Monday, March 18, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

• A Mar-a-Lago Weekend and an Act of God: Trump’s History With Deutsche Bank
• Trump Lied About Assets, Worth to Get Deutsche Bank Loans: Report  
• Despite red flags and knowing he lied about his net worth, Deutsche Bank kept giving Trump loans
• Deutsche Bank loaned over $2 billion to Trump: report

President Trump has a long history with Deutsche Bank — one that the bank didn’t want scrutinized after he was elected in 2016, The New York Times reports.

More than 20 current and former executives and board members told the Times that despite Deutsche Bank saying Trump was not a top priority, it’s just not true. Beginning in the late 1990s, Deutsche Bank gave Trump loans despite his business bankruptcies and knowing he overinflated his net worth and the worth of his real estate assets. At the time, the German bank wanted to make a name for itself on Wall Street, so it worked with clients deemed risky by other entities, a former employee told the Times.

In 2008, Trump defaulted on a loan and then sued Deutsche Bank, claiming the financial crisis was a “tsunami” and thus an act of God, preventing him from paying the loan back, the Times reports. In 2010, the bank concluded that he was inflating some of his assets by up to 70 percent, yet still gave him a $100 million loan to buy the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami.

One managing director, Rosemary Vrablic — who’d helped get Trump more than $300 million in loans — tried to get Trump a loan in early 2016 for his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, the Times reports. An executive, Jacques Brand, opposed the loan because of Trump’s divisive rhetoric, Vrablic appealed, and top executives were aghast that the bank was considering lending him money during the campaign, ending the transaction in March.

After Trump’s election, Deutsche Bank commissioned reports to figure out how the bank became so entwined with him, and employees were told they couldn’t even say “Trump” in public, the Times reports. All told, Trump is believed to have received more than $2 billion from the investment banking and private banking arms. The New York state attorney general and congressional committees are now investigating the relationship between Trump and Deutsche Bank. You can read more about the various loans Trump managed to secure at The New York Times. Catherine Garcia

This is interesting.  Not only did Trump lie about his assets to qualify for loans from the only bank that loan to him, but that bank knew he was lying to them and they STILL gave him $2 billion in loans.  This was knowing that Trump would screw them over one way or another.

Deutsche Bank, part legitimate bank and part money laundering front, has loaned Trump more than $2 billion over the last 20 years through several different bankers and executives.  This included the time he defaulted on loans following the housing crisis.  And they still loaned to him after that.

What’s crazy is that they kept giving him money, even though they know that he’s not worth nearly as much as he claims.  They have valued him and his assets at around $788 million.  Less than a billion.  Yet, they still lent him tons of money.

 

• Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy’s office was reportedly raided amid money laundering investigation
• Federal Authorities Raided Trump Fundraiser’s Office in Money Laundering Probe
• Feds Raided Trump Fundraiser’s Office Looking for Ties to Foreign Nationals: Report
• 911corlebra777: Claude, our friend Mar a Lago member Guo Wengui has been mentioned in the sealed Elliot Broidy search warrant. I believe you have photos 🙂
• 911corlebra777: Pro Republica have just reported about a sealed search warrant served on Broidy last year, they’ve seen it. Brace for impact Information sought include ; Guo Wengui (Mar a lago member) & China A Miami Party organizer UAE & Qatar 1MDB
• Ted Lieu: Another associate of @realDonaldTrump, Elliott Broidy, gets his office raided. Why does Trump surround himself with so many people that have had their office raided because there is likely evidence of crime? How many people do you personally know that had their office raided?
• Justin Elliot: Here’s a bit more about an intriguing aspects of this story: there are two new names on the Broidy search warrant — Joel Rouseau and Intelligent Resources. There’s a company with that name registered in Miami to a Joel Rousseau. THREAD

The Deputy Finance Chair of the Republican Party had his offices raided last year.

No, not Michael Cohen, the other Deputy Finance Chair Elliot Broidy.

Elliot, who was paid a king’s ransom to try to make the 1MDB money laundering disappear, had his offices raided in association to this and other criminal behavior he participated in last summer.

 

• Pelosi, Schumer Joint Statement On Bicameral Request For Criminal And Counterintelligence Investigations Into Li “Cindy” Yang
• Congressional Democrats want counterintelligence probe of Chinese American massage parlor founder connected to Trump
• Dems Ask FBI to Investigate Massage Parlor Owner Who Was Selling Access to Trump
• 911corlebra777: Oh, this just got a whole real for Agent Orange. They start opening those fortune cookies they’ll be finding bad omens everywhere 🙂 #Rainfall
• Angry White House Staffer: Big boom. FWIW, this is probably an unnecessary request. Standard operating procedure would have opened up that investigation immediately. I mean, the lady is *advertising* selling access to the President and his inner circle. This is counterintelligence 101. 
• Frank Thorp V: The top Ds on the House and Senate Intel AND Judiciary Cmtes are asking the FBI to investigate Li Yang, the founder of the recently raided massage parlor in Florida (which she had sold). Yang was also pictured with Pres Trump at Mar-a-Lago’s Super Bowl party—>

I’d find it funny how fast this has turned from a “Hey, the owner of a rub and tug is partying with Trump” to “This is a potential national security matter.”

 

• Lobbying Case Against Democrat With Ties to Manafort Reaches Key Stage
• Countercheckist: When this is all said & done, we’re going to find out who among us really meant it when we said “country over party”. Personally, my opinion on foreign influence hasn’t changed. Burn it down. All of it.

 

• UK government hits out at Trump’s ‘completely false’ suggestion Britain invented Russia’s 2016 election meddling
• 911corlebra777: This will not end well for Mango Mussolini if MI6 & GCHQ are forced to start dropping truth bombs to counter Trump’s accusations 
• Rosalind Helderman: When former British diplomat Andrew Wood first told John McCain about the Steele dossier AFTER the 2016 election, Wood recalled that McCain was “visibly shocked.” McCain’s response, per Wood: “My first thought has to be for my country.”
• 911corlebra777: Why did the British approach McCain over this? For the simple fact he was one of the only people left in the Republican Party that hadn’t caved to Trumpism & was a patriot. McCain’s last 18months of life were nothing short of heroic 🇺🇸

 

• Cambridge Analytica Secrets Allegedly ‘Covered Up’ by Trump Campaign Veterans
• Ex-Putin adviser who died in U.S. had broken neck, report says
• Giuliani Stopped TV Appearances After Suggesting Moscow Trump Tower Talks Continued to Nov. 2016: Report
• Mueller makes history exposing crime spree by former Trump aides
• Opinion | Why there may be much less — and much more — to the Mueller report than people expect
• Why an unbuilt Moscow Trump tower caught Mueller’s attention

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• N.Y. Attorney General Calls For $5.6 Million Fine Against Trump’s ‘Self-Dealing’ Foundation
• Despite red flags and knowing he lied about his net worth, Deutsche Bank kept giving Trump loans

 

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

• Trump angrily complains about being ‘blamed’ for far-right terror attack in New Zealand
• Trump Can’t Acknowledge the Dangers of White Supremacy Because His Power Depends on It 
• Trump Has Retweeted at Least Four White Nationalist Accounts That Were Later Suspended 
• Keith Ellison says ‘objective evidence’ suggests Trump is sympathetic toward white nationalists
• Trump is ‘dangerous’ and ‘may fabricate’ another national emergency to remain in power after 2020, Harvard law professor warns
• “His Condition Is Getting Worse”: Trump Spirals Online As His Presidency Reaches a Crisis Point
• President Trump blasts three Fox anchors, including Shepherd Smith, says they “should be working” for CNN
• White House: Trump’s Unhinged Sunday on Twitter ‘Speaks for’ Itself
• A church service on a blue-skied Sunday interrupts Trump’s weekend of presidential pique
• Trump Again Threatens Violence If Democrats Don’t Support Him
• Trump eyes possible actions against comedy shows that hurt his feelings
• Trump is getting worse. And Republicans’ rationalizations are getting weaker. 
• Trump is the pettiest president
• Trump Lied About Assets, Worth to Get Deutsche Bank Loans: Report  
• Trump vowed to eliminate the debt in 8 years. He’s on track to leave it at least 50 percent higher.
• Sensor cited as potential factor in Boeing crashes draws scrutiny
• Trump was the face of the 737 probe
• Trump’s relationship with Fox News is unprecedented. Sunday’s tweets prove it

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• Brad Heath: So anyway, this is happening.

• Nunes sues Twitter, some users, seeks over $250M alleging anti-conservative ‘shadow bans,’ smears | Fox News
• Renato Mariotti: This lawsuit is not going to end well for Devin Nunes, but by the time it goes away, no one will care about it anymore. But for now, at least some outlets (like Fox News) are taking it seriously and giving it coverage. No one should do so without offering some context.
• Rick Wilson: Gasping with laughter
• Yashar Ali: New: Devin Nunes sues Twitter, some users, seeks over $250M alleging anti-conservative ‘shadow bans,’ smears
• Threadreader for Yashar Ali about Devin Nunes. INCLUDES A HUMAN CENTIPEDE

This lawsuit will last about 30 seconds before getting thrown out.  Parody is protected speech.  Dipshit Cowpoke’s gonna Streisand himself.

 

• Mulvaney says it’s ‘absurd’ to link New Zealand mosque attacks to Trump’s rhetoric
• Opinion | Mick Mulvaney is in over his head
• Chris Wallace presses Mulvaney: Why doesn’t Trump give a speech denouncing ‘anti-Muslim bigotry’?
• Michael Avenatti: We have uncovered substantial evidence that @davidwohl participated in the hoax against Mueller as well as the fabrication of the false death threat by his son Jacob Wohl. We will pursue all available legal avenues to ensure his role in this illegal conduct is fully exposed.
• Mike Pence Slammed By Own Party Over Trump Loyalty: ‘He’s Hanging Everything On The Affection And Allegiance Of A Madman’

 

CULT 45

• It Isn’t Complicated: Trump Encourages Violence
• If Trump shot someone dead on Fifth Avenue, many supporters would call his murder trial biased
• Here’s another way Trump is different: Flip-flopping doesn’t affect his public approval.
• Poll: Most Americans trust Mueller, Dems in Trump probes 

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Kyle Griffin: George W. Bush at a naturalization ceremony: “Amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength.” Via CBS
• James Comey: “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.” — Confucius
• Jim Carrey’s Grief Over New Zealand Turns To Anger Against Trump – “Innocent people are now being slaughtered, families ruined and childrens’ lives destroyed. All in his name.” 
• ‘He Will Never Be a Great Man’: Meghan McCain Responds to ‘Pathetic’ Trump Slam of Her Father
• Meghan McCain Hit Trump Right In The Ego After He Criticized The ‘Stains’ On Her Father’s Legacy
• ACLU to U.N.: The U.S. commitment to human rights and rule of law is in serious doubt
• As a top staffer insisted Trump opposes anti-Muslim rhetoric, the president encouraged it
• CNN anchor hits Trump: He didn’t go to Vietnam ‘until he was in his 70s’ with ‘Secret Service protection’
• Dan Rather slams Donald Trump: Public facing a “manure spreader in a windstorm”
• George Conway after Trump’s tweet storm: ‘His condition is getting worse’
• Kansas state employee calls Trump a ‘delusional communist’ on official Twitter account
• Something is terribly wrong with Trump 

 

CONGRESS

• Report’s advice to House Democrats: Investigate Trump with quality probes, not revenge
• Omar fires back at Trump: ‘You can’t #MuslimBan us from Congress’
• Opinion | Ilhan Omar: We must apply our universal values to all nations. Only then will we achieve peace.
• How to ensure we have a more open, accountable government
• The meeting was supposed to ease tensions between Muslim and Jewish Democrats. It ended with tears.

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

• Manu Raju: Here’s DOD list of $12.9B in military projects that could be cut for $3.6B for border wall, prompting Dem Sen. Reed to say: “He is planning to take funds from real, effective operational priorities and needed projects and divert them to his vanity wall.”
• Wall Project PDF
• Kyle Griffin: George W. Bush at a naturalization ceremony: “Amid all the complications of policy, may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength.” Via CBS
• Americans overwhelmingly want Congress to defy Trump and override his veto of the border wall emergency declaration
• Trump sees immigrants as invaders. White-nationalist terrorists do, too.

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

• Caroline Orr: Robert Mercer is best known as the billionaire who bankrolled Cambridge Analytica & Breitbart, but he’s also behind a multimillion dollar anti-Muslim propaganda industry that’s inciting hate & violence around the world.
• Robert Mercer is Fueling A Multimillion Dollar Anti-Muslim Propaganda Industry
• Rupert Murdoch Is a Relentless Purveyor of Islamophobia
• Iowa Congressman Steve King posts red state-blue state civil war meme on Facebook
• White Nationalist Rep. Steve King Posts Violent Meme About New Civil War: Republican lawmaker shares image claiming “red states” have 8 trillion bullets.
• Steve King deletes Facebook post asking who would win new US civil war
• Steve King’s Modern-Day Civil War Meme Is ‘Treason,’ Says Ex-White House Ethics Lawyer

 

• George Takei: Why do so many white supremacists invariably look like they got the short end of the genetic dipstick? I mean, claiming to represent white supremacy while looking like a pile of two-day old lumpy mashed potatoes is hardly advancing your cause, repugnant as it is.
• Brian Krassenstein: BREAKING: Steve King just deleted his Facebook post asking who would win a new civil war in America. That’s not enough. Congress must “delete” this white supremacist from the Capitol Building for good. Who’s with me on this?
• Aaron Rupar: .@KellyannePolls is on @foxandfriends urging people to read the New Zealand shooter’s entire bigoted manifesto in which he describes Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity & common purpose,” because she thinks studying it will somehow prove Trump didn’t really inspire him.
• Lincoln’s Bible: Let me help: The content that he, his oldest son, & their AltRight crew craft & promulgate intentionally 2 white supremacists helped radicalize one into slaughtering 50 innocent people in a house of worship. Their propaganda machine is finally being noticed by global media…/1. THREAD
• Thread by @LincolnsBible: “Let me help: The content that he, his oldest son, & their AltRight crew craft & promulgate intentionally 2 white supremacists helped […]”
• Man in the Hoody: its says a lot about the white house that they want everyone to read a nazi;s manifesto but dont want anyone to see the mueller report
• New Zealand response to massacre puts us to shame
• New Zealand shooting: Prime minister says gun reforms are coming
• The racist theory that underlies terrorism in New Zealand and the Trump presidency
• Trump Has Retweeted at Least Four White Nationalist Accounts That Were Later Suspended 
• Warren: ‘White supremacists pose a threat to the United States like any other terrorist group’
• Why won’t Donald Trump talk about white nationalism? Because he enables and supports it 
• Five myths about hijab
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Donald Trump is signaling to white supremacists that he’ll ignore their violence
• Former Neo-Nazi: White Supremacy ‘Is Certainly Not A Fringe Movement’
• In Brenton Harrison Tarrant’s Australian hometown, his relatives remember violent video games, trouble with women
• It Could Happen Here: At what point will Americans widely acknowledge that white supremacy can be as big a threat to Americans as Islamism?
• Keith Ellison says ‘objective evidence’ suggests Trump is sympathetic toward white nationalists

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments in appeal of Virginia racial gerrymandering case
• Supreme Court to consider whether Beltway sniper Lee Boyd Malvo deserves new sentencing
• Non-Unanimous Jury Verdicts Draw Review by U.S. Supreme Court
• 2020 Dems warm to expanding Supreme Court

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Age of victim in prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, long a source of confusion, eased his obligations to register as a sex offender
• Rosalind Helderman: People thought they knew all the ways that Jeffrey Epstein was given a lenient plea deal. But @bethreinhard @kimberlykindy found one more and it’s a doozy. @bethreinhard and @kimberlykindy figured out the age of the victim in Epstein’s plea deal. She was 16 when his abuse began, not 14 as many had assumed. The older age has eased Epstein’s sex offender registration requirements. “It’s unbelievably upsetting” said the lawyer for the then-14-year old girl who first reported Epstein and always believed she was the victim in his case. Via @bethreinhard @kimberlykindy
• Opinion | The Trump administration’s crocodile tears on human trafficking
• R Kelly married pregnant Aaliyah, then ‘Had Sex with Her MUM’ new claims reveal
• Warner Bros. Chief Quits Amid Inquiry Into Whether He Helped Actress Get Roles
• Kevin Tsujihara Out at Warner Bros. Amid Sexual Impropriety Scandal
• Opinion | She defended Iranian women who removed their hijabs. Now she’s been given 38 years in prison.
• Georgia bill would require men to report every release of sperm to officers
• Children’s museum removes Michael Jackson items following “Leaving Neverland” allegations
• A Fairfax County student was accused of sexual harassment. He says the school system discriminated against him.
• Former Disney Channel Star Kyle Massey Sued for Allegedly Attempting a Lewd Act with a Minor
• Neil deGrasse Tyson Cleared to Return to TV by Fox, Nat Geo

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• It Wasn’t Just Khashoggi: A Saudi Prince’s Brutal Drive to Crush Dissent
• Russia’s Putin Signs Into Law Bills Banning ‘Fake News,’ Insults
• From 5-31-17: It’s time to realize that Putin is at war with America | Opinion
• Norway says it proved Russian GPS interference during NATO exercises
• Julia Davis: Norway has electronic proof that Russian forces disrupted global positioning system (GPS) signals during recent NATO exercises, which also affected the navigation of civilian air traffic in the Arctic. #Russia
• Opinion | This is not yet a second Arab Spring — but sparks are beginning to fly
• Opinion: The strongmen are back. And we have no idea how to confront them.
• Opinion | We anti-Brexit folks should feel pretty self-satisfied now. Well, we’re not.
• U.S. Has No ‘Credibility’ Criticizing Venezuela, Iran Without Holding Saudi Arabia, Brazil to ‘Same Standards,’ Ilhan Omar Says

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Shannon Watts: If you don’t think the Trump administration, the @NRA and Fox News aren’t all working together to juice gun sales, you’re not paying attention.
• Media Matters: Fox host Pete Hegseth tells viewers to stock up on AR-15s: “Go out and get your second AR-15 today. Maybe it’s a good reason to do so.”
• Fred Guttenberg: (1,2) @PeteHegseth, you miserable human being. My daughter was killed in school from a shooter who shot from across the hallway using his AR 15. Shot her in the back, severed her spinal cord, and killed her instantly along with 16 others. How dare you mock this and make a joke. (2,2) of her murder and other victims of AR 15 gun violence. Instead of joking that everyone should go out and buy an AR 15, how about acting responsibly and asking the question on how we can limit the real life casualties. By the way, this is Jaime. She was killed by an AR 15.
• A Republican pushed mandatory AR-15s. After mosque shootings, he says it was a ploy to bait the left.
• Teen dead after apparent accidental shooting with a shotgun
• Shannon Watts: A Utah teen is dead after an apparent unintentional shooting with a shotgun… After every tragedy like this we must ask, “How did these kids access a loaded gun?” #utleg
• New Zealand response to massacre puts us to shame
• New Zealand shooting: Prime minister says gun reforms are coming
• Gun owners in New Zealand brace for big changes to their right to carry
• Shannon Watts: Some gun owners in New Zealand are already voluntarily turning in their semiautomatic rifles after the mass shooting in Christchurch.
• John Hart: Until today I was one of the New Zealanders who owned a semi-automatic rifle. On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse. We don’t need these in our country. We have make sure it’s #NeverAgain

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• PostimusMaximus: Twitter/FB/Reddit/Youtube could track all the clear racists, conspiracies, etc label and them accordingly or ban them. But they never will. Its a problem that isn’t nearly as hard as they make it out to be. They simply don’t want to seem biased against conservatives.

Twitter/FB/Reddit/Youtube could track all the clear racists, conspiracies, etc label and them accordingly or ban them. But they never will. Its a problem that isn’t nearly as hard as they make it out to be. They simply don’t want to seem biased against conservatives.

Reddits problems are super obvious and super easy to solve. It tends to be pretty isolated into bubbles of hatred and conspiracy, with an obvious chunk of users who are the problem. Twitter is the same. You could track key words and key accounts into trash heaps.

FB is largely Pages causing the problem. Almost all the trash on facebook is due to conspiracy-minded family or friends sharing Pages. Not things they go out of their way to post from other sites. Though you could also flag content from specific sites quite easily.

Youtube is I think the hardest one to solve because its much harder to know for sure what the specific content of a video is. But mostly they could look at the titles, tags, and users associated with those videos and probably get a pretty good idea of if its a problem.

And you’d rather have systems that over-correct and let users dispute, than one that completely misses huge chunks of problems. Which is what we currently have.

• Ming: FB just lost two executives. . Contagion will spread.
• Inside YouTube’s struggles to shut down video of the New Zealand shooting — and the humans who outsmarted its systems
• Robo-calls are unstoppable. Why your phone won’t quit ringing.
• Myspace apologizes after losing 12 years’ worth of music 

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Russia’s Putin Signs Into Law Bills Banning ‘Fake News,’ Insults
• Julia Davis: Putin has signed legislation enabling Russian authorities to block websites or Internet accounts that publish what they deem to be “fake news” & penalizing those who post material found to be insulting to state officials, state symbols or Russian society.
• Julia Davis: The law also establishes fines of up to 100,000 rubles for insulting the Russian authorities, government agencies, the state, the public, the flag, or the constitution. Repeat offenders will face bigger fines and can be jailed for up to 15 days. #Russia
• Fox News viewers lose it after network hires Donna Brazile instead of lifting Jeanine Pirro’s suspension
• Former DNC chair Donna Brazile to join Fox News
• Fox News bumps ‘Judge Jeanine’ after remarks about Rep. Omar’s hijab. Trump wants her back on air.
• Fox News struggles to preserve the profits of hatred
• Fox News’ audience may not be what you think, even if the programming often is
• Aaron Rupar: .@KellyannePolls is on @foxandfriends urging people to read the New Zealand shooter’s entire bigoted manifesto in which he describes Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity & common purpose,” because she thinks studying it will somehow prove Trump didn’t really inspire him.
• Lisa Stark: I don’t get this whole George and Kellyanne thing. If my husband worked for someone who I thought was a piece of shit, we would make a decision together and he would probably quit. Also, I would not go on twitter and embarrass my husband everyday. Somethings fishy.
• Lincoln’s Bible: Let me help: The content that he, his oldest son, & their AltRight crew craft & promulgate intentionally 2 white supremacists helped radicalize one into slaughtering 50 innocent people in a house of worship. Their propaganda machine is finally being noticed by global media…/1. THREAD
• Thread by @LincolnsBible: “Let me help: The content that he, his oldest son, & their AltRight crew craft & promulgate intentionally 2 white supremacists helped […]”
• Adam Schiff: Trump calls press an enemy of the people like a third world despot Wants FCC to take action against SNL Allegedly sought to raise postal rates on Amazon to punish Washington Post May have tried to kill a merger affecting CNN — He’s a clear and present danger to press freedom.

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• Carson’s Schedules Show Frequent Friday Florida Trips, Very Few Staff Meetings

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

• 60% of This Year’s Deficit Is the Result of Tax Cuts and Other Recent Legislation: CRFB
• Average tax refunds are up. And by the way, the IRS says it has $1.4 billion waiting to be collected.

 

STUDENT ISSUES

• Beyond the scandal: The damage done by our obsession with prestigious college credentials
• College admissions scandal: What did the students know about ‘the side door’ and what should happen next?
• Trump administration proposes $7.1 billion funding cut to Education Department 
• University of Tennessee will be free for low-income students starting in fall 2020

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Opinion | The GOP’s declaration of moral bankruptcy
• Opinion | Trump relishes autocracy. What are Republicans willing to do about it?
• Joe Walsh: It’s so disappointing to see so many of my fellow Conservatives & Republicans perfectly fine with all of this authoritarian behavior coming out of this White House.
• Joe Walsh: It’s getting harder & harder for his supporters to ignore what a horrible human being he is. And this will only continue.

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Alleged mob boss killer Anthony Comello scrawls ‘MAGA Forever’ on his hand
• Lincoln’s Bible: Taking a turn here. “Q” follower. Waiting for more details…Whatever Cali’s killer’s motive, this “Q” development is a crossing of the 2 streams I’ve been tracking. And that does not mean a connection. But does point to something more frightening: the rising darkness in each have grown big enough to randomly cross.  THREAD
• SC sheriffs fly first class, bully employees and line their pockets with taxpayer money
• He claimed his first wife died from a fall. Now police say he stabbed his second wife to death.

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• “Scientifically, the right year” to implement Green New Deal “was yesterday,” 2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg says
• ‘Poppy Apocalypse’: Small California city overrun by thousands of tourists declares ‘public safety crisis’
• Belgium’s Africa Museum reopens, as country confronts its violent colonial past
• Birth order may not shape personality after all
• Einstein’s first wife wasn’t the shadow force behind her famous husband, but she has her own story
• Exercise seems to help alleviate depression, but not for everybody
• New Yorkers in poll want mandated vaccines, regardless of family religious beliefs 
• Trump renews call to pull arts, PBS funding
• Two dead, two missing amid ‘historic’ flooding across the Midwest
• Vincent Fournier’s ‘Space Utopia’: Space exploration as humanity’s great adventure
• Whales are facing a big, deadly threat along West Coast: Massive container ships
• The organic food industry is booming, and that may be bad for consumers

 

ELECTIONS

• Delaware moves to give its Electoral College votes to the popular vote winner
• Elizabeth Warren Calls for Ending Electoral College
• The Latest: Warren supports elimination of electoral college
• Milwaukee does have a socialist past, but Democrats have other reasons to show Wisconsin some love
• Ted Cruz fined $35,000 for not properly disclosing campaign loans from Goldman Sachs, Citibank
• Texas Refuses to Use Voting Machines With a Paper Trail
• Ariana Grande fans can now register to vote during her Sweetener Tour

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Laurence Tribe: .@BetoORourke appears to be absorbing information like a sponge on the campaign trail. He hears and processes everything, forgets nothing. Reminds me in that way, even apart from the charisma, of my brilliant former student, someone you may have heard of: President @BarackObama
• Beto O’Rourke Raised $6.1 Million Online in First 24 Hours of Campaign
• Beto O’Rourke reports raising more than $6.1 million in first day of campaign, the highest total yet among presidential candidates
• From an emphatic no to an enthusiastic yes: How Beto O’Rourke decided to run for president
• O’Rourke raises $6.1M on campaign’s first day, exceeding all rivals
• RNC links ‘noted Irishman’ Beto O’Rourke’s heritage to 1998 DWI arrest
• The Trailer: Joe Biden has friends in Delaware. Can he make a convincing case elsewhere?
• Trump attacks Joe Biden as ‘another low I.Q. individual’
• Iowa is shaking things up, and the ripples may reach all the way to the White House

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• First there was a transgender doll, then one with an amputated leg. Now these dolls with differences are giving kids a boost.
• Many transgender people drive hours to find health care. These advocates are trying to change that.
• The VA Is Socialism in Action. We Must Defend It From Privatization. – The right is hell-bent on dismantling the most progressive agency in government.

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Her image had been buried near a Civil War battlefield for 100 years. Then I found her.
• Here’s what happened when our wine critic opened a bottle of Playboy red
• Homeless people don’t often go to plays. So this woman brought Shakespeare to them.
• Vegas was once where music stars faded away. Now it’s cool enough for Lady Gaga and Cardi B.
• NCAA tournament cheat sheet: Bracket tips, upsets and more

 

RUMOR MILL

• Reddit: Czech media reports that last year authorities broke up a Russian intelligence hacking operation in Prague… where Cohen may have went in 2016
• Tea Pain: Let’s hope something big is droppin’ tomorrow, cause if it ain’t, Trump’s actin’ insane for no good reason.
• Rick Wilson: I don’t think Trump’s weekend tweetkakke was about Broidy. I think it’s something worse, based on his previous behaviors in times of high stress.
• Countercheckist: Do you know why unilateral US sanctions do so much damage? B/c we’re the engine of the global economy. Europe is free b/c we and our allies kicked the Nazis back to hell, and sent the Soviet Union to the dustbin of history to free the rest. Wake up America. This is who we are.
• Angry White House Staffer: Methinks Trump is about to have a terrible week. These tweets are a whole new level of insanity
• Tea Pain: If Nixon was visibly upset, you knew it was Watergate. But when Trump is upset, we’re left to wonder which of the 18 criminal investigations is botherin’ him.
• Ming: FB just lost two executives. . Contagion will spread.
• MSW Podcast: Just waiting for whatever caused that insane trump meltdown this weekend…
• Man in the Hoody: its says a lot about the white house that they want everyone to read a nazi;s manifesto but dont want anyone to see the mueller report

 

That’s it for Monday.

Spoiler for Tuesday, Michael Cohen was under Mueller’s radar back in Summer 2017 and DAG Rosenstein is sticking around for a little while longer.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

Friday, March 15, 2019 and the weekend.  Beware the Ides of March.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

• Mueller: Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates ‘continues to cooperate’ in investigations
• Carrie Johnson: JUST IN: The government is not done with Rick Gates. Special counsel lawyers tell the judge Gates “continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations, and accordingly the parties do not believe it is appropriate to commence the sentencing process at this time.”

Rick Gates is STILL cooperating with several investigations.  Several.  This includes an investigation into the inaugural campaign, connections to Elliot Broidy and 1MDB, Manafort’s dealings with Russia, the NRA serving as a backchannel to launder Russian money into the RNC, and a few likely others.

 

• Head of Asian GOP group says he “wouldn’t rule out” illegal foreign donations to Trump
• Former spa owner and frequent Mar-a-Lago guest sparks concerns about ‘porous’ environment at president’s club
• Founder of busted Florida massage parlor chain reportedly orchestrated donations to Trump campaign from spa employees
• Spa operator brought head of Chinese Communist Party’s Florida group to mingle with Trump aides
• Scott Stedman: NEW: Cindy Yang brought the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Florida group to Trump fundraiser. Interesting: 5 days ago, the Florida branch of the Chinese Communist Party dissolved its nonprofit.

This is starting to look a lot more like a a pay to play scam rolled in with blackmail and human trafficking each and every day.

 

• Opinion | Presidents’ young children should be left alone. That rule doesn’t apply to Ivanka and Don Jr.
• Roger Stone trial set for Nov. 5 as judge weighs whether his book violated gag order

Can Roger Stone keep his mouth shut for 8 months?  Can he do it for 8 minutes?

 

• The House voted 420-0 to release the Mueller report. So why is Lindsey Graham blocking it?
• Lindsey Graham Blocks House Vote to Make Mueller Report Public

Lindsey Graham has gone full traitor.  At this point, my money is on underage gay partner kompromat.

 

• Manafort’s sentencing shows again that white-collar criminals get off lightly
• Dems fear Trump is looking at presidential pardons
• Documents shed light on Russian hacking of Democratic Party leaders

 

 

• Deripaska Sues Over U.S. Sanctions, Claims $7.5 Billion Loss
• Zoe Tillman: NEW: Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is suing the US government to challenge the sanctions against him 
• 3 15 19 Deripaska Complaint
• Russian oligarch sues US Treasury over sanctions
• Bill Browder: Russian oligarch Deripaska sues US Treasury over sanctions – I wonder how he paid his lawyers if his accounts were frozen

 

• Cockrum-versus-Trump-Campaign.pdf
• Thread by @rgoodlaw: “Breaking: Federal court holds First Amendment does not protect Trump Campaign in alleged conspiracy with Russia-Wikileaks. Court holds that […]” #Cockrum
• Andrew Laufer, ESQ: Boom. The first amendment doesn’t protect one from the consequences of committing acts of espionage. h/t @rkumar9844

 

• Exclusive: Washington Autopsy Files Reveal Lesin Sustained Broken Bone In Neck
• From 2016: Another Defector Dead in Washington
• Julia Davis: Mikhail Lesin, the former Russian press minister who turned up dead in a Washington hotel room in 2015, sustained a fracture to a neck bone just below the jaw line “at or near the time” of his death, according to recently released Washington autopsy files.

 

• Steele says he used unverified information to support details about web company in dossier
• Tea Pain: That’s how dossiers work. They are preliminary intelligence work product, not an official report. Steele himself put an 80% percent ratin’ on it’s accuracy. All in all, it’s proven itself right again and again. History will judge Steele a hero.

 

• Trump Abruptly Changes His Tune: ‘There Should Be No Mueller Report’
• Trump says ‘there should be no Mueller report’ a day after House unanimously votes to make it public

 

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Trump Should Pay $5.6 Million Penalty Over Charity, New York AG Says
• NY AG: President Trump Must Personally Pay $8.4 Million to Settle Lawsuit Against Trump Foundation

President Donald Trump should pay a $5.6 million penalty on top of $2.8 million in restitution for spending money from his charitable foundation on business and political purposes, the New York attorney general told a judge in seeking a ruling without a trial.

Neither Trump nor his three eldest children, all of whom had senior roles at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, have provided evidence rebutting the state’s claims that they failed to meet as a board, oversee grant-making or implement policies to protect the charity’s funds from abuse, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in court papers Thursday.

Trump used his charity to pay part of his settlement into Trump University, as well as various political and personal expenses.

Aside from the illegalities of all of this, his behavior lends credence to the likelihood that Trump is broke AF.

• Congressional Hispanic Caucus calls for investigation into Trump Organization for hiring undocumented workers

 

SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION & EMERGENCIES

• Trump admin tracked individual migrant girls’ pregnancies
• MSNBC: Now on @MSNBC: @Maddow Exclusive: Trump admin. spreadsheet tracked girls’ pregnancies. THREAD
• Lincoln’s Bible: And yet, the same admin says it can’t keep track of a child’s parent/ family, or how many children they have separated. That is too hard. But tracking girls’ periods – day by day? They have spreadsheets packed with data for that.
• One Year Ago, America Stole My 7-Year-Old. I Want Him Back.
• James Comey: Republican senators, who are sacrificing core principles, are likely telling themselves: “The country needs me; I have to do this or I will lose in a primary.” No, the country needs you to have enough integrity to risk losing your job for what is right.
• Evan McMullin: You aren’t a constitutional conservative if you vote against upholding the Constitution. It really is that simple.
• Trump issues first veto in targeting congressional rejection of his emergency declaration
• Nancy Pelosi: The House and Senate resoundingly rejected @realDonaldTrump’s lawless power grab, yet the President has chosen to continue to defy the Constitution, the Congress & the will of the American people. On March 26, the House will once again act to protect our Constitution and our democracy from the President’s emergency declaration by holding a vote to override his veto. House Republicans will have to choose between their partisan hypocrisy and their sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution. #FakeEmergency
• Pelosi says U.S. House to vote March 26 on overriding Trump border-wall related veto
• Trump tried to make the GOP border emergency fight about him. He lost anyway.
• ‘The Conveyor Belt’: U.S. officials say massive smuggling effort is speeding immigrants to — and across — the southern border
• U.S. weighs plan to phase out family detention at Texas facility, despite migration surge
• A clear majority of Americans oppose Trump’s emergency declaration
• Trump’s national emergency opposed by majority of Americans
• Gardner burned by hometown paper for upholding Trump’s emergency declaration
• How a teenager duped a powerful Texas Republican into posing with an ‘Abolish ICE’ painting

 

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

• Trump is ‘dangerous’ and ‘may fabricate’ another national emergency to remain in power after 2020, Harvard law professor warns
• Following the massacre in NZ, Trump says ‘I don’t really’ see white nationalists as a threat 
• Trump issues first veto in targeting congressional rejection of his emergency declaration
• Trump Abruptly Changes His Tune: ‘There Should Be No Mueller Report’
• Trump administration struggles for path forward on nuclear talks as tensions with North Korea mount
• Trump deletes Breitbart post about how ‘tough’ his supporters can get
• Trump Encourages Violence From His Supporters. They’re Listening.
• Trump finally found a ‘small group of people’ that doesn’t constitute a crisis: White nationalists
• Trump goes after McCain over dossier for second straight day
• Trump Has Touted Debunked Story About U.S. General Killing 49 Muslims To End Terrorism
• Trump is cornered, with violence on his mind. We must be on red alert
• Trump lashes out at McCain seven months after senator’s death
• Trump once again bashes John McCain over health-care vote
• Trump Raises Specter Of Supporters Turning Violent If They Don’t Get Their Way
• Trump spent Friday morning offering sympathy to himself
• Trump Still Won’t Name ‘White Supremacist Terrorism’ and His Base Loves It
• Trump suggests, for the first time, there should be ‘no Mueller report’
• Trump: It Would Be “Very Bad” If My Biker Friends Got “Tough” On Left Wing Opponents
• Trump’s impeachment doesn’t have to wait. The Founding Fathers never wanted it to be an insurmountable hurdle.
• Trump’s media attacks are an abuse of power. We’re holding him to account | Journalists and attorneys are partnering together in a new amended lawsuit filed by Pen America arguing Trump is violating the first amendment
• Trump’s Biker Threat Came From the Putin Playbook, But Tweet Deleted After Mosque Massacre
• When Trump raises the prospect of political violence, there’s a problem
• Trump commands Fox News to air Jeanine Pirro’s show after the network skipped an episode following comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s hijab
• Trump criticizes ‘Saturday Night Live’ after show airs rerun
• Trump Rails Against SNL, Despite Show Being a Rerun, Calls For FCC ‘Collusion’ Investigation Into Comedy Show 
• Angry White House Staffer: So… Trump is threatening SNL with the FCC? Lol. What a thin-skinned, petulant manbaby
• Tea Pain: Trump is mournin’ the #NewZealandMosqueAttack by callin’ for the return of White Supremacist Tucker Carlson and Anti-Muslim bigot Jeanine Pirro.

 

737

• How the FAA allows jetmakers to ‘self certify’ that planes meet U.S. safety requirements
• U.S. and Boeing have long had a special relationship
• Black box data shows ‘clear similarity’ between Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes, Ethiopia’s transport minister says
• Opinion | This is what happens when corporations run the government

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• This American sells Russia radio airtime. The U.S. says that makes his firm a foreign agent.
• Jackie Speier wants to fine Jared and Ivanka $1000 a day for working in White House+

 

CONGRESS

• Pelosi Is Wrong. Trump Is More Impeachable Than Ever.
• Pelosi tamps down talk of Trump impeachment — welcome words for centrist Democrats
• ‘Grand inquisitors of the realm’: How Congress got its power to investigate and subpoena
• Bucking NDA, ex-Fox News reporter plans to tell Congress about outlet’s role in Trump hush money story

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Jon Zal: I was a cop in the Army. Trump’s assertion that the brave citizens who uphold our laws, defend our Constitution & keep us safe are going to do violence to their fellow Americans on behalf of a corrupt, racist, draft-dodging, reality-TV host is as laughable as it is disgusting. Are there bad actors in the military and in law enforcement? Yes … just as there are bad actors in every other profession and every other group of humans in general … but Trump does not “have” The Police and The Military writ large. Fuck that.
• Meghan McCain: No one will ever love you the way they loved my father…. I wish I had been given more Saturday’s with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on twitter obsessing over mine?
• Meghan McCain tells Trump “No one will ever love you like they loved my father” in response to tweet bashing John McCain’s role in dossier and Obamacare vote
• Reddit: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 5-Star General & President
• Asha Rangappa: The people who Trump hates the most are those who are a constant reminder of his own failures and inadequacies. Values Trump can’t stand: Courage Strength (the real kind) Truth Moral Principle Authenticity Compassion Curiosity Unity Charity Love Forgiveness Feel free to add on.
• Washington Post Editorial Board Condemns Donald Trump’s Response To Mosque Shootings
• CNN’s Jim Acosta: ‘The White House Can’t Whitewash The White Nationalism’
• The Washington Post: Trump called these countries a profane name. We sent a travel writer to celebrate them.
• A derelict commander in chief: Trump can’t keep us safe
• Preet Bharara: ‘I didn’t call Trump back and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made’
• The 567 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List
• Let’s address the elephant in the room: Why does it take Trump so long to tweet?
• Hirono calls out Trump for ‘appalling’ comments she says encourage violence
• How presidential empathy can improve politics

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

New Zealand

• Christchurch Mosque Shooter Calls Trump ‘Symbol Of White Identity’ But Not ‘Policy Maker’ 
• Fox News Analyst on New Zealand Suspect: ‘Very Understandable’ What Shooter ‘Was Trying to Do On a Political Level’
• Less than 24 hours after mass shooting at mosques, New Zealand vows to ban semi-automatic rifles 
• Main suspect in New Zealand shootings that killed 50 charged with murder, believed to be lone gunman
• New Zealand attack exposes how little the U.S. and its allies share intelligence on domestic terrorism threats
• New Zealand pulls Murdoch’s Sky News Australia off the air over mosque massacre coverage
• New Zealand shows willingness to curb guns after one, not 1,981 mass shootings 
• New Zealand’s Prime Minister Is Showing the World What Real Leadership Looks Like; Trump, she says, “asked what support the US could provide. My message was sympathy and love for all Muslim communities.” 
• New Zealanders mourn, vow to stand together — but also to debate sensitive issues 
• Rush Limbaugh suggests New Zealand shootings may be false flag attack by a leftist to smear conservatives
• Students at center of viral Chelsea Clinton video at New Zealand vigil speak out
• The New Zealand shooting was inspired by the hate America is exporting. We need to deal with that reality. 
• Trump Condemns ‘Horrible Massacre’ in New Zealand—but Doesn’t Mention Terrorism 
• Trump just called immigration an ‘invasion.’ So did the New Zealand shooter. 
• Trump Just Echoed the New Zealand Shooter’s Language About an ‘Invasion’ Hours After the Attack 
• Trump says he sees no rise in white nationalism after New Zealand attack 
• When gunman advanced on New Zealand mosque, this man ran at him | CBC News
• ‘Garry’s getting shot’: This 1990 massacre was New Zealand’s worst before mosque attacks
• ‘Let’s get this party started’: New Zealand shooting suspect narrated his chilling rampage
• “It’s Like a Virus”: Fighting the Hate that Fueled the New Zealand Massacre Requires a Global Response 
• 49 killed in terrorist attack at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand
• A Suspect In New Zealand Mass Shootings Appears To Be A White Supremacist. In a manifesto, the alleged gunman said he was motivated by American extremism. 
• A teenager egged the Australian senator who blamed the Christchurch shooting on immigration — then got punched in the face
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out NRA After New Zealand Shootings: ‘What Good Are Your Thoughts and Prayers?’ 
• At New Zealand vigil, Chelsea Clinton confronted over her criticism of Rep. Ilhan Omar
• Australia bans Milo Yiannopoulos after comments on New Zealand mosque attacks 
• Boundless racism, zero remorse: A manifesto of hate and 49 dead in New Zealand
• Christchurch mosque shootings: New Zealand to ban semi-automatic weapons
• Christchurch quietly rallies, the day after a trauma it can barely comprehend
• Civil rights icon John Lewis after New Zealand mosque attacks: ‘We cannot sow seeds of hatred’ 
• Does anyone doubt that Donald Trump inspired the New Zealand massacre? 
• Erin Burnett: Trump’s ‘Invasion’ Talk in Aftermath of New Zealand Massacre is ‘Just White Supremacy’ 
• The Christchurch mosque shooter, steeped in online culture, knew how to make his massacre go viral
• Trump denies ‘rising threat’ from white nationalism in wake of Christchurch mosque atrocity 
• Three days after Christchurch shootings, families wait to bury the victims
• Facebook removed 1.5 million videos of the Christchurch attacks within 24 hours — and there were still many more. 
• Rogue Senior White House Advisor: Every problem we face as a society at present is due in part or in full to right wing extremism. We cannot, as a civilization, ignore this reality any longer.
• Caroline Orr: This is why I’m not ready to write off the New Zealand mosque shooter’s reference to PewDiePie as “just trolling.” Sure, part of it was likely trolling meant to provoke a response. But PewDiePie is also a critical stepping stone on the pathway to radicalization. Online radicalization is a process. There are many different gateways to extremism, and PewDiePie is a prime example. Once you start watching his YouTube videos, the site’s algorithm starts recommending other, more extreme content/channels.. and down the rabbit hole you go. 2/ Sometimes, the pathway to extremist content is more explicit. In Dec, PewDiePie gave a shout-out to his favorite YouTube pages during his (#)SubscribeToPewDiePie battle. One was a neo-Nazi page, feat. Nazi propaganda superimposed on children’s cartoons. 3/
• Operation Wolverines: #pewdiepie inserts Nazi invectives capsuled in “irony humor”. It’s a known way to radicalize; the most interesting part is when you call them on it, their moment of self actualization hurts and they lash out. #christchurchterrorattack  THREAD
• Shannon Watts: In the wake of a horrific hate crime, the President continues to try to pit Americans against one another based on our religion, or our skin color, or our politics. It’s shameful. Christchurch #NewZealandShooting
• Claude Taylor: NZ shooter. White supremacist from Australia. Don’t use his name/picture. Don’t post his video. Don’t give the satisfaction. Honor the victims.
• Angry White House Staffer: Mosque shooter names Trump as inspiration in manifesto. Trump is attacking his own intelligence community and promoting cultural division on Twitter. Must be Friday.
• Malcom Turnbull: When Lucy & I went with John & Bronagh Key to the Bataclan in 2015 we could not imagine a terrorist attack in Christchurch. Today our love, prayers and solidarity are with the people of New Zealand whose compassion, humanity & diversity will triumph over this hateful crime. THREAD
• Lincoln’s Bible: Okay, here we go. THREAD I have deleted an original tweet & my thread that followed. Because it was weaponized, just as I knew it would be. It happened incredibly fast. AND, every one of my followers deserves a clear explanation, from me, of what I was intending, & what happened.
• Thread from Lincoln’s Bible
• Opinion | The New Radicalization of the Internet
• Michael Skolnik: Christchurch Mosque: White supremacist. Tree Of Life Synagogue: White supremacist. Mother Emanuel AME Church: White supremacist. Oak Creek Sikh Temple: White supremacist. Overland Park Jewish Center: White supremacist. Islamic Center of Quebec City: White supremacist.
• AOC: All of these are terrorist incidents. We have a responsibility to understand how white supremacy + online radicalization works, because it is impacting our entire society. President Trump defunded Federal programs designed to fight the spread of white supremacist hate groups. THREAD
• Thread by @AOC: “All of these are terrorist incidents. We have a responsibility to understand how white supremacy + online radicalization works, because it i […]”
• Trump says white nationalism is not a rising threat after New Zealand attacks: ‘It’s a small group of people’
• Ryan Goodman: Breaking: Federal court holds First Amendment does not protect Trump Campaign in alleged conspiracy with Russia-Wikileaks. Court holds that Supreme Court case (Bartnicki) does not apply for the reasons that Bob Bauer and I argued here: THREAD
• Dan Rather: White nationalism is a threat. Access to heavy weaponry is a threat. Incitement of racial, ethnic, and religious divisions is a threat. They’re not the only threats facing global stability. But they’re real, with long, bloody, historical roots no matter what a President may say.
• Rantt Media: 49 Muslims were murdered in New Zealand by a radical right-wing terrorist In our partnership with the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right (@C4ARR) we’ve highlighted the threat of right-wing extremism & how to combat it Trump says it’s not a threat—Let’s educate him THREAD
• Threadreader Rantt Media
• Caroline Orr: Just in: The New Zealand Police Commissioner says the number of people killed in the Christchurch mosque attacks has increased to 50.
• Shannon Watts: New Zealand P.M Jacinda Ardern: “I can tell you one thing right now. Our gun laws will change.” As the nation’s law stands now, anyone over age 16 with an entry-level gun license can keep any number of rifles and shotguns “without an official record.”
• Denzican Grimes: New Zealand hasn’t had a mass shooting in 29 years. And yet in response to the massacre the prime minister immediately banned seni-automatic guns. This is leadership.
• Laurence Tribe: Relative to population (NZ = 5m, USA = 320m), these 50 dead are like 3,200 dead in the US. So this was New Zealand’s 9/11. But this attack on Muslims was Trump-inspired White Nationalist terrorism. That’s worth thinking about. Think, then mobilize!
• HBCUs seeing resurgent appeal amid rising racial tensions
• It’s Time to Attack White Nationalism for the Terror Group It Is
• It’s Time to Confront the Threat of Right-Wing Terrorism
• More than 1 million sign petition to have Anning removed from Parliament
• U.S. sees steady rise in violence by white supremacists
• US Muslim advocacy group to Trump: ‘We hold you responsible’ for increase in Islamophobia
• White supremacist threat rising, security experts warn
• White supremacists and radical Islamists sound exactly alike
• Milo Yiannopoulos banned from entering Australia following Christchurch shooting comments – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
• Qasim Rashid ESQ: This is New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, grieving with the Muslim community as they mourn the 49 departed, & wearing a hijab in solidarity.❤️What a powerful example of compassion and leadership. May she & her nation prosper in love & peace.❤️#NewZealandMosqueAttack. WOW! PM Jacinda Ardern says NZ Govt will: •Cover funeral costs •Provide financial support (for up to years) for those who will suffer income loss due to the terror attack •Do so *regardless* of immigration status & citizenship❤️🤯#NewZealandStrong
• 911corlebra777: THREAD Mosque open day had been planned before the attack in NZ. It was decided in Australia that it would continue despite the current events.This is the way we combat hate & division. Our views are very much dependent upon the American experiment

THREAD Mosque open day had been planned before the attack in NZ. It was decided in Australia that it would continue despite the current events.This is the way we combat hate & division. Our views are very much dependent upon the American experiment

We in Australia have adopted the creed of the United States. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We looked to that light burning on a hill, America, to guide our actions in a plural democratic world. We still do

Why do you think your Allies are fighting so hard for you? America has inspired the world to greater heights, to be better than what we currently are. We took your inspiration and injected it in our own democracies. We owe the Republic a debt of honour

You are still that country of principles. The heart of America is of a society inclusive of all. The truth of America is that of a refuge from tyranny. We your friend’s still believe you are that rightous people. Honor the Republic, protect the Constitution

 

• Federal prosecutors bring terror charges against group arrested in New Mexico compound case
• FBI seeing uptick in domestic terror arrests 
• Racist tirade caught on video costs Hamden school employee her job
• Man accused of mailing bombs to prominent Democrats to plead guilty

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Race and the death penalty: Supreme Court to hear case of Curtis Flowers, tried six times for quadruple murder

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Rams Front Office and NFL Hid Sexual Battery Charges from Media in the lead up to the Super Bowl
• Ruby witness Imane Fadil dies, said was poisoned (6) – English Service
• Model To Be Key Witness In Upcoming Silvio Berlusconi Sex Trial Has Been Poisoned
• Bill Browder: More horrifying details from the Italian press on the suspected poisoning of Iman Fadil who was a witness against former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi (Putin’s best friend). “They said she had died after a “month of agony”.
• MSNBC: Now on @MSNBC: @Maddow Exclusive: Trump admin. spreadsheet tracked girls’ pregnancies. THREAD
• Lincoln’s Bible: And yet, the same admin says it can’t keep track of a child’s parent/ family, or how many children they have separated. That is too hard. But tracking girls’ periods – day by day? They have spreadsheets packed with data for that.
• Posters Proclaiming Michael Jackson’s Innocence to Be Removed From London Buses
• Johnny Depp was abused by ex-wife Amber Heard, new evidence shows
• Judge blocks Kentucky’s ‘fetal heartbeart’ abortion law
• Kentucky’s only abortion clinic resumes seeing patients as ‘fetal heartbeat’ law blocked
• Landlines, love interests and budding sexuality: How ‘Pen15’ gets middle school girls right – The Lily

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• US bars entry to ICC investigators, says ‘attacking America’s rule of law’
• US bars entry to International Criminal Court investigators
• Julia Davis: US to revoke visas for International Criminal Court staff: The U.S. will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court personnel who attempt to investigate or prosecute alleged abuses committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere, Pompeo said
• Russia Vows To Respond To Fresh EU Sanctions
• Bill Browder: Russia Vows To Respond To Fresh EU Sanctions. Funny thing is that nobody in the EU cares. They’re not going on vacation to Siberia or keeping their money at Sberbank
• Lincoln’s Bible: Imagine if instead of plundering all of Russia’s resources 4 themselves, Putin & his oligarchs had cared enough about their home 2 reinvest those trillions in it. What could they have built? But they’re nihilist mobsters. And those mobsters build nothing. They only steal & kill.
• No Brexit deal vote ‘without DUP support’
• The Marines don’t want you to see what happens when propaganda stops and combat begins
• The US journalist detained for 544 days in Iran warns: ‘Trump’s foreign policy is misguided and under-informed’
• Afghan official says any U.S. deal with the Taliban would ‘dishonor’ American troops as relations sink
• France repatriates five children of French militants who joined the Islamic State
• Footage Contradicts U.S. Claim That Nicolás Maduro Burned Aid Convoy
• Israel says it struck 100 targets in Gaza after two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv
• Maduro’s muscle: Politically backed motorcycle gangs known as ‘colectivos’ are the enforcers for Venezuela’s authoritarian leader 
• North Korea threatens to suspend denuclearization talks with the United States

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Shannon Watts: The @NRA will likely go dark today after the mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, but it’s important to remember that the gun lobby – which has tentacles across the world – regularly foments hatred against Muslims in order to sell guns. #NewZealandShooting
• Shannon Watts: New Zealand P.M Jacinda Ardern: “I can tell you one thing right now. Our gun laws will change.” As the nation’s law stands now, anyone over age 16 with an entry-level gun license can keep any number of rifles and shotguns “without an official record.”
• Denzican Grimes: New Zealand hasn’t had a mass shooting in 29 years. And yet in response to the massacre the prime minister immediately banned seni-automatic guns. This is leadership.

One mass shooting in New Zealand, and they’re moving to make sure this never happens again.  THIS is how normal people react to tragedy.

 

• Missouri lawmaker introduces bill that would require AR-15 ownership
• Messenger: Missouri Republicans get new rallying cry for gun-porn legislation: Not a Good Choice
• Jess Piper: Missouri: The Shoot Me State. “There’s even a bill that would require every adult in Missouri between the ages of 18 and 35 to own an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, the assault weapon of choice among mass shooters in this country.” Please text ACT to 644-33. This number connects you to @MomsDemand. Help us fight the gun lobby and “guns everywhere” mentality. @MissouriGOP pushes these bills every year. We are already ranked #5 in gun deaths without this bill.

 

• Shannon Watts: Imagine telling our children that they must decide whether they want to run, hide, or fight for their lives during a potential active shooting instead of simply passing laws that data shows would protect them. Please let this be a false alarm…
• NEWS | Division of Public Safety & Security
• U of M says ‘no appearance of active threat’ on campus after reported active shooter threat

 

• Adam Schiff: The Sandy Hook families have won a major court battle, overcoming the gun industry’s unique “liability shield” so their lawsuit can go forward. This is an important step towards accountability in the gun industry. I will be introducing a bill to repeal this immunity altogether.
• Shannon Watts: .@BetoORourke in Iowa: “Thirty thousand plus gun deaths in this country every year because we have yet to follow the lead of @MomsDemand. Thank you for what you’re doing.”
• Shannon Watts: The Second Amendment ratifies the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense – it’s not a suicide pact.
• ‘Our friends are dying, so we march’: Students rally to fight gun violence
• As Dick’s Sporting Goods pulls guns from shelves, retail industry asks whether firearms are still sporting goods

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• PostimusMaximus: Something people could actually do a better job with is talking about platforms in a way that is more true to what they actually are. The_Donald is not all of reddit and /pol/ is not all of 4chan. That’s why I tend to call things out by their board names. Its harder with youtube/twitter/fb because there aren’t clearly defined borders, but designating what “circles” of these websites are the problem is more useful to diagnosing the problem than pointing to the website as a whole imo.
• Oliver Darcy: You don’t have to go to places like 4-chan to see vile/racist commentary. Just go to some of the far-right websites in the US, and look at the comments / message boards. Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, InfoWars — many reprehensible comments from users on stories re: terror attack.
• Man in the Hoody: if a shooter films a shooting, part of their plan is for u to share the video. if u do, ur helping the shooter. don’t do it.
• Reddit Bans Gory Subreddits After New Zealand Shooting
• PostimusMaximus: If you go on the_donald right now you mostly see posts attacking muslims. But its not a hate sub right @reddit @alexisohanian ? Its all just free speech where nobody gets hurt right? Scroll down the first page. Convince me its not just an anti-muslim sub. Its literally all anti-muslim rhetoric or trying to paint the shooter as someone who isn’t just another alt-right nut. https://www.reddit.com/r/the_donald They were quite a fan of the widely condemned Senator from Australia.
• YouTube says it bans preteens from its site. But it’s still delivering troubling content to young children.
• WhatsApp founder warns world to ‘delete Facebook’ immediately
• The WhatsApp Cofounder Who Sold To Facebook For $19 Billion Tells Students To Delete Facebook
• Facebook says its top product executive, Chris Cox, is leaving, the highest-level departure in years
• Opinion | Why social media and terrorism make a perfect fit
• Opinion | The World Wide Web just turned 30. We’re celebrating with anti-tech fervor.

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Julia Davis: #Russia’s state TV: Dmitry Kiselyov’s Sunday show spends an entire segment slurring #Ukraine’s President Poroshenko as “Porky,” claiming that’s his American nickname & predicting there might be blood, unless he is kept out of the second round of voting. Election interference 101.
• AOC: If you want to know what subconscious bias looks like, it’s a headline saying “AOC is underwater with every group EXCEPT women, nonwhites, and 18-34 year olds.” So older, conservative white men are considered “everyone” and everyone else is discounted as an exception. Cool 👍🏽  The reason people know more is bc Fox News has turned into “AOC TMZ” (no offense to TMZ), so awareness is growing w/ GOPers @JaneMayerNYer has reported deeply on this propaganda machine + it will be aimed at any Dem they want. Nothing changes that. We can’t be scared by that.
• How long can famous people get away with dismissing criticism as ‘bullying’ from ‘haters’?
• Why White Supremacists Love Tucker Carlson
• Fox News won’t air ‘Justice with Jeanine’ on Saturday after Pirro’s comments about Omar

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• ‘An easy target’: Pence takes barbs from both sides as he promotes Trump

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

• America’s Economy Is Rigged From Top to Bottom 
• Americans are dying because they can’t afford their insulin. That’s now a 2020 campaign issue. 
• Few Americans see savings from Trump’s tax reform: Reuters/Ipsos poll 
• GM hasn’t paid US income tax for years; Ford rarely does. Both get fat refunds. Here’s why 
• JPMorgan’s Private Prison Pullback: A Generational Shift, or Low-Risk Lip Service?
• Looking to sell your home this spring? New report suggests the best day to list for quickest sale and maximum profit.
• Medicare wellness visits are supposed to be free — unless you call it a physical.
• Trump’s trade war cost U.S. economy $7.8 billion in 2018: study 
• Trump’s tax cuts are punishing states that voted for Clinton, data suggest 
• Why Americans must rise to the challenge of an aging population
• Opinion | This is what happens when corporations run the government

 

STUDENT ISSUES

Operation Varsity Blues

• ‘Fuller House’ Also Drops Lori Loughlin After College-Bribery Indictment
• ‘Three spots’: Alleged bribery of tennis coach stings Georgetown admissions
• As Hallmark fires Lori Loughlin, here’s why her alleged role in the college bribery scandal hit a nerve
• Lawsuit alleges universities connected to bribery and cheating scandal failed to give honest applicants a fair review
• Millennials really are special, data show
• Of Course College Admissions Rigged for the Rich. The Whole Economic System Is 
• Opinion | Our big college admissions scandal just made the U.S. look a lot more like the rest of the world
• A new story of school segregation in North Carolina: A private white-flight academy is turning charter
• Rescinded admissions, a class-action suit: Fallout from college scandal spreads
• The real college crisis: Student debt drags down economy 
• University of Tennessee will be free for low-income students starting in fall 2020 
• Pace: Lori Loughlin’s Husband Is Apparently A Vocal Trump Supporter Who Frequently Complains About People Not ‘Carrying Their Own Weight’ AHAHAHHAHAHAHA
• US actresses sued in college cheating scam
• Melissa Kester: My daughter went briefly to the high school #OliviaJade went to and made this video on Youtube about her experience that’s blowing up on youtube right now. Super proud of her for speaking her truth about that culture …
• I went to school with Olivia Jade… the real problem Recently Lori Loughlin was charged with the crime of paying $500,000 to have her daughters admitted to USC by a scheme of pretending they were on the rowing … youtube.com         
• Federal authorities have demanded records from prestigious LA prep schools as part of the college… The Department of Justice sought records from several notable Southern California prep schools during its investigation into a colossal college che… thisisinsider.com       
• Audacious college admissions scandal left so many red flags missed by so many Rick Singer’s scheme — fraudulent testing, creating star athletes out of kids who’d never played the sports, millions in bribes — was so over the top. But for all the red flags and some of America’s… latimes.com       

 

• After overcoming homelessness, this teen was accepted to 17 colleges
• How Coach K mastered the one-and-done era
• Purdue University bans Netflix, other streaming services for students in academic buildings

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• NC GOP falsely says Democrats ‘forced’ a special election 
• The Right Has Mainstreamed the Rhetoric of Mass Killers 
• Weak Mitch McConnell Can’t Control His Party, or the President 
• No, the Republican Party Is Not Turning on Donald Trump

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Jury deadlocks on officer who shot unarmed caretaker with autistic man
• Kaz Weida: Which part of shooting an unarmed caretaker in a situation that absolutely did not call for violence is confusing? I’d like to have more than a few words with this god damn jury.
• Atlanta police will no longer ask about marijuana use on applications
• Legalizing Marijuana, With a Focus on Social Justice, Unites Democrats 
• New York Mafia still active, but flashy ‘mob hits’ decline as witnesses flip and law hits harder
• Opinion | Mass murderers crave publicity. Maybe giving them less would be helpful.

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• The gay Irish prime minister called out Mike Pence’s homophobia right in front of him

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• ‘It’s my future’: Generation Z is going on strike to save the planet – Students around the world are walking out of class to demand climate action. 
• Across the globe, a question of air safety becomes a question of American leadership
• After Last Version Blocked, Iowa’s New Ag-Gag Bill ‘Gives Middle Finger to Free Speech, Consumer Protection, Food Safety, and Animal Welfare’ 
• Capturing wild animals for study can stress them to death. Is it worth it?
• DNA on ancient tobacco pipe links Maryland slave site to West Africa
• Emergencies declared across Midwest amid ‘historic’ flooding
• For some worms, decapitation isn’t the end — they just grow a new head
• Nike’s self-lacing shoes stopped lacing. Blame the Internet.
• Opinion | Trump is right. Daylight saving time should be permanent.
• School climate strikes draw thousands to the streets in cities across the globe
• Super-fast engine set for key tests
• Their ancestors fled U.S. slavery for Mexico. Now they’re looking north again.
• There are about as many Sanders-to-Sanders Democrats as Clinton-to-Biden ones
• Thousands of scientists are backing the kids striking for climate change
• Dems introduce bill to protect science research from political interference 
• The Trump administration is opening millions of new acres to drilling — and that’s just the start
• U.S. hopes to send more experts to Congo as Ebola outbreak rages
• Opinion | The world’s second-worst outbreak of Ebola is underway in Congo. Where is the concern?

 

ELECTIONS

• Cruz Fined $35K by FEC for Keeping Voters in the Dark About Over $1 Million in Loans 
• Ted Cruz campaign inaccurately reported loans from Goldman Sachs, Citibank, FEC says
• Ted Cruz Just Got a Big Fine From the Federal Elections Commission For Hiding Wall Street Money 

 

• Washington Senate passes bill that would keep Trump off 2020 ballot unless he releases tax returns 
• Washington state passes bill mandating political candidates release tax returns in order to appear on ballot 

 

• A dozen states are pushing a popular vote law ahead of 2020 election 
• Delaware moves to give its Electoral College votes to the popular vote winner 
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs National Popular Vote Act 
• Colorado signs on to popular-vote effort ahead of 2020 presidential election

 

• 1.5 million felons can now vote in Florida because of these men 
• Federal Court Strikes Down GOP Gerrymander Affecting African Americans in Mississippi 
• Iowa Republicans push bill to restrict public student voting rights 

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Greg Olear: Let’s talk about Bernie Sanders. I know a lot of well-meaning folks dig him, but—reality check—he would be a HORRIBLE candidate in a general election. [THREAD]
• Threadreader on Greg Olear
• Caroline Orr: Tulsi Gabbard produces better pro-Kremlin talking points than the Kremlin does. “We’re risking nuclear war if we don’t let Russia do whatever it wants” is one of the most prominent Kremlin talking points. It’s meant to control foreign policy decisions in other countries. And Tulsi Gabbard is all-in on it.
• Shannon Watts: .@BetoORourke in Iowa: “Thirty thousand plus gun deaths in this country every year because we have yet to follow the lead of @MomsDemand. Thank you for what you’re doing.”
• Ahmed Baba: I keep a lot of my opinions on Dem internal squabbling to myself & try and stay above the fray, but damn. Nuance is dead. All I have to say is thank god Twitter isn’t an accurate depiction of what’s unfolding in the real world. If it was Trump will win again in 2020. Shape up. THREAD
• Americans are dying because they can’t afford their insulin. That’s now a 2020 campaign issue. 
• Andrew Yang is running for president. Haven’t heard of him? You will soon.
• As the Democratic field grows, Stacey Abrams weighs a presidential race
• Bernie Sanders’ campaign becomes the first-ever to unionize 
• Bernie Sanders’ Staff Forms First-Ever Union For Presidential Campaign Workers 
• Beto O’Rourke’s hacking universe, explained
• Beto O’Rourke’s political career drew on donations from the pro-Republican business establishment
• Bill Maher scolds Democrats for avoiding Fox News: ‘How very Trump of you’
• Despite verbal miscues, presidential hopeful Harris draws little criticism from voters
• He’s running — almost. Joe Biden gets ahead of himself in Saturday speech, to cheers from the crowd.
• Hoping for a fresh start, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand releases video, plans rally at Trump hotel
• Jeb Bush says a Republican should run against Trump in 2020 
• Many Republicans would consider a Trump primary challenger — but not enough to unseat him
• Opinion | Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 campaign is a youthful folly
• Pete Buttigieg says he has hit 65,000 donors. Here’s why that’s significant. 
• Pete Buttigieg, the young and openly gay Midwest mayor, finds a voice in crowded Democratic presidential field 
• SF meets Andrew Yang, a presidential candidate who’s attracting support from Millennials

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• America’s Economy Is Rigged From Top to Bottom 
• Opinion | The Catch-22 of American socialism
• Stop Joe McCarthy-ing the ‘Socialist’ Bogeyman and Fix America’s Broken Capitalism
• Bernie Sanders isn’t a radical: Noam Chomsky is exactly right regarding how mainstream Bernie’s policies really are 
• Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign staff will join a union
• Capitalism is destroying the Earth. We need a new human right for future generations | George Monbiot
• Democrats Must Expose Trump’s Betrayal of Working People 
• Atlanta police will no longer ask about marijuana use on applications
• Legalizing Marijuana, With a Focus on Social Justice, Unites Democrats 
• Most states have the death penalty. Few actually carry out executions.
• How a 1937 mafia hit led to the wrongful conviction that inspired Gov. Gavin Newsom to end the death penalty in California
• New Mexico state Senate votes to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day 
• Opinion | Happy birthday, C-SPAN. We need you more than ever.

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• An Upstate 4th-grader was barred from writing about her gay grandfather. Now she’s suing. 
• Fire breaks out at casket factory, explodes into 9-alarm blaze and forces evacuations in East Boston
• In Ireland, Bloody Sunday’s ‘communal wound’ reopened on St. Patrick’s Day’s eve
• Southern Poverty Law Center fires co-founder, declines to say what he’s alleged to have done

 

RUMOR MILL

• Tea Pain: Trump, who has the highest security clearance, suddenly declares there “should be no Mueller report.” Heh, heh. This is gonna be great!
• Countercheckist: It’s funny seeing Snowden fans now screeching about IC not doing enough domestic surveillance on white nationalists. And while having no idea what kind of ops CI/CT already conducts. At least these ppl are consistent in having no idea what they’re talking about…
• Ming: Those chan boards get increased scrutiny now from USIC/LE and allies. This good time to be watching more closely regardless.
• Rick Wilson: Just sharing a moment with a friend as we both work out how badly screwed one of our former Never Trump colleagues has been after embracing Trump, kissing the ring, kissing the ass of Trump’s grifter mafia and STILL getting screwed by Team Trump. ETTD, sport. Warned you.
• Tea Pain: 49 New Zealand Muslims were gunned down by a Trump admirer while they prayed and Trump spends his executive time fomentin’ religious division and frettin’ about the Mueller report.
• Thread by @LincolnsBible: “Translation of this rant: 1. Barr has the report. 2. Sen. Hawley’s Daily Caller-generated questions during Barr’s confirmation, & Barr’s […]”
• Lincoln’s Bible: Translation of this rant: 1. Barr has the report. 2. Sen. Hawley’s Daily Caller-generated questions during Barr’s confirmation, & Barr’s ability to give rapid fire answers aligned with that propaganda, showed every1 that Barr consumes vast amounts of far right propaganda. (cont) 3. Barr is the audience of 1 for everything happening to feed the “Mueller report is invalid, so throw it in the trash” narrative out of Trump & @GOP. Barr’s memo was the salvo for it to begin with. Trump is both reminding Barr & giving him cover. 4. The Mueller report is not the same as the investigations coming out of the special counsel. It’s a report. There is real panic that Barr will follow the long arm of justice, & even if he buries the report, will allow the indictments & continuing investigations to roll along.
• https://twitter.com/geokelley/status/1106635050429411328?s=12
• Countercheckist: Instead of racing to the bottom by arguing who’s the bigger terrorist, or the one more fairly covered by the media, condemn all acts of terror unequivocally. No whataboutisms. I’ve had enough of unspeakable tragedy & barbarity giving partisan hacks something to do.
• Eric Garland: Mobsters warned that the Global Mob won’t allow a peaceful transfer to the rule of law. No surprise. They will lose. The transfer is happening.

 

That’s it for the last few days.  I wanted to go into more detail on a few more things, but I’m having technical difficulties right now.  Nothing too big or dangerous, but facing a tech bottleneck right now.

Things are getting crazy.  Monday morning brings more details about the level of how fucked the Deputy Finance Chair of the RNC is.  No, not Michael Cohen, but Elliot Broidy.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

Thursday, March 14, 2019.  Happy Pi Day.

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

• Vote to release Robert Mueller’s Russia report passes House, but is blocked in Senate
• FBI’s Peter Strzok told Congress election tampering was a ‘far graver threat’ than Clinton email scandal, new transcript says
• Graham blocks resolution calling for Mueller report to be made public 
• House tells DOJ to release Mueller’s report in 420-0 vote 
• House to vote on resolution calling for public release of Mueller report 
• House votes 420-0 to make Mueller’s report public 
• House votes for Mueller report to be made public 
• In 420-0 vote, House says Mueller report should be public 
• In overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, House calls for Mueller report to be made public

Leave it to Lindsey Graham to filibuster a bill from the House that passed unanimously to tell the American people what Robert Mueller found.

• Judge sets Nov. 5 trial date for Trump ally Roger Stone in Mueller case 
• Roger Stone faces angry judge over gag order 
• Tea Pain: Poor Roger Stone has to go 7 months without discussin’ his case online. That’s like takin’ away a crack addict’s meth lab. Even money says Stone’s back in court within 3 weeks.

3 weeks?  That’s pretty generous.

 

• Russian spies were all over the 2016 race. They were working for one candidate: Donald Trump
• Donald Trump Getting Ivanka, Jared Kushner Security Clearances is Like Parents Bribing College Admissions: Obama Ethics Chief 
• The Manafort case is a reminder that we invest too little in catching white-collar criminals 
• The Pants on Fire claim that two courts backed Trump’s claim of no collusion with Russia 
• There is now concern that Cindy Yang not only sold access to Trump but might’ve steered foreign money into his re-election campaign
• Opinion | Manafort’s lawyers appealed for mercy — but not from the judge
• Pardon me? Manafort and other Trump allies’ pro-Trump legal antics come into focus.

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

Summer Zavos

• New York appellate court allows Summer Zervos defamation suit against Trump to proceed
• An Appeals Court Ruled For The First Time That Trump Can Be Sued In State Court 
• Donald Trump is “not above the law,” court rules, allowing president to be sued in state court defamation case 
• Judge deals Trump a blow in defamation case: Sitting presidents can be sued 

 

Pardon Me, While I Burst Into Flames

• ‘Sleep well tonight’: N.Y. lawyer’s cryptic emails to Michael Cohen requested by federal prosecutors
• Pardon me? Manafort and other Trump allies’ pro-Trump legal antics come into focus.

 

• NY attorney general: Evidence shows Trump misused charity

 

Fox News

• Fox News May Have Broken the Law by Killing Trump Affair Story
• Bucking NDA, ex-Fox News reporter plans to tell Congress about outlet’s role in Trump hush money story 
• House Committee demands docs on Stormy Daniels after Beat report
• Thread by @WendySiegelman: “This Feb 2019 story on Trump’s Inaugural Committee by @CalebMelby highlights the chaos within the committee, the big role Rick Gates had, ho […]”

 

CONGRESS

• House Committee demands docs on Stormy Daniels after Beat report
• Rogue US Mint: House Oversight Cmte. moves to invalidate the a Fox News non-disclosure agreement. The reporter whose Stormy scoop got suppressed days before the 2016 election likely to hand over requested documents. Womp womp.
• 911corlebra777:💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥Holy Crapola
• Fox News May Have Broken the Law by Killing Trump Affair Story
• Bucking NDA, ex-Fox News reporter plans to tell Congress about outlet’s role in Trump hush money story 

 

SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION & EMERGENCIES

• ‘Party’s Over’: GOPers Seem Ready To Deal Trump Defeat On Nat’l Emergency 
• 12 Republicans Cross Trump As Senate Votes To Repeal Emergency Declaration
• Congress Overturns Trump’s National Emergency Declaration To Build The Wall
• Romney to vote against Trump’s emergency declaration 
• Senate votes 59-41 to block national emergency, setting it up for Trump veto
• Senate votes to reject Trump’s emergency declaration, setting up president’s first veto
• Three senators crash Trump dinner with last-ditch plea as opposition mounts to emergency declaration
• Trump national emergency: Senate Republicans vote to block border wall national emergency – It’s a staggering rebuke to the president.
• Trump’s delivers emphatic, one-word response to Senate vote to terminate the border wall national emergency: ‘VETO!’
• Why Trump didn’t stop a GOP revolt on his border emergency
• Forget Trump’s Border Wall. Let’s Build F.D.R.’s International Park 
• ICE is tapping into a huge license-plate database, ACLU says, raising new privacy concerns about surveillance
• Joe Giudice Released from Prison, Sitting in ICE Custody 

 

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

Thuggery

• Trump issues warning to opponents: ‘It would be very bad’ if his military, police and biker supporters got ‘tough’ | The Star
• Trump Again Threatens Violence If Democrats Don’t Support Him 
• Trump Warns: It Would Be ‘Very Bad’ if My Police, Biker Gang Fans Decided to Get ‘Tough’ on My Opponents 
• MSNBC host suggests Donald Trump is threatening ‘fascist violence’ against the left in Breitbart interview 
• Trump again nods toward violence by his supporters — and maybe something bigger 
• Trump Raises Specter Of Supporters Turning Violent If They Don’t Get Their Way 
• Trump Suggests His Supporters Could Turn to Political Violence If His Opponents ‘Go to a Certain Point’ | The slide into authoritarian rhetoric continues with talk of the military and Bikers for Trump. 
• Daniel Dale: Story: The president of the United States warns his opponents of the possibility of armed pushback, saying it would be “very bad” if his supporters in the military, police and a biker group were provoked into getting “tough”:
• Rick Wilson: 1/ So Donald Trump is threatening to unleash state violence (cops, military) and extrajudicial violence (bikers) against his political opponents. Cool Republic we had. Shame about the new ownership.
• Thread by @TheRickWilson: “1/ So Donald Trump is threatening to unleash state violence (cops, military) and extrajudicial violence (bikers) against his political oppon […]”
• Joe Walsh: We’re being tested. We have a President who believes he’s above the law. We have a President who behaves like he’s above the wall. This can’t be allowed. By any of us. Standing up against this is more important than our own personal politics.

 

Boeing

• Boeing’s 737 Max Problems Put $600 Billion in Orders at Risk
• Trump disparages Boeing 737s in private before grounding the plane after deadly crash
• At tense meeting with Boeing executives, pilots fumed about being left in dark on plane software
• FAA’s emergency order grounding Boeing jets came after the agency identified similarities between crashes in Ethiopia, Indonesia
• Trump wanted his personal pilot to head the FAA. The critical job is still vacant amid Boeing fallout. 
• Watchdog group urges Pentagon probe into Shanahan’s Boeing ties
• ‘My child! My brother!’: As mourners gather at Ethiopian Airlines crash site, an agonizing search for remains

 

TRAITOR TOTS

• Whitaker ‘did not deny’ talking to Trump about Cohen, top Democrat says
• Acosta Knew Epstein Prosecutor Withheld Info: Report | Law & Crime
• Treasury’s Mnuchin says he will try to shield Trump tax returns from Congress
• Ivanka Trump gets trolled for wearing an orange dress: ‘You’ll get used to it in prison’ 
• Opinion | The invisible CEO of Fox News

 

FIGHTING BACK

• Marcus Kolga: Don’t be intimidated by our enemies or friends into silence – because if you do, well soon lose the right to speak up, says @Kasparov63 at Renewing Democracy Initiative conference at Johns Hopkins University
• Is America’s warped justice system too broken to handle Trump’s massive corruption? 
• Opinion | Don’t focus on impeachment. Focus on Trump’s vile budget.
• Trump has a new favorite “slush fund”

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM

• Gunman opens fire at mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand
• Alleged New Zealand Mosque Mass Shooter’s Manifesto Praises Donald Trump As ‘Symbol Of Renewed White Identity’
• Australian Prime Minister confirms a perpetrator of the New Zealand mosque attack was Australian, and called them an extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist.
• Vandals deface Ruth Bader Ginsburg posters in NYC with Nazi symbols 
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg poster vandalized with anti-Semitic profanity, swastika in Brooklyn

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Court: Middle Finger Protected by the Constitution
• Flipping Off Cops Is Free Speech, Sixth Circuit Rules 
• Vandals deface Ruth Bader Ginsburg posters in NYC with Nazi symbols 

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Acosta Knew Epstein Prosecutor Withheld Info: Report | Law & Crime
• Judge Was at ‘Total Loss’ as to Why Alex Acosta ‘Found it Appropriate’ to Withhold Info in Underage Sex Crime Case 
• ‘The Simpsons’ Boss Al Jean: Michael Jackson Used the Show to “Groom Boys” 
• Johnny Depp Files New Legal Docs Claiming Proof He Never Struck Amber Heard 
• Sen. Martha McSally, a rape survivor, asks Air Force for expedited summit on military sexual assault
• She escaped an abusive marriage. Now she faces eviction from her home.
• She wore a crop top on her flight to the islands. The airline told her cover up or get off.
• Kaz Weida: I’m gonna say this REAL slowly because some pundits are having lots of trouble catching on. THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS AFTER BIRTH ABORTION. Stop using the term. It doesn’t exist. And yes, a majority of Americans want to legalize weed. Next.
• K-Pop stars named in growing South Korea sex scandal 
• Kentucky Just Banned Abortion 
• Michael Jackson on Security Cam Buying Jewelry for James Safechuck in 1989 
• Judge refuses to lower R. Kelly’s child support payments 
• Family claiming R. Kelly victimized their daughter say they have evidence he is coercing her 
• R. Kelly’s sex videos have circulated nationwide for years 
• Red Sonja: Bryan Singer Reportedly Dropped from Reboot 

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Brexit: Parliament to vote on delay and a second referendum
• Brexit: Parliament votes to delay, rejects a second referendum for now
• Trump makes last-minute Brexit intervention ‘after being lobbied by Nigel Farage’ 
• Bill Browder: BREAKING: European Parliament passes resolution calling for an EU Magnitsky Act with Sergei Magnitsky’s name on it. The vote was 447 in favor and 70 against. Big victory for truth and justice. Big defeat for Putin and his sympathisers
• Aaron Rupar: Wow — after Irish PM Varadkar politely tells Trump he disagrees w/his view about Brexit being good, Trump threatens to “do something severe economically” to the EU. Trump then claims “we will have hundreds of miles of wall up fairly soon.” Congress has given him $0 for that.
• Interpol issues red notices for 20 suspects in Khashoggi killing
• Ireland’s Gay Prime Minister and His Boyfriend Had Breakfast at Mike Pence’s House
• Opinion | A sham trial exposes Saudi Arabia’s continued disrespect for its citizens
• Senate rebukes Trump with vote ordering U.S. military to end support for Saudi-led war in Yemen

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Court rules families of Sandy Hook shooting victims can sue gunmaker Remington over 2012 attack 
• Families of Sandy Hook shooting victims can sue gunmaker Remington over 2012 attack, court says
• Opinion | Prosecutors need to treat police shootings like a threat to public safety
• A young student called home to report being bullied by a teacher. Then dad appeared with a loaded gun.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Calls Out NRA After New Zealand Shootings: ‘What Good Are Your Thoughts and Prayers?’ 
• Alleged New Zealand Mosque Mass Shooter’s Manifesto Praises Donald Trump As ‘Symbol Of Renewed White Identity’

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• FCC to auction off wireless spectrum that could interfere with vital weather data, rejecting requests from U.S. House and science agencies

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Fox News May Have Broken the Law by Killing Trump Affair Story 

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, & ECONOMY

• KY lawmakers cut taxes by $105 million for banks, others as debt piles up 
• Larry Kudlow’s claim that ‘we have virtually paid for’ Trump’s tax cut
• Trump pledges support for health programs but his budget takes ‘legs out from underneath the system’

 

STUDENT ISSUES

Admissions Scandal

• ‘Disgraceful’: Betsy DeVos says Education Department will investigate college admissions scandal
• Ann Coulter Says Jared Kushner Could Be Taken Down for ‘Buying His Harvard Admission’ Before Mueller Indicts Him 
• Opinion | What the admissions scandal parents got wrong about college
• Universities race to quell outrage over bribery and cheating scandal in admissions
• Why Trump Jr. mocked the parents caught up in the college admissions scandal
• Lori Loughlin Fired From All Hallmark Projects Over College Cheating Scandal 
• Lori Loughlin to Be Released on $1 Million Bail in College Admissions Bribe Case 
• Lori Loughlin’s college scam achieved every parent’s dream: Getting their child an Amazon partnership 
• Lori Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade loses Sephora partnership in wake of college admission scandal 
• Lori Loughlin’s daughters drop out of USC after admissions scandal
• Now that we see what stealing a college slot really looks like, can we stop making students of color feel like frauds?
• Richard Painter: Clueless goes to college. After that, if mom and dad kick in enough money, a job in the White House. Then cones the ambassadorship. No wonder other countries are laughing at us. What Lori Loughlin’s daughter said before attending USC @CNN
• What Lori Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade said before attending USC  – CNN Video
• Louise Mensch: You know something, @RWPUSA, if Olivia Jade is an “influencer” with “2m followers” here is her chance to lead. She is an adult. She should resign her place at USC in public, condemn cheating, say she loves her parents but will now work to get into a college on her own merit.
• Felicity Huffman says “Ruh roh” in an email after finding out her daughter’s school was to provide their own proctor for the exam. 
• Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin Indicted in Alleged Ivy League Bribery Scheme 
• Hallmark drops Loughlin, Sephora drops her daughter in college scam fallout
• Opinion | The college bribery scandal is all about a myth
• Black Teen Accused of Cheating on Her SATs While White Students Got Away With College Bribery Scandal
• Bishop Talbert Swan: While rich wypipo bribe their kids into college, 18-yr-old Black FL student Kamila Campbell had her SAT scores invalidated by the Educational Testing agency TWICE because they were “TOO HIGH.“ ETA won’t release her results because there’s no way a Black girl is that smart.
• Bishop Talbert Swan: My college freshman son Lezine is home for spring break. He got accepted at 13 schools on his own merit. Lori Loughlin’s daughter was spending spring break in the Bahamas on the yacht of the billionaire chair of USC’s trustee board. #ThursdayThoughts#CollegeCheatingScandal

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Opinion | After Republicans prostrate themselves before Trump, he humiliates them further
• Opinion | It’s time to retire the ‘neocon’ label

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

• Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty on 16 counts of disorderly conduct stemming from alleged hate crime hoax. 
• Jussie Smollett pleads not guilty to 16 felony counts after allegedly lying about a hate-crime attack
• A woman faked a pregnancy and deceived the adoptive parents. The motive remains a mystery.
• Florida woman threatens hair salon with machete, poops in patrol car, deputies say
• Frank Cali, Gambino crime boss, killed in front of Staten Island home
• GBI arrests former North Georgia detention officer on rape charges
• Johnson & Johnson shares slip after jury orders it to pay $29 million in latest talcum cancer trial
• Obama officials failed to focus as fentanyl burned its way across America
• Opinion | Prosecutors need to treat police shootings like a threat to public safety

 

PRIESTS & RELIGION

• Opinion | Has the Catholic Church committed the worst crime in U.S. history?

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• ‘Our future is what we are fighting for’: Meet the schoolkids going on strike over climate change
• April the Giraffe is expecting again, and tens of thousands are watching
• Journey to Antarctica: What Scientists Think of Trump’s Latest Climate Tweet — “You like carbon dioxide so much?” one researcher mused. “Try putting a plastic bag over your head and see how that works out.” 
• Opinion | Tesla’s new SUV model shows just how silly the Green New Deal really is
• Samuel L. Jackson Keeps It Real: Trump Is ‘Ruining the Planet’ and If You’re Silent About it, ‘You’re Complicit’ 
• Skipping School To Protest Climate Change
• The parents of more than three dozen unvaccinated kids want them back in school. A judge said no.
• Historic ‘bomb cyclone’ sets off severe storms, flooding, and a ‘dangerous’ blizzard in Plains and Midwest
• Donald Trump’s climate change denial gets more ridiculous by the day 
• NIH and top scientists call for moratorium on gene-edited babies

 

ELECTIONS

• FBI investigators scrutinized N.C. political operative in May, but took no public action to stop alleged election fraud
• ‘We got our clocks cleaned’: GOP quietly works to expand ballot harvesting in California while criticizing Democrats for the practice
• Both Parties Are Addicted to Dark Money. Only One Is Trying to Quit. – After House Democrats passed a major overhaul of campaign finance, Mitch McConnell is blocking the bill in the Senate. 
• On Capitol Hill, Republicans resist new voting protections 
• Pelosi says she backs lowering voting age to 16 

 

THINKING AHEAD

• ‘Just one more, one more, one more gets in the race’: Sherrod Brown reacts to Beto O’Rourke’s White House bid
• Amy Klobuchar welcomes O’Rourke into 2020 race: ‘I think that competition is good in our party’
• Beto O’Rourke joins the 2020 Democratic presidential contest
• Beto O’Rourke landed on Vanity Fair’s cover. The picture recalls an infamous failed candidate.
• Beto: Ending federal prohibition of Marijuana could help mental health problems, opioid crisis 
• Buttigieg says he is very close to meeting requirements for first DNC debate this year 
• Howard Schultz says he grew up in a poor, rough place. Those who lived there called it the ‘country club of projects.’
• Opinion | The questions a Joe Biden presidential candidacy will answer

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• 147-8: Mass. House Overwhelmingly Votes To Ban Conversion Therapy For Minors 
• Bring Back Eisenhower Socialism – Conservatives want you to believe that not having to choose between paying for rent or medicine is Soviet-style tyranny 
• Democratic Representatives to Announce Plan to Legalize Recreational Marijuana 
• Hijab-wearing Muslim Americans get haircuts in basements, closets and restrooms. One salon wants to change that.
• Maryland may become the first state to ban foam food containers and cups
• It’s Not Socialism; It’s What the People Want — Far from socialism, this is democratic populism, reversing decades of government policies that take from the many to give to the wealthy few 

 

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Birch Bayh, Indiana senator who championed Title IX, dies at 91
• Harry Hughes, Maryland governor and low-key steward over two terms, dies at 92
• Queen Elizabeth gives Meghan and Harry an office at Buckingham Palace

 

RUMOR MILL

• Lincoln’s Bible: What if Barr already has the report and has been sitting on it – panicked about what to do with being so colossally out of his depth? Just a thought.
• Tea Pain: Poor Roger Stone has to go 7 months without discussin’ his case online. That’s like takin’ away a crack addict’s meth lab. Even money says Stone’s back in court within 3 weeks.
• Wilbur Ross in the hot seat (6PM UPDATE)
• Thread by @WendySiegelman: “This Feb 2019 story on Trump’s Inaugural Committee by @CalebMelby highlights the chaos within the committee, the big role Rick Gates had, ho […]”

 

That’s it for Thursday.  I’m running behind schedule, so this is pretty light today.  Funny how days off are busier than a normal day.

I hope to spend some time on the various articles I’ve got sitting in the draft queue this weekend.  That’s hoping that life doesn’t throw a wrench in those plans.  A relative of a relative is very sick, and might not make it through the next few days.  Cancer, a heart attack, diabetes, and a possible stroke don’t add up to a good prognosis.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

 

THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Manafort

• Manafort gets 7.5 years in prison, after additional 43 months in second sentencing
• Manafort sentencing highlights Russia probe looming over Trump
• U.S. judge gives Manafort 73 months
• Manafort’s lawyer essentially asks Trump for a pardon right before he’s hit with pardon-proof charges
• Manafort’s lawyer lied that a judge found no collusion. Protesters shouted him down. “Liar! That’s not what she said!” 
• Manafort’s lawyer lied that a judge found no collusion. Protesters shouted him down.
• Paul Manafort is sentenced to a total of 7 1 / 2 years in prison for conspiracy and fraud, and charged with mortgage fraud in N.Y.
• Paul Manafort faces up to 10 years in second sentencing
• Paul Manafort is sentenced to a total of 90 months in prison for conspiracy and fraud
• Paul Manafort to serve 43 additional months in prison.
• Paul Manafort Will Spend Nearly Seven More Years In Prison
• Paul Manafort’s Sentence Proves White Lives Matter
• The Manafort case is a reminder that we invest too little in catching white-collar criminals
• Dr. Dena Grayson: 🚨BREAKING:Judge sentences Paul Manafort to 73 months (6 years + 1 month) in prison—30 months concurrent with his current EDVA sentence + and additional 43 months (3 yrs, 7 mo) *after* his EDVA sentence ends. Total of SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS (90 months) in the slammer‼️
• Angry White House Staffer: Manafort sentenced to 60 months in count 1, 30 will run concurrent with EDVA. Count 2: 13 months consecutively Effectively around 7.5 years in prison if my math is correct. He got 47 months from Ellis. An extra 30 (since 30 of the 60 run simultaneously with the 47) added on from Jackson. Then another 13 from Jackson. That’s a total of 90 months or 7.5 years. I think
• Andrew Laufer, ESQ: 7.5 years for a 70 year old man who will still face more charges is a start. Manafort will not leave prison, Patriots.
• Adam Schiff: Another sentencing, another statement by Manafort’s lawyer repeating Trump’s mantra of “no collusion,” and another barely concealed appeal for a pardon. It shouldn’t fall to the Manhattan DA to deter a presidential pardon. Congress should take action to protect the rule of law.
• Eric Tucker: Judge Amy Berman Jackson: “Court is one of those places where facts still matter.”
• Walter Dellinger: It is shocking to hear Manafort’s attorney announce, “Two courts have ruled that there is no evidence of collusion…” That is just false. Judge Jackson expressly said that was not before the court. What is happening to our country?

It’s not the sentence I think he deserved, but it’s better than he got last week in EDVA.  The first sentence is 60 months served concurrently with his 47 months from EDVA.  The second is 13 months, and will be served consecutively with the 60.  For a total of 73 months.  Subtract 9 months for time served and he’s looking at 64 months.  Considering the most that good behavior can knock off in Federal prison is about 54 days per year, that’s about 56 months to 64, or about 5 years.

And just when Paulie Walnut’s day started to look like it might turn around…

• ‘Manafort’s f—ed’: New York state prosecutors emerge as the biggest threat yet to Paul Manafort
• New York Charges Paul Manafort With 16 Crimes. If He’s Convicted, Trump Can’t Pardon Him. 
• New York Prosecutors Knee Manafort in the Balls While He’s Doubled Over Coughing Up Blood
• New York state prosecutors indict Manafort on new charges just minutes after he was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in the Mueller probe
• Paul Manafort indicted by NY prosecutors after federal sentencing 
• Paul Manafort Indicted in New York on Mortgage Fraud, Conspiracy
• Paul Manafort Was Hit With New Criminal Charges Right After His Second Sentencing In Mueller’s Probe
• 911corlebra777: See, a few years ago when, oh say @thespybrief , @LouiseMensch and @TrueFactsStated mentioned state based indictments backing up federal charges, they were called crazy & liars. In less than a hour after federal sentencing Manafort gets indicated by NY The Republic Will Stand 🇺🇸
• MSW Podcast: BREAKING: Manafort has been indicted in New York on 16 charges relating to mortgage fraud, conspiracy, and falsifying business documents! Who had Manafort on their fantasy indictment team this week?? #FantasyIndictmentLeague
• John Schindler: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Perfect timing, NY! THAT is trolling! 7.5 in the can for Feds is just Paulie’s appetizer. A cheeto tray, if you will. John Schindler added,
• Manafort-Indictment.pdf
• Adam Klasfeld: BREAKING: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance unseals 15 fraud and conspiracy charges against Paul Manafort.
• Thread by @KlasfeldReports: “BREAKING: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance unseals 15 fraud and conspiracy charges against Paul Manafort. Indictment here: manhattand […]”
• Angry White House Staffer: Oh shit. New York State just charged Manafort too. Womp womp

New York’s In Da HOUUSSEEE!!!!  The State of New York charged Paul Manafort 3 counts of Residential Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, Attempted Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, 3 counts of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, 8 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, and 1 count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree.

16 felony counts.  Damn.  This was minutes after Manafort was sentenced and his lawyers begged for a pardon.

Remember, state charges cannot be eliminated with a pardon from the President.

 

Li Yang

• Trump-Linked Massage Parlor Owner Hawked ‘Golden Visas’
• 911corlebra777: Of course Cindy (Li) Yang was into hawking EB5 visas. Paging Ding Ying (aka Vivian Ding) Jared Kushner’s EB5 visa business partner 🙂
• Spa owner whose consulting firm marketed access to Trump is in a ‘nightmare’: Lawyer

 

• US warns of sophisticated cyberattacks from Russia, China
• Wanted in Russia, he partied at Mar-a-Lago — and invested in cheap South Florida homes
• Russian spies were all over the 2016 race. They were working for one candidate: Donald Trump
• Russians May Have Laundered Money Through Trump Organization and President Could Be ‘Compromised,’ Congressman Schiff Suggests 
• Not so fast: Mueller still investigating pivotal Russia probe issues
• In newly released transcript, former FBI lawyer fires back on charges that anti-Trump bias affected Trump and Clinton probes
• House to vote on resolution calling for public release of Mueller report
• House passes 4 bills targeting Russia, Putin’s wealth

 

COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS

• Michael Cohen Has Email Showing Trump Obstructed Justice by Dangling Pardon 
• Legal Experts: SDNY May Be Investigating Trump Obstruction After Leaked ‘Friends in High Places’ Email

Michael Cohen has testified that President Trump directed him to lie to Congress about Trump’s business dealings with Russia during the campaign. The weakness of the accusation is that Cohen does not seem to have any proof, other than his own testimony, that the conversation took place. But now CNN reports that Cohen has evidence of Trump obstructing justice by dangling a pardon. And this time he has receipts.

Robert Costello, an attorney working with Rudy Giuliani, emailed Cohen on April 21.  The emails assured Cohen he could “sleep well tonight” because he had “friends in high places,” according to CNN.

This is a really, really big deal. The power to pardon convicted criminals for federal crimes is a legitimate use of presidential authority. Whether it’s legitimate for the president to use this power to pardon criminals who committed crimes on his behalf, or might have otherwise testified against him, is a subject of intense debate.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!  Cohen has an email from Rudy’s lawyer dangling a pardon just weeks after his shit got raided by the FBI.  This corroborates what we talked about last week. (Daily Check-In 03/06/2019)

• Russians May Have Laundered Money Through Trump Organization and President Could Be ‘Compromised,’ Congressman Schiff Suggests 

 

• DOJ Probes if 1MDB Playboy Fugitive Donated to Trump Re-Election Fund
• DOJ probing whether Trump donation came from fugitive Malaysian businessman: WSJ

 

CONGRESS

Whitaker Returns and Changes His Story

• Matthew Whitaker Attempted to Clear Up ‘Skepticism’ About His Conversations with Trump. It Didn’t Go Well for Him.
• Matthew Whitaker just changed his story on Michael Cohen’s case, House Judiciary chair says
• Caroline Orr: #BREAKING: Rep. Jerry Nadler says during today’s closed-door meeting, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker “did not deny that the president called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case and personnel decisions in the Southern District” — something he denied last month. Per Rep. Jerry Nadler: While he was acting AG, Matthew Whitaker was also “directly involved in conversations about whether to fire one or more US attorneys” AND whether SDNY “went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case” involving Trump. 2/
• Tea Pain: BOOM! Matt Whitaker now admits to discussin’ with Trump removin’ attorneys from the Michael Cohen SDNY case. The Obstruction Bomb is about to explode!
• Rick Wilson: This Whitaker news is….something.
• Angry White House Staffer: Based on the comments coming out of the private meeting, it certainly appears everyone’s least-favorite, abnormally-sweaty hot tub salesman committed perjury in his public session of Congress and that he did discuss cases involving Trump with Trump. I’m totally (not) shocked.

 

• Ocasio-Cortez asks Wells Fargo CEO why the bank finances the ‘caging of children’
• Ocasio-Cortez grills Wells Fargo bigwig over funding pipelines, gun manufacturers and child detention centers
• How Mitch McConnell Is The Biggest Monster In Politics

 

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

Manafort

• Trump campaign ex-chief Manafort faces second sentencing
• Trump Knew Just What He Was Getting With Manafort: A Crook

 

Boeing

• Trump says U.S. will ground Boeing jet involved in fatal crashes, following the lead of other nations
• Boeing 737: Trump’s government shutdown delayed fixes to airplane involved in multiple deadly crashes
• FAA under ever-mounting pressure to ground Boeing 737 Max 8s
• Surprise: Trump Kept 737 Max Jets Flying After Personal Call from Boeing C.E.O.
• Boeing grounds entire crash aircraft fleet
• Donald Trump’s Boeing fiasco proves he’s a clear and present danger to the American people 
• Ethiopian pilots received new training for plane type involved in crash after earlier Indonesian incident
• U.S. Congress wants to know why the FAA waited so long to ground…

 

Trans Ban

• Nancy Pelosi slams Donald Trump over “bigoted, disgusting” Pentagon rule that will largely bar transgender troops
• Trump administration rolls out implementation plan for trans military ban – It’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” all over again.

 

Impeachment Prepping

• Former top Trump campaign official: ‘We are headed to impeachment’
• If Trump Isn’t ‘Worth’ Impeachment, Who Is? 
• Trump responds to impeachment storm after Pelosi comments in early morning Twitter tirade

Daily Check-In 03/11/2019 and Daily Check-In 03/12/2019 talked about how Nancy Pelosi is trying to dissuade talk of impeachment for political reasons.  Trump’s hoping that he can take the narrative on this and paint it as a partisan attack.  This is his only move, he has to force it to happen.  If he waits until there’s evidence, he’s toast.  His only option is to stoke talk of impeachment as a political process and not a responsibility of safeguarding the republic.

 

• Trump accuses media without evidence of photoshopping Melania photos
• Trump administration has “hollowed out” U.S. diplomacy” former top U.S. envoy says

 

TRAITOR TOTS

Jacob Wohl

• Jacob Wohl filmed himself possibly committing a crime in Ilhan Omar documentary
• Angry White House Staffer: I thought I would regret looking to see why Jacob Wohl was trending. I was wrong. Sending death threats to yourself from a fake account you created to own the libs. I *really* hope he gave those threats to the police.
• Ben Collins: Jacob Wohl reported a death threat to the Minneapolis Police Department. Small problem: he wrote the threat to himself from a fake account he created, posing as a gay Hispanic “diversity coordinator,” who does not really exist. THREAD

 

• Travis Akers: Sheriff David Clark and Steve Bannon hosted a rally in Cincinnati in support of President Trump’s border wall. They expected a large crowd… The empty seats tell a different story. An estimated 50 people attended (that number includes the guest speakers).

 

FIGHTING BACK

• George Conway says a ‘serious inquiry’ needs to be made about Trump’s ‘condition of mind’
• George Conway Urges ‘Serious Inquiry’ Into Trump’s Mental Health After Latest Lie | HuffPost
• Samuel L. Jackson Issues Blistering Warning To People Staying Silent About Trump

 

EMERGENCIES, SHUTDOWN & IMMIGRATION

• Documents Show ICE Has Access To Hundreds Of Millions Of License Plate Scans Across The US
• GOP senators want emergency powers capped to stop president “acting like a king”
• Lee, fifth GOP senator, to vote against Trump’s border declaration
• Pelosi Statement on Senate Republican Legislation to Amend the National Emergencies Act
• Poll: Majority still opposes Trump emergency declaration
• Senators seek to change immigration law to curb child marriages
• The Latest: Pelosi says no House vote on GOP emergency plan
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledges to block Senate plan that could give GOP cover on Trump’s national emergency

 

RACISM, RIGHT WING TERRORISM, & WHITE NATIONALISM

• 155 Democrats, 0 Republicans join Congressional LGBT caucus 

 

SCOTUS & COURTS

• Lawrence Hurley: Trump’s 35th appeals court judge confirmed. This also flips the 3rd Circuit from majority Dem appointees to majority GOP appointees. This is the first of the circuits to flip since Trump took office

 

#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• As GOP Attacks Women’s Reproductive Freedoms, ‘Testicular Bill of Rights’ Would Restrict Men’s Access to Viagra and Porn

 

COLD WAR 2.0

• Caroline Orr: #BREAKING: British lawmakers have narrowly rejected a “no deal Brexit” (which would have meant leaving the EU without any deal at all), just a day after rejecting British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal. So no on “no deal” but also no on the deal.
• Brexit: Parliament to vote on no-deal departure
• UN says 2018 deadliest year yet for Syrian children
• Senate defies Trump, passes historic resolution to end US support for Saudi Arabia in Yemen war
• Trump administration has “hollowed out” U.S. diplomacy” former top U.S. envoy says

 

#NEVERAGAIN

• Brazil school shooting: São Paulo gunmen were former pupils
• Shannon Watts: “While gun crime is common in Brazil, shootings of this nature are not.” The horrific school shooting in Sao Paulo comes just two months after Brazil’s new President – a staunch @NRA ally – signed a decree making it easier for Brazilians to procure guns.

 

FIXING THE INTERNET

• Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation
• Targeting Online Privacy, Congress Sets A New Tone With Big Tech
• Obama’s former adviser says Silicon Valley giants must release their iron grip on everyone’s data
• Owner of MAGA-Friendly Yelp Knockoff Threatens to Call FBI After Researcher Exposes Security Holes

 

THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

• Advertisers Urged to #DropFox by Outraged Activists – “No matter what time of day you advertise on Fox News, you support the network’s extremism and bigotry.”
• Ann Coulter: One positive of Trump’s presidency is ‘total destruction of lying media’
• Don’t let its success fool you: Fox News is a mess
• NYT’s ‘Desire for Control’ Over Political Perceptions

 

WHITE HOUSE CHAOS

• ‘Kushner, Inc.’: Ivanka ‘Thinks She’s Going to Be President,’ and More Batsh*t Bits From the New Trump Book Excerpts
• Book: Trump’s Letter Firing Comey Was Initially Sent To The Wrong WH Printer

 

TRADE WAR, HEALTH CARE, AND ECONOMY

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just revived a classic argument by conservative economist Milton Friedman about who pays for pollution
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tense exchange with a Wall Street CEO is a glimpse of a plan to redefine how banks operate
• Capitalist Freedom Is a Farce – Milton Friedman was wrong. Capitalism doesn’t foster freedom — it produces autocratic workplaces and tyrannical billionaires.
• Could Walmart Be a Model for a Socialist Future?
• Trump’s decision to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership could cost farmers $1.8B

 

STUDENT ISSUES

Admissions Scandal

• Bribes to Get Into Yale and Stanford? What Else Is New?
• Don Trump Jr. mocks Hollywood cheating scam, invites renewed scrutiny of his own college admission
• Elite College Admissions Scandal Shows Irony Of Affirmative Action Complaints | HuffPost
• Lori Loughlin released on $1 million bond in bribery scandal, can fly to Canada for work
• Opinion | The college admissions scandal isn’t fair. Nothing about our social mobility system is.
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez compares Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin college admission scandal to politics “where lots of money can buy your spot too”
• People Are Talking (Again) About How Jared Kushner Got Into Harvard 
• TMZ: LORI LOUGHLIN DAUGHTER OLIVIA LEAVES YACHT OWNED BY TOP USC OFFICIAL
• We’re Losing the War on Corruption
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she has ‘zero’ sympathy for parents caught in college admissions scam
• Adam Savage: If you aid and abet your children to cheat to get ahead, you’re garbage perpetuating garbage by teaching kids to SAY they live in a meritocracy while showing them how to live in an oligarchy. You’re saying rules don’t really matter, except for the poor. You’re causing real harm.
• Tom Arnold: Couple wks ago I got into it with for 10th time with #CollegeCheatingScandal DAD at big party cause his sloppy ass was rambling on again about Trump & people carrying their own weight & his own conservative politics being “right of Attila the Hun” He embarrassed Scandal Mom again
• Kurt Eichenwald: One of the kids who got into USC because her parents paid $500,000 in bribes did not know how to fill out her college applications, according to the wiretaps. Some kid who busted ass didn’t get in because “cant fill out a college app rich girl” took the spot. …and how they dealt with the problem that the daughter was not bright enough to figure out how to submit her application: They paid someone off to do it for her.

 

GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD

• Brexit and Trumpism Have Failed Because Conservative Populism Is a Lie

 

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE

• ‘We won’t stop striking’: the New York 13 year-old taking a stand over climate change
• Judge won’t let unvaccinated children back in school
• Kids around the world plan to skip school this Friday to demand action on climate change 
• Native American tribe covers funeral costs for people killed in Alabama tornadoes
• Students are striking for action on climate change — a truancy everyone should applaud
• Support For Medicare For All SURGING In Red States – The Ring of Fire Network
• The EPA just revealed that staffers destroyed files under audit
• Trump’s EPA just revealed that staffers destroyed files under audit 

 

ELECTIONS

• ‘We got our clocks cleaned’: GOP quietly works to expand ballot-harvesting in California while criticizing Democrats for the practice

 

THINKING AHEAD

• Will 2020 Be the Year Presidential Candidates Actually Take Labor Issues Seriously?
• Presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard denies she supported conversion therapy
• Elizabeth Warren says Mike Pence is “not an honorable person” and accuses him of homophobia 
• Kamala Harris Celebrates Her Role in the Mortgage Crisis Settlement. The Reality Is Quite Different.
• As Joe Biden Hints at Presidential Run, Andrew Cockburn Looks at His “Disastrous Legislative Legacy”
• Beto O’Rourke is running for President in 2020
• Beto O’Rourke running for president, El Paso TV station reports
• Beto O’Rourke to seek Democratic U.S. presidential nomination: TV station

 

PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

• California Governor to sign executive order stopping State’s death penalty for now

 

RUMOR MILL

• Countercheckist: Reminder: Manafort has yet to be charged with crimes committed during the 2016 election. 🙂
• Lincoln’s Bible: GUESS WHAT?! Horrible people have no idea they’re horrible. And so nothing stops them from committing crimes.
• Ming: Why state of Florida not file charges against Manafort?
• Tea Pain: TRUMP: “Stay strong, don’t cooperate and you’ll get a pardon.” NY AG: “Hold my indictments.”
• Ming: “They are on to us. Wipe the servers.’ -Marc Zuckerborg Ming laugh and laugh
• Tea Pain: Trump is losin’ it at 12:30 in the mornin’. He’s repetitively tweetin’ “Witch Hunt” gibberish while claimin’ it’s the reason people are “fleeing New York.” This. man. is. not. well.

 

That’s it for Wednesday.  Looks like Beto’s throwing his hat in the ring.  I’m going to make an article describing everyone that is running, rumored to run, should run, and why Tulsi Gabbard shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the nomination for President.

I’m going to update The Indicted with Paul Manafort’s info.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur