FISA, FISA, FISA!
So, let's talk Nunes memo for a moment. Dig in, we're going to go into some detail. Pretend it's a 500 tweet twitter thread, but you know, actually readable.
Essentially, the point of the memo is that the FBI used a FISA warrant to monitor Carter Page, a Trump campaign official which Christopher Steele, a British intelligence operative, fingered as a Russian agent.
Steele's findings have been problematic, because they're extremely salacious in parts - it being Donald Trump, it describes how, like many other Western tourists, he found Russia a sexual vacation wonderland, and goes into some scatological detail. That is actually a side-show though - the really damning findings are that the Trump team knowingly collaborated with the Russian government, including coordinating leaks of private emails (both the DNC and Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta) through Wikileaks. Carter Page was the conduit of that collaboration.
None of this is proven, it must be said (though Steele has no particular reason to lie about such things and has previous experience in the muck of Russian espionage). What IS known and proven?
ITEM: Carter Page is extremely pro-Russian - he's lived and worked in Moscow for years, often appears on RT, and has given speeches (in Russia) criticizing the US (for being too hard on Russia). This is on the record - here's coverage of the speech in question.
ITEM: Both the DNC and Podesta email leaks are credibly sourced to Russian military intelligence. Here is a brief explanation of how that was discovered.
ITEM: Devin Nunes, the head of the house intelligence committee, which is theoretically (VERY theoretically) investigating the above interference in the last election, has instead, ever since the "investigation" began, tried to instead turn it into an investigation of anyone who dares to question Trump's authority. It's worth noting that Nunes was also a member of the Trump transition team, in case there's any doubt of, um, a touch of bias. For example, here's Nunes, one month after Trump's election, saying that the REAL crime is that someone leaked to the media that people were investigating things.
ITEM: Nunes' obsession with raising "what-about-ism" in response to the Russia inquiry became an art form when he briefed the White House about intelligence that would supposedly completely clear Trump's besmirched good name. In the wake of this rather breathtaking ethical breach, Nunes stepped down from the investigation under duress.
ITEM: A few short weeks later, Nunes un-recused himself, because, apparently, when you have the ethics of a particularly deranged mobster, you can do things like that. He promptly went back to the work the people intended him to do as head of the House Intelligence Committee - finding ways to clear Trump's name. As part of that he sent staffers to threaten Christopher Steele, because of course the one thing an ex-spy fears more than anything else is an angry Congressional intern.
So now we have the "Nunes memo". Which, given all the above, I realize this will come as a horrible shock, but Nunes has managed to figure out a way to clear noted Russian apologist/possibly-actual-literal-agent Carter Page, because… the FBI based their reason for putting him under surveillance on Christopher Steele's reporting. Which is utterly suspect because DEMOCRATS helped pay for it.
Yes. That's the big reveal.
Nunes is such an incompetent goon, that the Washington Post has, today, a column flaying his character and ethics by Joe Walsh. Yes. The same hard-core talk-radio tea-party Joe Walsh who constantly dunks on liberals on Twitter in lieu of actually being in Congress any more. And Nunes is too much of a goon for JOE WALSH.
But there's three takeaways from this. Two are obvious.
One: this will be used to fire Rod Rosenstein, and put in a Trump accomplice in his place who will fire Robert Mueller. We know this because Trump is about as subtle as a hyperactive beagle.
Two: the Republicans are complicit in this, because they have no morals or patriotism and are quite willing to literally betray their country in the service of servility.
Three: FISA warrants/surveillance are a violation of our civil rights. They are a thinly veiled Star Chamber that allows the government, on a whim, to monitor the communication of anyone they wish.
But no one cares about that. Including Devin Nunes. When Justin Amash (one of the few Congressmen on the right who has an actual conscience) tried to put limits on FISA surveillance, Devin Nunes called him "al-Qaeda's best friend in Congress".
Because consistency is for losers. SAD!