Daily Check-In 03/19/2018

From the weekend and Monday, March 19.

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA

• Cambridge Analytica Bragged About Using Fake News, Bribes, And Ukranian Hookers to Influence Elections
• Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says company worked with Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon
• Everything you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook debacle
• Facebook investigating employee’s links to Cambridge Analytica
• Facebook and Cambridge Analytica face mounting pressure over data scandal
• YouTube: Cambridge Analytica: Whistleblower reveals data grab of 50 million Facebook profiles
• Trump-linked Data Firm Met With Russian Executives
• Data Firm Tied to Trump Campaign Talked Business With Russians   
• Massachusetts launches probe into Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data
• Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach
• How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions
• Facebook’s stock price is plummeting following the Cambridge Analytica disaster
• The CEO of Cambridge Analytica was secretly filmed offering to entrap politicians with bribes and sex workers
• Pursuing Forensic Audits to Investigate Cambridge Analytica Claims – Facebook Newsroom
• Revealed: Trump’s election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians – Channel 4 News
• Michael Flynn to disclose advisory role linked to Cambridge Analytica
• The EU Has Set Its Sights On A Data Protection Investigation Into Cambridge Analytica And Facebook
• UK authorities seek warrant to search Cambridge Analytica offices

Late Friday Night, Facebook announced that they were suspending Cambridge Analytica for not deleting user data.  At first, that sounded bad, but more like a flimsy excuse.

Turns out it was a whole hell of a lot worse.  Cambridge Analytica did a lot worse than just not delete data.  They stole user data, used it to manipulate voters, and have attacked  Democracy around the world, and the Brits are telling everyone about it.

It started Saturday when a whistleblower named Christopher Wylie, a former Director of Research at Cambridge Analytica, dropped a bombshell when he went on the record about CA’s data practices, and how they acquired their data from a quiz app that scrubbed users for not just their data, but everyone on their friends list as well that didn’t put their accounts on security lockdown.  They averaged 300 profile grabs per use of the quiz.  This led to over 50 MILLION USER PROFILES ending up in CA’s hands.

Let me say that again.  50 MILLION USER PROFILES.

They then took that data and plugged that into their algorithms to see how people think, what they like, how they thing, what motivates them, what they support, what they don’t like, what their friends like, how politically active they are, and who they’re likely to vote for.

With that data, they could use micro target ads with hyper accuracy for maximum effect.  They would run two ads against two different people, even in the same household.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the same channel in Britain, Channel 4, ran an undercover exposé showing some of the dirty tricks that CA would use in elections around the world.  Honeypots, entrapment, fake news, they did it all.

Tomorrow, Channel 4 is running another segment, where Cambridge Analytica brags about getting Donald Trump elected.

That much sounds terrible, but it gets worse.

Dr. Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, testified before British Parliament that he has never worked with the Russians, but that was not true.  Nix’s company Cambridge Analytica and their parent company SCL worked with Lukoil, a Russian oil giant.  This started back around 2014 or 2015.  SCL and CA often swapped employees back and forth, depending on the job at hand.  Lukoil was asking about political data in the United States.

Why was a Russian oil company interested in voting demographics for the United States back in 2014 and 2015?

Facebook, meanwhile, is trying to play this like they’re innocent and just found out about this.  Bullshit.  They knew about CA having this data back in 2015, and didn’t check that the data was deleted in 2016.  By that time CA had made multiple copies of the user data.

And yes, it gets even worse.

Cambridge Analytica was approached by Corey Lewandowski back in 2015 to work for the Trump Campaign, but they were already working with Ted Cruz.  Remember how Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekha didn’t join the Trump Campaign until later on? That’s because they were pushing Ted Cruz, but once Trump won the nomination and Paul Manafort was on the way out, they joined him, and put their resources in the fight as well.  Those resources included Kellyanne Conway and VP of Cambridge Analytica, Steve Bannon.

As bad as this is, keep in mind that this is only one piece of the puzzle.  This is just part of the targeting mechanism.  They pointed out who to target with propaganda, and what would work best.  Someone else **cough**Russia**cough** made the propaganda, and worked to find out who couldn’t be swayed, and how to stop them from voting.

Daily Check-In 11/06/2017 shed some light on Facebook’s investment.  Because of the Paradise Papers, we know that Yuri Milner was a cut-out for Putin and his banks.  They own Facebook.

