Counterfeit Elitism

Guest Post by Victor Davis Hanson

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Those damn dairy farmers. Why do they insist on trying to govern? Or, put another way:

Why are Republicans trusting Devin Nunes to be their oracle of truth!? A former dairy farmer who House intel staffers refer to as Secret Agent Man because he has no idea what’s going on.

Thus spoke MSNBC panelist, Yale graduate, former Republican “strategist,” and Bush administration speechwriter Elise Jordan.

Jordan likely knows little about San Joaquin Valley family dairy farmers and little notion of the sort of skills, savvy, and work ethic necessary to survive in an increasingly corporate-dominated industry. Whereas dairy farmer Nunes has excelled in politics, it would be hard to imagine Jordan running a family dairy farm, at least given the evidence of her televised skill sets and sobriety.

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House Intelligence memo released: What it says

Via The Washington Examiner

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote up the FISA memo. He never wavered in his determination to make the information available to the public. President Trump agreed, and, as required by House rules, gave his approval for release. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The House Intelligence Committee has released its controversial memo outlining alleged abuses of secret surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Trump-Russia investigation. Here are some key points:

* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the initial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.

* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.

* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.

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Sotu Klaatu Barada Nikto

Guest Post by Jim Kunstler

It’s beginning to look a little like The Day the Earth Stood Still out there, with Devin Nunes in the Klaatu role, roiling the Earthlings into a frothy hysteria as they attempt to defend their puny empire of errand boys, grocery clerks, and elected buffoons. At dawn’s early light, we await The Memo.

The New York Times was running veritable Chinese fire drills on its front page this morning denouncing The Memo in advance, shrieking about the end of the Republic, with the laughable caveat that… “None of this is to say the F.B.I. and the rest of the federal law enforcement apparatus should be immune from criticism or reform.” The Times editorial did not go into any detail about what exactly might invite that reform — like perhaps one top-rank agent telling another one that the “loathsome” president had to be gotten rid of at all costs.

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