Daily Check-In 07/20/2018

Friday, July 20th and the weekend

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION: REDACTED PAGE FISA APPLICATION RELEASED, BUTINA HAD MULTIPLE CONTACTS ACROSS GOP, INCLUDING MARK SANFORD’S THANKSGIVING DAY BBQ, MUELLER SUBPOENAS A MADAM

• The Redacted Carter Page FISA Applications and Renewals
• Spicy Mic: Carter Page Thread
• Rubio refutes Trump’s tweets on Carter Page, saying FBI did not spy on Trump campaign
• Pwnallthethings: Carter Page Thread
• FBI believed Trump campaign aide Carter Page was recruited by Russians
• FBI releases Page surveillance warrant docs
• Carter Page acknowledges working as informal adviser to Russia
• Carter Page FISA Documents Are Released by Justice Department – The New York Times
• Analysis | With the release of new documents, Devin Nunes’s memo on Carter Page has gotten even less credible
• What to Make of the Carter Page FISA Applications – Lawfare
• Trump calls for end of Mueller probe, saying it’s ‘discredited’ by Carter Page surveillance

The Sheldon Cooper of Treason is back in the news.  This time, we get the FISA application and renewals.  Yes, they are heavily redacted, but we do learn quite a few things from what is and isn’t there.

First, the surveillance worked.  They gathered quite a bit on Carter Page.  For example, his list of known Russian Intelligence connections nearly tripled from the first application to the last.

Second, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all of the Traitor Tots that screamed from the top of their lungs that this was poisoned fruit because of Christopher Steele were full of shit.  They lied about how much the FISA warrant was based off of Steele’s work, they lied about what was in the application, and they lied about how Carter Page was an innocent bystander.

Third, we see that the Traitor Tots of Devin Nunes, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, et al, have no strategic forethought.  Out of all of the hills to die on, Carter Page was tactically unsound.  Carter Page has had years of contacts with Russian Intelligence, to the point that the FISA court consider him to be an asset of the Russians.  Even worse is that every time he opens his mouth, he sticks his foot in it.  His decisions have been borderline braindead (Daily Check-In 11/07/2017), and when he does decide on a story, he finds the worst way possible to spin it.  The best conclusion I can draw from the Traitor Tots going balls out to protect Carter Page is that they are caught working with him, and they’re assuming that everything Carter knows, the FBI knows.

• Russian billionaire with U.S. investments backed alleged agent Maria Butina, according to a person familiar with her Senate testimony
• Report: Alleged spy Maria Butina paid by Russian billionaire Konstantin Nikolaev
• New dots connect Butina case to K.T. McFarland and Mike Flynn
• Maria Butina was at GOP Rep. Mark Sanford’s Thanksgiving BBQ with Paul Erickson
• The Russia Investigations: How Many More Maria Butinas Are There?
• The NRA Is Awfully Quiet About Maria Butina
• Exclusive: Accused Russian agent Butina met with U.S. Treasury, Fed officials | Article [AMP] | Reuters
• NRA Admits Accepting Money From 23 Russia-Linked Donors

More information came out about the Red Sparrow this weekend.  Not only did she have extensive communications with GOP high rollers across the government, but she likely influenced several White House hirings, including up to the Cabinet.  She did this by manipulating Paul Erickson, who then put pressure on his GOP friends to insist on hiring someone or not hiring someone.  They put pressure on Trump to not hire Mitt Romney as his Secretary of State, and pushed KT McFarland as Mike Flynn’s Deputy National Security Advisor.

Maria was also at Mark Sanford’s 2017 Thanksgiving Party.  There were about 300 people at his BBQ, and Maria was Paul Erickson’s plus 1.

She also had contacts with people at the Treasury Department.

So, I’d love it to hear someone explain to me how a 29 year old Russian National grad student was able to meet with so many different people in the government, in the lobbying world, and in all of these special interest groups, all the while no one thought her being around was weird or suspicious.

• Ecuador Will Imminently Withdraw Asylum for Julian Assange and Hand Him Over to the UK. What Comes Next?
• Andrew Laufer: “Sucks to suck” links to RT story about Julian Assange about to get kicked out of Ecuadorian Embassy

I’m taking a huge grain of salt since Glenn Greenwald wrote this, and he’s basically a stooge for Assange and Putin, but there could be something to this.  Keep an eye out over the next few weeks, especially if someone not Glenn Greenwald reports on this.

• Mueller Finally Solves Mysteries About Russia’s ‘Fancy Bear’ Hackers
• Mueller Reportedly Subpoenas ‘Manhattan Madam’ in Latest Power Move
• Mueller subpoenas ‘Manhattan madam’ Kristin Davis who worked for Trump ally Roger Stone: TMZ

This might be the craziest thread I’ve followed in this whole investigation, but Roger Stone has connections to human trafficking, drug dealing, and prostitution.  This is gonna get pretty WTF, so bear with me.

Robert Mueller subpoenaed the madam that provided a high-end prostitute to former New York politician Elliot Spitzer.  This woman, Kristin Davis, is connected to Roger Stone directly through Andrew Miller, one of Stone’s aides who med with Mueller’s team earlier in the week. (Daily Check-In 07/18/2018).  After Spitzer resigned, Davis ran for public office because why the fuck not.  Her campaign manager was Andrew Miller.  In recent years, Ms. Davis has been arrested for providing drugs along with a piece of ass to her clients.

Here’s where it gets really fucked up.  Supposedly Stone, Davis, and Miller share connections to a group called NXIVM.  It’s one of these self-help pyramid schemes for rich people and almost rich people who want to be more right and well-connected.  If they sound familiar, I’ve mentioned them once or twice in the Crime and Punishment sections regarding Allison Mack getting busted for human trafficking, owning sex slaves, and blackmail. (Daily Check-In 04/20/2018).  The Frank Report has been on this shit like black clothes on a goth kid.  Anyway, Roger Stone supposedly has a connection with this group, and got into some trouble with them when he tried to hack to the email of the former leaders of the group looking for dirt on Hilary Clinton back in 2008.

To be honest, I wanted to avoid NXIVM like the plague.  I have enough conspiracy theories and crackpot shit to follow up on without adding a cult that makes look Scientology look normal to the list.  But, now that Roger Stone is neck deep in all of it, it warrants at least a cursory look.  I’ve long since resigned myself to the fact that everything else I cover is connected in one way, shape, or form, and I wanted at least one weird thing to not be involved.  Now there’s a whole new level of crazy to look into.

Fuck.

• Senate Intel Had Asked For Financial Documents On The Russian Gun Rights Activist
• Russian firm indicted in special counsel probe cites Kavanaugh decision to argue that charges should be dismissed
• John Schindler: There is no equivalency between Russia and the United States

 

COHEN: LORDY, THERE ARE TAPES

• Tom Arnold: Michael Cohen is not taking the fall for Donald Trump
• The Washington Post: In secret recording seized by FBI, Trump and Cohen discuss making payments for story of former model who alleged affair with Trump
• TAPED: Michael Cohen Recorded Trump Discussing Hush Money Payment For Karen McDougal Story
• Renato Mariotti: How screwed is Cohen?
• Michael Avenatti Says Michael Cohen Has More Tapes of Donald Trump, Demands Their Immediate Release
• Michael Avenatti: Release the rest of the tapes
• Michael Cohen is sending a clear message to Donald Trump by speaking ‘real truth,’ sources say – CNNPolitics
• Michael Cohen recorded Donald Trump for ‘insurance’ should president turn on him, legal expert says
• Michael Cohen Secretly Taped Trump Discussing Payment to Playboy Model
• Cohen lawyer: ‘Spin’ can’t change what’s on tape
• Avenatti: I Would Represent Michael Cohen If He ‘Was Prepared To Do The Right Thing’
• Legal experts say Michael Cohen secretly recording Trump is unlike anything they’ve ever heard of — and it’s very bad news for Trump
• A_cormier_: Trump-Cohen tapes were shielded by Attorney-Client Privilege. 
• Spicy Mic: Lordy, there are tapes

Speaking of weird shit, the New York Times released a story Friday afternoon after Maggie Haberman got a call from Trump and his lawyers bitching about how Michael Cohen recorded their conversations.  They then proceeded to tell Maggie the contents of one of the tapes, which was about Trump and Cohen talking about paying back the National Enquirer for them buying Karen McDougal’s story before the election.  This recorded information was not in the FBI’s possession because the Special Master reviewing the evidence determined that attorney-client privilege applied to this tape, but that Trump’s team of lawyers were getting this out in the press and were waving that right.

Confused yet?  Good.

Michael Cohen recorded a lot of his phone calls, including those with Donald Trump because Cohen is a slime ball who does this, and Trump is a lying narcissistic shit.  When the FBI raided his shit( Daily Check-In 04/09/2018), and they had a Special Master decide that out of millions of record, only a handful were protected by privilege, that information was shared with both Cohen’s team and Trump’s team.  Trump, a man who is famous for recording phone calls himself, lost his shit when he found out Cohen did the same to him, and likely called his enabler Maggie Haberman to bitch about this.  Unlike other times where Maggie released a story to block other bad news from getting out (Daily Check-In 01/25/2018,Daily Check-In 01/26/2018), this time it feels like Trump wasn’t trying to cover something up, but trying to throw Cohen under the bus.

By the way, there are more tapes out there.  I’ll have more on Monday’s post.

 

TRUMP FOUNDATION

• Ed Hardy: NY State opens investigation into Trump Foundation
• New York’s tax agency opens own probe of Trump Foundation – The Washington Post
• Trump’s big worry: People will know his fortune is a house of cards

Another story that flew under the radar Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is under pressure following the initial civil lawsuit against the Trump Foundation to do more, so this case has been forwarded to the state tax agency for criminal investigation.

Remember, a Presidential Pardon is useless against state crimes.

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

• Trump Invites Dictator Who Ordered Attack On U.S. Democracy To The White House – Rantt
• Trump Tries to Change the Subject as Russia Fallout Rattles GOP
• Vladimir Putin flashed his notes at Helsinki, and a Twitter user translated them
• Vladimir Putin is Manipulating Donald Trump, Says Republican Congressman and Ex-CIA Officer
• Who Heard What Trump Said to Putin? Only One Other American – The New York Times
• Why Trump Has Such a Soft Spot for Russia
• WSJ: Trump ignored advice to confront Putin over indictments
• ‘The president acts like he’s compromised’ by Russian government: Top House Intel Dem
• ‘That’s going to be special’: Tensions rise as Trump invites Putin to Washington
• GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick: ‘The President Was Manipulated By Vladimir Putin’
• Hey, RNC. Forget holding the convention in Charlotte. Why not Moscow 2020?
• House Republican: Trump “actively participated” in Russian disinformation
• Is Trump The Toughest Ever On Russia? : NPR
• League Of The South Reaches Out To ‘Russian Friends’ | Right Wing Watch
• Opinion | Michael Conway: Trump’s campaign to demonize Mueller echoes Nixon’s failed Watergate strategy
• Opinion | Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do? – The New York Times
• Putin, Trump talked about a referendum for eastern Ukraine
• Putin’s “Incredible Offer” to Trump is even worse than we feared

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• Report: Rand Paul Spent Donor Money on Trips Abroad, Clothes Shopping
• Report: Rand Paul spent donor money on trips abroad, clothes shopping
• Paul gave 7 percent of leadership PAC money to candidates | McClatchy Washington Bureau
• More than 100 former students allege sexual misconduct by Ohio State University doctor
• The only thing the newly released FISA documents show is that Republicans have been lying for months
• The Republicans’ defensiveness about Russian hacking is revealing
• Scarborough: GOP ‘no longer deserves to survive’

During the last couple years, I’ve changed a lot as I’ve learned things.  One of the things I didn’t want to learn was Rand and Ron Paul’s connections to Russia.  They have some long-standing ties back to Russia, and both spouted the same Pro-Russia stances, even when they were at direct odds with their libertarian philosophies.

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Trump supporters tried to get ‘Baby Trump’ balloon activist fired from homeless shelter
• 100 people dressed in ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ garb to protest Pence in Philly on Monday
• Anti-Trump protests are set to continue into their 7th day after organizers raise $50K
• Anti-Trump protests outside White House continue into fifth night
• Demwrite:I vow to travel to Washington to protest in person if Vladimir Putin sets one foot in my homeland. That man is not welcome here.
• Audience bursts out laughing after GOP Senate candidate says Trump is ‘standing up’ to Russia
• Rep. Mark Sanford: Trump’s conduct with Putin mandates he release his tax returns
• Opinion | Republicans, Don’t Just Tweet About It. Do Something. – The New York Times
• As a conservative, I despair at Republicans’ support for Trump. His vision is not conservatism
• Calling my fellow Republicans: Trump is clearly unfit to remain in office
• Kasich: We need more Republicans willing to stand up to Trump
• Ted Cruz challenger Beto O’Rourke says he’d vote to impeach Trump after Putin comments

 

WELCOME TO THE PARTY

• Why I’m No Longer a Russiagate Skeptic
• Claire Berlinski: FFS, I Told You So
• Speechless
• Eric Garland: MSM shunned the community for so long
• Eric Garland: The story thus far

 

IMMIGRATION

• Traumatized Teenagers Are Drugged Without Consent at Immigrant Shelters
• ‘This is it for you. You’re fu**ed.’: Inside ICE’s abuse of migrant kids at a frigid old Walmart – ThinkProgress
• While in ICE custody, thousands of migrants reported sexual abuse
• True: ‘Nearly 2,600 children’ remained separated from parents as of mid-July
• The ‘pro-life’ conservatives’ hypocrisy over children makes me sick | Jessica Valenti

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Maria Katasonova, France’s Butina
• Trump’s friends, Russia and China, delay US bid to cut off oil exports to North Korea
• Senate Republicans drop bid to block Trump from helping Chinese telecom giant ZTE – The Washington Post
• State Department deletes a statement condemning Russia over MH17 downing right Trump’s Putin summit
• Donald Trump Is Pushing Europe Into Asia’s Embrace
• Donald Trump is reportedly fuming over North Korea’s failure to honor his handshake
• Kim’s Still Got His Nukes, and Hasn’t Returned Our Heroes
• Merkel: Germany can’t rely “on the superpower of the US” anymore
• Hedge-Fund Manager Bill Browder Says Putin’s Call-Out Helps His Cause – Risk & Compliance Journal. – WSJ

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• The Parkland generation is registering to vote in serious numbers in swing states.
• Parkland’s now-famous school shooting survivors hold town hall in Irvine – Orange County Register
• Father of Parkland School Shooting Survivors Killed in North Lauderdale Armed Robbery
• Pursuit Ends With Gunshots, Barricade at Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake
• NRA Admits Accepting Money From 23 Russia-Linked Donors
• Gunman in parking space shooting not charged because of ‘Stand Your Ground’ law

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• 5,000 to 7,000 service members to march in Trump’s military parade: Source
• Facebook is giving special protection to racists, investigation shows
• Seth Meyers: Putin visiting D.C. would be ‘worst-ever episode of Undercover Boss’
• FCC votes against Sinclair/Tribune merger, likely dooming deal
• India Embraces Full Net Neutrality As The U.S. Runs The Opposite Direction
• Kimberly Guilfoyle leaving Fox News to take job at America First PAC

 

TRADE WAR AND THE ECONOMY

• Republican Senators Ratchet Up Pressure on Trump Over Tariffs – WSJ
• Trump threatens tariffs on all $500 billion worth of Chinese imports
• Democratic Sen. Heitkamp: Benefits of tax cuts to US workers have been ‘eaten up’ by Trump’s tariffs
• Dow futures fall 120 points after Trump says he’s ‘ready to go’ to $500 billion in tariffs on China
• US dollar falls as Trump accuses ‘China, European Union and others’ of manipulating their currencies
• Trump claims Fed rate hikes hinder US economy
• Trump doubles down on criticism of Federal Reserve, alleges currency manipulation by China and E.U.
• Trump doubles down on his rebuke of the Fed, says tightening ‘hurts all that we have done’
• Trump flags and hats made in China are reportedly being held up at customs as trade war heats up
• Trump: ‘We’re playing with the bank’s money’ on market’s gain since election to fight trade war

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• US reputation will take ‘years to recover’ from Trump presidency, warn experts
• WH comms official, ex-Fox News exec questioned in sexual harassment probe
• US plans to roll back Endangered Species Act, allowing economics to influence protections and alarming environmentalists
• Trump White House staff turnover sets records
• Analysis | ‘Betsy DeVos is the worst secretary of education ever’ — teachers union leaders come out swinging
• EPA Staff Aimed To Protect Pruitt From Toxic Chemical He Failed To Regulate
• John Kelly Signed Off on a ‘Purge’ of Scott Pruitt Loyalists From EPA

 

SCOTUS

• Kavanaugh: Watergate tapes decision may have been wrong
• Brett Kavanaugh said Congress should investigate a president, raising questions about his views on Mueller – CNNPolitics
• Civil Rights Groups Take Out Full-Page Ads Against Brett Kavanaugh

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• GOP candidate calls woman ‘young and naive’ for asking about fossil fuel industry donations
• “Yes, the Republican Party has become pathological. But why?” – Karmic Reaction Blog
• Trump ally Tony Perkins says decriminalising homosexuality was ‘a mistake’
• How the GOP Rigs Elections
• In a Normal Country, Sacha Baron Cohen Would Have Just Ended This Republican Lawmaker’s Career
• GOP Lawmaker Jason Spencer Strips, Screams ‘N-Word’ on Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Who Is America?’
• Calls for Georgia representative to resign after bizarre television appearance

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Husband-and-wife duo busted in high-end Russian hooker ring
• Rep Tim Ryan says weed should be legal
• More Than 100 Former Ohio State Students Allege Sexual Misconduct – The New York Times
• FBI.gov: Venona
• Etowah County Sheriff accused of having sex with underage girls in the early ’90s – WHNT.com

 

ELECTION 2018

• Voter purge frenzy after federal protections lifted, new report says
• States purged 16 million voters from the rolls before the 2016 election
• The Parkland generation is registering to vote in serious numbers in swing states.
• Parkland’s now-famous school shooting survivors hold town hall in Irvine – Orange County Register
• Microsoft says Russia tried to hack three 2018 US midterm candidates
• Russian Hacking of 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections has already started, Microsoft warns
• The Daily 202: Inside the House GOP super PAC’s strategy to localize every key race
• Memo to 2020 Democrats: The Time To Start Prepping For Russian Hacking Is Now.

 

THANKS, OBAMA

• Conservative columnist: ‘I would take Obama back in a nanosecond’
• Conservative Shocked to Discover Obama Doesn’t Hate White People
• How I miss Obama – The Washington Post
• Barack Obama says the rich owe the world a huge debt

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• Teens Are Leading 3 Days of Climate Change Activism in D.C.
• Rep Tim Ryan says weed should be legal
• Jimmy Carter: ‘I believe that Jesus would approve of gay marriage’
• Can progressives reform the Democratic Party from within?

 

RUMOR MILL

• Kate Brennan: Maria Katasonova, the France’s version of Maria Butina. What is it with these Russian Redheads?
• Lincoln’s Bible: How the Prostitution ring from the NY Post story links to Putin and RU Mafia
• Sara Danner Dukic:Timeline of the early Trump presidency
• Thread by @saradannerdukic: “OMG, JHC in a chicken basket. CHECK. OUT. THIS. TIMELINE!! Right after the election, Obama warns Trump about Flynn: bbc.com/news/world-us-… […]”
• Counterchekist: We were “America First” after WWI. That led directly to WWII
• Spicy Mic: This Disinformation War
• Care2much18: Thread on Maggie Haberman
• Carole Cadwalla: Breaking the law discredits you

 

 

That’s it for Friday and the weekend.  Since I was late in posting Friday’s post, and the Carter Page stuff came out Saturday night, I said screw it, make it one post, and put it up sometime Monday.  That, and I needed a day or two off.

One of these months, I’ll finish the What’d I miss post from my vacation, as well as looking at old news through the lens of what we now know.  For example, we know that Trump has knows about Putin attacking the United States through his whole presidency, but we haven’t looked at previous stories now that we know.  Like, does knowing what we know make Devin Nunes’s hard-on for killing the 702(c) provision in the FISA Act fit with the new information?

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur