2017

Monday.

PAUL MANAFORT, RICK GATES TURN THEMSELVES IN TO THE FBI FOR VARIOUS TAX AND MONEY LAUNDERING RELATED ISSUES.

This may be my new desktop at work. 🙂

Paul Manafort, and his assistant Rick Gates, turned themselves in this morning to the FBI. Paul’s history is well documented on this blog, but Rick caught me off guard. He’s been a lesser name in this whole mess, being Paul’s assistant in Davis Manafort, a senior member of the Trump Inauguration Committee, and the aide to billionaire Tom Barrack.

They turned themselves in to the FBI this morning, and were charged on a dozen indictments, mostly related to tax evasion, money laundering, and failure to register as foreign agents. The scariest sounding one is Conspiracy against the United States, though that is more or less another way of nailing them for tax charges.

Reactions from all over were visceral, with people taking to Twitter, Reddit, and other Social Media today to express their relief that justice, though slow, is moving in the right direction.

Per Steve Reilly from USA Today, the D.C. District Court, where these indictments were executed from, has 4 more “Sealed vs. Sealed” case dockets between number 17-182 (See Next Section for details on George Papadopoulos) and 17-201 (Manafort). 185, 190, 198, and 200 are still sealed. It’s a little bit of a logical leap that these are related cases, but it’s a safe one to make.

Just to show how good Mueller’s team of lawyers are, they were able to successfully petition the court to compel Manafort’s former attorney to testify against him, by arguing that the attorney-client privilege can be waived by the court in the case of a crime of fraud. It was pretty ballsy, and it worked.

Bail was set at $10 million for Manafort, and $5 million for Gates. Keep in mind, bail can only be paid with legally begotten funds, and one of the punishments of money laundering and these other crimes is asset forfeiture.

Might explain why Paul Manafort had a public defender.

The Trump team was very quick to throw Manafort under the bus, saying that he was a bad person when he came in, was bad when he left, and that none of these charges were related directly to the Russia Investigation. Sean Hannity and some other Right Wing Media talking heads joined in the clarion call.

That chorus lasted all of about five minutes, until the news about George Papodopoulos broke.

GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS ARRESTED IN JULY, PLED GUILTY IN OCTOBER. WAS COOPERATING WITNESS SINCE HIS ARREST.

Third man in from the left is George Papadopoulos, a 30 year old member of Donald Trump’s campaign, and a senior member of his National Security Task Force.

This picture was taken on March 31, 2016 in the Trump Hotel International in Washington, D.C., and was later put on Trump’s Twitter and Instagram, sans names. A picture with names labeled like this is never good.

George lied to the FBI earlier this year to the FBI about the timing of when he received mails from Russia, and lied about trying to set up a meeting between the Russians and the Trump Campaign.

He was arrested July 27th, and pled guilty on October 5th to a charge of lying to the FBI. He has been a cooperating witness ever since. He gave Mueller all of his mails, all of his files, all of his contacts.

He wore a wire. Anyone that talked to him since July is on tape with the FBI.

Sleep tight, Corey.

TWO COMPANIES IMPLICATED IN MANAFORT INDICTMENT ARE MERCURY PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND PODESTA GROUP

Two companies were named in the indictment as places that worked with Paul Manafort to spread their messages, Mercury Public Affairs and Podesta Group.

Tony Podesta, head of the Pedesta Group and brother of John Podesta, Hilary Clinton’s former Campaign Manager, left his company today.

FACEBOOK SHOWED RUSSIAN CONTENT TO 126 MILLION AMERICANS DURING THE ELECTION

It wasn’t just paid advertising that the Russians used to spread propaganda. They also released thousands of pieces of free information which was shared freely across the web. All in all, this was seen by 126 million Americans.

RUPERT MURDOCH OWNED OUTLETS GO FULL TRUMP TODAY

At this point, it’s no longer a question of if Rupert Murdoch is in deep shit, but how deep it is. Fox News, Fox Business, New York Post, even the Wall Street Journal are joining in to the coordinated circle jerk in an attempt to distract his viewers from the impending storm.

A couple months back, I talked about rumors from Louise and others about how Fox News was under FBI investigation for their role in spreading propaganda. Later, a lawsuit came out alleging that the White House had coordinated stories with Fox News about the Seth Rich killing, right as Robert Mueller was appointed as the Special Counselor.

At this point, Rupert knows he’s screwed. Fox News had the chance months ago to either be a news organization that could own up to their role in things, or become state run propaganda. They chose the latter. Time will show they choose…poorly.

KUSHNER DELETES TWITTER, TAKES UNANNOUNCED TRIP TO SAUDI ARABIA, MARYLAND WANTS A PIECE OF HIM

Is it any shock that over the weekend, after news of the indictments came out, that Jared Kushner deleted his twitter account, and took an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia, under the pretense of securing financing for his 666 Fifth Avenue building?

By the way, Saudi Arabia does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, but we do have a crap ton of soldiers there, many of whom are experts in capturing and retrieving persons of interest.

Speaking of interest, Maryland wants to ask him a few questions regarding his shady business practices as a glorified slum-lord. Jared has a bad habit of suing his tenants for small, insignificant things like complaining when their buildings flood, or coming after him for not paying his bills and the sewage gets shut off.

Remember, state charges cannot be pardoned by a President.

TRUMP MEETS WITH PENCE AND SESSIONS FOR LUNCH DAY OF FIRST PUBLIC INDICTMENTS

One way to deal with the impending doom and destruction is to have lunch with the Vice President and Attorney General.

Trump has two moves left in his arsenal, and that is to fire Mueller and pardon everyone. Neither move will be successful, and will end his presidency sooner rather than later. I’ve already described in Pardon Limitations why this won’t work, but it’s his only move left to keep everyone from flipping against him. He is the big fish. George is a minnow.

SPEAKING OF FOOD, RUMOR HAS IT TRUMP STRESS EATS

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Last night, I saw a similar rumor that Trump had ordered the entire menu from Olive Garden over the weekend and was stress eating. I shrugged it off, but at this point I wouldn’t be surprised. Multiple insider accounts corroborated these stories.

It would really suck if he died of a heart attack before he can be tried for espionage and treason, which are capital offenses and carry the death penalty.

PUERTO RICO CANCELLED WHITEFISH CONTRACT, FBI BEGINS INVESTIGATION

The Washington Post reports earlier today that the territory of Puerto Rico has cancelled the contract between their electric utility and Whitefish, the two-man company from Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s hometown.

To make things even more interesting, the FBI has begun an investigation into this contract, to see if there was any impropriety.

ORRIN HATCH, TREY GOWDY, BOTH CALL TO ALLOW MUELLER TO DO HIS JOB

Senator Orrin Hatch, President Pro Tempre of the Senate called for calmer heads to prevail, and let Robert Mueller do his job. In a separate statement, Trey Gowdy, a long time Trump supporter, receiver of dubiously timed donations, and new head of the House Ethics Committee, also called for everyone to back off and let Mueller do his job.

What I find interesting is Trey saying this, not Orrin. I’ve suspected for a while that Trey is under investigation, and is up to his eyeballs in some crap. Him coming out and saying this tells me that he doesn’t want to be seen as a co-conspirator, or at least wants to distance himself from Trump.

That’s it for today. It was a crazy day, let’s see where tomorrow takes us.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Indictment Eve

I’m writing this on Sunday, October 29th, 2017, at around 8pm EST.

On a Sunday Night.

Normally, on Sunday Night, I would write about one of the hundred or so ideas I’ve got on the list, like about the red herring of voter fraud or life in the echo chamber, but tonight is different.

On Friday, just as I was wrapping up the Daily Check-In 10/27/2017, news came that indictments were coming in from Mueller’s team, and could be executed as early as Monday.

That’s tomorrow.

Tonight is the night before indictments could be served. Indictment Eve.

Quick refresher: an indictment is when a Grand Jury returns a recommendation that there is probable cause that a crime was committed. This recommendation is then given to the prosecutor of the case, usually a District Attorney or Assistant DA, and they’ll coordinate either with Law Enforcement to arrest the target of the indictment, or work with the target themselves to broker a deal, like a plea bargain or become a witness in a larger crime.

There are indictments, as a direct result of the Russian Investigation.

But what’s going to happen? Let me run through a few ideas, about what I think will happen, what won’t happen, and why things are about to get really fucking weird.

OPTION 1: NOTHING HAPPENS TOMORROW

I don’t think this will actually be the case, but I’ve gotten used to disappointment in my life. When my hopes get raised, they have a bad habit of getting crushed.

I’m afraid that this could be a repeat of the Dan Rather Disinformation Op that ended his career at CBS. He had a sure-fire story about how George W. Bush abused the system to avoid going to combat in Vietnam, but it turned out that the story he ran with was a fake. That fake killed any and all chances of anyone else reporting on W’s Vietnam history, even though there was a legit story there.

OPTION 2: ONE OR TWO KNOWN NAMES GET TAGGED

There’s been talk for months about Paul Manafort being indicted, and Mike Flynn was the first name to get everything going with his Turkish and Russian connections. Roger Stone completely lost his shit on Twitter this weekend, resulting in a ban, and Carter Page is the Sheldon Cooper of treason.

In a traditional investigation, arrests would be made of the small fish, and they would be turned to get the bigger fish. While those names are some pretty big fish, they are bass. Mueller wants a whale.

OPTION 3: TRICKLE-DOWN INDICTMENTS

Notice what I said in that last paragraph, “In a traditional investigation.” This is nowhere near traditional. There is a good chance that Donald Trump will try to pardon those around him, try to pardon himself, and fire the team bringing the indictments.

One way to prevent those from happening is to indict Donald Trump right off the bat for Obstruction of Justice. Multiple indictments can be unsealed at different times, but there’s more than enough evidence, just from Open Source Intelligence (OSINT, think the press and what can be Googled), to bring Obstruction charges against him.

Doing this would not only tie his tiny little hands on using pardons, and give Congress a reason to bring Impeachment charges immediately, but any actions taken to fire Mueller would be immediately seen as criminal.

OPTION 4: THE FLOODGATES OPEN

Louise Mensch has a great write-up on many of the actors involved, and what they’re being investigated for. And that’s not even a complete list of all the rumors, whispers, and stories that have floated around that I’ve seen over the last several months. That’s not including staff members who are in hot water like Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, or Wilbur Ross, or half the cabinet members who are up to their necks in their own scandals.

Serving indictments to the President, VP, SecState, SecTreasury, Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, two White House staffers that are children of the President, and several staffers and support personnel at once would be completely unprecedented.

Then again, so is a person winning the Presidency with the help of the Russians.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

If anyone takes any unexpected trips or travels this week, Like Jared Kushner taking an unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia, should have an eye kept on it. Might be nothing, but then again, it’s Indictment Eve. The night of the year when emergency trips are made, passports are frozen, and warrants for arrest are made to people leaving their families behind.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an early morning raid on Monday. This whole investigation has looked like a crime family going down, not like a bunch of bank executives going down for embezzlement. @lauferlaw and @Alt_Spicerlies brought this idea up a few moments ago, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Scooter Libby didn’t get a perp walk, and most of the people arrested in Watergate were given the chance to turn themselves in. I doubt that same courtesy will be given to most of the members from Team Trump.

Also, here’s my weirdest prediction for this whole affair. Someone, I’m not sure but I’m thinking Carter Page or one of Pence’s staffers, will pull an will pull an R. Budd Dwyer at a press conference, and it won’t even be the craziest thing that happens that day.

Don’t be surprised if this whole thing spreads across all of Washington. People all over the place are going down. 2017 has been pretty fucking weird so far, and the people I mentioned above inferred that others might be implicated that we never heard of, especially some Democrats in power.

Finally, expect Trump to try to fire Mueller in some kind of Hail Mary move to save his ass. And it expect it to fail. There are two ways he can try this. The first would be to fire Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein as Deputy Attorney General, Dana Boente, and all the way down to Rachel Brand, or further if she won’t fire Mueller. The second way would be to fire Jeff Sessions, and immediately try naming a current member of the Cabinet to replace him, bypassing the Senate confirmation process. I highlighted that here in Lateral Movement, but I don’t think it would work. Any chance that Trump has of even trying this end around has to be done before the indictments are served. Any actions taken after Monday Morning will likely be interpreted as criminal.

