Tag: Politics

Daily Check-In 11/20/2018

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Rumor Mill Reactions

Washington Post confirms that Trump refuses to answer questions about the transition period from November 2016-January 2017.

Scott Stedman added,

Matea GoldVerified account @mateagold

Trump’s legal team was going to submit answers to Mueller last week, but there were “questions raised about the legitimacy of the investigation that we had to discuss and look into,”

What happened in that time period? Here’s a quick list. 1. Erik Prince and George Nader flew to the Seychelles and Prince met a Russian banker in an attempt to set up a secret backchannel to the Russian govt.

George Nader paid Joel Zamel of Psy Group $2,000,000. We still don’t know why.

Michael Flynn called the Russian ambassador and talked about sanctions, something he later lied about.

KT McFarland wrote in an email that Russia “has just thrown U.S.A. election to [Trump]”

The Rosneft deal went through. Christopher Steele alleged that Carter Page and other members of the Trump campaign were offered a brokerage fee of the transaction.

Michael Cohen met with the Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg at Trump Tower.

Maria Butina and top Russian official Alexander Torshin discuss the upcoming selection of the US Sec of State. Christopher Steele would write that Russian officials told the Trump team not to select Mitt Romney.

Jared Kushner met with the head of a sanctioned Russian bank to attempt to set up a secret backchannel.

A flood of Russians, including Vekselberg and Shustorovich donate to the Trump inauguration.

Arron Banks met with the Russian Ambassador to the UK and passed contact information for the Trump team to the Ambassador.

Carter Page, while under a VISA warrant, flew to Russia and spent at least 5 days there.

I’m gonna stop here but you get the point. The transition is an ESSENTIAL part of the Russia investigation. Trump doesn’t want to answer questions about it.

To be honest, I’m surprised this happened as fast as it did.  When Trump said they would submit the answers by Thanksgiving, I assumed he was lying like usual.  But no, his team actually submitted their answers.

Well, some of them.

They’re refusing to answer questions about the Transition Team.  You know, the time when Mike Flynn talked to the Russian Ambassador about sanctions, when Jared Kushner lobbied the U.N. on behalf of Ben Netenyahu, when they had multiple meetings in Trump Tower with oligarchs about setting up a backchannel, and when Erik Prince and George Nader went to the Seychelles for their meeting with Putin’s banker.

The Rumor Mill was pretty excited about this because Trump submitting his answers on this front is seen as the last impediment to the Oncoming Storm.  After scrutinizing these answers, they’re expecting the Justice Train to roll into town.  I tend to agree, but I’m still a little skeptical about the timing.

How long would it take them to review Trump’s answers?  It depends.  If he listened to his lawyers and they wrote the answers, then they’ll be longer and in legalese, phrased in a way to prevent them from being used as an obvious lie.  If Trump really did answer them himself, it might take longer as they debate whether or not crayons are an acceptable writing utensil for legal questions.

 

Special counsel Robert Mueller just filed a new and extensive motion that is being kept under seal for the grand jury, according to Politico reporter Darren Samuelsohn.

The reporter posted a screen capture from the update showing Mueller made the November update as part of “Case Name: In re: Grand Jury Subpoena.” It explained, “The following transaction was entered on 11/20/2018 3:49:22 PM EST and filed on 11/20/2018.”

Another NEW sealed motion just filed — apparently from Mueller — in the mystery grand jury subpoena case we’ve been tracking here at – This one is 3,074 words.

3:52 PM – 20 Nov 2018

To put 3,000 in perspective, an average 12 point Times New Roman font page will be 250 words when double spaced.  3,000/250 = 12 pages.  That’s a decent length document.  This post with all of the links will be between 5,000 to 6,000 words, but it’s mostly links, and not written by an attorney.

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

…But, Her Emails!!!

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

It’s a Maggie Haberman story.  That means keep an eye out for what else is coming on the horizon.  There’s a good chance this story was leaked to her to cover up something worse.

 

TRUMP VS. MILITARY

The fact that created mass hysteria over the caravan and then wasted $220M but more importantly thinks OUR Armed Forces are his “play toys”. Fork you, you forking mother forker. How about Trump calls the VA & push for the GI bill paychecks. Oh wait…

Sept 2018, “340,000 students attending school using the GI Bill received slightly smaller housing payments in August”

October 2018 if actually CARED & RESPECTED OUR Military and our Veterans. 1) he’d pick up the goddamn phone and light a fire (bad pun) 2) he’d call the VA & Congress into the WH & demand immediate actions 3) THIS IS BULLSHIT

FTR the Forever GI bill was set to take effect on August 1, 2018, it was delayed until Sept 4th. I wish the MSM would call OUT on the INSANE levels of vacancies within his administration. HUMAN CAPITAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT or lack of

I very rarely highlight the good OR decent Member of the But has long been a vocal champion for our Veterans & occasionally knows exactly what to say. Supporting our Veterans should transcend all party lines = hence bipartisanship

Also I’ve tried to write a blog about how Trump uses our Military like play toys but each time (4 attempts) I’ve gotten so mad I had to walk away The fact the LIED and defended unseemly attack on Admiral McCraven is just despicable

 

WHITAKER

Did Matthew Whitaker share confidential information about Mueller’s investigation with President Trump? Inspector General must investigate now.

