Month: April 2019

The Last Few Days 04/14/2019

Thursday April 11 to Sunday, April 14, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

It’s about time.  Journalist Hater of democracy around the world Julian Assange was evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in Britain on Thursday, and immediately arrested by British police at the request of the Americans.  Assange faces up to a year in jail for skipping bail when he fled rape charges in Sweden and hid out in the embassy.  Though, in hindsight, his plan was to eventually reach Russia.

Assange was charged with attempting to access DoD computers in a criminal conspiracy with Chelsea Manning (then Bradley Manning).  He’s facing 5 years in prison for this crime.

These charges do not include any of his actions from the 2016 election.  Rumor has it that those are under seal until he can be certain of being tried without a risk of pardon or other commutation.

Gregory Craig was indicted for not registering as a foreign lobbyist under FARA for his work with Ukraine and Paul Manafort starting in 2012.

 

 

 

CONGRESS

Nadler seems like he’s going to give Barr just enough rope to hang himself.  By my calculations, he only needs another three or four inches.

 

Here’s the part that slipped through the cracks in Trump’s defenses.  They could try to do an end-run by having Mnuchin try to block the release from the IRS, which is illegal, but anyone else who handled Trump’s taxes is also fair game.  Further, the only way they could fight this would be with a lengthy court battle that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and would likely end right back with a court order releasing the tax returns anyway.  Who’s going to pay the legal bills for this fight?  Certainly won’t be Trump.

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A INDIVIDUAL-1

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

CULT 45

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Avenatti Charged

Just when the timeline couldn’t get any more screwed up, Michael Avenatti is accused of extorting Nike and taking money from a crippled person.  What’s this world coming to when a dickhead lawyer who rose to fame going after the President’s personal lawyer and who was evicted from his law office and attacked a bunch of people telling him it’s a bad idea to run for POTUS can’t be trusted?

 

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for the last few days.  Things are still crazy in my personal life, and it might take me a few days or weeks to get back to normal.

I’m going to add Assange, Craig, and Avenatti to The Indicted.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

The Last Few Days 04/10/2019

Monday April 8 to Wednesday April 10 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Mueller Report and Barr

 

 

 

CONGRESS

Mueller

 

Barr’s Testimony

 

Taxes

 

Drug Investigation

 

Tax Prep

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Iran

 

Mar-A-Lago

 

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A INDIVIDUAL-1

DHS Purge

 

 

SAUDI ARABIA

 

TRAITOR TOTS

The Streisand-Nunez Effect

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

Operation Varsity Blues

 

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

That’s the super massive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, about 53 million light years away.  It’s so big that the entire solar system could fit inside.

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

A conversation between Greg Olear and Louise Mensch that spawned from this tweet.

  • Louise Mensch

    No he is not

  • Greg

    I hope you’re right. But: If he’s acting undercover, he crossed a line today. It’s like in Reservoir Dogs where Mr. Orange shoots the woman in the car. There is no reason, none, why MOCs w/security clearance should not see the unredacted report.

  • Louise

    Nunes had his clearance restored. You want him to see Grand Jury material on his own prosecution? No you don’t, homie 🙂

  • Greg

    Then they need to indict him and then release the report to the MOCs. The lack of arrests is disturbing to me.

  • Louise

    the sealed indictments will remain sealed, my sources estimated, until about two weeks after Congress gets a version of this report. They have not changed that view since I received it.

  • Greg

    Good. I will happily eat crow on this. I’d prefer the report not be leaked illegally. I want the process to play itself out.

  • Louise

    Sources said the thinking was lawmakers would need time to absorb the bombshell, and releasing all the indictments on the same day / period as the bombshell would make the cases look political. Hence the lag, these sources estimated.

    Greg

    Thanks.

    Louise

    If I’m wrong I too will eat crow. Time will tell

Take what she said with a heavy grain of salt.

 

That’s it for the last few days.  A lot has happened, but I don’t have the energy to break it all down right now.  I’m getting my ass kicked with taking care of someone who doesn’t care about the work being done on their behalf.  Every day there’s a new development, and it’s almost always a bad one.  Except for his health, that seems to be improving.

I’m writing down all of the crap that I can.  There’s too much here for a post or two.  This is probably a book or two worth of content.

The part that really hurts is how I’m supposed to handle all of his crap without being toxic around my own kids.  There is no love lost between him and I.  That would imply there was love to begin with.

As for the fight, a spoiler for the next post.  Julian Assange was arrested by the British at the request of the Americans.  That happened early Thursday morning.  I don’t know when the next post will be.  I’d like to get one for just Thursday, but it will probably be Monday, covering Thursday through the weekend.  I’m already quadruple booked this weekend, and any more stuff will push me to the ‘crawl under a desk and cry’ point.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

The Last Few Days 04/07/2019

Thursday, April 4, 2019 through Sunday April 7.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Mueller Report and Barr Summary

The cover-up feels like it’s starting to unravel.  As mentioned The Last Few Days 04/02/2019, we must make sure that the full, unredacted report comes out.

How?  Check out the Congress section.

 

 

CONGRESS

Mueller Report

What’s very interesting is that we’re finally hearing from people on the Mueller team.  Now that they’re no longer actively on the payroll, they’re free to talk. We’re hearing that they wrote public facing summaries for each section that Barr either ignored or blocked.  While Barr is promising to give Congress a redacted version, they have already subpoenaed the unredacted version and all of the associated evidence.  If the DOJ attempts to block that, which they almost certainly will, then Congress has another tool up their sleeve which may force the DOJ to comply.

Impeachment.

By initiating impeachment proceedings, Congress can force the DOJ to hand over not just the report, but all evidence and grand jury testimony as well.  That might be the only way out of this part of the mess.

But it’s not the only mess.

 

Trump’s Taxes

Trump is fighting tooth and nail to keep his taxes private, but there’s only so much he can do.  The IRS is required by law to hand over the requested returns to the Ways and Means Committee.  Congress can also subpoena his tax accountant for the records, since they could be held criminally liable for any illicit activity.  The tax records would also exist at the state level, too.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Cohen’s New Documents

In any normal universe, this would be the biggest news of the month.

 

Inauguration and Ambassadorships

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A INDIVIDUAL-1

White House Correspondents Dinner

 

Taxes

 

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

CULT 45

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN, & IMMIGRATION

Nielsen Out

 

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

Omar Death Threat

 

Israel and Jews

 

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

737

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

 

That’s it for the last few days.  Yes, I’m behind by a few days.  The continuous drama is very time consuming and draining on me.  I’ve been in a holding pattern for the last couple days for finding a long term housing solution, and I’ve learned a lot of shit about him over the past few weeks.  I didn’t think it was possible to have a lower opinion of him than I already had when I started this journey, but just like the rest of my life he’s found new and interesting ways to abuse and disappoint.

That’s the first time I’ve used the a-word to describe his behavior in the written form.  It won’t be the last.

My next post should be posted by Wednesday or Thursday covering Monday to posting.  I’m still in the fight, just not on the front lines right now.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

The Last Few Days 04/02/2019

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 and Wednesday April 3rd.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

House Subpoenas the Mueller Report

The deadline has come and gone for Attorney General Barr to hand over the Mueller Report.  Now Congress is demanding it and all associated items be turned over.  There is precedent for this happen.  Just ask Richard Nixon.

 

Cover Up

From the New York Times article:

WASHINGTON — Some of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have told associates that Attorney General William P. Barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for President Trump than Mr. Barr indicated, according to government officials and others familiar with their simmering frustrations.

At stake in the dispute — the first evidence of tension between Mr. Barr and the special counsel’s office — is who shapes the public’s initial understanding of one of the most consequential government investigations in American history. Some members of Mr. Mueller’s team are concerned that, because Mr. Barr created the first narrative of the special counsel’s findings, Americans’ views will have hardened before the investigation’s conclusions become public.

Mr. Barr has said he will move quickly to release the nearly 400-page report but needs time to scrub out confidential information. The special counsel’s investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report, and some team members believe that Mr. Barr should have included more of their material in the four-page letter he wrote on March 24 laying out their main conclusions, according to government officials familiar with the investigation. Mr. Barr only briefly cited the special counsel’s work in his letter.

However, the special counsel’s office never asked Mr. Barr to release the summaries soon after he received the report, a person familiar with the investigation said. And the Justice Department quickly determined that the summaries contain sensitive information, like classified material, secret grand-jury testimony and information related to current federal investigations that must remain confidential, according to two government officials.

Mr. Barr was also wary of departing from Justice Department practice not to disclose derogatory details in closing an investigation, according to two government officials familiar with Mr. Barr’s thinking. They pointed to the decision by James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, to harshly criticize Hillary Clinton in 2016 while announcing that he was recommending no charges in the inquiry into her email practices.

The officials and others interviewed declined to flesh out why some of the special counsel’s investigators viewed their findings as potentially more damaging for the president than Mr. Barr explained, although the report is believed to examine Mr. Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation. It was unclear how much discussion Mr. Mueller and his investigators had with senior Justice Department officials about how their findings would be made public. It was also unclear how widespread the vexation is among the special counsel team, which included 19 lawyers, about 40 F.B.I. agents and other personnel.

At the same time, Mr. Barr and his advisers have expressed their own frustrations about Mr. Mueller and his team. Mr. Barr and other Justice Department officials believe the special counsel’s investigators fell short of their task by declining to decide whether Mr. Trump illegally obstructed the inquiry, according to the two government officials. After Mr. Mueller made no judgment on the obstruction matter, Mr. Barr stepped in to declare that he himself had cleared Mr. Trump of wrongdoing.

This is interesting.  I wondered what took so long for these reports to come out, but at the same time that Congress demands the report, we get reports from the NYT and WaPo (WaPo’s story came out a few hours later but will be in the next post) stating that the people who actually wrote the report dispute Barr’s take on things.

Like I’ve said since Daily Check-In 03/22/2019 and The Last Few Days – 03/27/2019, let’s wait until we see the report before jumping to conclusions, but I’m having a hard time not assuming there’s a coverup.

First, we’ve seen a 4 page summary that doesn’t contain a complete sentence from a report rumored to be nearly 400 pages.  Just from a book report standpoint, that is not enough for a passing grade.

Next, Barr’s withholding the report from Congress, and Trump’s trying to claim executive privilege on it.  I don’t know about anyone else, but if the best investigators in the world just cleared my ass of treason, I’d be hiring sky writers to put that shit in the clouds for the world to see.  If I were “completely exonerated” like Mr. NPD claims to be, my PAC would send a pdf to everyone on my campaign mailing list.

Now, the very people that wrote the report are saying that Barr’s Summary is bullshit.

Let’s see where this goes.

 

 

CONGRESS

House Subpoenas Taxes

6 years of income taxes.  Considering that the 2018 returns are due soon, that would the be returns from 2017 back to 2012.  That includes the time period that Michael Cohen said that Trump lied about his assets to get financing to buy the Buffalo Bills, and the overlapping time period of the Deutsche Bank subpoenas. (Daily Check-In 02/28/2019, The Last Few Days – 03/27/2019).  It’s not sexy, but lying on your taxes is a crime.  Ask Al Capone.

 

Security Clearances

Question about the security clearances.  John Bolton was mentioned in a previous post that he was one of the senior White House officials that had to get an override on his security clearance.

Why is the National Security Advisor, the person with access to the nation’s most important secrets, not able to get a security clearance on his own? Does this have to do with his work with Maria Butina? (Daily Check-In 07/16/2018)

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Mar-A-Lago

A Chinese woman carrying a thumb drive loaded with malware was detained at Mar-a-Lago Saturday after trying to gain access to events advertised on Chinese-language social media by Li “Cindy” Yang, the South Florida massage parlor entrepreneur who also ran a business selling access to President Donald Trump and his family.

The woman, Yujing Zhang, has been charged with two federal crimes: making false statements to a federal officer and entering restricted property.

She was carrying four cellphones, one laptop, one external hard drive and a thumb drive, according to court records. In a charging document, a Secret Service agent said a preliminary forensic examination of the thumb drive showed it contained “malicious malware.” The court filing did not provide further details about the nature of the malware.

Zhang originally told a U.S. Secret Service agent that she wanted to use Mar-a-Lago’s pool, but upon further questioning said she had traveled from Shanghai to attend a “United Nations Friendship Event” between China and the United States. She said she planned to speak with a member of the president’s family about U.S.-Chinese economic relations. Zhang’s arrest was first reported by WPTV. In court records, her birth year is listed as 1986.

So, this is where we’re at in the timeline.  A Chinese woman carrying a bunch of spy shit was busted at Trump’s club, while he was there, because she was there to meet the owner of a chain of rub-and-tugs in the Palm Beach area who advertised access to Trump.

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1

Reportedly…

 

Losing His Mind

 

Repeal and ….?

 

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

PUERTO RICO

 

CULT 45

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Joe Biden

 

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

737

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT ISSUES

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for the last couple days.  I’m going to try to have two posts over the next four days.  It will either be split Thursday/Friday and the weekend, or Thursday only and Friday and the weekend together.  Maybe the first one, not sure yet.

As far as the stroke crap goes, I’ve spent a lot of time over the past week trying to unfuck the completely fucked situation he put himself in.  The hardest part is dealing with people wishing me well and that they hope he gets better.  I know they mean well and are putting themselves in their shoes from their point of view, but they didn’t grow up with a narcissist as a parent.  I’m not going to lay it out here, but we don’t have a healthy relationship.  Never have, never will.  I’ve seen him more times in the past 3 weeks than the previous 5 years combined, and my anxiety still runs at full power even though he can barely talk.

Part of the reason why I’m so hardcore about fighting against Trump and his corruption is because I grew up with a narcissist and spotted his bullshit a mile away.  The gaslighting, the starved desire for attention, how he places how much he likes you on how much you like him, the insatiable need to control everything, the inflated sense of self-worth, the belief that they’re special and the rules don’t apply to them, I saw it all at home.

I’m getting back in the fight, slowly but surely.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur