December 3, 2017

Operative Offered Trump Campaign Kremlin Connection Using N.R.A. Ties

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/us/politics/trump-putin-russia-nra-campaign.html?_r=0&referer=https://t.co/aZHSPQ5DaH?amp=1

WASHINGTON — A conservative operative trumpeting his close ties to the National Rifle Association and Russia told a Trump campaign adviser last year that he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, according to an email sent to the Trump campaign.

A May 2016 email to the campaign adviser, Rick Dearborn, bore the subject line “Kremlin Connection.” In it, the N.R.A. member said he wanted the advice of Mr. Dearborn and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, then a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and Mr. Dearborn’s longtime boss, about how to proceed in connecting the two leaders.

Russia, he wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “‘first contact.’” The email, which was among a trove of campaign-related documents turned over to investigators on Capitol Hill, was described in detail to The New York Times.

(snip)

The emailed outreach from the conservative operative to Mr. Dearborn came far earlier, around the same time that Russians were trying to make other connections to the Trump campaign. Another contact came through an American advocate for Christian and veterans causes, and together, the outreach shows how, as Mr. Trump closed in on the nomination, Russians were using three foundational pillars of the Republican Party — guns, veterans and Christian conservatives — to try to make contact with his unorthodox campaign.

(end snip)

November 27, 2017

OMG A #TrumpRussia Confession in Plain Sight

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/11/24/a-trumprussia-confession-in-plain-sight/

At about 11:14pm on November 6th, 2012, enough states were called for President Obama that he was declared the winner of the election by NBC News. That was quickly followed up by a similar call on Fox News and finally by CNN. At 11:29pm, Donald Trump blasted out the following defiant tweet:

We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
10:29 PM - Nov 6, 2012

Somewhere in Russia, Konstantin Rykov saw Trump’s tweet pop up in his Twitter feed.

(snip)

What was our idea with Donald Trump?

For four years and two days .. it was necessary to get to everyone in the brain and grab all possible means of mass perception of reality. Ensure the victory of Donald in the election of the US President. Then create a political alliance between the United States, France, Russia (and a number of other states) and establish a new world order.

(snip)

On Monday, the leaders of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party traveled to Moscow and signed a “working agreement” with Russia’s ruling United Russia party. In announcing the pact, Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache mentioned that he also met with retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s designated national security adviser, in Trump Tower a few weeks ago. “Internationally, the Freedom Party continues to gain in influence,” he wrote. Norbert Hofer, the Freedom Party candidate who recently lost his bid for Austria’s presidency, traveled to Moscow with Strache.

The Freedom Party, founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s, is one of several far-right, anti-immigrant parties gaining popularity throughout Europe. After signing the cooperative agreement, Strache offered to act as “a neutral and reliable intermediary and partner” between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin.

(snip)

So much more at the link, Cambridge Analytica, Austrian Freedom Party, Nigel Farage...

Explains why Steve King, Marsha Blackburn, and Michelle Bachmann were partying with Nazis at the inaugural. Pootey funds them. Republicans are so far up their ass in this, the sun has quit shining on their faces.

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10029451134

June 21, 2017

DHS Never Ran Audit to See if Votes Were Hacked

http://www.thedailybeast.com/dhs-never-ran-audit-to-see-if-votes-were-hacked

The Department of Homeland Security insists that no one hacked actual votes—but admits it never ran an audit to check.

Despite assurances from the U.S. intelligence community that Russian hacking only influenced the 2016 U.S. election—and didn’t change vote tallies—there was never actually a formal federal audit of those systems, the Department of Homeland Security said.

And while DHS offered free security scans to any state that wanted them, many states—even ones that took up the DHS offer, like Michigan and Maine—either use audit procedures that are considered inadequate or don’t audit their election results at all.

“I think there’s a presumption amongst both the general public and lawmakers that DHS did some sort of investigation,” said Susan Greenhalgh, who serves as Elections Specialist at Verified Voting, a nonprofit devoted to U.S. election integrity.
“It didn’t happen. That doesn’t mean that something happened, but it also means it wasn’t investigated.”

The January report from the Director of National Intelligence, an unprecedented public document of declassified intelligence that serves as the authoritative public U.S. stance on Russia’s role in the election, indicates an assurance neither Russia nor anyone else tampered with vote tallying systems.

(snip)

But DHS’s role in state, county, and local voting systems, a spokesperson admitted to the Daily Beast, was limited.

(end snip)

What I just said in another thread. They can't say it didn't happen if they don't look. And I am betting some of the states like my own won't let them look.

June 20, 2017

Panicking Mitch McConnell Shoves Entire Senate Healthcare Bill Into Mouth As Democrat Walks Past

http://www.theonion.com/article/panicking-mitch-mcconnell-shoves-entire-senate-hea-56289

March 17, 2017

The Irish potato famine was caused by wealthy landlords who prized profit over people

and thousands starved.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/the-irish-potato-famine-was-caused-by-wealthy-landlords-who-prized-profit-over-people-and-thousands-starved/

As many don green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the truth about Irish-Americans has been lost to history books beyond the U.S. shores. Occasionally, a mention of the Potato Famine will surface, but high school textbooks neglect the heartbreaking pain and misery, not to mention deaths, of millions of Irish people that prompted them to migrate to American shores.

Former social studies teacher Bill Bigelow pointed out in Common Dreams that there’s no shortage of information and even study guides to teach students, yet the harrowing tales still remain untold. Bigelow cites flat mentions of the “horrible disaster” the famine caused, saying that they’re describing it as an earthquake or another natural disaster. Somehow it was nothing more than a blight.

Instead, textbooks are filled with only small slices of knowledge that are packed full of boredom, leaving any young person uninterested in searching for more information.

Bigelow suggests Thomas Gallagher’s Paddy’s Lament, which describes the first winter of the famine in which 400,000 Irish peasants starved while wealthy landlords scored millions from exporting food that could have saved them. There was an unbelievable amount of food produced in Ireland, Gallagher explained. Yet, it was all exported abroad.

The Potato Famine only happened to potatoes, prompting Bigelow to ask “why did people starve?” He urges teachers to ask students difficult questions about starvation amid surplus. Doing so can help youth to learn patterns in policy and about consequences of those actions that cut assistance to the poor, like President Donald Trump’s cuts to Meals on Wheels.

(end snip)

Those who ignore the past...

As Bernie says, we are the richest nation on earth. But 49 million Americans struggle to put food on the table.

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-hunger-us

February 19, 2017

A Big Shoe Just Dropped

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-big-shoe-just-dropped

I don't know how much attention it's received. But the appearance of the name of Felix Sater in this new article in the Times is one of the biggest shoes I've seen drop on the Trump story in some time.

The new story explains that a group of Trump operatives, including top lawyer Michael Cohen and fired former campaign manager Paul Manafort, along with a pro-Putin Ukrainian parliamentarian named Andrii V. Artemenko and Mr. Sater are pushing President Trump on a 'peace plan' for Russia and Ukraine.

Cohen recently met with Sater and Artemenko; and Cohen agreed to personally deliver the peace plan (actually a sealed envelope with documents detailing it) to the President when he met with him at the White House. Cohen says he left it with General Flynn days before Flynn was forced to resign

(snip)

Having spent some time studying the matter, the biggest red flags about Donald Trump's ties to Russia and businessmen around Vladimir Putin have always been tied to the Trump SoHo building project in Lower Manhattan, from the first decade of this century. I base my knowledge of this on this rather cursory but still quite good April 2016 article from the Times and my own limited snooping around the Outer Boroughs Russian and Ukrainian emigre press. (I summarized the most salient details of the earlier Times article in Item #3 of this post.) This was a key project, perhaps the key project in the post-bankruptcy era in which Trump appeared heavily reliant on Russian funds to finance his projects. Sater was at the center of that project. The details only came to light after the project got bogged down in a complicated series of lawsuits.

After the lawyers got involved, Trump said he barely knew who Sater was. But there is voluminous evidence that Sater, a Russian emigrant, was key to channeling Russian capital to Trump for years. Sater is also a multiple felon and at least a one-time FBI informant. Bayrock Capital, where he worked was located in Trump Tower and he himself worked as a special advisor to Trump. Again, read the Times article to get a flavor of his ties to Trump, the Trump SoHo project and Russia. For my money there's no better place to start to understand the Trump/Russia issue. (end snip)

(end snip)

February 13, 2017

So, Miller has announced the coup, and Dicktater Trump tweeted his support.

Miller sayuz that the powers of the Preznit will be vast, and will not be questioned. Twitler tweets that he is proud how Miller represented him.

Whoever stands with this, stands for the coup.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/12/trump-senior-adviser-claims-trumps-power-questioned.html

WH Sr. Policy Adviser Stephen Miller: "The powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/830804130692268032

Congratulations Stephen Miller- on representing me this morning on the various Sunday morning shows. Great job!

Let the impeachment engines begin.

January 14, 2017

Kansas election officials threw out thousands of ballots

http://cjonline.com/news/local/2017-01-14/kansas-election-officials-threw-out-thousands-ballots#

WICHITA — Kansas election officials threw out thousands of uncounted provisional ballots cast in November, mostly because the state had no record that those residents were registered voters.

Some local election officials are now voicing concerns about instances of lost registrations from people who filled out applications on Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s online site and at motor vehicle offices, but whose names never showed up on poll books, voter rolls or even a list of people whose applications weren’t complete. Some voters had date-stamped, computer screenshots showing they successfully completed their voter registration.

(snip)

What troubles local election officials is an increasing number of people in the last two election cycles who say their voter registration applications were completed online or at driver’s license offices, but whose names never made it to county election offices to be added to local voter rolls. The extent of that problem is unknown. Douglas County was the only county AP found that specifically tracked provisional ballots cast by people in November who claimed their registrations were lost.

Kobach’s office has not yet compiled a statewide count of how many provisional ballots were discarded. Numbers that The Associated Press obtained from county election offices and the League of Women Voters for the state’s 11 largest counties show that 8,864 ballots cast were not counted, slightly more than 1 percent of votes cast in those counties. The reasons include lack of proper identification at polls, not providing proof of citizenship at registration, and not signing or filling out the advance ballot envelope correctly. More than half of ballots were tossed out because there was no record the person was a registered voter.

(end snip)

December 19, 2016

Under political pressure, Kuwait cancels major event at Four Seasons, switches to Trumps D.C. hotel

https://thinkprogress.org/under-political-pressure-kuwait-cancels-major-event-at-four-seasons-switches-to-trumps-d-c-1f204315d513#.ldp6n6lg6

The Embassy of Kuwait allegedly cancelled a contract with a Washington, D.C. hotel days after the presidential election, citing political pressure to hold its National Day celebration at the Trump International Hotel instead.

A source tells ThinkProgress that the Kuwaiti embassy, which has regularly held the event at the Four Seasons in Georgetown, abruptly canceled its reservation after members of the Trump Organization pressured the ambassador to hold the event at the hotel owned by the president-elect. The source, who has direct knowledge of the arrangements between the hotels and the embassy, spoke to ThinkProgress on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly. ThinkProgress was also able to review documentary evidence confirming the source’s account.

In the early fall, the Kuwaiti Embassy signed a contract with the Four Seasons. But after the election, members of the Trump Organization contacted the Ambassador of Kuwait, Salem Al-Sabah, and encouraged him to move his event to Trump’s D.C. hotel, the source said.

(snip)

One looms large over the apparent hotel deal with the Kuwaitis: The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the president from receiving money from a foreign government or head of state.

According to Democratic and Republican legal experts, such a payment is not only unconstitutional, it’s an impeachable offense.

(end snip)

December 19, 2016

Judge orders unsealing of Clinton email probe search warrant

Source: Reuters

A U.S. judge on Monday ordered the unsealing of the application used to obtain a search warrant that allowed the FBI to gain access to emails related to Democratic nominee Hillary Clintons private server shortly before the Nov. 8 presidential election.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan directed the release by Tuesday of redacted materials used to obtain a search warrant after Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey informed Congress of newly discovered emails on Oct. 28.

end snip

edited to add Reuters link

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-idUSKBN148213



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/judge-orders-unsealing-of-clinton-email-probe-search-warrant/