thing about the pee tape is that everyone knows it exists, and nobody sane wants to see even one half of one second of it. If it was made public, I suspect it would change the discourse around Trump by approximately zero percent. I mean, even thinking of it as a comedy goldmine, it's not like we risk running out of reasons to razz the bastard if we can't watch a couple of strumpets defile a tacky Muscovite hotel bedroom.

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:35 am

Most of this isn't really new information per se, but it puts it all together in a nice little narrative.

In June, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman ousted his cousin, then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and took his place as next in line to the throne, upending the established line of succession. In the months that followed, the President’s Daily Brief contained information on Saudi Arabia’s evolving political situation, including a handful of names of royal family members opposed to the crown prince’s power grab, according to the former White House official and two U.S. government officials with knowledge of the report. Like many others interviewed for this story, they declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about sensitive matters to the press.

In late October, Jared Kushner made an unannounced trip to Riyadh, catching some intelligence officials off guard. “The two princes are said to have stayed up until nearly 4 a.m. several nights, swapping stories and planning strategy,” the Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported at the time.

What exactly Kushner and the Saudi royal talked about in Riyadh may be known only to them, but after the meeting, Crown Prince Mohammed told confidants that Kushner had discussed the names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince, according to three sources who have been in contact with members of the Saudi and Emirati royal families since the crackdown.

https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jar ... in-salman/

Kushner should be in jail.

He's essentially alienated an ally, endangered the safety of one of the US's largest overseas military bases, and may yet help precipitate a war between two US allies, just to get his daddy-in-law's help to shore up a shit real estate deal he made in spite of everyone warning him not to. Kushner's always tried to play big fish, even though he was and always has been a small fish who oozed into the big pool, only now he's making whole nation-states pay for his two-bit failed schemes.
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Thad » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:04 pm

McMaster is indeed out; John Bolton is the new nominee for national security advisor.

On a related note, I'm having more trouble finding a graphic of Rattrap saying "We're all gonna die" than I expected.

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:18 pm

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:42 pm

But hey, we, uh... still have Mattis?

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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Mongrel » Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:01 pm


I feel so much better now!
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Re: Oh shit, what are we gonna do now?

Postby Grath » Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:11 am

Mongrel wrote:
I feel so much better now!

Yeah, just plausible-deniability drone strikes, no wars. Congress has to start wars after all.


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