Having read, re-read and re-re-read, the recent FISA application release, here’s my take at both the 30,000 ft and granular level.
First, the elevated review is actually more interesting than the granular, which is remarkably odd considering how far we have traveled with this story.

Why publicly release the FISA application?  After all, even with the voluminous redactions, it is very unusual and it would have been exceptionally easy to deny any FOIA request under the auspices of national security.  To highlight this question, consider how stunned Fran Townsend was at the release: “Having run The Justice Dept office responsible for #FISA The release of these documents is irresponsible & will irreversibly weaken counterintelligence & Counterterrorism investigations going forward.”
Here is where a similar, I would say parallel, release will be overlooked.  Remember, it was April 2017 when ODNI Dan Coats released the 99-page FISA Court ruling/opinion on the historic 2015/2016 FISA abuse by the FBI and DOJ-NSD.  That release, like this one, while also heavily redacted, seemed out-of-custom for the intelligence apparatus.  Coincidentally FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer is a central figure in both releases.
In the 2017 FISC abuse opinion release, Judge Collyer wrote the ruling.  In this 2018 FISA application release, Judge Collyer was the authorizing FISC authority granting the Title-1 search warrant.  In an odd way, there’s a particular appearance of connectivity here.  For those who are unfamiliar, FISA material is not subject to FOIA; everything connected to FISA and the FISC is considered “classified” at the origination. [Remember that.]
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The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI have released the 412 page FISA application used to gain a Title I surveillance warrant against U.S. Person Carter Page in 2016 while he was working as a low-level unpaid adviser for the campaign of Donald Trump.  [The full pdf is available here – and embedded below]

The October 2016 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Mr. Page, along with several renewal applications — was released to The New York Times and several other news organizations that had filed Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to obtain them.  [Link to source pdf here]
The application is heavily redacted, but there’s enough information available to seriously impact the prior narratives as written by the media.  As we review the content carefully, CTH will have much more on this in the coming hours/days.  However, here’s the FISA application – please add your comments on the content therein:
[scribd id=384380664 key=key-V5JqoILhPOBEswhMeqyl mode=scroll]
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There is a ton of new information within this version of the application. More later…
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We shared a discussion thread several months ago about how the media are enmeshed within the story of the DOJ and FBI corruption. The media engagements with the parties swirling around the FBI, DOJ and Clinton-Steele Dossier are so pervasive they cannot reasonably report on any aspect of the story without exposing their own duplicity.
Michael Isikoff highlighted that point in February when he admitted his reporting was being used by the DOJ and FBI to advance the political objective.  Additionally, FBI investigator Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page were shown in their text messages to be leaking stories from the Clinton Investigation, the Trump investigation and the Mueller investigation to journalists at Politico, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. –SEE HERE–

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was busted by the Inspector General for leaking stories to the media and then lying about it to INSD and IG investigators.  FBI Director James Comey admitted to leaking stories to the New York Times, and even hired his friend Andrew Richman (off-the-books), gave him access to FBI and NSA databases, and then leaked information to Richman along with another friend Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare blog.
Lest we forget, the IG report on how the FBI handled the Clinton investigation revealed that dozens of FBI officials were actually taking bribes from the media for information:

IG REPORT – We identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters. Attached to this report as Attachments E and F are two link charts that reflect the volume of communications that we identified between FBI employees and media representatives in April/May and October 2016. We have profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered during our review.

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Former DOJ/FBI Attorney Lisa Page testified to a closed joint-committee on July 13th and July 16th. Has anyone else noticed how democrats are not demanding a release of the Page transcript?

With the exceptional help of John Spiropoulos we investigate a conflict completely ignored by media and congress. Peter Strzok, the FBI’s lead Investigator in the Clinton email investigation, never intended to investigate the laptop before the election. The evidence, in his own words, is in the report by the Inspector General. In addition, the IG report includes a jaw dropping contradiction regarding the investigation of the laptop. Strzok says one thing; the FBI’s computer experts say another. It calls into question the entirety of the laptop investigation.  WATCH:

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There is a great deal of inconsistent application of law surrounding the DOJ/FBI investigative authority during 2015 and 2016. There is also a great deal of fatigue surrounding discussion of those inconsistent applications. Contradictions, inconsistency and obtuse justifications are as rampant in our midst as the political narratives shaping them. Perhaps that’s by design.
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FBI director Chrisopher Wray says Moscow continues to engage in ‘malign influence operations‘; however, China is the biggest current counterintelligence threat. Fox correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

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It is becoming increasingly obvious there are two larger motives for the Obama IC officials current disposition; two parallel operations which present a risk if exposed:
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Senator Rand Paul discusses the continued interests, and responses, of former intelligence officials from the Obama administration:

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At first glance saying: yesterday was a very good day, might sound like spin. However, for those who have been frustrated about the lack of righteous push-back from the executive office; the attacks from the former “spygate” co-conspirators might be just what is needed to trigger President Trump to declassify the underlying material.
Consider the tweets from James Comey (former FBI), John Brennan (former CIA), Sally Yates (former DOJ), and statement from Ash Carter (former DoD).

Think about the bigger questions: Why would former administration officials feel the need to engage in such discourse? What exactly does their response say about their personal attachment to current events?  …and more importantly, what do they all have in common?
If you note they are all connected to the intelligence apparatus, and more specifically the well documented FISA abuse, well, yeah, things start making a lot of sense.  After all, at the center of all the intelligence corruption in 2015/2016 is the exploitation of FBI/NSA databases for political opposition research and weaponization.
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The prior use of FBI and NSA networks for metadata exploitation and political surveillance is what underlines all of the current activity taking place within the current political battle.  Peel all of the layers of investigative schemes, intelligence deception, false and distracting media narratives -including Mueller- and what lies beneath it all is the weaponized use of database-collected material for political surveillance and exploitation.
It really is that simple.

Seriously.  Every motive and every action and reaction is directly connected to the need to hide what was taking place in 2015 and 2016 between officials within the DOJ, FBI and U.S. intelligence community, and outside government “contractors” (Fusion GPS, Crowdstrike etc.) who were political operatives.   Everything boils down to the common denominator of the abuse of the intelligence apparatus for political power.
There are a few intrepid researchers who have a solid understanding of the scheme, and more importantly all of the activity that has taken place in the FBI and DOJ-NSD effort to hide that scheme.  Over at Marketswork: Jeff has a terrific timeline where he takes the latest Mueller Russian indictment claims, and overlays the FISA matrix.  GO READ IT.
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This is important.  This is VERY important. The collective DOJ, FBI and “allied contractors” activity in 2015 and 2016 is the origin of the political opposition research that developed into the Trump investigation via the FISA application(s). Jordan appears to be one of the few who understand the importance of the timeline.
Jim Jordan discusses FBI Agent Peter Strzok admitting he received the Dossier material from DOJ Deputy Bruce Ohr.  Bruce’s wife was hired by Fusion-GPS to assist in the formation of the Clinton funded opposition research that became the Steele Dossier.

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Graphic to understand the timeline for the intelligence laundry below:
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HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes appeared on Fox News with Jeanine Pirro to discuss the ongoing investigations into the DOJ, FBI and State Department.

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