Tag: Politics

Daily Check-In 11/02/2018

Friday, November 2, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

SCOTUS 

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

It is not written in stone that the United States of America must always exist. It is not guaranteed that the country that goes by that name will always be a democracy. You cannot assume the greatness or strength or stature we have grown accustomed to will always endure.

Throughout our history we have been reminded of the fragility of the American idea and of the country it inspired. We got off to a fitful start with an ill-conceived system. We have seen civil war and foreign despots committed to wiping us off the map.

We have been compromised to the point of negating the good that has gone into our heritage by slavery, genocide, corruption, suppression of the basic rights of women, racism and greed that has literally divided the country into one in which the 99% largely work to enrich the 1%.

At each of those junctures, we have reached deep into the character of the nation and found the fortitude and judgment to correct our course or repulse our enemies. But that should not provide too much comfort. We only have to fail to do so once for the entire experiment to end.

We are at another such juncture where the risk to the idea of America so many of us grew up with is so great that we can see if vanishing before our eyes. I’m not talking about some impossible idea of some flawless nation.

Realistic Americans understand that there are always flaws that must be attended to, that our greatness is not rooted in perfection but in our ability to work, to struggle to perfect ourselves, to correct our errors, to get better. That’s what great countries do.

Their greatness is both in their resilience and in their willingness to reassess and to struggle to get ever greater. But now, we find ourselves at a moment when there are those in high positions of power who would defeat our best impulses and serve ideas that will destroy us.

Donald Trump, as evidenced by his appalling behavior in the final weeks of this campaign, his lies, his fear-mongering, his racism, his narcissism, his defense of murderous foreign despots, his minimizing of acts of domestic terror, his doubling down on his own worst acts…

has presented himself with each passing day as not just a failing president or a profoundly damaged person, but as a threat to the very idea of the country he was elected by a minority to run. He was compromised from the start. Not just by his ties to foreign enemies…

…but by his record as a con-artist and a champion of bad ideas. But he was empowered and joined in his endeavor by a Republican Party that accepted his defects as their own, that would do literally anything to achieve a narrow agenda benefiting a few special interests.

There was not one square inch of the foundations of this country that they would not rent out or sell off or tear apart if it might serve the richest Americans or big companies or the NRA or a handful of evangelicals and their misogynistic agenda.

And so we come to one of those turning points as we did during the civil war or the World Wars or the McCarthy era or the era of Jim Crow or the Cold War when we are being tested. What is at stake is not just how we are perceived as a country, or who we are…

…but whether America as we know it can continue to exist. Don’t take everything you have grown used to for granted. Don’t take democracy in this country for granted. Don’t take progress for granted. Don’t assume our institutions will work to serve us.

All of that is open to question because of this depraved and dangerous president and the craven cabal around him. Who can save us? Only we can. How? Only at the voting booth. The time has come to make a stand against these bastards, this enemy army within.

Vote next Tuesday. Make sure your friends vote. Make sure your family votes. Help the elderly to vote. Canvas your neighbors. Drive people to the polls. This is the greatest test America has faced since the end of the Cold War.

Vote. Vote. Vote like the very idea of America depended upon it.

 

 

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTION 2018

Early voting numbers compared to 4 years ago.

IMG_7682

Early turnout is much higher than previous years.  But how did the turnouts look in those states in 2014?  Let’s find out.

According to this site by Elections Project, here’s the voter turnout for 2014.  All but Texas are the total number of ballots submitted.  Texas didn’t have that number available, so I had to use the number of ballots cast for the highest office in the state.

  • Arizona – 1,537,671
  • Florida – 6,026,802
  • Georgia – 2,596,947
  • Indiana – 1,387,622
  • Montana – 373,831
  • Nevada – 552,546
  • Tennessee – 1,430,117
  • Texas – 4,727,208

Wow.  So far, more people have voted early this year in Texas this year than in all of 2014.  Nevada and Tennessee have almost surpassed those numbers.  Arizona is over 80 percent of the way there.  The only state listed from that list that hasn’t eclipsed the halfway point of the 2014 total turnout is Indiana, and they’ve tripled their early turnout from 4 years ago.

I don’t like to make predictions on results or turnout, but this is promising.

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

You know something that pisses me off…

The same mother fuckers that scream “fuck your feelings” or call me a snowflake for asking them to not be racist, sexist shitheads freak the fuck out because there isn’t enough of their religion on a coffee cup.  They’ll lose their shit because how dare they have to acknowledge that people with other beliefs exist.

To the people who don’t think there’s enough Jesus on their coffee cups, I’d like to sincerely wish them “Happy Holidays.”

 

RUMOR MILL

*Dispatches from Operation Faithful Patriot* [Day 1] “Dearest mother, I have arrived at the border. Solitude and dirt surround us. The men are in high spirits. We have been told our deployment will be short. I dug a trench today. I saw a lizard. Will write again soon.”

[Day 9] “Dearest mother, It’s been over a week. We haven’t seen a single migrant. We set up C-wire. I dug a second trench behind the first trench in case we get overrun. It’s lonely here. My battle buddy keeping singing ‘All my exes live in Texas’ over and over. I miss home.”

[Day 16] “Dearest mother, I think it’s been two weeks. It’s hard to tell. Time has no meaning here on the border. I’ve dug three more trenches. I’ve started pooping in the first one bc I forgot where the porta John is. I killed a gopher. My first kill. Felt good. Send smokes.”

[Day 31] “Dearest mother, Haven’t seen the caravan yet. We expect it any day now. The officers say they’re almost upon us. I’ve dug 14 trenches. The first three have poop in them. The fourth one is filled with Burger King wrappers. I hope this ends soon. The men are restless.”

[Day 50] “Mom, I can’t take this much longer. We’ve dug so many trenches they’ve come up to the Wal-Mart parking lot. I’m sorry I missed Thanksgiving, but you know how important this mission is. Can you buy me new pants? I’ve gained 20 pounds from eating so much BK.”

[Day 63] “Ma, We had our first deserter a few days ago. Doug ran off last week. We found him in the garden section of Wal-Mart the next day. He was eating the perennial bulbs. I won’t lie to you, morale is low. On the bright side, we filled in 5 trenches and re-dug them.”

[Day 89] “Mommy, I wanna come home. It’s hell out here. The Wi-Fi shut off. The Burger King ran out of chicken fries and I can no longer fit in my uniform. I’m wearing a bathrobe I bought at the Bed Bath & Beyond down the street. I don’t know why we’re here anymore.”

[Day 125] “Mem, I kant due this no mor. I stare @ dirt all day wating fur a dangerus cavaran to appoch. My e tool broke and I kant dig mor trenchs. I pooped in my helmet today. Are they saying we’ll be comin home soon? Nobode tells me anething. I hate Texes.”

[Day 199] “…poop. poop. poopie. doop. doop. doopie. i ate a cactus.”

[Day 365] “🦐🥔🎳🖼🔬“

 

 

That’s it for today.  Yes, I said today.  I finally got an article posted on the day it’s supposed to be due.

This weekend I’m writing an article about voting, and saying how I think people should vote.  I’ve never been comfortable with telling people what to think, but with how to think.  Those are two vastly different ideas.

Telling someone what to think is not the same as telling them or teaching them HOW to think.  Telling someone what to think takes away their ability to make decisions in the future.  Sure, it’s easy to let someone else make the decisions, but that’s a violation of the basic tenets of critical thinking and logic.  It’s also how we ended up in this mess in the first place.

Teaching someone how to think is far more important.  Giving a person the tools and abilities to spot bullshit, to avoid bullshit, and to fight against bullshit has a far greater payoff.  That’s part of what I do here.  I’d like to think that I’m not telling people what to think, but giving them the information and tools to reach their own conclusions.  I don’t make a claim unless I have evidence to back it up, and even those claims I hedge.

Yes, even when I call Trump a traitor to the United States, I’m pulling my punches, and only making claims that I can back up with evidence.

But this piece this weekend will be a little different.  I’m due for something a little different.  And a glass or 3 of wine.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 11/01/2018

Thursday, November 1, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Hindsight is 20/20 – Let’s “Keep it in the Family”/THREAD THEY KNEW – EXACTLY HOW BAD THIS WOULD BECOME.

June 15, 2016 Ryan: He [visiting Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladi­mir Groysman] has this really interesting riff about… people have said that they have Ukraine fatigue, and it’s really Russian fatigue because what Russia is doing to us, financing our populists… 1/

Ryan cont’d: …financing people in our governments to undo our governments, you know, messing with our oil and gas energy, all things Russia does to basically blow up our country, they’re just going to roll right through us and go to the Baltics and everyone else. 2/

Rodgers: Yes! Ryan: So we should not have Ukraine fatigue, we should have Russian fatigue. Rodgers: Yes! The propaganda…my big takeaway from that trip was just how sophisticated the propaganda… Ryan: It’s very sophisticated. Rodgers: Coming out of Russia and Putin. 3/

Ryan: Very sophisticated. Rodgers: Not just in Ukraine. They were once funding the NGOs in Europe. They attacked fracking. Ryan: Correct. Rodgers: Russia TV. I was not… you know..I hadn’t tuned into Russia TV until that trip. It’s FRIGHTENING. 4/

Ryan: This is, this isn’t just about Ukraine. Rodgers: So, yeah, it is a, um… a way…it’s really a messaging…you know…they are..it’s a PROPAGANDA WAR. 5/

Ryan: Russia is trying to turn Ukraine against itself. Rodgers: Yes. And that’s…it’s sophisticated and it’s, uh… Ryan: Maniacal. Rodgers: Yes. 6/

Ryan: And guess…guess who’s the only one taking a strong stand up against it? We are. Rodgers: We’re not…we’re not, but we’re not… 7/

McCarthy: [unintelligible]…I’ll GUARANTEE you that’s what it is. The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp research that they had on Trump. McCarthy: laughs 8/

McCarthy: There’s… there’s two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump [laughter] Swear to God. 9/

Ryan: This is an off the record… …[laughter]…NO LEAKS… …[laughter]…Alright?! [Laughter] 10/

Ryan: This is how we know we’re a real family here. Scalise: That’s how you know that we’re tight. [Laughter] Ryan: What’s said in the family stays in the family. 11/

Ryan: The Russians hacked the DNC… McHenry: …to get oppo… Ryan: …on Trump and like delivered it to… to WHO? 12/

Here’s the link to the transcripts of this conversation that Ryan and his GOP House cronies had the DAY AFTER it was reported that the Russians had hacked the DNC.

