2018

Wednesday. Quite a few things came in today, so I might have to speed through things.

DHS CONFIRMS THAT SEVERAL STATES WERE HACKED BY RUSSIANS

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed today that the voter rolls of at least 12 states were penetrated by the Russians, but a smaller number were altered.

Of course, that assumes that they states would even know if those databases were hacked in the first place, let alone had any audit tracking built in to track changes.

A lot of databases can have the data edited directly without having a data trail. This tracking has to be turned on. Different types of databases do this differently, but lazy database architecture wouldn’t have tracking built in. Comparing to backups might not be helpful either, since those could have been corrupted as well.

TRUMP SAYS HE WANTS TO MEET WITH MUELLER, AGAINST LEGAL ADVICE

Donald Trump is a like a stupid Eric Cartman, if Eric was an even worse example of a human being. Trump gonna do what he want.

Of course, this is likely all bluster. Trump is a bully, and lies all the time.

SIZE AND SPEED OF MUELLER PROBE FASTER AND GREATER THAN MOST KNOW

I’m not surprised at the scope and speed of Mueller’s investigation, but then again, I’ve been tracking things daily since last July, and been watching things take shape since the Summer of 2016.

Most of the Main Stream Media has been behind the curve, either through incompetence or on purpose. They refused to cover the Russian interference as it happened, they refused to dig into Trump’s past connections with criminals. They have chased the shiny bauble while ignoring actual news. The MSM thinks this is only about Obstruction of Justice. This is about much more than that.

WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO PUERTO RICO WORSE THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN

In any normal universe, leaving American citizens without power for four months at a time would destroy any administration. Instead, this is barely a blip on the radar.

I’ve been a proponent of Puerto Rican statehood for a long time. Not just because I think a 51 star flag looks cool, but for other, actual reasons. I hope that PR is one of the many things we fix in the next few years.

APPRENTICE CREATORS SAY ‘TRUMP THE BILLIONAIRE REAL ESTATE TYCOON’ MYTH CREATED FOR SHOW

Trump being competent is a myth as well. But let’s break this down…

He’s not a billionaire, by any definition of the term. He doesn’t make more than billion dollars a year, and he doesn’t have over a billion dollars in cash and/or other liquid assets. He owns buildings that are worth more than a billion, but he doesn’t own them outright. He owes a crapton of money on them. He’s deep in debt. So far in debt that he doesn’t have more than a billion dollars in assets available after doing the math.

Making money in Real Estate in New York is the easiest way to make money in the world. Here’s how…

Buy something.

Hold onto it until someone wants to use it.

Sell at a profit.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Even better, renting out property is even easier.

Buy something.

Have people pay you to use it.

Make money until the end of time.

There’s no brilliant instincts or business acumen needed. If he made billions in modern day Detroit, that would be something. But New York is like playing Real Estate Tycoon on easy.

PELOSI HOLDS THE HOUSE FLOOR TELLING STORIES OF DREAMERS

Nancy Pelosi spent over 8 hours telling the stories of the Dreamer children on the floor of the House, just trying to get Paul Ryan to bring DACA legislation to a vote.

Of course, that might require him to grow a spine. I look forward to him getting rolled up in the investigation.

REPUBLICANS JOIN DEMOCRATS IN SPEAKING OUT ABOUT TRUMP’S TREASON TALK

So far, it’s been some of the more responsible members of the party, like Senators not up for re-election.

GARZA AND HARRIS TAX OFFICES RAIDED BY FBI IN DALLAS

This one is a little obscure, but comes from the Rumor Mill. The offices of a tax lawyer who advises their clients with some less-than-proper methods to hide their tax money. Not only are their tactics not above board, their clients aren’t either.

How does this tie to Trump? At least one of partners, Dr. John Changiz Vafai, is also a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. The Wilson Center offers an ‘Alfa Fellowship Program’.

Yes, that Alfa. Alfa Bank. The one that the Russian Government uses as a puppet and stand-in.

HOW #RELEASETHEMEMO SPREAD AMONG TROLLS, BOTS, AND TRUMP SUPPORTERS

This is a great story by Molly McKew which illustrates how the hashtag associated with the Devin Nunes memo took off.

The saddest part of the whole charade is that, by the end, GOP politicians either didn’t know they were being played by bots and trolls, or didn’t care. As long as they got their piece.

13 SUBPOENAS BLOCKED BY GOP MEMBERS OF HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

The House Oversight Committee is not overseeing anything that could be slightly critical of Trump. They have abandoned their mission and jobs. They need to be removed. Remember this on election day later this year.

ISRAELI LAW ENFORCEMENT RECOMMENDS PRIME MINISTER NETENYAHU TO BE INDICTED FOR CORRUPTION CHARGES

Benjamin Netenyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, has been under investigation for corruption, abuse of power, money laundering, accepting bribes, and pretty much just being an asshole. Just like Trump, Ben blames his IC for executing a ‘deep state coup’ against him.

The Mossad does not fuck around, and Netenyahu has been putting his personal benefits above those of the nation of Israel.

Sound familiar? If so, it’s because Ben is directly tied to Kushner and Trump. Ben received bribes that can be traced through intermediaries that laundered the money by purchasing Trump condos.

WHITE HOUSE STAFF SECRETARY ROB PORTER RESIGNS AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF SPOUSAL ABUSE SURFACE

This is a bit of a crazy story, but makes sense given these people.

Rob Porter, the White House Staff Secretary, the person who makes Trump’s schedule and does the day to day stuff, resigned after a story broke about how both of his ex-wives accused him of spousal abuse. That’s a polite way of saying he beat the fuck out of them.

Because of these allegations, he couldn’t get a security clearance. That should be the end of the story, but instead it gets more screwed up as Rob Porter’s current girlfriend, Hope Hicks, wrote the White House’s response.

Yes, that Hope Hicks. This is the fifth man she’s been rumored to have slept with and/or had a relationship with.

Porter was going to stay on in the White House, but once pictures of one of his exes black eyes hit the wire, he was dead man walking.

Good.

RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S PARADE DEMANDS AMOUNT TO A BIG, FAT, ‘FUCK YOU!’ TO CHEETO MUSSOLINI

Fuck Trump, and his Soviet-Era despotic desires. My favorite quote came from a Marine on Twitter.

“After talking around to other Marines, the only way we’d take part in a parade for Trump was if he was being dragged behind an AMTRAK.”

Everyone thinks the parade would be a bad idea. A better use for the money would be housing homeless vets or giving the money to the VA Hospital System.

RUMOR MILL: CALIFORNIA LOVE

One thing that I’ve thought from time to time during this whole clusterfuck is “Why aren’t there any stories coming from California?” Why haven’t we heard anything about Trump’s exploits from the Left Coast?

Trump owns a place in Beverly Hills, and lived the party lifestyle out there for a long time. He played with the likes of Harvey Weinstein, and every other slime ball out there, but no stories have leaked out.

That might be changing soon.

Eric Garland was a little coy and cheeky, but mentioned that we might be hearing about how Not-for-profits were used to launder money. Don’t be surprised if the laundered money is tied to human trafficking and slavery.

Here’s how that could work…

Bad Guy has a lot of dirty cash, but spend it. His tax guy sets up a 501(3) or 501(c) non-profit charity. The money is moved from an offshore shell company to the non-profit, then the funds are disbursed for whatever reason they need. However, a large “endowment” is made to another group, which then makes it’s way back to the Bad Guy. Maybe throw a gala or something else to make it look legitimate, but for the most part, it’s not needed.

What makes this even more disgusting is that these donations to charity are tax deductible for the most part. So they save money on their taxes by breaking the law.

That’s it for today. I think I’ll do a little write-up to explain how voter suppression works, and how hacking the voter rolls is far more effective, easier, and more likely than attacking the vote totals themselves. I’ll include how those could be involved as well, but after the write-up, it should be pretty obvious why the voter rolls are the better target.

Thank you, and have a good one

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/06/2018

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

Bannon’s subpoenaed testimony for the House Intelligence Committee will have to wait until after his meeting with Robert 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

Daily Check-In 02/05/2018

Here’s some of what happened over the weekend and today.

HOUSE INTEL COMMITTEE VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO RELEASE DEMOCRATIC REBUTTAL MEMO

Looks like it’s the Democrat’s turn to release a memo. Hopefully this one isn’t a dud.

The Democrats in the House Intel Committee wrote a rebuttal memo to respond to the claims made in the Nunes Memo last week, and the Committee voted UNANIMOUSLY to release it. It will now go to the White House, where Trump will either release it like he did with the Nunes Memo, or deny it’s release. If it gets denied, the House can vote to have it released.

This is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t move for Trump.

If he withholds the memo, he looks like a partisan hack who is afraid of this information coming out, and since it is based off of the same classified intel that the Nunes Memo was based on, he can’t use the excuse of exposing intelligence. He can give the FBI a chance to redact what they need to, but he didn’t do that with the Nunes Memo, either.

If he does release it, then it shows that the Russian Investigation has a lot more fire to it than smoke, and each and every claim that Nunes made will be blown apart like a goat stepping on a landmine.

Now, we’ve got another week about memes about memos. If memory serves, mama never wore a mumu and told me there’d be memes about memos. My oh my.

DOW JONES DROPS ANOTHER 1200 POINTS TODAY

The Dow Jones just had the largest single day drop in its history, and is down over 8 percent since Friday.

Two days of historic drops is something to keep an eye on, but remember that the Dow is not the Economy. It is only one measure of how certain stocks are doing in a given day.

There’s two big reasons for this drop. First, Trump’s new pick for the Fed, which just assumed the office, has signaled that she wants to increase interest rates faster than previously expected. This is causing brokers and day traders to move their money from stocks to bonds, as the bonds will produce more money over time, and are more stable than stocks.

Second, this is a side-effect of the GOP Tax Plan. Most of these corporations took place in a stock buyback program with the savings they made with the tax plan. Sure, some of them gave bonuses to employees, but that was nothing compared to wha they gave to their shareholders. This buyback created a spike in stock values, which I hypothesize created a mini-bubble in stock prices. Once these buybacks were done, there was nothing to keep these values up. Hence, the bubble burst.

Of course, that doesn’t stop the media or people who think they know what they’re doing from proclaiming doom and gloom.

Expect Trump, Sean Hannity, and Fox News to blame Obama in 3, 2, 1…

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I WAS KIDDING!!! I didn’t mean for that to be taken literally. SMH.

Yes, I’m old enough that I had to look up what SMH meant.

REACTIONS AND FALLOUT FROM THE NUNES MEMO

Here’s some of the related news events from the Nunes Memo…

This memo fell flatter than me trying to do a Triple Lutz. That’s an ice skating thing, and considering the last time I ice skated I almost lost my thumb from being so clumsy, just imagine a middle-aged out of shape guy with no balance trying to jump, spin, and land.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RULES AGAINST MANAFORT, FOR MUELLER IN CIVIL CASE QUESTIONING LEGALITY OF RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Suck it, Manafort!

This was Paul Manafort’s Hail Mary move. If he could show that the investigation was illegal, then the 10 charges he’s looking at could be dismissed.

Instead, if he’s found guilty, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison. And this is BEFORE the espionage/treason/war crimes charges.

‘I HOPE THIS IS AN INSTANCE OF FAKE NEWS’: FBI MESSAGES SHOW THE BUREAU’S REAL REACTION TO TRUMP FIRING JAMES COMEY

This is from Ben Wittes at Lawfare Blog. His work doesn’t get a baby cannon boom.

From his article…

On June 22, 2017, Wittes made four FOIA requests. One of them sought communications to the workforce from the senior FBI leadership regarding Comey’s firing. Another sought communications on the topic from all the assistant directors and special agents in charge at the FBI’s many components and field offices to their respective teams. When the FBI did not respond in a timely manner, Wittes sued—represented by the folks at Protect Democracy—stating that his purpose was “to show conclusively that President Trump and his White House staff are lying about career federal law enforcement officers, their actions, and their attitudes”:

…

Over the weekend, we received 103 pages of records responsive to Wittes’s first two requests—messages from FBI leadership around the country and across the bureau regarding the firing of Director Comey. The bureau identified 116 pages of responsive material and withheld only 13 pages, so this material constitutes the overwhelming bulk of communications to staff on the subject of the firing.

What does it show? Simply put, it shows that Ellingsen nailed it when she described a reaction of “shock” and “profound sadness” at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House’s statements about the bureau were accurate—and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak. As Amy Hess, the special agent in charge in Louisville, put it: “On a personal note, I vehemently disagree with any negative assertions about the credibility of this institution or the people herein.”

This was part of what he called “the nicest FOIA request ever made to the FBI.” They gave him 103 pages of information to prove that President Trump lied about his excuse that the FBI was in turmoil before he fired James Comey.

MIKE FLYNN REALLLLLLY COOPERATING WITH MUELLER

This came in from Law and Crime, formerly Lawnewz.

Mike Flynn’s sentencing has been postponed due to upcoming events. If he had given them everything, and he was no longer of any use, he’d be in jail right now. Instead, he’s giving Mueller everything and then some. I wouldn’t be surprised if he testifies against one of the “bigger fish.”

TRUMP CALLS PEOPLE WHO DON’T CLAP FOR HIM ‘TREASONOUS’ AND ‘UN-AMERICAN’

In a speech today, Trump used language straight out of 1930’s Germany…again.

Considering that his only form of being able to handle criticism and self-doubt is through projection, one can almost guess what’s on his mind.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO HEAR APPEAL ON PENNSYLVANIA GERRYMANDERING CASE

Suck it, Mike Turzai!

Here’s what the map looks like now…

2012_Pennsylvania_congressional_districts_by_party

And here’s what it could look like, if it were drawn fairly…

PA_congressional_districts_cropped

Pennsylvania has 800,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, yet Republicans hold a 13-5 advantage in the House.

RUMOR MILL: THE ONCOMING STORM AND THE CRAZIEST GAME THEORY

From the Rumor Mill, talk about a RICO investigation against the GOP is picking up steam, and possibly even some MSM chatter. A lot of talk about money laundering is coming up as well involving Trump’s properties, especially his golf courses. He has a bad habit of suing to get property tax bills lowered after initial claims of how much his property is worth. Not necessarily evil or criminal, but damn peculiar.

The crazies thing I’ve seen today is something I’ll go into far greater detail about later, but it is the second craziest thing I think I’ve thought since this whole mess began. The craziest being The Russian Hypothesis, Version 0.1, which is due for an update to include what I’ve learned about Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act. The money part makes everything fall into place.

Today’s crazy came from Eric Garland, and was the natural evolution of a previous conversation.

What if Trump was allowed to win? What if, even knowing about the Russian interference, the criminal behavior, and all of the other nasty shit that Trump did, someone held back on purpose to let him win, knowing that once he was in power, he would expose himself, his comrades, his co-conspirators, and anyone who could benefit from his criminal empire?

I’m not saying that happened, not by a long shot. And I refuse to pull the “look on the bright side” until that traitorous ape is away from the nuclear weapons, but I’ve thought about this for a while. Trump is the symptom of global criminal corruption, not the root cause. He’s the mole that gets you in the doctor to get a checkup. The corruption is the cancer.

Putin and his Oligarch buddies are a large part of it, but they’re not alone. Vast criminal enterprises around the world, that until recently stayed in the background, are threatening liberal democracy around the world. And the corrupt are using the rule of law to pervert the rule of law.

Two can play this game.

Justice is slow, plodding, and thorough. But when she shows up, she rains down on her enemies.

The forecast calls for showers of justice for the foreseeable future.

That’s it for today.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

The Justice League

ROBERT MUELLER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE

When Robert Mueller was appointed the Special Counselor for the Russia Investigation by the Deputy Attorney General back in May 2017, one of the first things that he did was assemble a team to help him with the day to day activities. Not only would these team members do the heavy lifting in the courtroom, but their expertise would shape the investigation. These hires also tell us who and what they know.

What do we know about this team?

They are some of the best prosecutors in the world, specializing in everything from white-collar crimes to cybersecurity to terrorism. Many of them gave up 6, 7, possibly 8 figure salaries and partnerships to work on the Russian Investigation at base government pay.

What does this mean?

This means that there is more than enough evidence to convince some of the greatest lawyers on Earth to leave their private practices representing the wealthiest clients in the world to take part in the largest case in history. At the least, they will take part in the prosecution of the President of the United States. At the most, their roles will be pivotal in securing the fate of Democracy as we know it.

Who’s on the team, and what do they do?

Robert Mueller, Special Counselor

Former FBI Director, Mueller took over the position one week before the 9/11 terror attacks. He became the longest serving FBI Director since J. Edgar Hoover. After his time there, he became a partner at WilmerHale law firm in Washington, D.C.

James Quarles, member of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force

James Quarles was a young man in the 1970’s, but already a skilled lawyer. He served as an Assistant Special Prosecutor in the Watergate scandal.

Andrew Weissmann, Fraud and Corruption

Weissmann headed up the Enron Task Force between 2002 and 2005. Before that he was a federal prosecutor in New York. He took down Enron Chariman Kenneth Lay, CEO Jeffery Skilling, and members and bosses in the Genovese, Colombo, and Gambino crime families.

Greg Andres, White-Collar Crimes

Andres brings foreign bribery experience to the team. He took down an $8 Billion Ponzi scheme in Texas.

Andrew D. Goldstein, Assistant US Attorney from Southern District New York

Goldstein worked for Preet Bharara in SDNY where he led the public corruption unit. He has experience in money laundering, fraud, and corruption cases. Before his boss was fired by Donald Trump, Goldstein and Preet were supposedly working on a RICO case against the Trump Organization. Rumor has it that he took the evidence against Trump with him down to Washington.

Elizabeth Prelogar, The Russian Expert

Prelogar is fluent in Russian, and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

Rush Atkinson, Criminal Fraud

Atkinson is a prosecutor in the Criminal Division Securities & Financial Fraud Unit. He took down a mother and son team that orchestrated a $16 million medicare fraud scheme.

Aaron Zebley, former Chief of Staff to FBI Director Mueller

Zebley has expertise in Counterterrorism and National Security cases. He was prosecuting Al Qaeda before prosecuting Al Qaeda was cool. In recent years at WilmerHale, he focused on Cybersecurity cases.

Michael Dreeben, Supreme Court Expert

Less than 10 attorneys in history have argued more than 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Michael Dreeben is one of them.

Adam Jed, Civil Appeals Expert

Jed is an appellate lawyer in the civil division, not the criminal division. This implies that they’re preparing for civil cases, and expecting them them to challenged on appeal. His most famous case is United States v. Windsor, where he helped overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and brought about the legalization of gay marriage across the land.

Aaron Zelinsky, U.S. Attorney from Maryland

Zelinsky has worked for Rod Rosenstein, and was a hostage negotiator in the State Department under President Obama.

Kyle Freeny, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery

Freeny just wrapped up work on the “Wolf of Wall Street” money laundering case when she got the call to join the Mueller team.

Zainab Ahmad, Counterterrorism and Witness Flipping

Ahmad has singlehandedly crippled Al Qaeda in the United States. She has more convictions against terrorists in the United States than anyone else. How? She’s THE expert in flipping witnesses. If she can flip hardened terrorists against each other, what chance does a member of the Trump Family have against her?

Jeanie Rhee, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Rhee has two years of DOJ experience, and worked with Robert teller at WilmerHale. She represented the Clinton Foundation in a racketeering lawsuit in 2015.

Brandon Van Grack, National Security Division Prosecutor

Van Grack is an expert in espionage, national security, and International Crime cases.

Ryan Dickey, Cybercrime Expert

Ryan K. Dickey is a United States Attorney who specializes in cyber crimes. He was the prosecutor who convicted the original Guccifer, and is the man behind the shutdown of MegaUpload. He is one of the best attorneys in the world for prosecuting computer crimes.

Scott Meisler, Appellate Lawyer

Scott has represented the government in appeals involving search warrants, seizures, motions to suppress wiretap evidence, mail fraud, wire fraud, as well as structuring financial transactions and money laundering. In other words, he knows how to “defend the technicalities.”

Brian Richardson, The New Guy

Richardson clerked for Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer in October 2016 before joining the Mueller team in July 2017. He’s also worked in multiple district courts.

Heather Alpino, Counterintelligence and Export Control

Alpino is a Harvard Law graduate who has worked on cases against Iranian hackers, a British National and American who tried to get chemical weapons equipment into Syria, and prosecuted Hamza Kolsuz for trying to illegally export guns to Turkey.

Jonathan Kravis, Corruption

Kravis has experience in prosecuting public corruption cases. He helped take down former Congressman Chaka Fattah and DEA Agent Artemis Papadakis.

Uzo Asonye, Fraud and Financial Crimes

Asonye is the Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit in Eastern District Virginia.

Kathryn Rakoczy, Street Crime

Rakoczy has spent most of the last decade specializing in misdemeanors and violent crime in Washington, D.C.

Deborah Curtis, Counterespionage

Curtis has worked on many cases of espionage, including busting Chinese companies trying to get around North Korean sanctions, nailing an American scientist spying for the Israelis, prosecuting former State Department contractor Stephen Jin-Woo Kim for leaking classified intelligence to an Fox News reporter, and Chelsea Manning.

What can we infer?

We have multiple experts in money laundering, fraud, bribery, mafia crimes, cyber crimes, espionage, counterterrorism, asset recovery, witness flipping, international crimes, and Russian culture. By the way, they also have one of the few people alive that prosecuted a White House for criminal charges.

Mueller is not fucking around.

So far, we’ve got two arrests on white-collar crimes, and two convictions on plea deals for lying to the FBI regarding contacts with Russians. Plus, there’s a ton of stuff still under seal.

Without hyperbole, this is one of the greatest collection of lawyers ever pulled together. They’ve been working on this case since May 2017, and the investigation began a year before that. Any one of these prosecutors coming after a person would cause sleepless nights and panic inducing anxiety. All of them coming after a person would cause them to seriously contemplate suicide.

They are not fucking around. People are going to jail, or worse.

Thanks to Reddit user PoppinKREAM and this post for making this post a lot easier to put together.

UPDATED FEBRUARY 25, 2018: From some new information from CNN, I made a few changes:

Kyle Freeney is a she, not a he. I also added Brian Richardson and Scott Meisler.

UPDATED APRIL 6, 2018: Corrected spelling of Elena Kagan.

UPDATED JULY 20, 2018: Based on this article from The Daily Beast, I added the following people:

Heather Alpino
Jonathan Kravis
Uzo Asonye
Kathryn Rakoczy
Deborah Curtis

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 3, 2018: According to reporting from this article from CNN, the following lawyers have left Mueller’s team.

Ryan Dickey
Brian Richardson

UPDATED OCTOBER 3, 2018: According to reporting from Politico, the following lawyers have left Mueller’s team.

Kyle Freeny
Brandon Van Grack