Something 99% of American voters do not understand.  Congress doesn’t actually write legislation. The last item of legislation written by congress was sometime around the mid 1990’s. Modern legislation is sub-contracted to a segment of operations in DC known as K-Street.  That’s where the lobbyists reside.

Lobbyists write the laws; congress sells the laws; lobbyists then pay congress commissions for passing their laws. That’s the modern legislative business in DC.

CTH often describes the system with the phrase: “There are Trillions at Stake.” The process of creating legislation is behind that phrase. DC politics is not quite based on the ideas that frame most voter’s reference points.

With people taking notice of DC politics for the first time; and with people not as familiar with the purpose of DC politics; perhaps it is valuable to provide clarity.

Most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a House or Senate representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past. There is not a single person in congress writing legislation or laws.

In modern politics not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.

Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works right now.

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Well this is an interesting development.  The goal of the lockdown to “flatten the curve” in Michigan has now morphed into eliminating a mysterious second-wave of the COVID-19 virus that no-one has actually identified.

The rules are now justified to prevent the appearance of a ghost virus.

With a mysterious and invisible new-phase of the virus to battle, the Michigan stay home lock-down can possibly be extended to infinity.

According to the Detroit Free Press: [Whitmer] said while coronavirus cases and deaths are clearly declining, “we are not out of the woods yet.”

“If we’re going to lower the chance of a second wave and continue to protect our neighbors and loved ones from the spread of this virus, we must continue to do our part by staying safer at home,” she said in a statement first reported by the Free Press. (read more)

See what Comrade Whitmer is doing there?  The objective that grants her unilateral control over the lives of all citizens, has morphed to “lowering the chance of a second wave” as the hot new justification legalizing her totalitarian dictates.  Slick move.

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Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard “Ric” Grenell announced today he is in the process of declassifying the transcripts of the calls between Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Within a twitter response by Grenell, part of the riddle behind the transcripts gets a little more clarity: “The IC doesn’t have all the transcripts/summaries…. it wasn’t our product.”

The implication here is the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) did not generate one of the transcripts; that evolved into an FBI equity, and was later used in their case against Lt. General Michael Flynn. The December 29, 2016, intercept was not exclusive to the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and the call summary became proprietary to the FBI; the agency exploiting the underlying content.

This makes sense and explains how the FBI was able to manipulate the framework of the call and keep the remaining U.S. intelligence system away from their internal plan.

There was more than one phone call and conversation between Flynn and Kislyak.  Some immediately after the election and in/around mid-December 2016.  Reports of those contacts and communications WERE in the U.S. IC network and those reports led to unmasking requests.  However, the specific December 29th communication was not an exclusive intercept of the U.S. intelligence community and therefore easier for the FBI to shape.

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A three panel DC Appeals Court Panel, Judge Henderson, Judge Wilkins and Judge Rao have ordered Michael Flynn’s Judge, Emett Sullivan, to respond to the defense petition for a writ of mandamus within ten days:

Quoting the U.S. vs Fokker ruling the panel is not responding directly to the Flynn petition with an immediate decision; instead they are requiring Judge Sullivan to explain his decision to engage with extra-party amicus actions despite the DOJ and Flynn defense agreement on the motion to dismiss.

The order can be viewed as a smart move by the appeals panel because Judge Sullivan has yet to rule on the original unopposed DOJ motion. In essence, Sullivan has never explained himself; and this approach will require Sullivan to put his proverbial cards on the table.  The DC panel has given Judge Sullivan ten days to respond.

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It is quite remarkable how quickly the senate can move on a confirmation vote when there is a heavy dose of self-preservation in play.   Only two days after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) voted to advance the nomination of John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the full senate takes up the nomination and ‘presto’… Ratcliffe is confirmed.  [Vote Tally Here] Huh, funny that.

Perhaps another way to look at it….  two days after the SSCI cried uncle in an attempt to rid themselves of the atomic sledgehammer of transparently perpetual sunlight known as Ric Grenell, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell rushed the quick dispatch.

Seriously, it’s a little unfair to cast a great man like John Ratcliffe as ‘less than’, because he truly is not less than anyone; however, boy howdy the deep state couldn’t get rid of their nemesis Richard “Ric” Genell quickly enough.

Mr. Grenell quietly brought more declassified sunlight upon the swamp than decades of prior transparency efforts; and he did it with a very deliberate flair, quite fun.

DNI John Ratcliffe will do an excellent job, and I seriously doubt this is the last we have seen of the Mr. Grenell.

FBI Director Grenell does have a nice ring to it.

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Promoting an economic reopening, President Trump travels to Michigan today and tours the Ford Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti. The president is expected to deliver remarks to the workers and audience at 3:20pm ET.

White House Livestream Links – Fox Business Livestream – RSBN Livestream

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For more than a year the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) led by Chairman Jerry Nadler has been seeking: (1) Mueller grand jury material; (2) a deposition by former White House counsel Don McGahn; and  (3) Trump financial/tax records.  Each of these issues have slowly worked their way to the Supreme Court.

Today, in the first step to take up the grand jury issue, the Supreme Court has placed a stay on a divided lower court ruling to grant the HJC access to Mueller’s grand jury material:

While the stay is only temporary, pending the DOJ requesting a writ of certiorari for the Supreme Court to take up the 6(e) grand jury issue, it is very likely the DOJ will make the request; and also likely the Supreme Court will take up the case.

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HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes appears for an interview with ¹Liz MacDonald to discuss his current House investigation and the latest declassification of the Susan Rice memo to file.

Nunes asks the basic question about the Rice memo: “why was it ever classified in the first place?”  The answer to that question points to current DOJ/FBI and intelligence officials.

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¹Watch Liz Mac closely now. A little over a week ago she began catching-on to the substantive story about FISA, NSA database abuses, and how Obama’s overall political surveillance operation was conducted.

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Acting DNI Richard Grenell declassified the hidden paragraph of the Susan Rice memo and it was released earlier today.  Our suspicions about the content of the redacted paragraph being Michael Flynn connected are confirmed.

On January 5, 2017, President Obama and Susan Rice were discussing incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn with FBI Director James Comey. The motive for Susan Rice to write the January 20, 2017, memo to file becomes clear.  Here’s the paragraph:

Within this paragraph we find the motive for writing it (emphasis mine):

“Director Comey affirmed that he is proceeding “by the book” as it relates to law enforcement.” … “Comey said he does have some concerns that incoming NSA Flynn is speaking frequently with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.”  “Comey said that could be an issue as it relates to sharing senssitive information.”  “President Obama asked if Comey was saying that the NSC should not pass sensitive information related to Russia to Flynn.”  “Comey replied “potentially.””  “He added that he has no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that “the level of communication is unusual.”

Remember, the position of President Obama and Susan Rice is that they were unaware of any FBI investigation of Flynn (or the Trump campaign); nor did they have any involvement in directing it to take place.

The content of this January 5th meeting makes the first part of their claim challenging to accept.   Thus the need for Susan Rice to cover for it.

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Moments ago Michael Flynn defense counsel Sidney Powell filed an appeal to the D.C. Circuit, a Petition for Writ of Mandamus (pdf link here), asking for intervention to correct Judge Sullivan’s unauthorized action.

Within the request Flynn’s defense requests the DC Appeals Court to order district court judge Emett Sullivan to: (1) grant the Justice Department’s Motion to Dismiss; (2) vacate its order appointing amicus curiae; and (3) reassign the case to another district judge as to any further proceedings.

The request cites numerous legal precedents in favor of granting the writ; but it’s a DC panel of judges so politics will likely play a role in determining what the appeals court decides to do.  Given the nature of this extraordinary situation it is difficult to predict success or failure for the request to intervene.   The whole darn thing is bizarre.

Within the petition the defense team notes:

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