Tag Archives: James Clapper

Americans are Stuck in Abusive Relationships with Power, by Michael Krieger

The American people have been abused too long. From Michael Krieger at libertyblitzkrieg.com:

And we recently discovered, if it was not known before, that no amount of power can withstand the hatred of the many.

– Marcus Tullius Cicero

Americans are brought up to believe all sorts of myths about the country we call home. We’re told our economy is a free market meritocracy governed by the rule of law. We’re told our civil liberties, enshrined in the Bill of Rights, are inviolable and protected by the most powerful military in the world. A fighting force entrusted with the admirable and monumental task of defending freedoms at home, and democracy and human rights abroad. We’re told we exist in a system of self-government, in which our votes matter and our voices heard. In practice, none of this is true.

The fact of the matter is American citizens in 2018 are just a nuisance for the real power players. Useful as consumers, but increasingly problematic as larger numbers start to ask questions about how things really work. For far too long, we’ve been ignorant and willing accomplices in our own bondage. This allowed the concentrated and unaccountable power that really calls the shots to go for broke in recent decades, with unsurprisingly tragic results.

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The Treasonous Democratic Party, by Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts’ money question: “why have these obvious traitors clearly engaged in a plot to overthrow the US government not been indicted and arrested?” From Roberts at paulcraigroberts.org:

If America had more honest, fact-based journalists with integrity like Tucker Carlson, we would not be, as we are today, dissolving as a country.

In this one TV broadcast— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGlj2T1tITg–Carlson shows that the Democrats have gone far beyond “lying through their teeth political partisanship” into deranged hatred of President Trump and the American people who elected him.

The Democrats’ insane hatred of “Trump deplorables” has firmly allied the Democrats with the corrupt military/security complex in a plot to overthrow the elected President of the United States. https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/07/26/cia-fbi-doj-plot-to-overthrow-the-president-of-the-united-states/

Carlson presents the former heads of US intelligence in the corrupt Obama regime accusing President Trump of treason against the United States for trying to normalize relations with Russia and endangering the United States for trying to make peace.

What these former heads of intelligence mean is that Trump, by attempting to normalize relations with Russia, is endangering the $1,000 billion annual budget of the military/security complex and the multi-millions each of them expect to receive for their service in office not to US national security but to the security of the military/security complex’s budget.

Carlson makes clear that each of these corrupt and treasonous former intelligent officials are currently monetizing their former intelligence positions by serving as well paid talking heads in the Trump-hating presstitute media. The despicable John Brennan has already revealed classified information in the past, without punishment, and is likely to do so in the future. So Carlson asks why do these traitors and liars still have their security clearances. No one has ever done America more harm than John Brennan, James Comey, James Clapper, Rod Rosenstein, and the corrput Obama FBI cabal that orchestrated “Russiagate.”

Carlson’s question is on target. However, the real question is why have these obvious traitors clearly engaged in a plot to overthrow the US government not been indicted and arrested? Clearly, the Trump Justice (sic) Department is protecting the traitors. What else to expect with Rod Rosenstein running the Justice (sic) Department. Why did President Trump appoint Rosenstein, who intends to destroy Trump, as de facto head of the Justice (sic) Department? What traitor advised Trump to make this appointment?

To continue reading: The Treasonous Democratic Party

Clapper: The U.S. Meddled In Foreign Elections And Conducted Regime Change In The “Best Interests Of The People”, by Tyler Durden

When the US government (insert crime or illicit or immoral acts) it’s okay. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Former head of US Intelligence James Clapper just admitted that the United States was simply looking out for citizens of various countries “when we tried to manipulate or influence elections or even overturned governments,” a statement directly at odds with the moral high ground claimed by President Obama and other US officials on the topic of Russian election meddling.

In an interview with Bloomberg’s Tobin Harshaw published Saturday, Clapper – who is promoting his new book “Facts and Fears,” said “I guess the way I think about that is that through our history, when we tried to manipulate or influence elections or even overturned governments, it was done with the best interests of the people in that country in mind,’ adding that the US has a “traditional reverence for human rights.”

According to a February 2016 report by Dov H. Levin, the United States has engaged in over 80 instances of election meddling or regime change between 1946 and 2000, while a February analysis by the New York Times notes that election meddling is hardly unprecedented.

