2018

Thursday, February 22nd. I’m spending most of this time talking about the first story, so the rest will get short write-ups today.

MUELLER UNSEALS 32 INDICTMENTS AGAINST MANAFORT, GATES

Jesus Fucking Christ. A superseding indictment from Eastern District of Virginia containing 32 indictments against both Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

According to the indictment, they laundered $75 million, committed a fuck ton of bank and mortgage fraud, and a shitload of tax evasion.

Here’s a PDF of the indictment.

It’s a pretty long list, so I’ll see you in a couple screens.

Count	Charge	Defendant
1	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2010) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
2	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2011) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
3	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2012) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
4	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2013) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
5	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2014) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
6	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2010) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
7	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2011) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
8	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2012) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
9	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2013) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
10	Assisting in the Preparation of False United States Individual Income (2014) (26 U.S.C. §7206 (2))	Gates
11	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2011) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
12	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2012) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
13	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2013) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
14	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2014) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Manafort
15	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2010) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
16	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2011) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
17	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2012) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
18	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2013) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
19	Subscribing to False United States Individual Income Tax Returns (2014) (26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
20	Subscribing to a False Amended United States Individual Income Tax Return (2013) (26 U.S.C. §7206(1); 18 U.S.C. §2)	Gates
21	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2011) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. § 2)	Gates
22	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2012) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. § 2)	Gates
23	Failure To File Reports Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts (2013) (31 U.S.C. §5314 and §5322(a); 18 U.S.C. § 2)	Gates
24	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender B/$3.4 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
25	Bank Fraud (Lender B/$3.4 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §§1344, 2)	Manafort Gates
26	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender C/$1 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
27	Bank Fraud (Lender C/$1 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1344, 2)	Manafort Gates
28	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender B/$5.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
29	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender D/$9.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
30	Bank Fraud (Lender D/$9.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §§1344, 2)	Manafort Gates
31	Bank Fraud Conspiracy (Lender D/$6.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §1349)	Manafort Gates
32	Bank Fraud (Lender D/$6.5 million loan) (18 U.S.C. §§1344, 2)	Manafort Gates

This all started back in Ukraine. They stole a bunch of money while Yakunovich was President, until about 2015. From 2015 until January 2017, they allegedly played a shell game with multiple banks to try to drum up some cash to keep them running until their next scheme takes off. They’re lying to banks, altering profit & loss sheets, lied about their stated incomes, lied about rental properties, and lied about all of this on state, local, and federal taxes.

Notice the dates, 2015 to 2017. This overlaps their time on the Trump Campaign.

I can’t get a credit card increase for $500 without 38 references, and these pricks got millions of loans in a few months.

By the way, Lender D is likely Federal Savings Bank from Chicago, Illinois. I talked about Stephen Calk yesterday in Daily Check-In 02/21/2018. He gave these loans to Manafort in a Quid Pro Quo for a position in the White House, likely the Secretary of the Army. Reportedly, him or someone in his bank is working with Mueller.

But, now the $64,000 question. If Gates flipped, why’s he still getting indicted?

There was some confusion this afternoon about his legal representation. Looks like Tom Green is still his attorney. No, not the Tom Green that had a TV show back on MTV from the late 90’s who had testicular cancer, but the Tom Green who was a lawyer during Watergate.

There’s two hypotheses about this. First, he’s not flipping on Manafort, or he doesn’t have enough new evidence. Second, these indictments include enough criminal activity by both of them together, and they were indicted together.

Either way, this sends a message to Paul Manfort. Deliver Donald Trump or die in prison.

FIRST NATIONAL BANK TO END THEIR NRA VISA CARD

The boycott of the NRA begins.

Time to add Enterprise Holdings to that list. They own Enterprise, National, and Alamo rental car companies.

NRA AT CPAC CONFERENCE IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO EVERYTHING

Wayne LaPierre went off on everything from blacks to socialism to video games, and blamed all of them for mass shootings.

You know, it’s everyone else’s fault, but his.

Fuck him.

TRUMP CRIES ‘FAKE NEWS’ ON CNN AND NBC SAYING HE’D ARM TEACHERS, THEN SAYS ARMING TEACHERS WOULD ‘SOLVE THE PROBLEM INSTANTLY’

The only reason I’m mentioning a Trump tweet is to illustrate his inability to keep a coherent thought for more than 30 seconds. I’ll address the stupidity of arming teachers in the Rumor Mill section.

MISSIOURI GOVERNOR TAKEN INTO CUSTODY

Republican Governor of Missouri Eric Greitens was indicted and arrested on felony invasion of privacy. He allegedly took pictures of his mistress without her permission as she was bound, gagged, and semi-naked on her bed, then threatened to blackmail her with them if she spoke out about the affair.

TRUMP LEGAL FUND RECIPIENTS UNCLEAR; FLYNN SAYS NO THANKS

This fund is supposed to be for people around Trump that can’t afford their own legal bills, like low-level staffers.

There was an argument making the rounds of the Fringe RWM that the Government doesn’t have a case against Flynn and he should fight it. Flynn said “No Thanks.”

RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALEXEI NAVALNY DETAINED IN MOSCOW, AGAIN

Once again, this shows how weak Putin really is. Nalvany is protesting the sham practice known as the 2018 Russian Presidential Election.

PUTIN ALLY SAID TO BE IN TOUCH WITH KREMLIN, ASSAD BEFORE HIS MERCENARIES ATTACKED U.S. TROOPS

In intercepted communications in late January, the oligarch, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, told a senior Syrian official that he had “secured permission” from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a “fast and strong” initiative that would take place in early February.

Yevgeniy was indicted last week as the Oligarch in charge of the IRA. His forces attacked U.S. troops in Syria, but were routed when the Americans attacked them from the air.

Yes, Russian mercenaries that report to ‘Putin’s Chef’ attacked American troops.

GUILTY PLEA DOESN’T PROHIBIT CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE TO CONVICTIONS, SUPREME COURT RULES

This has nothing to do with Russia so far, but I thought it was an interesting ruling.

RUMOR MILL: TEACHERS WITH GUNS AND MANAFORT’S CONNECTIONS

One of the stupidest things I’ve heard come from the NRA “enthusiasts” is that the solution to gun violence and mass shootings is if more “good guys” were armed. Their thinking, if you can call it that, is that more armed people will offset and outshoot the bad people with guns. Their recommendation to stop school shootings is to arm teachers.

Outside of a bad Hollywood movie, this is by far the dumbest, least thought out, and wildly horrible ideas since… well, I one time heard of Orange Juice and Toothpaste flavored potato chips.

Let’s talk first about the realities of gunfights.

Trained professionals who spend years perfecting the art of shooting are not very accurate in live fire situations. The NYPD has an 18% accuracy rate. Soldiers are about the same rate. That means, even in a great situation, 4 out of every 5 bullets will miss its target. In a shooting range, that miss is going to hit a wall, or a dirt mound. In a school, that bullet is flying into a kid.

Next, let’s think about who teachers are. They are overworked, underpaid, and stressed out. In a lot of schools, they move from class to class, and that’s most of their exercise all day. So, on a good day, their nerves are only slightly frayed. Let’s throw guns into that mix, and students who know that they can beat up a teacher to steal their gun, or take it out of an unlocked drawer.

Also, who the fuck’s gonna pay for this? We don’t pay the teachers enough as it is, and a lot of schools have problems paying for essential supplies like pencils and staplers. Who’s gonna pay for range time and ammo?

Finally, teachers know their students. Do you know who the most likely shooters are in a school? Angry boy students. Those boys are either current or former students. This idea of arming teachers implies that they’ll have to shoot and kill people they know. Imagine, for a moment, the kind of mindfuck that puts a person through.

Soldiers train to kill by dehumanizing their enemies. It’s the only way they can get through their tour of duties. Listen to some veterans talk about being in combat, and if they describe fighting at all, they’ll use some pretty denigrating and racist terms to describe who they fought and what they did. Are they racists? No, not really. This is the only way they can sleep at night without ending up a sobbing pile on the floor.

