Politics
In all that FBI surveillance, no one ever came up with anything to pin on Trump
Everything The FBI Knows Today About Trump/Russia They Knew In 2016


In a post on 23 May, we looked at the 9 days in January of 2017 when the Obama administration became the deep state. That post showed who was involved in using federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies against the incoming Trump administration.
This post, emphasizes a single point, one whose import requires a stand-alone focus to absorb. It is just this: in 2016, the FBI already knew everything it was going to know. From the means of intelligence available to it, they knew whether Trump and his closest connections had nefarious or even just questionable links to Russians or people connected with Russians.
There is a tendency to imagine that an ongoing “investigation,” such as Robert Mueller’s in the present day, must be uncovering new information about links to Russians. People have a mental idea, likewise, that something like the Carter Page FISA surveillance, which was authorized in October 2016, allowed the FBI to start looking at things that happened in October 2016.
Perhaps, our minds suppose, the FBI could then reconstruct by other methods things that happened before October 2016 – while continuing to monitor what was going on with Mr. Page after October 2016. However, we think of things as unfolding at the time we find out about them, or of insight being gained on or after, the dates when we know formal decisions were made.
In the age of big data, our thinking is wrong.
I’ve made this point many times before, but always as part of a more extensive post (e.g., most recently, here). The issue probably gets lost in the weeds that way, when it needs instead to be always in the foreground of our thinking.
We don’t even need a lot of detailed information to recognize how much the FBI knew by the end of 2016. We only need three data points about the surveillance.
The Russian Focus
Opinion
Biden Bailed Out by Germany as 78,000 Pounds of Formula Arrives
The administration has been abysmal in addressing the crisis.


Everywhere we look in America today, something is amiss. This is not the well-oiled machine of yore, and in such an astounding way that the stagnation could only have come from the top.
And yes, the Biden administration’s reluctance to lead has been a rather apparent issue from the get-go. (Heck, it didn’t even look like Biden even wanted to run for President, let alone be the President).
Even now, as an astonishing baby formula shortage affects our nation’s parents, it took help from Germany to get anything done.
A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis, the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children.
President Joe Biden authorized the use of Air Force planes for the effort, dubbed “Operation Fly Formula,” because no commercial flights were available.
The formula weighed 78,000 pounds (35,380 kilograms), White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew from South Korea to Japan.
The administration tried to spin this into a “win”.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Indianapolis to greet the arrival of the first shipment.
The flights are intended to provide “some incremental relief in the coming days” as the government works on a more lasting response to the shortage, Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Sunday.
Deese told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Sunday’s flight brought 15% of the specialty medical grade formula needed in the U.S., and because of various actions by the government, people should see “more formula in stores starting as early as this week.”
There is still a good possibility that the American manufacturers who’ve fallen behind won’t be getting back up to speed for several weeks still, which means Germany may be called on for another drop sooner rather than later.
Everywhere we look in America today, something is amiss. This is not the well-oiled machine of yore, and in such an astounding way that the stagnation could only have come from the top. And yes, the Biden administration’s reluctance to lead has been a rather apparent issue from the get-go. (Heck, it didn’t even look like Biden even wanted to run for President, let alone be the President). Even now, as an astonishing baby formula shortage affects our nation’s parents, it took help from Germany to get anything done. A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis, the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children. President Joe Biden authorized the use of Air Force planes for the effort, dubbed “Operation Fly Formula,” because no commercial flights were available. The formula weighed 78,000 pounds (35,380 kilograms), White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew from South Korea to Japan. The administration tried to spin this into a “win”. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Indianapolis to greet the arrival of the first shipment. The flights are intended to provide “some incremental relief in the coming days” as the government works on a more lasting response to the shortage, Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Sunday. Deese told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Sunday’s flight brought 15% of the specialty medical grade formula needed in the U.S., and because of various actions by the government, people should see “more formula in stores starting as early as this week.” There is still a good possibility that the American manufacturers who’ve fallen behind won’t be getting…
Opinion
Trouble Coming as Global Food Shortage Looms Just Weeks Away
Now this is getting a little scary…


The Russian invasion of Ukraine may look small on television, as it bellows away thousands of miles to our east, shown to us in soundbites and tidbits and tweets. But for those living within that daily nightmare, the trouble is real and it is heavy.
Soon, however, the world at large will begin to feel the reverberations of this illegal and immoral invasion, as we begin to find ourselves hungrier and hungrier.
A food supply expert warns that the world faces a global crisis in just 10 weeks, echoing a warning from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflower and more. A lot of things,” Zelenskyy said Saturday. “There will be a crisis in the world. The second crisis after the energy one, which was provoked by Russia.”
“Now it will create a food crisis if we do not unblock the routes for Ukraine, do not help the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, which need these food products,” he added.
Just how bad could it get?
Zelenskyy said that if Ukraine does not regain control of the contested southern ports, the world will face a difficult situation: The country produces a substantial amount of the global food supply, including between 25% and 30% of the world’s grain supply along with Russia.
According to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Ukraine also accounts for 9.29% of the world’s corn supply.
One expert had a chilling warning about the issue, labeling it as potentially “seismic”.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine may look small on television, as it bellows away thousands of miles to our east, shown to us in soundbites and tidbits and tweets. But for those living within that daily nightmare, the trouble is real and it is heavy. Soon, however, the world at large will begin to feel the reverberations of this illegal and immoral invasion, as we begin to find ourselves hungrier and hungrier. A food supply expert warns that the world faces a global crisis in just 10 weeks, echoing a warning from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflower and more. A lot of things,” Zelenskyy said Saturday. “There will be a crisis in the world. The second crisis after the energy one, which was provoked by Russia.” “Now it will create a food crisis if we do not unblock the routes for Ukraine, do not help the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, which need these food products,” he added. Just how bad could it get? Zelenskyy said that if Ukraine does not regain control of the contested southern ports, the world will face a difficult situation: The country produces a substantial amount of the global food supply, including between 25% and 30% of the world’s grain supply along with Russia. According to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Ukraine also accounts for 9.29% of the world’s corn supply. One expert had a chilling warning about the issue, labeling it as potentially “seismic”.
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