“If you ask an intelligence officer, did the Russians break the rules or do something bizarre, the answer is no, not at all,” said Steven L. Hall, who retired in 2015 after 30 years at the C.I.A., where he was the chief of Russian operations. The United States “absolutely” has carried out such election influence operations historically, he said, “and I hope we keep doing it.”NYT

We’ve been doing this kind of thing since the C.I.A. was created in 1947,” said Loch K. Johnson, a University of Georgia professor who began his career in the 1970s investigating the CIA for the Senate.

We’ve used posters, pamphlets, mailers, banners — you name it. We’ve planted false information in foreign newspapers. We’ve used what the British call ‘King George’s cavalry’: suitcases of cash.”

Don’t forget, the United States has been supporting Al-Qaeda linked terrorists in Syria – guys who were undoubtedly high-fiving on 9/11, in order to overthrow Syrian President Bashir al Assad (in the best interests of Syrian people, we’re sure).

And while the United States has been conducting regime change and election meddling for over 70 years, President Obama’s stated foreign policy objectives as summed up in a November 2016 report in the Washington Post: “not every global problem has an American solution.”

“Obama had run on a platform of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and regaining the trust of the world. Facing the most significant financial crisis in generations, he stressed the importance of sharing more of the burdens and responsibilities of global leadership with others.

In other words; the United States will meddle in elections and conduct regime change, but when it comes to dealing with the fallout, not our problem. Hilarious.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-03/clapper-us-meddled-foreign-elections-and-conducted-regime-change-best-interests

WSJ Asks Why We Should Keep Listening To James Clapper’s “Disinformation Campaign”, by Holman Jenkins

A lot of what comes out of James Clapper’s mouth is claptrap, or clappertrap. From Holman Jenkins at the Wall Street Journal via zerohedge.com:

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper – a central figure in the “Russiagate” spy scandal, has earned quite the reputation for various misstatements, lies and even perjury.

Clapper appeared before the Senate to discuss surveillance programs in the midst of a controversy over warrantless surveillance of the American public. He was asked directly, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans?”

There was no ambiguity or confusion and Clapper responded, “No, sir. … Not wittingly.” That was a lie and Clapper knew it when he said it. -John Turley

Since the 2016 election, Clapper has landed a job as a paid CNN commentator while peddling a new book, Facts and Fears – all while trying to shift the narrative on the FBI spying on the Trump campaign and pushing unfounded Russian conspiracy theories.

To that end, the Wall Street Journals Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. asks: Why does a former intelligence chief make claims he can’t back up?

Clapper Disinformation Campaign

James Clapper, President Obama’s director of national intelligence, gained a reputation among liberals as a liar for covering up the existence of secret data-collection programs.

Since becoming a private citizen, he has claimed that President Trump is a Russian “asset” and that Vladimir Putin is his “case officer,” then when pressed said he was speaking “figuratively.”

His latest assertion, in a book and interviews, that Mr. Putin elected Mr. Trump is based on non-reasoning that effectively puts defenders of U.S. democracy in a position of having to prove a negative. “It just exceeds logic and credulity that they didn’t affect the election,” he told PBS.

Mr. Clapper not only exaggerates Russia’s efforts, he crucially overlooks the fact that it’s the net effect that matters. Allegations and insinuations of Russian meddling clearly cost Mr. Trump some sizeable number of votes. Hillary Clinton made good use of this mallet, as would be clearer now if she had also made good use of her other assets to contest those states where the election would actually be decided.

To continue reading: WSJ Asks Why We Should Keep Listening To James Clapper’s “Disinformation Campaign”

Hunting witches, finding spies, by Ken Allard

The counter-Russiagate scandal, also known as the FBI/Department of Justice/Clinton campaign scandal, looks like its going to reach all the way to Barack Obama. From Ken Allard at theburningplatform.com:

What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it? Those Watergate-era questions are increasingly relevant today in the rapidly expanding government-media debacle once intended solely to ensnare Donald Trump.

With revelations already reaching into the Obama White House, I suggested four months ago that the deep state’s disinformation campaign was becoming more aggressive.

As the Spy-gate story made headlines, Charles Hurt of The Washington Times connected the latest dots: “The Obama administration perverted one of the most powerful, clandestine spying operations in the world and used it to spy on political opponents, punish them and, ultimately, silence them through extortion.”

Those charges were dismissed by former Democratic officeholders (and current media commentators) such as former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan.

But just like Watergate, glib defenses were swiftly eclipsed by more troubling revelations. Sharyl Attkisson pointed out eight signs of a “counterintelligence operation deployed against Trump’s campaign.” These signs were eerily similar to information operations mounted against her as a CBS News reporter pursuing stories the Obama White House preferred to conceal.

But these “witch hunts” are only parts of a much larger story. During the last four decades, the American intelligence establishment has surpassed the “military-industrial complex” President Dwight Eisenhower famously warned against. Instead of silently guarding American freedom, our intelligence agencies are rapidly morphing into a far more malevolent presence — one apparently capable of executing a silent coup.

I saw those tendencies early in my career as a Cold War intelligence officer in West Germany when my battalion commander confided an ominous secret. Army counterintelligence agents had spied on expatriate Democrats in West Berlin. That jaw-dropping idiocy occurred just when we were already overrun with Eastern Bloc spies and left-wing terrorists busily planting bombs on U.S. military installations. Inevitably, those dark secrets became public in a wave of headlines and angry recriminations. The oversight committees which today operate on both sides of Capitol Hill were meant to improve political accountability of intelligence operations.

To continue reading: Hunting witches, finding spies

THIS IS CNN: Hiring of Suspected Leaker Clapper Raises Ethical Questions, by Sara Carter

CNN and most of the rest of the mainstream media are bed with the intelligence agencies, a fact underscored by former CIA Director John Brennnan’s and former Director of National Intelligence Clapper’s paid gigs with MSNBC and CNN, respectively. From Sara Carter at saracarter.com:

CNN walked away with a prestigious journalism award at Saturday night’s White House Correspondent’s Association dinner for their role in making public a briefing by intelligence officials to then President-elect Donald Trump. CNN reported the briefing “included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.”  But the information briefed to the President was also leaked to the media by one of the same senior Obama administration officials who orchestrated the briefing and was hired by CNN months later as a paid analyst.

Some are questioning now if this was ethical –a pay for play of sorts –as it raises serious questions about the role and responsibility that U.S. intelligence officials have when taking on paid positions as analysts for news organizations, while still retaining their high-level security clearances. It also raises similar questions about news organizations and their role of remaining objective and not paying their sources.

Reporters Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez and Carl Bernstein won the Merriman Smith Award for their broadcast work and reporting on the dossier. But as first reported here it was former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who was suspected by Congress of leaking the information to CNN, after he asked now fired FBI Director James Comey to give Trump the private briefing on Jan. 6, 2017.

By August 2017, Clapper was hired by CNN as an analyst but the network never disclosed that Clapper was a major source behind the leak of an unproven and salacious dossier when he joined the network. News agencies and reporters never disclose their sources, it would be unethical, but isn’t it also unethical to pay sources for information or give sources jobs as analysts for your news outlet after they’ve been illegally leaking classified information?

To continue reading: THIS IS CNN: Hiring of Suspected Leaker Clapper Raises Ethical Questions

Clapper Busted Leaking Dossier Details To CNN’s Jake Tapper, Lying To Congress About It, by Tyler Durden

Why is anybody surprised when intelligence people are caught in lies? They’re professional liars. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

Former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) turned CNN commentator James Clapper not only leaked information related to the infamous “Steele dossier” to CNN’s Jake Tapper while Clapper was in office – it appears he also lied about it to Congress, under oath.

Clapper was one of the “two national security officials” cited in CNN’s report -published minutes after Buzzfeed released the full Steele dossier.

The revelation that Clapper was responsible for leaking details of both the dossier and briefings to two presidents on the matter is significant, because former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey wrote in one of four memos that he leaked that the briefing of Trump on salacious and unverified allegations from the dossier was necessary because “CNN had them and were looking for a news hook.”The Federalist

So Comey said that Trump needed to be briefed on the Dossier’s allegations since CNN “had them” – because James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence at the time, provided that information to the same network he now works for.

And who’s idea was it to brief Trump on the dossier? JAMES CLAPPER – according to former FBI Director James Comey’s memos:

“I said there was something that Clapper wanted me to speak to the [president-elect] about alone or in a very small group,” Comey wrote.

The revelations detailing Clapper’s leak to CNN can be found in a 253-page report by the House Intelligence Committee majority released on Friday – which also found “no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government.”

As Sean Davis of The Federalist bluntly states: “Clapper leaked details of a dossier briefing given to then-President-elect Donald Trump to CNN’s Jake Tapper, lied to Congress about the leak, and was rewarded with a CNN contract a few months later.”

From Clapper’s Congressional testimony:

MR. ROONEY: Did you discuss the dossier or any other intelligence related to Russia hacking of the 2016 election with journalists?

MR. CLAPPER: No.

To continue reading: Clapper Busted Leaking Dossier Details To CNN’s Jake Tapper, Lying To Congress About It

Happy Anniversary, James Clapper, by Jonathan Turley

James Clapper looks like one of those bureaucratic cretins from an Ayn Rand novels. At best he’s one notch above a non-entity. From Jonathan Turley at  jonathanturley.org:

220px-James_R._Clapper_official_portrait

Today is an important anniversary for former intelligence chief James Clapper. No it is not his marriage anniversary or conventional milestone.  Clapper can celebrate the running out of the statute of limitations on his alleged perjury before Congress — five years and Clapper is now beyond the reach of the law.

I recently wrote a column on the approaching anniversary and how it reaffirms the widely held view that powerful people in Washington are immune from laws used against the rest of society.

Clapper appeared before the Senate to discuss surveillance programs in the midst of a controversy over warrantless surveillance of the American public. He was asked directly, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of millions of Americans?” There was no ambiguity or confusion and Clapper responded, “No, sir. … Not wittingly.” That was a lie and Clapper knew it when he said it.

Later, Clapper said that his testimony was “the least untruthful” statement he could make. That would still make it a lie of course but Clapper is a made guy. While feigned shock and disgust, most Democratic leaders notably did not call for his prosecution. Soon Clapper was back testifying and former president Obama even put Clapper on a federal panel to review the very programs that he lied about in Congress. Clapper is now regularly appearing on cable shows which, for example, used Clapper’s word as proof that Trump was lying in saying that there was surveillance of Trump Tower carried out by President Barack Obama. CNN and other networks used Clapper’s assurance without ever mentioning that he previously lied about surveillance programs.

News organizations now regularly feature Clapper who has denounced Donald Trump and members of his government, as discussed in an earlier column.

It is the latest chapter in America’s Animal Farm as average citizens are criminally charged with small discrepancies in statements to investigators while people like Clapper and David Petraeus and Sandy Berger are protected from serious repercussions for alleged criminal acts.

To continue reading: Happy Anniversary, James Clapper

Purge the CIA, by Justin Raimondo

The CIA has become exactly like the rest of the government: bureaucratic, ossified, desk-bound, corrupt, and willing to fight tooth and nail to preserve its privileges. From Justin Raimondo at antiwar.com:

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified at a hearing on “Russian interference” in the election that there’s a difference between “skepticism” of the intelligence community’s assessment and “disparagement” of said community. While stopping short of asking for a “safe space,” this admitted liar used the opportunity to cry on the shoulders of Donald Trump’s assembled enemies: “We’re not perfect,” he burbled, but hey everybody makes mistakes.

Clapper’s remarks were clearly aimed at Trump, who has tweeted his contempt for the effort by the CIA and allied agencies to conjure up a Russian conspiracy to put him in the White House. Citing Julian Assange’s statement to Sean Hannity that a teenager could’ve hacked the Podesta emails, Trump’s tweets evoked the rage of the Washington Establishment – how dare he question those who failed to prevent 9/11, told us Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction,” and failed to foresee the rise of ISIS, which they (through President Obama) characterized as “the JV team”!

The hearing quickly degenerated into a “Hate Assange” session, with McCain asking Clapper “if any credibility should attached to this individual” given WikiLeaks’ “record of leaking materials that put U.S. lives in direct danger.”

“Not in my view,” Clapper replied.

Only in Washington would this exchange not be followed by howls of jeering laughter. It was Clapper, after all, who lied under oath to Sen. Ron Wyden and the Senate when asked about the extent of spying on US citizens engaged in by the National Security Agency, and later was forced to apologize for it.

To continue reading: Purge the CIA