Law Enforcement Officers who fire at and kill people in the line of duty have to go through counseling for the rest of their careers just to cope with what they did. Often times, the dehumanizing traits occur.

Think about that, then think about the people who say that teachers should train with guns, just in case they need to be ready to kill one of their students, a kid they spend months teaching and mentoring.

I wasn’t the only person who thinks that arming teachers is a terrible idea. There are literally ~~dozens hundreds thousands~~ millions of us on Twitter who feel the same way.

Finally, Countercheckist has been rather critical of Bernie Sanders recently. Okay, ever since I started following him. He was one of the first to point out that the same bots that were pushing Trump’s message were also pushing Bernie’s message, and they both seemed to have the same reaction to tales of Russian interference. They blamed Obama.

He’s also shown over time how well connected Paul Manfort is to every single shady mutha fucka that does shady shit. At this point, I’m half expecting to find out that my elementary school bullies were funded by Paul Manafort.

In a tweet earlier today, Countercheckist alluded to ties between Paul and Bernie. I don’t know how, and as much as I’d like to say it ain’t so, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised.

That’s it for today. Keep in mind, it’s not even Friday, and we’ve had 5 days of court activity from Robert Mueller in a row. Manafort is Manafucked.

I have to do the math on this, but there have been over 100 criminal charges filed on 19 people from the Special Counselor’s Office.

And we’re just warming up.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/21/2018

Wednesday, February 21.

NEW SEALED CHARGES FILED BY MUELLER

For the third court day in a row, Special Counselor Robert Mueller and his team have filed new charges in their investigation. This time, I have no clue what the charges are. No one outside of Mueller’s team and the clerk have a clue. And possibly Rick Gates.

Odds are they’re additional charges against Paul Manafort for bank fraud. The details about that in 3, 2, 1…

STEPHEN CALK, FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK OF CHICAGO, GAVE PAUL MANAFORT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN LOANS IN EXCHANGE FOR WHITE HOUSE POSITION

Yes, Mueller is very interested.

The day that Paul Manafort was fired from the Trump Campaign, he started a company named Sunbreeze LLC. That company then took out a loan against one of his homes. By the end of 2016, Paul had taken out $16 million in loans, all of them signed off on by Stephen Calk.

So, who is Stephen Calk? He was an economic advisor to the Trump Transition Team, and a manager at Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, Illinois. FSB is a smaller bank that usually offers mortgages to veterans.

And he approved loans that totaled more than 25% of his bank’s assets in mortgages to one person.

Why would he approve such a risk for his bank, over the objections of his staff? He reportedly did this for a position in the White House.

This is a simple and elegant solution to a weird problem. How was a little bank in Chicago wrapped up in this mess? Turns out, Manafort played on his desire for power and/or service.

I like simple and elegant solutions.

STUDENTS PROTEST AROUND THE NATION

All across the nations, students left class today to protest against the inaction of our leadership in this country.

They’re taking the lead. I like it.

These children grew up in a world after 9/11, where the U.S. has been at war their whole lives. They grew up on Harry Potter and Hunger Games and Marvel movies believing that one person can make a difference, and now they’re facing down the inept government.

They are an entire generation of Potter’s and Everdeen’s. They are not going away.

EX-WORKERS AT IRA SAY MUELLER INDICTMENTS ARE TRUE

Multiple Russians have gone on the record describing the size and scope of the Internet Research Agency, and the accuracy of Mueller’s indictments.

They are spot on.

It’s almost like someone had high level intelligence and access to the IRA.

KEITH SCHILLER PAID $15K PER MONTH FROM GOP SLUSH FUND

Trump’s former body guard Keith Schiller is getting paid $15k a month by the GOP as a “Security Consultant” for the 2020 campaign.

That’s $180,000 a year.

Keith has been by Trump’s side since the 1990’s, and has often been the one to do Trump’s dirty work, like organizing hookers, threatening litigants, or harassing journalists.

Keith was involved in James Comey’s firing, personally delivering the termination letter to his office in D.C. Of course, Comey was visiting the L.A. field office. Rumor has it that Schiller tried to take Comey’s office computer.

DEVIN NUNES ASKED RUSSIAN BOTS TO HELP MAKE AN ARTICLE DISCREDITING THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION ‘GO VIRAL’

I covered this before, but Dipshit Cowpoke Devin Nunes actively engaged trolls and bots to push the #Releasethememo hashtag on Twitter.

This doesn’t look good for the head of the House Intelligence Committee.

He’s one of the few people in the world who should have known the scope and extent of Russian activity on Twitter. The Intelligence Community has been on this for a while. Yet, he still engaged with them.

I can only think of three explanations. Either he didn’t know the extent of their activities, he ignored the information, or he was counting on their actions. None of them look good for a member of the GOP Leadership Committee.

RUMOR MILL: THE GREAT BOT PURGE OF FEBRUARY 2018

A funny thing happened on Twitter over the last 24 hours. They decided to purge another set of users that were associated with specific Russian IP addresses which were traced back to Russian Bot and Troll activity.

Alright, real quick about IP addresses…

An IP address, or Internet Protocol address, is a numeric value that corresponds to a specific internet connection. Each and every device on the internet uses them to connect to each other. It makes up the backbone of how the internet works. It’s how you can make a request on a laptop in your house to a website halfway across the world, and have it end up on your laptop, and not your neighbor’s computer.

We generally use IPv4, which uses a format of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, where the numbers range from 0-255. Those are the values that a byte can produce. 256 values, or 2^8th power, for each group (called an octet), and four octets.

One thing with IP’s is that they’re region specific. IP’s in the United States start with 10. Asia in the 110’s, Latin America in 180’s. Russia’s in the 80’s and 90’s. These IP addresses are easy to find and trace.

What Twitter did was trace back a large number of troll accounts to a specific set of IP’s, and blocked them.

5,000 accounts and IP’s were blocked. They were controlling millions of bots. Those bots make up a lot of followers for people like Trump or the Alt-Right. Many members of the GOP lost thousands, if not millions of followers.

I only lost 4 followers this time. Most of the robots following me are good old ‘Merican Porn Bots.

Of course, that means I might be on their radar. If anything, I’m a tiny blip. Still, we are in an information war, and information is power.

That’s it for today. I do have a correction to make, though I’m not sure if I said it here.

Alex Vad Der Zwaan pleaded guilty yesterday, and I assumed that he was cooperating with Mueller. According to the court transcripts, he did not enter into a cooperating agreement. That doesn’t he’s not giving them information, but he’s either not doing it willingly, or there is no formal agreement. He could also be keeping quiet.

At some point in the last 24 hours, I said he was cooperating. My bad.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/20/2018

Tuesday February 20th, and a little of what happened over President’s Day weekend.

RICK GATES TO PLEAD GUILTY, COOPERATE WITH MUELLER

This has been covered a few times over the past week or two, but this, combined with the next two stories, is confirmation that Rick Gates flipped like a gymnast. Or one of those snowboarders.

Part of his plea deal is that he has to tell Mueller EVERYTHING.

MANAFORT TO HAVE BAIL REVOKED, NEW BANK FRAUD INDICTMENTS ADDED

One of the things that it looks like Gates told Mueller was about his boss, Paul Manafort.

Manafort is being investigated for even more money laundering, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, and tax evasion.

It looks like Gates gave Mueller proof that Manafort used doctored balance sheets from some of his companies to acquire a mortgage for his home in Fairfax, VA. It’s the same house he put up for bail.

Uh oh.

ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN TO PLEAD GUILTY TO LYING TO THE FBI

Alex Van Der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who formerly worked with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Up until a few weeks ago, Alex was Rick Gates’s attorney. Alex was busted for lying about a conversation he had with Rick Gates and “Person A” about a Ukrainian case he worked on a few years ago about trying to whitewash corruption. Alex said it didn’t happen, then deleted the emails and a recording of the phone conversation. Alex is highly motivated to cooperate, as his wife is pregnant. His father-in-law is German Khan, founder of Alfa Group/Alfa Bank.

So, let’s break that down.

First, Mueller got Gates to turn on his lawyer. That’s just straight up gansta.

Next, Alex was a lawyer for Skadden, a blue chip law firm that is normally very cautious about who they take on as a client, but worked with Paul Manafort on preparing a report to justify the prosecution and jailing of Yulia Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko was the Prime Minister in Ukraine who ran against Viktor Yanukovich, who was Paul Manafort’s client. This ties back to Ukraine.

Alfa Group has retained Skadden for a few years, and it appears that Alex Van Der Zwaan worked on their account. Another employee of Skadden was Andrea Manafort Shand. If that name looks familiar, it’s Paul’s daughter.

Finally, we have a direct connection to Alfa Bank. Remember the weird network connections between a server in Alfa Bank and Trump Tower? No, okay, quick recap…

Tea Pain broke down the connections a while back but the short, short version is there was a server in Trump Tower that only communicated with two other IP Addresses. Those IP’s are associated with a server at Spectrum Health (a health care company owned by the DeVos family) and a server located in Alfa Bank. Here’s a copy of the network traffic between the Alfa Server and Trump Tower server. Reddit user /u/RyanClinton2017 put together a sobering timeline

The Mayflower hotel meeting was held on April 27, 2016.

The first traffic seen between Alfa and Trump servers was seen on May 6, 2016.

It started out low and slow, see graph here.

The first uptick of traffic is seen on June 2, 2016, the very next day Goldstein sends an email to Don Jr. about Russians having dirt on Hillary.

On June 9, 2016 Don Jr, Manafort and Kushner meet with the Russians at Trump Tower.

On June 10, 2016 another uptick as seen in the graph.

On June 18, 2016 Spectrum joins in and traffic increases and continues to increase through the election.

Now that we’ve built that back up, let’s talk about Alex. Alex is a newlywed to Eva Khan, daughter of German Khan. He’s the founder of Alfa Group/Alfa Bank, and is mentioned on page 25 of The Steele Dossier. He’s very close to Putin, and may be one of the few Oligarchs that can call on more power than Putin.

So, not only is Alex Van Der Zwaan the son-in-law of German Khan (pronounced Herman), but Alex is also the father of his grandchild.

Eva is pregnant, and Alex doesn’t want to miss his child’s birth in prison. The only way he doesn’t miss that is by cooperating, and he can deliver the Skadden law firm, more of Manafort’s associates, the Americans that helped Alfa Group, and possibly even German Khan himself.

STUDENTS TAKING THE LEAD IN FIGHT FOR GUN CONTROL

This is what we need. The next generation grabbing this subject and taking their leadership to task.

March For Our Lives is scheduled for March 24th.

NETENYAHU: AIDE TRIED TO BRIBE JUDGES WIFE, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM

Benjamin “Bibi” Netenyahu, the embattled Israeli Prime Minister, is not having a good month.

Good.

Bibi was one of the corrupt politicians that benefited from the scourge of vice and corruption around the world that used the Trump’s and Kushner’s, among others, to launder their money. Bibi looked the other way as Israelis broke the law all over the world.

He might be the first world leader to go down, but he won’t be the last.

PENNSYLVANIA GETS A NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP

Here’s the new map.

NewPA

Compare it to the old map.

OldPA

There’s a special election in March for Tim Murphy’s old district. It’s the middle-red one in the bottom left corner.

BANNON SOLD STAKE IN CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA WHILE IN WHITE HOUSE

Not that this is any surprise, but his ethics finding showed that he didn’t sell his ownership stake in CA until April. This also proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Steve Bannon had his hands in Cambridge Analytica.

DONNIE JR., A TRIP TO INDIA, AND OPEN CORRUPTION

Donnie Jr. is visiting India, and is looking to make “deals” while over there. He’s selling “access” to himself and the White House, as well as apartments.

I’m not sure what I’m more upset about, his brazen lack of decorum to at least hide his corruption, or his blatant stupidity.

MUELLER COMING FOR KUSHNER

Anyone who’s been reading this site for a while knows that Mueller’s coming for Kushner. He’s had Kushner in his sights for a long time, and has him dead to rights on everything from perjury to espionage. We’re left with two big questions.

When, and what for first?

The “when” will likely happen before the Summer begins, if not much sooner. I think he’ll be the first family member indicted. It’ll send a powerful message that Mueller’s coming for the family, while at the same time giving the Redcaps a chance to say “He’s not a Trump, he’s a Kushner.” An hour later, Donnie Jr. will be indicted.

What for first is a good question. There’s a lot that Mueller can tag him for, but as long as Trump’s in the White House, he has to tread carefully at first. I’m not worried about Trump trying to pardon Kushner, so much as expecting him to try, and figuring that Mueller gameplanned for that contingency. But the first crime should be big enough to establish that he’s a criminal, but not directly tied to Russia.

If I had to put money on it, he will be indicted for Obstruction of Justice.

RUMOR MILL: WHO IS PERSON A?

in or about September 2016, he spoke with both Gates and Person A regarding the Report, and surreptitiously recorded the calls

There’s a couple theories floating around who Person A is from Alex’s indictment.

The first, and most obvious, is Paul Manafort.

The next is a known intermediary representing Manafort, possibly his daughter.

The third is a Ukrainian national. While that could be anyone unknown at this point, one name I heard floating around is Konstantin Kilimnik. Konstantin was Manafort’s man in Kiev, and has a background in Russian Intelligence.

There are few people who know. Mueller, Gates, Van Der Zwaan, and whomever Person A is. They know who they are, and other people know.

Not only that, but Mueller knows who they are, and sure as hell has that recording. They caught Alex trying to delete that recording AFTER they interviewed him in November 2017. Damn straight he was under surveillance.

That’s it for today. Things are shaping up quick with Russia. I did not talk about Trump’s tweets, because they are almost always distraction. But, since he spewed a bunch of shit on Twitter, here’s a very brief recap…

He attacked everyone from the FBI to Mueller to Adam Schiff to the kids in Parkland, but not once did Trump attack Putin or Russia. If he wasn’t a Russian Agent, it would seem weird AF.

Expect things to speed up from here on out on the indictment front. There are at least three cooperating witnesses, if not more. George Papadopoulos, Mike Flynn, Richard Pinedo, and Alex Van Der Zwaan have all pleaded guilty so far, with Rick Gates on deck. Each and every one of their deals depend on them helping Mueller, or facing VERY long prison terms. They stay out of jail by flipping on bigger fish. Pretty soon, we’ll be dining on swordfish.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

No One Plans The Cover-Up

“The Cover-up is Worse than the Crime.”

We’ve all heard that cliche at least once in our lives. It’s always comes after someone gets caught after committing a crime, and they seemingly got away with it.

And it’s complete and total horseshit.

Lying to the cops isn’t worse than murder, or rape, or robbery, or espionage. Not even close. Not on any possible metric.

So, why do we hear this cliche each time someone gets caught after the crime? Why does someone always mutter this cliche each and every time?

Because the cover-up gets little to no planning ahead of the actual crime. The cover-up is an afterthought. The original crime gets all of the planning, but getting away with it is merely an afterthought.

Think back to every heist movie and television series that has come out in the last 20-30 years. They mostly follow the same pattern…

Normal person facing extraordinary stress makes choice to commit a crime to get out of their problems.
Every detail of the crime is planned, from the tiniest detail to the second by second execution of the crime itself.
Person performs the crime, but something goes wrong after the crime. Usually, a coconspirator does something stupid.
Crazy things happen because they didn’t plan getting away with the crime.
The better movies have the person getting caught, or losing more than they gained. The bad ones have the person living happily ever after.

Every fucking time. EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. Now, what do bad movie tropes have to do with Trump-Russia? Why does it feel like we’re in the middle of a heist movie?

Because like every heist movie, the criminals didn’t plan the getaway. They’re winging it. They didn’t think they would win in the first place, so why plan on getting away with it? The bad guys planned on losing the election and creating a media outlet to spread their message afterward. Now, they have to govern, and they’re winging it.

Winging it is how they get caught.

So, it’s not that the cover-up is worse than the crime, but the execution of the cover-up is worse than the execution of the crime.