House majority leader to colleagues in 2016: ‘I think Putin pays’ Trump

My second favorite part. THIS had already happened ⬇️:

Ryan announced on June 2, 2016 – a little over a week before this conversation took place – that he would vote for Trump to help “unite the party so we can win in the fall” but continued to clash with the candidate, including over Putin.

Thank you & for the great reporting and cool timeline graphic ⬇️. Now just drop the audio tape. PLEASE. /The End

CODA: Republicans Say Secret Talk About Putin Paying Trump Was Just a Joke Meanwhile, 18 previously undisclosed contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia have been uncovered.

REPUBLICANS SAY SECRET TALK ABOUT PUTIN PAYING TRUMP WAS JUST A JOKE Meanwhile, 18 previously undisclosed contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia have been

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

#METOO

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTION 2018

 

RUMOR MILL

 

That’s it for Thursday.  It’s a little light today on the non-election news, and it’ll be that way until next Wednesday.  Pretty much everything from here on out should be about the election.

That being said, don’t be surprised if some crazy shit comes out about Russian shit, or some other cray cray.

Remember, go out there and vote.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 10/31/2018

Wednesday, October 31, 2018.  Halloween.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

From the Politco article:

The evidence lies in obscure docket entries at the clerk’s office for the D.C. Circuit. Thanks to Politico’s Josh Gerstein and Darren Samuelsohn, we know that on August 16 (the day after Giuliani said he was almost finished with his memorandum, remember), a sealed grand jury case was initiated in the D.C. federal district court before Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell. We know that on September 19, Howell issued a ruling and five days later one of the parties appealed to the D.C. Circuit. And, thanks to Politico’s reporting, we know that the special counsel’s office is involved (because the reporter overheard a conversation in the clerk’s office). We can further deduce that the special counsel prevailed in the district court and that the presumptive grand jury witness has frantically appealed that order and sought special treatment from the judges of the D.C. Circuit—often referred to as the “second-most important court in the land.”

Nothing about the docket sheets, however, discloses the identity of the witness. Politico asked many of the known attorneys for Mueller witnesses—including Jay Sekulow, another Trump lawyer—and each one denied knowledge of the identity of the witness. (What, of course, would we expect a lawyer to say when asked about a proceeding the court has ordered sealed?)

But for those of us who have been appellate lawyers, the brief docket entries tell a story. Here’s what we can glean:

  • The parties and the judges have moved with unusual alacrity. Parties normally have 30 days to appeal a lower court action. The witness here appealed just five days after losing in the district court—and three days later filed a motion before the appellate court to stay the district court’s order. That’s fast.
  • The appeals court itself responded with remarkable speed, too. One day after getting the witness’ motion, the court gave the special counsel just three days to respond—blindingly short as appellate proceedings go. The special counsel’s papers were filed October 1.
  • At this point an unspecified procedural flaw seems to have emerged, and on October 3, the appeals court dismissed the appeal. Just two days later, the lower court judge cured the flaw, the witness re-appealed, and by October 10 the witness was once again before appellate court. Thanks to very quick action of all the judges, less than one week was lost due to a flaw that, in other cases, could have taken weeks or months to resolve.
  • Back before the D.C. Circuit, this case’s very special handling continued. On October 10, the day the case returned to the court, the parties filed a motion for expedited handling, and within two days, the judges had granted their motion and set an accelerated briefing schedule. The witness was given just 11 days to file briefs; the special counsel (presumably) just two weeks to respond; and reply papers one week later, on November 14 (for those paying attention, that’s eight days after the midterm elections). Oral arguments are set for December 14.

At every level, this matter has commanded the immediate and close attention of the judges involved—suggesting that no ordinary witness and no ordinary issue is involved. But is it the president? The docket sheets give one final—but compelling—clue. When the witness lost the first time in the circuit court (before the quick round trip to the district court), he petitioned, unusually, for rehearing en banc—meaning the witness thought the case was so important that it merited the very unusual action of convening all 10 of the D.C. Circuit judges to review the order. That is itself telling (this witness believes the case demands very special handling), but the order disposing of the petition is even more telling: Trump’s sole appointee to that court, Gregory Katsas, recused himself.

There’s a good deal of speculation going on here, and Emptywheel debunks some of this, but something getting lost in this is that the Special Counselor’s Office is chugging along like a train.  Their actions are quiet and deliberate.  We won’t hear what they’re doing until an indictment drops, but they’re scaring the shit out of a lot of people.

Court documents unsealed after nearly 45 years show that a federal grand jury in February 1974 was prepared to indict former GOP President Richard Nixon on four criminal counts for his role in the 1970s Watergate scandal that led to his resignation.

The charges, including bribery, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and obstruction of a criminal investigation, would have been for Nixon and his administration’s attempt to cover up the break-in and wiretapping of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at The Watergate Hotel in D.C.

Five men were arrested on June 17, 1972, for their involvement in the matter. The men attempted to photograph DNC documents and wiretap DNC officials’ phones, potentially sabotaging the Democrats’ chances at unseating Nixon in the upcoming 1972 presidential election.

The draft of the indictment from a Washington grand jury stated that “from on or about March 21, 1973…Richard M. Nixon unlawfully, willfully and knowingly did combine, conspire, confederate and agree together and with co-conspirators…to commit bribery…obstruct justice…and obstruct a criminal investigation.”

It further added that Nixon met with John Dean, Nixon’s White House counsel, and Harry Haldeman, Nixon’s chief of staff, on or about March 21, 1973, in the White House and “instructed” them to pay approximately $120,000 to E. Howard Hunt Jr., a former CIA agent and organizer of the Watergate break-in. Hunt Jr. had made the initial demand for $120,000 for his role in the break-in of the DNC headquarters, according to the draft indictment.

That same day, March 21, 1973, Hunt Jr. received approximately $75,000 in cash from Nixon messengers to influence his testimony to criminal investigators, according to the draft indictment. The following day, Nixon aides told the president that Hunt Jr.’s “money problem had been taken care of.”

Despite the ongoing investigation and a bombshell report from Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Berstein that said the FBI believed Nixon aides were responsible for the Watergate break-in, Nixon won re-election in 1972 against Democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.

Facing three articles of impeachment in the House, Nixon announced his resignation during a live TV and radio broadcast from the Oval Office on the evening of August 8, 1974.

Interesting.  A grand jury had all but indicted Nixon six months before he resigned.  Even more interesting that this is being unsealed now.

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

#METOO

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

IMMIGRATION

In other words, it’s a lie he’s making up.

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

 

ELECTION 2018

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

 

RUMOR MILL

Going to THREAD on this. Next item is a screen grab from the transcript. There is a way out of the dysfunctional cycle between Trump and the press, that not only restores the core mission of the 4th Estate, but saves our democracy in the process. Let’s lay it out… /1

1:50
President Trump has been able to appeal to journalists’ “own narcissism” by attacking them, says Jon Stewart. “They take it personally, and now he’s changed the conversation to, not that his policies are silly or not…

2/ Here’s the transcript. Read ‘s last line. Everyone can understand it. And democracy desperately needs journalists to rise above it. Here’s how: STEP 1. Read up on Russian propaganda tactics & techniques. Understand that you are dealing w/a President…

3/…who is well-versed & possibly trained in them. STEP 2. Realize that he is intentionally TROLLING & TRIGGERING you. You are taking bait. Not just to change a larger narrative, but bait that is specifically designed to DISMANTLE YOU. You are the target. (cont)

4/ Once you realize that, it’s easier to see it and adjust. STEP 3. Take note when you feel the physical effects of a trigger. You can FEEL the emotions triggered rise in the moment you’re being psychologically triggered. Take a deep breath. Dismiss all thoughts about self…

5/ Then… STEP 4. Use that trigger as a blinking red light for what he’s trying to distract you away from. It is only one thing: Corruption. FOLLOW THE MONEY. When he is actively triggering you, it means you are over the target. You are right on top of a story…

6/…that he is extremely threatened by. Reinterpret the threats & hits from him about the “fake news – enemy of the people” as indicators that you are right on top of a story that presents a dire threat to him. You are right on top of the whole enchilada. In this context…

7/… He is NOT trying to use you to appeal to his base. STOP telling yourselves that. He has an entire far right media machine for that. He is trying to get you OFF YOUR JOB. He is psychologically terrorizing YOU. Specifically. So… What he’s actually doing is telling you…

8/… (by terrorizing you), that you are ON THE TARGET. See it that way. And when he is triggering you to get you away from his corruption… STEP 5. Do not drop your line of inquiry to enter some fight over his lies. His lies are propaganda. Meant to distract. (cont)

9/ Do not use his semantics, like “caravan” or “nationalist”. Those are pieces of propaganda, deployed at perilous moments TO HIM, in order to distract & hijack a narrative (see Step 1 above. this is why I’m asking you study up on it). THERE IS A REASON HE IS DOING THIS. So…

10/ STEP 6. Look at the most dangerous story to him personally at the moment when a new, or old, propaganda semantic is deployed – and PRESS HARDER on that story. Dollars to doughnuts there is corrupt money-dealing underneath it. I’ll end this with a simple illustration…

11/ When was the last time you asked him a question about MbS? – end –

 

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  I don’t have much here because of Halloween and trick-or-treating.  As a parent, it’s one of the best parts of the job.  The level of excitement that a kid has when going door to door, getting candy from neighbors, is amazing.  It’s the one day of the year where we tell them it’s okay to accept weird gifts from strangers.

Dad’s job during trick-or-treating is to play pack mule and plan the route.  It’s important to find the most efficient route, so that they’re not doubling back on themselves, or walking down streets they’ve already hit.

Things should be back to normal on Thursday.  And by normal, I mean a complete and total clusterfuck.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Daily Check-In 10/30/2018

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

 

Ratfucking Gone Sideways

Remember yesterday (Daily Check-In 10/29/2018) how I mentioned that there were some weird rumors floating around about how someone was trying to smear Robert Mueller with a sex assault claim.  Less than an hour after I posted, all hell broke loose.

What started with a story about a woman emailing a reporter and disappearing soon turned into a dozen reporters all receiving the same information, a GOP conspiracy theorist named Jack Burkman claiming that he had a woman ready to go public with claims, another woman coming forward saying that she was approached and offered money to lie in an affidavit that Robert Mueller assaulted her, and the press uncovering that this was all orchestrated by one troll shitgibbon named Jacob Wohl.

I’ve only mentioned him  briefly once before, last week on Daily Check-In 10/26/2018.  He was one of the Right Wing people that claimed that the MAGABomber was a false flag attack.  I’ve run into him a few times on Twitter, and he’s always getting his ass handed to him.  He’s a troll, plain and simple.

He also writes for the Gateway Pundit and is the youngest hedge fund manager to ever be banned for life from the financial industry. His events in that escapade should have landed him in jail.  Now, he’s fucked six ways to Sunday.

Jacob Wohl set up a fake company called SureFire Intelligence and worked with Jack Burkman to entice women to make false claims against Robert Mueller in an attempt to scuttle the Russian Investigation.  They offered to pay at least two women to make these claims.  Wohl then published this story on Gateway Pundit, where he works as a writer, claiming that he had “inside information.”

From those couple paragraphs, we’ve got Conspiracy, Obstruction of Justice, Wire Fraud, Subornation of Perjury, Fraud, and probably a few dozen computer crimes.  And that’s just from what broke in the news.

The only reason I’m not blazing mad with this blatant attempt by a troll to try to sideline the investigation is that I’m laughing at how amazingly bad he executed his plan.

The company website was registered using his email from his banned hedge fund company.  The website’s phone number directs to his mom’s voicemail.  The employees are stock photos and celebrities.  The people he contacted immediately reached out to the press and to the Special Counselor’s office.

Yes, Robert Mueller knows.  And they immediately forwarded this to the FBI for further investigation.

Below are the Twitter threads that illustrate all of the work that the nearly dozen journalists working this story.

 

I wasn’t going to report on this, but I think my fears are coming true. Based on information that I am privy to, I believe false accusations will be spread about Mueller in order to discredit him and possibly the journalists who are preparing this story.

Scott Stedman added,

Jacob WohlVerified account@JacobAWohl

Several media sources tell me that a scandalous story about Mueller is breaking tomorrow. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!

Two weeks ago, I was contacted by a woman who claimed to be a former associate of Mueller who said that she got a phone call from a man working on behalf of a GOP operative who was paying women to come forward to make up sexual assault allegations.

I worked on this story and chased down leads, but found the woman to be very unreliable. She wouldn’t get on the phone, she lied about journalists she was working with, etc. Furthermore, I got in contact with the man who allegedly was offering the money….

He was extremely willing to confirm that he was indeed paying women to tell stories about Mueller. I concluded that this was an effort to discredit journalists working on the Trump-Russia story by planting a false story and see who would print it.

I still don’t know what to make of the entire situation, but I fear that this is a scheme to discredit those who are reporting on the Russia investigation. If the story coming out tomorrow matches the story I heard, I will post more details.

I know that some journalists who were contacted by the woman* are becoming increasingly worried that something sketchy is afoot here. *we have no idea who this person is

IMPORTANT: If you see a story tomorrow or anytime in the future of former colleagues of Mueller coming forward with sexual assault claims then please check in with my feed. I have receipts.

I was super hesitant to post this thread because I didn’t want to give these people any attention or put this out to the public. However based on Wohl’s tweet and some rumblings behind the scenes, I think it’s necessary to give a heads up.

Wohl just told me his info is coming from a GOP lobbyist, which makes me increasingly worried. I fear that someone covering Mueller has fallen for a fake story.

The creeps behind whatever scheme this is don’t deserve name recognition UNLESS the story about Mueller gets printed. I won’t be saying anything else on this topic if/when something develops further.

 

.@Jack_Burkmanis behind a GOP scheme to offer women money to make up stories about Robert Mueller’s alleged sexual harassment. The Special Counsel’s office has referred the matter to the FBI. I was privy to this scheme. This thread will detail my experience.

2 weeks ago, I, along with other journalists were set an email from a woman who alleged that she was a former colleague of Mueller. She said that Jack Burkman, via an intermediary, offered her tens of thousands to make up sexual assault claims against Mueller.

I found the woman to be unreliable, she wouldn’t get on the phone, she wouldn’t give me any other contact information. She did however give me the phone number of the intermediary who allegedly offered this money on behalf of Burkman.

The intermediary, in messages to me (see attached) confirmed the story. I don’t know the true identity of this person OR the person who sent the original email.

I discussed this with other journalists, mainly @NatashaBertrand, but I concluded that this was an effort to discredit the media. However, it appears now that Burkman is trying to move forward with these claims. The Special Counsel’s office has referred the matter to the FBI.

I don’t know what to make of what has transpired. I didn’t find the woman reliable. I found that the intermediary was oddly eager to share details. I came public with this story because Jacob Wohl teased that this was coming. He appears involved in the campaign as well.

I faced a huge internal struggle here. I didn’t want to give these people any credence, but when I learned that Burkman and Wohl were going through with this, I felt the need to speak up.

Scott Stedman Retweeted Scott Stedman

Scott Stedman added,

Scott Stedman @ScottMStedman

I want to make this entirely clear: There is ZERO evidence that a woman actually exists in this story. The only people known to be involved are Wohl and Burkman.

 

Today: A woman alleges that she was offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman “to make accusations of sexual misconduct & workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.” Feb 2018: Burkman offered $25,000 for proof of wrongdoing at FBI ()

This is Jack Burkman, the GOP operative who reportedly offered a woman $20,000 to make false allegations of sexual misconduct & harassment against special counsel Mueller. Two hours ago, he was announcing plans for a news conference to parade the woman in front of the media. 1/

And here is Jack Burkman’s Facebook announcement where he talks about his plans to bring forward allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment against special counsel Robert Mueller. He hasn’t canceled it yet, but I assume he will. 2/

Then there’s a private intelligence company called SureFire Intelligence. – A few days ago it posted about a media request from the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, who often reports on sexual assault. -This afternoon it posted about a “flurry of press inquiries.” hmm, wonder why? 3/

Sure looks like this weird “private intel agency” is the one that made the dodgy Mueller accusation. They claim to have been founded by ex-Mossad lol

Hahahahahhaha Jacob Wohl (the “LA hipster cafe” guy) is tied to the DNS records for the place that did the “investigation” for this thing. He used jacob.wohl@nexmanagement.com when setting up the site.

This information was not changed or added ever since Wohl started tweeting about a Mueller accusation. Google cache from October 27 shows that his email was in the DNS records then (archived: )

Looking into the employees for “Surefire Intelligence” on LinkedIn, and it’s not a promising start for this being a legit place.

Surefire Intelligence’s “Tel Aviv Station Chief” is an Israeli supermodel

Jacob Wohl is a moron and didn’t realize that there are reverse image search engines other than Google when he was adding filters to these pictures. Yandex got this as the very first result.

Surefire Intelligence’s LA “Private Investigator” is British model/photographer Nick Hopper.

Surefire Intelligence’s “Head of Government Relations” also works as a model for stock photos.

Surefire Intelligence’s “Financial Investigator” in Zurich is Christoph Waltz. What a great hire!

Surefire Intelligence’s “Deputy Director of Operations” is a minister from Michigan.

My little Jacob Wohl story: August 2016, we’re sitting around the trading turrets at my office on a bored to tears slow day. Our receptionist said someone was here for his 2pm appointment. None of us had an appointment on schedule. Who is it? we ask? Some guy named Jacob Wohl 1/

Jacob Wohl, for those out of loop, gained quite a bit of notoriety for becoming the youngest guy to ever get himself barred for life from the financial industry. Now he’s waiting in our lobby to pitch something. We’re a large merchant bank. 2/

Send him in, we said. In walks young Jacob asking to be seeded with $25mm to start a new hedge fund in exchange for an ownership stake in it. Oh, & he needs an office. And a Bloomberg station. And needs to borrow staff until he can hire some guys. And he needs a leased car… 3/

And he needs an answer today. Right now. Because there’s a competing offer from Izzy Englander’s firm Millenium (we know those guys well). We fight the urge to literally start laughing, but do ask him…hey, you the same guy who got banned by regulators? He didn’t even flinch 4/

He went on about that being untrue & handed over a letter he said was from his lawyer who had confirmed he was not barred, had been vindicated but it ‘just wasn’t in the system yet at the SEC, CFTC’…whatever that means. 5/

One of my colleagues politely told Jacob that we don’t usually do seed deals & when we do it’s only after someone works here as a PM for a few years, so no. Take the deal with Izzy, kid. We ended the meeting right there. 6/

The attorney letter was on obviously forged letterhead for Davis Polk (including a wrong address). Less than an hour later we get a call from someone we know at Millenium asking who the hell this kid using our name to get a meeting is. We had a laugh. Hey, the kid tried. /fin

 

Update on the plot against Mueller: I can vouch for @jentauband @NatashaBertrand‘s story. On Oct. 22, Jen sent me a screenshot of this email offering to pay her for information (dirt) on Mueller, long before anyone had mentioned “Surefire Intelligence”… (i.e., @JacobAWohl)

Jed Shugerman Vote 11/6 added,

Natasha BertrandVerified account @NatashaBertrand

NEW: Another woman, @jentaub, was contacted on October 22 by a man claiming to work for Surefire Intelligence, who offered to pay her to discuss her “past encounters” with Mueller. (She’s never met Mueller.) Story has been updated: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/special-counsel-refers-scheme-targeting-mueller-to-fbi/574411/ …

Jed Shugerman Vote 11/6 Retweeted Yashar Ali  🐘

2/ See also:

Jed Shugerman Vote 11/6 added,

Yashar Ali  🐘Verified account @yashar

13 days ago I received this tip alleging an attempt to pay off women to make up accusations of sexual misconduct against Special Counsel Bob Mueller. Other reporters received the same email. Now the Special Counsel’s…

Jed Shugerman Vote 11/6 Retweeted Jane Mayer

3/ From @JaneMayerNYer: @JacobAWohl, surefire criminal mastermind.

Jed Shugerman Vote 11/6 added,

Jane MayerVerified account @JaneMayerNYer

Odd. Jacob Wohl says he doesn’t know nuttin’ about Surefire Intelligence, the firm tied to the bizarre Mueller allegations. Take a look at the photos below of Mathhew Cohen, head of ‘Surefire,’ and of Jacob Wohl.

4/ Backfire Intelligence, amirite?

5/ @Mimirocah1at @MSNBCalso received this same email from @jentaubon Oct. 22d, eight days before Surefire Intelligence was in the news.

6/ To those claiming @Jack_Burkman& @JacobAWohlwere merely punking the media: I have the email to @jentaub& it debunks your theory. They were intending to pay a real woman to frame Mueller. Even a conspiracy that is too stupid to succeed is still a criminal conspiracy.

7/ Just to clarify: the email doesn’t say, “We’ll pay you to lie.” But the email shows that Surefire was looking to pay a real person for dirt. This wasn’t just a little prank to show media bias, as the Wohl defenders have asserted.

 

New info on this, and more ties to this shady private investigations firm, at the Daily Beast momentarily

18 hours ago

More

The website contains images uploaded to the same Google cloud account as images uploaded to websites for three of Wohl’s asset management firms

One of the more amusing asides to this Surefire stuff is the comically wannabe-ish titles its employees give themselves. Station chief! For a PI firm!

More! At least three supposed Surefire employees, including “station chiefs” in DC and Tel Aviv, use fake LinkedIn headshots. The two station chiefs’ pics are actually of Israeli model Bar Rafaeli and Sigourney Weaver’s husband

Inside the Crazy Cabal Trying to Smear Robert Mueller A Seth Rich conspiracy pusher and fringe online figures appear to be working behind the scenes. thedailybeast.com       

Trump’s legal team is staying far, far away from these sketchy allegations against Mueller. Giuliani tells and me: “Something like this would be totally inconsistent with what I know of him…I’ve never had any issue with Bob’s character.”

 

RIGHT WING TERRORISM

 

IMMIGRATION

 

White Nationalism

Too much commentary on how the birthright thing is unconstitutional and not enough about how it is white nationalism.

What folks forget is how the premise works. First they get rid of birthright citizenship. “It only counts if one of your parents is a citizen” they will claim.

Then once they’ve done that, they will go after the people who do have a parent that is a citizen, and they will attack the basis of that citizenship.

Dear Media, here is the clear truth: Donald Trump is explicitly seeking to turn America into a white Ethnostate. He is following an openly racist plan, crafted by open racists. If you report this story any other way you are not reporting the facts or being objective. 1/

If you think this is an extreme position or an opinion, you haven’t read enough about the white nationalist movement, Stephen Miller, Bannon, Sessions, etc. Eliminating birthright citizenship is a central plank in a well-articulated, coherent movement to make America whiter. 2/

Blaming Soros is a central tool. It is part of a (crazy, wrong, but internally coherent) theory of the case: – By nature, people can only form society with their closer kin. – Yadda Yadda (the arguments are terrible) White people have certain values that non-whites don’t. 3/

(continuing the white power explanation) – All whites, by nature, would know they only want a white society. – An outside group–hint, it’s the Jews!–is tricking them into going against their nature (white nationalists think they know a lot about core human nature). 4/

(continuing views I hate to explain them) – There is an existential race to save America. By 2046, it will become majority minority and then (in this fevered nonsensical view) there will be a civil war because unlike people can’t form stable societies. 5/

(more stuff I despise, so others understand) – The solution (in their minds) is twofold: 1. Slow down minority growth through expulsion, denial of citizenship, closing borders to non-whites. 2. Awakening/uniting white identity by scaring them about brown people. 6/

The white nationalists have an open debate about the Jewish Question (they just call it “JQ”), which boils down to some think Jews are white and others think Jews are the cause of the de-whitification of America. 7/

Every reporter covering Trump should know this argument, its vocabulary and key points. You will no longer have any questions about what Trump is up to. You will no longer be able to cover this story as a case of two sides with extremists, or as a tentative debate. 8/

You will be able to cover Trump properly, objectively, truthfully. You will not see him as a nutjob who spouts off like Archie Bunker. He is a grifter con man who wants to make money and hide his ill-gotten gains and is also deeply racist. 9/

He has learned–as so many awful leaders have before–that your corruption will go unchecked if you embrace the ugliest form of nationalism. He found a coherent movement with a thickly drawn ideology and game plan, hired their proponents and applied their language. 10/

Journalists covering Trump: Please, please, please, for the sake of the country, go read, go study. Understand: – JQ – 2046 – why (wrongly) WP folks think evolutionary kinship preferences can only be racial in the modern age. It’s ugly work, but it’s your job. END

One last thing: hey @andrewmarantzcan you draw up some kind of reading list, podcast listening list for people to learn that world? I hate to promote such things but people gotta learn what’s out there.

 

 

 

KHASHOGGI & SAUDI ARABIA

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

 

#METOO

 

TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET

 

TRAITOR TOTS

 

FIGHTING BACK

 

COLD WAR 2.0

 

#NEVERAGAIN

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

 

TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY

 

STUDENT LOANS

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Whitey Bulger Gets Whacked

With Whitey Bulger dead, I recommend to all recommend to all remaining Mobsters (or, Moronsters) the following thread. Proffer. Now.

The Vor y Zakone, Chinese Triads, et al.? They will murder every one of you to protect their money, their stores of money, their flow of money.

Your pissant ninth-grade education is not worth their trillion-dollar money flow. Get that through your thick, Mobster skull.

THEY GOT WHITEY DURING A PRISON TRANSFER. GO TO THE SPECIAL COUNSEL. RUN. IT IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO LIVE, DUMBASS.

 

 

A little more on this, you say…? Okay. “Dotard is a ‘Bulger’ Rat. 🐀🐀🐀” – SHORT THREAD –

2. Let’s “date stamp” this up, shall we? Dec. 16, 1985, Gambino crime boss, Paul Castellano, is assassinated. The hit was an unprecedented inside job, orchestrated by his underboss Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, and Sammy’s crack-pipe driver, John Gotti.

3. I know y’all have been sold a bag of romantic 💩 about Gotti, but he was a prop. Anyhoos, Gotti (as prop) got voted up to crime boss, & the dye was cast. The much smarter Gravano kept running the 5-burrough concrete biz, w/ dotard as their 💯 favorite front.

4. If you’re OC unit, you gotta hunt down the assassins, no? I mean… that’s the f*cking GAMBINO crime boss. Shot dead. In the street. By assassins wearing Russian hats. HOLY SH*T. So, who are you looking at? What looks suspicous? What just ain’t right?

5. A: The crack-pipe driver, who somehow ascended straight to crime boss. That’s what. That does not look right to agents who track the mob. No, no, no. THAT looks like an inside job. So…gotta squeeze the insiders. That’s where the goods are. With me? Good. Back to the dates.

6. End of ’85 is the hit. It takes 5 yrs for Gotti to be arrested (Dec ’90). B/c that’s how long it takes to squeeze informants, until you get to the boss. Then, a trial beginning in ’92 & conviction on April 2. With Gravano delivering the testimony that sent the crack pipe away.

7. So, how did Mueller get to Gravano? Well… how do agents get informants? One way – a favorite way – is to squeeze some in-the-know folks, who are under investigation for their own crimes. They’d be helpful, right? Right.

8. Wait. Back up. I forgot to tell you that it’s helpful for prosecutors if their informants are already well-known to organized crime agents. 🤫

9. SUPER helpful if you’ve given them subpoenas and gotten them to spill.

10. Oh look, more investigation. Super, duper, helpful.

11. Oh my. The New Jersey gaming commission needed some info from the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. You know… the big boys. Well, they have their pat answer.

12. But, when it comes to investigations, there are always ways to get the information out – sometimes, even to the soon-to-be-rat-informant himself.

Thread broke (my bad). Here’s the rest, ICYMI.

 

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

As someone who has suffered with concussions in the past, I know how bad this can be.  My worst one came when I fractured one of the bones in my neck.  I had a third degree concussion.  I usually have a great memory, but I don’t recall much of those few days.  I was sensitive to light for months, and had to wear a horse collar for a while.  It took about 3 years before I could raise my head to look up for more than a minute at a time without having to spend hours in pain.

The problem with a concussion is that there is no linear path to recovery.  It’s not like a broken bone or torn ligament which has a set rehab schedule.  One day, you could be real, the next feel like the world’s worst hangover.  And it can be this way for months, if not years.

 

ELECTION 2018

 

RUMOR MILL

Next week, a wave is coming.

A wave of hope.

A wave of beauty.

A wave of sisters.

A wave of brotherhood.

A wave of kindness.

These men noticed a lady paying for her gas with pennies and decided… Little did they know, she had just lost her husband and was having a rough time. We can all make a difference. #LostHusband #RoughTime youtube.com         

A wave of compassion.

A wave of courage.

A wave of humanity.

A wave of love.

A wave of patriots.

Lightning will be flashing. Thunder will be rolling. Trees will be bending.

The wave is coming. VOTE.

 

 

That’s it for Tuesday.  I might not post anything for Wednesday, since it’s Halloween.  I might combine it into Thursday’s post.  However, I did see an interesting story from Politico where they ask if Mueller has subpoenaed Trump, and they analyze a lot of small information that points to that conclusion.

Also, sorry about all of the threads.  I’ll try not to include so many next time a troll decides to rat fuck the Special Counselor.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur