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The Modified FISA-702 Reauthorization Bill (HR 6611) Has Passed the House – The Changes Have Expanded Federal Surveillance of Americans

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner is celebrating the passage of HR 6611, the 2023 FISA reauthorization bill.

Chairman Turner would have granted a clean FISA renewal, he’s that kind of Republican; however, several Republicans demanded changes to the FISA-702 authorities that capture the data of American citizens without a warrant.  Thus, the HPSCI modified the authorities within HR 6611, but they made it worse.

(Via CDT) – Tucked away near the end of the bill the House Intelligence Committee reported on December 7 (H.R. 6611, the “HPSCI bill”) is a provision that would dramatically expand surveillance under the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA 702”), which sunsets on December 31 unless reauthorized. Section 504 of the bill, innocuously captioned “Definition of Electronic Communications Service Provider,” would expand the types of entities that can be compelled to disclose internet communications whether in storage or in transit.

FISA 702 permits the U.S. government to compel communication service providers to disclose for foreign intelligence purposes the communications of persons reasonably believed to be non-U.S. persons abroad. No warrant is required; a belief that the communications relate to U.S. foreign affairs or national security is sufficient.  Under current FISA 702, only entities that provide communication services like email, calls, and text messaging can be compelled to disclose these communications. 

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A Nefarious Intent – FISA 702 Authorization Will Be Extended Through April 19th Inside Bipartisan NDAA Agreement

Inside the construct of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress has agreed to extend the current FISA-702 authorization through April 19. 2024.  Why April 19th?  I believe, based on DOJ/FBI history, there is a very nefarious intent.  I’ll explain.

First the report of the FISA-702 extension.

WASHINGTON – Congress is preparing to extend its deadline for untangling a complicated fight over warrantless government surveillance – which will mean yet another headache for House GOP leaders.

Top lawmakers are attaching a short-term extension of the government wiretapping power known as Section 702 to a sweeping defense policy bill, according to seven aides and lawmakers familiar with the text of the bill.

The extension would give Congress until April 19 to figure out how to reauthorize Section 702, named for its specific section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The provision is meant to target foreigners abroad but has long stoked controversy for its ability to sweep in Americans.

Whether to attach a surveillance powers extension was one of the final sticking points on the defense bill, whose text is now finalized and expected to be released later Wednesday. Both the House and Senate still need to pass the defense bill, and there is bipartisan backlash already brewing over the decision to attach a surveillance extension.

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Neil Oliver – The Season of Santa’s Surveillance

Against the revelation that DOJ officials gathered the Trump Twitter hit list of wrong thinking Americans, including all the metadata therein, this monologue by Neil Oliver -a good friend of the Treehouse- is timely and prescient in its forethought.

Discussing how the new legislative effort in Ireland is intended to conduct surveillance on the Emerald Isle nationalists, ie dissident voices within the Irish population considered adverse to the interests of the state, Neil Oliver outlines how the communication freedom of most Irish citizens is now dispatched.  Irish citizens are now under full government surveillance for any speech that might be considered dangerous.

Populations of various countries already experienced the testing ground of government control in the recent COVID-19 vaccination process.  Regulated freedom was contingent upon compliance with an untested vaccine, so it should not be a surprise to see the next evolution of control – the control over speech and communication.

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13 years ago, people on these pages did not quite fathom what I was implying with the sharing of the image below.  However, if you have watched the Oliver monologue, and you are one of the non-pretending wolverines who find ways to live amid the surveillance with a productive free purpose, just like a Rorschach test, the imagery might take on a new perspective.

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Understanding the Institutional Protection Racket Via Congress, Main Justice DOJ, FBI and FISA Court

Originally outlined in 2021

Many people are now becoming aware of the severity of self-serving corruption in/around the institutions that frame our government.  Considering that Sundance has a target on his back; and considering that it is only a matter of time before that targeting gets ugly; let me remind everyone of just how severe the issues are confronting our nation.

Having met with many of the top-level key DC players (including Durham inc) in the “Spygate” investigation/review or (__fill in_ the blank_with whatever name you need), here’s the ugly truth.  The staff of the legislative bodies have/had no intent to actually facilitate any sunlight upon the FISA, DOJ-FBI corruption that took place over three years.

How do I know that?

Well, first having sat in a room with the legislative staff, top people who actually write the briefs and inform both congressional representatives on House Committees and Senate Committees, including the chiefs-of-staff for the chairs, it was clear they did not even know the information from within their own research when spread over time.  Accepting this reality leads one to a natural conclusion… they don’t know, because they choose not to know… & they choose not to know, because everything is a pantomime for public display.

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Could Be Interesting – Tucker Carlson Visits Julian Assange?

For a brief moment I will allow myself to imagine that Tucker Carlson’s research team is aware of the information we have previously provided.  If so, an interview with Julian Assange could be exceptionally interesting.

Tucker posts on Twitter that he was visiting with Julian Assange today:

[Source Link]

A WALK IN THE VERY DEEP WEEDS….

The Weissmann/Mueller report contains claims that Russia hacked the DNC servers as the central element to the Russia interference narrative in the U.S. election.  This DNC hack claim is the fulcrum issue structurally underpinning the Russian election interference narrative pushed by the Weissmann and Muller Special Counsel.  However, this essential claim is directly disputed by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as outlined during a Dana Rohrabacher interview and by Julian Assange’s own on-the-record statements.

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Donald Trump Is Suing Christopher Steele

News breaking from The Daily Mail reflects that President Donald Trump has filed a civil action against Orbis Business Intelligence and its founder, Christopher Steele. You will likely remember that Chris Steele wrote the infamous “Steele Dossier” that became the underpinning of the Carter Page FISA application, replacing the legally required Woods file.

Interestingly, Trump appears to be using the British court system, and laws around libel actions that are much more beneficial to the plaintiff in the U.K. There is an initial 2-day court hearing scheduled for October 16th.

(Via Daily Mail) Donald Trump is suing a former MI6 officer and the intelligence consultancy he founded, High Court records show.

The former US president is bringing a data protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence and its founder Christopher Steele, who previously ran the Secret Intelligence Service’s Russia desk.

According to a court order published on Thursday, a two-day hearing in Mr Trump’s legal action is set to start on October 16, which is thought to be the first hearing in the claim. (more)

The layers of possibility within this lawsuit are actually much more remarkable than first review might consider.

Remember, as discovered during the Durham probe, GCHQ refused to assist the CIA and FBI in their construct of the fabricated theory about Trump-Russia.  Additionally, Steele has attempted to distance himself from the ‘dossier’ he created, implying his role was simply to affirm or verify information fed to him from Fusion GPS via Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr.

Plausibly, Steele could claim he simply provided information, material that was false, to Fusion GPS, not knowing what would come of it.  However, in order to take that position, he would need to swear and attest to that set of facts.  That opens questions about conversations between Steele and Glenn Simpson/Nellie Ohr about his material representations – as well as conversations between Steele and the DOJ/FBI about the same.   Names and specifics would have to be outlined in order to escape the libel.

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DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Appoints Primary Trump-Russia Conspiracy Agents as “Expert Group” to Identify Domestic Terrorism and Disinformation

If you put the individual names within this group in the search bar, you will discover their connection.  Most of them were the primary background operatives who pushed the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy in ’16, ’17, ’18 and ’19.

With names like James Clapper (DNI), John Brennan (CIA), Tashina Gauhar (DOJ-NSD), David Kris (DOJ-NSD, FISA), Paul Kolbe (CIA) and Benjamin Wittes (Lawfare), what you will find is that this specific group are functionaries of the corrupt intelligence apparatus that framed the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense.  This is the team now that will define for DHS how to focus their future targeting efforts.

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) Ken Wainstein, and Counterterrorism Coordinator Nicholas Rasmussen announced the establishment of the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group (Experts Group). The group is comprised of private sector experts who will provide their unique perspectives on the federal government’s intelligence enterprise to DHS’s I&A and the Office of the Counterterrorism Coordinator.

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Secretaries of Several States Begin Legal Review to Determine if They Can Disqualify President Trump from 2024 Ballot

Consider this question carefully: “What possible stakes could be so high the DC UniParty would be willing to prove, beyond any doubt, that the ability of Americans to vote their way out of any problem no longer exists?

This is the question which should underpin the stories you are hearing and reading about various secretaries of state beginning to structure election rules to disqualify President Trump from ballot access.

Why are state governments willing to prove to Americans that voting will not be the method to retain a constitutional republic?

My elevator encapsulated short answer…. This is the fundamental change, Barack Obama promised to deliver.

(Via NBC) – Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that his office is figuring out how to handle potential complaints over whether former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from appearing on the 2024 ballot.

The issue centers on the 14th Amendment, which prohibits people who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised the theory at last week’s GOP presidential debate that Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, might disqualify him on those grounds — a theory that has gained traction among some legal scholars, though others discount the possibility.

Now, the people running state elections are trying to figure out what to do if people bring legal challenges against Trump.

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Here We Go Again – CNN Promotes US Intel Report of Russian Disinformation

Today is a good time to remind everyone that CNN represents the public relations arm of the U.S State Department.

Two overlays: first, most non-U.S. government entities regard CNN as the state run media for the U.S. State Department, because it is. Second, the U.S. State Dept is the umbrella organization for most global CIA operations. In essence, the intel community reports that surface from CNN are from the State Dept/CIA.

In this latest example, the unnamed U.S. intelligence officials are once again promoting the proactive narrative that Russian FSB services are responsible for manipulating smaller networks of U.S. social media accounts, resulting in a disinformation program that flows upwards into mainstream media.

I find it interesting that the State Dept/CIA would push this narrative immediately following the suspicious reports of Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in a plane crash.

Washington, CNN – Russian intelligence is operating a systematic program to launder pro-Kremlin propaganda through private relationships between Russian operatives and unwitting US and western targets, according to newly declassified US intelligence.

US intelligence agencies believe that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is attempting to influence public policy and public opinion in the West by directing Russian civilians to build relationships with influential US and Western individuals and then disseminate narratives that support Kremlin objectives, obscuring the FSB’s role through layers of ostensibly independent actors.

“These influence operations are designed to be deliberately small scale, the overall goal being US [and] Western persons presenting these ideas, seemingly organic,” a US official authorized to discuss the material told CNN. “The co-optee influence operations are built primarily on personal relationships … they build trust with them and then they can leverage that to covertly push the FSB’s agenda.” (read more)

Of course, none of the article citations bear any fruit when reviewed.  However, that’s really not the point of the publication.  The point of CNN pushing the narrative is to support a domestic narrative engineering operation that will later surface.

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The Most Ridiculous Lawfare Narrative Pushed by Special Counsel Jack Smith Portends the Weakness of the Mar-a-Lago Case

I did not think it would be possible for those who deploy Lawfare to ever exceed the scale of fakery around Witness #8, Rachel Jeantel.  However, there is an irony in this latest Lawfare deployment being pushed by Jonathan Karl and ABC news; because it was also ABC News, via Matt Gutman, who originally pushed the completely fabricated Trayvon Martin ‘ear witness’.

Before getting to the details of the construct, I must point out two issues.  First, this specific narrative, as pushed by a supposed leak from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution unit, just highlights the insane weakness of the Mar-a-Lago document case and how much they will rely on legal fraud and pretense to maintain it.  This is where Judge Cannon will hopefully play a major role.

Second, I must emphasize that Lawfare in its most obvious construct is not a legal approach per se’, it is the intentional manipulation of the legal system to create the optics around information that is intended to be used by media to influence public opinion.

Just like Rachel Jeantel was never any form of witness to the events around Travon Martin and George Zimmerman, so too is this latest deployment entirely fabricated – ABC News pushing both.

As the story is pushed by ABC News, again based on leaks from Special Counsel Jack Smith, supposedly former President Trump’s Chief of Staff has told prosecutors that he does not remember any effort by President Trump about a standing objective to declassify documents.

[…] “former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has told special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators that he could not recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying broad sets of classified materials before leaving the White House.” (see more)

The transparent fabrication of the story is crystal clear.  Whether ABC is playing a role of willful blind idiocy in their effort to support Jack Smith, or whether this is entirely fabricated by the news organization itself is unknown.  What is stunningly clear is that ABC is pushing a storyline that is entirely false, fake and fabricated.

Everyone -including every media outlet, pundit and journalist- knows that for four solid years President Trump intended to, tried to, and demanded the declassification of, tens of thousands of documents.  There are thousands of pundit hours and hundreds of articles written about the fight between President Trump and various agencies of government to declassify and release documents.  This is not a debatable issue.

Just type “declassify” or “declassification” into the search bar of CTH, and you will find hundreds of citations and examples of our discussion as this information and classification battle was waged.  In fact, the transparency of the ABC fraud is so clear, even Axios -while pushing another angle- would not stand with ABC in the specific framework of their lies.  As noted, “Axios has not yet verified ABC News’ reporting on Meadows.”

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