Lord Dampnut, Wiretapp, and Some Truth

I have been thinking about 45's "unhinged assertion" that Obama put a Wiretapp on him on Drumpf Tower. We also observe establishment political figures, both R and D, accompanied by the MSM, demanding that he produce evidence or back down. Personally, I find the claim that 45 was not and could not have been surveilled as candidate or President-Elect equally unhinged.

Imagine if some individual challenging the IC/MIC narrative or otherwise under some suspicion by the IC as having sympathies for Nefarious Causes were to make the claim that they believed they were being surveilled by one or another alphabet agency of DHS. Suppose it was--

John Kirikaou, Barrett Brown, DeRay McKesson, Jill Stein, Chris Hedges, Glenn Greenwald, Michael Moore, or any American imam, to name a few examples--

--that made a public statement that they believed that the CIA/FBI/NSA etc. were listening in on their phone calls and monitoring their email. Would we be inclined to believe them? I think most of us here would, and we would not be insisting that they show proof or that a FOIA request, once honored, would clear up the matter once and for all. We would take it on faith that they were being watched and listened to and that there was likely no trail of orders or warrants officially authorizing their surveillance that would ever see the light of day.

Why? Because over the last decades, and much more so since 9/11, more and more evidence has come to light about how the IC has been surveilling citizens in secret and with impunity. the Snowden revelations. Clapper's lying to Congress and keeping his job, much less facing charges. The CIA's hacking into the House Intelligence Committee's computer system. Vault 7. I could go on. Some else could certainly add more relevant data points. I hope some of you do.

We have reached the point where it is obvious that there are no legal, legislative, judicial or procedural restraints on the IC's snooping on anyone they wish to. If you think otherwise, and that the IC is all "mother may I' with forms in triplicate, you've been living under a rock. If you haven't been living under a rock, you have some vested interest in not speaking the truth.

So, back to Lord Dampnut's twitlering about Obama wiretapp. The man's unhinged, and dangerous. He never should have been president. If he could go away without the Deep State staging a coup and installing an extreme and unelected Christian Dominionist in the White House, it would be a good thing for America and the world. I'm no fan of his. We are witnessing a struggle between several factions of Bad People.

But, this once, I think 45 is probably mostly right. I would be flabbergasted to find out (assuming we will ever have the means to do so) that no one in the IC was listening in on his every phone call for the last two years. Do I think Obama personally ordered it? I rather doubt it. the IC would surveil Lord Dampnut as a matter of course. I'm just trying to picture the security briefing: "Mr. President, we have grave concerns about Drumpf. Would you sign off on this order giving us permission to monitor his conversations?" and BHO would be all, "Oh absolutely, guys. Glad you asked. Of course you can. and thanks for waiting until I gave you the go-ahead"

Unh-unh. They would have just done it. They probably even would have captured all Sigint relating to him even if Obama expressly told them not to. I mean, what would Barry do about it? After all, BHO probably realized by February 2009 that he couldn't have any private convos with anyone either. Ever. On any line.

My take: wiretapp yes, on Obama's orders, no.

So here we have the narrative, concocted by the Serious Grownups, that all 45 has to do is just declassify the intel and resolve the matter for once and for all, and that this is a "serious blow" to 45's credibility if he can't or won't do this. Yeah right, and Washington chopped down the cherry tree, Saddam really did have WMD, and the police are here to protect everyone. There probably is nothing to declassify, and the IC has already admitted that they are withholding intel from POTUS.

Lord Dampnut did make a mistake in claiming Obama had him wiretapped. The mistake is not that it wasn't true, but that he revealed something the Washington establishment considers impolitic and just Something One Is Not Supposed To Say.

My $0.02 for today. Interested to hear what y'all think.

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I think not. I think that the reality is that any person in the NSA can collect any information that they want from anyone. That may actually be the policy. I think that they need go for a FISA court order if they intend to use the information in a criminal case.

Have they been ordered to not use this technology on the general public? How do they test the software if so? Is there software in place that monitors all of the NSA hacking, a reporting system, and a system of internal investigation and discipline? Ha!

If my hypothesis is right then there is no obstacle to folks from the NSA spying for political purposes.

Just as an aside, the reason that Bill Clinton had a private meeting with Attorney General Lynch on her airplane was that he didn't want any record of the conversation that could be derived from communication from his smartphone or computer. So what did he need to tell/ask/threaten/bribe her?

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

edg's picture

Do bears fart in the woods?

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Let's suppose Trump was monitored, and that he was among the class of people Obama's administration monitored. (All of us. All the time.)
The super secret monitors didn't use anything they gathered to ruin his presidential ambitions.
Now, as he is The Man, he discovers the policies and practices and is pissed off.
We still haven't heard any content of anything they monitored.
I think he might possibly be forewarning us that some "bad shit" about him will come.
And when it does, the deflection is Obama is bad, not the content. (Think, DNC "hacked" emails.)
I think he is putting up a major fight with our CIA and
is preparing for blackmail.
The only importance of this whole issue is to set the precedent for the parameters the CIA and NSA can use to subvert the majority vote.
Other than my 30 minutes of looking at the evidence, or lack thereof, I give it not much thought.
All politicians are subject to blackmail from here on out.
Milenials? I hope you never sent a tweet of yourself half-dressed when you were 14. If you did, forget being county dog catcher one day.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

maggid's picture

@on the cusp Hmm. First of all, the media and the Clinton machine threw everything they could think at Lord Dampnut, things that would have sunk a normal politician ten times over, but none of it stuck. The man has no shame. He didn't need to become President to learn the extent of surveillance. We all have a pretty good idea. I'm thinking he had some very specific conversations from Drumpf Tower (aka the High Castle) that would be damaging in a whole different way it they got out. Why would the IC sit on this until after the election? Because either (a) no one would have paid attention if it was released before the election; (b) it gives them something to hold over him to bring him under control; or (c) their interests are better served with him in the White House under blackmail than with HRH.

Either way, there must have been some conversations he had from Drumpf Tower that were just wrong in a whole different way, and the idea that they were listened in on is really bothering him.

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The marriage between capitalism and democracy is over. –Slavoj Zizek

In office was to further destroy our right to privacy from the deep state, yes I believe they spied on Trump. Why didn't they use it? They did then, and they are now.

Better question is, why is Trump protecting Hillary from the Republicans? Lock her up, lock her up! Friends dont put friends in jail. It could come back to bite them. It is why war criminals and banksters remain unpunished and free. It is a complicated code and an incestuous lot

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

If you answer, the President, I would contend that you are wrong. The real power in this country is and has been the deep state. So it is ludicrous to believe that they are not surveilling everyone, including Donald Trump. What I do doubt is that Obama ordered it because it was probably already going on.

The real question is what is the deep state doing with the information they have on Trump or the Clintons for that matter? The deep state and Congress could have taken Hillary Clinton down but chose not to because she would be doing their bidding. If they have something on Trump, I doubt it is embarrassing because I believe that it is impossible to embarrass Trump. I do believe that they may have something on his business dealings thought. Compliance is the key and as Chuckie Schumer said, they have seven ways to Sunday to get at you. Again, this all comes back to Congress which has abdicated its duties.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Alligator Ed's picture

Or does it gladden us? Most of us barely have a pot to piss in, in relative terms. Why did Willie Sutton not rob houses instead of banks? Because that's where the money wasn't.

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Wink's picture

to learn - and will likely never learn (becuz he doesn't give a fuck) - the basics of what Not to say in public 101.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

k9disc's picture

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu