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[Reelya]

They could be, but there's a big difference between them and say Heartland, who published tons of articles disputing whether tobacco causes cancer, and are directly funded by the tobacco industry, who also have politicians and media outlets in their pocket, who can then cite stuff from Heartland as "objective" research. Heartland and co purely exist and get funding because they are a way for the paid tobacco industry sycophants to quote tobacco-friendly propaganda one step removed from just quoting a Philip Morris press release.

Barna probably actually believe in the religion they're pushing, whereas it's laughable to think that Heartland are true "tobacco is safe" believers. Barna publish Christian material and publish polls and surveys related to Christianity. They are a service provider for churches and christian-friendly media. But there's a huge divide between that and the raw cynicism inherent in the big Think Tanks. The big difference here is that Heartland exists to obfuscate who'd behind the message you're hearing, whereas there's no obfuscation involved with Barna. They're not trying to trick you into ingesting poison because they're getting kickbacks from the poison merchants.

[SalmonGod]

New York's attempts to cancel the presidential primary are blocked by a court ruling after Andrew Yang files a lawsuit over the matter.  The Democrats are now appealing that ruling.  Meanwhile, other primary elections are still taking place on the same day, with expanded absentee ballot capacity.  So it has absolutely nothing to do with public health.  Yet they're willing to engage in an extended court battle over the matter.

[Bumber]

Went bankrupt and had to sell his home after making $495,000 from his Turkey dealings.

Apparently, according to this: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/report-michael-flynn-owes-around-usd5-million-in-legal-fees.html

A $1 million townhouse, several lawyers, forfeitures.....he's not the "little guy" getting beat up on by the government.

And yet he still went bankrupt. Not sure what being the "little guy" has anything to do with it. Taking money from Turkey isn't what they charged him with. Do you think they wouldn't/don't do this type of thing to the "little guy"?

I also forgot to mention that somebody (Lisa Page, at the direction of Peter Strzok?) altered Flynn's 302 documents. Before the edit, Flynn's testimony had been that he didn't remember if he had spoken to the Russian ambassador (regarding a UN vote) or not. The final draft of the 302 states that Flynn denied it.

[Quarque]

From what I've heard of the situation:

• The FBI wiretapped Flynn, but didn't find anything sufficiently incriminating.
• Potential violation of the Logan Act is mentioned, but that's never been used in a prosecution and is of dubious constitutionality. This was after Trump was elected anyways, and Flynn was transitioning in as National Security Advisor, which would involve establishing contact with the foreign ambassadors.
• The FBI's Flynn file was supposed to have been closed due to lack of evidence, but had remained open.
• This information is withheld from Flynn's legal team and the Judge.
• One of the FBI's internal messages boasted how they had been "saved by their own incompetence" in this matter.
• The FBI sent some agents to talk to Flynn without White House approval.
• James Comey said on TV that he probably wouldn't have gotten away with this under Bush or Obama.
• Andrew McCabe told Flynn the quickest way to get through the interview was to not involve the White House Council or any lawyers. They tried to make it seem like a relaxed meeting where they were just gathering information.
• The FBI agents who interviewed Flynn noted that Flynn didn't appear to be knowingly lying to them. This information is withheld from Flynn's legal team and the Judge.
• Special Council prosecutors use Flynn wiretap transcripts verus White House interview and accuse him of false statements to FBI agents regarding:
• Contact with Russian ambassador (entirely legal as incoming National Security Advisor) and
• not disclosing his lobbying for Turkey (generally you'd plea bargain for the FARA violation and pay a fine, as prosecutors would have to prove a willful violation.)
• Prosecution wants him to take a plea deal and tell them about contact between the Trump campaign and Russia.
• Flynn claims he doesn't know anything and won't give false testimony.
• Flynn goes bankrupt from legal fees and has to sell his house.
• Prosection tells Flynn to sign plea deal admitting to lying to FBI agents, or they'll prosecute Flynn's son (who has just become a father) for possible Trump-Russia involvement. Flynn signs plea deal.

It's not surprising to me that the case was dismissed when they started with insufficient evidence and withheld exculpatory evidence from the Judge.

Can you list your sources for these statements?

[Doomblade187]

I also forgot to mention that somebody (Lisa Page, at the direction of Peter Strzok?) altered Flynn's 302 documents. Before the edit, Flynn's testimony had been that he didn't remember if he had spoken to the Russian ambassador (regarding a UN vote) or not. The final draft of the 302 states that Flynn denied it.

I am more interested in a source for this.

[RazielReaver]

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1259293255692361730

[Bumber]

I'll try to post some reliable sources soon. Spent a bunch of time reading through legal documents and didn't find much. The government's motion to dismiss filing probably has a bunch of relevant information, so I'll be reading through that later.

In the meanwhile, here's some stuff on CrowdStrike's investigation of Her Emails™ being hacked by the Russians and given to Wikileaks (click "show thread" to see all relevant posts.) It seems they had no direct evidence that Russia was the one that stole the emails. Maybe the FBI should have examined the DNC servers themselves instead of relying entirely on a third party? 🤔

[hector13]

What relevance do Her Emails have to anything?

[Bumber]

What relevance do Her Emails have to anything?

They're tangential enough to DNC email leaks to meme about.¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[sluissa]

That's fair. All Trump really has going for him anymore are the memes

https://mobile.twitter.com/politicsjoe_uk/status/1258698158395150337

[Iduno]

That's fair. All Trump really has going for him anymore are the memes

And the backing of both political parties.

[PTTG??]

It remains as I said before; if the Democrats don't win this, then they will have lost all credibility as a political party.

Seeing as they are running an ancient sex offender, I think that by 2024, the only party that's going to be running against the Republicans might be the Whigs.

[Iduno]

It remains as I said before; if the Democrats don't win this, then they will have lost all credibility as a political party.

Seeing as they are running an ancient sex offender, I think that by 2024, the only party that's going to be running against the Republicans might be the Whigs.

An ancient sex offender, who mentioned wanting a republican running mate, most likely thinking of his noted friend Strom Thurman.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Bumber]

Okay, Finally! Here are sources for the Flynn stuff:

Government's Motion to Dismiss filing:
      Page 2-4, 13: No derogatory information to justify keeping Flynn file open.
      Page 3-5, 16: File was supposed to be closed, but wasn't.
            "our utter incompetence actually helps us"
            FBI violated predication threshold, which is investigative overreach.
      Page 4, 14: Flynn was already incoming National Security Advisor at time of Russian ambassador call. Calls to ambassador were appropriate, no FARA violation.
      Page 5, 15: FBI didn't open an investigation based on Logan Act.
      Page 6-7, 15-16: Comey didn't notify WH Council of Flynn interview, ignoring direction of acting AG Sally Yates.
            Gives inconsistent reasoning on why he can't notify WH.
            Doesn't notify Yates until his agents are already en route to interview Flynn.
      Page 8-9, 13, 17: Flynn already knew they had a transcript. Agents didn't think he was lying. The false statement doesn't qualify as a material lie.
      Page 8, 16: Agents discouraged Flynn from seeking legal counsel.
      Page 9: Flynn's actual statement was that he wasn't sure, not a denial.

McCabe memo on how he discouraged Flynn from seeking legal counsel.
FBI notes on how to avoid reading Flynn his rights and letting him know they're doing a formal interview.

An article detailing that:
      302s are supposed to be submitted in 5 working days, not 3 weeks.
      There's a text from Strzok saying he's heavily editing the 302, trying not to "completely re-write" it.
      302s are not supposed to be edited by agents not present at the interview, because they're notes about what was seen and heard there.

Twitter thread detailing the withholding of evidence.
      Still searching for more withheld evidence.
Twitter thread detailing how there was no derogatory info, but the file remained open.
The secret deal not to prosecute Flynn's son if Flynn pleas guilty.
Twitter thread on altered 302s.

Comey bragging in interview that he wouldn't have gotten away with it under Bush or Obama administrations.

[Ametsala]

Apparently, Mexicans are getting kind of upset about the US' handling of Covid.

Maybe they'll finally pay for Donald's border wall, just like Don promised, and help him get re-elected.

Although, if Mexicans built a wall on their side, Don might get upset and go Reagan on them.