Gotta disagree with the general notion here, on this basis: Nothing good that comes from pandering to complete idiocy, except breeding more of it.

That's a slippery slope argument of course but, well, people DO slide down hills & suffer injuries, so it's not like slippery slopes don't exist.

Israeli investigative reporter says Trump shared more information than has been publicly revealed with the Russians https://t.co/muRC81DkQ5 pic.twitter.com/HvujgYV33W

— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) February 1, 2018

Completely lost in all the Nunes-memo-kerfuffle is that there was probable cause in 2014 to believe that Carter Page was a Russian agent.

So, the memo has been released. And near the end of it, it states that the Russia investigation was already underway before the Steele dossier existed. So the FBI couldn't have used the dossier to begin their investigation.

A true nothingburger.

I don't see why Dems don't want the memo out.

I get its biased and slanted but this way media, politicians & FBI can react to it, there's transparency and context to what is being said or what the accusations are and the inevitable rebuttals.

If the memo truly has inaccuracies, I think it'll all come out.

Truth is so 20th century,

What year are you currently living in?

:lol: By seconds!

Your punctuation was far superior though :)

I see the argument that the memo was given outsized importance in part by how hard the Dems have fought against it.

But I still think it was the right call. If the Dems had been silent, the GOP noise machine would have still trumpeted it, and the media might have gone along with "BREAKING: A classified memo just released proves that Trump gets to fire anyone investigating whether Russia attacked our election and that's cool."

As it is, the media has to at least acknowledge that the memo is controversial and not just take it at face value.

Kind of a least-bad option, I think.

I think if the competing memos had been released at the same time, we could have gotten a clearer picture of what this was all about. Hard to comment on it until that memo does. So if the Republicans try to block that from happening now, few, other than the base are going to find real value in what was released. I do hope however that this is the beginning of the end of Devin Nunes in any leadership position.

Isn't it controversial in the way that a single climate scientist states that his data and only his data proves that climate change is a hoax. And that we must believe him because the other scientists are wrong and unimportant and excluded because he says they are wrong?

The FBI, DOJ and Dems all still maintain that the memo is inaccurate. Why wouldn't they fight against its release?

Because even if they think it will hurt Republicans in the long run maybe they don't want a Congressional committee pushing a false narrative and misleading memo designed to attack the FBI and IC.

I think now I would like to hear from the FISA judge in the interest of transparency. I mean we've just had classified documents released after all, so nothing is sacred I guess. Walk us through the process that went on here, what he/she knew about what the R's are claiming here etc.

Why? The memo is a poorly reasoned clown show that actually proves the opposite of what it set forth to do, yet is a strategic masterstroke by getting people once again to look over to the left while the real action is on the right.

Gold, Jerry. Gold!

Why? Because we have just one side of the story here. And the Democratic memo is likely to be very partisan too. Let legal experts who have more experience than I and most Americans certainly do weigh in on what went on here. Could or should the FISA process be changed? why or why not.

.@mattgaetz just said on CNN that “Devin Nunes didn’t write this memo. His staff did.”

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 2, 2018

How long until we're hearing, "Nunes didn't even really read the memo until after it was released."

Well, he didn't read the underlying intel, so that's a possibility.

You know Trump's handlers are printing out every post from every MAGA head and Russia bot on social media calling this a gamechanger and handing it to him. He's probably wondering why Mueller hasn't already fired himself.

Jesus-so should his staff be fired now-names all revealed to the public just in the name of "transparency" of course. Did they all vote for Trump? It's not out five minutes and already you are back pedaling and laying the blame for it?

Jim Sciutto‏Verified account @jimsciutto









New: Two Democratic members of House Intel tell me McCabe did not say dossier was basis of FISA warrant, disputing central claim of #NunesMemo

check out Seth Abramson's twitter feed, especially the responses he gives as he evaluates the memo from a lawyer's perspective.

Damn. You suck.

Damn.

FOFC

You ain't kidding. Abramson savages the memo.

This is probably the best summary of his thread:

30/ In other words, this memo is written like a campaign ad—not an official document, and *certainly* not a legal document. It gets every fact wrong and every point of law wrong and *wildly* so. This is an embarrassing piece of work, but I'll keep on analyzing it anyway. We must.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) February 2, 2018

I think this one sums it up nicely:

Seth Abramson‏Verified account @SethAbramson 2h2 hours ago




70/ Look, anyone who actually knows a lot about this investigation can see immediately this "Nunes Memo" is a dirty dinner napkin—zero value. If Trump takes *any* action as a result of this memo, it's wholly pretextual and—under the circumstances—likely illegal. Be prepared. /end

Abramson is a colossal hack who should not be taken seriously.

Oh the irony

Hey is there any kind of action in the betting markets that you can get on a US athlete protesting during the anthem in the Winter Olympics?

says Devin Nunes? :)

lol

Nunes is saying that there will be a second memo, this time about the State Department.

Some day in August we'll be waiting for the release of Memo 11, detailing how HUD and the WH chef filed a false application for student aid which they used to attend Trump U and create a false scam narrative.

For what it's worth, they've been talking about doing this for decades. I remember it almost happening when I was a kid. The reaction up here has basically been that it's no big deal, with the exception of a small handful of right-wing outlets/politicians who are trying very hard to emulate what you folks have going on down in the US these days. The rest of us... shrug.

No claiming credit for the worst week the stock market has seen in two years??? Shocked I tell ya.

Somehow it will come out over the weekend that it was Obama’s fault.

No, says everything he's done. He's not a reporter. He has no real expertise in anything he talks about. He's an assistant English professor who rambles on Twitter about conspiracy theories and begs for donations.

Stop Listening to Seth Abramson's Hack Trump-Russia Theories :: Politics :: Features :: Seth Abramson :: Paste
How the Left Lost Its Mind - The Atlantic

There's bigger takedowns of him online if you go looking. Or just go back through some of his megathreads a year ago and see how none of it came true.

He's not as insane as Louis Mensch but he's right up there with Eric Garland.

My favorite:

Bernie Sanders Is Currently Winning the Democratic Primary Race, and I'll Prove It to You | HuffPost

The Trumpkin talking point that the job of law enforcement is to inform the judge of every possible reason to deny warrants, is novel.

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago




This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!


But wait, I thought the memo had nothing to do with the Mueller probe? :puzzled?

Or the meaning of obstruction and collusion-but he will

A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, PA, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week ... she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year. https://t.co/yLX1Bod1j0

— Paul Ryan (@PRyan) February 3, 2018

IT'S TRICKLING DOWN!

I hope she stocks up, because he's coming for her Social Security next.

Who distrusts law enforcement more? The Black Lives Matter movement or the Trump administration.

Social media erupted on this:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nts/303827002/

When I first read that Ryan tweet I thought it was a parody account.

I saw that it was his verified account, and I assumed (hoped?) he'd been hacked.

https://www.axios.com/gop-turns-on-f...mpaign=organic

I would have never believed that a day would come when the GOP was anti football and anti FBI.

and Pro Russia

I thought he wrote $1.50 an hour and I was thinking "ehh why's everyone complaining?".

Thought WSJ was fake news? Editorials, even more so?

We must be in the upside down now.