Tag: Confirmation

Daily Check-In 01/28/2019

Monday, January 28, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Roger Stone

A defense attorney for Andrew Miller, who’s fighting a subpoena from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, learned Monday afternoon that the special counsel still wants witness testimony for a federal grand jury.

Paul Kamenar, the defense attorney, says the assertion from Mueller’s team made clear to him that Mueller and the Justice Department are considering an additional indictment of Roger Stone or have plans to charge others.

As I mentioned yesterday Daily Check-In 01/22/2019, things are going to get crazy from here on out.  There’s a couple directions this could go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Stone’s associates get charged next, on the way to making the connection to Julian Assange.

 

Whitaker

 

Deripaska

According to bios released by En+, they include Nicholas Jordan, former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs’s Russia business; Carl Hughes, ex-vice chairman of Deloitte’s global energy and resources division; Joan McNaughton, who served as the UK’s director general of energy;  and Christopher Bancroft Burnham, chairman and CEO of Cambridge Global Capital LLC, a private investment advisory firm with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

“Mr. Burnham is a globally recognised expert in the implementation of accountability and transparency, and the implementation of best practice in government, corporations, and inter-governmental organisations, having served as Under Secretary General for Management of the United Nations [where he worked alongside Trump’s current national security adviser John Bolton] and Under Secretary of State for Management (acting),” the En+ release says. “Mr. Burnham is a former Vice Chairman at Deutsche Bank Asset Management and co-founded and led Deutsche Bank’s direct private equity group, RREEF Capital Partners. Mr. Burnham is also a former Assistant Secretary of State for Resource Management and Chief Financial Officer of the US Department of State.”

The En+ release makes no mention of one other notable position Burnham also held: member of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team.

Burnham’s office did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Deripaska’s. OFAC directed Quartz to a statement posted on its website but declined to provide further details about Burnham’s appointment.

Sounds a hell of a lot like a Quid Pro Quo to me.  Immediately after the sanctions are released, a member of the Trump Transition Team gets named to the board.

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

 

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

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

CONGRESS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Azriel Clary, one of Kelly’s alleged victims featured in the Lifetime series Surviving R Kelly, was reportedly flown from Palm Springs to Phoenix to Orlando in May 2015. At the time, she was only 17 years old. Clary’s family says the flights were arranged by Kelly’s personal assistant. The family has not heard from Clary since 2016 and believe she may be Kelly’s “sex slave.”

If the allegations are true, Kelly would be in violation of the Mann Act — the federal law that makes it illegal to transport a minor across state lines for purposes of sex, debauchery or prostitution. Punishment for such a crime is up to 10 years in a federal prison.

R. Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, denied to TMZ that Kelly violated the law and said he was unaware of any investigation. Representatives for the singer also point to a handwritten note from Clary’s mother in which she gave Kelly’s assistant consent to care for her daughter.

The FBI has also been in touch with the family of Jocelyn Savage, another one of Kelly’s alleged sex slaves, TMZ reports.

Since the airing of Surviving R Kelly, there’s been renewed scrutiny over Kelly’s alleged misconduct. While his attorneys maintain that the singer is innocent of all allegations, Kelly himself has ben hiding out in Chicago’s Trump Tower and was recently admitted to the hospital with panic attacks. He’s also been dropped by his longtime record label, and his manager was arrested for making terroristic threats against Kelly’s accusers.

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Monday.  After the last couple days, it’s nice to get a little bit of a breather.  And by that, I mean that it wasn’t a complete and total clusterfuck.

Now that we’re in Phase III, expect to see some weird shit.  We’re about to see some historic levels of flailing around.  Not just from Trump, but also from those that benefit from him and the GOP policies.

Take Howard Schultz for example.  Here’s another rich guy who labels themselves as a “Centrist Independent” and is contemplating running, but won’t make up his mind until later.  If he runs, it’ll be as a third party candidate, and most likely against a Democratic nominee like Warren or Harris.  You know, one of those “evil lefty socialists” who think that rich people should pay their fair share of taxes.  The nightmare scenario is the “Centrist” (Read: Corporate Shithole) declaring a third party run and trying to siphon votes off of Warren/Harris, which would allow Trump to win.  Of course, this assumes a hell of a lot, like Trump will run in 2020.  I personally think that has a very small chance of happening, like less than 25%.

I’m not sure what’s coming around the corner, but I will always remember this phrase from a poster I had as a kid:

The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.

I’m just one giant fucking ray of sunshine, aren’t I?

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

 

Daily Check-In 01/25/2019

Friday, January 25, 2019 and the weekend

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Roger Stone

“Roger’s relationship with Trump has been so interconnected that it’s hard to define what’s Roger and what’s Donald,” Manafort told a Netflix film crew during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The documentary, “Get Me Roger Stone,” was released in April 2017, but filmmakers followed Stone and his associates around as they managed Trump during the 2016 Republican primary and general election.

Manafort added later in the film that in terms of “Roger’s relationship with Trump, they both see the world in a very similar way.”

“If Trump is elected president, I think Roger will see one more very significant impact he’s had on world history,” Manafort said.

Looks like it’s Roger Stone’s time in the barrel.  This comment comes from a tweet he made in August 2016 where he claimed it would soon be John Podesta’s time in the barrel.  This was shortly before WikiLeaks released a bunch of mails the Russian GRU stole from him.  Several of the emails were edited to make Podesta’s statements look worse.  Roger coordinated the release of these mails with WikiLeaks, who stood in as a front for Russian Intelligence.

I reported on Thursday Daily Check-In 01/24/2019 the existence of a sealed indictment from D.C., and the Rumor Mill got all atwitter.  Turns out, it was for good reason.

At 6 AM EST, a small CNN crew was camping out in front of Roger Stone’s house.  His neighbor Chad Johnson formerly Ochocinco, was getting ready for his morning jog.  Suddenly, several FBI agents wearing bullet proof vests approached the house with weapons drawn.  They knocked on his door, yelling “FBI, OPEN THE DOOR!”  After a moment lights turned on and the door opened.  Shortly after, the FBI agents escorted Roger Jason Stone, Jr. from his house and arrested him.  He was released on a $250,000 promise bond.  Must be nice being rich.

Roger is charged with seven felonies.  One of them is Obstruction of Proceeding, since his lies impeded Congressional investigation.  Counts two through six are his various lies to Congress, and one count of Witness Tampering.  The lies are documented below:

Count

False Statement

page22image1098533392 page22image1133611232

2

STONE testified falsely that he did not have emails with third parties about the head of Organization 1, and that he did not have any documents, emails, or text messages that refer to the head of Organization 1.

page22image1098756400

3

STONE testified falsely that his August 2016 references to being in contact with the head of Organization 1 were references to communications with a single “go-between,” “mutual friend,” and “intermediary,” who STONE identified as Person 2.

page22image1098830160

4

STONE testified falsely that he did not ask the person he referred to as his “go-between,” “mutual friend,” and “intermediary,” to communicate anything to the head of Organization 1 and did not ask the intermediary to do anything on STONE’s behalf.

5

STONE testified falsely that he and the person he referred to as his “go-between,” “mutual friend,” and “intermediary” did not communicate via text message or email about Organization 1.

6

page22image1098882592

STONE testified falsely that he had never discussed his conversations with the person he referred to as his “go-between,” “mutual friend,” and “intermediary” with anyone involved in the Trump Campaign.

page22image1098579632

His witness tampering charge stems from Roger Stone telling Randy Credico to ‘Stonewall it. Plead the fifth. Anything to save the plan.’  Stone also threatened Credico multiple times, including at least one attempt on Randy’s dog.  That’s fucked up.

I’m not going to go through this indictment line by line, but let me cover the basics.

Roger Stone, a senior official on the Trump Campaign until August 2015 and an unofficial  advisor throughout the election, worked with Organization 1 (WikiLeaks) through Person 1 (Jerome Corsi) and a contact of Corsi’s in Britain (Nigel Farage) to acquire the stolen emails from the Clinton Campaign from. the Head of Organization 1, who lives in the Ecuadorian Embassy (Julian Assange).  Stone was in contact senior Trump Campaign officials, and one of them inquired directly about the timing of the email releases (Steve Bannon).  After one of these conversations with Person 1 (Corsi), it was suggested by their “friend in the embassy” (Assange) that “Would not hurt to start suggesting HRC old, memory bad, has stroke – neither he nor she well.”  Immediately after that, the Right Wing Media and the Trump Campaign began hammering home the point that HRC was old, sick, etc.  Communications between Stone and Senior Advisor (Bannon) continued throughout the campaign.

After the election, Stone claimed that Person 2 (Randy Credico) was his point of contact with the Head of Organization 1 (Assange), and completely hid his dealings with Person 1 (Corsi).  Stone did his best to keep Person 2 (Credico) quiet, including threatening to kill his dog, have his attorney disbarred, and threatened physical harm to him.

I truly appreciate a few things with this indictment.

First, it directly references the Russian GRU case from last summer.  In a way, it’s part of that case.

Second, it’s all low hanging fruit.  Sure, a couple conspiracy charges would be nice, but each of these charges is very easy to prove.  For witness tampering, all they would need are phone records and acknowledgement that it was Roger who sent the texts.  For the lies, all it would take to prove the lies are the transcripts from his interview and his emails and texts.  Obstruction could be a little harder, but if Mueller has proof that Stone was trying to hamstring the invetigation by lying or chording lies, they’ve got him on those.

Next, the charges are both directly related to collusion and aren’t at the same time.  The MAGA Hat crowd will gladly point out that Stone wasn’t charged with anything conspiracy related, and their cult leader will gladly go through the cycle of “No collusion, Witch Hunt, Stone had little contact with the campaign” cycle that he went through with Manafort, Cohen, and Flynn.

Further, Stone was treated like the common criminal that he is.  Mueller didn’t give him any advance warning.  He didn’t tell his attorney to have him show up at the courthouse at 9AM. He didn’t give a courtesy call minutes ahead.  Mueller felt that if Stone knew he was going to be arrested, he would likely try to flee, destroy evidence, or make some kind of crazy last stand.  For people who’ve never seen an arrest warrant being served, this was pretty tame.  At least Roger’s door is still standing.

Finally, during all of the coverage, it came out that Mueller has not interviewed Roger Stone at all.  Not once in 20 months.  That tells me two things.

  1. Mueller was waiting until he had Stone by the balls before even approaching him.
  2. Stone was a target from day 1.

There are different rules for dealing with targets as opposed to subjects.  Investigators can’t directly interview targets without jumping through a lot of hoops.  If he was that big of a target, then he was screwed from the beginning.

As far as the timing goes, I’ll talk about that in the Coda.

 

Paul Manafort

Stone and Manafort are tied at the hip.  And Manafort’s looking at dying in prison.

 

Oleg Deripaska

Remember that they did this on a Sunday afternoon to avoid press coverage.

 

Jared Kushner

 

Chris Christie

 

100 Contacts

 

Upcoming

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Cohen

 

Undocumented Workers

Remember when it came out that Trump hired a bunch of illegals to work at his golf courses last month? (Daily Check-In 12/07/2018). It looks like during the shutdown, many of them were fired.  Keep an eye on this.

 

SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

Flights Grounded

 

Shutdown Ends

 

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

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

Glenn Greenwald

 

CONGRESS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

January: Utah man, 27, threatened mass shooting because he was a virgin and had never dated Florida man, 21, executed five women in a bank New Jersey man, 39, opened fire at UPS and took two women hostage Louisiana man, 21, fatally shot girlfriend, parents and three others

Pennsylvania man, 21, fatally shot 3 men and injured an ex-girlfriend before shooting himself. California man, 48, ambushed and fatally shot a woman officer as she adjudicated a traffic accident. Pennsylvania man, 27, bludgeoned, stabbed and shot a woman who broke up with him.

Florida man, 60, fatally shot ex-girlfriend and shot her friend, saying he was trying to “get rid of the Devil” Oregon man, 36, fatally shot a woman on a first date after meeting online New Mexico man, 33, fatally shot his 3-year-old one day after missing a custody hearing

Florida man, 39, shot his wife and her parents after accusations of of adultery Louisiana man, 26, shot and killed his girlfriend, a police officer, while she was preparing to leave for work Florida man, 21, shot 3 family members who didn’t want him dating their 15-year-old

Still doing January…

Alabama man, 19, shot a woman he was simultaneously assaulting while driving. Four women shot at a Newark candlelight vigil for teen car crash victims. No arrests made. Ohio woman fatally shot while walking dog. Her body was found by a woman shot in the head a few months prior.

Two Louisiana women were fatally shot near an apartment complex. No suspects arrested North Carolina police found a woman shot to death after responding to a domestic violence call. A suspect is in custody A New York woman was shot on a Buffalo metro bus. No suspects arrested

Gun violence is a women’s issue: An American woman is fatally shot by a current or former intimate partner every 16 hours; most mass shootings involve domestic violence; American women are 11X more likely to be murdered with a firearm than women in any other developed nation.

Text JOIN to 644-33 to help @momsdemandfight domestic gun violence.

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

RUMOR MILL

  1. I have been watching the DC dockets since late 2017. There are a lot of reports today of multiple new cases filed in DC. The last case number filed is 19-cr-20. Stone, that was filed yesterday, is 19-cr-18. There is one remaining sealed docket in the 2019 dockets. 19-cr-9.
  2. I recall spotting some new number prefixes. I have to research when but today I saw an account posting a report of multiple sealed dockets in the prefix “sc” presuming it to be the Special Counsel. I went to the dockets and none appear in 2017 with the “sc” prefix.
  3. Then I looked at 2018. Here is the last one that all appear to be sealed noting that I just checked about 20 to arrive at this as the last one. It could mean that there were 3,580 separate filed dockets under the “sc” prefix for 2018. I that is likely.
  4. Here is the last “sc” prefix that I can find for 2019. 163 through the current time. So what could they be? I looked at the CM/ECF handbooks and can find no report of the prefixes. If you file in Federal Court your are accustomed to
  5. these prefixes: cr=criminal cv=civil mj=magistrate judge gj=grand jury mp= miscellaneous proceeding. (I think but have to check) So what could “sc” be? My first thought was “sc” was a Show Cause for things like contempt proceedings related to jurors who didn’t show up.
  6. The “mj” filings are often search warrants. Also arrest warrants. So as of this time, the last 2019 “mj” number is 19-mj-18 that shows is sealed. The last “mj” docket I can fine in 2018 is 18-mj-166 that was originally filed on Dec. 28, 2018. That was the year with “sc” cases
  7. Now how about 2017 when the there was no “sc” prefix? The last number for “mj” filings in 2017, is 1,022. So what does this all “possibly” mean? My best analysis: In 2017 when the scope of the mj filings was becoming apparent the Clerk’s created the “sc” prefix. Because “mj”
  8. numbers are often later exposed to the public they would show the scope of the warrants that have been issued. So during 2017 there were possibly 1,022 warrants issued. 2018 they may have issued 3,580. And so far in 2019 they have issued 163.
  9. So they averaged 9 a day during 2018. And about 7 in 2019. As I have reported the scope of Mueller’s task is huge. He needs to essentially bring down the entire Russian mob in the US. From the number of warrants it looks to me he may be doing that.

 

It’s Barrel Time!

Just as a reminder to everyone, encrypted messaging doesn’t mean that it’s secured, or even encrypted from endpoint to endpoint.  Remember how Paul Manafort got screwed because he uploaded his messages to iCloud to back them up?  That backup unencrypted them, and made it very easy for law enforcement to get their hands on them.

 

Bernie

Fuck Bernie.  Trump vs. Bernie is an older article, but still accurate.  Plus, Bernie’s actions toward Russia, or lack thereof to be specific, leave much to be desired.

 

 

That’s it for the last few days.  Yep.  That all happened.  And things are gonna get crazy from here on out.  Like Chief said above, we’ll see some crazy, horseshit moves to delay investigations and protect Trump.  He looks weak and vulnerable right now, and it’s only going to get worse as we get deep into phase three.

Oh, let me explain the phases.  Spicy came up with them as an explanation of how the Mueller Investigation would proceed.

Phase I – name Russians
Phase II – detail methods used
Phase III – Indictment – American Confederates who aided and abetted Russians
Phase IV – Trump & Family

Phase I and II were the first few indictments.  Indicting the IRA, the GRU, and describing how the Russians interfered with the election are the basis of these phases.  There were a few Americans indicted up to this point, but all of them were either flips for other crimes like Sam Patten, or were rolled up to set up future work like Flynn and Cohen.

Roger Stone changes that.  His indictment has been widely viewed as the beginning of Phase III.  Roger was the ring leader of the Trump Campaign’s work with WikiLeaks, and by extension the Russians.  Stone was one of the main architects of this conspiracy.  With Stone getting indicted, it sends a signal that we’re entering the phase where the traitors that worked with Trump and Russia will get arrested.  Some of the small fish will be given a choice to either flip on a bigger fish or go down hard.  The bigger fish won’t get that choice, and the worse they did, the more they’ll need to deliver to save their asses.  Look at Mike Flynn, for example.  The guy committed espionage and treason against the United States, but could get off with time served and probation.  That only happens if he delivered more than FedEx.

For Roger Stone to have a chance at saving his hide, he’d have to deliver Assange, WikiLeaks, Bannon, Hannity, Alex Jones, Fox News, all of his henchmen, and several others.  And the Trump family, too.

I don’t know if he will flip, but either way I look forward to it.  If he does flip, it will be on some bigger fish that authorized his dirty tricks.  If he doesn’t, then he can see how popular his Nixon back tattoo is in the prison shower.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 01/24/2019

Thursday, January 24, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner’s application for a top secret clearance was rejected by two career White House security specialists after an FBI background check raised concerns about potential foreign influence on him — but their supervisor overruled the recommendation and approved the clearance, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The official, Carl Kline, is a former Pentagon employee who was installed as director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of the President in May 2017. Kushner’s was one of at least 30 cases in which Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top secret clearance for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information, the two sources said. They said the number of rejections that were overruled was unprecedented — it had happened only once in the three years preceding Kline’s arrival.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said the Trump White House attracted many people with untraditional backgrounds who had complicated financial and personal histories, some of which raised red flags.

So, let me get this straight…

The White House under Trump submits a request for Jared Kushner to receive a Top Secret clearance, but it gets denied after he edits it OVER 40 TIMES!!!  That should have been the end of that, but here comes Carl Kline, the new patsy for the Trump Administration.  He overrules the career agents so that Kushner can get his access.  Then, he sends it to the CIA for a SCI access, and they’re like “WTF?  How did this shit get Top Secret in the first place?”

Carl Kline, that’s how.  And not just Kushner.  According to this report, it happened with at least 30 other people.  30 people who shouldn’t see America’s secrets, yet have access.

With that access, Kushner used that intel to prop up MBS and help himself.

 

Cohen and the Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Cohen intends to comply with the interview demand next month, his attorney said Thursday.

The development comes one day after Cohen postponed his public testimony to a House committee.

Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, disclosed the subpoena from the Senate intelligence committee in a one-sentence statement. He later said the two sides had agreed on a Feb. 12 interview.

The Senate Intel Committee isn’t fucking around.  Cohen is scheduled to appear on February 12th.  No word yet if it will be public or private.  I’ll update as it comes out.

 

Skripal Sanctions

 

Deutsche Bank

 

Emin

 

NRA

 

Sealed Indictment

Gee, I wonder what that could be… SPOILER FOR FRIDAY!!!

 

SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

 

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

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

CONGRESS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

COLD WAR 2.0

Venezuela

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTIONS

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

RUMOR MILL

 

The Ming Show

I spent way too much time creeping on Ming’s timeline.

 

That’s it for Thursday.  I’m running behind on Friday, and it’s a big one so far.  I’ll go into details on the next post, but something something time in the barrel.  Also, we find out what happens when too many air traffic controllers call off on the same day, and Tangerine Tojo prepares to make an announcement from the Rose Garden.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

Daily Check-In 01/23/2019

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Cohen Witness Intimidation

President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is postponing his plan to testify before Congress in February because of concerns about his family’s safety, according to Cohen’s adviser Lanny Davis.

Davis cited “ongoing threats” to Cohen’s family from Trump and the president’s current personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in the decision to postpone his Feb. 7 appearance before the House Oversight Committee.

That appearance had been set for a month before Cohen is due to surrender to begin a three-year prison sentence for multiple crimes, some of which relate to Trump.

A spokesman for committee chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., as well as spokesmen for the White House and Giuliani, had no immediate comment on Cohen’s decision.

Trump as recently as last week had urged people to “watch” Cohen’s father-in-law, Fima Shusterman, who was placed on probation in the mid-1990s after pleading guilty in a case in which he was charged with conspiring to defraud the IRS.

I can’t say that I’m completely surprised by this, but wannabe mob bosses are gonna do mob shit.  That includes threatening the families of witnesses.  But I also think Rick Wilson is right: this shit is gonna blow up in Trump’s face.

Here’s why…

Trump is desperate to stay in office, as he thinks it’s the only thing keeping him from prison.  Cohen testifying publicly before Congress could be the nail in the coffin of his administration.  Congress is a lot closer to beginning impeachment proceedings than they’ve ever been, but need a good reason to start it.  The BuzzFeed report from Daily Check-In 01/17/2019 seemed like a great starting point, but Mueller’s response on Daily Check-In 01/18/2019 tampered that a bit.  The two most likely events that will lead to impeachment beginning would be Mueller releasing his report or Cohen testifying to Congress.  Trump’s trying his damndest to stop both of them.  But his efforts to stop them will also be his downfall.

If Cohen does not testify, which it looks like that’s what is going to happen, and it’s for the reasons that he stated about being intimidated and pressured by Trump, that itself is an impeachable offense.  He’s trying to pull an end-run around Mueller by shutting down the government, the very thing Mueller needs to do his job.  Both of these actions are Trump flailing about, trying to save himself.  They’re not his last lines of defense, but damn close.

 

Colludy Giuliani’s Lubing the Truth Tour

The big reason that Rudy keeps going on TV for Trump about Russia is that no one else can or will.  To use a sports analogy, Trump is down to his back bench players.  He doesn’t have anyone else who can come in to the game and take Rudy’s spot, and he can’t recruit anyone good enough to do the job.  He’s stuck with Rudy because his only other options are rejects from the waiver wire.

 

 

SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

OCTOBER 2013: DNI Clapper warns shutdown could help enemies recruit US spies

cc: “This is a dreamland for foreign intelligence service to recruit, particularly as our employees already …

[subjected] to furloughs driven by sequestration, are gonna have even greater financial challenges.” “”I’ve been in the intelligence business for about 50 years. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Clapper added during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday [OCT 2013]…

“Clapper said the loss of income from sequestration and the shutdown could make members of the intelligence community more susceptible to bribes. ” That was in 2013. does that put our current state in a new light for you? it should.

I briefly referred to an idea about the true purpose of the shutdown above, but I’ll address that in the Coda.

 

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

Trump vs. The Military

Once again, look at all of Trump’s actions and ask “Is this what someone defending the United States would do, or are these the actions of someone trying to hurt us?”

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

CONGRESS

 

FIGHTING BACK

Poll Dancing

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

The Red MAGA Hat is the Klan Hood or the Nazi Swastika of the 21st century.  For those on the inside, it’s a symbol to rally around, something to unify around for a common though generally undefined cause.  For everyone else, it’s a symbol of hatred, bigotry, and evil.  Wearing the MAGA hat sends a message to everyone else that screams “I’m afraid of anything different and will turn that fear to hatred in a nanosecond.”  And just like the other symbols mentioned, the MAGA hat hides and obscures the person.  It’s no longer your cool cousin who likes to party and drive off-road, they’re now the racist asshole who took too much pleasure in Trayvon Martin’s killer getting away with it.

Generations from now, children will be disgusted to find MAGA hats hidden in the attic when they’re cleaning out Grandpa’s house.  The image of that old, sweet man who gave them candy and money at the holidays will be changed to one of a hate-spewing asshole.

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Singer

For a while, I’ve debated whether or not to include male on male harassment and assault here.  I haven’t put any Kevin Spacey stuff in this section, because I was focused too much on the Women’s part of the #MeToo movement.  I’m changing that stance going forward, because not only does that type of sexual exist, but it’s a lot more pervasive than known and operates under the same position of abusing power.

 

COLD WAR 2.0

Venezuela

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

I don’t know about anyone else, but I enjoy watching Ming work.  Remember, everything is speculation until concrete evidence comes out, and people are innocent until proven guilty.  Even if they act like the guiltiest mother fuckers in the history of guilty mother fuckers.

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  Except one thought about the shutdown.

This might sound like a crazy conspiracy theory, but what if the shutdown was launched not to get the border wall, but to kill the FBI and the Mueller Investigation?  What if the wall was just an excuse that Trump used to drag this out so that every facet of the government that could harm him would suffer?  What if this were done on purpose?  Would it look any different than it does now?

One large piece of evidence against that hypothesis is that it would require forethought and planning, something Trump is not capable of.  Also, if that were the case, Dotard would have tweeted about it by now.

I think it’s an added side effect of his main plan, but one that will cost him in the end.  The approval polls are killing Trump and the Republicans.  They see how Mitch McConnell has turned into Trump’s Bitch, and refuses to do his job.  The outlook for Senate Republicans is bleak in 2020, and an extended shutdown will cost them the majority.  If Mitch doesn’t make a move to end the shutdown soon, I wouldn’t be surprised if the GOP Senators decide to name a new leader.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur