Ron Paul's FISA Take

Drawn into the stream
Of undefined illusion
Those diamond dreams
They can't disguise the truth
--Level 42

Adding to our commentary yesterday, Ron Paul notes three lessons learned from the FISA memo. One is that the memo (and I would suggest the blow back from intelligence agency officials and their minions in the aftermath of the memo's release) demonstrate the veracity of the Deep State that does not want the election of a presidential candidate who campaigned on better relationship with Russia and on rethinking NATO to threaten its existence.

A second is that the memo demonstrates that neither Republicans or Democrats generally care about surveillance abuse on American targets. The FISA abuses detailed in the memo were known long before the memo's release--and long before the FISA expansion was re-authorized by Congress. Echoing Judge Nap, Dr Paul argues that the committee did not want the American people to see how corrupt the surveillance system really is lest they begin to call their representatives and demand that they allow the FISA amendment to expire. He observes that the lead author of the memo, Republican Devin Nunes, was one of the most vocal proponents of FISA expansion during the recent re-authorization debate.

Finally, hawks on both sides of the aisle have used claims of Russian meddling in the election to build animosity toward Russia among average Americans. As Paul sees it, the primary goal of this exercise is to keep the $1 trillion military gravy train rolling down the tracks toward a new Cold War with Russia.