monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Oh, the ones that never condemn Antifa or their actions.

“You also had some very fine people on both sides.”

Brennan just got his security clearance pulled. About time. It was just announced at the presser with Sarah Sanders.

She also mentioned others whose clearance may be revoked. Good move.

Brennan's conduct has been a disgrace.

In any case, why does he need the clearance?

I'm pretty sure that is illegal

Only if you consider the government threatening people as good moves.

Tucker Carlson: Networks Blasting Trump Revoking Brennan’s Clearance Are Acting Like ‘State Media’

Tonight Carlson made it clear not only that he supports the move against Brennan, but that he had flagged this issue weeks ago when he called Brennan an “extremist.”

He mocked the coverage of the move against Brennan being taken as “an unprovoked assault on American democracy,” before saying, “Journalists ought to be skeptical of the powerful. They ought to demand accountability and clear explanations from secretive bureaucrats like John Brennan and the agency he once worked for. But they are not. Instead, they have become Brennan’s faithful handmaidens.”

And then he said this:

“Don’t complain, insolence is disloyalty, dissent is treason. That is the message on every other channel. That is state media, the definition of it.”

How about people threatening the government

Trump can defend the country. It is his job, and he can use any presidential power to do just that.

Only an idiot would not see the overwhelming evidence Trump was set up.

Vladimir Putin and the Russian government already has, and continues to attack the democracy of the United States.

Only an idiot would not see that Trump accepting the word of our adversary Putin and the Russian government over our own intelligence is treasonous.

WASHINGTON — Responding to evidence that Russia hacked Democratic Party officials during this year's presidential election, the Obama administration Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence officials, expelled 35 Russian diplomats suspected of being spies and shut down two Russian facilities in the United States.

"These actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the Russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm U.S. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior," President Obama said in a statement, describing the efforts to interfere in the election as a threat to the democratic process.

Obama also suggested that the Russians sought to affect previous elections via cyber-espionage, and that the U.S. would engage in covert retaliation activity.

The administration will soon "be providing a report to Congress in the coming days about Russia’s efforts to interfere in our election, as well as malicious cyber activity related to our election cycle in previous elections," he said.

President-elect Donald Trump — who on Wednesday said "I think we ought to get on with our lives when discussing possible sanctions" — continued to downplay the allegations but said he would meet with intelligence officials soon to get more information about Russia.

“It's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. Nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, I will meet with leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of this situation," he said in a statement issued Thursday evening.

Trump and his aides have said that Democrats are pushing the Russian hack story as part of an effort to explain away the loss by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Russians, meanwhile, vowed retaliation of their own.

In addition, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement accusing Russia of a decade-long cyber campaign targeting American government, infrastructure and citizens in general.

Obama signed an executive order outlining economic penalties for individuals and organizations involved in "tampering with, altering, or causing a misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions."

The sanctions affect "nine entities and individuals," Obama said: "The GRU and the FSB, two Russian intelligence services; four individual officers of the GRU; and three companies that provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations."

They did not include Russian President Vladimir Putin, though Obama strongly suggested that he knew about the Russian hacking activity because "these data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government."

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president will develop a response to the new U.S. sanctions, and told reporters that "there is no doubt that this adequate and mirror response will make the U.S. side feel very uncomfortable as well."

Peskov said Obama pushed forward with sanctions "to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, deal a blow on the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect.”

The Obama administration also expelled 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the U.S. and shut down two Russian compounds, in Maryland and New York, which Obama said were "used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes."

Russia is likely to respond in kind by kicking out U.S. officials from its country; the U.S. has claimed that its diplomats in Russia have been harassed for years in any case.

The Russian embassy in the United Kingdom taunted the White House on Twitter Thursday, calling the penalties "lame" and saying that "everybody ... will be glad to see the last of this hapless Adm."

U.S.intelligence agencies have accused the Russians of getting involved in the election in order to help Trump win the presidency, accusations that Putin and other Russian officials have denied. These agencies are conducting a formal investigation, and Congress is likely to conduct a probe of its own.

Obama had pledged a response earlier this month and also suggested that covert activity — including U.S. cyber activity — will be included.

"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia’s aggressive activities," Obama said Thursday. "We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized."

Trump harped on the email releases during his campaign against Clinton, claiming they reflected favors the secretary of State and her team did for contributors to the Clinton Foundation. Clinton backers cited Trump statements that seemed to encourage the Russians to hack Clinton herself.

Leaked emails also reflected tensions within the Democratic Party. The leaks to the resignation of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, after emails suggested party staff favored Clinton over primary rival Bernie Sanders.

Thursday's sanctions are essentially additions of ones the Obama administration placed on Russia after it annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine.

In announcing the hacking sanctions, Obama said: "In addition to holding Russia accountable for what it has done, the United States and friends and allies around the world must work together to oppose Russia’s efforts to undermine established international norms of behavior, and interfere with democratic governance."

Lawmakers generally applauded the sanctions but said more punishment may be necessary.

Some Republicans called the penalties overdue and attributed the hacking flap to failed diplomacy by the Obama administration.

"It is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

“Sanctions against the Russian intelligence services are a good initial step, however late in coming,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “As the next Congress reviews Russian actions against networks associated with the U.S. election, we must also work to ensure that any attack against the United States is met with an overwhelming response.”

A pair of Republican senators — John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — described the penalties as "a small price for Russia to pay for its brazen attack on American democracy," and said they "intend to lead the effort in the new Congress to impose stronger sanctions on Russia.”

Democrats, meanwhile, warned the incoming Trump administration against tampering with the sanctions.

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said members of Trump's team have been "far too close to Russia," and he hopes they "won’t think for one second about weakening these new sanctions or our existing regime."

He added: "Both parties ought to be united in standing up to Russian interference in our elections."

President Donald Trump’s administration moved quickly to try and lift economic sanctions on Russia and other punishments former President Barack Obama had put in place as soon as it took office in January, according to multiple sources who have spoken with Yahoo News.

“There was serious consideration by the White House to unilaterally rescind the sanctions,” according to Dan Fried, who retired in February as Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the State Department.

Fried told veteran investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, a former national investigative correspondent for NBC News and Newsweek alumnus, that in the early weeks of the administration he got several “panicky” calls from U.S. officials. They asked: “Please, my God, can’t you stop this?”

The sanctions in question included those imposed by Obama for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and others inflicted late last year to punish Moscow for its suspected efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. The plans Trump’s administration considered early on included returning diplomatic compounds seized from Russia in late 2016—recent reports say Trump is currently working to put this plan into action.

Lifting the sanctions “would have been a win-win for Moscow,” according to Tom Malinowski who served as assistant secretary of state for democracy until inauguration day. Malinowski told Yahoo News that he heard the administration was working on a “grand bargain” with Russia.

In April, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said clearly that the U.S. would not lift sanctions on Russia until President Vladimir Putin hands Crimea back to Ukraine.

But Fried and Malinowski heard differently at the beginning of the administration. Both joined efforts to lobby Congress to bring in bipartisan legislation to prevent the rollback of sanctions.

At the beginning of this year senators Ben Cardin, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, moved to table legislation which would codify the sanctions and give Congress control of rescinding them. That bill stalled in early May after Republican Senator Bob Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, opposed it.

This week the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Banking Committee proposed their own bill to increase sanctions on Russia, hitting the country’s mining and railway industries.

In its early days, the Trump administration sought to strike a deal with Russia by seeking cooperation against the Islamic State militant group in Syria in return, two former officials said. This came in the form of a “tasking” order at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs within the State Department. The order asked officials to draw up a list of options, including sanctions relief and the return of the seized diplomatic buildings in Maryland and New York.

The Washington Post reported on May 26 that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then chief foreign policy adviser, Michael Flynn, met with Russia’s ambassador to Washington during the presidency’s transition period. Kushner reportedly attempted to set up a communications back channel with Moscow from Russian diplomatic facilities. The plan was rejected, but picked up by American intelligence in communications between Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and his superiors.

According to leaked intelligence reports, Flynn reportedly indicated to Kislyak during a phone call during the transition that Russia could expect a review of the sanctions under the Trump administration.

“We’ve been reviewing all the sanctions—and this is not exclusive to Russia,” a senior White House official told Yahoo News. “All the sanctions regimes have mechanisms built in to alleviate them.” they said, adding they hoped “the Russians would take advantage of that” by returning Crimea to Ukraine.

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Brennan's conduct has been a disgrace.

Only because you disagree with him, but that doesn't mean the government can disregard the first amendment. Anyone who values the Constitution should be concerned about that.

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

In any case, why does he need the clearance?

So that his successors can consult with him. That is common practice so that the government can take advantage of experienced former administration members. It's clear that Brennan won't be working with team Trump, but that doesn't mean that his experience is not valuable.

Be honest with yourself. It builds character.

Quote:

Vladimir Putin and the Russian government already has, and continues to attack the democracy of the United States.

I mean, what kind of a cretin could possibly want to go on being a Democrat after Bernie Sanders #walks away? I mean, exactly how stupid and pathetic would anybody have to be? I mean, even a pig would have to look down on anybody who kept on being a Democrat after Bernie Sanders #walked away.....

As your own link already pointed out, Bernie Sanders has always won office as an Independent. For decades. There's literally nothing new about him doing the same this time. Any "walking away" is a figment of your feverish imagination.