Category: Daily Check-In

Daily Check-In 02/15/2018

Thursday, February 15.

STEVE BANNON SPOKE TO SPECIAL COUNSELOR MUELLER’S TEAM FOR 20 HOURS LAST WEEK

20 hours.  That’s 2 and a half 8 hour days.  Half a workweek.  In other words, it’s a long ass time to spend talking to an investigator.

Steve Bannon, former Trump Campaign Manager and Chief Strategist in the White House, was fired by Donald Trump back in August 2017.

Steve connects the dots between Trump, the Mercers, the Racists and Nazis, and big data firms.  I’ve talked about Steve having to sing like a bird to avoid the gallows, and it sounds like he did just that.

In contrast, he only answered a couple dozen pre-arranged questions from the House Intelligence Committee.  Not a question or comment more.  It’s almost like he knows that there’s a mole in the HIC that reports direct to Trump **cough**Nunes**cough**.

 

RICK GATES PLEA DEAL INCOMING

Last time we received reports like this, it was right before Mike Flynn pleaded guilty and turned States Evidence.

Rick Gates, Paul Manafort’s business partner and the Chief of Staff to the Trump Inaugural Committee Chairman Tom Barrack, had a Queen for a day interview.

Yes, I had to Google that, too.  And no, I don’t think he was wearing a tiara and waving at crowds of passers by.

A Queen for a day interview is also known as a Proffer Interview.  During this, the perp tells the prosecutors EVERYTHING.  They answer any question asked, and they have to be truthful.  In return, the prosecutor will not use what they found out against the perp, and the perp gets a plea deal.

Rick Gates can deliver EVERYONE connected to the money.

 

RUSSIANS USED MAINSTREAM MEDIA TO INFLUENCE ELECTION

From the “No shit, Sherlock” department…

After a study of the Russian Social Media activity, it turns out that the Russians used a lot of Main Stream Media to further their agenda.

The timing is the interesting part.

The bots and trolls would jump on a story they liked immediately.  Like, it was just published, and already trending.

It’s almost like this was coordinated.  More on that in the Rumor Mill.

 

FLORIDA SHOOTER WAS RED HAT WEARING MAGA WHITE SUPREMACIST

I refuse to speak his name.  Speaking the name of a monster gives power to the monster.

According to reports, he was expelled from school and joined a group of White Supremacists who trained him to use an AR-15 and other weapons.  He also took video of himself training wearing his MAGA Redcap.

I look forward to the time when I’m old hear tales of horror as the grandchildren of Trump Supporters find MAGA hats buried in the attic or the closet.  The Redcap will earn its place in history next to the white hood and the swastika.

 

ONE YEAR AGO: TRUMP ENDED RULE THAT COULD HAVE PREVENTED MASS SHOOTING IN FLORIDA

This whole thing could have been avoided.

 

GUN LOBBY CONTRIBUTED NEARLY $6 MILLION TO GOP IN 2016, JUST OVER $100K TO DEMOCRATS

If you’re sick and tired of “Thoughts and Prayers”, vote out the Republicans.

 

NRA, TRUMP, AND RUSSIA

Fuck the NRA.  May those traitorous shits get the fate reserved for the worst of the sinners.

 

$26 MILLION FROM INAUGURAL FUND TO MELANIA’S FRIEND

In the middle of this tragedy, the Trump Inauguration Committee released their tax forms today.  There were some pretty interesting answers to the question “Where did the money go?”

Well, looks like $26 million of that went to her friend.

One of the companies, WIS Media Partners of Marina del Rey, California, was created by a longtime friend of Mrs. Trump, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, according to a person familiar with the firm. Records show that the firm was created in December 2016, but otherwise there is very little information available about it.

…

Also reaping payments for event production services was Hargrove, Inc., of Lanham, Md., a company that plans trade shows and other events, which was paid $25 million. David Monn of New York, who also is known for orchestrating society events and planned a state dinner for former President Barack Obama, was paid $3.7 million, and a company called Production Resource Group of New Windsor, N.Y., was paid $2.7 million, according to the tax return.

Other expenses for which the committee paid directly included ticketing, on which it spent $4.1 million, and promotional gifts, on which it spent $560,000.

It also spent heavily on payroll and administrative expenses, including spending $9.4 million on travel, $4.6 million on salaries and benefits for its 208 employees, $500,000 on legal fees and $237,000 on fund-raising.

Out of $107 million, nearly half of that went to two “event planners”, one of them being a company belonging to Melania’s friend that was started about a month before the inauguration.

This is a textbook case of embezzlement.

The friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, was also paid $1.6 million on top of the $25 million.  She now has an unpaid position in the White House, working for the First Lady.

So, I’m going follow up on my pledge that I recently made and blame evil white women.  Let’s stop pretending that Melania is innocent in this whole ordeal.  She may not be “Traitor to the Country” evil, but is at least “Let’s take the money and run” evil.

 

TRUMP TRAVEL BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL

I know this seems like a repeat, and it is.  Each and every travel ban, and each iteration of it has been struck down by the courts.  It might have something to do with the obvious racist overtones…

Who the fuck am I kidding?

Trump flat out called for banning all Muslims from coming into the country, and wanted to kick out the ones already here.

This time, the ban was ruled unconstitutional because of the undue burdens it put on families of immigrants from countries on the ban by preventing Aunts and Uncles from visiting or gaining legal status.

Every American is an immigrant or descendants of immigrants.  Whether it’s 1 generation, 2 generations, 10, or 10,000, we are all immigrants.

 

PRIEBUS ON CHAOS IN TRUMP WHITE HOUSE: ‘TAKE EVERYTHING YOU’VE HEARD AND MULTIPLY IT BY 50’

A new book is coming out talking about how the White House Chief of Staff shapes a presidency.  Reince Preibus was interviewed regarding his time in the clusterfuck known as the Trump Presidency.  He described it as, well, a clusterfuck.

Below is an excerpt from the book.

Priebus, who left the White House last summer, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions twice tried to resign, but he convinced Sessions otherwise, according to excerpts published by The Associated Press.

“I said, ‘You cannot resign. It’s not possible. We are going to talk about this right now,’” Priebus recalled telling Sessions.

The attorney general, who has faced periodic criticism from President Trump, later offered his resignation, but Priebus urged Trump not to accept it, the former chief of staff said.

Priebus also said he didn’t support Trump picking a fight over the crowd size at his inauguration, which was smaller than former President Obama’s. However, Priebus ultimately relented, saying it wasn’t worth “going to go to war over” with Trump

So, in some roundabout way, Preibus is the reason that Jeff Sessions is still the Attorney General.

 

STORMY WATCH: SHE HAS A DRESS

Remember Monica Lewinsky and the Blue Dress?  If you don’t recall, here’s the short version…

Monica blew Bill Clinton and he came a little on her dress.  Instead of taking it to the cleaners, she kept it.  At some point, the news came out that this dress existed.

Well, it looks like Stormy Daniels has her own…dress?

Somehow, she has proof.  I don’t want to know.

 

RUMOR MILL:  TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Circling back to the WaPo story about Russia using the MSM to push their stories, Countercheckist and Louise Mensch had some things to say about that.  I linked to the Twitter thread right above, but here’s what’s going on…

I’ve described before how Louise said that the FBI is investigating Fox News as a company and Sean Hannity individually for pushing Russian propaganda.  We’ve also seen how Julian Assange is getting information to him, and how the White House and Fox News orchestrated the Seth Rich story to distract from Robert Mueller being named the Special Counselor to investigate Russia.  There’s a litany of other on-air personalities across multiple networks and journalists across the industry that were hacked by Russians.

Whether through blackmail or coercion, these people pushed the Russian agenda, often at the insistence and timing of Russia.  They were compensated for their actions in Bitcoin. When a story favorable to the Russians would drop, they would target it with their bots and trolls to increase the noise level.

How would they get these stories to the journalists?  Two ways.

First, semi-organically through Social Media.  An anonymous post on 4Chan, 8Chan, or Reddit would get picked up by the bots on Twitter, and those bots would get enough traction so that sites like Breitbart (who has Yandex search engine optimization code on their site to the time of this post) or Daily Caller would write a story about the Twitter trend. A site on the left would write a counter piece, and eventually Fox News and MSNBC would pick up the counterpoints.

The other method was through lobbyists.  These lobbyists, like Adam Waldman, would hire journalists and outlets to hire puff pieces on behalf of their clients, like Oleg Deripaska.  These pieces would end up getting picked up by the bots, then the cycle begins anew.

I first mentioned Adam Waldman last week in Daily Check-In 02/09/2018  after his texts ended up on Fox News.  If he was the contact between Deripaska and the media, Waldman should be very careful about where he gets his dinner for the next couple months.

Because of the Bitcoin usage, there will be a lot of tax stuff and money laundering charges coming down the pipe, but that is the least of the problems these people face.

Knowingly and willingly spreading propaganda of a hostile foreign power is Espionage at the least, Treason at the worst.  Both are Capital crimes in the United States.  That means the Death Penalty is an option.

On a brighter note, the Ex-President of Guatemala was arrested.  He’s looking at corruption charges.  This is the second Head of State in the last few days to face possible charges.  Israeli Police recommend bribery charges against Benjamin Netenyahu.  Netenyahu is deeply tied to Jared Kushner’s real estate empire, and was the recipient of bribes that came from money laundered through Kushner’s real estate.

When the Heads of State start falling, some serious shit is coming down the pipeline.

 

That’s it for today.  Nothing extra witty, but I was thinking about all of the scandals that Trump faces right now, and their unprecedented breadth and speed at which they’re coming down.  At first it was just a Watergate Speed Run, but now we’ve got the Lewinsky Speed Run, the Whitewater Speed Run, the Teapot Dome Speed Run, and probably a couple others as well.  This is what happens when a career criminal gets thrust into the most scrutinized position in the world.  Every single thing he’s done will come to light, and we’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg.

 

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/14/2018

Wednesday.  Valentine’s Day.  It’s a day for lovers to show each other how much they care  for and appreciate each other.  It’s about the Story of Love.

TRUMP’S LONGTIME LAWYER MICHAEL COHEN SAYS HE PAID STORMY DANIELS OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET

The Story of Love.  When a man cheats on his nursing wife with a porn star, then the man’s lawyer pays off said porn star, then admits to it a month after the story makes the news.

That’s love.  Love is in the air…

Although in this case, love sounds a hell of a lot like several ethical and legal violations, and possible criminal liability for the President.

So, we know that Stormy Daniels, an Adult Film Star from last decade, had an alleged affair with Donald Trump while Melania was at home with their infant son Barron.  We also know that she was shopping her story around several media outlets when she suddenly disappeared.  We also know that Michael Cohen opened an LLC that had one expense; a payment to “Peggy Patterson” for $130,000.  Peggy turned out to be Stormy Daniels.

We know all of this because Michael Cohen is a fucking idiot.

Today, he upped the stupid game by admitting to paying Stormy.  He says that he paid her off, all by himself with his own money.

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly,” Mr. Cohen said in a statement to The New York Times. “The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”

Michael Cohen just admitted to paying her off.

At the minimum, he just admitted to paying a woman to keep quiet about his client, and paid her with his money.  This is a serious ethical violation for a lawyer.  This is disbarment territory.  He could lose his license to practice law.  And that’s assuming the least of his legal problems.

DV97T6qVAAAUEms.jpg-large

At the minimum, he just admitted to paying a woman to keep quiet about his client, and paid her with his money.  This is a serious ethical violation for a lawyer.  This is disbarment territory.  He could lose his license to practice law.  And that’s assuming the least of his legal problems.

What’s more likely is that Cohen violated FEC laws and campaign contribution laws.  Even if the money didn’t come from the campaign, other donors, or any other source, by paying her when he did, Cohen made an in-kind contribution which could have saved the election for Trump.  Imagine if Stormy’s story came out a week or two before the election, on the heels of the Pussygate tape.

But, what if he paid her and was then reimbursed by the campaign?

If Cohen paid for this out of his own pocket, and was later reimbursed by the campaign, everyone involved is in a world of hurt.  Cohen, the finance director, the person who signed off on this, and anyone who knew about it.  That is especially true for Donald Trump.

What would that reimbursement look like?  Maybe like this…

DV983AXWkAAfekN.jpg-large

In late December 2016, the Trump Campaign paid Trump Properties $130,888.33 in rent.  Trump the candidate paid Trump the landlord rent.  But, the payment is a little suspect.

First, it doesn’t match the pattern of the rest of the rent payments.  The amount is different, the time of the month is different, and the amount is a made up amount.

Second, these amounts are all made up.  Look at the cents in every entry.  Notice something peculiar?  They are all perfect fractions, either 1/2, 1/3, or 1/6.  This is a dead giveaway for cooking the books.  Especially making up rent values.

Rent is determined by several ways, but one way is to determine the value per square feet, and divide by 12.  Doing that with some of these costs gives a value of  $1516.66 for square foot from July 2016 onward through November.  In the early months, the value was… hold on, let me do the math.

425490

30 14183.  30 13 1091.   30 13 33 33&1/12.  Those numbers make sense to me.

So, the first office was about 280 square feet.  They added 296 square feet in May for 576, then expanded to 876 square feet in June 2016.  That’s when the value of 1516/sq.ft. was cemented.  That value is the market value for property in New York City.

The office expanded again to 1342 square feet in June or July, and stayed there until November.  For November, they more than doubled the space to 2244 square feet.  Primes are 12,11,17, so my guess is the campaign HQ was something 44×51 or 33×68.  That’s also the square footage of a good sized suburban home.

After the campaign, they apparently downgraded to a 1036 square foot room.  Or 28×37.

Now, that could explain these rent payments as just rent.  Of course, is literally taking campaign funds to pay himself rent that he owes himself.  And all of these are manufactured values.

So here’s the theory going around…

Trump the Candidate paid Trump the Landlord this sum, which was then used to reimburse the lawyer for Trump the Philanderer to pay off the porn star to keep quiet so that Trump the Candidate could become Trump the President.

Was it this obvious?  Not likely, but I’d be interested to see Cohen’s legal bills and other financials for the last year or two.

Was makes this whole thing even dumber is that Stormy is ready to tell he story.  How can she do that?  Because numbnutz Cohen told about the payoff, and her and her lawyer feel that he violated the terms of the NDA.

Also, I hate writing about Stormy news.  If I have to, I try to put it at the end of the story.  Stormy is a shiny bauble meant to distract from the real crimes being performed.  However, there were two reasons this gets the top story of the day.

Number 1, it’s Valentine’s Day, and nothing says love like having an affair blow up in his bloated, orange face.

Number 2, Cohen volunteered this information to the press.  He’s trying to head something off, and hoping that by jumping in front the of the story, it’ll go away.  There are lots of rumors that proof of campaign contribution violations are incoming, and they’re bad enough that they could destroy Trump.  Of course, I’ve heard that before.  But, if after it’s all said and done, Trump is removed from office for paying a porn star to not talk about their sexcapades, I’ll take it.

Stormy, real name Stephanie Clifford, has been in the media the last few weeks, striking while the iron is hot.  This week she appears in a strip club across the street from the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

 

KUSHNER DEBTS GO UP IN 2017

Not just a little bit, but by several million dollars. Both him and Ivanka have a lot more debt to their names.

Why is this important?

Jared can’t get a permanent security clearance with all of this debt, yet sees the Presidential Daily Briefing each day.  Someone in as much debt as they have can be easily leveraged.

By the way, at least 100 employees in the Executive Branch have been working under an interim clearance since November 2017.

That was also the same time that the White House stopped offering new interim clearances.  It’s almost like something happened, like the FBI informing the White House that several of their employees would never be granted a permanent clearance and that they were a threat to national security.

 

NBC COMPILES A DATABASE OF DELETED RUSSIAN TWEETS

NBC pulled these lists together.

I recommend checking out the spreadsheets, and see if you’re in them.  After a cursory search, I’m not mentioned in there, but then again, I didn’t get back into Twitter until February or March 2017.

 

MIKE PENCE IS A LYING SACK OF SHIT

Pence could say that it’s sunny on a raining day.  He’s either completely delusional, a habitual liar, or both.

EVERY. SINGLE. INTELLIGENCE. HEAD. SAID. RUSSIA. ATTACKED. US.

Yet, the only two people in the Government who refuse to recognize it as a possibility are the President and Vice President.

Remember, Pence was Paul Manafort’s choice for Vice President.

 

VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY IN TRAVEL SCANDAL

Shulkin is one of five current and former Trump administration Cabinet members under investigation by agency inspectors general over their travel expenses, an issue that forced Tom Price to resign as Health and Human Services secretary in the fall. Shulkin and other Cabinet officials have said their travel, often on private and military planes or to speak at political events, was approved by agency ethics officials.

There is so much corruption in this administration, it’s systematic.  Shulkin’s Chief of Staff changed emails to make it sound like he was receiving an award in the Netherlands to justify bringing his wife on a trip to Europe, which also involved tickets to the Women’s Championship at Wimbledon.

This is ridiculous.

 

That’s all I’m covering for today.  There was another mass shooting in a school today.  17 dead.  Yet the monsters in the GOP will give their “thoughts and prayers” and say “now isn’t the time to discuss gun control.”

Fuck that, and fuck them.

Fuck the NRA.  Fuck the politicians who refuse to protect people at the expense of the gun manufacturers.

And fuck the NRA for their treasonous role in selling out the United States of America by funneling Russian money into the GOP.  I hope that whoever authorized this op gets the traitors death they deserve.

 

Thank you, and have a good one

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/13/2018

Tuesday, February 13, 2018.

FBI CHIEF: TRUMP HASN’T DIRECTED ME TO STOP RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN MIDTERMS

Earlier today, the heads of the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA, and a couple other organizations testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee to describe the threats that America currently faces.  It was an interesting day.

    “We’re taking a lot of specific efforts to blunt Russian efforts,” Wray said when Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) asked if he’d been directed by Trump to do so.
    “As directed by the president?” Reed interjected.
    “Not as specifically directed by the president,” Wray responded.
So, we’re solidly at the point that the President of the United States is a puppet for the Russian Government, and isn’t even instructing the heads of the Intelligence and Law Enforcement communities to do their job.
“What I can tell you is that the FBI submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in March, and then a completed background investigation in late July,” he said, noting that the FBI “followed the established protocol” with Porter.
“Soon thereafter we received requests for follow-up inquiry and we did the follow-up and provided that information in November. And then we administratively closed the file in January,” he continued. “And then earlier this month we received some additional information and we passed that on as well.”
Russian hackers are already scanning American electoral systems, intelligence officials have said, and using bot armies to promote partisan causes on social media. Russia also appears eager to spread information — real and fake — that deepens political divisions, including purported evidence that ties Mr. Trump to Russia, and its efforts to influence the 2016 election.
“We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople, and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,” Mr. Coats said.
The White House has completely broken the whole idea of a security clearance.
How it should work:  Person gets interviewed for a job, then hired.  They submit an application to the FBI to handle important and classified information.  This check is slightly more invasive than a colonoscopy. While they do their check, you get an Interim Clearance.  If the FBI finds some shit in your background that would prevent you from getting a permanent clearance, then the White House, or whatever organization, would give you the chance to resign of your own accord and find a job outside of government.
How Trump does it:  After the FBI says that half the staff can’t pass a background check, ignore the FBI and let the people who shouldn’t be trusted with classified information keep handling classified information, even if, or because of, their susceptibility to being blackmailed.
Speaking of people who can’t get a security clearance…
Republicans who were so concerned about leaks of classified information during the last year are now pushing for the release of top secret information to the public, cherry-picked to undermine agencies for which they are meant to be stewards. From this point forward, the House Intelligence Committee’s assessment of the intelligence community should be met with skepticism by the public and Congress alike. When we look back on this administration in a few years, we believe this incident will be marked as one of the worst cases of politicization of intelligence in modern American history.
Special Counselor Robert Mueller has been all up in Facebook like “What now?  I can haz subpoena dox.”
Ok, I don’t meme well.
This is something we’ve known for a while, but Mueller has subpoenaed documents and information relating to Russia’s activities using Facebook during the election.
According to this report, a lot of employees were pissed at how much the Russians got away with and tried.  They wanted to speak out against it, but didn’t want to appear partisan.
So, we’re at the point that stopping a foreign power from committing an act of war is being too partisan.  Got it.
After telling her friends that she wouldn’t vote for Trump again “in a million years,” she expressed even more fear and apprehension for Mike Pence.
    “As bad as ya’ll think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence,” she said. “So everybody that’s wishing for impeachment might want to reconsider their lives. We would be begging for days of Trump back if Pence became president.”
    Why?
    “He’s extreme,” Omarosa said of the vice president. “I’m Christian. I love Jesus. But he thinks Jesus tells him to say things. I’m like, ‘Jesus ain’t say that.’ ” (In addition to being a “reality legend” Omarosa is an ordained minister.)
No matter how corrupt or crazy he is, remember… he’s a clogged artery away from having the Nuclear Football.
Buzzfeed is being sued by a Russian Oligarch and Michael Cohen for defamation of character.  Even though they are both public figures, and the bar for defamation is rather high in those cases, the easiest way to fight a defamation lawsuit is to prove the veracity of the claims.
No better way to shut up Michael Cohen than to show him his own travel records and expense reports.
Yesterday, the PA GOP submitted a “new” map.  This one was even more gerrymandered than the original.  So, naturally, Tom Wolf said “Fuck your map, and any maps that look like it.  I’ll make my own.”  Which is what he’s doing.  It’ll be up to the PA Supreme Court to either approve that one, or choose a map developed by a computer algorithm.
Personally, I want the computer to win.
RUMOR MILL:  WHERE’S RUDY?
Someone asked on Reddit today “Where’s Rudy?”  I couldn’t help but have fun with the answer.  I present to you “A Giuliani Carol.”
Rudy Giuliani has gone to ground.  He’s disappeared from the public spotlight.  Shortly after the Russian Investigation began, Rudy vanished.
Rumor has it he was one of the first ones visited by the Ghost of Crimesmas.  The ghost of Elliot Spitzer told him he would be visited by three spirits throughout the night.
The first spirit, a jolly firefighter covered in soot showed him his past as a prosecutor, the Mayor of NYC during 9/11, and his bid for President, when he lost the nomination to John McCain, after John sold out to the religious right.
The second spirit, a fat man in a beach chair, showed Rudy his recent past and present, talking with his friend Donald and cavorting with FBI Agents in New York, as they snicker and snort about an “October Surprise” involving some mails and a big wiener.
Though Rudy was defiant after the first two spirits, the third filled him with dread.  It was a tall man, wearing a dark suit, a pale complexion, and a thousand yard stare.  He said nothing, and made no sudden moves.  The tall, white-haired figure, walked slowly from room to room, with each room changing into a different image.  Each image shown to Rudy rocked him to his core.
The first showed his friends in the FBI being led into a room where they were arrested.  One of them pulled a gun, hoping to shoot his way out, but was killed by the other agents.
The next was a familiar building, tall and gilded, having the doors locked and equipment seized from it.  A large sign was placed on the door, saying that the building was now the property of the State of New York covered the front door.
The next room showed his friends, Don, JB, and Jared, being led into a paddy wagon by another old friend, Chris.
“My god.  What happened to Tiny Chris?  This isn’t like him at all.”
The spirit kept walking, not even recognizing that Rudy talked.
“Wait, where am I in all of this?  What happens to me?  WHAT HAPPENS TO ME!”
The spirit walks to another room.  This room has rows of chairs, looking at a smaller room with windows.  Inside the room is a table, a medical table with straps and one arm extended out.  A tray of equipment and chemicals stand to the side.  A man in doctor in scrubs, accompanied by two nurses, look up at a clock.  One nurse checks for a pulse.  Another doctor, and a man in a suit, stand off to the side of the room.  An older man lies motionless on the table.
“No pulse, no reps.”  says the nurse, matter of factly.
“Call it,” says the doctor along the side of the room.
The doctor in scrubs looks at the clock on the wall above him.  “Time of death, 12:01 AM.”
The staff walks out of the inner room.  The outer room, mostly empty save for a couple uninterested witnesses, starts to empty as well.
“WHY DID YOU SHOW ME THIS?!  PLEASE, ANSWER ME!  WHY DID YOU SHOW ME THIS?!”
The spirit methodically points his finger at the table, and Rudy takes a long, hard look.  He looks on at horror at the face of the man on the table.  That face, at first unrecognizable, yet instantly unmistakable.  A face that looks worn, tired, and haggard.  A face…
His face.  It’s Rudy’s face!  Rudy’s face is on the man on the table.  Rudy jumps away in horror at the scene he sees.  Rudy’s heartbeat quickens, his palms sweat, his vision blurs.  Everything around him becomes black.  The room disappears as Rudy falls back, and falls.  And falls.  And falls.
“NOOOO!”  Rudy shoots up in his bed in his New York apartment.  He’s home.  He’s safe.  He’s ALIVE!
“There’s still time.  There’s still time to change things.”  Rudy jumps out of bed, and runs over to his desk.
“Where is it?  Where is it?”  Rudy rips through his papers and business cards like a man possessed.  He knows the card he’s looking for.  A man from Washington gave him this card just the other day after they spoke.  The man said if he needed to talk about anything to give him a call.  Rudy’s eyes go round like saucer plates when he sees the card he was looking for.
“AH HA!  THERE YOU ARE!”  Without a moments hesitation, Rudy grabs his trusty flip phone from his his nightstand, and dials the number.  The phone rings twice before Rudy blurts out in excitement, “Yes, Special Counselor’s Office?  It’s Rudy.  I’d like to to talk to Robert, please. Mr. Mueller.”
That’s it for today.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 02/12/2018

Monday, February 12, 2018

FORMER NSA DIRECTOR SUSAN RICE EMAILED HERSELF AN ACCOUNT OF A MEETING ABOUT TRUMP AND RUSSIA

Jesus fucking tap-dancing Christ, just read this…

RiceEmail

The next paragraph was completely redacted.  The ending said that President Obama asked to be updated in the next couple weeks if there was any reason why things might change.  Comey said sure.

Let’s put this in perspective…

January 5th, 2017 was a few days after the Obama Administration dropped the sanction hammer on Russia, and instead of a response, the Russians held back.  This confused and surprised them, so they tried to find out why.  That’s when they discovered that Mike Flynn had talked to Ambassador Kysliak and told him to hold off until Trump is in office, then they’ll take care of the sanctions and make everything right.

They had evidence that there was a spy and a traitor on their way into the White House.  FBI Director James Comey would brief Trump on the Steele Dossier the very next day.  After that, he would update the group on what happened.

Fast forward to January 20th.  Trump is just sworn in, Susan Rice is out of a job as soon as she leaves the office, and her replacement Mike Flynn is busy texting about setting up deals in the Middle East.  Susan emailed herself a record of this meeting to create a paper  trail, to prevent this from being swept under the rug and forgotten.

Earlier today, Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsay Graham sent a letter to Susan Rice, asking her why she sent this “unusual email” to herself.

 

DEVIN NUNES WORKED WITH MIKE FLYNN

If anyone’s been wondering why Devin Nunes has been so hardcore about obstructing the investigation, it’s because he’s ear-deep in criminal shit.

NunesFlynn

So, that’s where we’re at.  Devin Nunes, a senior member of the Trump Transition Team, often served as a stand-in for Mike Flynn.  Mike Flynn, who accepted a charge of lying to the FBI in a plea deal for illegal shit he did during the Transition period.

If foreign leaders wanted to talk to Flynn but couldn’t reach him, they’d contact Devin Nunes.  The odds of him not being involved in some seriously criminal shit are smaller than my chances of a threesome with Marylin Monroe and Joan of Arc.

 

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL BRAND LEAVES PARTLY OVER FEAR SHE MIGHT BE ASKED OVERSEE RUSSIA PROBE

From the article…

Should Rosenstein be fired, Brand would be next in line to oversee Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, thrusting her into a political spotlight that Brand told friends she did not want to enter.

She has seen how Rosenstein has been treated, dragged through the mud, and abused over the past year.  If he’s fired, she’s next up, and doesn’t want to go through that.

So, she can either deal with a world of shit, or take a 7 figure payout from Walmart.  Hell, a greeters job might look preferable to running the investigation under Trump.

 

PENNSYLVANIA TO PUSH REPLACING OLDER VOTING MACHINES WITH ONES THAT LEAVE A PAPER TRAIL

While it’s not a full-blown order that all older voting machines must be replaced, it’s a step in the right direction.  Funds need to be approved for the budget, and at $3,000 per machine and 20,000 voting machines throughout the state, it’ll cost the state $60,000,000 to replace all of them.  Granted, not all of them need replacing, but that figure represents the largest amount it should cost to do this.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S BUDGET WOULD ADD $7.2 TRILLION IN FEDERAL DEFICITS OVER 10 YEARS

Here’s the thing with Presidential Budgets, they’re a lot like Christmas Wish Lists.  They have a whole ton of crazy things like a pony, a quad, and parents who love and cherish their kid, but in reality they’ll be lucky to get a My Little Pony doll, a Hot Wheels car, and for their parents to remember their name.

This budget calls for cuts to every social program like Medicaid, SNAP, and PBS, increased spending on the Military, selling off roads and airports to raise capital, and doubling funding for Trump’s wall.

By the way, it blows up the deficit at a rate unseen since… the last Republican President.  Funny how Republicans only care about growing the deficit when it’s a Democratic President that proposes tax cuts and spending increases.

As it is, I’m highly doubtful that this will ever see the light of day. Why? To get this through both the House and Senate, it needs to have enough support to get a majority and a cloture majority, respectively.

Getting through the House is possible without any Democrats joining, but will require getting the Freedom Caucus on board.  They are the most obnoxious, odious, and offensive gaggle of Tea Partiers that have ever existed.  Two things they hate are helping poor people in any way shape and form, and increasing the deficit.  They might hate the poor more than they hate debt.

As far as the Senate goes, it will require at least 9 Democrats to pass, if not more.  While there are 5 Democratic Senators running for re-election in solid Red states, that still leaves at least 4 needed.  None of them will vote to cut Medicaid or PBS, or allocate $7.5 Billion for the wall.

There will have to be a compromise between the two houses of Congress, and agreement on what that will contain.

That said, join the fight at Protect My Public Media.  https://protectmypublicmedia.org

 

RUMOR MILL: NOT ALL RESISTORS ARE REAL, INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK, AND DONNIE JR’S WIFE GETS POWDERED

There were a couple stories from Twitter the last few days that were of interest.

First, more members of the Resistance are catching on to the fact that they’re being infiltrated by bots and trolls.  Hell, even I have gotten a few bots following me.  It’s good to see that others are catching on, and realizing that this is a setup for a future battle.  When the fecal matter strikes the mechanical air circulation device, expect these bots to go on the attack.  They will swarm and report the voices of the Resistance en masse.  That’s part of the reason why I do this blog.  When things go sideways, I have a record.

Also, once again it’s Infrastructure Week.  At least, that’s how it starts.  The last few times we saw this, gigantic developments in the Russian story occurred.  If the trend continues, expect something big, like finding out that Obama told the FBI Director that everything must be done “by the book.”  Oh, wait…

Finally, there was a story earlier today about Donnie Jr.’s wife getting rushed to the hospital after opening an envelope filled with a white powder.  Immediately after, Julian Assange claims the same thing happened to him last week from an envelope with an American stamp.  A few things don’t make sense with this story.  Donnie Jr. and his wife are both under United States Secret Service (USSS) protection.  Part of their standard operating procedure is to check incoming mail and packages for threats, weapons, and chemicals.  So, either this fell through the cracks, the USSS isn’t doing their job, or it’s a hoax/false flag.  As soon as J-Ass opened his mouth, I’m convinced it’s a false flag.  Expect to see a Twitter rant about this shit in the morning from the Dotard.

 

That’s it for today.  I’ve done quite a bit today on this blog, but there’s always more to do.  That’s one of the things I like and don’t like.  I can always find a new story idea.  I’m not sure what the new next one is, but I’ve wanted to write about Mueller’s Gameplan.  I think I can see where this is going, but there’s still quite a lot of unknowns involved.  Also, I’d like to expand on my alternate universe war gaming.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur