Monday, May 7th, and the weekend.
BLACK CUBE
- Israeli Operatives Who Aided Harvey Weinstein Collected Information on Former Obama Administration Officials
- Revealed: Trump team hired spy firm for ‘dirty ops’ on Iran arms deal | UK news | The Guardian
- Thread from Colin Kahl about Black Cube
- Twitter thread about Black Cube
- Laws broken by using Black Cube
- Trump aides reportedly hired an Israeli intelligence agency to dig up dirt on Obama’s Iran deal team
“I didn’t think much more of it until I was informed over the weekend that the gentleman in question was not a journalist, but an operative of this Israeli intelligence firm. That’s upsetting enough, but the fact that this firm was hired by the Trump Administration to spy on and entrap US individuals and organizations, is beyond reprehensible.”
Just when I think that things can’t get any more fucked up, a story like this comes out.
In an effort to discredit the diplomats that worked on the Iran Nuclear Deal, Trump’s administration ordered a private investigator with ties to Israeli Intelligence to dig up dirt on the diplomats. When details of this operation came out on Twitter, some people connected the dots and discovered that this was the same people behind Harvey Weinstein’s bullying and harassment campaign – Black Cube.
What are the odds that Trump and Weinstein both happened to pick the same shady PI company with ties to Mossad by sheer coincidence? If you said between slim and none, and slim just caught an Uber, go get yourself a cookie. Or celery. Whatever floats your boat.
This wasn’t in 2015 or 2016, this was while Donald Trump was President of the United States. Him, someone representing him from the White House, or someone from the private sector who would benefit from screwing Iran, hired spies to attack, threaten, and/or discredit private citizens.
SCHNEIDERMAN ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC ABUSE
- New York Attorney General and Weinstein Foe Accused of Physically Abusing Women
- Four Women Accuse New York’s Attorney General of Physical Abuse
I’m not sure what to make of this. On one hand, this smells a hell of a lot like Al Franken, suspiciously like Roger Stone pulling shit to illicit the knee-jerk response from the left to call for resignations over allegations.
On the other hand, this is some pretty fucked up shit, and if the allegations are true, then he should resign.
Let’s see how this unfolds…
UPDATE. Well that was quick.
This changes nothing in the investigations into the Trump family, the efforts to change New York law to allow the state to prosecute people protected by pardons as a way to avoid justice, and this doesn’t change the NYAG’s office cooperating with the Special Counselor’s Office.
I used to play football. Badly. I was the 6th string JV running back, and we only had 5 running backs. But we had a phrase. Next man up. Everyone practices and prepares as though they have to play. A lot of things could happen between the first practice of the week and game day. Injuries, bad grades, pop a piss test, get arrested for attempted assault, get shot in the ass by an angry farmer after a cow tipping incident gone horribly wrong, or one of the coaches wants to play someone different.
It’s the same situation here. Next man (or woman) up.
TRUMP ORG AND CORRUPTION, FROM THE WATER IS WET DEPARTMENT
- Trump’s $400 million cash spending spree
- How did Trump get $400 million in cash for new properties?
- As the ‘King of Debt,’ Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending hundreds of millions in cash. – The Washington Post
- Why Mueller Has to Expose Trump’s Crooked Business Empire
- Robert Mueller Is Not Done Following the Money
The MSM is FINALLY looking into Trump’s money laundering, though they haven’t used the phrase yet.
Trump, who bragged for decades about financing his projects with other people’s money, then welching on the loans, suddenly pulled an about-face and used a crap ton of money to pay for projects. Then, after construction, they took out loans for more than the value the properties. That’s Money Laundering.
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
- Trump: I’m not obstructing justice, I’m ‘fighting back’
- Trump tweets legal threat to Mueller team
- Dem rep hits Trump for attacking Mueller probe: You can’t shut it down, you’re not a king
- Ex-Trump aide on Mueller interview: Every question they asked, they already knew the answer
- Mueller team questions longtime Trump friend Tom Barrack
Tom Barrack was the chairman of the Trump Inauguration Committee. His Chief of Staff… Rick Gates. Yes, that Rick Gates.
Remember Erik’s ties to Chinese Intelligence (Daily Check-In 03/22/2018)? It’s nice to see the MSM starting to catch up.
- Trump Joins House Attacks Over Investigations – The New York Times
- Sources: Nunes didn’t read DOJ documents he demanded – CNN Video
- Nunes, in spat with Justice Department, threatens Sessions with contempt over Russia materials
- Paul Ryan noncommittal on vote to hold Sessions in contempt
- Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein Delivers Remarks at the Anti-Defamation League National Leadership Summit | OPA | Department of Justice
- WSJ: Trump to decide to meet with Mueller by May 17
- Mueller rejects Trump request to answer questions in writing
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is now on President Trump’s legal team, told CBS News correspondent Paula Reid Monday afternoon that special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has rejected proposals to allow Mr. Trump to answer questions from investigators in writing.
The president’s legal team has previously signaled that this would be their preferred format for a possible interview as it helps protect Mr. Trump from the possibility of lying or misleading investigators, which is a criminal offense.
It’s not that Mueller’s office won’t accept written answers from Donald Trump, but there are guidelines preventing legal documents being written in crayon.
COHEN/RUDY/STORMYGATE
- Rudy Giuliani Says Michael Cohen May Have Paid Off More Women for Trump | pluralist
- In Bizarre Interview, Giuliani Says Some Of His Own Statements Are Just Rumors
- Michael Avenatti Sounds Off on Giuliani and Trump: ‘These Guys Are Making This Up as They Go Along’
- Schiff: Giuliani has been ‘deeply hurtful’ to Trump’s defense
- Giuliani: Mueller maybe going after Cohen because he thinks he will ‘flip faster’ | TheHill
- Michael Avenatti on the Hunt for Stormy Daniels’ Parking-Lot Assailant
- Rudy Giuliani’s flubs may let Stormy Daniels take down President Trump
- Rudy Giuliani is Either a Spy for the Left, an Idiot, or Both Because He’s Destroying the President With Every Interview
- Playmate says she watched Barbara Moore and Trump have sex Elke Jeinsen told DailyMailTV she and fellow Playmate Barbara Moore were invited in the summer of 1993 to Trump Tower where she watched her frie… dailymail.co.uk
- “I’d Die for My Wife and My Kids”: Michael Cohen Grapples with His New Reality Besieged by media and legal bills, and feeling abandoned by Washington, friends say Cohen is in a “dangerous place.” vanityfair.com
- Stormy Daniels’ Penthouse Revelations: On Trump’s Hair, Penis and More
When Daniels is asked if Trump’s hair stays still as he has sex, Daniels replies, “No, [his hair is] real. He chose that.” When the interviewer presses, “And it just fluffs around as he’s on top of you?” she replies, “Yeah, that’s real. Kind of like a drunken cockatoo.” How much is the Eternal Sunshine procedure?
Yeah, a cockatoo. I’m afraid to guess how long it will take someone to make a pic of that.
COLD WAR 2.0
- Nearly 1600 reported arrested in Russian anti-Putin protests
- North Korea says denuclearization pledge not result of U.S.-led sanctions
- I’m confused, did Marco Rubio do something good?
- Why the Magnitsky Act matters to Putin Vladimir Kara-Murza says the controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer — who has since been reported to have close ties t… edition.cnn.com
1600 Russians arrested in protests in Russia, many of them children. Protesting is not protected speech in Russia, so even showing up is illegal.
As they were chanting, “Down with the Tsar!”
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
- Jared Kushner Revised His Financial Disclosures Again, Hasn’t Been Fired Because He’s ‘Married to the President’s Daughter’: Watchdog
- Trump team makes the midterms about saving his presidency
- Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao Finally Gets Her Own Ethics Scandal
- EPA’s climate change website went down a year ago for ‘updating.’ It’s still not back.
- ‘You are hurting real people.’ Warren slams Mick Mulvaney on CFPB
- Billionaire Carl Icahn No Longer Shows Insurer AIG as a Big Holding
- Did Elaine Chao’s DOT interviews help her family’s business? – POLITICO
- The Washington Post: HUD Secretary Ben Carson to be sued for suspending Obama-era fair-housing rule
Holy Shit, we’ve got the trifecta of corrupt cabinet stories. We’ve got a White House Advisor who can’t get a clearance, a Transportation Secretary connected to Human Trafficking, the EPA head paranoid AF and spending taxpayer money like he’s on a speed run and planing stories about other corrupt cabinet members like Ryan Zinke, Carl Icahn engaging in insider trading, and Ben Carson, a black man that says that attempts at desegregation are socialist.
- The Washington Post: Gina Haspel, nominee to head CIA, sought to withdraw over questions about her role in agency interrogation program
- Torture Makes the FBI’s Job Harder
- Pwn All The Things on Torture
- Ex-CIA director’s advice: Do not serve this president
Life is not an episode of 24. Torture is bad, and has no place in an interrogation. The return on investment is low.
- Melania Trump reportedly said she knows her husband contributes to cyberbullying — and the White House wants her to back off
- Melania Trump Cyberbullying Booklet Appears to Be Copied From FTC Booklet Released During Obama Administration
Yeah. Irony isn’t dead, it hung itself in the garage from the rafters. It left a note that said “It’s all your fault.”
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- Fox News’ Neil Cavuto responds to angry viewers: ‘All I’m saying is the president should be very careful calling anyone else being fake’
- Tapper to Conway: I’d like Trump to stop lying
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA AND FACEBOOK
- House Democrats Plan to Release 3,000 Russian-Linked Facebook Ads
- Facebook accused of introducing extremists to one another through ‘suggested friends’ feature
- UK regulator orders Cambridge Analytica to release data on US voter | UK news | The Guardian
- Cambridge Analytica kept Facebook data models through US election | UK news | The Guardian
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- Michael Flynn cancels Montana campaign appearance
- Republican Fears About Holding The Senate Start To Sink In
- Republicans Make Moves To Crush Gerrymandering Reform
- Documents show ties between university George Mason, conservative Koch Brothers donors
- New wave of Trumpian candidates could spell disaster for Republicans in mid-terms, GOP fears
- Blankenship: Trump Supported a Candidate ‘Basically Accused of Pedophilia’
- Jake Tapper: McCain not wanting Trump at his funeral is ‘real moment for the country’
- McCain doesn’t want Trump at funeral, friends tell White House
- McCain says he regrets picking Palin as running mate | TheHill
BLUE WAVE
- Connecticut passes bill giving electoral votes to presidential candidate who wins popular vote
- Women Set to Storm November Midterms
#NEVERAGAIN
- Republican mayor who told Parkland Shooting survivor David Hogg to ‘eat it’ faces recall election
- The Pentagon Considers This Russian Sniper Rifle a Big Threat to US Soldiers. The NRA Helped Promote It.
- America’s Youth Under Fire – Center for American Progress
- NRA on defense after governor exposes its role in gun crime pipeline
- Oliver North to become next president of National Rifle Association
- Oliver North named president of the National Rifle Association
- The NRA just named one of the most infamous gun runners in the world to be its president
- Conspiracy theorists think she’s a Parkland ‘crisis actor.’ She’s a Brooklyn chef — and she’s scared.
Oliver North came to infamy from the Iran-Contra Affair back in the 80’s for his role in Congressional testimony about a plot to… you know, I’m not exactly sure. Out of all Presidential scandals, I know the least about this one. I was a kid when this happened, and I remember one of my vacations spent watching this dick taco on television.
DOCTOR, DOCTOR
- Americans are starting to suffer from Trump’s health-care sabotage
- ObamaCare insurers in Virginia propose major premium hikes for 2019 | TheHill
- What is Trump hiding about his health?
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- The Washington Post: How the music industry overlooked R. Kelly’s alleged abuse of young women
- Former Kentucky Judge sentenced to prison for human trafficking.
- Police superintendent retires after probe for giving Rush Limbaugh special treatment – ABC News
RUMOR MILL
Remember the speculation about what oligarchs were stopped at the airport from Daily Check-In 04/04/2018? Looks like at least one of them was Viktor Vekselberg.
Ming is an interesting character on Twitter, and I’ve discussed Cassandra Fairbanks a few times before. I’ve referenced her indirectly in a few posts, and mentioned her directly in Daily Check-In 9/11/2017 when I talked about meeting Claude Taylor. She was a Leftist/Anarchist turned Bernie Bro turned Never Hilary turned Alt-Right/Team Trump, all while working for RT. A true example of Horseshoe Theory.
According to this tweet, at some point she began working with the FBI…again. I say again because there were rumors of her working with them to set up a lot of her old Leftist colleagues.
2018 has such sloppy writing and a low budget. Reusing old sets and side characters like this?
Corruption isn’t just Russian or American. It’s worldwide, and across many fields. The scope will shock everyone.
That sounds like a clickbait article. “43 ways that Corruption Infects the World. #17 WILL SHOCK YOU!”
That’s it for today. I might need to take a day off soon, but at the same time, I’m afraid that the one day I take off, everything will go to shit. I know that’s not likely the case, but at the same time, in some weird way, writing and researching these entries are both stressful and stress-reducing at the same time.
By the way, the Pens lost tonight. They’re out of the playoffs this year. That means my hope for a Pens/Knights Stanley Cup final won’t happen this year. Oh well.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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