This is a nation of laws, not of men, or wealth, or personality. Laws and Justice. There’s a phrase that I heard a while back, Fiat Justitia Ruat Caellum. It’s Latin for “Let Justice Be Done, Though the Heavens Fall.”

Sounds like someone’s yelling “TIMBER!”

Good night, sleep tight. Take a deep breath, things are about to get really fucking weird.

Daily Check-In 10/27/2017

Finally. FFS. It’s Friday.

It’s Time. It’s TIME. IT’S TIME. FOR THE NEWS DUMP!

SEALED INDICTMENTS FROM MUELLER

THIS JUST FUCKING HAPPENED!

DANA BOENTE RESIGNS

This is a big deal. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia is retiring.

Dana Boente has an interesting story.

Late in 2016, President Obama changed the order of succession for the DOJ, lowering him down the chain. Of course, Trump reversed it, and placed Dana back in his old spot, and somehow interpreted this move as “Obama hates him, so I like him” and left him in his position.

Meanwhile, Grand Juries were convened to look into the Russian investigation, starting with Mike Flynn and Paul Manafort. These started in EDVA. This is where James Comey had at least one Grand Jury.

When Comey was fired, Boente was in the SCIF with Rosenstein when the decision was made to name a Special Counselor. That turned out to be Robert Mueller.

Boente will stay on until his replacement is confirmed by the Senate. But considering that Preet Bharara was fired in March, and replacements are still being interviewed, Dana might be on the job for a while.

One rumor going around is that he will be called as a witness, and because of this, he can’t be a prosecutor on the case. Take that for what you will.

REBEKHA MERCER DIRECTLY IMPLICATED IN SEEKING DNC AND HRC EMAILS FROM WIKILEAKS

Rebekah Mercer, billionaire funder of Cambridge Analytica, was caught asking for mails from Julian Assange.

She was asking Alexander Nix, head of CA, if he could get Wikileaks to release the mails in a particular order.

INTERN FROM CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA LEFT VOTER TARGETING SOFTWARE ONLINE

Don’t leave your incriminating work online! Seriously, this isn’t rocket science.

More interestingly, this targeting software was left unguarded and unencrypted, open for anyone who knew it was there.

SEEKING STOLEN PROPERTY IS A CRIME

Ari Melber reminds us that trying to acquire stolen property is a crime. There have been multiple attempts by the Trump Campaign to get these emails. At this point, if they didn’t collide, it was because they fucked it up so bad the Russians bailed.

WHITEFISH ENERGY CONTRACT IS AS CORRUPT AS IT COMES

Here’s a copy. Nothing says legit for a no-bid deal like a clause that says it can’t be audited or reviewed.

Any judge not completely drunk would invalidate several parts of, if not the whole of the contract.

FEMA, CONGRESS WANTS TO LOOK INTO WHITEFISH ENERGY

FEMA, the Senate, and a couple House Committees want to know how a two man company in Montana won this contract.

This is going to get interesting. The Trump Administration is doing a speed run on every type of scandal in American history. Looks like this is their Blackwater.

SANCTIONS DIVISION AT STATE DEPARTMENT SHUT DOWN BY TILLERSON REORGANIZATION

Can’t enforce sanctions if there isn’t a sanctions department.

Remember, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is one of the few Americans that have won the Russian Medal of Friendship, given to him directly by Vladimir Putin.

PRIVATE PRISON CONVENTION MOVED TO TRUMP RESORT

This comes after the Trump Administration changed the governments stance on using private prisons.

Explain to me how this isn’t a bribe.

JFK FILES RELEASED, HOW TO READ THEM

The New York Times has a good write up on how to read the JFK files that were released.

Start with the files that were not listed before.

JFK STRIPPERS, ORGIES, AND BOUNTIES ON COMMUNISTS

Bring lawyers, guns, and money.

Seriously, there’s some really good shit in here. Orgies with the Rat Pack, for fucks sake.

RUSSIAN PAPER ARMING ITS STAFF

Following even more violence against journalists in Russia, the Editor in Chief of Novaya Gazeta, will arm his staff.

Be safe out there.

SENATOR SASSE SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ROY MOORE

If Ben Sasse doesn’t like you, you’re a dick.

Expect the Moderates in the GOP to start fighting back against the fringes, especially given the other developments today.

TRUMP WANTS TO LIFT GAG ORDER ON FBI INFORMANTS FOR URANIUM ONE, ALSO WANTS ALL EMAILS OF CLINTON’S RELEASED

This is pure distraction. Trump wants to distract from the incoming shitstorm. He’s also trying to make a stink about emails again.

TRUMP ASTROTURFED BON JOVI ON BUFFALO BILLS SALE

Remember when Trump tried to buy the Buffalo Bills?

He worked with Roger Stone, Cohen, and Caputo to screw Jon Bon Jovi out of the sale.

Fuck Trump, he killed the USFL and Spring football.

RUSSIAN TROLL FACTORY MADE A HILARY CLINTON SEX TAPE

This is great for a laugh.

This is what I think of when I think of trolls. Making a sex tape with a black man and a Hilary lookalike is pretty funny and fucked up.

ASSHOLES ATTACKING LAS VEGAS SHOOTING VICTIMS, CLAIMING IT WAS A HOAX

Fuck these type of assholes. I want to feel sorry for them that they don’t know how to think, or might be sick, but going after victims is fucked up.

CATALAN DECLARES INDEPENDENCE, SPAIN TO EXERCISE EMERGENCY POWERS

Catalan has decided to declare their independence from Spain today. In retaliation, Spain will exercise their emergency powers to keep this from happening.

Keep an eye on this. It’s just a potential revolution or civil war about to break loose in Europe.

More chaos. Just like what Putin wants.

HOUSTON TEXANS OWNER BOB McNAIR ON ANTHEM PROTEST: “WE CANT’T HAVE THE INMATES RUNNING THE PRISON.”

Poor choice of words, Bob.

Just, think before you talk.

PLAYER REACTION LED TO WALKOUT

Several players walked out of practice, and might not play on Sunday.

The players have a choice on whether they should play or not. Except Lamar Miller, I’m starting him in Fantasy Football this week.

GOP WANTS TO END RUSSIA INVESTIGATIONS IN CONGRESS

The GOP wants to wrap up the Russian Investigations.

Nothing to see here, no collusion. Ignore the indictments, the SIGINT, and all of the other evidence.

GOP MAY USE BUDGET TRICKS TO END MUELLER WORK

One trick they might try to use to stop the Investigation is to screw with the funding.

Of course, if indictments are in the pipeline, cutting off the investigation could likely lead to an Obstruction of Justice charge.

ORRIN HATCH “MIGHT” RETIRE AT END OF TERM

From the “Water is Wet” Category, Orrin Hatch might retire after his term ends in 2019.

Orrin Hatch, the President Pro Tempre of the Senate, is 83 years old. Rumor has it that his health might be failing, and he might want to retire, but doesn’t want to announce it until things settle down.

By that reasoning, he’ll run for 22 more terms.

IMPEACHMENT ADS ON FOX & FRIENDS

This is perfect. Run ads calling for Trump’s Impeachment on Fox & Friends, while he’s watching.

Yes, the tiny handed racist blew a fucking gasket.

VESELNITSKAYA SHARED KREMLIN TALKING POINTS AT JUNE 9 MEETING

Of course.

And, of course she denied ever working with the Kremlin.

YURI CHAIKA WORKING WITH VESELNITSKAYA

The Crown Prosecutor, or Prosecutor General of Russia.

He is known as the King of Kompromat. He supplied this information on Hilary Clinton to Veselnitskaya, who offered it to Team Trump.

GETTING A FISA WARRANT IS HARD

Really Fucking Hard.

So, the fact that at least two people of interest, Carter Page and Paul Manafort were under a warrant, should show how serious shit is.

GORKA CALLS FOR CLINTON EXECUTION ON SEAN HANNITY

How does a Nazi get any work as an expert on National Security interviews?

Get ready for shit to fly against Gorka and Hannity.

CYPRUS TRIES TO DEFEND ITSELF AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING ACCUSATIONS FROM EUROPEAN UNION

Cyprus is trying to play off it’s role in Russian Money Laundering scandals.

Remember, Paul Manafort moved Oleg Deripaska’s money through the Bank of Cyprus, under the management of Wilbur Ross at the time.

FEINSTEIN DEMANDS WHITE HOUSE HAND OVER ALL INFORMATION ON COMEY AND RUSSIA

Diane Feinstein has sent a letter on behalf of the Senate Judiciary Committee, demanding information from the White House in its role in the Jim Comey firing.

Let’s add Cambridge Analytica, Michael Cohen, Twitter, and Facebook to the list of people and groups getting nasyygrams today.

PUERTO RICO DEATH TOLL SHOULD BE AT LEAST 911

Close to 1,000 people have died of “natural causes” since Hurricane Maria. But without a coroner to sign off on the source of the deaths, they aren’t “officially” dead due to the Hurricane.

This is just a clusterfuck of a quagmire of a disaster.

WAPO OPINION PIECE: THE GOP BATTLE TACTICS ARE THOSE OF AN 8 YEAR OLD

“I know you are, but what am I?”

If this is the official battle tactic of the Republican Party, then it is time to change how we work together.

WASHINGTON FREE BEACON FUNDED STEELE DOSSIER BEFORE THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN

The Washington Free Beacon is a Conservative group and publication.

According to Byron York, Christopher Steele wasn’t involved until after the DNC started paying the bills, but they did hire Fusion GPS.

Paul Singer. Need to look into that name, and who commissioned him.

TRUMP LEANING TOWARDS JEROME POWELL AS NEXT HEAD OF US CENTRAL BANK

This just came in from Reuters. Powell is a current Governor of the Federal Reserve.

That’s it for today. 34 stories, and I might have left a couple off. I think I might write something fun this weekend, like how Trump will fuck up the Turkey Pardon, or the origin story of the Justice League.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 10/26/2017

Thursday.

I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

TWITTER KICKS RT AND SPUTNIK OFF OF THEIR AD PLATFORM. RT RESPONDS WITH INCRIMINATING THREATS.

Get the popcorn, people, shit’s bout to get real interesting. Twitter made the decision earlier today to remove all ads from RT, formerly Russia Today, and Sputnik, from their platform, citing their actions in trying to influence the 2016 election. They said that they would take the money they received for that and donate it to an external group that works on political advocacy in the modern age.

Here’s Twitter’s press release on the actions.

The following is a screenshot from @M_Simonyan, the head of RT. I was going to post the link, but I don’t trust that the link would still work, and I don’t want to risk anyone to any weird spyware that RT might try to link to.

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If true, this is some pretty damning stuff, and Russia is about to go scorched earth on this. BTW, Scorched Earth comes the old Russian military tactic of retreating, and burning everything in their wake to the ground to prevent their enemies from using Russian resources against them. Then, they wait for their enemies to freeze to death. This is how they stopped Napoleon and Hitler.

Twitter is scheduled to meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee next week in an open hearing, along with Facebook and Google.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN TRYING TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA.

Remember earlier this year when Mike Flynn’s connections to Russia and Turkey came out, and the Trump White House tried to minimize his role?

How about when they said that Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman, played only a “minor role” after his connections to Oleg Deripaska came to light?

Add Cambridge Analytica to the list.

The data firm, funded by the Mercers with connections to Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Brad Pascale, Chuck Johnson, Facebook, Twitter, and Jared Kushner, “played a minor role in the campaign.”

This is like trying to photoshop a brother-in-law out of the wedding photos after finding out that they’re wanted for running a prostitution ring.

I’m waiting for the day that Jared and Ivanka get indicted, and Trump acts like he doesn’t recognize them. And not because of dementia, either.

FORMER SENATOR COBURN JOINS THE MODERATES SPEAKING OUT AGAINST TRUMP.

Tom Coburn, a doctor and former Senator from Oklahoma, went on the record by saying that Trump has a personality disorder.

Tom Coburn does not have a sense of humor, according to “Giant of the Senate” by Al Franken. So, when Tom Coburn says that someone is nuts, they’re nuts.

MILITARY OFFICERS OVERWHELMINGLY DO NOT SUPPORT TRUMP.

According to the Military Times, most officers do not support, nor approve of Donald Trump’s actions. These are not the rank and file soldiers, but the officers. The ones in charge, that make the orders.

In this poll, they also listed White Supremacy as the largest threat to the nation’s security, ahead of islamic terrorism. Those two pieces seem to go hand in hand.

NBC WOULD LIKE TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT RUSSIA SURE AS HELL IS STILL A THING.

NBC would like to remind you that Russia is still kind of a thing.

PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO WHITEFISH ENERGY.

Whitefish Energy, the two man company from Ryan Zinke’s hometown, is under scrutiny for winning the contract to rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, and their Governor wants to know why they won this massive contract.

Meanwhile, Tesla just electrified a Children’s Hospital on the island using panels and batteries.

WGBH BOSTON REPORTS THAT MUELLER WILL ‘MAKE MOVES BEFORE THANKSGIVING’.

Juliette Kayheem of WGBH Boston and PBS, reports that there is an increased buzz surrounding the investigation into the White House, and that she predicts that Mueller and his team will announce something before Thanksgiving, and that it’s bigger than just Obstruction of Justice.

I’m not sure if this is completely accurate, but here’s what I think…

Mueller isn’t going to anything unless Congress is in session. We are past political expediency and we’re into National Security territory. There have been rumors for months that the MSM has Donald Trump on tape working with the Russians, but haven’t released it due to his request. When he drops the mic, things are going to move fast.

Assuming that he comes back with anything more substantial than a report or a recommendation, Congress will likely briefed first, in a closed session, and led to the some of the new SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) that they’ve been building in the Capitol building for the last few months. There, they’ll be shown the evidence that Trump and his team committed espionage, if not outright treason, to win the election, as well as his history of financial and sexual crimes, and those of this associates.

After Congress is briefed, there will be some kind of announcement of indictments from Mueller, followed shortly by Congress pushing forward Articles of Impeachment, based off of those indictments.

If Mueller announces something outside of a Congressional session, it’s either because they can’t be trusted to do their job, or he doesn’t have anything.

Congress goes on Thanksgiving holiday November 20, and Winter break on December 18.

GA06 VOTING SERVER WIPED AFTER LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST STATE FOR USE OF ANTIQUATED VOTING MACHINES THAT ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO HACKING.

This is pretty awkward. Following a lawsuit from the Unhack the Vote team looking into the veracity of the voting machines, the server that contained the voting record was wiped clean, and they can’t find any backups.

What the actual fuck?

This is the kind of screw-up that puts people in jail. Deleting data that is involved in a lawsuit is destruction of evidence, possibly obstruction of justice if it were done to cover up a crime.

The reason for the lawsuit was twofold. First, the special election was performed using voting machines that were previously hacked at Defcon, then purchased on eBay. There was worry that there could have been some residual code left on them from the hackers if they weren’t properly wiped. Second, they discovered some interesting trends that didn’t appear until after the election. The vote totals were nearly opposite of the early voting and absentee ballots. A 60/40 split came in supporting the Democratic challenger in the early voting, but the machines went about 60/40 for the Republican. This didn’t match normal results. That part of the country tends to skew Republican in early voting, and more Democratic on election day.

Unless we’re all taking crazy pills and we’re in Bizarro Land. Then again, it is 2017.

INTERPOL INFORMS RUSSIA THAT IT WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT ANY WARRANTS FROM THEM IN REGARDS TO BILL BROWDER.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow will be a crazy News Dump Friday. We’ll get some stuff about the Steele Dossier, Cambridge Analytica, Twitter, and the release of the JFK files.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur