Tuesday. At least, I think it’s Tuesday.
DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT HOW CHRIS STEELE WORKED WITH THE FBI, JOHN McCAIN
The Washington Post released this account of Christopher Steele and how his Dossier ended up in the hands of the FBI. I’m watching Rachel Maddow right now, so I have not had a chance to dig through this the way it deserves.
One interesting tidbit that didn’t have much to do with the Russian Investigation was that Steele’s former boss at MI6, Richard Dearlove, said Steele’s story reminded him of a previous incident back when he was in the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Dearlove said their situation reminded him of a predicament he had faced years earlier, when he was chief of station for British intelligence in Washington and alerted U.S. authorities to British information that a vice presidential hopeful had once been in communication with the Kremlin.
Seriously? That’s fucked up, and a pretty short list.
Dearlove was in D.C. from 1991 to 1994, so the only Presidential election during his tenure was the 1992 election. That year was a little different, as it was a 3 way race between George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot. Of course, there were a bunch of third party candidates as well. The list of people he was talking about is maybe 10-20 people long, tops.
Might be worth a dig one day. In the meantime, I want to give this story more attention over the next few days.
BANNON, THE HIC, AND MUELLER
Right now, Bannon’s lawyers are delaying. They’re purposefully wasting the time of the House Intelligence Committee. Earlier today, they said that they would gladly answer up to 14 yes or no questions that were cleared by the White House first, since they might claim executive privilege.
The likelihood of Steve Bannon flipping on Trump has grown exponentially. He might want to be careful about what and where he eats for the next week or so.
THE MANY CLAIMS OF CARTER PAGE
Carter Page claimed on Russian Television that he had several meetings with Donald Trump.
He has also claimed to be an adviser to both Donald Trump’s Campaign and the Kremlin.
How in the Crystal Pepsi Flavored Fuck did he ever get himself in these messes?
Better still, why in the fuck would Devin Nunes pick the Sheldon Cooper of Treason to be the poster boy for abuses by the Intelligence Community?
TRUMP’S LAWYERS WANT HIM TO AVOID A MEETING WITH MUELLER
Trump’s lawyers don’t want their client to talk to Robert Mueller. They also think that Mueller wouldn’t subpoena the President to testify before a Grand Jury.
Mueller’s team members indicted the wives of Enron executives to get them to testify against their husbands and friends. Serving a subpoena to the President is a bucket list item.
DEFINITION OF IRONY: ‘MEXICAN JUDGE’ TO HEAR CASE ABOUT TRUMP BORDER WALL
Judge Gonzalo Curiel is hearing a case about the Trump Border Wall.
If his name sounds familiar, he’s the judge that Trump said couldn’t be impartial about him during the Trump University fraud case because his name “sounded Mexican.”
The basis of the case is that it’s a challenge against the waivers that the Federal Government is using to get around environmental regulations in California. The waivers were originally issued back in 1996 and 2005, and do not meet current regulatory guidelines for natural impact.
PENNSYLVANIA GOP REP THREATENS PA SUPREME COAURT WITH IMPEACHMENT FOR RULING AGAINST GOP IN GERRYMANDERING CASE
Fuck this prick, and anyone who thinks this is a good idea.
It is technically possible for them to pull this off. Impeachment in Pennsylvania is modeled after the Federal method. A majority in the House makes the charge, and the Senate requires a 2/3rds majority vote.
If a vote were completely along party lines, it could happen. Pennsylvania is so gerrymandered at every level to favor the GOP that they hold a 121-84 advantage in the House, and a 34-16 margin in the Senate.
HOW THE REPUBLICANS RIGGED CONGRESS
Partisan Gerrymandering is killing Democracy.
Here’s a segment from the article…
The visionaries at the Republican State Leadership Committee, who designed the aptly-named strategy dubbed REDMAP, short for Redistricting Majority Project, managed to look far beyond the short-term horizon.
What will it take to dominate redistricting? Gillespie lays it out as an equation: Republicans can win 20 to 25 new seats in Congress for each of the next five electoral cycles with a $31.5 million investment on state legislative races in 2010. The cost of not acting? If the Democrats controlled those seats, or they remained swing districts, he estimated that mounting competitive campaigns in those 20-25 districts would cost $255 million over the next decade.
That $31.5 million would be spent micro-targeting state legislative districts that Republicans identified as crucial to winning state legislative chambers and dominating redistricting.
It proved more effective than any Republican dared dream. Republicans held the U.S. House in 2012 despite earning 1.4 million fewer votes than Democratic congressional candidates, and won large GOP majorities in the Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina state legislatures even when more voters backed Democrats.
Indeed, even while Democrats sense momentum as we draw closer to the 2018 midterms, the path back to power is steep. Republicans control nearly 70 percent of all state legislative chambers. Democrats have not flipped a congressional seat from red to blue during this entire decade in such ostensible swing states such as North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Those states alone currently send 49 Republicans and 20 Democrats to Washington — a 29-seat edge that’s larger, all by itself, than the overall current GOP House majority.
JULIAN ASSANGE STILL HAS A WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST IN U.K.
In good news, Julian Assange is still a fugitive from the United Kingdom.
At this point, he can stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy until we come calling for him. He has a lot to answer for.
DEMOCRATIC MEMO ‘TOO LENGTHY’ FOR TRUMP TO READ AT 10 PAGES
10 pages is too long? Are you fucking kidding me?
According to a Frequently Asked Questions about publishing books, a manuscript page is about 250-300 words. Using simple math, that’s 2500-3000 words. I’ve written several posts longer than that. If you’ve ever read one of my blog posts, congratulations. You have read more in a few minutes than the President of the United States would bother to read in 4 days.
NUNES’S NEXT TARGET: JONATHAN WINER
Devin Nunes is planning more memos. His next target, according to Natasha Bertand, is State Department employee Jonathan Winer.
Winer supposedly was the go-between on the Shearer Dossier, and helped get it into Christoper Steele’s hands.
If this next memo is as “Earth Shattering” as his previous bullshit, then we’ll probably find out that Winer actually fought Russian spies in hand to hand combat, but Nunes would try to paint the story that the Russians were the nice guys, but the details were printed in too small of a font.
THE DOTARD WANTS A MILITARY PARADE
Cheeto Mussolini wants a Cold-War Soviet Era parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.
On the eve of yet another government shutdown, he wants to waste millions of dollars on a parade, followed by millions more to fix the road after the tank treads rip the road to shreds.
Here’s to the bureaucrats that will hopefully slow-walk the request from one department to another, losing verifications and requiring triplicate forms for requisitions from departments that are not responsible for the equipment in the first place, and the only person who knows who’s responsible is on leave.
RUMOR MILL: BE CAREFUL OF THE OUTLANDISH
Something weird happened today. Okay, weird by 2018 standards.
Two groups released two different stories, but both with the same overall story.
Gateway Pundit (far right web site) and the Krassenstein Brothers (left wing reporters) both broke stories claiming that Carter Page was actually a double agent, and his idiot supreme act is just an act.
These stories made their way around for a few minutes, but were both shot down hard by the core of the Rumor Mill.
Aside from the fact that the FBI wouldn’t get a FISA warrant against a cooperating witness, and that this sounds a hell of a lot like an operation exploiting Horseshoe Theory, this is a little too weird and doesn’t fit the known evidence.
I know this sounds a bit hypocritical coming from a blog about uncovering and chronicling the largest conspiracy in history, but be wary of crazy claims. Follow Occam’s Razor. The simplest explanation that fits the facts is to be preferred.
Now, I will be honest, there was a part of me that wants this tale to be true. I want there to be an explanation for his complete stupidity. He’s a paradox. On paper, he’s brilliant. He’s a top 10 percent graduate of the Naval Academy, has a couple Ph.D.’s, and has endeared himself to the leadership of both America and Russia. At the same time, he does the dumbest shit possible. He goes on television and talks about traveling to Russia the same day it’s announced his old co-worker pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. He brags about meeting Trump on Russian TV, but then tries to lawyer ball the Senate Intelligence Committee over how he defines met.
Is Carter Page a secret double agent and mole for the FBI? No. I believe Marx said it best. He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you… He really is an idiot.
That’s it for today. I don’t know what’s in line for the rest of the week. Hopefully the pace isn’t too crazy, but let’s be honest, shit’s gonna get crazy. I have learned one thing about myself the last few days. I’m not as good at writing and watching TV in the background as I thought I was. 2 hours of writing in seclusion becomes 3-4 hours on the couch with the television playing.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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