Thursday.

OLEG DERIPASKA TIED DIRECTLY TO RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT

A big shout out to Alexei Nalvany for getting his hands on some footage from Oleg’s yacht.

So, quick refresher:  Donald Trump brings Paul Manafort onto his campaign last year, in spite of the objections of everyone who thinks this looks shady AF.  Manafort sets up a deal with Oleg to give him information on the campaign.  Oleg is tight enough with the Russian Government that he can have one of the Deputy Prime Ministers and a close associate of Vladimir Putin, Sergei Prikhodko, on his yacht with a bunch of escorts in August 2016.  Manafort was the campaign manager from June until August, when he was “fired” after evidence of his laundering money for Former Ukrainian President and Putin Puppet Viktor Yanukovych was published by the New York Times.

I put fired in quotes because while he was no longer officially part of the campaign, rumor has it that Paul was still in communication with Trump and some other senior members.

Trump talks to Paul, Paul talks to Oleg, Oleg talks to Sergei, Sergei talks to Vladimir.

 

DOW DROPS 1000 POINTS AGAIN

There are two numbers that one should not live their life by; their weight and the Dow Jones.

After a 600 point drop on Friday, 1200 down on Monday, 500 up on Tuesday, and a semi-stable Wednesday, the Dow dropped again by over 1000 points today.

It’s so scary I heard some of the computer stock brokers reformatted themselves.

 

GEORGE W. BUSH: RUSSIA INTERFERED IN OUR ELECTION

The Former President of the United States said this.  Not just that, but one of only two living Republican Former Presidents, and the only one not having serious health problems.

This is interesting not just because W is enjoying not being the worst President of the last 30 years, but because former VP’s and Presidents have the option to receive the PDB, the Presidential Daily Briefing, the same intelligence report given to the current President every day.  They see what Trump sees, and unlike Trump, they can read.

They know what’s going on, and have known for a long time.  Something I said several months ago was that when the fecal matter strikes the mechanical air circulation device  (when the shit hits the fan), the Ex-Presidents will stand, side by side, and address the nation.  When they start speaking out against Trump and Russia, consider that the end of the act, and the beginning of the next one.

 

LARGE RUSSIAN DELEGATION AT PRAYER BREAKFAST

As I mentioned a few days ago, expect to hear more about the right wing connections among the religious groups.  One to keep an eye on is between the American Evangelicals and the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

REPUBLICANS BUILDING PHYSICAL WALL BETWEEN HOUSE INTEL STAFFERS

Aside from the fact that the Republicans are building an ACTUAL FUCKING WALL IN THE OFFICE THEIR STAFFERS SHARE, the most important piece was a quote from Congressman Tom Rooney.

Rooney said one reason for the tension is an erosion of trust, exacerbated by an ongoing ethics investigation into the “entire Republican staff,” including “the woman up front that answers the phone” for alleged leaks. He later added that the matter was being handled by the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Yes.  That’s right.  The ENTIRE staff is under investigation, and their solution isn’t to work together or instruct the staff on proper ways of handling secrets, but to build a wall to keep the Democrats from seeing what they do.

Next week they’ll set up a bathroom schedule so that D’s and R’s don’t pee together.

 

PA SUPREME COURT: EQUAL, COMPACT AND CONTIGUOUS DISTRICTS ARE A CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENT

The decision from the court came down, and in doing so they defined the requirements for legislative districts.  They need to be equal, compact, and contiguous, as best as possible.  Also, special attention should be paid to existing boundaries, and townships should not be split unless absolutely necessary.

How are these currently handled?  Poorly. Hence the reason this case went all the way to the State Supreme Court.

What this also does is give other states, and possibly the Federal government, precedence and direction on how to handle these cases in the future.

The Republican Legislature has a short time to submit a redrawn map to the Governor for approval.  If neither happens, then the court will use a mathematically drawn map generated by computer algorithm.

 

OP-ED FROM HUFFPO: WHITE WOMEN WHO ENABLE TRUMP DO NOT DESERVE THE BENEFIT OF YOUR DOUBT

This is a great article that I’m glad someone else wrote, because it perfectly illustrates something that I’ve been guilty of doing.

I’m not blaming evil white women for being evil white women.  I’m blaming everyone else but the evil white women.

