After even Sally Yates conceded that she wouldn’t have signed off on his surveillance if she had all the facts, I thought a trip down memory lane was in order.
You’ll recall that, once upon a time, we were told that Carter Page was actively colluding with the Russians because the FISA court and the FBI told us so.
All of those assertions have fallen to pieces, so I’m assuming we can get a follow up from @SpeakerPelosi?
Maybe @RepAdamSchiff, the chief architect of the Russian collusion fable, can provide us with an update?
Do you still believe that “the FBI acted lawfully and appropriately” even after the head of DOJ at the time said the opposite today under oath?
Any follow up about that memo, Congressman? Are you sure that the “FBI didn’t lie” and that it is a “false claim” to say that the “FISA process was abused”? Because former director Yates certainly doesn’t.
Really waiting with baited breath on @tedlieu because he was a clerk, you see.
@RepSwalwell is hot on the trail of stupid yet again.
And it wasn’t just the lower House. I have a feeling @SenJeffMerkley would like this one back.
And we’ve got bipartisan bullshit! Here’s @marcorubio who may wish he had this take back.
And our intellectual and moral betters in the media weighed in. Here’s @CillizzaCNN and @CNN, who may want to update what the “most important takeaway from the FISA release” is.
@MSNBC brought on myriad experts to explain why everything that has happened in the last two years related to FISA and Carter Page wouldn’t happen.
And it wouldn’t be a left-wing conspiracy theory if @JoyAnnReid wasn’t onboard.
And it wouldn’t be a Russian related conspiracy if @DavidCornDC weren’t involved.
I am as surprised as you are that @jonathanchait, who alleged that Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987, wanted in on this one, too.
Of course, the usual galaxy brain twitter power users weighed in, including Twitter’s most consistently wrong foulmouth @therickwilson.
He’s got me blocked so I hope someone can share this with him.
You’ve got to be almost impressed with @therickwilson’s propensity for predictive failure.
It wouldn’t be a thread if @JRubinBlogger didn’t find her way onto it.
Ditto for @SethAbramson, who also manages to shoehorn in the fabled Steele Dossier, which bears the distinction of having been even more fabricated than the FISA application against Page.
Speaking of, I would like to nominate this tweet by @funder for the Louvre.
I remain mistified at the testimony of my elders that, once upon a time, @tribelaw was taken seriously.
From the “the walls are closing in!” school of thought comes these tweets by @Amy_Siskind, who no longer seems so enamored with or interested in the story of Carter Page.
Curious.
Any follow up to the assertion that “there is still no reason to believe the FISA application for Carter Page was improper” @EvanMcMullin?
The people are wondering.
@JuddLegum, care to follow up on the notion that “there is no evidence anything was misused in the FISA court” related to Page?
Or, @NicolleDWallace, perhaps the reason @realDonaldTrump was at war with the FISA courts was that - stay with me here - they deserved the war?
The lesson here (as ever, with the Russian collusion narrative) is that maybe, just maybe, it’s worth a touch of caution, incredulity or reflection before jumping to the worst of conclusions, or taking a secretive, ill-intentioned process at face value.
Maybe next time.
I’ve done a few threads & I’ve got a few more coming but one thing is clear:
The ability of elected officials/those on the left & in the media to push a radical conspiracy theory, then have that conspiracy implode without any consequences or apologies, should terrify you.
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There’s another media hoax from Minnesota. Legacy outlets churned out headlines about a 5-year-old child used as “bait” by ICE.
The reality? The kid’s father, an illegal immigrant, abandoned him when he saw the agents. As even these outlets later concede.
Look ⤵️
Here’s how these hoaxes start. @washingtonpost alleges ICE used a 5-year-old kid as “bait” to arrest his father.
Not until five paragraphs into the piece do they acknowledge what really happened: the child’s father, an illegal immigrant, abandoned him when he saw ICE.
But this allegation was everywhere. We saw the same thing from @AP.
Explosive claim in the headline: “used as ‘bait’” (from the school, no less)
Reality: six paragraphs down, father abandoned child.
Do you remember, all of four weeks ago, when democracy was imperiled by CBS News, under new management, delaying a 60 Minutes segment about a prison in El Salvador?
The segment aired last weekend.
Democracy survived. The takes haven’t.
Just look. Screenshots ⤵️
I usually start with the media but I’ve gotta flip that here, because the dumbest voices came from the halls of Congress.
@ChrisMurphyCT, as someone “warning about democracy’s potential disintegration” (his words) called it proof that the media has been “coopted by the regime.”
For @SenMarkey, delaying a segment was “what government censorship looks like.”
With an ambitious new health care plan proposed by the Trump administration, you should read some of the recent pieces on the subject at @commonplc. Quick 🧵👇
And out this week is @Chris_Griz on why market concentration looms over the health care industry, undercutting more a more hands-off approach: commonplace.org/p/chris-griswo…
For a real and much-needed alternative to Obamacare, dive into @ChrisEmper’s explanation of community health centers, and why they could unlock better outcomes for patients: commonplace.org/p/chris-emper-…
With the news that Walz’s reelection campaign won’t survive the spiraling child care center fraud scandal in his state, I wanted to reup some of the worst legacy media efforts to put lipstick on this particular pig.
Follow along: ⤵️
I have to start with @nytimes, who seemed positively incensed that a video from @nickshirleyy caught fire, accusing him of being “in search of politically charged footage,” while burying whether there were any kids at these child care centers in the first place.
This from the same @nytimes who a few weeks ago wrote an extensive piece about “how fraud swamped Minnesota’s social services system on Tim Walz’s watch.”
The legacy media didn’t miss the Minnesota Somalian fraud story.
They actively dismissed it as made up, racist, or xenophobic.
Before the stories are quietly edited, I’ve got screenshots. ⤵️
I can’t believe this is real, but @AP basically did the Somalians-founding-America meme as a straight reported piece on how beneficial the community has been in Minnesota.
“Minnesota Somalis are as Minnesotan as tater-tot hotdish,” @CNN (Dec 7)