2018

Tuesday the 23rd. Here’s a few things that happened today…

ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS INTERVIEWED BY ROBERT MUELLER LAST WEEK

So, last week there was a large push to discredit the FBI and the Special Counselor’s office. It started on the 17th. What else happened that day?

The Keebler Nazi met with Robert Mueller for several hours.

This has been a bad 24 hours for the Evil House Elf. First, news comes out that he pressured the new FBI Director to fire people that Trump doesn’t like. Next, this story leaks that Mueller interviewed the Attorney General for several hours about Obstruction of Justice.

Yes, I said leaked. I think this was selectively leaked by Team Mueller to send a message to Trump. That message is “We are inside you’re cabinet, and are coming for you.”

MUELLER WANTS TO INTERVIEW TRUMP BY END OF FEBRUARY

Speaking of Trump, Mueller has his nuts on a platter, and is coming for him.

From what I’ve learned studying this drama over the last year, prosecutors do not go into meetings like this without already knowing the answers. They have at least 90% of the answers, and are giving the interviewee a chance to come clean with any extra information or giving them a chance to hang themselves.

Mueller will not accept written answers to questions, he wants the Dotard face to face. He knows that Trump can’t help but lie, and that he’s an idiot. He also knows that he’s smart enough to know that Trump is dumb enough to think that Mueller is dumb enough to think that Trump is smart enough to get out of this.

This also gives us a timeline to work with. Like I’ve said before, I don’t believe we’ll get any new indictments until either after the Trump Interview or as incentive for him to meet.

TRUMP ASKED MCCABE WHO HE VOTED FOR

This just came in as I’m finishing up the article, and is highly irregular. It’s also of very special interest to Robert Mueller.

FBI DIRECTOR WRAY NAMES DANA BOENTE AS FBI GENERAL COUNSEL

I’m still skeptical of new FBI Director Chris Wray due to his connections with Trump and Christie, but I’m starting to warm up to him.

Remember when Jeff Sessions asked for Dana Boente’s resignation on Indictment Eve? In retrospect this was some obvious obstruction of justice, but even at the time it was shady.

Well, Chris Wray just hired Dana Boente as the new General Counsel of the FBI. This is a classic “Fuck You” maneuver. Wray’s sort-of boss ordered a restructure of the FBI to remove people that were knowledgeable of Trump’s crimes, so to fill a position he shouldn’t have had to fill in the first place, he hired the most dangerous man that was fired by his so-called boss, and put him in a high profile position that doesn’t require an appointment or political authorization.

CONFIRMATION: COMEY MET WITH MUELLER MULTIPLE TIMES LAST YEAR

This confirms some rumors I heard last year that weren’t exactly state secrets, and everyone assumed happened, but it’s now part of the public record.

James Comey, former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, was debriefed by Special Counselor Robert Mueller. Formally. On the record.

TWITTER WARNINGS PISS OFF RUSSIAN TROLLS ON REDDIT

Recently, Twitter sent out letters to many people informing them that they had interacted with known Russian trolls and bots during the 2016 election. I did not receive one of these since I didn’t rejoin Twitter until last February, but I know a few people who did. Some of them are members of the Rumor Mill, some are politicians, and a few are some other random people.

However, not everyone who received this notice realizes what it says. For example, on the The_Donald subreddit, many “people” that received the letter “claim” that they didn’t get involved on Twitter until after the election.

Notice all of the quotes in that sentence? I’m not sure how to grammatically point out bullshit in a sentence with a quick mark, so I use quotes.

First, T_D is the largest collection of known Russian trolls on the Internet. Many of the users and most of the mods are Russians.

Second, this article takes an interesting point. It assumes that these users are people, Americans, and being honest. I can call bullshit on these comments because I have personally battled at least two of the users mentioned in the article.

Finally, of all of the people they could have found for a quote, the author goes with Glenn Fucking Greenwald. Of Wikileaks and Ed Snowden fame.

Some left-wing voices also pushed back against the move on the part of the social media company. “Twitter is sending out messages to people telling them that, for their own good, they are documenting that the user has either followed, cited or re-tweeted an account Twitter decided is linked to Russia & its propaganda efforts. That’s not creepy at all,” wrote Glenn Greenwald—the journalist who first reported the Snowden leaks revealing mass government spying in 2013—in a tweet.

Glenn Greenwald is in it neck deep with Wikileaks. He’s bought their story full-on, and has been pushing their talking points for a while. And by Wikileaks, I mean Russia’s.

He attacks Twitter for informing users that they were used by or interacted with Russian trolls and bots, claiming a violation of privacy and freedom of speech, he immediately pivots to whataboutism.

“Is Twitter going to track and inform users when they follow, re-tweet or approvingly cite accounts that are linked to western governments and their propaganda efforts, too?” Greenwald asked in a separate tweet, linking to a story about America’s efforts to to influence Cubans on social media.

Greenwald is a mouthpiece for Assange, Wikileaks, and by extension the Russians. Whether he knows it or not is the only point left for debate. Personally, I think he’s dirty AF. And this is a sentiment shared by all members of the Rumor Mill.

GP FIANCEE: GEORGE WILL BE THE JOHN DEAN OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

John Dean was Nixon’s White House Counsel. He plead guilty to felony charges, then received immunity for his crimes in exchange for testimony against the Nixon White House.

BIDEN: MCCONNELL WOULD NOT LET OBAMA CALL OUT RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE BEFORE ELECTION

This confirms a report from last year by the Washington Post that in a closed door meeting before the 2016 election, Obama asked for support from Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for a joint statement against Russia and the shit they were pulling during the campaign. Mitch put the kibosh on it, and threatened to claim it was a partisan attack by the President to attack Trump.

Knowing what we know now, Mitch was likely covering his ass and found a way to blame the Democrats at the same time.

Mitch is evil and competent.

TRUMP SUPPORTER THREATENED TO KILL CNN EMPLOYEES

Trump’s continuous attacks on media he doesn’t like is going to get someone killed.

SCHUMER WITHDRAWS OFFER ON TRUMP’S WALL

This was part of the deal to get a Continuing Resolution signed until February 8 or 9 while a budget is debated. Since negotiation with Trump is like negotiating with jello, this was getting pulled in a matter of minutes.

TRUMP WANTS TO IMPOSE 30% CHINESE SOLAR CELL TARIFF

Fuck Trump. Solar is the future, coal is dead, and fossil fuels are dying.

STORMYWATCH: PAYOFF IS ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION

It’s time for another story about Stormy Daniels.

The watchdog group Common Cause is following up on a train of thought I brought up a couple days ago, that this payoff to Stormy was an illegal campaign contribution.

As if that wasn’t enough, CREW, found a payment in December from the Trump Campaign to one of Trump’s businesses.

Here’s the payment from the Campaign, as well as a tweet from CREW.

That’s it for today. It’s been a crazy week so far, and it’s only Tuesday. As Mueller gets closer to Trump, it’s only going to get weirder.

Hang on to your butts.

Now that we’ve got a timeline for a Trump/Mueller interview, I feel that I should try to do another Wargame article. I think I have an idea how things could work out. Then again, it’s all speculation.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 01/22/2018

Here’s some stories from Monday and the weekend.

VESELNITSKAYA AMONG RUSSIANS THAT ATTENDED TRUMP INAUGURATION GALA HOSTED BY ROHRABACHER

Dana Rohrabacher, Representative from ~~Moscow~~ California, hosted an inauguration gala for Donald Trump. He invited all of his friends, family, co-conspirators from Russia.

Wait, what?

That’s right. At least six Russians attended the inauguration festivities.

How do we know this? Because they were under surveillance by the FBI.

What are the odds that some of the intel on these traitors was gathered while they were all liquored up?

NUNES WON’T SHOW FBI HIS MEMO

Dipshit Cowpoke Devin Nunes has so far refused to give his “memo” to the FBI that alleges to be proof of FISA violations.

Nunes knows that falsifying evidence and giving it to the FBI is a felony. Not that it’s the only one he’s committed.

GOP RELIED ON RUSSIAN BOTS IN HASHTAG BATTLE

This sentence doesn’t make sense outside of 2018, so here’s the context…

After the shutdown started, two hashtags took off on Twitter. #TrumpShutdown and #SchumerShutdown. They both trended, and #TrumpShutdown outnumbered the other by a 2:1. But, upon further review, the main source of the #SchumerShutdown movement was…

Wait for it…

I’ll give you time to place your bets. Ready?

It was Russian bots and trolls. No surprise.

What’s surprising this time is how quick the GOP establishment embraced this push, even after news of Russian trolls came out.

MUELLER INTERVIEWED GEORGE NADER

George Nader is an associate of Steve Bannon who visited the White House several times. He also has many contacts in the Middle East, and is likely a key part of the Flynn Nuclear Deal.

POLITICO CHART OF CHARTS

This is a great reference for keeping track of everything and everyone so far. I’ll put this in the links later on.

SUNDANCE FILM ON DISINFORMATION

This should go in the watch list.

JEFF SESSIONS AND THE FBI HOUSECLEANING

This reeks of Obstruction of Justice. I wonder how Chris Wray reacted.

FBI DIRECTOR WRAY THREATENED TO RESIGN OVER PRESSURE FROM SESSIONS

This story came out while I working on this, so I’m going off of what Rachel Maddow and Reddit are saying.

I’m still withholding judgment on him, given his ties to Chris Christie and Trump, but by pushing back against Keebler Nazi, he may not be completely corrupt.

Yes, that is a very low bar. The last two years have spent tripping over the lowest of low bars.

PENNSYLVANIA GERRYMANDERED CONGRESSIONAL MAP DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY STATE SUPREME COURT

FUCK YEAH!

This applies to Pennsylvania only, but there is a small section in the decision that could have a narrow scope for taking this to a Federal level.

New maps need to be drawn by February 9, and approved by the Governor by February 15, or the State Court will draw the maps for them.

PENCE INTERJECTS HIMSELF INTO STORMY DANIELS

Dude, phrasing…

Vice President Mike Pence said that he doesn’t believe Stormy Daniels or her story of an affair with Donald Trump.

Think about this for a second…

Mike Pence, a man so far deep in the closet he found Narnia, who refuses to be in a room by himself with a woman, claims that a Porn Star is lying about sleeping with a serial philanderer who has sexually harassed and/or assaulted more than a dozen and a half women and girls.

That’s it for today.

Over this past weekend, millions of women and men marched in the Women’s March 2018 in pretty much every city across the United States. And once again, I missed it. Eventually I’ll make it to a protest.

Also, keep an eye out for some heavy Russian activity on Social Media. Some big news is in the pipeline that’s going to be very bad for Trump. When that happens, Russia attacks any opponents of Trump.

Thank you and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

It’s A Feature, Not A Bug

“It’s not broken, it’s supposed to do that.”

“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”

“The system’s working fine, you’re just using it wrong.”

“The only problem here is user-related.”

I’ve heard many phrases like this in my life-long association with technology, but the phrase “It’s a feature, not a bug” didn’t really come into the lexicon until sometime in the early 2000’s, when some higher-up from Microsoft was quoted saying that in response to customer complaints about error screens they were getting in Windows. Since then, it’s become an inside joke within the IT world to describe a feature, device, program, or system that doesn’t work for the end user, but part of it, usually the error checking, is working normally.

Why am I talking about an IT inside joke? Because I feel that it’s relevant to the current situation.

Today is January 22, 2018. Monday. And Day 3 of the United States Government Shutdown. A shutdown that was completely avoidable, and 95% the fault of the Republican Party. I reserve 5% for the Democrats involved, but this is the same level of blame one would give to the owner of a dog that chewed a hole through the fence at the boarding kennel, broke out of the yard, and dug up the neighbors flowerbed. Sure, they could have done more to make sure the dog wasn’t left at a neglectful kennel, but they’re about fourth or fifth down the chain of responsibility.

Anyway, on Friday, I watched the Senate vote and fail to pass a spending bill. I sat back, had a couple glasses of wine, and heckled the television as Mitch McConnell blamed the Democrats for not passing the cloture threshold on the spending bill. While asking which one of the Ninja Turtles turned to evil and grew up to become a Senator from Kentucky, I realized a few things.

I have absolutely no social life whatsoever at this point, and I’m happy with that.
This shutdown was completely avoidable.
I really like sweet red wine.
This was put into motion last year when Trump rescinded the DACA protections.
The White House has no interest in negotiating in good faith.
The Republican Party Leadership is complicit in this mess.
At any point in the last 4 months, since CHIP funding ran out, they could have reauthorized it, but decided to use it as a bargaining chip.
At any point since October, Congress could have passed bipartisan legislation to codify DACA.
This shutdown is a feature, not a bug.

That last one struck me. Not as hard as the headache the next morning when I woke up, but it still struck me. This shutdown was planned out since last year when Congress refused to give Trump even a penny for his border wall. Okay, “planned” is a little strong for these people. They can’t plan a lunch without screwing it up. But, the option of a shutdown was put into place.

I think that the Trump White House thought a Government Shutdown would be beneficial for them for a few reasons.

It would force Congress to push their agenda.
It fits with Trump’s “negotiating style.”
It would make the Democrats look bad for standing against them.
It would make the Democrats look bad for agreeing with them.
It would shut down the Congressional Investigations into Trump.
It would shut down the Special Counselor’s Investigation.

Congress doesn’t want to pay for a Mexican Border Wall, or a Muslim Immigration Ban. Congress doesn’t want to screw up all of the trade agreements, or mess with the treaties in place. They want to keep the lights on, keep things running, and lower taxes for their donors. Anything else is window dressing.

As far at “The Great Dealmaker” goes, a shutdown is the only way that he can fall back on his traditional methods of negotiation. From looking at Trump’s history in business, here’s how a typical business deal goes down…

Engage in negotiations with someone in a lower position than you, like a small company or someone desperate for business.
Demand onerous terms from the other party, while agreeing to give very little.
Fail to deliver on even the pittance that you agreed to give in the first place.
Fight your partner now opponent at every step of the way, until they’re no longer capable of defending themselves.
Continue to attack your opponent and blame them for the eventual failure of the business while you run it into the ground to squeeze it for every spare penny possible.
Shut the business down in an attempt to shift the blame, liquidate the assets, and move on to the next deal.

Any halfway competent President would have avoided a shutdown at the last minute when Chuck Schumer was willing to negotiate funding for the Border Wall in exchange for DACA. That right there should have been the end of the game. They could have walked out of the White House, shaking hands, high-fiving, and carried that bill proposal to the House and Senate for a vote. Instead, Trump is a terrible dealmaker. He wants everything, is unwilling to compromise, and is either too stupid to see a great deal, or is working for other means.

As far as the Democrats go, there’s no way they would come out of this in a good position. If they agree to the spending bill, they lose any chance of getting DACA on the floor for a vote before the March deadline. If they don’t agree, they’re stuck in the middle of a shutdown, and they actually realize how that’s a bad thing.

But, what if this is all part of some master plan by Trump and his Russian allies to shut down the government and the investigations into him? Well, that’s something to think about. Congress will be too busy arguing with each other to engage any committee work, and all of their pages and assistants are temporarily sort-of unemployed. The only work that Congress is doing now is restoring funding so that the government can work.

As far as Mueller goes, his investigation continues. Special Counselor investigations are funded by a special permanent indefinite appropriation, not an annual one like the standard budget. So, while the parks are closed and soldiers don’t get paid, Mueller’s team keeps showing up to work.

By the way, Senator Claire MacCaskill proposed an amendment to a bill that would allow the military to still be paid during the shutdown, but it would require unanimous consent. Mitch McConnell objected.

CLOTURE THRESHOLD

I mentioned earlier about the Cloture Threshold. Cloture, sometimes called a super majority, is the vote threshold that is required in the Senate to break a filibuster. A filibuster is an action or speech where a Senator can take the floor and not yield to anyone or anything. Currently, that threshold is 60. Unless special rules are enforced, like the reconciliation process used for the Tax Bill and the attempted Obamacare repeal, all Senate votes are treated as though they need to break a filibuster. This is because the filibuster has been relegated to a procedural tool to clog up work in the Senate.

The vote was 50-49 in favor of the last ditch spending bill. John McCain was in Arizona getting medical care. 5 Democrats, all from conservative states and facing reelection, voted for the bill. 4 Republicans, none of which are facing reelection in 2018, voted against it.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back later with some updates that happened over the weekend, including a story about several Russians attending Trump’s inauguration.

Thank you, and have a good one.

Daily Check-In 01/19/2018

TRUMP HAD TIES TO RUSSIAN MOB FIGURES

It’s satisfying when previous reporting gets picked up by the Main Stream Media.

Following up on the release of the House Intelligence Committee’s interview transcripts with Fusion GPS, news organizations are parsing through the 10+ hours of Glenn Simpson’s testimony. There are several juicy nuggets in there. Among them, Simpson goes into detail about Trump’s connections to Russian Organized Crime, and how his resorts and golf courses are giant money pit.

Back in Money Laundering I described Donald Trump’s business empire like The Producers; he makes money when his projects fail, and only makes something when he has to. This applies double to his resorts and golf courses.

When a normal, law-abiding citizen wants to build a golf course, they’ll do their research, see if it’s a viable option and if they would make money, then raise capital and/or take out loans to fund the construction. They would usually pick a place that either doesn’t have a golf course but has expressed a desire for one, or pick a place where there aren’t enough golf courses. The quality of the course will be determined by the prices they wish to charge, the services they offer, and the clientele they wish to draw. The same thing goes with resorts. It doesn’t make monetary sense to put a fancy, high priced club in the middle of a dozen other clubs that are more prestigious, better adorned, and cost less to use. Construction costs are kept as low as possible, all debts are paid at the end of the project, and quality people are hired to fill key positions.

When Trump makes one of his money laundering deals with an Oligarch, the mission isn’t creating a successful club, but making as much money as possible, and getting out quick. Trump’s team will pick a location that is usually overwhelmed with better golf clubs and has shown no desire for his brand of “luxury.” They will build average or below average courses, at least compared to the local competition, and they will set a ridiculously high price point while either using lower quality construction crews that were cheap, or he’d stiff his contractors claiming they did a lousy job. Debts are accrued at a record pace, funding brought in from illegal sources, then the money is distributed among Trump and his Oligarch investors while everyone else that joined on gets screwed. Trump will take out a mortgage or two on the property with crazy terms, with no intention of ever paying the money back. The reputation of the course craters, and eventually he declares bankruptcy while his investors are left holding the bag.

That’s Trump’s resort business in a nutshell; a front for money laundering.

It’s even more obvious when the money comes from a Russian bank, which became Trump’s primary source of financing in the late 2000’s.

The more attention this aspect of Trump’s behavior gets public scrutinization, the sooner he’s removed from office.

DUETSCHE BANK LOOKING INTO SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS FOR JARED KUSHNER

Speaking of money laundering, DB’s back in the news. This time, they’ve informed Robert Mueller and federal authorities about unusual transactions for Jared Kushner.

Jared is in some very deep debt that is due soon, and is up to his eyeballs in all kinds of legal matters, including money laundering, perjury, obstruction of justice, and possible espionage charges.

DEVIN NUNES TRIES TO STIR UP CONTROVERSY ABOUT FISA BILL WITH MEMO

Dipshit Cowpoke is at it again.

This time, Devin Nunes circulating a memo around Congress trying to lay out all of the ways that Obama and crew abused FISA and 702, and that the bill that just passed both houses of Congress needs to be vetoed by Trump.

This is complete and total bullshit. How do I know? Let me count the ways…

Representative Devin Nunes has no credibility.
Everyone who saw it that isn’t one of his pals says the memo is a crock of shit.
FISA subsection 702 covers surveillance on foreign nationals located on foreign soil. Not foreigners in America, or Americans outside of the country.
Russia, specifically Putin, does not like 702.
WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden have been attacking this bill and pushing for this memo to be released.
The #releasethememo hashtag is being pushed almost entirely by Russian bots and trolls.
Nunes has run interference for Trump on several occasions. Unmasking, 702, Trump Towers “wiretap”, hamstringing the Russian Investigation, blocking the Fusion GPS transcripts.

Nunes is complicit, and in WAY over his head.

POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN LOOMING

Leave it to the current version of the GOP to fail to keep the Government operating while they are in control of everything.

It’s 4pm EST right now. I’ll update this later in the night, see how this goes.

TRUMP SPENT 38 WEEKENDS AT HIS PROPERTIES DURING FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

That’s 73 percent of weekends in his first year as President. Remember when he said Obama golfed too much?

38 weekends. Each one of them at taxpayer expense. Each one them charging the United States Government for use of his facilities to ensure that he received the protection required by law. He made money off of this by forcing the Secret Service and other agencies to use his equipment.

What makes this worse than it sounds is that out of the remaining 14 weekends, 5 of them were at Camp David, the secured facility traditionally used for Presidential retreats, and another 4 were on foreign trips.

14 – 5 – 4 = 5. 5 weekends in the White House…almost.

On those weekends, he’d usually go down to his club in Sterling, VA. for a round of golf during the day, or the Trump International Hotel in D.C. for a fundraising dinner.

Plus, most of those were 3 day weekends, and he refuses to do actual work on those trips unless absolutely necessary.

Remember, there’s a large group of people out there praising his work ethic.

OMOAROSA MAY HAVE RECORDED CONVERSATIONS IN WHITE HOUSE

Take this with a grain of salt, but this might explain a few things.

So, Omarosa, Trump’s black friend from The Apprentice, worked in the White House doing… no one has a clue what she did. But she was there. Until she wasn’t several weeks ago, when she was fired while quitting, and reportedly escorted off of the premises.

Around the same time, there was a new security policy announced that personal cell phone use would not be permitted in work areas.

Supposedly, Omarosa would use her iPhone to record conversations as her way of taking notes. Word got around that she was doing this, and planned to sell her story when she left.

NRA TIES WITH PUTIN ALLIES GO BACK YEARS

This is a thread that needs to be tugged.

This post includes a very in-depth timeline of Russian interference and infiltration into the National Rifle Association going back to 2011. This lines up with the introduction of the Magnitsky Act into Congress. Putin made stopping this bill the centerpiece of his administration. He saw how much damage it could do to him and his allies, and wanted to prevent it at all costs.

The timeline really picks up in November 2012, when Torshin was invited by G. Kline Preston to observe the 2012 elections.

Torshin was charged with money laundering in Spain, and only avoided arrest because he was tipped off by a corrupt Russian prosecutor.

Let’s see where this leads us.

STORMY REGRETTED AFFAIR WITH DONALD TRUMP, FELT SORRY FOR MELANIA

Time for another update on this universe’s 6th biggest story of the week. The President had an affair with a Porn Star.

This time, it’s regret. According to her 2011 interview, Stormy later felt regret at her affair with Trump, and she also felt sorry for what she did to Melania.

I’m going to assume that she’s not the only woman who ever felt regret at having sex with Donald Trump. Disgust, fear, and loathing are probably other common reactions.

Another tidbit of information. Remember in Daily Check-In 01/18/2018 when I mentioned she was spanking him with a rolled up Forbes Magazine? Turns out that it had his face on it, and he brought it with him. He was getting spanked with his own likeness.

I’m pretty sure that this clicks a checkbox or two on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory Test.

That’s it for now. I’m publishing this earlier in the day, knowing full well that I’ll likely be back later tonight with some crazy shit.

Thank you, and have a good one.

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.” –

Katy Tur