I’m blaming the men around them for the women’s actions.

When Ivanka pulled background moves to keep Chris Christie out of the White House, I blamed Jared Kushner.

When Kellyanne Conway repeatedly violated ethics rules and introduced the world to “Alternative Facts,” I blamed whoever wrote her notes.

When Sarah Huckabee Sanders lies to the nation repeatedly, I blamed her parents for raising her this way.

When Melania married Donald Trump for money, starting an affair with him while he was already married, I rationalized it as taking a job.

When Hope Hicks obstructed justice on Air Force One, I wondered “Surely that can’t be right…”

When Hope Hicks wrote a statement praising a wife beater, I blamed the culture she’s in.

When Hope Hicks… You know, I’m noticing a pattern here.

I have to start blaming evil women, especially the evil white women, for being evil white women.

Hope Hicks, Ivanka, Kellyanne, and Melania.  They are not innocent bystanders.  They are co-conspirators.

I will try to do my best for equal rights.  I will do my best to assign blame where it belongs, regardless of gender.  We can’t have equality until evil white women get the punishment they deserve.

 

FBI SURVEILLANCE OF CARTER PAGE MIGHT HAVE PICKED UP BANNON

Carter Page talked to Steve Bannon in January 2017, while he was under a FISA warrant. So, that means the FBI likely has notes on this conversation, if not the call itself.  Supposedly, Bannon called Page and told him to stay off of television.

Why is this coming out now?

Bannon is supposed to meet with Mueller soon, and rumor has it he flipped like a gymnast.  This could be a leak to let him know what the FBI knows about him, or it’s designed to discredit Bannon.

I wonder where this is heading.

 

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO RELEASE ADDITIONAL TRUMP TOWER TRANSCRIPTS

The transcripts for 6 people interviewed about the June 9 Trump Tower meeting, including Donnie Jr., should be released sometime soon.  Of course, using Senate time, sometime soon should be within a month or two.

Also, Senator Chuck Grassely couldn’t help but take a shot at Senator Diane Feinstein in his press release.

 

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 2: RAND PAUL BOOGALOO

Rand Paul is a dick.  He’s also neck deep in Russian activity and connections, just like his daddy, Ron Paul.  I still enjoy Rand asking on Twitter one day “Am I under investigation?”

Yes, Rand.  Yes, you are.

 

RUMOR MILL:  THE CURIOUS CASE OF JOHN KELLY

Whatever good will John Kelly had with the Rumor Mill is quickly evaporating.

When John Kelly took over as the White House Chief of Staff, he was supposed to be the adult in the room.  A lifetime of honorable service in the Marines, an unapproachable character, and a take-no-prisoners attitude.  He was supposed to bring stability to the White House.

When he took his position, everyone in the Rumor Mill proclaimed his appointment as a defining moment.  Louise called him a White Hat.  Countercheckist was in full support.  The ex-soldiers were thrilled.

Then, we spent the next several months learning about him.  And he’s been a colossal dickbag.

He’s attacked a black House representative for defending a Gold Star widow.  He has called immigrants lazy.  He’s been a mouthpiece for racist and sexist actions coming from Trump.

And now, it turns out that he looked the other way when his friend Rob Porter couldn’t get a security clearance because he beat both of his ex-wives.

So, what happened?  Is John Kelly still a White Hat Good Guy?  Is he pretending to be a massive dickbag?  Are these his true colors?  Is he actually enabling Trump’s racism?

I’m not sure, and the opinions are still split.  Louise stands by him being a White Hat.  Claude isn’t so sure.  The ex-soldiers are ready to throw him under the bus.

Me?  I want to hold out hope, but at this point I’m not so sure anymore.  His main job is to keep Trump from starting a war and doing anything too stupid.  Everything else is secondary, but it shows the man’s character.

If it turns out that years from now, he was acting like a massive dickbag to fit in, fine.  But until then, that White Hat is a little dirty.

 

That’s it for today.  If this seems a little light on the extraneous thoughts, I have a very stupid reason.

Yesterday, I’m loading the dishwasher, and I grabbed a steak knife by the blade.  I didn’t hurt myself too much, but I did cut the tip of my finger.  Nothing bad, and I was able to work through it yesterday.  Today, I can plow through it, but it’s amazing how many typing strokes and trackpad motions are done with the pointer finger.

So that’s me, being a dumbass.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur

 

 

 

Here’s some of what happened over the weekend and today.

HOUSE INTEL COMMITTEE VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO RELEASE DEMOCRATIC REBUTTAL MEMO

Looks like it’s the Democrat’s turn to release a memo.  Hopefully this one isn’t a dud.

The Democrats in the House Intel Committee wrote a rebuttal memo to respond to the claims made in the Nunes Memo last week, and the Committee voted UNANIMOUSLY to release it.  It will now go to the White House, where Trump will either release it like he did with the Nunes Memo, or deny it’s release.  If it gets denied, the House can vote to have it released.

This is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t move for Trump.

If he withholds the memo, he looks like a partisan hack who is afraid of this information coming out, and since it is based off of the same classified intel that the Nunes Memo was based on, he can’t use the excuse of exposing intelligence.  He can give the FBI a chance to redact what they need to, but he didn’t do that with the Nunes Memo, either.

If he does release it, then it shows that the Russian Investigation has a lot more fire to it than smoke, and each and every claim that Nunes made will be blown apart like a goat stepping on a landmine.

Now, we’ve got another week about memes about memos.  If memory serves, mama never wore a mumu and told me there’d be memes about memos.  My oh my.

 

DOW JONES DROPS ANOTHER 1200 POINTS TODAY

The Dow Jones just had the largest single day drop in its history, and is down over 8 percent since Friday.

Two days of historic drops is something to keep an eye on, but remember that the Dow is not the Economy.  It is only one measure of how certain stocks are doing in a given day.

There’s two big reasons for this drop.  First, Trump’s new pick for the Fed, which just assumed the office, has signaled that she wants to increase interest rates faster than previously expected.  This is causing brokers and day traders to move their money from stocks to bonds, as the bonds will produce more money over time, and are more stable than stocks.

Second, this is a side-effect of the GOP Tax Plan.  Most of these corporations took place in a stock buyback program with the savings they made with the tax plan.  Sure, some of them gave bonuses to employees, but that was nothing compared to wha they gave to their shareholders.  This buyback created a spike in stock values, which I hypothesize created a mini-bubble in stock prices.  Once these buybacks were done, there was nothing to keep these values up.  Hence, the bubble burst.

Of course, that doesn’t stop the media or people who think they know what they’re doing from proclaiming doom and gloom.

Expect Trump, Sean Hannity, and Fox News to blame Obama in 3, 2, 1…

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I WAS KIDDING!!!  I didn’t mean for that to be taken literally.  SMH.

Yes, I’m old enough that I had to look up what SMH meant.

 

REACTIONS AND FALLOUT FROM THE NUNES MEMO

Here’s some of the related news events from the Nunes Memo…

• Carter Page’s Russian ties go back to 2013
• Dude was bragging about being an adviser to the Kremlin AFTER the FBI told him that they were monitoring him.
• The Steele Dossier’s funding sources were disclosed in the FISA application.
• Even though it originated as opposition research, it corroborated FBI evidence.
• Nunes flat out lied about everything and everyone.

This memo fell flatter than me trying to do a Triple Lutz.  That’s an ice skating thing, and considering the last time I ice skated I almost lost my thumb from being so clumsy, just imagine a middle-aged out of shape guy with no balance trying to jump, spin, and land.

 

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RULES AGAINST MANAFORT, FOR MUELLER IN CIVIL CASE QUESTIONING LEGALITY OF RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION

Suck it, Manafort!

This was Paul Manafort’s Hail Mary move.  If he could show that the investigation was illegal, then the 10 charges he’s looking at could be dismissed.

Instead, if he’s found guilty, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.  And this is BEFORE the espionage/treason/war crimes charges.

 

‘I HOPE THIS IS AN INSTANCE OF FAKE NEWS’: FBI MESSAGES SHOW THE BUREAU’S REAL REACTION TO TRUMP FIRING JAMES COMEY 

This is from Ben Wittes at Lawfare Blog.  His work doesn’t get a baby cannon boom.

