Monday March 12th

 

GREAT BRITAIN CALLS OUT RUSSIA FOR NERVE AGENT ATTACK ON BRITISH SOIL

Earlier today, the government of Great Britain repudiated the Russian regime and Vladimir Putin for executing state sponsored terrorism on British soil.

The attack was carried out using a military grade nerve agent developed by the Russians called Novichok A-230.  It’s 5-8 times stronger than Sarin, and is part of a group of other nerve agents that originated in Russia back in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  The same chemical was used in multiple assassinations around the world involving opponents of Russia.

British Prime Minister Teresa May called this attack an “unlawful use of force.”

We are in Article Five territory.  Russia attacked one of America’s greatest allies, and it’s not an isolated incident, but the latest in a long line of attacks against Western Democracy.

The White House was silent on this, not even mentioning Russia in their statement.

Below is a statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

When Russia’s own pick for SecState calls out Russia and Putin’s behavior, you done fucked up.

This would be a great time for Great Britain to enact their version of the Magnitsky Act.

 

REPUBLICANS END HOUSE INTEL COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION INTO RUSSIA, FIND ‘NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION’, CONTRARY TO THE REST OF THE WORLD

I’d like to say that I’m surprised, but considering that Devin Nunes is on SIGINT talking with Carter Page, I’m not.  I’m more surprised at the timing of the end of this investigation.  We’re almost at the one year mark since the first hearing with then FBI Director James Comey confirming that Trump’s Campaign was under a Counterintelligence investigation.

Their “findings” claim that the Russians were not trying to help Trump.  This is in direct contradiction to the findings of the United States Intelligence Community and Mueller’s indictment against the Russians.

Defendant ORGANIZATION had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Defendants posted derogatory information about a number of candidates, and by early to mid-2016, Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (“Trump Campaign”) and disparaging Hillary Clinton.

But this makes sense, if one ignores or doesn’t investigate Paul Manafort’s connections to Oleg Deripaska, Mike Flynn’s accepting money from Russia Today to show up at a dinner with Vladimir Putin, Donnie Jr. agreeing to meet with the Russians in Trump Tower in exchange for dirt on Hilary Clinton, Roger Stone’s work with Russian hackers and Julian Assange, Huma Abedin’s emails showing up on her husband’s emails after it was in evidence storage for months, the repeated manipulation of social media to benefit Trump, the fact that several states had their voter rolls compromised, the multiple attempted backchannels to talk to Russia outside of the eyes of the U.S. Intelligence Committee, Mike Flynn’s assuring the Russian Ambassador that they would erase sanctions, Jared Kushner’s working with other countries in the U.N. to vote against Obama’s policies on Israel, using a campaign staffer to meet with Russians in London, the multiple meetings between the known Russian asset and the heads of Russia’s largest oil company, the future Attorney General meeting with the Russian Ambassador, or organizing a meeting with the Russians on an island using one of his surrogates as a go-between.

If you ignore all that, don’t call witnesses, issue subpoenas, or do even the slightest bit of investigation, then it makes sense.

In case anyone didn’t catch that, that was sarcasm.

The Republicans didn’t call Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, George Nader, or anyone else cooperating with Robert Mueller.

Below is a letter from the Committee.

Here’s a rebuttal statement from Adam Schiff, the Ranking Member of the Committee, calling them out.

“In the coming weeks and months, new information will continue to be exposed through enterprising journalism, indictments by the Special Counsel, or continued investigative work by Committee Democrats and our counterparts in the Senate. And each time this new information becomes public, Republicans will be held accountable for abandoning a critical investigation of such vital national importance.”

One thing to keep in mind.  If the Democrats win the House in the Midterm elections later this year, Adam Schiff will be in charge of the Intelligence Committee.  Public hearings galore.

 

MUELLER WEIGHS PUTTING OFF TRUMP OBSTRUCTION DECISION

Speaking of wrapping things up, Special Counselor Robert Mueller is not announcing a decision on Obstruction of Justice charges against Donald Trump.  That way, he can focus on other aspects of the investigation before scaring everyone off.

Think about that for a second.

He’s been looking into Trump for almost a year, and the FBI was working the case for about a year before that.  The only interviews left are from Pence, Trump, Trump’s family, and a few of the closest staffers.

He’s not looking at just Obstruction of Justice, but everything.  Anything and everything Trump did.

Another reason why will be shown in the Rumor Mill, but there’s an old phrase from Sun Tzu, “Never interrupt your enemy in the middle of making a mistake.”  Or was it Napoleon?  I know it wasn’t Notorious B.I.G. or Ghandi.

 

SAM NUNBERG TO SPEND MORE TIME INTERVIEWING MUELLER

So, not only did Sam go in front of the Grand Jury for over 6 hours on Daily Check-In 03/09/2018, but he’s been asked back for a few more days.

Fun Fact:  During an interview with Ari Melber, Sam said that during one of his interviews, the FBI asked him if he had heard anything about Trump paying off women during the campaign to keep silent about affairs.  They didn’t ask him if he took part, but they asked if he heard about it.  Remember, in a formal interview, the FBI and prosecutors don’t ask questions unless they know the answers to them.

 

STORMY WATCH, FROM THE STORMYTRACKER 6000 METEOROLOGICAL CENTER

Sorry, “Stormy Watch” sounds like a segueway to the local weather.  Here’s what has happened in the last 72ish hours:

• Notary might not have signed the agreement
• Trump’s lawyers will try to stop ’60 Minutes’ from airing Stormy Daniels interview
• Stormy offers to return money in exchange for nullifying deal

Oh, and the FBI asking people about whether or not Trump paid women to keep silent during the campaign.

 

STUDENTS TO MARCH 50 MILES TO PAUL RYAN’S HOUSE FOR GUN REFORM, WHITE HOUSE GUN PLAN CAVES TO NRA DEMANDS

The March for Our Lives is still on for March 24th.  Check here for a nearby location.

 

QATAR HAS DAMNING INFORMATION ON KUSHNER AND TRUMP, WON’T RELEASE IT TO MUELLER FOR FEAR OF RETRIBUTION

There’s three ideas on this.  They’re afraid of retribution, the Qataris leaked this to get Mueller to force them to give it to them, or they’re using this to signal to Trump’s team that, from now on, they own their asses.

This is what happens when corrupt criminals put their personal desires over that of the country.

 

TRUMP’S LEGAL TEAM

I’ll do a write-up on this team later this week, I hope.  This group is nowhere near the caliber of The Justice League, for three reasons:

1. Donald Trump does not listen to his lawyers.
2. Donald Trump doesn’t keep his mouth shut.
3. Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills.

About a dozen law firms turned down representing Trump when Robert Mueller was named as the Special Counselor.i9u

 

PA-18: TRUMP HATES SACCONE,LAMB AHEAD OF SACCONE IN SOME POLLS, GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!!!!

The fact that this is even a race is amazing, but if you know someone that lives in the following towns in Western Pennsylvania, tell them to get out and vote tomorrow*

• Mt. Lebanon
• Castle Shannon
• Dormont
• Greentree
• Carnegie
• Robinson
• Crafton
• Ingram
• North Strabane
• Bethel Park
• North Fayette
• South Fayette
• Upper St. Clair
• Bridgeville
• Coraopolis
• Moon

*=If you’re reading this the night of March 12th, then it’s tomorrow.  If reading this on March 13th before 8PM EST, then it’s today, and there’s still time.  If after 8PM EST on March 13th, then this does not apply unless one has access to a time machine.  If so, remember that use of the time machine could adversely affect the Time-Space continuum.  You think this one’s bad, in an infinite multiverse, it can always be worse.

 

SPEED ROUND!

BUZZFEED STORY ON FELIX SATER, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

VETERAN CIA AGENT: ‘CORRUPTION LIKE WE’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE’

IVANKA TRUMP NEVER CUT TIES WITH TRUMP ORGANIZATION

THE NEW, WOKE EMINEM SETS HIS SIGHTS ON THE NRA: “THEY LOVE THEIR GUNS MORE THAN OUR CHILDREN”

WHITE HOUSE MAD ABOUT BETSY DeVOS’S CLUSTERFUCK OF AN INTERVIEW ON ’60 MINUTES’

FOX NEWS RATINGS DROP AS CHANNEL PUMPS PROPAGANDA

CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA GETTING INVOLVED IN UPCOMING PAKISTANI ELECTIONS

DONNIE JR. HUNTING BUDDY DONATED MILLIONS

 

RUMOR MILL: UPCOMING INDICTMENTS, PLUS SPICY MIC

The following comes from a new member of the Rumor Mill.

I’m not familiar with @PatriotLouUSA, but Tea Pain vouches for him, and says he’s been pretty spot on when it comes to upcoming legal actions.

What does that mean?  Well, let’s look at this tweet from Tea Pain.

We’re in Phase 2, going after the Russian hackers (Cozy Bear, Fancy Bear, Guccifer 2.0) and the Americans that worked with them (expect a bunch of Alt-Right trolls from 4Chan and Reddit).  Probably a lot of people we’ve never heard of, but a few Americans will be involved.  From the noise we’re getting, this will likely happen within the next few weeks, probably by the end of March.

I just realized something, now while I’m typing.  These lawyers are a lot more patient and smarter than I am.  Here’s why…

If Mueller’s team made a move against Trump for Obstruction of Justice earlier, everyone around him would circle the wagons, going out of their way to protect him.  The family would clam up, they wouldn’t say shit about anything.  They would go to ground.

Meanwhile, if Mueller’s team lays off the Obstruction angle, and let’s Trump’s family think they’re in the clear, they will run each other over.  They will talk and talk and talk.  They’ll do something stupid.  Let them think that no one in the Trump team took part in the crimes, and they’ll gladly throw each other under the bus.

Most of the people in the next round of indictments will be low-level players, with Roger Stone being the main possible exception.  There have been a lot of leaks about Roger over the last couple months, similar to what happened to Paul Manafort before his indictment.  I’m hearing from several different places on Twitter and Reddit about Roger’s name floating to the top of the “Fuck Hard” pile.

Roger could be getting ready for his time in the barrel.

Here’s the newest Spicy Files, courtesy of MadDocPac.  Spicy’s been banned from Twitter, following the constant attacks by trolls against her.  Claude’s hosting the pages on his site for funding billboards.  I will post links to the Spicy Files here from time to time.

 

That’s it for today.  As you can tell, this was a busy weekend and Monday.  I’m a little concerned about what’s coming down the pipeline, and how the goalposts are getting moved again.  The big talking point from those indictments will be that “The Russians did it, but no one directly in the Trump Team worked with them.”

Roger Stone could be the key.

On one hand, he was a key member of the early campaign, and worked on every aspect of the campaign. At the same time, he was a free agent, doing what he wanted, when he wanted.  He officially left the campaign before the convention, but like Paul Manafort, still kept in contact through his favored contacts, like Sam Nunberg.

The Redcaps will move the goalposts again, no matter what.  If Americans are indicted, they’ll paint them as lone gunmen, or some motivated patriots (just like Putin said about the Russian soldiers in Crimea and the hackers that attacked us).  But if Roger is indicted, especially for crimes involving Russia, there excuse falls apart quickly.

We’ll have to see what happens.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Thursday March 8th.

 

STORMY WATCH

Today was a busy day for news about the Stormy Daniels scandal.  Here’s a few things that happened:

• WaPo out with a detailed write-up of the history of the affair.
• Cohen filed restraining order against Stormy.
• Stormy and her lawyers fighting arbitration.
• Jessica Drake is one of the women named in the agreement.
• Paul Ryan not interested in investigating allegations of campaign finance fraud at this time.
• Trump is pissed at Sarah Huckabee-Sanders over how she handled the press conference.

In any normal universe, finding out that President likely paid off a Porn Star weeks before the election with campaign funds would be the biggest scandal of the year.  Now, I’m worried that this scandal could actually take the wind out of the other scandals, most importantly the breaking Seychelles story.

Well, breaking to the MSM.  We’ve been on this like white on rice since at least Daily Check-In 8/18/2017.

 

TRUMP ACCEPTS NORTH KOREA’S INVITATION TO DISCUSS ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM

So, the Dotard agreed to meet with Kim Jong Un of North Korea by the end of May.  No POTUS has ever met with the North Korean President before, for the same reason that they don’t meet with the President of the Klingon-Albanian Cosplay and Diplomacy Society.

Doing so legitimizes them.

I’m hoping that this is Trump’s “Nixon goes to China” moment, but it’s more likely his attempt at distracting the press from, well, EVERYTHING.

Plus, this is likely a Putin Puppet meets Putin Puppet scenario.  Trump is Putin’s Puppet, and we’ve seen repeatedly that North Korea gets belligerent when Trump needs a distraction.  And let’s not forget that Russia supplied North Korea with missile technology  over the last few years to move their nuclear program ahead by a couple decades.

 

MANAFORT TRIAL SET FOR JULY 10, FORCED TO WEAR SECOND GPS TRACKING BRACELET

You know you’re fucked when you have to wear TWO tracking bracelets.

Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to bank fraud charges today in the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA).  His trial has been set for July 10th.  He was remanded to home confinement, and ordered to wear a tracking bracelet.

Now, Paul’s already has a tracking bracelet from the DC District Court, but EDVA can’t use the DC ones.  Something like that they’re a different system or brand, or they just don’t have access to it.  So, the only solution to that is to wear ANOTHER ankle bracelet.

 

ERIK PRINCE TO HOST FUNDRAISER FOR ROHRABACHER

Jesus fucking Christ, Erik.  The timing on this is fan-fucking-tastic.

The same week that Erik Prince’s role in trying to set up a secret communication line comes out from the Special Counselor’s office, he decides that hosting a fundraiser for his old boss (Prince interned for Rohrabacher).  Problem is, his old boss is neck deep in Russian shit, too.

 

TRUMP SIGNS TARIFFS, FLAKE TO INTRODUCE BILL TO NULLIFY TARIFFS

Trump’s tariffs are set to start in 15 days.  It’ll be rough, but I think that Flake could find enough support in both houses for a veto-proof majority.

 

COREY LEWANDOWSKI MEETS WITH HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE. REPUBLICANS READY TO WRAP UP INVESTIGATION, DEMOCRATS WANT MORE THAN 100 SUBPOENAS.

We’re getting to the end-game of the House Intelligence Committee’s work.  Any and all pretenses of bipartisanship left about a year ago, and there has been do desire from the Republicans to do their job.

It’s almost like they’re trying to run interference for Trump, and don’t care about doing their jobs for the Republic.

 

STATES WITH BACKGROUND CHECKS HAVE LOWER GUN VIOLENCE, STATES WITH LOOSE GUN LAWS EXPORT CRIME

This is from the “No Shit, Sherlock” Department.

These two points help explain each other, and also answer the classic argument used by gun enthusiasts “But what about Chicago? They have gun laws and high crime.”

Let’s say Gary wants to buy a gun, but has a little thing preventing him from getting one in his home state, like a felony conviction for knocking over a convenience store with a gun when he was younger.  Gary also has anger issues, and once attacked someone in traffic in a road rage incident.  Because of Gary’s record, he can’t buy a gun in his home state because they do background checks.  He tries to buy a Glock 19, but they say “No, Nope.  No fucking way.”  Gary’s mad, and makes a note that he’ll shoot the prick if he ever sees him again.

So what does Gary do?  His home state might have a background check, but the neighboring state doesn’t.  He hops in his car, drives across state lines, gives the basic info required, buys the gun, ammo, and cleaning kit, then drives home.

A while down the road back in his home state, Gary has another road rage incident, but this time he’s armed and shoots up the car of a complete stranger because of a missing turn signal.  In his rage, he kills a young mother and her child with a gun that he legally bought in another state, even though he wasn’t allowed to buy one in his home state.

 

DAILY CALLER HOSTS OP-ED WRITTEN BY OLEG DERIPASKA WITH PAUL MANAFORT’S HELP

Remember in Daily Check-In 12/06/2017 when Paul Manafort almost lost his bail because he was caught writing an op-ed piece with a Russian Agent?

Well, now the Daily Caller is hosting an opinion piece from Oleg Deripaska.

You know, just so we can get the Russian point of view on one of the largest conservative news sites in the world.  Especially one that was founded by Tucker Carlson of Fox News.  This is where I would normally link to the “About Us” page on their website, but I’d rather not link to their page.  I don’t want to give them any clicks, and I’m honestly worried about what shit they might try to put in your cookies.

 

SKRIPAL STILL IN CRITICAL CONDITION

The graves of his wife and son have been cordoned off, possibly for exhumation.

21 people, including multiple first responders, have now become symptomatic.

There’s an above zero percent chance that someone either testified about Skripal before Congress, or someone with access to the classified intelligence gave this name to someone in the House Intel staff.  That person could have given that name to Trump’s legal team, who forward that name to the Russians.

If so, those people committed espionage, and have earned the execution that the crime deserves.

 

RUMOR MILL:  BURDEN OF PROOF

One argument I saw a couple times today on Twitter and Reddit was about the burden of proof that Robert Mueller needs to get charges through Congress and Senate for Impeachment and Removal from office.

Mueller knows how corrupt the current Republican Party Leadership is, and that he has one shot at taking down Trump through Congress.  He has to make an undeniable case.  A case that is so airtight, convincing, and damning, that it would be nothing less than political suicide to not vote for impeachment.

That’s one of the reasons why things are taking so long.  The impeachment process is a political process.  Only two Presidents have ever been impeached: Andrew Jackson and Bill Clinton.  In both cases, the House voted along party lines to advance the impeachment articles to the Senate.  Nixon faced two houses controlled by Democrats, but there were enough Republicans in the Senate that were going to vote to remove him from office, due to the overwhelming evidence in the case.

Now, things are different.  Republicans hold both houses of Congress, and we are more partisan than ever.  We’re fast approaching the end of this phase of the game, when Mueller brings charges against Trump and his coconspirators in Congress, like Devin Nunes and Matt Gaetz, for Obstruction of Justice and other easily provable crimes.  If impeachment articles stall because of leadership not wanting to push them forward, expect the next series of indictments to fly, targeting the Republican Party under RICO charges, and going after the leadership directly.

At the same time, we’ll see whether or not a President can be indicted.

Although, I do have a question that I need to research.  Impeachment requires a majority in the House, and removal requires 2/3rds majority.  I need to find out if those numbers are based off of the total numbers, or the current membership.  If a couple Senate seats are left open, are 67 still needed, or does the number drop based on the new total of seated senators?  What if more than 33 senators are removed from or leave their offices at once?  If there are 50 senators left, would they be able to hold a removal vote with 34 votes required, or are they stuck because they need 67 votes?

That might be my next research project.

 

That’s it for today.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur