Lordy, I hope there are tapes!

From the Op-Ed page of the TIMES of SAN DIEGO:

(Written by Colleen O’Connor, native San Diegan and a retired college professor)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein just called for a “word for word” transcript of the explosive whistleblower complaint against President Trump that led to the House impeachment inquiry.

As the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Feinstein believes that an “official word-for-word transcript of the call” between Trump and the President of the Ukraine was produced.

And she also doubts the accuracy of Trump’s report of the call.

A verbatim transcript (without the many ellipses found in the Trump version) is probably hidden inside the U.S. intelligence community’s “code-only,” restricted-access computer system.

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Sealing Our Fate?

Former ExxonMobil CEO and comic book villain Rex Tillerson has been confirmed as Secretary of State.

From CNN:

The Senate has approved former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the next secretary of state, filling one more slot on President Donald Trump’s national security team despite questions about his approach to Russia and state sponsors of terror, such as Iran.

To commemorate the event, I made a brand new State Department seal that better reflects their new boss’s point of view.

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He’s not sleeping, he’s just resting his brain

From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:

The relatively quick arrest in the botched May 1 Times Square bombing temporarily quieted the political sparring over national security policies.

But the cease-fire has now ended. Missouri Sen. Kit Bond, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, says he doesn’t yet buy the Obama administration’s claim that the alleged bomber, Faisal Shahzad, was trained, directed and likely financed by Pakistani Taliban militants.

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Now how do we get rid of Clunkers in the Senate?

From The Greenville News:

While the suddenly cash-strapped cash-for-clunkers program has been a big hit with car dealers and car buyers, it’s not popular with U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint.

“I just think this is a great example of the stupidity that’s coming out of Washington right now,” DeMint said on “Fox News Sunday.”

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Gunnin’ for Trouble

From The Washington Post:

Senate Democrats are scrambling to produce 40 votes — or a mere two-thirds of their caucus — to defeat a GOP-led push to override state gun laws.

Republicans have twice this year scored significant pro-gun victories with substantial moderate Democratic support. The minority party lured away a whopping 27 swing-state Democrats to support looser rules on guns in national parks. And a similar coalition has stalled the District of Columbia’s quest for House voting representation, by adding language to the Senate version to ease D.C. firearm restrictions.

The latest measure, offered by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), has far greater reach. Offered today as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, it would allow individuals to carry concealed firearms across state lines if they “have a valid permit or if, under their state of residence, they are entitled to do so,” Thune explained in a statement.

The Rethugs are all about states’ rights, aren’t they?

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Dirty Tricks from Dirty Dick

From THE SCOTSMAN:

ALLEGATIONS that former US vice-president Dick Cheney ran a secret “black ops” unit inside the CIA for eight years without informing Congress have increased pressure on the White House for a full investigation of alleged abuses of power by the Bush administration.

The unit was so secret that even the former CIA director George Tenet did not control its activities, according to reports yesterday.

You know what that means, kids! It’s time to play…

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Bye Bye Bybee

Jay Bybee has been a federal judge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in  Las Vegas for 6 years.  He was little noticed until the release of a memo written by Bybee when he was head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.  The memo gave protection to what the Bush administration called harsh interrogation and what others call torture.  Liberal groups have called for Bybee’s impeachment.

The techniques excused by Bybee included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, beatings, and confinement in small boxes. In 2002, Bybee advised the Central Intelligence Agendy that they could use the tactics against Abu Zubaydah, a leader of al-Qaida.  Bybee said that the techniques were not torture, because there was “no intent to cause severe pain or suffering.”

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DiFi: “You don’t write, you don’t call…”

From The Washington Post:

President-elect Barack Obama said yesterday that he has selected a “top-notch intelligence team” that would provide the “unvarnished” information his administration needs, rather than “what they think the president wants to hear.”

…snip…

On Capitol Hill, Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were still stewing over Obama not consulting them on the choice before it was leaked Monday and continued to question Panetta’s intelligence experience. Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. acknowledged that the transition team had made a “mistake” in not consulting or even notifying congressional leaders, and Obama telephoned committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her predecessor, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), yesterday to apologize.

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