Jul 20, 2017
The View From Inside
I don't know if 45*'s shenanigans add up to an actual conscious attempt at Gaslighting or not, but dang - it's as close to a waking nightmare as anything I've been able to imagine, and some pretty weird shit goes on in my head sometimes.
Samantha Bee - Full Frontal web extra:
All Eyes On Mr Mueller
Bloomberg:
The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia in last year’s election is examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses as well as those of his associates, according to a person familiar with the probe.
The president told the New York Times on Wednesday that any digging into matters beyond Russia would be out of bounds. Trump’s businesses have involved Russians for years, making the boundaries fuzzy so Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to be taking a wide-angle approach to his two-month-old probe.
FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a controversial SoHo development with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, the person said.
Agents are also interested in dealings with the Bank of Cyprus, where Wilbur Ross served as vice chairman before he became commerce secretary, as well as the efforts of Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and White House aide, to secure financing for some of his family’s real estate properties. The information was provided by someone familiar with the developing inquiry but not authorized to speak publicly.
The roots of Mueller’s follow-the-money investigation lie in a wide-ranging money laundering probe launched by then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara last year, according to the person.
Trump appears worryingly unable to contemplate his own role in bringing about the special counsel. The firing of FBI Director James B. Comey led to reports that Trump allegedly demanded Comey’s loyalty and to Trump’s admission that he fired Comey over the Russia probe. This revealed that the Justice Department’s memo providing Trump his initial rationale for the firing (Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton probe) was bogus. Which led to the special counsel.
The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia in last year’s election is examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses as well as those of his associates, according to a person familiar with the probe.
The president told the New York Times on Wednesday that any digging into matters beyond Russia would be out of bounds. Trump’s businesses have involved Russians for years, making the boundaries fuzzy so Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to be taking a wide-angle approach to his two-month-old probe.
FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a controversial SoHo development with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, the person said.
As always, when we're talking about power, we're talking about money. The one thing that gets clearer in this whole mess is that it revolves around Money Laundering.
Agents are also interested in dealings with the Bank of Cyprus, where Wilbur Ross served as vice chairman before he became commerce secretary, as well as the efforts of Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and White House aide, to secure financing for some of his family’s real estate properties. The information was provided by someone familiar with the developing inquiry but not authorized to speak publicly.
The roots of Mueller’s follow-the-money investigation lie in a wide-ranging money laundering probe launched by then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara last year, according to the person.
The noose gets tighter as the net gets wider, and we can prob'ly expect 45* to get even wackier.
A Limmerick
But can't escape Russian intrigue
A scandal a day?
Even Putin would say
He's suffering bad Trump fatigue
George Takei
George Takei
Deep And Dirty
Nico Hines, Daily Beast:
Members of the team of Russians who secured a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner also attempted to stage a show trial of anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder on Capitol Hill.
The trial, which would have come in the form of a congressional hearing, was scheduled for mid-June 2016 by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a long-standing Russia ally who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe. During the hearing, Rohrabacher had planned to confront Browder with a feature-length pro-Kremlin propaganda movie that viciously attacks him—as well as at least two witnesses linked to the Russian authorities, including lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Rosie Gray, The Atlantic:
Paul Behrends, a top aide to Representative Dana Rohrabacher, has been ousted from his role as staff director for the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that Rohrabacher chairs, after stories appeared in the press highlighting his relationships with pro-Russia lobbyists.
“Paul Behrends no longer works at the committee,” a House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesperson said on Wednesday evening.
Behrends accompanied Rohrabacher on a 2016 trip to Moscow in which Rohrabacher said he received anti-Magnitsky Act materials from prosecutors. The Magnitsky Act is a 2012 bill that imposes sanctions on Russian officials associated with the 2009 death in prison of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who had been investigating tax fraud. Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney and lobbyist who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower last year, reportedly brought up the Magintsky Act during the meeting.
Members of the team of Russians who secured a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner also attempted to stage a show trial of anti-Putin campaigner Bill Browder on Capitol Hill.
The trial, which would have come in the form of a congressional hearing, was scheduled for mid-June 2016 by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a long-standing Russia ally who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe. During the hearing, Rohrabacher had planned to confront Browder with a feature-length pro-Kremlin propaganda movie that viciously attacks him—as well as at least two witnesses linked to the Russian authorities, including lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
Rosie Gray, The Atlantic:
Paul Behrends, a top aide to Representative Dana Rohrabacher, has been ousted from his role as staff director for the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that Rohrabacher chairs, after stories appeared in the press highlighting his relationships with pro-Russia lobbyists.
“Paul Behrends no longer works at the committee,” a House Foreign Affairs Committee spokesperson said on Wednesday evening.
Behrends accompanied Rohrabacher on a 2016 trip to Moscow in which Rohrabacher said he received anti-Magnitsky Act materials from prosecutors. The Magnitsky Act is a 2012 bill that imposes sanctions on Russian officials associated with the 2009 death in prison of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who had been investigating tax fraud. Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian attorney and lobbyist who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower last year, reportedly brought up the Magintsky Act during the meeting.
Seems like Russian fuckery via Congress Critter fuckery just gets wider and deeper at every turn.
Today's Tweet
Good question, but like with everything else, we don't know what he's talking about because he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Does anyone understand what Trump is talking about here on pre-existing conditions? pic.twitter.com/hVgfzhwm9J— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 20, 2017
Jul 19, 2017
Keith
Every time we plug a new thing into the timeline, part of this mess gets a little clearer, while others just get weirder and scarier.
A sense of urgency is in order here, though we need to remember what Coach Wooden always said: Go quickly but don't hurry.
First is the solid evidentiary connection between Cult45 and Russian money laundering.
Second is a better look at just how wide and how deep the Circle of Fuckery is.
And the really big one: Just how fucked up have we allowed our election systems to get thanks to this giant bag of thieving lying Daddy State dicks?
Olbermann at GQ
Jul 18, 2017
Approaching Overload
Here at the end of another long fucking day.
Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit
Donald Trump Jr. Met Russian Accused of Laundering $1.4 Billion
Present at the Destruction: How Rex Tillerson Is Wrecking the State Department
Republicans divided on debt ceiling strategy
House GOP aims to shut down federal election agency
Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit
(this is from a coupla weeks ago - watch Rachel's last segment from last night if you want that knot in your stomach to get worse)
Quick Survey
We now know Ms Veselnitskaya handed off some kind of file at the meeting in Trump Tower last year. What was in that file?
a) Kompromat on Hillary
b) Kompromat on Trump(s)
c) both
d) Dammit - I shoulda built that survival bunker when I had the chance
One thing - overload is what these assholes are trying to achieve. They need to shock the system and get us back on our heels.
Get some ideas of what you've been in favor of recently - why you voted for Bernie or Hillary or whoever. Make a list, and bullet-point those ideas so you can rebut the recent bullshit narrative that Liberals are only about blocking Trump and they don't have anything to propose and blah blah blah (Daddy State Rule 1: every accusation is a confession, and sometimes they take the shit they've been guilty of for years and project it onto their opponents)
- Voting Rights and Campaign Finance Reform
- $15 minimum wage
- College tuition help
- Move towards single payer healthcare
- Infrastructure
- Renewable energy and Climate Change
Don't get nuts - keep it to 3 or 4 and always ALWAYS ALWAYS lead with your strongest point, and weave it into a statement of your values.
"I think every adult has the right and the duty to vote. We don't keep our democracy without free and fair elections, and we have to level the playing field so everybody has the same opportunity, and nobody gets to buy the means of making his voice count for more than anybody else's."
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