Daily Check-In 03/28/2018

Wednesday March 28th

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

• Robert Mueller’s Office Wants A Judge To Consider Jail Time For A Lawyer Who Pleaded Guilty To Lying
• Mueller Tells Court Paul Manafort Partner Rick Gates Knew They Were Dealing With ex-Russian Intelligence Agent
• Twitter Moment about Alex Van Der Zwaan
• Bombshell Mueller court filing shows Rick Gates was knowingly in contact with a Kremlin spy

From the BuzzFeed article…

Fourth, the lies and withholding of documents were material to the Special Counsel’s Office’s investigation. That Gates and Person A were directly communicating in September and October 2016 was pertinent to the investigation. Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents assisting the Special Counsel’s Office assess that Person A has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016. During his first interview with the Special Counsel’s Office, van der Zwaan admitted that he knew of that connection, stating that Gates told him Person A was a former Russian Intelligence Officer with the GRU.

…

Person A worked with Manafort and Gates in connection with their Ukraine lobbying work. Person A is a foreign national and was a close business colleague of Manafort and Gates. He worked in Ukraine at Manafort’s company Davis Manafort International, LLC (DMI). Up until mid-August 2016, Person A lived in Kiev and Moscow.

I’ve got $20 riding on the GRU officer being none other than Konstantin Kilimnik.

But this is a big deal.  Rick Gates KNEW he was communicating with a Russian Spy back in September of 2016, a couple months before the election.

Let me say this one more time.

The Deputy Campaign Manager for the Republican nominee to President met with a Russian Spy before the election.

• ‘Everyone thinks he was whacked’: New evidence has emerged that a Russian media mogul was beaten to death by hired thugs in Washington
• Key Trump Officials Met With A Putin Ally During Inauguration Weekend

George Papadopoulos met with several people in Europe, including the Defense Minister of Greece.  Remember, George was in Greece earlier in the year at the same time as Putin.

• An unheard-of problem: The President can’t find a lawyer
• Exclusive: Spurned by top lawyers, Trump’s defense elevates Washington outsider | Article [AMP] | Reuters
• Luxembourg recalls ambassador from Russia over Salisbury attack | Article [AMP] | Reuters
• Manafort bets on presidential pardon in special counsel case
• Spicy Mic: Mad Dog PAC | Pardon me? No really Pardon me…
• Trump’s lawyer allegedly raised possibility of pardons for Manafort, Flynn last summer

I’ve mentioned before in GTKYG-Pardon Limitations how bad of an idea this is, but it looks like we’re heading to a challenge in court.  It’s a matter of time before Trump tries to pardon his way out of this mess, and about 30 seconds before those pardons are challenged in the Supreme Court, likely by Michael Dreeben, as mentioned in The Justice League.

But this is very bad for Jon Dowd.  If he talked with Mike Flynn’s lawyer about Trump pardoning Flynn, while representing Trump, this could be a clear cut case of Obstruction of Justice against Dowd.

Dowd’s gonna need a lawyer.

MAGA.  Make Attorney’s Get Attorneys.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• The Parkland kids have triggered conservative snowflakes
• White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States
• I Was Kind to Nikolas Cruz. He Still Killed My Friends.

I am not writing this piece to malign Nikolas Cruz any more than he already has been. I have faith that history will condemn him for his crimes. I am writing this because of the disturbing number of comments I’ve read that go something like this: Maybe if Mr. Cruz’s classmates and peers had been a little nicer to him, the shooting at Stoneman Douglas would never have occurred.

This deeply dangerous sentiment, expressed under the #WalkUpNotOut hashtag, implies that acts of school violence can be prevented if students befriend disturbed and potentially dangerous classmates. The idea that we are to blame, even implicitly, for the murders of our friends and teachers is a slap in the face to all Stoneman Douglas victims and survivors.

This piece was written by Isabelle Robinson, one of the students at Parkland, but it could just as easily have been written by any fellow student or co-worker of any mass shooter in the last generation.

There comes a point in the blame game where we, as Americans, inevitably blame the victims and survivors of these atrocities for the actions of the perpetrators.

We blame the victims for not being nicer to a sociopath or psychopath.  We blame them for not reaching out to the weird kids, or rebuffing their awkward romantic advances.  We blame them for bullying the shooters.  We blame them for not being repulsed by terrible hygiene, or offensive views.  We blame them for not going to the authorities when given a chance, and then blame them for not doing more when the authorities can’t or won’t do anything.  We blame the bullied for not standing up for themselves, then blame them again when they do.

It has to fucking stop.

First, asking kids to do what we’re unwilling or unable to do reeks of bullshit hypocrisy.

Second, unlike the image of the loner gunman that we like to embrace, many of these monsters are psychopathic bullies who get pleasure on hurting others.  They’re the ones making life miserable for others.

Third, ever notice that most mass shooters are white guys with senses of entitlement?  “She didn’t flirt back with me”, “I’m a 26 year old virgin with no friends”, “No one likes me”, “Women don’t find me attractive” are some of the justifications given by these monsters, as if the world owed them something.  The world doesn’t owe anyone anything.  No one is entitled to friends, love, or a girlfriend.  They have to earn those things, and realize that just because they’re white, it doesn’t mean that they get them for free.

Finally, know this shooter was?  He was a radicalized right-wing terrorist.  There I said it.  The Parkland Shooter was a goddamned terrorist.  No different than the Austin bomber.  They were radicalized by hate groups online and in the real world, honed their craft, and committed acts of terror.  The only difference between them and members of ISIS is the color of their skin and the color of their hats.

 

 

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK

• Cambridge Analytica Whistle-Blower Contends Data-Mining Swung Brexit Vote
• The Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower Had A Little-Known Company That Met With Trump’s Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski
• Emails link Peter Thiel’s Palantir and Eric Schmidt’s daughter to Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica fiasco
• Revealed: Cambridge Analytica data on thousands of Facebook users still not deleted
• Tim Cook says Apple’s customers are not its product, unlike Facebook – Ars Technica

I’m enjoying Tim Cook throwing shade at Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.  Apple’s stance of privacy in the digital age is nearly the opposite of Facebook.  Apple anonymizes user data, and their devices and cloud services are more difficult to get in to than their competitors.

Full disclosure, I am neck deep in the Apple Ecosystem.  That company has probably made at least $10,000 off of my family over the last decade or so.

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Trump proposal would penalize immigrants who use tax credits, other benefits
• Trump ousts Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin; Robert Wilkie to serve as acting secretary
• Judge allows lawsuit accusing Trump of receiving improper payments from states, foreign governments through D.C. hotel

You have got to be kidding me, right?  I’m not shocked about Shulkin getting fired, that was coming after finding out about the trip to Europe.  But Trump plans to nominate the White House Doctor, Admiral Ronny Jackson?

Remember the yearly physical from Daily Check-In 01/17/2018?  Yeah, that guy.

 

STORMYWATCH, FROM THE STORMCENTER 6000 METEOROPORNOLOGICAL CENTER

• Stormy Daniels’ lawyer asks federal court for permission to depose Trump and his lawyer
• Spicy Mic: Mad Dog PAC | Stormy Deposition

 

CAN WE GET BACK TO POLITICS?

• Judge orders Florida governor to create new process to restore voting rights of convicted felons
• Shock poll: Majority of Americans don’t see Trump tax cuts in paychecks
• Maryland case part of an unprecedented look by Supreme Court at gerrymandering
• Citizens United and the NRA: To fix gun laws, we have to fix campaign finance laws first

The Maryland gerrymandering case is interesting.  Maryland is gerrymandered to favor the Democrats, using the same tricks that the GOP used in other states.  The Supreme Court may be approaching a decision.  Let’s see how this goes.

 

RUMOR MILL:  FUCK JULIAN ASSANGE

• Julian Assange’s Internet Disabled At The Ecuador Embassy In London
• Ecuador Cuts Off Julian Assange’s Outside Communication
• Ecuador cuts WikiLeaks founder Assange’s internet at embassy

Ecuador cut off Assange’s internet today and is not letting him have any visitors in response to his promoting articles from members of the Catalonian government. This pissed off some of Ecuador’s allies.

Fuck Julian Assange, Fuck Kim Dotcom, and all of their allies.  They are enemies of Democracy.

This could be another slap on the wrist for the Surprise Sex Enthusiast (Rapist), and he’ll have his access restored soon.  Then again, the embassy has had problems with Julian for a while, and they could finally be ready to kick him out.

 

That’s it for today.  It’s shortly before 11PM EST, and this is the earliest I’ve wrapped things up in a while.  I’m putting a wrap on things now, before I dive into another rabbit hole.  Last time that happened, I ended up playing a weird game of chess.

 

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur