The Fake News Depot

Turtle

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Retired Expediter
I dunno. The realm of "entirely possible" is pretty wide. The FISA program is supposed to be secret so they're not supposed to talk about it. Also, this most recent news may change things, but up until now the heat and focus has been on the NSA, FBI and DOJ, not the judges, so the judges have no incentive to speak up publicly and attract the attention. The judges may have privately had some harsh comments towards NSA and FBI investigators and DOJ prosecutors, but at this juncture there's no way to know that.

Plus, there is virtually no oversight of the FISA Court, and it's as one-sided as it can get (the absence of anyone but the judge and the government present at the hearings), and these judges work intimately with these federal agencies, and as of the case with local and state judges, often view prosecutors more as colleagues than advocates.

These judges are all District Court judges appointed for 7 year terms to the FISA Court by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. As the NYT noted in 2013, the FISA Court has become effectively a parallel Supreme Court, because the judges' decisions have no oversight and therefore cannot be overruled.

It also lends itself to a situation where these judges believe their poopy doesn't stink. In 2013 (that's when the phone records collection poopy hit the Eric Snowden fan), back when Democrats were rightly skeptical of government secrecy and surveillance, Democrat Ron Wyden was probably the most vocal critic, accusing the FISA Court of group polarization, or groupthink. Not because of the natural tendency of those with such power to abuse it, but because of political considerations. He felt that because all of these judges were appointed by the Chief Justice, a Republican, that the court was stacked with like-minded individuals. He was right to be skeptical, but for thy wrong reasons. Since 2013, four of the five judges appointed have been judges appointed by Bill Clinton. So the only groupthink that's going on is, "How dare you question my decisions! My poopy doesn't stink!"

So I really don't look for many FISA judges to go public saying things like, "I was duped! I got played, because I didn't do my job as a skeptical judge to ensure the constitutional rights of American citizens."

One of the more interesting things about this story is, and it's a bombshell of a story that should make every American crap their pants, according to the MSM this is either a story that doesn't exist, it is a figment of the imagination of a wimgnut, or it is simply not newsworthy. It is a story that writes itself in the form of federal court filings, yet not a word from the cracker jack journalists of The Press.
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Teaser headline at The Hill: Town where Sanders denied service saw unexpected upside

But then when yu read the story, the actual headline of the piece is

Tourism officials boost marketing efforts in Va. town after Huckabee Sanders restaurant incident

So, apparently the unexpected upside is the fact that tourism officials had to dig into emergency funds to increase marketing efforts because of the massive drop off in tourism dollars and the angry phone calls and letters from people saying they will never come back to the area after the Red Hen refused service to Sarah Sanders.

'Cuz that's what the story it about. :rolleyes:
 
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skyraider

Veteran Expediter
US Navy
If the Red Hen cooks dont like you, I wonder if they are dropping your food on the floor and putting in back on your plate.................
 
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muttly

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
If the Red Hen cooks dont like you, I wonder if they are dropping your food on the floor and putting in back on your plate.................
Or other restaurants for that matter. I'd be wary of wearing a MAGA hat when I dine.
If I had one, I would probably leave it in the car before entering an establishment.
 
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Grizzly

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Fake news or not ..? o_O:p:D

expo 4.JPG

Images taken from TheCraftyTrucker video .....

expo 1.JPG
expo 2.JPG
expo 3.JPG

A bit of deja vu .....


inaguration 1.JPG
inaguration 2.JPG


Full disclosure, I did not attend the Expo ....
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
How many times has Trump Tweeted something utterly ridiculous, and was unmercilessly hammered and mocked for it, only to later be proved correct?

I'm taking a wait and see on this one.
 
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Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter

Grizzly

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Trump isn't saying the hurricanes didn't happen. He's simply questioning the data. I'm ok with that.
It's a bit of a touchy subject which requires some tact ... something which Trump has none of!
He'd be much more successful pushing his agenda if he wasn't always such a horse's ass ...
 

muttly

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Trump isn't saying the hurricanes didn't happen. He's simply questioning the data. I'm ok with that.
It's a bit of a touchy subject which requires some tact ... something which Trump has none of!
He'd be much more successful pushing his agenda if he wasn't always such a horse's ass ...
He often doesn't use tact. Kind of a double edge sword with him. Most politicians would just say something like " I have no reason to question the data" and move on. Then they'll take the political hit by Dems blaming them for "response time", " could have done more", and "this is his Katrina".
Trump will at least call the critics out who often demagogue an issue. Something most republicans won't do.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Trump isn't saying the hurricanes didn't happen. He's simply questioning the data. I'm ok with that.
It's a bit of a touchy subject which requires some tact ... something which Trump has none of!
He'd be much more successful pushing his agenda if he wasn't always such a horse's ass ...
He often doesn't use tact. Kind of a double edge sword with him. Most politicians would just say something like " I have no reason to question the data" and move on. Then they'll take the political hit by Dems blaming them for "response time", " could have done more", and "this is his Katrina".
Trump will at least call the critics out who often demagogue an issue. Something most republicans won't do.
That's exactly it. Trump's number of less than 100 is a businessman's number, the number of people who died directly by the hurricane. The number of nearly 3000 is a political number designed for blame. It includes people who died in the aftermath, many who died months later, who, potentially, might not have died if the hurricane did not happen. Like the guy who died after he tripped over a tree branch 3 months after the hurricane, a tree branch he could not have tripped over if the hurricane had not happened.

The fact is, FEMA is emergency response, not disaster preparedness. Puerto Rico was not prepared for a hurricane. There's nothing FEMA could have done to fix that. If Puerto Rico didn't have neglected, crumbling infrastructure, including houses and other buildings that were not hardened for hurricanes, and if they had disaster plans in place to deal with such an event, they would have been able to dramatically reduce the number of deaths from a hurricane, both direct and indirect.
 
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