The Russiagate conspiracy theory

[pileus]

The new investigation of the debunked uranium conspiracy, the new investigation into the emailz, the already known connections between the Clinton campaign and the dossier.  Wonder why all of this is suddenly coming together at the same time?  I'm getting concerned that Fox and the GOP are laying the groundwork for President Hillary Clinton to be impeached.  Hopefully Tim Kaine is ready to step up and heal the nation.

[TerryM]

All Mueller needs to do now is link the WikiLeaks on Hilary through Cambridge Analytica to the Trump campaign:

Title: "Trump campaign data firm 'approached WikiLeaks during US election for Hillary Clinton's deleted emails'"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-wikileaks-julian-assange-cambridge-analytica-hillary-clinton-deleted-emails-a8020111.html

Extract: "A political data firm employed by the Trump campaign sought to work with WikiLeaks, publisher Julian Assange has said.

The proposed partnership was first uncovered by the Daily Beast, which reported that Cambridge Analytica approached the anti-secrecy organisation in an effort to locate the 33,000 emails deleted from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server."

If all of the above took place just as presented:


It shows that the Russians did not collude with Trump's "campaign data firm" re. Hillary's data leaks, because if they did, Trump's "campaign data firm" wouldn't have been approaching Assange for the files.
It also indicates that Assange is telling the truth when he says that Russia was not his source. If Putin was willing to support Trump's campaign, and if Putin was in possession of the "dump", he certainly would have presented them to Trump - rather than having Trump's people trying unsuccessfully to pry them away from Assange.


Remember Seth
Terry

[sidd]

Trump campaign defends Wikileaks publication of DNC emails:

"The Trump campaign's motion to dismiss the case argues that WikiLeaks qualifies as the kind of online service that Congress rendered immune from legal liability through legislation passed more than two decades ago."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/25/trump-campaign-wikileaks-hacked-dnc-emails-244173

Strange bedfellows, indeed.

Assange rebuffed Cambridge Analytica:

--

“I can confirm an approach by Cambridge Analytica [prior to November last year] and can confirm that it was rejected by WikiLeaks,” Assange wrote."

Assange, however, did not specify in his tweet who from Cambridge Analytica approached him or what they sought.

“We have confirmed the approach and rejection only. Not the subject,” Assange later added on Twitter.

--

sidd

[Buddy]

Tick....tick....tick....Donnie.  The sands of time are passing by.

1). I hope the FBI doesn't trace phone calls from Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity to their friend Donnie over the past year.  I would hate to see them get caught up doing things that were against campaign finance laws of New York State.  So I certainly hope they weren't/aren't involved in covering up things that were illegal.  I would hate to see two "journalistic giants" 😉 end up in prison.  For instance....if they were passing information back and forth in order to try and cover up for Donnie's illegalities related to campaign finance law in New York.

2). And I sure hope Donnie's folks weren't getting information that they KNEW was stolen.  My guess is New York State has laws against that.

3). Noose continues to slowly tighten around Donnie's neck.....and he knows he has to get his poll numbers up.  Donnie has TASS/FOX working overtime.

4). I think indictments at Watergate didn't start until Feb or March of 1974 (which is 2018 in RussiaGate).

Amazing just how many people are willing to lie.

[AbruptSLR]

It also indicates that Assange is telling the truth when he says that Russia was not his source. If Putin was willing to support Trump's campaign, and if Putin was in possession of the "dump", he certainly would have presented them to Trump - rather than having Trump's people trying unsuccessfully to pry them away from Assange.

According to 'an official U.S. intelligence assessment', the Russian GRU gave WikiLeaks material stolen from the Democrats:

Title: "Donald Trump Campaign Affiliate Asked To Help WikiLeaks Disseminate Clinton Emails, Report Says"

https://www.inquisitr.com/4578286/donald-trump-wikileaks-hillary-clinton-emails/

Extract: "In an official U.S. intelligence assessment released in January, prior to Trump’s inauguration, the director of National Intelligence said that “the GRU relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks. Moscow most likely chose WikiLeaks because of its self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity.” The GRU is Russia’s “Main Intelligence Directorate,” the military intelligence wing of Russia’s vast state intelligence complex."

[pileus]

Aligning ones self with the GOP, Brietbart, Fox, Alex Jones, Rush, the Kremlin on the debunked Uranium One story, the debunked Seth Rich fantasy, and everything else that's serves as projection and diversion for Trump wrt to Russia is an interesting approach.  Why should you be taken seriously on anything when you fall for this propaganda and fiction and by extension are sympathetic to Trump?  It's one thing to hate Democrats, the DNC, capitalism, and America, but have some cognitive dignity.

[Rob Dekker]

The new investigation of the debunked uranium conspiracy, the new investigation into the emailz, the already known connections between the Clinton campaign and the dossier.  Wonder why all of this is suddenly coming together at the same time?

Maybe after daily Trump scandals (check Seth Meyers) over the past 10 months (or longer) the Republicans want to strike back with some (fake) 'scandals' of their own.

But one thing in this 'dossier' story does not make sense :
If some of the money DNC paid Perkins Coie made it to Fusion, who then paid some of that to Steele, then the DNC did not get any value for their money.

After all the Steele document was published AFTER the elections.

That is like paying for your Halloween costume, but have it delivered after Halloween.
Or receiving your eclipse glasses after the solar eclipse.

[edit] Maybe Fusion or Perkins Coie reasoned that there was not enough evidence in the Steele document to release it to the DNC. That is the main difference with the Trump campaign : While the DNC does fact checking first, Trump just tweets out whatever bold faced lie or accusation comes to his mind. Trump supporters seem to love that.

[TerryM]

ASLR
Obviously what you'd posted 2 above is wrong, or the article by the Inquisitor back in January, that you posted above is wrong.
If Russia had the data and past it on to Wikileaks, it's difficult to imagine that they hadn't kept a copy for their candidate Trump.
Since Trump's campaign people were trying to get the data from Wikileaks, they must not have had possession of the same.


Terry

[TerryM]

Aligning ones self with the GOP, Brietbart, Fox, Alex Jones, Rush, the Kremlin on the debunked Uranium One story, the debunked Seth Rich fantasy, and everything else that's serves as projection and diversion for Trump wrt to Russia is an interesting approach.  Why should you be taken seriously on anything when you fall for this propaganda and fiction and by extension are sympathetic to Trump?  It's one thing to hate Democrats, the DNC, capitalism, and America, but have some cognitive dignity.

You totally missed that I'm against Motherhood & Apple Pie. Do you actually expect a response?
Terry

[SteveMDFP]

ASLR
...

If Russia had the data and past it on to Wikileaks, it's difficult to imagine that they hadn't kept a copy for their candidate Trump.
Since Trump's campaign people were trying to get the data from Wikileaks, they must not have had possession of the same.

Terry

Quite the opposite.  If I wanted to help elect the f***ing moron Trump to the White House, and if I had information injurious to his electoral opponent, I'd give the information to Wikileaks and NEVER give it to Donald.  Donald would be guaranteed to bungle it, and betray the source of the information.
Wikileaks could be provided the emails by some plausible 3rd party.  Zero risk of bumbling. 
Everyone, including the Kremlin, knows Trump is an untrustworthy, bungling moron.

And BTW, in this context, PSA=public service announcement, not "prostate specific antigen." There's nothing gender-biased about the term here.

[Rob Dekker]

I have the feeling that in terms of Russian meddling in the US elections, that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far.

As Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.) stated :

“They took down 50,000 accounts in France. I find it hard to believe they’ve only been able to identify 470 accounts in America.”

I think the right number is 30,000 accounts in France
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-security-facebook/facebook-cracks-down-on-30000-fake-accounts-in-france-idUSKBN17F25G
but Warner has a point.

I think we are just starting to scratch the surface of what happened in the 2016 US elections.

[TerryM]

ASLR
...

If Russia had the data and past it on to Wikileaks, it's difficult to imagine that they hadn't kept a copy for their candidate Trump.
Since Trump's campaign people were trying to get the data from Wikileaks, they must not have had possession of the same.

Terry

Quite the opposite.  If I wanted to help elect the f***ing moron Trump to the White House, and if I had information injurious to his electoral opponent, I'd give the information to Wikileaks and NEVER give it to Donald.  Donald would be guaranteed to bungle it, and betray the source of the information.
Wikileaks could be provided the emails by some plausible 3rd party.  Zero risk of bumbling. 
Everyone, including the Kremlin, knows Trump is an untrustworthy, bungling moron.

And BTW, in this context, PSA=public service announcement, not "prostate specific antigen." There's nothing gender-biased about the term here.

That is certainly one way to explain the situation.
If I wanted to sink Hillary, for crimes real or imagined, and I had access to the DNC's files, I'd feel less disloyal in delivering them to Wikileaks, as opposed to her opponent, or a foreign country.
(Occam's cordless, self cleaning, self sharpening razor)


I'd always preferred Pacific Southwest Airlines, but it lost popularity the further north or inland one went.
Terry

[Buddy]

Not only are we just scraping the surface of RussiaGate.....Donnie has only scratched the surface of what he will do.

Donnie has interviewed 3 US Attirneys for positions in Manhattan NY, Washington DC, and the district in Florida where Mar a Lago is.

And the 3 candidates...one is from Rudy Guiliani's law firm, one is from Trumps personal attorneys law firm, and one is an attorney that was on one of the seasons of The Apprentice.  Donnie is STACKING the US Attorneys office.

Donnie is all in.....Rudy is all in.....Rep Nunez is all in....I think McConnell is all in as well.

This is just NOW starting to get serious...but we have a long way to go...with people who will do or say anything.

Steve Schmidt said that John McCain, Bob Corker, and Jeff Flake should join with the Democrats in the Senate and choose a new majority leader.....Independent Angus Kane from Maine.

Then....that "new majority" with its new Majority leader would have subpoena power...and have more control over the operations of Senate appointments, as well as the operations of legislation.

And I agree with Steve.  And they better hurry up because Mitch McConnell wants to ram through the US Attorney nominations PRONTO.

Donnie is trying to put the courts in his back pocket.

We have only seen the tip of the iceberg of RussiaGate...AND...we have only seen the tip of the iceberg of what Donnie will do.

There will be some extremely chaotic times in the next year...and the serious shit may start to hit the fan pretty soon.

[sidd]

Re:NSA malware leak/Kaspersky

The plot thickens.

Kaspersky has just released more detail and timeline of NSA malware leak. 

https://usa.kaspersky.com/about/press-releases/2017_preliminary-results-of-the-internal-investigation-into-alleged-incident-reported-by-us-media

Kaspersky found NSA malware on a computer in Oct 2014. WSJ alleges this computer belonged to NSA employee. Then at some point the he/she disabled Kaspersky. Then this moron obtained and installed pirated copy of Microsoft Office which was infected with (non NSA) malware which installs backdoor. Backdoor remains active until said moron reenables Kaspersky and runs multiple scans. Kaspersky now (Nov 2015) finds the non NSA malware but also, get this, multiple versions and source code for NSA malware. Kaspersky informs law enforcement in USA.

As Wheeler puts it:

"It’s possible that Kaspersky did inform the FBI, and that FBI routinely gets such notice, but that FBI routinely ignores such notice because they don’t care if NSA is hacking people in the US (which given what we know, is at least sometimes, and would have been during this period, Americans approved for 705(b) surveillance that doesn’t get turned off as is legally required when they return to the US).

In other words, it’s possible that FBI learned about this, but ignored it because they ignore NSA’s illegal hacking the US. Only this time it wasn’t NSA’s illegal hacking, but NSA’s incompetence, which in turn led an NSA hacker to get hacked by … someone else."

https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/10/25/shorter-kaspersky-our-home-av-found-nsas-stolen-tools-six-months-before-nsa-did/

Recall that Kaspersky themselves were under attack in this period, which they detected it in spring 2015.

https://www.kaspersky.com/about/press-releases/2015_duqu-is-back-kaspersky-lab-reveals-cyberattack-on-its-corporate-network-that-also-hit-high-profile-victims-in-western-countries-the-middle-east-and-asia

WSJ reports this attack was Israeli, and that they detected Kaspersky finding of NSA malware, informed NSA.

WSJ reports that the NSA ran Kaspersky honeypots to check Kaspersky telemetry. This is confirmed by Kaspersky in the first link i posted, they later saw multiple instances of Kaspersky on IP range of  the one with initial infection.

The employee who hads NSA malware and a backdoor was clearly NSA developer or close to one.  Also, evidently a fairly stupid guy.

Kaspersky states that they deleted the sourcecode+executables after analysis.  WSJ reports that copies found their way to  Russian intelligence.

sidd

[TerryM]

Why are the DNC leadership running away from Fusion gps?


AFAIK there is no law, or even much of an ethical breach in seeking out a political opponent's weaknesses. Why is everyone so eager to distance themselves from Steele's reports?


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-25/democrats-abandon-hillary-new-old-dnc-deny-knowledge-trump-dossier-funding


Is there some obscure law about hiring investigators from out of state? Was there something fishy in the way they were hired, or in the way they were paid?
I simply don't understand why everyone is so eager to point out that it couldn't have been them that did the deed, when the deed itself seems so innocuous.


I don't believe we've had access to the full dossier yet, could anything found there make a difference?
For that matter, why on earth would Fusion gps's leaders think they needed to plead the 5th? What laws could they possibly have broken?


Terry

[Martin Gisser]

Why are the DNC leadership running away from Fusion gps?


AFAIK there is no law, or even much of an ethical breach in seeking out a political opponent's weaknesses. Why is everyone so eager to distance themselves from Steele's reports?


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-25/democrats-abandon-hillary-new-old-dnc-deny-knowledge-trump-dossier-funding
[...]

Sounds a bit like Trump distancing himself from Manafort, Page, Cambridge Analytica, etc. saying he even didn't know them.
Maybe that's exactly what's behind those stories from the rightwing press. Hillary is just as bad!

The zerohedge headline is perhaps more than just sensationalist:
Democrats Abandon Hillary: 'New' & 'Old' DNC Deny Knowledge Of Trump Dossier Funding
It is disqualifying. The story itself looks kosher, and tells nothing about "distancing from Hillary" - because that is stupid tendentious polit bunk.

So I did the litmus test: Do they get climate science right, at least?
Nope. They sell you the well-known junk scientist Jennifer Marohasy's stuff - and nothing else from science, only polit paranoia.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-24/new-climate-study-throws-wrench-global-warming-debate-our-new-technical-paper-will-l

Conclusion: Thus they could as well report about the merits of burning witches. Crap paper.

[TerryM]

Why are the DNC leadership running away from Fusion gps?


AFAIK there is no law, or even much of an ethical breach in seeking out a political opponent's weaknesses. Why is everyone so eager to distance themselves from Steele's reports?


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-25/democrats-abandon-hillary-new-old-dnc-deny-knowledge-trump-dossier-funding
[...]

Sounds a bit like Trump distancing himself from Manafort, Page, Cambridge Analytica, etc. saying he even didn't know them.
Maybe that's exactly what's behind those stories from the rightwing press. Hillary is just as bad!

The zerohedge headline is perhaps more than just sensationalist:
Democrats Abandon Hillary: 'New' & 'Old' DNC Deny Knowledge Of Trump Dossier Funding
It is disqualifying. The story itself looks kosher, and tells nothing about "distancing from Hillary" - because that is stupid tendentious polit bunk.

So I did the litmus test: Do they get climate science right, at least?
Nope. They sell you the well-known junk scientist Jennifer Marohasy's stuff - and nothing else from science, only polit paranoia.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-24/new-climate-study-throws-wrench-global-warming-debate-our-new-technical-paper-will-l

Conclusion: Thus they could as well report about the merits of burning witches. Crap paper.

Martin, they not only are on the wrong side of the climate issue - they have a real hate on for Canadians!


This story seems legit (sans Header & spin), as I'd read earlier of the "New DNC" absolving itself from Fusion gps involvement. Perhaps it is simply meant as a comparison to Trump's "I know nothing", but, it doesn't seem a reasonable thing for the DNC to do.


Terry

[Buddy]

Why hasn't Donnie imposed the sanctions on Russia yet that were OVERWHELMINLY approved by both sides in Congress?

Why doesn't Donnie say anything negative about Putin?

Why has everyone in Donnie's cabinet who said they had no contact with Russians....LIED ABOUT IT?

Why is Donnie minimizing his relationship with the analytics company thatt Trumps campaign paid millions to.....and had conversations with Wikileaks?

Tick....tick....tick......😳

[Martin Gisser]

This story seems legit (sans Header & spin), as I'd read earlier of the "New DNC" absolving itself from Fusion gps involvement. Perhaps it is simply meant as a comparison to Trump's "I know nothing", but, it doesn't seem a reasonable thing for the DNC to do.

Yes, legit. But I won't say they are absolving themselves. It may look a bit puzzling that the DNC didn't take advantage of the Fusion GPS work, or, was not made aware of it. But then, that would be not the only screw up of the Dems...

[Edit: added a "not". But see #1474 below]

[AbruptSLR]

Why are the DNC leadership running away from Fusion gps?

The linked Wikipedia article describes the timeline about the dossier released by BuzzFeed in January 2017.  I think that the DNC is not running away from Fusion gps, I think that they are just letting first the intelligence community and now Mueller (who has interviewed Steele) take the lead in verifying the allegations in the dossier.

Title: "Donald Trump–Russia dossier"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%E2%80%93Russia_dossier

[sidd]

FBI to turn over Steele files to House Intelligence committee:

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/26/trump-dossier-fbi-congress-244207

sidd

[sidd]

Twitter tried to get RT to buy election advertising:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/357343-twitter-didnt-tell-senate-intel-about-rt-pitch-to-buy-election-ads

sidd

[sidd]

Nobody knew nuttn:

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/357240-dnc-wasserman-schultz-say-they-were-unaware-of-dossier-payments

sidd

[AbruptSLR]

The linked article on LawNewz concludes that it is likely that the Trump Campaign broke the law by requesting emails from Assange.  I am sure that Mueller has made the same conclusion (which might help swing the 2018 election):

Title: "ANALYSIS: Trump Campaign Likely Broke Law By Requesting Emails From Assange"

https://lawnewz.com/high-profile/analysis-trump-campaign-likely-broke-law-by-requesting-emails-from-assange/

Extract: "First, does the information Nix reportedly requested count as a “thing of value?” It’s certainly possible. Information has been deemed to count as a campaign contribution in the past. Polling data was considered to be a thing of value in a 1990 FEC advisory opinion, but that case involved data that had already been paid for by the donor prior to turning it over to a campaign. Since the data had a monetary value, it was easy to consider it a thing of value. Information alone may not necessarily count.

That being said, if there is evidence that Nix planned to pay Assange, or that Assange has charged for similar services, that might be enough.

The second question is whether the Trump campaign even knew about this. According to the Daily Beast report, no members of Trump’s campaign were included on Nix’s email. Still, one person included was Rebekah Mercer, who, along with her father Robert Mercer, have been accused by the Campaign Legal Center of having “de facto control” of Trump’s campaign. An FEC complaint filed by the CLC in October noted that Rebekah Mercer ran a pro-Trump SuperPAC that paid Cambridge Analytica, which happens to be owned by Robert Mercer. That same complaint also mentioned that Cambridge Analytica had the same address as Steve Bannon‘s firm. Bannon, of course, was the chief executive of Trump’s campaign."

[sidd]

Gee, nobody really knew nothing. Clinton joins the chorus of ignorance.

"Officials from the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. have said they were unaware that Perkins Coie facilitated the research on their behalf, even though the law firm was using their money to pay for it. Even Mrs. Clinton only found about Mr. Steele’s research after Buzzfeed published the dossier, according to two associates who discussed the matter with her."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/us/politics/steele-dossier-trump-expained.html

sidd

[TerryM]

And yet these ignoramuses, ignorant of what was going on under their own noses, still believe that they are capable of making decisions that could place the whole world in jeopardy.


Unless of course they're just lying, you know, like conspiring among themselves to keep us in ignorance, colluding with others to save their own ass's?


Nah - That's too scary to even contemplate. They're not evil, they're just ignorant.


Terry

[AbruptSLR]

Here are two reports of one expert opinion that Mueller will drop a hammer on Trump before Thanksgiving:

Title: "Juliette Kayyem: 'It Is Safe To Say That Before Thanksgiving ... Something Is Going To Drop With Mueller.'"

http://news.wgbh.org/2017/10/25/local-news/juliette-kayyem-it-safe-say-thanksgiving-something-going-drop-mueller

Extract: "Kayyem speculated that the pace of stories critical of Hillary Clinton represents “a recognition by the White House team” that Mueller is getting close to something substantive as a result of his investigation.

Kayyem pointed out that Mueller has interviewed former Press Secretary Sean Spicer and former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

“This is so close to the Oval Office now, if not in the Oval Office, that all of this [dossier news] to me is just background noise to what Mueller is going to deliver,” she said. “This is more than an obstruction charge. There is something big underlying the obstruction.”"

&

Title: "National Security Expert: Mueller Will Deliver On Trump-Russia Investigation Before Thanksgiving"

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/10/national-security-expert-mueller-will-deliver-on-t.html

Extract: "Juliette Kayyem was the Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs in the Department of Homeland Security. She is currently a national security analyst for CNN, the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a member of Secretary Jeh Johnson’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

In short: she knows her stuff and isn’t one to give in to hyperbole. Keep in mind that her explosive quotes are not based on insider knowledge of the investigation into Russia’s interference, but nonetheless, they are still informed positions based on her familiarity with national security matters.

Kayyem told Boston Public Radio that “I think it is safe to say that before Thanksgiving … something’s going to drop with Mueller. The pace is too much right now. Every 12 hours we’re now dealing with a piece of this story at a pace we haven’t seen.”

She also said that “this is so close to the Oval Office now, if not in the Oval Office, that all of this [dossier news] to me is just background noise to what Mueller is going to deliver. This is more than an obstruction charge. There is something big underlying the obstruction.”"

[Rob Dekker]

Gee, nobody really knew nothing. Clinton joins the chorus of ignorance.

"Officials from the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. have said they were unaware that Perkins Coie facilitated the research on their behalf, even though the law firm was using their money to pay for it. Even Mrs. Clinton only found about Mr. Steele’s research after Buzzfeed published the dossier, according to two associates who discussed the matter with her."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/us/politics/steele-dossier-trump-expained.html

sidd

There is no reason to assume they are not telling the truth.
Let's just assume the DNC DID know about the Steele dossier before the elections.
Wouldn't you think they would publish it, right away ?

What is more troublesome in my opinion, is that the FBI KNEW about the Steele 'dossier' before the elections, but still Comey brought up the (fake) Clinton 'email' issue just weeks before the election, and he did NOT bring up the 'dossier' against Trump.

Why not ?

[Martin Gisser]

Rubio: I would have used info against Trump

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/10/26/rubio-denies-funding-trump-russia-dossier-sot-wolf.cnn/video/playlists/donald-trump-and-russia/

[Martin Gisser]

Tillerson proves he's working for Putin, ignoring Congress:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/10/26/state-department-scraps-sanctions-office/

State Department Scraps Sanctions Office
The Trump administration is three weeks late on Russia sanctions. But it’s killed the office that coordinates them.
[...]
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson eliminated the Coordinator for Sanctions Policy office, which had been led by a veteran ambassador-rank diplomat with at least five staff, as part of an overhaul of the department, former diplomats and congressional sources told Foreign Policy.
[...]
The sanctions office was dissolved after the administration missed a key Oct. 1 deadline to implement new penalties against Russia adopted by Congress in August.

[Susan Anderson]

Cute item today. Putin wants control of the world's internet, suggests we trust them to monitor the world's communications. Russia is pushing to control cyberspace. We should all be worried. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/russia-is-pushing-to-control-cyberspace-we-should-all-be-worried/2017/10/24/7014bcc6-b8f1-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html?utm_term=.bc7cbdb8f17d

ps. way out of date, but Jill Stein is not a true green. I wish we did have a viable Green party (still a big fan of Al Gore), but she's a shrill opportunist. Aside from her peculiar embrace of conspiracy ideation in things like antivax, here's a picture worth a thousand words:

[pileus]

Reports out that Mueller has filed first charges, likely Manafort.  EVERYTHING you saw from Trump, Fox, the GOP, and their sycophants this week about Clinton and Russia was pure deflection and propaganda, right from the Kremlin playbook.

Saturday Night Massacre II likely coming.  The AG for the Eastern District of VA "resigned" today.  You can be lock solid sure this is the first domino in the process to fire Mueller.  Trump will not risk being exposed for what he is: a criminal and a traitor.

[Buddy]

I expect to see McCain, Flake, Corker to combine with Democrats to get McConell out as Majority leader in the Senate.

As I said many months ago....Mueller will be fired.  This is going to be an ugly weekend. 

[pileus]

Confirmation from the Wall Street Journal.  You'd think it will be Manafort or Flynn.  Trump would probably do a preemptive pardon, try to fire Mueller, and incite general chaos among his base.  GOP congress won't likely do anything until they realize the dreams of tax cuts for the rich are dead, for now.

First Charges Filed in Russia Probe Led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller
At least one defendant is expected to be taken into custody as soon as Monday

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/first-charges-filed-in-russia-probe-led-by-special-counsel-robert-mueller-1509161000

[Jim Pettit]

Reuters has confirmed as well...

FWIW, just guessing here, but I don't think we'll see just one indictment handed down this coming week, or just one person indicted. Mueller obviously wants to a) move fast, b) move accurately, and c) move up the ladder by applying prosecutorial pressure on those on the lower rungs so they'll be eager to flip. With that in mind, it's possible that this first batch of indictments may, in addition to the likely Manafort and Flynn, even include some members of Congress. Rohrbacher? Nunes?

On a very related note, check out Roger Stone's Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr) to see what someone in full We're-Guilty-As-Hell-And-We-Know-It meltdown mode looks like. I caught a 15" hurricane-stranded rat in a spring trap a few weeks ago, and that rat was no more angry about being caught than is Stone. But a warning: if you're offended easily by vulgar language, you may want to stay away.

[pileus]

Reuters has confirmed as well...

FWIW, just guessing here, but I don't think we'll see just one indictment handed down this coming week, or just one person indicted. Mueller obviously wants to a) move fast, b) move accurately, and c) move up the ladder by applying prosecutorial pressure on those on the lower rungs so they'll be eager to flip. With that in mind, it's possible that this first batch of indictments may, in addition to the likely Manafort and Flynn, even include some members of Congress. Rohrbacher? Nunes?

On a very related note, check out Roger Stone's Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr) to see what someone in full We're-Guilty-As-Hell-And-We-Know-It meltdown mode looks like. I caught a 15" hurricane-stranded rat in a spring trap a few weeks ago, and that rat was no more angry about being caught than is Stone. But a warning: if you're offended easily by vulgar language, you may want to stay away.

Seems like Manafort, Flynn, Kushner, and Carter Paige would be the most likely first level targets based on what we know, but it will be fascinating to watch the coming days unfold. It would be great to see Stone ensured in some way.  Whoever it is, it feels like a new level of chaos will be unleashed.

[Buddy]

In Watergate....the first indictments for the coverup were done on March 1, 1974.  So we are slightly more than 4 months AHEAD of the Watergate timeline re indictments.

Nixons Attorney General + Haldeman + Erlichman + 4 others...collectively known as the Watergate 7 were indicted on that day.

Pretty amazing to me that we already have indictments in a case that is MUCH broader in scope...and much more complicated (money laundering....foreign banks...hundreds of companies...Congressmen, etc).

If I were Jason Chaffetz....Nunez...Rhorbach....Republican National Committee...Rudy G...Jeff Sessions...and a whole host of Donnie's administration....including fake Christian Sarah Huckabee....I might not get a lot of sleep this weekend. 😬

OK Donnie.....ball is in your court....and you are down two sets and we are now in the third set.  What are you going to do now?  Play more aggressive in the third set?  Fire Mueller?  Look for a military situation to accelerate?  Your serve Donnie....🎾 😳

[Buddy]

Hmmmmmm. I wonder how much 💩 Would hit the fan if Kushner were arrested on Monday?

[Martin Gisser]

In Watergate....

Keith Olbermann tweets:

On Mueller: Nixon’s Massacre followed the last Saturday game of the ‘73 World Series. The last Sat. game of the ‘17 World Series is tonight
6:54 AM - 28 Oct 2017

https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/924273270966407168

Fresh popcorn please!

[pileus]

It's a really creative piece of video editing.  Although disappointed not to see Don Jr being perp walked.

[Martin Gisser]

Putin:

But all of those vows you made
Were never to be
Though we're apart
You're part of me still
For you were my thrill
On Blueberry Hill

[Buddy]

LOVE the Mueller Time video.  A little humor is good....especially on such a dark and dangerous issue.  Crazy week ahead....that is for sure.

I can't even imagine the White House right now.  I expect them to have all guns blazing.  I see Roger Stones Twitter account was suspended.

Strap in...

[Rob Dekker]

Martin, that "Mueller Time!" video is great and very funny.
But that Putin video spoiled it. It's annoying. Why did you post it ?

Back to real life, the big question of course is, WHO is indicted ?
It better be good, because if it is just Manafort, for an offense in Ukraine, the right-wing press is going to have a field day with Mueller.

Next week is going to be very interesting.

[budmantis]

Martin, that "Mueller Time!" video is great and very funny.
But that Putin video spoiled it. It's annoying. Why did you post it ?

Back to real life, the big question of course is, WHO is indicted ?
It better be good, because if it is just Manafort, for an offense in Ukraine, the right-wing press is going to have a field day with Mueller.

Next week is going to be very interesting.

Come on Rob, lighten up! Martin, that Putin clip was great. Even autocrats can love the blues!

BudM

[Rob Dekker]

Come on Rob, lighten up! Martin, that Putin clip was great. Even autocrats can love the blues!

Would you say the same thing if Hitler would be singing a song and getting a standing ovation for it ?

Seriously, this is a guy who annexed a portion of a neighboring country, then started a war in that country where 10,000 people got killed, and 1.7 million got displaced, then he shot down an international airliner killing 298 innocent people, and interfered in the elections in 27 countries, and then denied everything.

I don't like this guy. OK ? I don't like him singing and getting a standing ovation.
It's annoying to say the least.

And I don't understand why Martin posted it. Putin singing seems to have little relation to the Mueller investigation.

[Rob Dekker]

The big question of course is, WHO is indicted ?
It better be good, because if it is just Manafort, for an offense in Ukraine, the right-wing press is going to have a field day with Mueller.

Next week is going to be very interesting.

[Martin Gisser]

Didn't like the Putin video either But still better than a singing Trump Oh, wait...

[Buddy]

I suspect that any indictments coming this week would most likely be for Flynn and anyone else that had "obvious" violations that were relatively easy to track.  Manafort would be my second choice...

I also suspect that indictments may trickle out over the next 6 - 12 months.  Some of the money laundering and financial issues are likely to take much longer to track down.

I suppose that someone could also be indicted this week on some of the more obvious issues...and then indicted later on a more complex matter as it unfolds.

Mueller remains in place....for now....but how will Donnie Sr react when Donnie Jr...or Kushner are cuffed in coming weeks/months?

And what will Lying Sarah pull out of her ass on Monday? 😱

[Buddy]

Two things to watch:

1)  Don't forget about NY attorney general Eric Schneiderman.  He will be the one to try and put Donnie and kids in jail. 

2). New Jersey governors race....the Democrat is in the lead.  The AG in New Jersey is appointed by the governor.  If Dem wins..new AG could bring charges against Kushner and/or Trumps in the next year or so.

[budmantis]

Come on Rob, lighten up! Martin, that Putin clip was great. Even autocrats can love the blues!

Would you say the same thing if Hitler would be singing a song and getting a standing ovation for it ?

Seriously, this is a guy who annexed a portion of a neighboring country, then started a war in that country where 10,000 people got killed, and 1.7 million got displaced, then he shot down an international airliner killing 298 innocent people, and interfered in the elections in 27 countries, and then denied everything.

I don't like this guy. OK ? I don't like him singing and getting a standing ovation.
It's annoying to say the least.

And I don't understand why Martin posted it. Putin singing seems to have little relation to the Mueller investigation.

Watching Putin trying to sing that song with his Russian accent was hilarious in my opinion. What turned my stomach was watching Kevin Costner, Goldie Hawn and other Hollywood elites applaud Putin.

BudM