Senate Intelligence Committee

Senate Intel Committe Chairman Richard Burr, not generally thought of the sharpest knife in the Senate’s GOP drawer, apparently decided to give the Democrats, including his odious Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA), one more opportunity to grandstand for the cameras and to set a perjury trap for Donald Trump Jr.

The experience of our friend Ben Weingarten suggests that there is a concerted effort to stifle the story and marginalize anyone who digs into Senator Dianne Feinstein's decades long financial and political relationship with Red China and the Communist spy who served as her office manager.

With Senator Feinstein’s deep ties to Red China it is fair to ask what if this anonymous “spy” was a lot more effective than has been admitted? And what ties are there between Feinstein’s economic interests and those of the People’s Liberation Army, the real owner of many Chinese companies?  And why was the "spy" on Feinstein's staff treated with kid gloves and never prosecuted?

Yesterday, Democrats were playing dumb to gain a political advantage, and Attorney General Sessions shot them down in the clearest and politest terms possible.

Today’s hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee featuring former Senator, now Attorney General, Jeff Sessions should be the last time the government of the United States allows itself to be manipulated into responding to the lies and provocations of James Comey.

The president was expected to be in rags and tatters by the end of the day, but he was hardly damaged. Mr. Comey hurled no grenades, but landed an occasional punch, and when night fell Democratic dreams of impeaching the president had shrunk from no fire, no smoke, to not even an incriminating vapor.

Perhaps if James Comey had known his Rudyard Kipling a bit better he might have chosen a different metaphor for himself than Captains Courageous, like the one where Kipling said, Now, don't be angry after you've been afraid. That's the worst kind of cowardice.

There was one line in his written testimony that summed up everything you need to know about James Comey, why he was fired and why he was such a danger to constitutional government: "the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch."

The Senate released a comprehensive Benghazi attack report, finding the tragedy was “preventable” and the administration failed to respond to “ample” warnings that security was deteriorating beforehand. The report faulted the State and Defense departments. It also cited the failure of Obama to "bring the attackers to justice."

It’s time to ask tough questions about the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities. The problem is that too many Republican members of Congress, who should have the constitutional rights and liberty of their fellow Americans upper most in their minds, have become complicit in the advancement of the surveillance state.

Members of the Sen. Intelligence Committee say there's much more to come about the scope and severity of these violations.