From his article…

    On June 22, 2017, Wittes made four FOIA requests. One of them sought communications to the workforce from the senior FBI leadership regarding Comey’s firing. Another sought communications on the topic from all the assistant directors and special agents in charge at the FBI’s many components and field offices to their respective teams. When the FBI did not respond in a timely manner, Wittes sued—represented by the folks at Protect Democracy—stating that his purpose was “to show conclusively that President Trump and his White House staff are lying about career federal law enforcement officers, their actions, and their attitudes”:

…

Over the weekend, we received 103 pages of records responsive to Wittes’s first two requests—messages from FBI leadership around the country and across the bureau regarding the firing of Director Comey. The bureau identified 116 pages of responsive material and withheld only 13 pages, so this material constitutes the overwhelming bulk of communications to staff on the subject of the firing.

What does it show? Simply put, it shows that Ellingsen nailed it when she described a reaction of “shock” and “profound sadness” at the removal of a beloved figure to whom the workforce was deeply attached. It also shows that no aspect of the White House’s statements about the bureau were accurate—and, indeed, that the White House engendered at least some resentment among the rank and file for whom it purported to speak. As Amy Hess, the special agent in charge in Louisville, put it: “On a personal note, I vehemently disagree with any negative assertions about the credibility of this institution or the people herein.”

This was part of what he called “the nicest FOIA request ever made to the FBI.”  They gave him 103 pages of information to prove that President Trump lied about his excuse that the FBI was in turmoil before he fired James Comey.

 

MIKE FLYNN REALLLLLLY COOPERATING WITH MUELLER

This came in from Law and Crime, formerly Lawnewz.

Mike Flynn’s sentencing has been postponed due to upcoming events.  If he had given them everything, and he was no longer of any use, he’d be in jail right now.  Instead, he’s giving Mueller everything and then some.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he testifies against one of the “bigger fish.”

 

TRUMP CALLS PEOPLE WHO DON’T CLAP FOR HIM ‘TREASONOUS’ AND ‘UN-AMERICAN’

In a speech today, Trump used language straight out of 1930’s Germany…again.

Considering that his only form of being able to handle criticism and self-doubt is through projection, one can almost guess what’s on his mind.

 

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO HEAR APPEAL ON PENNSYLVANIA GERRYMANDERING CASE

Suck it, Mike Turzai!

Here’s what the map looks like now…

And here’s what it could look like, if it were drawn fairly…

Pennsylvania has 800,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, yet Republicans hold a 13-5 advantage in the House.

 

RUMOR MILL:  THE ONCOMING STORM AND THE CRAZIEST GAME THEORY

From the Rumor Mill, talk about a RICO investigation against the GOP is picking up steam, and possibly even some MSM chatter.  A lot of talk about money laundering is coming up as well involving Trump’s properties, especially his golf courses.  He has a bad habit of suing to get property tax bills lowered after initial claims of how much his property is worth.  Not necessarily evil or criminal, but damn peculiar.

The crazies thing I’ve seen today is something I’ll go into far greater detail about later, but it is the second craziest thing I think I’ve thought since this whole mess began.  The craziest being The Russian Hypothesis, Version 0.1, which is due for an update to include what I’ve learned about Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act.  The money part makes everything fall into place.

Today’s crazy came from Eric Garland, and was the natural evolution of a previous conversation.

What if Trump was allowed to win?  What if, even knowing about the Russian interference, the criminal behavior, and all of the other nasty shit that Trump did, someone held back on purpose to let him win, knowing that once he was in power, he would expose himself, his comrades, his co-conspirators, and anyone who could benefit from his criminal empire?

I’m not saying that happened, not by a long shot.  And I refuse to pull the “look on the bright side” until that traitorous ape is away from the nuclear weapons, but I’ve thought about this for a while.  Trump is the symptom of global criminal corruption, not the root cause.  He’s the mole that gets you in the doctor to get a checkup.  The corruption is the cancer.

Putin and his Oligarch buddies are a large part of it, but they’re not alone.  Vast criminal enterprises around the world, that until recently stayed in the background, are threatening liberal democracy around the world.  And the corrupt are using the rule of law to pervert the rule of law.

Two can play this game.

Justice is slow, plodding, and thorough.  But when she shows up, she rains down on her enemies.

The forecast calls for showers of justice for the foreseeable future.

 

That’s it for today.

 

Thank you, and have a good one.

 

“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”

– Katy Tur