Thursday March 22nd.
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) moved on Wednesday to have the House vote on protecting the Special Counsel’s Investigation into Russia by use of a discharge petition. If a majority of representatives sign the petition, the Speaker of the House is required to bring the bill to the floor for a debate and vote.
This does two things.
First, it shows how much Paul Ryan is obstructing the Russian Investigation. By refusing to bring this to the floor and requiring this kind of maneuver in the first place, it shows indifference. Combine this with the fact that Devin Nunes is still the head of the HPSCI, this smells like obstruction.
Second, if it passes it forces a vote, and it puts everyone on the record with a public vote. Each and every member of the House will have their votes recorded on whether or not they think that the investigation and its team should be protected. There is 100% certainty that anyone who votes “No” on that measure will have it used against them in an re-election ad this fall.
- Mueller Grants Immunity to Organizer of Seychelles Back Channel Meeting, Calls Him Back
- How 2 Gulf Monarchies Sought to Influence the White House(NYT Article mentioned in above DailyKos article)
Mr. Nader’s cultivation of Mr. Broidy, laid out in documents provided to The New York Times, provides a case study in the way two Persian Gulf monarchies have sought to gain influence inside the Trump White House. Mr. Nader has been granted immunity in a deal for his cooperation with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to people familiar with the matter, and his relationship with Mr. Broidy may also offer clues to the direction of that inquiry.
Mr. Nader has now been called back from abroad to provide additional testimony, one person familiar with the matter said this week. Mr. Mueller’s investigators have already asked witnesses about Mr. Nader’s contacts with top Trump administration officials and about his possible role in funneling Emirati money to Mr. Trump’s political efforts, a sign that the investigation has broadened to examine the role of foreign money in the Trump administration.
…
High on the agenda of the two men — George Nader, a political adviser to the de facto ruler of the U.A.E., and Elliott Broidy, the deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee — was pushing the White House to remove Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, backing confrontational approaches to Iran and Qatar and repeatedly pressing the president to meet privately outside the White House with the leader of the U.A.E.
Rumor has hit that Erik Prince has significant ties to Chinese Intelligence. Considering that Blackwater was bought out and renamed Xi at one point, there’s some credence to this.
Nader knows a whole helluva lot about all of Erik’s dealings, and those of his family, including sister Betsy DeVos.
The part I can’t shake is why grant immunity to a convicted pedophile? If I were a defense attorney, the first thing I’d do is attack his character as a witness, hammer the point home so hard that all the jury can think of when he speaks how he likes to screw young boys.
Unless they can’t use that defense…
Nader has to be able to corroborate something terrible, even worse than Erik’s meeting with the Russians, to make an immunity deal make sense.
“Remember when they were saying, during the campaign, that Donald Trump is giving great speeches and drawing big crowds, but he is spending much less money and not using social media as well as Crooked Hillary’s large and highly sophisticated staff. Well, not saying that anymore!”
This isn’t a tweet from months ago, years ago, or even a couple weeks ago. This was from today. This morning. Right as Cambridge Analytica is being dragged through the mud, and Congress is demanding their CEO show up to answer questions.
- “Now I’m F—ing Doing It My Way”: Jubilant and Self-Liberated, the President Prepares for War with Mueller
- John Dowd Resigns as Trump’s Lead Lawyer in Special Counsel Inquiry
Mr. Dowd, who took over the president’s legal team last summer, had considered leaving several times in recent months and ultimately concluded that Mr. Trump was increasingly ignoring his advice, one of the people said. Mr. Trump has insisted he should sit for an interview with the special counsel’s office, even though Mr. Dowd believed it was a bad idea.
Jon Dowd was the closest thing that the Trump legal team had to a competent lawyer. Trump fired him/Dowd quit because Trump won’t listen to his lawyers to avoid legal trouble.
Instead, he now has a team full of Fox News contributors working as his legal team. Like Rachel Maddow said, this is a PR team designed to explain Trump’s actions, not to prevent him from going to jail.
- John Bolton’s Curious Appearance In A Russian Gun Rights Video
- EXCLUSIVE: ‘Lone DNC Hacker’ Guccifer 2.0 Slipped Up and Revealed He Was a Russian Intelligence Officer
We have confirmation that Guccifer 2.0 is Russian GRU.
But on one occasion, The Daily Beast has learned, Guccifer failed to activate the VPN client before logging on. As a result, he left a real, Moscow-based Internet Protocol address in the server logs of an American social media company, according to a source familiar with the government’s Guccifer investigation. Twitter and WordPress were Guccifer 2.0’s favored outlets. Neither company would comment for this story, and Guccifer did not respond to a direct message on Twitter.
Working off the IP address, U.S. investigators identified Guccifer 2.0 as a particular GRU officer working out of the agency’s headquarters on Grizodubovoy Street in Moscow. (The Daily Beast’s sources did not disclose which particular officer worked as Guccifer.)
This is huge.
I’ve described before how IP addresses work in Daily Check-In 02/21/2018, so I don’t need as much detail here, but here’s how a VPN works…
VPN’s, or Virtual Private Networks, are like wormholes through the internet. Connect to the VPN at one point, and the connection tunnels it’s way to the server the VPN is hosted. All access to the internet is handled from the VPN host’s location, so it appears that everything done by the computer is taking place from the VPN.
Guccifer 2.0 was using Elite VPN, headquartered out of Russia but hosted out of France. Any IP traces of their traffic from the outside would trace it to a server in France.
Except that one time that they forgot to launch the VPN before logging on.
Once that happened, it was game over. USIC grabbed the IP addresses, and either them or friendly IC, like the Dutch (Daily Check-In 01/26/2018) traced the IP to the specific computer and pwned it.
Pwn=Utter defeat. To completely get the better of.
I’ve mentioned many times before that Guccifer 2.0 was Russian. But this is proof from the Mainstream Media, from the Press. Evidence that Roger Stone bragged about working with a Russian Intelligence Agent. Evidence that Aaron Nevins, a GOP operative from Florida, received stolen documents from a Russian Intelligence Agent. Evidence that Julian Assange received the stolen emails from a Russian Intelligence Agent.
Evidence that a Russian Intelligence Agent had possession of stolen emails from an American political party, and used them to impact the election.
Friday morning is going to be lit.
Lit=Turned up, excited, popping, over the top.
CAPITOL HILL
- House prepares for rapid vote today on jam-packed $1.3 trillion spending deal
- Congress rejects much of Betsy DeVos’s agenda in spending bill
- House panel finds no Trump-Russia collusion, recommends leak crackdown
- Mad Dog PAC | Dear Bob…take your SUBPOENA & shove it
- WATCH: Judiciary chairman questions whether Comey lied to Congress | TheHill
- House Intel Republicans shoot down hearing with Zuckerberg
History is going to look back at this and say that it was the most brazen example of partisan politics. In the same two week span that news breaks of Cambridge Analytica working with the Trump Campaign with stolen Facebook data, the House Intelligence Committee says that the Trump Campaign did not collude with the Russians, even though they didn’t investigate CA or Facebook, and refused to even interview them. On top of that, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the FBI for “abuses in the DOJ”, and not the Attorney General or anyone involved in the McCabe firing.
Here’s a list of things that the Democrats weren’t allowed to research:
FACEBOOK AND CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA
- ‘I’m not going to be bullied by Facebook’: Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tells his story
- Mueller examining Cambridge Analytica, Trump campaign ties
- Peter Thiel sells most of remaining Facebook stake | Article [AMP] | Reuters
- Ex-Facebook Executive: “You Don’t Realize It But You Are Being Programmed”
- Twitter’s chief information security officer is leaving the company | The Verge
- The NRA Used Cambridge Analytica For 2016 ‘Trigger The Vote’ Campaign
- John Bolton Also Relied on Cambridge Analytica
One group of scumbags using a shady organization is odd. Two is suspicious. All of the scumbags using the same shady organization reeks of conspiracy.
#NEVERAGAIN
- Obamas To Parkland Teens: You’ve Awakened The Nation’s Conscience
- The School Shooting Generation Has Had Enough
- Vermont Lawmakers Consider Gun Magazine Capacity Limits
- Bill Murray The Parkland kids remind me of the students who helped end the Vietnam War
- After A Two Decade Ban, Congress Finally Says The Federal Government Can Study Gun Violence
The massive spending bill that needs to pass by Friday to avoid yet another government shutdown includes two bills that improve gun safety in this country.
The first bill cleans up language of a previous bill which prevented the Centers for Disease Control from researching anything related to gun violence for the last two decades.
The second, called “Fix NICS”, aims to improve state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Right now, not every state is required to submit information to it. This bill would mandate that they do have to participate in it, but doesn’t include punishment for not taking part. It does include blocks of grant money that the states can use to offset the administrative costs of getting their systems to work with NICS.
Baby steps. That’s how we’ll fix this, with small steps one at a time, until we’re running.
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
- Biden Would ‘Go Down Fast and Hard’ Says Borderline-Obese 71-Year-Old With Bone Spurs
- The Washington Post: McMaster out as national security adviser, will be replaced by John Bolton
John Bolton is bad. Real bad. He was the craziest person in the Bush Administration, and was trying to start wars in Iran, North Korea, and anyone else he could justify.
I’m trying to stay calm. He takes over for McMaster on April 9th. A lot can happen in two weeks.
By the way, anyone else not surprised that Trump moved to fire McMaster after McMaster called out the Russians for their attack on Sergei Skripal?
AUSTIN
- The Austin bombing suspect was a homeschooled Christian conservative.
- Austin bomber Mark Anthony Conditt was part of Christian survivalist group that discussed ‘dangerous’ chemicals
- Americans are more likely to be attacked by far-right terrorists than Islamists
- Attorney General Ken Paxton Spread False Information on Austin Bombings
By 9:49 p.m., Paxton told KVUE that the devices were not connected and that he merely had repeated bad information. “I was on the show, one of my law enforcement guys called, because I was just sitting in the chair and they were coming to me periodically, and he was giving me information. He said, ‘I have no reason to believe this isn’t the same person.’ So that’s what I gave to Sean Hannity. When I got off the show, I called the Austin PD chief and talked to him. He gave me a different version, saying they were pretty sure it was unrelated, that it was an incendiary device that somebody threw in the Goodwill, so the early report was different from what the chief gave me, so I just give the information I get as I go along.”
Two things. The Attorney General is a complete dick who is under investigation for multiple crimes, and don’t give me this bullshit that his wasn’t a terrorist attack just because he’s white. If he was black, brown, yellow, or even had a deep tan or if the targets were white, the media, right wing, and religious zealots would be up in arms about how this monster was indoctrinated from an early age in a religion of hate, and he targeted his victims based off of racists policies.
Instead, they’ll try to ignore what this is. Extremist, right wing religious and racist domestic terrorism.
STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER
- Trump’s attorneys expected to appeal decision in defamation case
- Former Playboy model to Melania: I’m sorry
- Karen McDougal opens up about alleged affair with Trump on CNN US news
- YouTube: Stormy’s Lawyer and Cohen’s Lawyer on CNN
“You know the last time an attorney pointed at me like this and made threats to me like this, I tagged him for $454 million dollars”
Karen McDougal interviewed Anderson Cooper on CNN, and told the details of her affair with Donald Trump, including him trying to pay her and a trip to Melania’s bedroom.
That’s pretty fucked up.
TRUMP ORG AND CORRUPTION, FROM THE WATER IS WET DEPARTMENT
- Jared Kushner may be selling out American allies—and sending dissidents to their deaths
- Saudi and Emirati Princes Feud Over Who Has More Control of Jared Kushner
- NYC agency investigating more than a dozen Kushner buildings.
The AP reported Sunday that Kushner Cos. stated in more than 80 of permit applications that it had zero rent-regulated tenants in its buildings when it, in fact, had hundreds.
…
The Kushner Cos. said Wednesday that it is the victim of “politically motivated attacks.” It said it values and respects its tenants and operates under “the highest legal and ethical standards.”
In earlier statements the company said it outsourced preparation of its permit applications to third parties, and described the wrong information as “mistakes or typographical errors.” It also said it corrected mistakes as soon as it spotted them.
The buildings department confirmed on Wednesday that its building marshal’s office had launched investigations into possible false paperwork.
A typographical error? That’s their excuse? A typo…on multiple sets of paperwork…for more than 80 rental properties…totaling hundreds of apartments and condos?
That snapping sound is my credulity breaking.
COLD WAR 2.0
- Russia Overtakes Saudi Arabia and Tunisia as Largest Exporter of ISIS Fighters
- Kaspersky’s ‘Slingshot’ report burned an ISIS-focused intelligence operation – CyberScoop
- Ex-CIA official says there’s a 98 percent chance Russia has dirt on Trump: Putin ‘can wipe him out’
- Bitcoin could become illegal almost everywhere, after shocking discovery in the blockchain
- U.S. says Russian support for Taliban hurts peace process in Afghanistan – CBS News
So, we have Russia supporting the Taliban, ISIS, laundering money through BitCoin, and using their “Security Company” to tell the world about the USIC’s spying on ISIS.
Putin’s Russia is the enemy of freedom and democracy around the world.
CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?
- Zinke brought security team to vacation in Turkey and Greece, records show
- The Washington Post: Dow dives on fears of global trade war over Trump tariffs
- Asia’s Response After Trump Announces Tariffs Against China – Bloomberg Business
- China threatens to raise tariffs on about $3 billion of U.S. imports if two sides fail to resolve trade dispute
As I said before on Daily Check-In 03/02/2018, tariffs are a bad idea. No one wins a trade war, except those not involved.
Like Russia. Their only exports are fossil fuels and sadness, and neither of those were tariffed.
MEDIA MATTERS
- CNN Chief: Fox News Harms America, Is Worse Than Russian Propaganda
- The Breitbartization of Fox News
We’re fast approaching the next phase of the shitstorm, and Fox News’s role in attacking our Democracy will not go unnoticed nor unpunished.
RUMOR MILL: WHAT’S NEXT?
Twitter is all atwitter that shit’s ’bout to get real, yo.
All of the insiders are are talking about imminent indictments. Nobody was sure when, until the following press conference announcement.
Gee, a major Cyber Law Enforcement announcement, involving the Deputy Attorney General, the head of FinCEN, the US Attorney for SDNY, and the new Deputy Director of the FBI. And, it comes on the heels of the Guccifer 2.0 GRU story, Cambridge Analytica, and after multiple times that Roger Stone’s friends have been in the news.
Countercheckist, TeaPain, PatriotLou, Louise, the Alt’s, ALL OF THEM are talking about indictments in the morning.
That’s it for today. Friday is likely going to be crazy. Historic crazy. Be ready for anything. This weekend has likely indictments against Russian hackers and American coconspirators, Stormy Daniels’s interview on 60 Minutes, the March for our Lives, and persistent rumors of Trump trying to fire Mueller. That last part will be made politically impossible after indictments drop.
The plan is to write an article about gun control. To say that gun control is a touchy subject for some people is an understatement. I’ve had more peaceful arguments drunk off my ass arguing with priests about how their gods were figment of their imaginations. (Yes, I’m a bit of a dick.).
There is no simple answer for gun control. If there were, we would have done it by now.
Tomorrow is probably going to be fast and furious. Like I said before, if we’re getting indictments in the morning, then they’ll most likely be for a bunch of hackers, both Russian and American, but Roger Stone is likely to be the biggest name involved. I don’t think Mueller’s going to make a move against the Trump family yet. That won’t happen until everything is ready to wrap up, and when he does go for the family, it will be endgame.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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