Below is my column in Fox.com on the release of the last declassified material on the origins of the Russian collusion investigation. After the release, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wrote in the New York Times insisted that they never relied on the Steele dossier. The column only reaffirmed the level of dishonesty and duplicity that marked their tenures in office. (The Times still printed this claim despite being demonstrably untrue).
The documents quote Brennan in overruling career analysts and intervening to include the dossier in the intelligence assessment. Moreover, the column echoes the media spin that the investigation was about an attempted Russian interference while dismissing the collusion claim that consumed much of the first term. (Even after leaving office, Brennan continued to push the false collusion claim). Both countries routinely hacked each other’s emails — that is why we have the most recent incriminating evidence on the Clinton campaign’s funding and spreading the false collusion claims. We hacked their emails. We have also regularly tried to influence the elections of other nations. The key to the dossier and the Russian investigation was the allegation of collusion and the central role of the Clinton campaign in creating the narrative that Trump was a Russian asset.
Here is the column:
This week, Washington was rocked by new releases in the declassification of material related to the origins of the Russian investigation. The material shows further evidence of a secret plan by the Clinton campaign to use the FBI and media to spread a false claim that Donald Trump was a Russian asset. With this material, the public is finally seeing how officials and reporters set into motion what may be the greatest hoax ever perpetrated in American politics. There never was a Russian collusion conspiracy. This is the emerging story of the real Russian conspiracy to manufacture a false narrative that succeeded in devouring much of the first term of the Trump Administration.
What is emerging in these documents is a political illusion carefully constructed by government officials and a willing media. The brilliance of the trick was getting reporters to buy into the illusion; to own it like members of an audience called to the stage by an illusionist.
The effort closely followed the three steps of the classic magic trick: The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige.
The Pledge
The trick began with the pledge, the stage where the public is set up by showing ordinary events with the suggestion that it is about to transform into something extraordinary. The key is to make something seem real that is actually not.
The Clinton campaign delivered the pledge by secretly funding the Steele dossier, using Fusion GPS and a former British spy named Christopher Steele, to create a salacious account of Trump being an agent of Russia. New emails state that Hillary Clinton personally approved the operation.
It was Elias who was the general counsel to the Clinton presidential campaign when it funded the infamous Steele dossier and pushed the false Alfa Bank conspiracy. (His fellow Perkins Coie partner, Michael Sussmann, was indicted but acquitted in a criminal trial.)
During the campaign, a few reporters asked about the possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement in the Steele Dossier. After the election, journalists discovered that the payments for the Steele dossier were hidden as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie under Elias.
When New York Times reporter Ken Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”
Later, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, appeared before Congress for questioning on the Steele dossier. Podesta emphatically denied any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.
The FEC ultimately sanctioned the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee over the handling of the funding of the dossier through his prior firm.
The Turn
The next step is the turning point when the ordinary becomes something extraordinary. This required the involvement of the government. The Clinton team worked behind the scenes to feed the dossier to the FBI. It would be the criminal investigation that would transform the ordinary accounts, like Carter Page speaking in Moscow, into an elaborate Russian plot. Even though the FBI was warned early on that Page was a CIA asset, not a Russian asset, the Clinton team found eager officials in the Obama Administration to assist in the illusion.
The newly disclosed evidence shows how the turn was made. In July 2016, Brennan briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s “plan” to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” The original Russia investigation — funded by Clinton’s campaign — was launched days after this briefing.
Months later, it would be Brennan who overruled his own CIA analysts in his ordering of a second last-minute assessment at the end of the Obama Administration in support of the Russian allegations. It would help make the turn with the all-consuming Russian investigation that would follow.
Career analysts were not buying the turn. They objected that the reliance on the Steele dossier “ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment.” One CIA analyst told investigators that “[Brennan] refused to remove it, and when confronted with the dossier’s main flaws, [Brennan] responded, ‘Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?’”
That is the key to the turn; it needs only to be enough to fool the audience.
The Prestige
The final stage is called the Prestige, where the magician faces the toughest part of the trick. As explained in the 2006 movie “The Prestige,” the viewer is “looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled.” However, “making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back.”
The difference is that this trick was designed to derail Trump and it worked. In the end, however, the Special Counsel and Inspector General both rejected the Russian collusion claims. The public then reelected Trump. Now, the prestige may be revealed by the CIA.
Reports indicate that the CIA is about to declassify material showing that foreign sources were also in on the trick. The information reportedly indicates that foreign sources were aware of the move to create a Russian collusion scandal and expected that the FBI would play a role in the plan. That was before the bureau launched its controversial Crossfire Hurricane probe. One source said the foreign intelligence predicted the move “with alarming specificity.”
The most recently declassified material shows that the Russian actors in 2016 hacked emails from the Open Society Foundations, formerly known as the Soros Foundation. The emails reveal a broader network of activists and allies who were aware of the Clinton conspiracy.
Leonard Bernardo, who was the regional director for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, explained that “during the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated…from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications.”
Bernardo added, “Julie (Clinton Campaign Advisor) says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later, the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”
The media (including the Washington Post and New York Times, which won Pulitzer prizes for reporting on the debunked claims) are apoplectic in dismissing these disclosures. The last thing they will do is report on how they helped sell a political hoax. The problem is that they never said it was a trick. They said it was the truth. That is why they cannot honestly cover the story. To do so would not be coverage, it would be a confession.
It appears that everyone was in on the trick: the U.S. government, the media, even foreign governments. The only chumps were the American people. Now they are about to see how it was done.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Can you remind us again if there was any truth to Jeb Bush first coming up with the dossier then passing it to Hillary and late McCains view of it. Did that all happen? and if so before the 5.6mil to the attorneys… & are the FEC docs public?
Let’s remind you again that the BS about this being about Jeb Bush, McCain, etc is just that: BS. The entire “Dossier” was 100% Fusion GPS working with the unindicted Washington DC Bar Association lawyer Marc Elias to launder the money being paid to two Russian and British spies.
None of whom have ever been indicted for the felonies they committed while manufacturing the Clinton/Obama/Biden “Trump-Russia Dossier”.
Can you remind us again if there was any truth to Jeb Bush first coming up with the dossier then passing it to Hillary and late McCains view of it. Did that all happen? and if so before the 5.6mil to the attorneys… & are the FEC docs public?
We need a magician who can make Hillary Clinton disappear. Maybe she can be turned into a rat. That would not be far from the truth.
What a horrible thing to say! What did rats do to deserve that?
Shabbat Shalom everyone 🙂
Have a peaceful sabbath.
You too old man
Yep they should be in jail too, now release the Epstein files
Linton stood in front of world and LIED. He betrayed a million blacks and our press allowed it.
There are no dem-positive “Epstein Files.” Biden/Harris would have released them long ago.
Before the DOJ files any charges, it should make sure that all “venue corruption” has been eradicated because trials such as these will be DOA in D.C., the Southern District of New York, etc., which are the “kill zones of Democrat ambushes.”
Obama et al. should face juries in OKC or Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Or Leavenworth
Another left-wing politician wearing a black robe and pretending to be a judge.
DHS is ending temporary protective status for certain nations. Secretary Noem has made comments using the word “criminal” for people who break the law, and “invader” who invade this country. Sounds basically like she’s describing reality. So what is this black-robe-wearing-left-wing-politician’s conclusion: DHS is “perpetuating the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population.”
Wait, what?? What does “white” have to do with anything? America has tens of millions of minorities who are here legally. They get killed, raped, and stolen from by illegal-alien thugs too. Do they not deserve protection? Do they not deserve to have the immigration laws of their country followed? This “judge” is a typical left-wing hack, a joke!
The Department of Homeland Security noted that some of the people who “exploited” the TPS program include several Hondurans with convictions for aggravated assault, possessing, selling, or manufacturing a dangerous weapon, sex crimes against children, domestic violence and resisting arrest.
In fact, many are here due to violations of laws and statutes that were ignored and disregarded.
“Original Intent” is as valid and legitimate as the Constitution and Bill of Rights and cannot be arbitrarily abrogated and licitly or legitimately amended by the savage brute force of a criminal tyrant; it can only be temporarily stolen.
______________________________________________________
Naturalization Acts of 1790, 1795, 1798, 1802 (four iterations for maximal clarity)
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” March 26, 1790
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof….
In fact, many are here due to violations of laws and statutes that were ignored and disregarded.
George and the other Confederate Democrat Kluxxers hope normal Americans believe that America has never amended a single law since 1790 – and certainly not since their Civil War Of Slaver Insurrection ended in abject defeat, with them getting their asses kicked.
*. The truth is I’ve moved to a foreign country and didn’t leave my house. That’s reality.
The failure is in the 2A.
You should have lived in California. It used to be a beautiful American state and they “fundamentally transformed” it into an overcrowded stinking foreign s—hole full of parasites in search of endless amounts of “free stuff.”
Turley, this was not some well conceived and executed theatrical production. It was a well conceived and executed plot to overturn the US Constitution and the US government and destroy the US as we have known it. And it has almost succeeded. Many of the players are still in place. There are no consequences for any of it. It may yet succeed.
Turley is never going to admit that – he’s going to continue attempting to downplay it. He will continue to do that because most of the felons involved are his fellow Democrat lawyers and fellow members of the Washington DC Bar Association.
Theoretically, that Bar Association has a Professional Code Of Conduct which requires bar association members like Turley to report malfeasance, crimes, and violations of the Code Of Conduct by fellow members to the Bar.
Go to the Bar Association website and look for a single report filed by a bar association member like Turley on Comey, McCabe, Lynch, Yates, Weissman, etc.
You won’t find a single one. Turley and the rest just cover it up and pretend it never happened… just a “legal dirty trick”.
Jonathon, I’m interested in what criminal violations these despicable people committed. My sense is the federal criminal code wasn’t written with this depraved behavior in mind.
TREASON
Nuremberg 2.0
Seems like TREASON would cover it!
More likely conspiracy and sedition maybe even insurrection. Perjury would be an added charge.
While I agree it was treason, it would be much harder to prove.
treason /trē′zən/
noun
The betrayal of allegiance toward one’s own country, especially by committing hostile acts against it or aiding its enemies in committing such acts.
The betrayal of someone’s trust or confidence.
The offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power; disloyalty; treachery.
Unless it could be proven that this was done to help a foreign power I don’t see treason being proved.
Then again no matter what the charges if there is not a change of venue out of DC that votes about 94% Democratic, so the jury pool is biased, I don’t see any Democrat ever getting convicted in a DC court. (see Michael Sussmann trial)
The jury foreperson said politics wasn’t a factor. But was any prosecution of a senior Clinton campaign official possible in a jurisdiction where Clinton beat Trump 91-4? – straightlinelogic
No Democrat is ever getting convicted in a DC court and no Republican will ever be exonerated in a DC court. Most if not all of these crimes occurred in the DC courts jurisdiction. I don’t know if Mr. Turley reads the comments, but maybe he could comment on the chances of change of venue if he does.
18 U.S. Code § 371 – Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States
If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Statute of Limitations
AI Overview
The statute of limitations for 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy to commit an offense or defraud the United States) is generally five years. This is based on 18 U.S.C. § 3282, the general federal statute of limitations for non-capital offenses. The statute of limitations begins to run from the date of the last overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
18 U.S. Code § 2384 Defines seditious conspiracy, making it illegal for two or more persons to conspire to overthrow the government.
‘However, specific circumstances can affect this period, such as ongoing conspiracies or other related offenses.
I would say it is still ongoing and the circumstances are certainly specific as it was the government itself committing the sedition not just average citizens. Also conspiracy which certainly applies
The basis for the statute of limitations is governed by what’s referred to as the last act in the continuing conspiracy.
A last act can be nearly anything. Something as seemingly innocuous as a phone call or as serious as a murder can be considered a “last act.”
However, that statute of limitations will be governed by the underlying basis of the conspiracy, so five years is not always a hard and fast rule for each and every conspiracy.
Many conspiracies come with other crimes – fraud, for example – that have their own statute of limitations’. – glasgowolsson
The last acts of the conspiracy happened right before the 2024 election. The continuing denials, lies and destruction of evidence are still part of the conspiracy.
‘If a person is involved in a conspiracy, then the statute of limitations can only end if that conspiracy is withdrawn from or the underlying goal of the conspiracy is achieved.’ – glasgowolsson
I think a good prosecutor would have no problem proving that before a nonpartisan judge, the only question is can anyone get a nonpartisan judge in DC?
I feel this poster on X did a pretty decent job at listing the various charges Obama and the others could potentially be facing. 🙂
https://x.com/nsquaredvalue/status/1950947829033124002
I forgot to add that I personally feel that Obama and them could also be facing charges of seditious conspiracy. After all, I believe they did conspired to bring Trump down during his first tenure as POTUS.
Jonathon, I’m interested in what criminal violations these despicable people committed.
Perjury while under oath, while testifying in Judge Boasberg’s (that name sound familiar to you) FISA courts that their “Trump-Russia Dossier” was 100% verified as per the mandatory Woods Procedures.
Uttering false documents to Judge Boasberg’s FISA courts – the felonious “Trump-Russia Dossier”, entered as official US intelligence agency findings when it was 100% Obama/Clinton criminal fiction.
Weird how Law Professor Turley doesn’t recognize perjury committed committed by his fellow Democrat lawyers in FIA courts…
Talk is cheap. Opinions are cheap. None of this matters unless there are arrests, search warrants, mugshots and perp walks. After Dems established the precedent, Dems are all fair game. F the high road. Go get them and put them in cuffs.
What about Joseph Mifsud and his interactions with George Pappadopoulos? These were in February 2016, five months before the Steele Dossier, etc. Something was afoot then. By whom? The CIA? Why?
Further, here’s something most people don’t know: the Watergate break-in was known about in New York circles in early 1972, months prior to the actual time of the break-in. How was this known? The break-in to the DNC headquarters took place early on a Saturday morning. The RNC was sued on Monday morning! Now there’s some good lawyering!
Logan Pearsall Smith wrote in ‘Afterthoughts’: “When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, Idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.”: I think he may have been clairvoyant of the current time when he wrote, “How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares if there seemed any danger of their coming true!”
The Democratic Left has drifter further and further into a darkness of deceit, thievery and lawlessness, abandoning basic principles which create a solid foundation for Natural Rights to exist in a governed society. The purveyors and their charges of the “Greatest Political Trick in History” demonstrate delirious behavior, confused thinking, lack of awareness, constant agitation, memory (when did that happen) at this point what does it matter, delusional thinking that they have all the answers, such conceit bordering on blue blood snobbery, and that they could usurp the law and get away with it. I still think their punishment should be for them to be placed in a bilboe or wooden stock that is erected in the Constitution Gardens off the Mall in D.C., or they could be the target for a dunk tank full of horse poo!
George W
GW – do you believe a red-blue divorce is on the horizon? It would be a shame, but OTOH each side might be happiest being governed by people of their choosing.
OldManFromKS,
That is a interesting premise. Looking at the various failed Blue ran cities and states, I would say people in Red states are much happier. Just looking at the U-Haul stats, suggest mass exodus from Blue to Red states. Not just residential but businesses. We should note how failed Blue states and cities are losing tax payers en mass. Democrats only offer to their voters bad policies. No real solutions. Just more of the bad policies and throwing money at bad ideas.
NO. Think Law Abiding & Criminal.
Either that or civil war. I would prefer a peaceful divorce over a bloody civil war. I think most would prefer the former over the latter.
Scott Jennings is not wrong:
Democrats – because they lied about Joe Biden’s condition, and about the inflationary impacts of his policies – have dug themselves the deepest hole they’ve ever been in. That’s number one. Number two, cultural radicalism: when the hills you’re willing to die on are boys in girls’ sports, public funds for prison inmates to get transgender surgeries (which Kamala Harris had in the last election), when you’re willing to die on these hills, when you’re willing to say “Maryland man unfairly deported to his home country” . . . when you’re willing to die on all these 80/20 hills, eventually your approval rating will wind up around 20. They’re getting there. If I can’t trust you not to put a boy in my girl’s locker room, why would I talk to you about taxation policy, or tariffs, or inflation, or anything else? You’re trying to put a boy in my girl’s locker room!
https://x.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1950251596312461361
Meanwhile, on Planet Earth, Trump is trying to avoid the reality that he is KILLING our economy by firing the BLS Commissioner for telling the truth about our jobs numbers:
“President Trump said in a social media post Friday afternoon that he directed members of his administration to fire Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after the BLS on Friday published a July jobs report that contained what it called “larger than normal” revisions to data from May and June.
The July jobs report published Friday morning showed the US economy added 73,000 jobs last month, fewer than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%.
The most notable numbers to emerge from the report, however, were downward revisions to job gains in May and June, which saw 258,000 jobs taken away from what had been initially reported.
May’s job gains were revised down to 19,000 from 144,000, while June’s additions were cut to just 14,000 from the 147,000 initially reported.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer appeared to confirm McEntarfer’s firing in a post on X, saying Deputy Commissioner William Wiatrowski would serve as interim head of the BLS. McEntarfer was confirmed as BLS commissioner by an 86-8 Senate vote back in January.
In its release on Friday, the BLS said these revisions “result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.”
Economists on Friday were near-unanimous in their view that July’s jobs data and the revisions to May and June reflect a labor market that is far weaker than had been suggested by recent data and characterizations by some officials, notably Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
“The ‘solid’ state of the labor market described by the FOMC earlier this week looks more questionable after the July employment report,” Wells Fargo senior economist Sarah House wrote in a note Friday.
Job gains over the last three months have now averaged just 35,000 after Friday’s revisions. ”
If you pay attention to these things, you’ll know that when statistics are initially released, they plainly state that they are just estimates–subject to revision upon receipt of additional information. Well, that additional information, in the form of reports from business and governmental agencies, has come in and require severe downward adjustment to the numbers. Trump has NO facts to support his objection to these numbers–they just make him look bad.
So,, now Trump is going to try to find someone who will LIE about job numbers, which, knowing this to be the case, will just further erode confidence in our economy. Just another example of someone getting sued for telling the truth when the truth hurts Trump.
GIGI GIGI GIGI get out of here with your lame copy paste crap. Nobody cares. Get your own blog you loser.
So someone is maliciously, continuously wrong, using flawed data and only “revising” once the initial hype dies down, in order to give their side a better optic? In any other position, any CEO would be in the right to boot that MF to the damn curb.
Geddouddahea wit that bullcrap!
-Rabble
Wrong, Gigi. The BLS Commissioner was a Biden appointee who fudged the numbers in favor of Biden. And now she is doing everything she can to hide the greatness of the Trump admin and economy.
NotReallyaFarmer
More “thunderstorms” today ???
Unable to get out to tend to your “farm” today ???
You certainly do have bad luck with the weather.
In the winter the cold and snow keep you indoors and commenting here all day.
In the summer, the thunderstorms keep you indoors and commenting here all day.
When do you actually get out and tend to your “farm” ???
Perhaps you are not really a farmer.
Hahahhahaaha big funny again, you’re amazing in being a total loser in attacking a farmer.
That retort made ZERO sense.
While I beleive you are correct, it does not matter.
Repeatedly – through the Biden administration and now, initial numbers have told us one thing and the revised numbers were radically different.
The reasons for such discrepancies are unimportant. Whether the initial or revised numbers are more correct is unimportant.
What matters is that one or the other is very wrong, and that is happening constantly.
“The BLS Commissioner was a Biden appointee who fudged the numbers in favor of Biden. And now she is doing everything she can to hide the greatness of the Trump admin and economy.”
I believe that is probably true (I have yet to see any direct evidence of the 2nd premise; that will take time to develop. However, Trump’s optics wrt timing sucks from a PR POV, waiting to sack her until immediately after she released numbers unfavorable to him (there is no way I’m buying his statement that he only became aware of her politicized numbers reporting after the most recent release).
Gimme a break! Propaganda much?
It’s just loser Gigi. Ignore her like everyone else in her family already does.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, BLS revised its monthly jobs data 43 times and 53 percent of the time the revisions reflected less job growth than the initial reporting. The statistics were revised up or down by an average of 101,114 jobs per month.
Idiot
loser
HorseDroppings.
“Meanwhile, on Planet Earth”
In the Venn diagram of Gigi and people who live in reality on Earth, there is no overlap.
I think YOU are lying. The numbers looked so bad because that many Criminal Illegal Aliens were deported & Americans took their jobs. TDS Much?
Did you read the last part of the report. BET not. It talks about the lost of illegals fleeing the job market you fool.
You loons crack me up
“May’s job gains were revised down to 19,000 from 144,000, while June’s additions were cut to just 14,000 from the 147,000 initially reported.”
When you make “mistakes” of that magnitude (125,000 and 133,000!) you deserve to be fired.
In a comment on a article about how those in government lied and conspired to take Trump down – Your reply is to Trust against the evidence that those in government are apolitical and do their job honesty ?
I do not know what the correct jobs or other numbers are. But I do know that Trump is correct about one thing – the head of BLS needs to be fired either the original numbers were way off or the adjustments are way off. Regardless there is zero doubt that there was error and that the error was large.
I would further note we had the same problem under Biden – BLS would release initial data that looked very good for Biden and follow in a month or two with significant adjustments that altered positive results to mediocre, lackluster or even poor.
Is this partisanship by the BLS ? I do not know – possibly not.
Is it incompetence by an agency whose data drives major economic decisions in both government and throughout the private economy ?
Absolutely.
The head of BLS – and probably many others should be fired, and replaced by people who get things closer to right.
I do not know if there is a partisan motive in BLS reporting. I can even accept there may be a partisan motive in Trump’s firing.
But that does not change the fact that BLS has a long long reputation for reports that are very heavily relied on followed by later quiet major adjustments.
That is not acceptable.
Nor does boilerplate that these numbers are just estimates excuse the poor quality of the results
They are NOT just guesses. They are supposed to be driven by data and by analysis of that data that has proven the test of time.
Now there is an element of partisanship in all of this – that is YOUR and the media’s partisanship that echos exactly Turley’s story above about press failures.
When good numbers for Biden were reported – the press acted as the biden administrations marketing agency.
When those numbers were revised down – not a word from the press.
When Good Trump numbers come out – the press is mostly quiet, when these are followed by downward adjustments, The press pushes hard on those adjustments.
We can not fire the media – but just as they have demonstrated they are partisan and untrustorthy regarding the collusion delusion,
they have also demonstrated they are biased with respect to economic reporting.
I am not sure if there is political bias at BLS. I am sure that there is incompetence.
But there is no doubt that the press remains delusionally biased – just as you are.
I do not trust BLS and have not for a long long time and something needs done about that.
Trump has done something – maybe that will work.
I do not trust the press – it is WE that must do something there – quit relying on them and shift to sources that have established a reputation for getting it right.
Who was right about the Steele Dossier ? The Collusion Delusion ? Many Many different aspects of Covid ?
The Hunter Biden Laptop ?
Those are the sources that we should trust ?
Who was wrong ? Those are the sources we should quit trusting and using.
Not quite
_____________
What’s missed in the jobs report is that the jobs lost are foreign-born and government workers, while native-born workers continue to make exceptional gains & real wage growth under Trump.
So you are OK with retirement fund managers investing your money based on bogus information ?
It does not matter whether you beleive as Trump does that the initial numbers were closer to correct, or as you do that the revised numbers were closer to correct.
No matter what Trillions of dollars of financial decisions were made based on bogus information.
The Head of BLS bears responsibility for that.
Of course the BLS numbers are just an estimate – all economic numbers are estimates. The revised numbers are estimates.
That is not a good enough excuse for them to be done badly. Major fiscal, economic and political decisions are made based on those “extimates”
You raise interest rates to stop inflation which according to neo-keynesianism is caused by the economy overheating.
The jobs market can not be declining AND Powell’s view also be correct.
You are falsely presuming that two uniue and contradictory views of Trump regarding the economy are both true because they both reflect badling on trump – failing to grasp that the one thing that is logically certain – is they both CAN NOT be true.
This is a great framing of the event. While there did not seem to be a single mastermind there were plenty of like minded people in position to pull off this stunt. The aftermath of the documentation exposure of this stunt is (and will be) most interesting.
It wasn’t a trick it was Treason– a capital crime, designed to overthrow the US government, and our Constitution. All people complicit should be indicted, convicted, and punished!
No.
You got Obama all wrong.
Obama was “fundamentally transforming” his United States of America completely innocently, and we actual Americans have nothing to say about it.
“News” media never reported Kevin Clinesmith’s plea deal from Boasberg, barely a mention when the fed courts swept up after the horrific corruption and ruled that Carter Page could NOT sue the government though a criminal in the FBI smeared him using the power of the State. Boasberg’s involvement with cult-like groups Pilgrims Society and American Inns of Court are never addressed by corporate media and escape scrutiny by academic posers who apparently like the idea of non-public collusion by elites. Web search for Inns of Court and see. Hey they managed to miss the Podesta emails in the Wikileaks (evidence of crimes against children) dismissed all claims of questionable activity at the Comet Ping-Pong joint “out of hand” (means they can’t face the evidence). Then the “alt” sources that dare to speak of it are disparaged or possibly even attacked legally! Campaign against press freedom is worldwide and note “liberal” politicians and academics Roaring Silent Treatment of how China crushed last journalism in Hong Kong or Brazil smashing uncontrolled internet access. Be Very Afraid.
“the Greatest Political Trick in History”
I beg to differ.
The so called ‘jew holocaust’ is the greatest trick in history;
all others pale before it’s hideous, destructive and brazen falseness.
Ah, I see the trolls are now trying to use holocaust denial to discredit this site. Ms. Troll, maybe you should see how your employer Media Matters is doing these days after running that scam against X and Musk.
MESSAGE TO ALL (slightly OT-relates to yesterday’s topic):
Because many of us don’t always go back to the previous articles/posts on this site, I had a moment mid-day today to locate something I argued yesterday, but was hit with flak from one or more “Anonymous” posters.
However, I can handle criticism-my purpose here is for the edification of all of us who contributed to the conversation yesterday regarding “congressional oversight.”
The attached explains my contention that, notwithstanding language contained in the fiscal appropriations acts/sequela, “Members of Congress” do NOT have unfettered, carte blanche investigatory authority to access and demand what they want from Executive Branch/Judicial Branch agencies, departments or employees.
Excerpt from “Authority of Individual Members of Congress to Conduct Oversight of the Executive Branch:”
“The constitutional authority to conduct oversight—that is, the authority to make official
inquiries into and to conduct investigations of Executive Branch programs and activi-
ties—may be exercised only by each house of Congress or, under existing delegations,
by committees and subcommittees (or their chairmen). …
“Individual Members of Congress, including ranking minority members, do not have the
authority to conduct oversight in the absence of a specific delegation by a full house,
committee, or subcommittee. They may request information from the Executive
Branch, which may respond at its discretion, but such requests do not trigger any obli-
gation to accommodate congressional needs and are not legally enforceable through a
subpoena or contempt proceedings”
https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/966326/dl
My argument remains that whether you fall under a(1) or (a)2 (as alluded to yesterday), the distinction is moot and your access may be limited or controlled if not possessing express investigative authority.
Apologies to all for yesterday’s back and forth. There is additional cite-worthy reference, but I’m sure most of you
and me) can just move on.
As with riots and mobs, we cannot always let the loudest, most vociferous and persistent contenders rule the outcome.
(lin)
Well, looking at the recent results, I’d say they’re not really investigating, as much as getting on TV for interviews and trying to make us think something is being done. It’s a scam.
*. Yes. It’s embarrassing.
Lin,
As always, thank you for your actual, real legal analysis. Much better than the trolls copy and paste BS.
If we ever had the right opportunity to define what the FO in FAFO means in response to government corruption and accountability, this it.
Let’s hope it isn’t just another weak attempt to ‘discuss things’. I’m willing to give a small amount of time for solid charges to be brought and arrests made. Outside of that pfft….
BTW- Mark Elias is a dirty trickster – he needs to be put in stocks in the public square.
We should start a Go-Fund-Me to have him disappeared…
There oh so many that need to be “relocated”.