Thursday, September 13, 2018
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
- Paul Manafort and special counsel close to deal for guilty plea – CNNPolitics
- Paul Manafort and special counsel reach tentative plea deal: Sources
- Tentative deal reached between Manafort and special counsel: Sources
- Mueller has almost 3 times as much evidence for Manafort’s 2nd trial as he did for his first
- Is Manafort playing for a pardon? If he doesn’t take a plea, some see no other explanation.
It looks like Friday’s going to be one hell of a day for Manafort and Mueller news.
- Audio Reveals Potentially Illegal Coordination Between NRA and Montana Senate Hopeful Matt Rosendale
- Oops! NRA’s potentially illegal coordination with Republican candidate caught on tape
Before the National Rifle Association dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to flip a competitive, Democratic-held Senate seat, the gun-rights group’s chief lobbyist apparently gave the race’s Republican challenger a heads-up.
Chris Cox, the top political strategist for the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), assured Montana Republican Matt Rosendale that the group would spend heavily to support his bid to unseat Sen. Jon Tester, Rosendale told attendees at a July event in Washington.
PAY DIRT exclusively obtained audio of Rosendale’s remarks, which good-government groups say raise serious questions of potentially illicit coordination between Rosendale and an independent political group supporting his campaign.
“I fully expect the NRA is going to come in… in August sometime,” Rosendale said in response to a question about independent political spenders in the race. “The Supreme Court confirmations are big. That’s what sent the NRA over the line. Because in ’12, with [Republican Senate nominee Denny Rehberg] they stayed out, they stayed out of Montana. But Chris Cox told me, he’s like, ‘We’re going to be in this race.’”
Rosendale was slightly off in terms of timing, but the NRA did come through as Cox apparently promised. Early this month, the group spent more than $400,000 on ads hitting Tester over the precise issue that Rosendale mentioned—the senator’s votes on Supreme Court nominations.
Rosendale’s remarks are potentially problematic, as the NRA-ILA, a 501(c)(4) “dark-money” group, is legally barred from coordinating its ad buys with a federal campaign. As explained by nonprofit tax law attorney Holly Schadler, illegal coordination may occur “if the organization has substantial discussions with the campaign about an expenditure, or if the organization informs the campaign about a planned communication related to the campaign and the campaign signals its agreement with the suggestion to make that communication.”
The NRA, who was working with the Russians, coordinated political ads with a senate candidate in Montana in the summer of 2016.
It might not seem like it’s connected at first, if it wasn’t for ALL of the Russian connections to the NRA.
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
- Avenatti to appear on Tucker Carlson show
- Tucker Carlson calls Avenatti ‘Creepy porn lawyer’
- Fox News’ Tucker Carlson uses ‘creepy porn lawyer’ tag during Avenatti interview
- Stormy Daniels Will Drop Tell-All Book, Right Before Midterms
WOODWARD AND THE ANONYMOUS OP-ED
- Woodward Book Breaks 93-Year Publishing Record
- Woodward book: Trump erupted into ‘uncontrollable anger’ over coverage of Mueller appointment
- Woodward says he has ‘boxes of recordings’ to back claims in Trump book
- Bob Woodward says he would release book interview tapes if strongly challenged
- “Trump Believes There’s a Coup”: Freaked by the Times Op-Ed, the President Is Seeing Enemies Everywhere
- Was Jared Kushner behind the anonymous New York Times op-ed? Ann Coulter thinks so
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET
- Trump claims 3,000 people did not die in Puerto Rico hurricanes
- Trump denies reality of nearly 3,000 dead Americans
- Trump questions number of deaths attributed to Hurricane Maria, falsely says Democrats created a higher count to make him look bad
- Trump Rejects Death Toll in Puerto Rico Reported by His Own Government
- Trump says official Puerto Rico hurricane death toll of 3,000 was made up by Democrats ‘to make me look bad’
- Ocasio-Cortez slams Trump’s Puerto Rico comments: ‘My own grandfather died’
- San Juan mayor blasts Trump: ‘This is what denial following neglect looks like’
TRAITOR TOTS
- Julia Davis: Meanwhile in #Russia: Rick Perry says the U.S. does not want to impose the #sanctions and indicates they are not imminent. Perry: “Russian Energy Minister] Alexander Novak and I both agree that getting to that point where sanctions would be engaged is not where we want to go.”
- Trump loyalist Nunes finds himself in tighter race than usual as Democratic rival rises in the polls
- Peter Thiel says higher education has ‘brainwashed’ Silicon Valley
- Nikki Haley spent over $52K in State Department money on curtains
- Paul Ryan Says Republicans Will Take Another Run at Obamacare After the Midterms
- Michael Flynn To Appear At Far-Right Conference With Pizzagaters, Racist YouTube Stars
- House Republicans block Democrats’ request for Trump-Putin meeting details
FIGHTING BACK
- Dem Lawmaker: ‘3,000 People Died and Donald Trump Wants Us to Believe He Is The Victim’
- Jimmy Carter: If I Became President Again I’d Change Every Trump Policy
- New poll 47% of America says Trump should be removed from office
- Thousands expected to attend protests planned at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
MENTAL STATE
- S.E. Cupp: Apropos of nothing, these are the nine traits of a sociopath: Lack of empathy, Manipulative, Difficult in relationships, Deceitful, Callous, Hostile, Irresponsible, Impulsive, Risky.
- ‘Never give an inch’: Trump keeps touting perceived failures as successes
- “Trump Believes There’s a Coup”: Freaked by the Times Op-Ed, the President Is Seeing Enemies Everywhere
IMMIGRATION
- With 12,800 Migrant Children Detained, Trump Plans Indefinite Internment – Rantt
- DHS transferred $169 million from other programs to ICE for migrant detention
- Settlement reached in family separation cases: More than 1,000 rejected asylum seekers to get second chance if court approves
COLD WAR 2.0
- Spicy Mic: Hey RUSSIA I heard you got bench slapped H A R D by the EU Court: THE SANCTIONS ARE UPHELD. Thread
- U.S. Spies Rush to Protect Defectors After Skripal Poisoning – The New York Times
- Bill Browder: BREAKING: Pyotr Verzilov, Russian dissident and ex-husband of Pussy Riot leader Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, has been hospitalized in Moscow with apparent poisoning. Details still coming out.
- Pussy Riot activist Pyotr Verzilov ‘in hospital’ – BBC News
- Julia Davis: #Russia’s state TV: #Skripal poisoning suspects tell RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan they’re into “fitness and vitamins” and that is the nature of their “business.”
- Salisbury novichok suspects say they were only visiting cathedral | UK news | The Guardian
- Julia Davis: Meanwhile in #Russia: Rick Perry says the U.S. does not want to impose the #sanctions and indicates they are not imminent. Perry: “Russian Energy Minister] Alexander Novak and I both agree that getting to that point where sanctions would be engaged is not where we want to go.”
- Venezuela’s crisis is so bad that people are abandoning their beloved pets
- France’s Macron admits to military’s systematic use of torture in Algeria war
- Michael Weiss: If US is serious about “economic isolation” of Russia if the Idlib offensive commences, one way forward: threaten to expose Putin’s personal wealth through the assets and bank accounts his oligarch bagmen control if he goes ahead with the attack… Thread
#NEVERAGAIN
- School safety commission poised to oppose new age limits on gun buys
- The NRA’s Catch-22 for Black Men Shot by Police – The Atlantic
- Blanks to be fired during active shooter drill at local school
- ‘The new normal’: 6 dead, including gunman and wife, in California rampage
- Audio Reveals Potentially Illegal Coordination Between NRA and Montana Senate Hopeful Matt Rosendale
- Oops! NRA’s potentially illegal coordination with Republican candidate caught on tape
- N.R.A. Show Puts Thomas the Tank Engine in White Hood to Criticize Diversity Move – The New York Times
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- Tucker Carlson calls Avenatti ‘Creepy porn lawyer’
- Fox News’ Tucker Carlson uses ‘creepy porn lawyer’ tag during Avenatti interview
- Audio Reveals Potentially Illegal Coordination Between NRA and Montana Senate Hopeful Matt Rosendale
- Oops! NRA’s potentially illegal coordination with Republican candidate caught on tape
- Garry Kasparov: If a leader lies easily about trivial things—like crowd size, say—they’ll lie about big things—like body counts. As with repression, it’s about character and willingness, not magnitude.
- ‘She’s a monster’: Laura Ingraham’s gay brother lashes out in interview
- President Trump has made more than 5,000 false or misleading claims
SCOTUS
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg Slams Senate Hearings As A ‘Highly Partisan Show’
- Senate committee delays vote on Kavanaugh nomination until next week – The Washington Post
- Senate Democrats Have Referred A Secret Letter About Brett Kavanaugh To The FBI
- Senate Democrats Have Sent A Secret Letter About Brett Kavanaugh To The FBI
- This Could be Why Dems Went to FBI Over Mysterious Kavanaugh Letter
- Brett Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual misconduct with a woman in a letter that’s been passed to the FBI: Report
- Brett Kavanaugh misled the Senate under oath. I cannot support his nomination.
- Brett Kavanaugh Releases 263 Pages Worth of Non-Answers to Senators’ Written Questions
- Brett Kavanaugh reportedly accused of sexual misconduct in letter flagged to the FBI by Democrats – NY Daily News
- Democrats send ‘information’ concerning Kavanaugh nomination to FBI – CNNPolitics
- Dianne Feinstein alerts authorities to secret Brett Kavanaugh letter | US news
- Dropbox – Booker Confidential – Kavanaugh Hearing Documents – Simplify your life
- Feinstein Statement on Kavanaugh
- Kavanaugh contradicts White House account of credit-card debt, leaving more questions
- New Booker-Released Confidential Docs Show Kavanaugh Gave Misleading Testimony to Senate Judiciary Committee
- Pace: The Kavanaugh nomination is about to be killed. FBI has received all the information.
- Republicans block Democratic bid to subpoena Kavanaugh documents
- Booker Response to Right-Wing Complaint for Making Committee Confidential Documents Public
BOSTON
- Multiple gas explosions set more than 60 homes ablaze across three communities north of Boston
- Multiple Gas Explosions, Fires in Merrimack Valley, Massachusetts
- Panicked Mass. neighborhoods evacuate as gas blasts destroy homes
- 911corlebra777: Something has gone tremendously wrong in Boston 😦
- Molly McKew: … Keep an eye on this gas system failure in Massachusetts.
WHITE HOUSE CHAOS
TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY
- New estimate: GOP’s second tax cuts would add $3.8 trillion to deficit
- New GOP tax cuts would add $3.8T to deficit, says report
- Financial crisis hit millennials hardest, IFS says
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- Adam Best: Benghazi: 4 Americans died. Conservatives obsess over it for 6 years because they claim Hillary Clinton messed up and lied about it. Puerto Rico: 3,000 Americans died. Conservatives apparently don’t care at all that Donald Trump messed up and lied about it.
- ‘Tofu and silicon and dyed hair’: Republicans gang up on California
- John McCain’s family slams GOP group for using footage of him in campaign ads
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Dallas police accused of smearing man killed by cop in his own apartment
- Former Kentucky Police Officer Sentenced for Wrongful Arrest
- California Man Steps Between Woman and Machete-Wielding Attacker in Starbucks: Cops
- Nigerian National Sentenced to 32 Months in Prison for Phishing Scheme That Victimized School Employees | USAO-CT | Department of Justice
- Study shows two-thirds of U.S. terrorism tied to right-wing extremists
- Neo-Nazi Says He’s Innocent Of Harassment Because Trump Said Similar Things
- Legal Canadian marijuana workers, investors will be treated like illegal traffickers, official confirms
- Malaysia charges ex-PM Najib’s lawyer with money laundering | Article [AMP] | Reuters
- Manhattan DA’s office drops more than 3,000 open marijuana cases
PRIESTS
- Pope Francis orders investigation of W.Va. bishop on sexual harassment charges
- He wanted to be a priest. He says Archbishop McCarrick used that to abuse him.
- Archbishop says he ‘wasn’t sure if it was a crime for priests to rape children’
#METOO
- Jane Doe at center of ‘The Predator’ sex offender case speaks out
- R. Kelly’s Brother Claims Singer Sexually Abused 14-Year-Old Cousin
HURRICANES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
- ‘It totally belittled the moment’: Many look back in dismay at Trump’s tossing of paper towels in Puerto Rico
- Adam Best: Benghazi: 4 Americans died. Conservatives obsess over it for 6 years because they claim Hillary Clinton messed up and lied about it. Puerto Rico: 3,000 Americans died. Conservatives apparently don’t care at all that Donald Trump messed up and lied about it.
- Ocasio-Cortez slams Trump’s Puerto Rico comments: ‘My own grandfather died’
- San Juan mayor blasts Trump: ‘This is what denial following neglect looks like’
- Sahil Kopar: With nearly 3,000 reported dead in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria, the president hatches a conspiracy theory that the death toll was inflated by Democrats to make him look bad. (No evidence provided.). – Thread
- Fmr. FEMA Director: ‘There are a lot more fatalities after a storm, than during a storm’
- Shelter in hurricane’s path warns it will euthanize animals if it can’t find people to adopt them
- Nursing homes rush to move elderly and ill from path of Hurricane Florence
- Harrison Ford urges voters to ‘stop electing leaders who don’t believe in science’
- Trump claims 3,000 people did not die in Puerto Rico hurricanes
- Trump Honors Only One Victim in Puerto Rico: Himself
- Trump denies reality of nearly 3,000 dead Americans
- Trump questions number of deaths attributed to Hurricane Maria, falsely says Democrats created a higher count to make him look bad
- Trump Rejects Death Toll in Puerto Rico Reported by His Own Government
- Trump says official Puerto Rico hurricane death toll of 3,000 was made up by Democrats ‘to make me look bad’
- ‘That would not be good.’ Hurricane Florence could linger along coast, but much remains uncertain for those in its path
- Hurricane Florence outer bands reach the Carolinas, poised to unleash punishing wind and rain
- Hurricane Florence’s outer bands reach the Carolinas, poised to unleash punishing wind and rain
- Budweiser, Coors sending 500,000 cans of water for Hurricane Florence relief
So, they’re sending half a million cans of Bud Light and Coors Light?
ELECTION 2018
- Adam Parkhomenko: Everyone should watch this and pass it on. Then get ready to vote.
- ‘Tofu and silicon and dyed hair’: Republicans gang up on California
- 2018 Future Forum PAC Endorsed Candidates
- Americans Aren’t Practicing Democracy Anymore
- Cuomo Defeats Nixon in New York’s Democratic Primary
- Democrat Elissa Slotkin tells of mother’s ovarian cancer in new ad – CBS News
- Election Laws May Discourage Some From Voting, Even If They Are Allowed : NPR
- Willie Nelson attacked by fans online over upcoming Beto O’Rourke rally appearance in Austin
- Tensions over race and gender shape midterms, reflecting schism in Trump era
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo Easily Holds Off Cynthia Nixon in New York Democratic Primary
- Barack Obama Says Not Voting in Midterms Is ‘Dangerous’
- Since ‘Citizens United,’ Just 15 Groups Account for 75 Percent of the $800+ Million in Dark Money Spent on US Elections
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Crossroads GPS
- Americans for Prosperity
- National Rifle Association
- American Future Fund
- American Action Network
- League of Conservative Voters
- National Association of Realtors
- Americans for Job Security
- 45Committee
- Americans for Tax Reform
- Patriot Majority USA
- 60 Plus Association
- VoteVets Action Fund
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund
According to FactCheck.org, all of them except Patriot Majority USA, VoteVets, and Planned Parenthood are Conservative/Republican groups. Not a single Liberal/Democratic group cracked the Top 10. The NRA spent more than the Liberal groups did combined. Also, look at the groups and what they focus on. Free trade, tax cuts for the wealthy, gun sales, and home construction.
IN OTHER NEWS…
- Bradley Whitford calls out Susan Sarandon for saying Hillary Clinton is the same as Trump: ‘Are you incapable of admitting you were wrong?’
- Hands on with the iPhone Xs Max, the binge smartphone for our times
- Amazon’s Jeff Bezos launches $2 billion ‘Day One Fund’ to help homeless families and create preschools
RUMOR MILL
- Pace: The Kavanaugh nomination is about to be killed. FBI has received all the information.
- 911corlebra777: Something has gone tremendously wrong in Boston 😦
- Molly McKew: … Keep an eye on this gas system failure in Massachusetts.
- Greg Olear: Let’s talk about Vladimir Putin and his relationship to terror. [THREAD]
- Lincoln’s Bible: @craigunger is doing what no other professional journalist has the balls or expertise to do. HERO. – Thread
- Spicy Mic: Hey RUSSIA I heard you got bench slapped H A R D by the EU Court: THE SANCTIONS ARE UPHELD. Thread
- Tom Arnold: @kathygriffin will love the many times in the Apprentice Outtakes when @realDonaldTrump is cruel to @DonaldJTrumpJr. He loved pitting him against Eric. My fav is when he made Don Jr. cry because he wore a stupid yellow tie. @IvankaTrump was laughing & will back me up. #TrumpTapes
- Countercheckist: There’s a big #KremlinGate story in the works, patriots. Don’t know when it will break, but it’s coming in the near future. Stay tuned. 🙂
- John Schindler: I recommend some popcorn, peeps.
That’s it for Thursday. Friday looks big, as some major Paul Manafort news is coming down the pipe. It’s almost like I’m typing this on a Friday afternoon, just hours after the information came out.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 