 

Hold my Red Bull

Let’s take page 3, I’ve highlighted the two items that warrant scrutinizing 1) claimed only paid him $500,000 THATS A DEMONSTRABLE LIE

Here this thread shows you IRS990 They paid $626,000 Unless Whitaker is saying FACTDC filed a false IRS990s

Matthew G Whitaker PC he shows 2018 administrative dissolution👇🏻

Really that’s what you’re going with you didn’t claim any income or liabilities for MEM or Lincoln Saving Bank Lord one of two

This is BONKERs he didn’t disclose the City of Des Moines HUD backed loan or Lincoln Savings Bank WTFINGF

 

 

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

Pompeo: Accessory to Murder After The Fact

holy hell. Mike Pompeo reportedly hand-delivered a plan to Saudi King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) outlining a roadmap to help MbS shield himself from the fallout of the Jamal Khashoggi murder scandal. (h/t )

Pompeo handed Riyadh a plan to shield MBS from Khashoggi fallout: Source US Secretary of State gave Mohammed bin Salman a roadmap to insulate himself from the scandal, a senior Saudi source tells MEE middleeasteye.net       

The plan includes an option to pin Khashoggi’s murder on an innocent member of the ruling family in order to insulate those at the very top. That person hasn’t been chosen, & Saudi leaders are reserving the plan in case pressure on MbS becomes too much.

Pompeo’s trip to the Gulf kingdom came exactly two weeks after Khashoggi was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. A source told that Pompeo went to Riyadh to **advise the Saudis on how to handle the fallout**

The day after his meeting with MbS, Pompeo told journalists that the Saudis didn’t want to talk about the facts in Khashoggi’s case and neither did he. “I don’t want to talk about any of the facts,” Pompeo said. “They didn’t want to either.”

The State Department did not answer ‘s repeated requests for comment today (Monday) regarding the nature of Mike Pompeo’s visit to Riyadh (when he met with MbS).

So if this report is accurate, the US Secretary of State hand-delivered a plan to the Saudi ruling family to help them cover up the murder of a US journalist at the behest of the Saudi crown prince. “wow” doesn’t quite cut it here.

Pompeo’s plan for the Saudi leadership included several steps, a source said. When Pompeo declared on Oct. 18 that Saudi Arabia should be given “a few more days” to complete its investigation into the case, he was giving them time to begin implementing his plan, the source said.

“They [the Saudi leadership] have done everything [Pompeo] wanted to execute,” the source said.

Remember when Rex Tillerson was fired as Secretary of State for not being loyal enough? (Daily Check-In 03/13/2018) Apparently that loyalty means covering up a kidnapping, torture, and murder.  If you’re suspect of the source, the Middle East Eye originally broke the Khashoggi killing, as well as many further updates in the case.  Let’s see if this gets picked up by other sources over the next couple weeks.

 

SCOTUS 

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

Dr. Tamara O’Neal, a physician in Chicago At Mercy Hospital, was shot six times today and killed by her ex-fiancee.

Chicago police officer Samuel Jimenez was shot and killed today responding to the shooting at Mercy Hospital. He was married with three children.

Dr. Dayna Less just graduated from a pharmacy program last spring and was planning a June wedding. She worked at Mercy Hospital as a pharmaceutical assistant and was shot dead as she exited an elevator.

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

LGBT+

 

PUFF, PUFF, PASS

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

Those last two links from Seth is like the early version of the Grand Unifying Theory of Collusion.  It starts to lay out exactly how large the scope of this is, but even this doesn’t cover the whole thing.  My guess is that there’s at least a third to a half that’s missing out of this.  Seth’s thread ties together the entire Middle East Clusterfuck with Russia, but he doesn’t go into the deep ties in this thread between organized crime, terrorist organizations, and their associations to rogue states like Russia, and how those connected to shady businesses in the U.S., of which Trump was a part.

I don’t want to sound like a nutter when I say “It’s all connected”, but it’s all connected.  Every time a new sliver of news comes out that shouldn’t be connected in any way to a vast global international conspiracy, some at-first-tenuous link arrives which then turns that sliver into another round of the most corrupt version of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon ever played.

For example, Jamal Khashoggi.  A reporter went missing at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.  That should be a pretty open and shut case, right?  Something happened to him when he visited, and when the Saudi’s couldn’t produce proof of life, he was assumed dead.  Then, things get weird.  Trump jumps up to defend MBS like he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor in an Alabama Senate election, and each day a new story element comes out connecting Trump to Saudi Arabia.  Kushner, Nader, Broidy, Prince, MBS, Zamel, MBZ, and so on.  Everyone and their mother accuses MBS of orchestrating this brutal murder except Trump.  Why?  Because it’s connected to the Russian Investigation.

Another example was NEXIVM.  A few months back I saw some crazy ass stories about a Self-Help MLM turned Sex Cult involving B and C level celebrities, and the leaders of that group were charged with sex trafficking, kidnapping, and human trafficking charges.  That’s pretty crazy, but shouldn’t have any connection to this clusterfuck.  Instead, guess who was a former member of that group, and tried using it to gain dirt on his enemies? Roger Fucking Stone.

And all of this shit doesn’t even include things like Intelligence background connections, media moguls with ties to the mob, or dumb kids with even dumber parents.

Yes, it’s all connected.  No, I don’t own a corkboard covered in cut out pictures tied together with red yarn. But that would be a nice Christmas gift…

 

That’s it for Tuesday.  I’ll try to post something for Wednesday on Wednesday night, but I make no promises.  Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S., and most people have off on Friday.  However, it’s not a Federal holiday, which means that government offices like the Special Counselor’s Office are still open.  I don’t know if anything will come out this weekend, but I’ll try to cover it if it does.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/19/2018

Monday, November 19, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Emma Briant, an academic expert on disinformation at George Washington University, has unearthed new e-mails that appear to reveal the earliest documented role played by Bannon in Brexit. The e-mails, which date back to October of 2015, show that Bannon, who was then the vice-president of Cambridge Analytica, an American firm largely owned by the U.S. hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer, was in the loop on discussions taking place at the time between his company and the leaders of Leave.EU, a far-right nationalist organization. The following month, Leave.EU publicly launched a campaign aimed at convincing British voters to support a referendum in favor of exiting the European Union. The U.K. narrowly voted for the so-called Brexit in June, 2016. The tumultuous fallout has roiled the U.K. ever since, threatening the government of the Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May.

Bannon did not respond to requests for comment. But his name and private e-mail address appear on the chain of three e-mails in October, 2015, between Brittany Kaiser, the director of program development at Cambridge Analytica, and Arron Banks, who headed the Leave.EU campaign and referred to himself in the title of his memoir as one of “The Bad Boys of Brexit.” Banks could not be reached for comment regarding the e-mails, which were first published Saturday by the British Web site openDemocracy.

The precise role played by foreign entities in promoting and possibly funding Brexit has been clouded in mystery and controversy. British law forbids foreign contributions to its political campaigns—just as U.S. law bars foreign campaign contributions. The laws are designed to prevent international manipulation of domestic affairs. Executives working for Cambridge Analytica, which filed for bankruptcy this spring, have categorically denied that the firm was paid to do any work for the Leave.EU campaign. The new e-mails do not contradict that, but show that, even if the firm was not paid for its services, it laid some of the early groundwork for the Leave.EU campaign. The e-mails show that Banks and others in the Leave.EU leadership met with Cambridge Analytica executives in 2015, and discussed what Banks called a “two-stage process” that would “get CA”—Cambridge Analytica—“on the team.”

In an e-mail dated October 24, 2015, Banks also discussed tasking Cambridge Analytica with helping him raise funds through the U.S. for the Leave.EU campaign. In a note to the Cambridge Analytica executives with whom he had met, Banks wrote, “It’s clear that major donors are sitting on the fence, but we aim to do something about that.” Banks returns to the topic later in the note, adding, “We would like CA to come up with a strategy for fund raising in the states and engaging companies and special interest groups that might be affected by TTIP”—the pending Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Banks did not address the potential illegality of direct foreign donations, but suggested a strategy that might circumvent the letter of the campaign-finance laws, if not their intent. Banks suggested enlisting Cambridge Analytica’s help in reaching out to Americans “with family ties to the UK.” Evidently, by targeting Americans with British relatives, the hope was that they could avoid campaign-finance-law violations. He suggested that Cambridge Analytica, which boasted of having access to two hundred and thirty million Americans’ voter-registration data, as well as other personal information, could be solicited “to raise money and create SM [social media] activity.”

The following day, a Cambridge Analytica staffer sent an e-mail back to Banks, again with Bannon included on the chain, suggesting that the firm was on board with the idea of developing a proposal that would include “US-based fundraising strategies.”

This is pretty interesting, and helps remind us of how much things are tied together.  I know I’ve covered similar things before, but it’s time I do a quick refresher.

Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway worked for Cambridge Analytica, the company that helped microtarget political ads over social media, as well as specialize in other political dark arts.  (Daily Check-In 12/14/2017) Their clients seem to lean towards populist, nationalist, and autocrats looking to shore up their election results. (Daily Check-In 03/19/2018) Cambridge Analytica was owned by Robert Mercer until November 2017, when he gave control of the company to his daughters.  (Daily Check-In 11/2/2017) One of them, Rebekha Mercer, was romantically linked Steve Bannon before Bannon spent time testifying before the Special Counselor back in early 2018.

Before CA worked with Trump, they worked with Leave.EU on the Brexit campaign.  Brexit is where they fine tuned a lot of their tactics that they used in the U.S. in 2016.

Steve Bannon was included on at least 3 email chains discussed in this story.  At least one of those chains discussed bypassing the law to launder U.S. money into the U.K. for use in the Brexit campaign.

This is why I cover Brexit news.  The people involved with that are neck deep in the Russian Investigation.

What’s more interesting (though not at all controversial) is that Mueller maintains he still has the full authority of a US Attorney.

Similarly, by regulation, the Special Counsel has and continues to “exercise, within the scope of his or her jurisdiction, the full power and independent authority to exercise all investigative and prosecutorial functions of any United States Attorney.” 28 C.F.R. § 600.6; see United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 695 (1974) (“So long as [a] regulation is extant it has the force of law.”).

He relies on US v. Nixon to lay out what it will take to withdraw that authority: changing the regulations he operates under.

Perhaps most important, though, is that Mueller argues that Whitaker’s appointment cannot change the validity of the subpoena (and, one would assume by extension, anything else) that occurred before Whitaker’s appointment.

Because the subpoenas here issued under the signature of the Special Counsel’s Office long before the change in the identity of the Acting Attorney General, that change cannot affect the validity of the subpoenas. And the designation of a different Acting Attorney General while the case is on appeal cannot vitiate the district court’s order holding Miller in contempt.

