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And nothing has changed!

Ba-dum-CRASH!

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In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s role in the 2016 campaign and President Donald Trump’s campaign’s potential ties to Russia was “not a fishing expedition.”

“If he finds evidence of a crime that is within the scope of what Director Mueller and I have agreed is the appropriate scope of this investigation, then he can,” Rosenstein said. “If it’s something outside that scope he needs to come to the acting attorney general, at this time me, for permission to expand his investigation.”

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Pretty sure I saw another quote of him today saying that Mueller could investigate any crime he uncovered.

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Two questions…

  1. Does the above satisfy the angry right’s definition of a Deep State, and
  2. Is that, partisanship aside, a problem for our democracy?
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I mean, one could easily argue that any move that weakens Trump or speeds his removal from office is fundamentally and unquestionably good for our democracy.

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The Founding Fathers would argue that the Electoral College should have stopped him before he ever took office, votes be damned.

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Half of the founding fathers would have challenged him to a lethal duel or just had him tarred and feathered and cast out of town… Maybe more than half.

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I dunno, a military junta might do that.

I think that’s one of the dangers of a demagogue – removing him can itself damage the existing systems of government. (See: Caesar, J.)

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image

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  1. No, the Right has defined the “Deep State” in such a paranoid fantasy way that it no longer has it’s original meaning. The original meaning was a reference the professional standards, sense of mission, and behavioral norms that get established in a large system like government, especially a system that has the at least ostensible purpose of making things better. However, the Right has turned it into a paranoid construct based on ISIS-sympathizing, America-hating, socialist-elitism, and is the minds of the Right, synonymous with “the Swamp.” The original idea of using the term “Deep State” was the idea that institutions have memories and breaking norms has consequences. But the right put that through the alternate reality lens and made it something else.

  2. In the original meaning, no, as long it doesn’t go too far and actually prevent Constitutional government from functioning. If the “Deep State” was in fact the paranoid creation of the Right’s fevered imagination, then it would be a threat to democracy. However, as it is now, the Right’s delusional approach to reality, including Trump’s “alternate facts”, are a much greater threat to democracy.

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Raw Story: Russian bots are starting to attack the Republican Party

Russian-linked bots and trolls have caused a surge in use of the hashtag #ResignPaulRyan on Twitter over the last 48 hours, just as the Republican speaker of the House was returning to his hometown of Wisconsin for a month-long respite from Washington, D.C.

The unusual boost in Russian bots targeting a Republican lawmaker was first observed by the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance For Securing Democracy, created after the 2016 presidential election to “defend against, deter, and raise the costs on Russian and other state actors’ efforts to undermine democracy and democratic institutions.”

A monitoring dashboard established by the Alliance noted the uptick Monday morning. It coincided with surges in the use of other hashtags by Russian bots, including #TrumpTV, #Magnitsky, #Fake and #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion.

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I guess they have figured out the order of presidential succession as well.

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Ok, I seriously must not understand how to use that Hamilton 68 site, because people keep referencing stuff on it, which I cannot see.

For instance… I don’t see anything on the trending hashtags about paul ryan, on the dashboard.

Is there some other more in-depth view that you can go to? I’m not seeing any way to click through to the data or anything.

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I think the dashboard is all we currently have direct access to. I’m thinking they have additional data that they are still processing and make it available on request. Another overview/breakdown they posted yesterday.

Meanwhile:

WASHINGTON – President Trump has publicly called the widening federal investigation into Russia’s election meddling a “witch hunt.” But through his lawyer, Trump has sent private messages of “appreciation” to special counsel Robert Mueller.

"He appreciates what Bob Mueller is doing,’’ Trump’s chief counsel John Dowd told USA TODAY in an interview Tuesday. "He asked me to share that with him and that’s what I’ve done.’’

Trump’s legal team has been in contact with Mueller’s office, and Dowd says he has passed along the president’s messages expressing “appreciation and greetings’’ to the special counsel.

“The president has sent messages back and forth,’’ Dowd said, declining to elaborate further.

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I don’t get it then. Where are folks getting this info about the hashtags like retire Ryan? Cause that isn’t in the list on the dashboard.

And no one on Trump’s legal team realizes that this is improper?

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Threats haven’t worked, so let’s try buttering him up. That’ll win his friendship and he’ll make the bad juju go away.

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Mr. Fed’s guide to Grand Juries, Part 1

FORMATION

So how are federal grand juries formed? I saw a bunch of headlines that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had impaneled a federal grand jury to investigate President Trump.

Those headlines are almost certainly misleading.

Here’s how it works. The Unites States’ federal court system is divided into 94 districts. Some states have multiple districts — here in California there are four. Some states have only one, and the District of Columbia has some. Each district has its own United States District Court and its own United States Attorney. Each district has its own grand juries.

In the early days of America, courts convened federal grand juries when needed. But now each district has a grand jury operating all the time, and most district have multiple grand juries. Federal grand juries tend to meet anywhere from once a week to once a month, so in big districts you’ll have at least one grand jury operating every day of the week.

And more good info.

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Two US congressional staffers who travelled to London in July and tried to contact former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele were sent by a longstanding aide to Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House intelligence committee and a close ally of the White House.

The trip has brought back to the surface a continuing struggle for control of the committee’s investigation into Moscow’s role in the 2016 US election. The reliability of a dossier compiled by Steele, containing explosive allegations of extensive secret collusion between Trump and the Kremlin, is a key part of that investigation.

The two staffers turned up unannounced at Steele’s lawyers’ offices while the former MI6 officer was in the building, according to a report by Politico on Friday. But the committee’s leading Democrat, Adam Schiff, said on Sunday neither he nor his Republican counterpart had been informed about the staffers’ London trip.

A congressional official insisted, however, that the staffers were in London on official committee business. He said they had been told to make contact with Steele’s lawyers, rather than Steele himself.

“It was an intelligence committee trip although going to meet with the lawyer was not the sole purpose of the trip. They were also there on other committee business,” the official said, but he added he could not describe what else the committee staffers were doing in London.

“Them being sent to meet with the lawyers was at the behest of the committee staff director,” the official added, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject.

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But I’m sure Mueller is the corrupt one. Not Trump.