NYT: Maybe the Nunes Memo Was a Right-Wing Scam All Along - By Kevin Drum @ MoJo

[DonViejo]

Last edited Sat Feb 3, 2018, 04:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Emphasis appears in the original article by Kevin Drum -- Don

KEVIN DRUM FEB. 3, 2018 1:32 PM

Baby steps:

The release of the memo mattered less than #releasethememo.

After weeks of buildup, the three-and-a-half-page document about alleged F.B.I. abuses during the 2016 presidential campaign made public on Friday was broadly greeted with criticism, including by some Republicans. They said it cherry-picked information, made false assertions and was overly focused on an obscure, low-level Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page.

It didn’t live up to the hype.

But the campaign, captured in the hashtag #releasethememo, which was trending on Twitter for days, may have a far more significant impact than the memo’s contents. It was a choreographed effort by House Republicans and top White House officials to push a highly contentious theme — that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department abused their powers to spy on the Trump campaign, and relied on dodgy information from a former British spy paid by Democratic operatives.

What began as an ember more than two weeks ago was fanned into a blaze by conservative media titans, presidential tweets and Republican lawmakers urging people to use social media to pressure Congress to make the memo’s contents public. “I invite everybody to use the hashtag #releasethememo,” Representative Raúl Labrador, the Idaho Republican, said on Fox News during the campaign’s infancy, adding that Americans would be “shocked” when the memo was released.

That’s Mark Mazzetti in the New York Times. It’s nice to see the news pages engaging in this kind of obvious scrutiny, but that scrutiny only matters if they do something about it—and if the rest of the media joins them. As Mazzetti says, this was a choreographed effort—an obviously choreographed effort—led by a guy with a hustler’s track record and starring a memo whose basics have been known for weeks. And yet, it worked. It got a ton of coverage in the Times and elsewhere.

more
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/02/nyt-maybe-the-nunes-memo-was-a-right-wing-scam-all-along/

[lapfog_1]

1. more than 2/3rds of the "trending" status on twitter

was due to russian bots.

So, really, how important was #releasethememo

[Squinch]

2. If we freaking know this, why can't twitter freaking STOP them!!!! I wish people who use it

understood they can boycott twitter, because that's the only way twitter is ever going to get their shit together and do something about this.

[lapfog_1]

3. I have twitter and facebook and myspace (really? yes)

and pinterest and snapchat, etc. I get an account on every social media platform there is ( well, mostly )

And except for linkedin, I never use any of them.

I get them to make sure someone else doesn't try to impersonate me... and I check activity to make sure no one uses my accounts. And then I simply don't use them to post or tweet or snap or whatever.

This way an employer can't use my social media against me.

Am I paranoid... yeah, but I also helped invent this here internet ( wrote some of the first IP routing code for the Arpanet waaay back when ) and I don't trust computers... or I should say...I was a hacker before the term was known and I know what can be done.

Could twitter fix it? Sure... will they? Nope... much like the facebook model, they get paid for activity... any activity.

[Squinch]

4. Right. So if legit users turned their backs on them, their activity would plummet and

they'd be in a heap of trouble.

[lapfog_1]

5. Every see a teenager without their smart phone?

We are addicted to our technology and connecting with people from all over.

legit users are not going to give this up.

[Squinch]

8. Yes, I know. That is the problem. The problem of teenagers thinking they cannot survive

without a phone in their hands (which by the way correlates to unprecedented levels of depression and suicidal ideation in teens) is another story.

Legit users are being hurt by twitter in fundamental and wide-ranging ways, yet they still feel they cannot do without it for a few days to encourage it's owners to stop hurting them. That's pretty sad. Because it's twitter, not plasma or heroin.

[tblue37]

16. Heh--that is exactly what I d, though I got Facebook so I could see pictures posted by

my friends and family.

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. The author of this piece completely misses the teaming up of Republicans and Putin

The GOP is in bed with the Russians. Both worked very hard to make #releasethememo a top trending item on Twitter.

That is the most in your face aspect to this story.

[bettyellen]

7. Good point- and it fails to note this is a story Trump has tried to push for a year now- this time w

elaborate help from congress. He knows the media hates to out and out call him on his lies. Jeeze guys- it’s not ignorance or misunderstanding.

[joeva]

9. Carter Page crystal ball and how, why, and who classified the "Memo"

Last edited Sat Feb 3, 2018, 08:56 PM - Edit history (1)

I have a 2 questions. 1. Who is responsible for giving this memo its Top Secret classification? I have worked with classified material myself and not just anyone can classify something. And if it was truly classified Top Secret it was not done properly. 2. How did Carter Page, in an interview with Chris Hays show on MSNBC on October 17th 2017, know that Paul Ryan would eventually (try to) vindicate him because of irregularities in the FISA Warrant used to intercept his communications. This can't be coincidence.

[joeva]

10. The Russian election is just around the corner.

Is it a detail lost in the weeds that Vlad Putin is up for reelection on March 18, 2018? That is in 6 weeks. Long ago, Reuters reported that Putin wanted Trump to lift the sanctions against Russia to remove some discontent among his populace, and improve his odds of winning back the presidency. That is what this whole thing is really about!!!

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Excellent point! Thanks for the reminder!

Not that he'd stop at anything to remove the opposition, but there has been serious pushback from the people despite the repercussions. Welcome to DU!

[joeva]

12. more collusion???

I hate to be a conspiracy proponent, but, If Russia has broken into congressional email, it is entirely possible that they have "compromat" on congressmen. That would explain why they are all competing to see who can heap the most praise onto Trump. That would also explain why so many congressmen are running to the exits.

[joeva]

13. Is the memo just a distraction?

I was thinking, the "memo" was such a nothing. What possible purpose did it serve? So I searched what else occurred during that week when the news networks were consumed about the stupid memo. Turns out there was one little thing. Turns out Trump embarked on a little bit of Nuclear stuff... He signed something that will result in a new arms race, this time concerning "small" nukes. Like battlefield nukes that can be delivered by field artillery, etc. Seems the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or SALT is only about Strategic Arms, Who knew? Something that really should be getting done, wasn't. Namely a budget for the country. It turns out we haven't had a budget since September. I never realized they were optional. And then there was the Republican Retreat in West Virginia. I guess there wasn't enough going on in Washington, so they took a few days off and accidentally ran into a garbage truck. Funny thing. there was a law passed years ago to provide some automated intelligence to trains to prevent such misshaps. I guess they were too busy writing memos and going on retreats to notice. Three amtrack trains in the last 3 months have had "run ins". Congress really needs to get back to business before everything just grinds to a halt. Ignore Trumps Tweets. They don't need Trump to pass laws.

[joeva]

14. President admits he cant be trusted to tell the truth under osth.

Ive heard it all. President Trump, after conferring with his lawyers. has decided to find a way to not have to testify under oath because "he cant be trusted to tell the truth". How is that for a sad commentary for the President of the United States. I see election ads now. "President admits he's incapable of telling the truth".

[joeva]

15. Nunes Retrenchment?

Donald Trump was so quick to take credit for the stock rise. I would like to propose a hastag #nunesretrenchment
What do you think??

[tblue37]

17. Of course they do. That's why the stuff from the RNC hack was never published. Also,

a lot of Republicans took laundered Russian mob money, which in itself is kompromat.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. The concern isn't just that they'll do it again here, but that they're also doing the same in Europe

And the likelihood that some in Congress are compromised too makes sense when we see so many Republicans enabling Trump.