This would seem to suggest that if Mueller has anything banked — sealed indictments or complaints — then he holds that nothing changes their validity or the DC District’s authority to preside over them.

He also maintains that he retains the authority to appear before the Court.

Second, the change in identity of the Acting Attorney General has no effect on the Special Counsel’s authority to appear in this case. The Special Counsel continues to hold his office despite the change in the identity of the Acting Attorney General.

This would be what he would need to unseal any existing indictments.

None of that is that controversial. But it does make it clear that he views his authority to continue unchecked even with Trump’s hatchet man in place.

Ok, so what does this legalese mean?  It means that as long as Mueller is still the Special Counselor, there ain’t a damn thing that Whitaker can do to stop him.  He can’t stop sealed indictments, he can’t bury the investigation, he can’t do anything to halt anything that has been worked on in the last 18 months.  Changing the Acting AG over the case does not invalidate any of the work done to this point.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

…But Her Emails!!!

Once again, the corpse of Irony is being abused.

In what can only be considered Trump-level stupidity, Ivanka used her personal email to conduct White House business.  While her father was screaming from the campaign podium that it was “the worst thing a person can do.”

If this sounds familiar, it is. (Daily Check-In 10/3/2017).  This is once again coming to the forefront because several news organizations noticed her email address in forms that they received through FOIA requests.

There isn’t a current investigation into this yet.  Expect that to start in January when the new House Oversight Committee is sworn in.

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

Just as a reminder to Tangerine Tojo, that “little schitt” will have subpoena power come January.

 

TRUMP VS. MILITARY

Remember when talking shit about a war hero was frowned upon by the Republicans, and it was a sign of “not supporting the troops”?  Pepperidge Farm remembers.

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Wohl vs. Avenatti

 

WHITAKER

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Acosta’s Hard Pass

 

White House Correspondents Dinner

 

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

TURKEY DAY

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

Well, 2B fair, Bush & Clinton weren’t laundering vast sums of money 4 Semion Mogilevich at the time. You were. So, yes – you knew all about Mogilevich’s biz partner, OBL. BTW – was it your Genovese or Gambino masters who gave Semion the WTC blueprints (out of port authority)?

I’ve had enough of this guy. Zero f*cks left. Here you go. Two threads: 1.

Port Authority, was it? Wonder what’s up with them?

LB’s 9/11 Thread

3. And this thread is for you, dotard. Recognize anything?

The Belly Button Thread. It’s worth digging into.

Ok, that last one got pretty weird.  Even weirder than the 9-11 threads. (Daily Check-In 09/11/2018)  But it shows how deep the Russian Mob hole goes, and she names a lot of names.

 

That’s it for Monday.  We’re coming up on a short work week this week, so I don’t know how much will break in the next couple days.  My guess is things will be relatively quiet on the Mueller front until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.  Now that I’ve said that, I apologize in advance if things go sideways this week.

We’re coming up on the anniversary of Mike Flynn’s flip, which happened the week after Thanksgiving.  I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if something massive struck then.  There’s already a report of Mueller’s team meeting with Randy Credico next week, likely to strike some kind of deal.  I’m getting confused with all of Roger Stone’s shady ass friends.  I should write something to keep them organized.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/16/2018

Friday, November 16, 2018 and the weekend.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

If the Russian Honeypot flips, we could be in for some crazy stories coming out.  Remember, she worked with John Bolton on producing actual Russian propaganda, and had access to ALL levels of the GOP.

There’s stupid, there’s lying, and then there’s Trump levels of stupid and lying.

No attorney worth their law license would let their client write their own answers to a questionnaire like this.  They might let them give them the initial answers, but would lawyer it up quite a bit.  But, since Trump’s ego is more fragile than centuries old glass, he has to claim that he wrote the whole thing by himself.  I doubt this for two reasons.  The one I already mentioned about his lawyers not wanting to get disbarred for lying to the court, and legal documents can’t be submitted in crayon.

NOTE: More legal moves for George Papadopoulos —> New DC lawyer, Michal Patrick Hatley, appears in his criminal case, and Caroline Polisi, who is representing him in the DNC’s lawsuit, is seeking to appear as well.

BREAKING: George Papadopoulos’s new lawyers seek an order continuing his bail pending the outcome of Andrew Miller’s appeal challenging Mueller’s authority, asserting it could “directly impact the validity of Mr. Papadopoulos’s prosecution and conviction.”

Here is the full memo:

USA v Papadopoulos – Motion – 111618 Source document contributed to DocumentCloud by Chris Geidner (BuzzFeed). documentcloud.org       

As notes, this George Papadopoulos filing comes 10 days before he is supposed to report to prison.

Also: It is very difficult to challenge a plea agreement. Here are some of the waivers in his:

Judge Moss orders the special counsel’s office to respond to Papadopoulos’ request by 11a next Wednesday.

Yep, George is an idiot.

Once again. McConnell is complicit.  If he weren’t trying to run interference on this investigation, he would have let this bill hit the floor last summer.

Personally, I think this is all show.  Even if they could try to subpoena both of them, they have less than three working weeks left in the session, and the dancing around and posturing would take at least two of those.

Still, keep an eye out for them to try some fuckery.  I wouldn’t put it past them to issue the subpoena and try to refer their refusal to show as a criminal matter as a Parthian Shot.

 

Let’s talk about Julian Assange. [THREAD]

1/ Whatever legitimate journalism Assange’s Wikileaks may’ve done previously, by 2016, he was an asset of Russian intelligence. The coordinated released of stolen Podesta emails an hour after the Access Hollywood tape dropped was not journalism; it was an act of cyber warfare.

2/ In general, the indiscriminate dumping of sensitive documents stolen by hackers is also not journalism. This is something the Bolsheviks did with Romanov papers after the Revolution, BTW. It was done to sow chaos.

3/ Assange was intimately connected with Edward Snowden’s defection to Russia. He helped a traitorous spy escape, and he helped implement a propaganda campaign to present that spy as a First Amendment hero.

4/ Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy because he was wanted in Sweden for sexual assault. A guiltless man might demand his day in court, so that he would be exonerated. Assange fled the country & hid out in an embassy basement. You know, like an innocent man would.

5/ Remember some years ago, when we on the left falsely believed Assange was the cat’s meow, and Obama did not? Yeah, Obama had intel we didn’t have. He knew what Assange really was: an opportunistic fame whore & chaos agent with unseemly ties to the FSB.

6/ Recent visitors to Assange include: Nigel Farage, Roger Stone, and Sean Hannity. Hannity has a fishy relationship with Assange:

Sean Hannity to Julian Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy

7/ Also, Assange reached out to Hannity, or tried to, with anti-Dem info:

Julian Assange Offered Hannity Impersonator ‘News’ About Top Democrat

8/ Hannity is one of three clients of Michael Cohen, who reportedly met for over 40 hours w/the Mueller team, and was also supposedly in front of the Grand Jury this past week.

9/ Wikileaks DM’d with Donald Trump, Jr. during the campaign.

Secret Correspondence between Assange and Trump Jr.

10/ Wikileaks is “Organization 1” in the Mueller indictment against the 12 Russian hackers. So we know Assange is on his radar.

What the Latest Mueller Indictment Reveals About WikiLeaks’ Ties to Russia—and What It Doesn’t The indictment may only be an accusation, but it hints at the remarkably granular forensic intelligence that has been gathered. newyorker.com       

11/ And now Assange, we find out, is under sealed indictment. Assange, who coordinated w/Junior & Stone and possibly Hannity during the campaign.

U.S. prosecutors get indictment against Wikileaks’ Assange: court… American prosecutors have obtained a sealed indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose website published thousands of classif… reuters.com       

In short: no matter how many anarchists sing his praises, or how many ex-Baywatch babes he boinks, Assange is what Mike Pompeo said he was: head of a non-state hostile intelligence service aligned with Putin’s Russia. He belongs in US prison. That’s where he’s going. [END]

PS

Aaron Rupar: As rumors of Assange’s prosecution swirl, a reminder of what Trump was saying on campaign trail in October 2016 (via @SRuhle): “This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove… It’s been amazing what’s come out on Wikileaks… Now, this just came out. Wikileaks! I love Wikileaks.”

 

Mueller’s team has been looking into the communications and political dealings of John Hannah, the former Cheney adviser who later worked on Trump’s State Department transition team. This includes interactions with Lebanese-American businessman and fixer George Nader, who brokered meetings between foreign dignitaries and Team Trump, and Joel Zamel, a self-proclaimed social-media guru with deep ties to Israeli intelligence. The Daily Beast previously reported that the three men met with a top Saudi general in the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration to discuss plans to undermine and overthrow the government of Iran.

That Saudi General is one of the people MBS is setting up to take the fall for Khashoggi.  And as beautiful as it would be to see Dick Cheney wrapped up in the Trump mess, this might be one evil scheme he’s not involved in.  Remember, George Nader is one of the Cooperating Witnesses.

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRUMP VS. THE MILITARY

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

SCOTUS 

 

#METOO

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

Pro-gun arguments all sound like ad slogans, and there’s a reason for that.

Every argument against gun control, if interrogated, ultimately reveals itself as an argument against changing gun violence as the status quo. Which suggests some things about what’s being defended.

I don’t think these gun defenders are even actually defending guns, per se. I think what is desired is our status quo of a persistent and ever-present potential violence. The violence is the product.

You need a gun to protect yourself from violence. But that means you need violence, so that there’s something from which to protect yourself.

What is desired is the personal option to deal lethal damage based solely on one’s own personal discretion, in a manner and a time and a place one sees fit. Without a culture of gun violence, the opportunity to do this becomes less realistic.

Both mass shooters and gun defenders agree that violence with guns is the best possible solution for the problems they perceive in the world, and themselves the most appropriate possible instrument to deliver it. They disagree only on the appropriateness of target.

There are gun owners – many of them – who desire to own guns for reasons of sport or hobby. You can spot them because they also want gun control. But you can also spot the ones for whom the product being sold them is the realistic opportunity for violence.

the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun my version of gun control is to use both hands an armed society is a polite society These aren’t arguments. They’re ad copy for a society in which gun violence is the preferred status quo.

They don’t even sound like good ad slogans.

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

Dear new members of Congress, Here is some free advice that you need: 1. Put the House Ethics Office on speed dial or, if you’re a Senator, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. Add the committee’s email to your contacts. 2. Go introduce yourself individually, even if you…

…have already received an ethics briefing. When I say go introduce yourself, I don’t mean only to the members on the committee — I mean introduce yourself to the STAFFERS on that committee who will be available to advise you. Bring your top staffer with you to meet them. Get…

…some phone numbers and email addresses. USE those numbers and emails in the coming weeks. 3. Ask them to train your staff. 4. Ask them about gifts, disclosure, fundraising, misuse of position and outside activities. Ask what else you should be asking. 5. Tell your staff…

…that ethics is important to you. 6. SHOW your staff that ethics is important to you. (If this item doesn’t prove to be unpleasant for you, you’re doing it wrong.) 7. Make a pledge (and keep the pledge) that you will never ever respond with anger when someone on your…

…staff raises an ethics concern or gives you ethics advice that you don’t like. (Otherwise, your staff will be afraid to raise concerns and you may wind up hearing it from the Office of Congressional Ethics or the ethics committee — you will not enjoy that.) 8. If you’re in…

…the House and you don’t know what the Office of Congressional Ethics is, find out NOW! (It’s not the ethics committee.) 9. Read The Onion article titled “Congressman Hurt To Discover Lobbyist Not Really His Friend..” Don’t be like the legislator in that article. Nobody…

…who wants anything from you in this town is your friend. 10. Get to work on your new entrant financial disclosure report. Know this: You are going to get it wrong. That’s why you should either get help from the Ethics Committee, if they have time to look at a draft before…

…you file it, or (if they don’t) from somebody who knows what they’re doing. Now go forth and be ethical legislators and do a great job for your country.

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

Ladies and gentlemen – a festivus carol On the first day of Mullermas, my Mueller gave to me Paul Manafort in a pear tree (thread)

On the second day of Mullermas my Mueller gave to me Two Mike Flynns and Paul Manafort in a pair tree

On the Third day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me Three MAGAX, Two Mike Flynns and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the fourth day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me 4 Traitortots*, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree [*inc Jared]

On the fifth day of Mullermas my Mueller gave to me FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 6th day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 7th day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me Vault 7 catfish, 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots*, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 8th day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me eight Butina boyfriends, Vault 7 catfish, 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 9th day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me nine Cohens singing, eight Butina boyfriends, Vault 7 catfish, 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 10th day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me @Ten_GOP, 9 Cohens singing, 8 Butina boyfriends, Vault 7 catfish, 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 11th day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me 11 FISA warrants, @Ten_GOP, 9 Cohens singing, 8 Butina boyfriends, Vault 7 catfish, 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

On the 12h day of Muellermas my Mueller gave to me 12 Trump indictments, 11 FISA warrants, @Ten_GOP, 9 Cohens singing, 8 Butina boyfriends, Vault 7 catfish, 666 Park Av, FIVE EYES IC 4 traitortots, 3 MAGAX, 2 Mike Flynns, and Paul Manafort in a pear tree

I promise I won’t sing this out loud.  Mostly because I sing like an amputee.  I can’t carry a note, and I can’t hold a tune.

 

That’s it for the last few days.  I’m still waiting on information about the likely indictments coming out of D.C., just like many others.  I try not to get caught up in the hype, and I try not to spread that hype either in case it turns out to be bogus, but we’re also the last to hear about anything happening, either.

As far as things this week go, it’s a holiday here in the U.S., so the schedule will be different this week.  I make no guarantees about posting on Thursday or Friday.  Also, I start a new work schedule for the next few weeks, so my posts might be more sporadic in frequency or more streamlined in content.  I might also focus on one or two main stories during the next month, especially if something momentous breaks.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/15/2018

Thursday, November 15, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Putin’s Chef DENIED

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump last year, rejected Concord’s claim that the allegations didn’t amount to a crime. The ruling means that the special counsel’s office can proceed with the prosecution.

Concord lawyer Eric Dubelier argued prosecutors didn’t accuse Concord of willfully violating U.S. laws, contending it showed a lack of criminal intent. The judge disagreed, stating it was enough that the indictment show that the company knew it was impairing the lawful functions of the Federal Election Commission, Department of Justice or Department of State.

“Concord goes too far in asserting that the special counsel must also show that Concord knew with specificity ‘how the relevant laws described those functions,’” Friedrich said in her 32-page ruling. “At this stage, the government has alleged the requisite intent and no more is required.”

Concord is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose primary business is catering and who is known as “Putin’s chef.”

Unlike the Russian nationals, who didn’t respond to the charges, Concord hired a law firm and mounted an aggressive defense, questioning the legitimacy of the charges lodged by Mueller.

Looks like this case will continue along.

 

Meanwhile, in other court news…

Interesting.  Let’s check back in 10 days to see what happened that could cause them to ask for an extension.

 

Trump Scared Shitless

I’ve noticed a pattern to these events.  Trump rage tweets about something involving Mueller, trying to rile up the base.  Some big story comes out that distracts from this.  Down the line, we hear about some conversation or new piece of information that he found out about or his lawyers were involved in that kicked him in the head that day.

My guess is that this was the day he found out how truly, absolutely, positively, without a doubt fucked he is.  This is when he found out that his son is going to prison, his daughter is going to prison, his son-in-law is going to prison, his friends are going to prison, and he’s going to prison if he’s lucky.  He’s tried to think that he’s ahead of the game, but that’s no longer true in Trump World.  Either his little lackey saved his own neck and decided not to fuck with Mueller, or he gave Trump the info he could get, and it’s enough to show that Trump’s best bet is to try to flee the country.

Speaking of Tangerine Tojo’s lackey…

 

I knew this fuck-up was coming

President Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated during an interview that he tapped former US attorney Matthew Whitaker to replace then Attorney General Jeff Sessions in order to rein in the Russia investigation.

Speaking to The Daily Caller, Trump expanded on his thought process behind choosing Whitaker to take over as acting attorney general.

“Matthew Whitaker is a very respected man,” Trump said. “He’s — and he’s, very importantly, he’s respected within DOJ. I heard he got a very good decision, I haven’t seen it.”

He added that he “heard it was a very strong opinion,” referring to the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel’s 20-page memo justifying Whitaker’s appointment as acting attorney general until the Senate confirms a permanent replacement.

Reiterating that Whitaker is “somebody that’s very respected” — a claim that stands in contrast to many DOJ and FBI officials’ views of their new boss — Trump said he “knew him only as he pertained, you know, as he was with Jeff Sessions.”

The president then appeared to allude to the fact that he tapped Whitaker primarily to constrain the Russia investigation.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is an investigation that should have never been brought,” Trump told The Daily Caller. “It should have never been had … It’s an illegal investigation.”

He then tacked on: “And you know, it’s very interesting because when you talk about not Senate confirmed, [the special counsel Robert Mueller] is not Senate confirmed.”

The admission is reminiscent of when Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt last year that he ousted then FBI director James Comey because of the Russia investigation.

Trump’s statement to Holt now makes up one of the central threads of Mueller’s investigation into whether the president sought to obstruct justice in the inquiry, and legal experts told INSIDER his admission to The Daily Caller could add another piece to Mueller’s probe.

“What is so unusual about Trump is that he publicly forecasts his motivation in a way that is self-defeating and self-incriminating,” Elie Honig, a former prosecutor from the Southern District of New York who specialized in organized-crime cases, told INSIDER.

Jeffrey Cramer, a longtime former federal prosecutor who spent 12 years at the DOJ, echoed that assessment.

“The president’s knee-jerk pivot to talking about the Russia investigation when asked about Whitaker’s qualification is what poker players call a ‘tell,'” Cramer told INSIDER.

It was last Wednesday (Daily Check-In 11/07/2018) that Sessions quit and Trump named Whitaker as the Acting AG.  That day, I said the following:

This is a little league play, and Mueller is the New York Yankees. They have this wargammed out.

First, if at any point Trump so much breathes, implies, tweets, or says that he picked Whitaker to stop Mueller, then Whitaker becomes an accomplice in a Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice. Whitaker then has the choice between trying to follow Trump’s orders, or follow the DOJ’s rules. If he does try to execute Trump’s wishes after Trump makes such a stupid statement, then his actions would have criminal intent.

I figured it was just a matter of time before Trump would admit to the world that he was thinking about the Russia Investigation and Mueller when he fired Sessions and hired Whitaker.

Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long for him to fuck himself like this.  Then again, he has been moping about the midterm losses and getting his ass handed to him in the press over the rest of his fights, so it took him some time to open up his schedule enough for some self-sabotage.

 

Protecting Mueller

This isnt McConnell trying to be diplomatic or anything, or trying to avoid an unnecessary legal fight.  He’s trying to save his own shell.  He’s neck deep in this.  Don’t forget it.

 

JAss News

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, prosecutors inadvertently revealed in a recently unsealed court filing — a development that could significantly advance the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have major implications for those who publish government secrets.

The disclosure came in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the matter sealed, wrote that “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.” Later, Dwyer wrote the charges would “need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested.”

Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. People familiar with the matter said what Dwyer was disclosing was true, but unintentional.

Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, said, “The court filing was made in error. That was not the intended name for this filing.”

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.

Well, well, well.  What do we have here?

This is very interesting, and moves Julian Assange from the “Assumed Indicted” category to “Waiting to be indicted”, but what for exactly?  Are these charges related to Russia, or some of his other fuckery over the years?

Let’s look at the surrounding case.

The filing in the Eastern District of Virginia came Aug. 22 in a case that combines national security and sex trafficking. Seitu Sulayman Kokayi, 29, was charged with enticing a 15-year-old girl to have sex with him and send him pornographic images of herself. But he was detained in part because he “has a substantial interest in terrorist acts,” according to the court filing.

His father-in-law, according to the filing, has been convicted of terrorist acts. The case involves previously classified information, according to government filings, and prosecutors plan to use information obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Kokayi was indicted last week and is set to be arraigned Friday morning.

The case had been sealed until early September, though by itself it attracted little notice. On Thursday evening, Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, who is known for scrubbing court filings, joked about the apparent error on Twitter — which first brought it to the attention of reporters.

I can’t find any decent info ok Kokayi in a quick Google search, but this is the first time I’ve seen his name brought up.  It’s likely he was interacting with or using Wikileaks for some of his research, and that’s how Julian Assange got pulled into this mess.  I don’t know his involvement in this case, but it was likely more than just hitting his home page.  When the DOJ looked for information on Assange, they found these sealed indictments in some database, it was mentioned in this sealed indictment.  When this document was being scrubbed, his name was missed.

Notice how on the previous legal docs I’ve hosted that people have had been called PERSON-1 or INDIVIDUAL-1?  That’s to protect people who haven’t yet been charged with a crime, or to protect victims or witnesses.  That’s part of the scrubbing process.  What happened here is someone likely missed Julian Assange’s name in this indictment and didn’t catch it until it two months later.

 

Rumor Mill Special: JAss and a Grand Jury

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

Whitaker

 

VETERANS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

Seriously, fuck this guy.  He allowed the personal details of a woman and her family to be posted on his site, then encouraged his readers to harass and attack them.  His actions crossed the line of free speech and entered into targeted assault.  His “free speech” defense ended when the first of his trolls followed his instructions and attacked them.

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

#METOO

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

First and foremost, there is minimal correlation between treatable mental illness and violent crime. In a study of 235 mass shootings, only twenty-two percent of the perpetrators could be diagnosed as having any degree of mental illness, with no proven correlation between this diagnosis and the horrific crime committed.

Furthermore, less than one percent of gun homicides overall are committed by people with serious mental illness and there does not seem to be a higher rate of mental health issues in the United States compared to other nations, where rates of gun violence and mass shootings are exceedingly lower.

What is true, rather, is that grouping-suffering individuals with mental health concerns, already stigmatized by society and with poor access to care, with antisocial mass murderers only creates further stigma. Most important to note is that after years of commitment to improving “mental health” spouted by legislators after each mass shooting, there has been no real change to our health-care system or increase in access, with the majority of those with mental health issues not receiving treatment and for those actively seeking help, 1 in 5 still unable to obtain it . It is apparent, then, that the cry for mental health access is a calculated distraction to replace a proven solution with an unrelated issue.

When humanists, activists and especially physicians accept the false relationship between mental health and mass shootings, they perpetuate a lie that does a disservice to both causes. We, as doctors, must lead the way in rejecting this deception and promoting meaningful change on our own terms.

This is a public health crisis that extends well past the realm of the political and in which every doctor must have a voice. As physicians, we must encourage all citizens who are angry, heartbroken, afraid and caught in a cycle of never-ending grief to see past the “mental illness” ruse and demand that our media and politicians address the real causes of and solutions to horrific and preventable mass shootings.

We need better mental health care in this country, but it’s not the sole reason for shootings.  It’s an easy crutch, but most of the mass shooters aren’t crazy.  At least, not crazy enough to qualify as crazy.  The Parkland Shooter, the Vegas Shooter, the Pulse Shooter, and the Borderline Shooter were all not batshit-insane.

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

What if your telephone company were allowed to:

-record all of your conversations -note who your friends, family, colleagues and other important people are -note all the keywords used in your conversations -note how many times you use certain keywords in your conversations -note who and what you’re talking about, and when

-assess your emotional state -track everywhere you go, even when you’re not using your phone -catalogue what your face looks like, and what your friends’ and family’s faces look like -assess your health and financial situation based on your conversations and who you call

-track all of the above information about your children

What if your phone company then: -took all of that information about you, and allowed really really bad people to have it -allowed those bad people to pretend they were someone you trust, and call you and trick you into going places and doing things

-allowed those bad people to get OTHER bad people find you. Bad people who want to do horrible things to you.

What if, when confronted, the phone company said that you were in control of 1. Your conversations – you could always opt to not talk to anyone 2. Your phone number 3. Whether or not your number’s in the phone book.

But the phone company continues to collect all of the above information with you, and continues to share it with really evil people.

Would you think the phone company needs to be held accountable? Would you think the phone company needs to be regulated?

Facebook and social media are the Wild F*ckin’ West. It doesn’t matter how many hoodies or shiny self-driving cars are part of the package. They’re operating in a lawless bubble. Remember that as our new, blue Congress is sworn in.

We need to address the problems of Social Media, starting with Facebook.  It’s ugly out there.  Europe is on the right path with their data protections, but we need more.

This sounds like a post for another time.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Apart from allowing more leeway in mandatory minimum sentences, the draft bill could:

  • Extend an Obama-era law that got rid of the sentencing differences between people carrying powder cocaine and crack-cocaine, since crack users often saw harsher sentences. The new bill could apply that law retroactively, which would affect thousands of crack-cocaine users already in prison serving lengthy sentences.
  • Lower sentencing under the federal “three strikes” laws, which 28 states have implemented from a life sentence to a maximum of 25 years in prison in some cases. The “three strikes” penalty punishes repeat offenders who commit two violent felonies and have one other felony conviction, regardless of its severity, from a federal or state court.
  • Better prepare people for life after prison by assessing their risks and needs, while also creating incentives to participate in job-training programs that could allow for earlier prison release and a chance at a job after they get out.
  • Outright ban the shackling of pregnant women behind bars, according to the New York Times, and work to ensure prisoners are placed in facilities closer to their families so they can have proper visitations.

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

CONGRESS

 

ELECTION 2018

 

THINKING AHEAD

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Thursday.  Friday will be a bit of a holding pattern, waiting to see what’s going on with any possible indictments.  As of Friday 1PM EST, I haven’t heard anything yet.

The Assange thing was a bit of a surprise, but I wonder if those are indictments from before 2016.  Remember, Assange was up to some shit long before Russia in 2016.  That’s just when he pulled off the mask of being a “fighter for transparency” and revealed that he was a Russian shill.

If I get time this weekend, I’d like to write about how I would fix Social Media.  I have no clue where to start, but that’s never stopped me from spouting off my ideas before.  Sometimes they flesh out as I’m rambling.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur