An Email To My Friend
Last edited Thu Feb 1, 2018, 10:07 PM - Edit history (2)
Hello David…
I hope all is well with you and your family.
I can just feel our country circling the drain. Can you feel it?
Every time I think of circling the drain, I think of the movie Psycho. Remember the shower scene when the blood was circling the drain. Apparently, Hitchcock used chocolate syrup instead of blood because he liked the consistency. Being shot in black and white, it didn’t make any difference. The chocolate syrup looked just like blood.
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This Nunes/Trump memo seems to be a desperate attempt at “poisoning the well.” Proving once again that a good defense is a good offense. It seems to me at least, that this memo is designed to cast a dark shadow over the FBI in a futile attempt to save Donald Trump (from a “flawed investigation”).
Donald Trump has been participating in a slow rolling Saturday Night Massacre. One by one, people who have spent their entire lives serving the American people have been either fired or forced out. It seems that the only three left are Rosenstein, Wray (FBI Director, Trump’s choice) and Bob Mueller himself and there is speculation that Trump will eventually fire Mueller.
This memo in question is very interesting. Of course it is from the House Intelligence Committee. Or at least from the Republican members. It is supposed to be highly critical of the FBI, specifically when it comes to FISA Warrants. I believe this one concerns Carter Page (who some have speculated is a Russian agent). To tell the truth, it wasn’t really a request for a FISA warrant. It was instead an extension of an already existing request. In fact the original FISA request is well over a year old…prior to the Steele memo and as it turns out a lifetime of twists and hairpin turns.
It is my understanding that the memo was created by Nunes and voted on by the Committee. Of course, being a Republican run committee, it passed and got into the fast lane heading towards the White House. But hold everything…
The Democrats on the committee wanted to submit a counter memo that would address each bullet point of the Nunes document. The Dems believed that the Nunes memo was full of cherry picked accusations taken out of context. They felt that it was important to counter what looked like an obvious attempt to smear the FBI.
But of course, the Republicans on the committee voted the Dem counter-memo down stopping any attempt to answer the accusations.
Then, the Dems suggested that because of the sensitive nature of the memo, they should bring in representatives from the FBI and the DOJ to provide clarity to each point in the memo.
But of course, the Republicans turned that down as well.
Finally, Wray and other FBI representatives went to the White House and nearly begged the Chief of Staff to not let this memo go public. So sensitive was the memo that the Dems felt it might damage national security and undermine agents working around the world.
But that didn’t matter. After all, this memo is designed to help Donald Trump…even if it damages one of the most respected intelligence agencies on the planet.
This has never been done before.
As we hear over and over again, “We are in uncharted territory.”
One point that I share with my Republican brothers is American exceptionalism. America is different, unique.
This is particularly true in one area, our form of democracy. What separates our form of democracy from all the others around the world? It’s our Constitution. But it is more than that. It is our belief that our institutions are operating in good faith and on behalf of the American people. This includes our intelligence agencies. There must be a certain level of trust that we place in these institutions for our democracy to work. Otherwise, we are no better than a “Banana Republic.”
Are these institutions flawless? Of course not. They are run by humans and humans are not perfect.
But therein lies the social contract. A contract of trust. That is, that the American people understand that mistakes can be made (WMD) but they also understand that there must exist an overriding trust. The belief that these institutions will always operate in our best interest and safety. This is almost sacred.
Does this make sense?
This is how we have operated for the whole of our existence. Any crack in that trust and these institutions lose their effectiveness. But more than that, lives suddenly become endangered. Other nations start to lose faith…and you can forget about informants.
One more point concerning the memo…
It has been suggested (by members of the House Intelligence Committee) that Donald Trump has been involved in this “memo-gate” from the beginning. That is, that he has helped to craft the language (or at least approved it). This is why when he was leaving the State Of The Union speech the other night he indicated to a question tossed at him that the memo had a 100% chance of being released. This before he probably even read it. It is to his benefit…why wouldn’t he release it?
If that weren’t enough, it is clear that Nunes changed the memo just prior to turning to over to the White House. This effectively means that it is no longer the same memo that the entire Intelligence Committee voted on.
Is anyone bothered by this?
You can’t make this stuff up.
Here we have a President who will stop at nothing to save himself. Even if it means jeopardizing the security and safety of our country.
There is no pleasure in contemplating these things. Even if Donald Trump is guaranteed a one-way ticket to Leavenworth, much of the damage has been done. America is forever changed. It’s almost as if we have lost our way. And I am troubled by the thought that I will not live long enough to see America find its way home.
I even have some Republican friends that are astonished by the happenings in Washington. While we disagree on many issues, we are in complete agreement that Donald Trump represents a clear a present danger to our democracy.
Contrary to popular belief, those of us on the Left do not hate this country. We don’t blame America first or belong to some communist glee club. We love this country just as much as anyone. It is our responsibility to question authority, to stand up as a “profile of courage” so that our brand of Democracy, unique in the world, will survive.
-P
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