Bill Barr - THE KRAKEN UNLEASHED!!!

[Valcazar]

I'm being funny with the title (inspired by this and similar) but Trump giving Barr free reign to declassify anything he wants that he feels is relevant to surveillance activities during the 2016 election is a big deal. Not only are we going to get selectively edited bullshit to support the conspiracy theory and to target political opponents, I think this is going to mess up relations with allied intelligence agencies.

Does Canada continue to share intelligence info if any pretense that the US won't burn sources to get political advantage goes away? Does anyone in the 5 Eyes? (I don't think Barr will go out of his way to burn intelligence sources, but I don't see him making much effort to protect them, either.)

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Around the time the Clash Of The Titans remake came out, during one time of making the sex I was able to squeeze in one timely reference of "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!" She laughed. (Till this day, it's impossible for me to watch that 1.5 seconds and not laugh).

But seriously, until the country comes to its senses, nothing surprises me anymore. Just recently, McConnell audibly said he'll gladly fill a Supreme Court vacancy should one become available in the election year that is 2020-- and evinced zero shame in that utterance. When you have Republicans continually running roughshod over the rules for pure advantage and self-interest boldly in the open, Barr cherrypicking documents to declassify should be of no surprise to anyone.

After Trump gave classified Israeli info to the Russians, I'm sure most allies are already wary of the sort of intelligence they share with us. That the President has the right to declassify whatever he chooses elides the fact that recklessly declassifying an ally's intelligence will obviously damage the intelligence-sharing relationship in some way. (Netanyahu would be an exception to that assumption because he'd easily go down on Trump to save himself)

 

[Valcazar]

Around the time the Clash Of The Titans remake came out, during one time of making the sex I was able to squeeze in one timely reference of "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!" She laughed. (Till this day, it's impossible for me to watch that 1.5 seconds and not laugh).

HA!

And yes, it is a huge problem. McConnell is completely cynical, I don't think anyone is surprised that his reasons for the Garland thing were bullshit. An, of course, he has also said that he will prevent Trump from being indicted by the Senate no matter what evidence shows up. It's raw power plays at this point. They are just going to keep breaking the law because they figure there is no way to enforce. I do think people were already being more careful, but I think this adds an extra layer. Before they were probably just worried about Trump. Barr is a much savvier operator who thinks beyond himself an what other people have given him as orders.

(As for Netanyahu, hopefully he just torpedoed himself and will no longer be a factor after September.)