TRUMP VS MUELLER

• Trump’s Lawyer: It’s Time to End the Mueller Probe
• Ryan after Trump attacks: Let Mueller do his job
• McCain: Mueller must be allowed to finish investigation ‘unimpeded’
• It’s Time for Congress to Pass the Mueller Protection Bills
• Mueller gives Trump’s legal team questions for potential interview: report
• Congressman calls for action if Robert Mueller is fired
• After Trump tweets, GOP rallies around Mueller — but not bills to protect him
• Trump to Hire Lawyer Who Has Pushed Theory That Justice Dept. Framed the President – The New York Times
• The Washington Post: Trump’s lawyers have turned over documents to Mueller with hopes of limiting interview scope
• Mueller’s Questions to Trump Focus on Comey, Flynn Firings 

Saturday morning, Trump started attacking Robert Mueller directly, and one of his lawyers said that the probe should end and that Mueller should be fired.  When I saw this, my first reaction was “Golly Gee Willickers, did Cheeto Mussolini get some bad news?”

Turns out yes, not only did I say Golly Gee Willickers, but it turns out that Mueller’s team had sent Trump’s lawyers a list of topics that will be brought up when they interview.

Not if.  When.

The questions that Mueller’s team sent Trump seem to focus on Obstruction of Justice.

Axios has learned that special counsel Robert Mueller has focused on events since the election — not during the campaign — in his conversations with President Trump’s lawyers. The top two topics that Mueller has expressed interest in so far: the firings of FBI director James Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn.

This is interesting for two reasons.

First, if Mueller’s asking about the firing of these two men, he has more than enough information to nail Trump for Obstruction of Justice, and wants to see what Trump and his legal team say or do.  Remember, Bobby Three Sticks ain’t asking a question he doesn’t already have the answers to.  He wants to see what Trump leaves out.

Second, by focusing the interview on Obstruction of Justice, he’ll lull Trump into a false sense of security.  Mueller has enough evidence on every possible front, but Obstruction of Justice is the low-hanging fruit, and possibly the easiest to prove.

TRUMP ORG AND KUSHNER CORRUPTION

• Kushner Companies confirms meeting with Qatar on financing
• Jared Kushner’s family business faked documents, made millions
• Trump Organization’s real estate partner in India accused of $147 million fraud
• AP Exclusive: Kushner Cos. filed false NYC housing paperwork
• Israeli Attorney General seeks to indict Sara Netanyahu
• N.Y. Attorney General to Meet With Tenants About Kushner Report
• ‘Just the tip of a very dirty iceberg’: Kushner Companies is under investigation for falsifying paperwork

Also over the weekend, we started getting leaks about the depth of the corruption of the Trump and Kushner companies.

We got confirmation of Kushner Companies meeting with Qatari officials, Trump’s Indian partner being accused of a $147 million fraud, and the wife of the Israeli Prime Minister being indicted for lying about spending more than $100,000 on takeout food.

But the most fun story from the weekend is Jared Kushner’s companies being investigated in New York for failing to properly file Rent Control paperwork for thousands of tenants.  Then, after not filing this paperwork, Jared’s companies jacked up the rent, forcing these tenants out.

Ok, Rent Control is legislation in New York City that prevents landlords from raising rent on certain properties and leases past a certain amount, if at all.

These are state and local crimes, and he’s under investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Remember, from GTKYG-Pardon Limitations, State crimes cannot be pardoned by the President.

#NEVERAGAIN

• Kroger stops selling magazines featuring assault rifles
• Spicy Files: Show me the NRA Money
• Parkland shooting survivors say the NRA is “basically threatening” them
• Fred Meyer Becomes First Major Chain To Stop Selling Guns After Parkland Massacre
• Pa. students serve detention for school walkout by wearing Parkland victims’ names, locking arms

The March For Our Lives is this Saturday, at multiple sites across the world.  One of the kids confirmed that they’re working with local groups to set up Voter Registration drives at the marches.

COLD WAR 2.0

• Australian PM Turnbull roundly condemns Russia over spy poisoning scandal
• Australian foreign minister backs chemical weapons inspections for Russia
• Britain is now threatening to seize Russian oligarchs’ luxury real estate after ex-spy’s poisoning 
• Why hasn’t Britain been able to stop Putin? Ask Jeremy Corbyn.

  When confronted with his government’s conclusion that Russia was responsible for what amounted to a military attack on his country, the opposition Labour Party leader and his spokesman (a) refused to accept that the Kremlin was responsible, (b) cast doubt on British intelligence, (c) complained that Moscow had not been accorded due process and (d) said the right response was “robust dialogue.” In other words, Corbyn echoed almost exactly the line advanced by Putin’s own propagandists.

  …

  Putin launches ventures that even the Soviet Union never dared to try — like the Russian force equipped with artillery and tanks that attacked U.S. troops in Syria — because he can count on de facto allies to weaken or obstruct any response. He has Trump in Washington and Corbyn in London; the latter, London bookmakers say, has roughly a 1 in 5 chance of becoming the next British prime minister.

  Hungary’s prime minister and the president of the Czech Republic, both NATO members, already lean Putin’s way, as do two of the top finishers in Italy’s recent election. Russia’s Western corner can be counted on to argue that sanctions are counterproductive, that the West itself is to blame for “creating tensions” with Putin and that the right course is more “robust dialogue.”

For those not familiar, Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the Labour Party, one of Britain’s major political parties.  He’s also got his tongue so far up Putin’s ass he can taste what he had for breakfast.

He is just as compromised as Trump.

McCABE

• The Latest: AP source says McCabe kept notes on Trump
• Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Lawyers Up

It’ll be interesting to see how crazy things get.  I wonder if the Intelligence Community will release some incriminating information.

FIRING FALLOUT

• Exclusive: Sources contradict Sessions’ testimony he opposed Russia outreach
• Paul Ryan sold shares on same day as private briefing of banking crisis
• Leahy Releases His Request To Chairman Grassley To Hold Urgent Hearing on DOJ Politicization
• Russia investigation may turn to Ivanka Trump as Mueller examines empire

All of these came out over the weekend.  Aside from the Leahy Letter, let’s look at these stories.

Jeff Sessions is called a liar with multiple witnesses verifying.

Ivanka is tied into the investigation by her connections to the corruption at Trump Org.

Paul Ryan is tied to insider trading.

This is the IC’s way of saying “We know, and soon will everyone.”

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• George Nader convicted of child porn charges in Virgina
• John Kelly Wants to Fire Dan Scavino for Failing Security Clearance
• Trump required staff to sign NDA’s that last past presidency
•  ACLU Statement on White House Nondisclosure Agreements

  “Public employees can’t be gagged by private agreements. These so-called NDAs are unconstitutional and unenforceable.”

  That’s it.  That’s their entire statement on the matter.  Straight, simple, and to the point.  My description of their statement is longer than their statement.

STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

• Trump evangelicals have sold their souls
• Michael Cohen taunts Stormy Daniels
• George W. Bush appointee assigned to Stormy Daniels suit against Trump

As much as I hate saying it, there are dick pics.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Austin police say they are dealing with a ‘serial bomber’ after fourth blast
• Pennsylvania Republicans Lose Last-Ditch Effort to Block New Map

Three members of the Congressional Black Caucus have called for the bombings in Austin, Texas, to be classified as ongoing terrorist attacks. They also called for officials to determine whether the bombings are “ideologically or racially motivated.”

RUMOR MILL:  THE BRITS ARE ON FIRE AND PISSING OFF THE DEEP STATE

I noticed a couple things this weekend.

First, either the British are done waiting for things to finish up in America, or they got the go-ahead to unleash Hell upon the Russians those that supported them.  Notice how many links there are in this post from British places, like Channel 4 or The Guardian?  And a lot of those deal with Americans, not Brits.

I’ve got a hypothesis on this.

They had these stories ready to go for a while, but for one reason or another, they were sat on. Some person from MI5 or MI6 told them not to run these stories until they got the word.  Saturday morning GMT time, they get a weird text, “The Bird Is The Word”.  They finish up their tea, then make a couple calls, and tell them to unleash the first wave of stories.

Either that, or some “Deep State” people got pissed and talked to the Press.

By the way, I hate the term Deep State, but I’m using it here to describe the professional men and women that have spent their lives serving the United States of America, doing the ugly work.  They just want to keep their heads down, do their job, and retire, while hopefully making the world a little better in the process.

So, imagine how pissed they are hearing about Andrew McCabe getting fired two days before retiring with a full pension.

They’re pissed.  They know the system better than the Trump’s, and they know how to make their lives a living hell.  And they’ll do it.

Finally, Louise Mensch says get ready for CA’s links to Russian Propaganda.  We’ll be hearing about that soon.

That’s it for today.  Cambridge Analytica is the first smoking gun.  This is where the narrative changes from “Did they?” to “How did they?”

Cambridge Analytica ties to the IRA and the troll farms.  The troll farms made the propaganda, and CA helped figure out who to show it to.  I’ve described many times the use of the hacked voter rolls and the RNC database, Spectrum Health, and Alfa Bank.  Combine this with Lukoil working with CA, and this puzzle makes more sense.

But here’s the scary part…

The NRA has their own database of their members.  They were targeted by CA.  Heavily targeted by CA.  But why?  Was it just for voting for Trump, or something else?

Did the Russians and Trump try to radicalize some Americans through the use of propaganda?

I hope not, but I don’t put it past them for trying.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur