Trump's attorney Michael Cohen abruptly drops his suit against Buzzfeed and Fusion GPS. Gee, I wonder why?

Courtesy of Politico: 

Embattled attorney Michael Cohen has dropped a pair of much-touted libel suits against BuzzFeed and the private investigation firm Fusion GPS over publication of the so-called dossier detailing alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia. 

Cohen abandoned the suits late Wednesday as he continues to fight to recover documents and electronic files seized from his home, office and hotel room last week by federal authorities as part of what appears to be a broad criminal investigation into his conduct. 

"The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one," Cohen's attorney David Schwartz said. "We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen’s rights was — and still remains — important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention, and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits." 

The dossier claims that Cohen met with Russian operatives somewhere in Europe, including Prague, to attend a meeting to “clean up the mess” created by public disclosures of other Trump associates’ reported ties to Russia. 

So why would Cohen suddenly drop these lawsuits?

A couple of reasons spring to mind.

For one Cohen is under criminal investigation, and being sued for defamation by the attorney for Stormy Daniels.

That means he would be involved in at least three legal battles at the same time, one of which might see him face time in a federal prison.

That is a lot of money be spreading around. Even if he is rich, there is a limit. 

The other reason is discovery in the Fusion GPS and Buzzfeed cases.

Any evidence that Cohen has to reveal to battle them in court is likely going to then be made available to the media, and will definitely be available to the Mueller team.

And as we have witnessed before team Mueller are known for jumping on newly revealed information quickly and decisively.

In response to all of this Cohen might not remain Trump's personal attorney for long.

In fact one of Trump's past legal representatives has reportedly told Trump he cannot Trust Michael Cohen.

Courtesy of Slate: 

One of President Donald Trump’s longtime legal advisers said he warned the president in a phone call Friday that Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and close friend, would turn against the president and cooperate with federal prosecutors if faced with criminal charges.

Mr. Goldberg said he cautioned the president not to trust Mr. Cohen. On a scale of 100 to 1, where 100 is fully protecting the president, Mr. Cohen “isn’t even a 1,” he said he told Mr. Trump…. In the call, Mr. Goldberg [-] said he told the president Mr. Cohen could even agree to wear a wire and try to record conversations with Mr. Trump. “You have to be alert,” Mr. Goldberg said he told the president. “I don’t care what Michael says.”

Of course IF Trump fires Cohen that would then give him less reason to go out on a limb to protect his former boss. 

You know it is almost as if Trump is being outmaneuvered on all sides.

Actor/director Jordan Peele manipulates video of Barack Obama to make statement about fake news.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

“We’re entering an era in which our enemies can make it look like anyone is saying anything at any point in time — even if they would never say those things,” says “Obama,” his lips moving in perfect sync with his words as they become increasingly bizarre. “So, for instance, they could have me say things like, I don’t know, [Black Panther’s] Killmonger was right! Or Ben Carson is in the sunken place! Or, how ’bout this: Simply, President Trump is a total and complete dipshit.” 

As the video soon reveals, the man speaking is not the former commander-in-chief, but rather Oscar-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele with a warning for viewers about trusting material they encounter online. 

“This is a dangerous time. Moving forward, we need to be more vigilant with what we trust from the internet,” says Peele as Obama. 

The PSA for the Internet Age was a project first imagined by Peele and BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti, the filmmaker’s brother-in-law. 

The pair wanted to warn the public about the rapidly evolving threat posed by digital misinformation after discussions between them about new technologies and the erosion of a shared reality.

Okay I am not going to lie, that is straight up terrifying.

And not so much because somebody MIGHT create a fake video of somebody saying something shocking or controversial (We know that they will.), but that it allows people caught on tape saying something shocking or controversial to claim that THEY were the target of video manipulation.

Think about it.

This means that news outlets might broadcast a completely legitimate video of Donald Trump saying something truly stupid or embarrassing and the Right Wing media can manipulate their own video, claim it is the real one, and call the mainstream media version "fake news."

You know it is going to happen. In fact it probably already has.

Former Trump staffers considered "too toxic" to get another job.

It's like a rogues' gallery of "Do not hires."

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

Trump administration officials looking to escape to the private sector are getting a rude awakening: No one wants to hire them. 

Companies and firms who used to recruit from presidential administrations and brag when they were successful in poaching an aide are making the calculation that the risks of bringing on a Trump administration official outweigh the rewards, according to interviews with 10 current and former administration officials, top recruiters, and lobbyists who did not want to be named to talk candidly. BuzzFeed News reached out to them after previously reporting during an especially chaotic stretch for the Trump White House that some officials were trying to leave but finding their job prospects to be “pretty bleak.” That’s especially pronounced for more junior staff. 

The leadership at a prominent, bipartisan Washington public affairs firm went as far as to make an active decision not to hire from the Trump White House because of the "reputational risk" associated with it, a former White House official was recently told. The official asked BuzzFeed News not to disclose the name of the firm. 

In another case, a White House official said he was rejected out of the blue for a job after being given indications he would be hired and was explicitly told his affiliation with the Trump White House had been a problem for some at the company. 

The realities of the grim job prospects have also become clear to two associates who worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign but never went into the administration. They told BuzzFeed News they’ve been offering some of their former colleagues who now work at the White House regular advice in recent months on how to land job opportunities, but so far those colleagues have been unsuccessful. Both also said they were glad they ultimately chose not to join the administration after seeing their friends struggle.

I can't say that I blame these companies.

If you are either ignorant, unethical, or immoral enough to actually work for Donald Trump I would not even trust you enough to care for a houseplant while I was on vacation. 

I want nothing to do with a person so lacking in intelligence that they voted for Donald Trump, I would certainly not want to work alongside a person who actually sold their soul to be employed by him.

Cable news analyst quits and sends final message to his Fox News peers.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

On March 1st, I informed Fox that I would not renew my contract. The purpose of this message to all of you is twofold: 

First, I must thank each of you for the cooperation and support you've shown me over the years. Those working off-camera, the bookers and producers, don't often get the recognition you deserve, but I want you to know that I have always appreciated the challenges you face and the skill with which you master them.

Second, I feel compelled to explain why I have to leave. Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to "support and defend the Constitution," and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed. 

In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts--who have never served our country in any capacity--dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller--all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of "deep-state" machinations-- I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit. 

As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin's agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the "nothing-burger" has been covered with Russian dressing all along. And by the way: As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true--that's how the Russians do things.. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow. 

I do not apply the above criticisms in full to Fox Business, where numerous hosts retain a respect for facts and maintain a measure of integrity (nor is every host at Fox News a propaganda mouthpiece--some have shown courage). I have enjoyed and valued my relationship with Fox Business, and I will miss a number of hosts and staff members. You're the grown-ups. 

Also, I deeply respect the hard-news reporters at Fox, who continue to do their best as talented professionals in a poisoned environment. These are some of the best men and women in the business.. 

So, to all of you: Thanks, and, as our president's favorite world leader would say, "Das vidanya."

Okay that last remark was right on target.

The above is a message from now retired Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters, and former Fox News "expert."

There has been virtually no time in the past where I have found anything admirable about this guy, but apparently there is an ethical line that even HE will not cross.

Now let's watch and see if any other Fox News folks reach there limit in the next few months. 

Cambridge Analytica boss caught on camera offering to hire sex workers and offer bribes to compromise politicians.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

The boss of Cambridge Analytica, the analytics firm at the centre of an international storm over the misuse of Facebook user data, has been caught on camera bragging about how the company could blackmail political candidates with sex workers, and telling a prospective client that it has been secretly operating around the world to campaign in elections. 

In an undercover operation by Britain's Channel 4 News, CEO Alexander Nix and two other high-ranking Cambridge Analytica staff took meetings with a reporter posing as a fixer who wanted the data firm's help getting candidates elected in Sri Lanka. 

On Monday evening, Channel 4 broadcast undercover footage from four meetings across three months, with Nix telling the reporter that one of the services of Cambridge Analytica could be to “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”, adding that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”. 

Nix also told the undercover reporter: “We’ll offer a large amount of money to the candidate, to finance his campaign in exchange for land, for instance. We’ll have the whole thing recorded. We’ll blank out the face of our guy and we post it on the internet.”

Representatives of the company also offered to spread fake news about political opponents in order to help sway the elections.

Well gee, no wonder the Trump campaign wanted to work with these guys, they were singing the same tune.

This is what the whistle blower who outed the company's Facebook data mining operation said about this video:   

Wiley couldn’t speak as to how this relates to the firm’s work for the Trump campaign, but he went on to say “there is a perverse company culture inside of Cambridge Analytica, and as the undercover shows, they’re willing to go to extreme lengths to service their clients, and they’ll do anything that helps, whether it’s legal or not.”

Do we really believe that the Trump campaign did not utilize that skills set?

We also learned yesterday that before they started using their possibly illegal tactics to help Donald Trump, that Cambridge Analytica worked for Ted Cruz.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Before they ran shady data operations for Donald Trump’s campaign, Cambridge Analytica worked for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during his presidential bid. Now, the Texas Republican is under fire for hiring the group amid reports that they improperly used Facebook data. 

The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that the Cruz campaign kept Cambridge Analytica on retainer six months after initial reports of the firm using illicitly-sourced Facebook data surfaced in 2015 — a fact the Texas Democratic Party touted in a news release published on Monday. 

“Ted Cruz will stop at nothing to weasel his way into power, even if it means weaponizing stolen information to manipulate people to like him,” Manny Garcia, the deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, said in a press release. “Cruz’s campaign exploited personal information to create psychological profiles on millions of Americans. All to keep lining the pockets of Cruz’s billionaire super PAC donors — like Robert Mercer, who funded this propaganda machine.”

Color me unsurprised that Cruz would resort to tactics like this, nice to see that it might end up biting him in the ass and costing him this election.

Oh, one more thing.

I appears that Cambridge Anaylytica currently has a contract with our State Department: 

Strategic Communications Laboratories, best known for its work with its offshoot and collaborator Cambridge Analytica, appears to have an open contract with the State Department. DefenseOne first noted the contract on a government contracts database, where it is listed as still open.

Well, I ma going to have to take a really hot shower after this post to get the sleaze off. 

Today's weather report sees Stormy skies ahead.

Courtesy of CNN:

A hearing date has been set for the lawsuit adult film actress Stormy Daniels filed against President Donald Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen's company to dissolve their non-disclosure agreement. 

The hearing has been set for July 12 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. 

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, filed suit last week against the President. The lawsuit said Trump never signed a hush agreement to keep Daniels quiet late in the 2016 campaign about an alleged sexual encounter between the two before Trump was president.

The lawsuit said Cohen had signed it on Trump's behalf and therefore the agreement was void. Both Cohen and the White House have denied the allegations of an affair between Daniels and Trump.

The lawsuit also accuses Cohen of continuing the efforts to "intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and 'shut her up'" by initiating a "bogus" arbitration proceeding last month without notifying Daniels or allowing due process.

Tweet from Daniel's attorney:

The President and Mr. Cohen have purposely ignored our settlement offer, thus doubling down on their efforts to muzzle Ms. Clifford and prevent her from telling the American people what happened. Time to buckle up. #basta

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 13, 2018

So despite every effort by Trump's legal team this thing is definitely still moving forward.

They will of course attempt to put this hearing off, but then they have to be careful not to have it take place too close to the 2018 election cycle, or THAT will be at least one of the questions posed by reporters to GOP candidates.

Daniels has also started a fundraising campaign to help pay her legal fees.

So far it has raised more that $121,000, and that is only since yesterday.

What might be perhaps just as troubling for the Trump camp is that according to her lawyer multiple women have been inspired Daniels to consider filing their own lawsuits against Donald Trump.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed News: 

Multiple women are exploring potential legal cases against President Donald Trump, following the lead of an adult film actor who has filed a lawsuit in order to speak out about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006, her attorney said Wednesday. 

Michael Avenatti, who represents Stephanie Clifford — better known by her professional name, Stormy Daniels — told BuzzFeed News that other women have reached out to him for representation in cases against Trump. Avenatti did not answer questions about the number of women or the nature of their allegations. 

When asked by BuzzFeed News if other women had approached him about potential legal cases, Avenatti replied, "confirmed."

An attorney for Buzzfeed also believes that he has found a way for Daniels to divulge everything she knows about Trump without defying the NDA.

Courtesy of Politico: 

BuzzFeed may have found a legal opening to allow the porn actress Stormy Daniels to discuss her alleged relationship with President Donald Trump and a $130,000 payment she received just before the 2016 election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is now trying to void. 

The same Trump attorney who brokered the deal with Daniels, Michael Cohen, filed a libel suit in January against BuzzFeed and four of its staffers over publication of the so-called dossier compiling accurate, inaccurate and unproven allegations about Trump’s relationship with Russia. 

Now, BuzzFeed is using Cohen’s libel suit as a vehicle to demand that Daniels preserve all records relating to her relationship with Trump, as well as her dealings with Cohen and the payment he has acknowledged arranging in 2016. 

On Tuesday, BuzzFeed’s lawyer wrote to Daniels’ attorney asking that the adult film actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, preserve various categories of documents. Such preservation letters are often a prelude to a subpoena. If Daniels’ testimony is formally demanded in a deposition, the nondisclosure agreement would likely be no obstacle, legal experts said.

What's more this payoff by Michael Cohen is very much like the allegations in the Steele dossier, which identified him as the one "sweeping things under the carpet" for Donald Trump.

Like I said, Stormy skies ahead. 

Trump lawyers looking for way to stop 60 Minutes from airing interview with Stormy Daniels tonight. Update!

@michaelavenatti@StormyDaniels @andersoncooper@60minutes pic.twitter.com/U3pf6DHEaf

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 8, 2018

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

Lawyers associated with President Donald Trump are considering legal action to stop 60 Minutes from airing an interview with Stephanie Clifford, the adult film performer and director who goes by Stormy Daniels, BuzzFeed News has learned. 

“We understand from well-placed sources they are preparing to file for a legal injunction to prevent it from airing,” a person informed of the preparations told BuzzFeed News on Saturday evening. 

It was not immediately clear what legal argument the lawyers would be making to support the considered litigation, and Trump and his legal team often have threatened litigation without following through on those threats in the past.

The action would be the latest in a flurry of developments in a case that began just before the 2016 election when Cohen paid Clifford $130,000 in return for her silence about a sexual relationship she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. At the time, Trump was under intense pressure over comments he’d made about his treatment of women in the run-up to the vote.

The entire way that the Trump team has handled this problem has been clumsy and sophomoric.

It is like one of those stupid sitcoms where the protagonists are trying to break into a room to delete an embarrassing phone message, and it only ends up causing even more problems for them.

Attempting to stop this interview only proves that what Stormy Daniels is going to say is true, and could harm Donald Trump in some way.

Update: So a new update says the interview will not be aired until next Sunday. 

Boy somebody is working overtime to keep this story off of the air.

Remember that little girl was in awe of Michelle Obama's official portrait? Yeah, well her story got even better.

This little girl was awestruck by Michelle Obama's portrait. She believes she "is a queen, and she wants to be a queen as well," her mom tells CNN https://t.co/wzGnHM2E16 pic.twitter.com/SUv6fhNo57

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) March 3, 2018

You may remember when I posted this on Sunday.

Well since then somebody alerted the former First Lady to this story.

You can probably predict what happened next.

Michelle Obama has now met with Parker Curry, the little fan of her portrait I wrote about on Friday https://t.co/xkpYdLc0rI pic.twitter.com/CoFle9c2DV

— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 6, 2018

Parker, I'm so glad I had the chance to meet you today (and for the dance party)! Keep on dreaming big for yourself...and maybe one day I'll proudly look up at a portrait of you! pic.twitter.com/faUVTsYWun

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) March 6, 2018

Damn, here it is so early in the morning and my damn eyes are leaking again.

Conservatives attack credibility of students who survived the school shooting in Florida. Seriously? Update!

As of this morning, the teenaged Florida mass-shooting survivors have variously been criticized as:
-Soros plants
-The biased children of FBI agents
-Too traumatized to have worthwhile opinions about an event that directly involved them https://t.co/YbZmsBGsuL

— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) February 20, 2018

Courtesy of Think Progress:

David Hogg, a senior at the school, was one of the first to appear on national television and demand action. “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together. Come over your politics and get something done,” Hogg said, looking directly into the camera. 

Hogg is now being targeted by Gateway Pundit, a far-right blog that has press credentials from the Trump White House. A post published on Monday by the site’s White House correspondent, Lucian Wintrich, features Hogg’s photo with the word “EXPOSED” stamped in red.

Wintrich says Hogg and other students throw up some “red flags.” The first “red flag” is that Hogg’s father is a retired FBI agent. (Hogg freely admitted this on national television.) The insinuation is that Hogg’s father, who does not even work for the FBI, has tasked his son with talking about gun control to take the heat off the agency. 

Wintrich also uses an edited YouTube video of Hogg having some difficulty answering questions for a taped interview as evidence that Hogg is “heavily coached on lines and is merely reciting a script.” There is no evidence, in the video or elsewhere in the article, supporting this claim. 

Wintrich then drops all pretenses and fully embraces the conspiracy: 

Why would the child of an FBI agent be used as a pawn for anti-Trump rhetoric and anti-gun legislation? Because the FBI is only looking to curb YOUR Constitutional rights and INCREASE their power. We’ve seen similar moves by them many times over. This is just another disgusting example of it.

Is anybody else having a Sandy Hook deja vu?

Some version of this conspiracy theory has now spread across social media.

Pro-Trump media really reaching for attacks on Fla. shooting survivor David Hogg. The latest: True Pundit says Hogg going on a tour of CNN HQ, apparently years ago, is proof that he's up to something. pic.twitter.com/rMi114quJf

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 20, 2018

It has even been embraced by Donald Trump Jr.:

Don Jr. has liked at least two tweets pushing content that attempts to discredit one of the most vocal student survivors of the Parkland school shooting. pic.twitter.com/YI9ANh5dlL

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 20, 2018

And Hogg is not their only target.

Writer for Jim Hoft's The Gateway Pundit now saying student survivors of the Parkland school shooting are "are milking the deaths of their peers for careers" and "only care about their SJW agenda" pic.twitter.com/YAIgguU8tO

— Timothy Johnson (@timothywjohnson) February 20, 2018

Trust me when I say that I have seen the conservatives go low before, but to attack these kids, or suggest that they are "milking the deaths of their peers for careers," is so incredibly disgusting that it literally makes me sick to my stomach.

I understand the fear that the Right is feeling right now, if I saw these kids coming after me and my party I might be wetting my tighty whiteys as well, but all that attacking them accomplishes is to make them even more determined and erase ANY hope of convincing them that the conservatives and Republican party are not their enemies.

To use perhaps too apt of a metaphor the conservatives are essentially shooting themselves in the foot right now.

And while all this is going on a critically clueless conservative journalist is suggesting that the gun control debate needs to wait until people start showing respect to gun owners:

So if you want to stop school shootings it’s not enough just to vent and march. It’s necessary to let people from Red America lead the way, and to show respect to gun owners at all points. There has to be trust and respect first. Then we can strike a compromise on guns as guns, and not some sacred cross in the culture war. 

You know I have heard of "tone deaf" before, but this David Brooks guy is just "deaf deaf."

(Buzzfeed by the way has a rather expansive article on the student's grass roots activism, that essentially drives a stake through the heart of the whole "manipulated by the Left Wing" narrative.)

Update: People are starting to lose their jobs over these smear campaigns.

JUST IN: Aide to Florida GOP lawmaker fired for spreading false claim that shooting survivors are "actors" https://t.co/uY4WGB7IQX pic.twitter.com/revhfMj8aN

— The Hill (@thehill) February 21, 2018

Nice to see a little justice served. 

Yesterday Trump's director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned after it was revealed she bought stock in tobacco companies while serving in that position.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned from her role at the agency this week. 

Fitzgerald's departure was announced by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in a statement on Wednesday morning, citing financial conflicts of interest. 

"Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director. Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period," HHS spokesperson Matt Lloyd wrote in the statement statement. 

On Tuesday, Politico reported that Fitzgerald had traded tobacco stock, including shares in an international tobacco giant Japan Tobacco, after assuming the lead role at the public health agency in July.

What a good idea for the person in charge of helping to protect Americans from preventable disease to attempt to benefit financially by purchasing stock in companies whose product causes the death of millions of people a year.

Seriously, what a great message that sends.


Is ANYBODY that Trump puts in charge of these agencies, actually qualified to be in charge of these agencies?

Okay sorry, I realize that is a stupid question.

Facebook's questionnaire to identify trustworthy news sources leaves a lot to be desired.

Courtesy of BuzzFeed:  

Last week, Facebook said its News Feed would prioritize links from publications its users deemed "trustworthy" in an upcoming survey. Turns out that survey isn't a particularly lengthy or nuanced one. In fact, it's just two questions. 

Here is Facebook's survey — in its entirety: 

Do you recognize the following websites

• Yes 
• No 

How much do you trust each of these domains?

• Entirely 
• A lot 
• Somewhat 
• Barely 
• Not at all 

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed this as the only version of the survey in use. They also confirmed that the questions were prepared by the company itself and not by an outside party.

Uh....is that it?

Do you want InfoWars to be listed as a trusted news outlet.

Because this is how you get InfoWars listed as a trusted news outlet.

Right Wingers and Russian trolls will simply flood the questionnaire with responses and we will end up with Alex Jones, Russia Today, and the White House web page as the only sources listed on our Facebook news feed.

Robert Mueller is now looking at suspicious Russian monetary transactions with American companies, including the possibility that they funneled money through the NRA into Trump's campaign.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, charged with investigating Russian election interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign, is examining these transactions and others by Russian diplomatic personnel, according to a US official with knowledge of the inquiry. The special counsel has broad authority to investigate “any matters” that “may arise” from his investigation, and the official said Mueller’s probe is following leads on suspicious Russian financial activity that may range far beyond the election. 

The transactions reveal: 

One of the people at the center of the investigation, the former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, received $120,000 ten days after the election of Donald Trump. Bankers flagged it to the US government as suspicious in part because the transaction, marked payroll, didn’t fit prior pay patterns. 

Five days after Trump’s inauguration, someone attempted to withdraw $150,000 cash from the embassy’s account — but the embassy’s bank blocked it. Bank employees reported the attempted transaction to the US government because it was abnormal activity for that account. 

From March 8 to April 7, 2014, bankers flagged nearly 30 checks for a total of about $370,000 to embassy employees, who cashed the checks as soon as they received them, making it virtually impossible to trace where the money went. Bank officials noted that the employees had not received similar payments in the past, and that the transactions surrounded the date of a critical referendum on whether parts of Crimea should secede from Ukraine and join Russia — one of Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy concerns and a flash point with the West. 

Over five years, the Russian Cultural Centre — an arm of the government that sponsors classes and performances and is based in Washington, DC — sent $325,000 in checks that banking officials flagged as suspicious. The amounts were not consistent with normal payroll checks and some transactions fell below the $10,000 threshold that triggers a notice to the US government. 

The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, sent more than $2.4 million to small home-improvement companies controlled by a Russian immigrant living not far from there. Between 2013 and March 2017, that contractor’s various companies received about 600 such payments, earmarked for construction jobs at Russian diplomatic compounds. Bankers told the Treasury they did not think those transactions were related to the election but red-flagged them because the businesses seemed too small to have carried out major work on the embassy and because the money was cashed quickly or wired to other accounts. 

Each of these transactions sparked a “suspicious activity report” sent to the US Treasury’s financial crimes unit by Citibank, which handles accounts of the Russian Embassy. 

Along with this suspicious activity Mueller also discovered a connection between the Kremlin and the NRA.

Courtesy of McClatchy:  

The FBI is investigating whether a top Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin illegally funneled money to the National Rifle Association to help Donald Trump win the presidency, two sources familiar with the matter have told McClatchy. 

FBI counterintelligence investigators have focused on the activities of Alexander Torshin, the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank who is known for his close relationships with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the NRA, the sources said. 

It is illegal to use foreign money to influence federal elections. 

It’s unclear how long the Torshin inquiry has been ongoing, but the news comes as Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s sweeping investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including whether the Kremlin colluded with Trump’s campaign, has been heating up. 

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because Mueller’s investigation is confidential and mostly involves classified information. 

It should be noted that the NRA donated 30 million to the Trump campaign, which is three times the amount they donated to Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign. 

Damn that Robert Mueller is a thorough son of a bitch isn't he? 

I cannot tell you how much I hope the NRA is outed for illegal campaign contributions.

Seeing them taken down along with Donald Trump, would just be the cherry on top of the delicious justice sundae for me.

Buzzfeed reports that one fifth of Trump's condominiums have been purchased through secretive cash only transactions, which hide the identity of the buyer. Can you say "money laundering?"

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

More than one-fifth of Donald Trump’s US condominiums have been purchased since the 1980s in secretive, all-cash transactions that enable buyers to avoid legal scrutiny by shielding their finances and identities, a BuzzFeed News investigation has found. 

Records show that more than 1,300 Trump condominiums were bought not by people but by shell companies, and that the purchases were made without a mortgage, avoiding inquiries from lenders. 

Those two characteristics signal that a buyer may be laundering money, the Treasury Department has said in a series of statements since 2016. Treasury’s financial-crimes unit has, in recent years, launched investigations around the country into all-cash shell-company real-estate purchases amid concerns that some such sales may involve money laundering. The agency is considering requiring real-estate professionals to adopt anti-money-laundering programs.

.....

Trump condo sales that match Treasury’s characteristics of possible money laundering totaled $1.5 billion, BuzzFeed News calculated. They accounted for 21% of the 6,400 Trump condos sold in the US. Those figures include condos that Trump developed as well as condos that others developed in his name under licensing deals that pay Trump a fee or a percentage of sales.

Some of the secretive sales date back more than three decades, long before recent worries that Russians tried to influence Trump by pouring millions of dollars into his businesses. 

But a months-long BuzzFeed News examination of every Trump condominium sale in the US shows that such sales surged in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when some Trump businesses were in financial trouble and when Donald Trump Jr. made his now-famous remark about the Trump Organization seeing “a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”  

Buzzfeed goes on to point out that this is not absolute proof of money laundering or criminal activity, but since this is Donald Trump, and he has already been accused of money laundering, then we can rest assured that something unscrupulous is taking place here.

Let's go ahead and throw this on the pile of currently still developing scandals concerning the 45th dude to occupy the White House, shall we?

But let's also make sure to leave room for the dozen or more that are still yet to be revealed as well.

Cause you know they are coming. 

So now we learn that the Russians have managed to inject code into the fingerprint analysis software used by the FBI.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

The fingerprint-analysis software used by the FBI and more than 18,000 other US law enforcement agencies contains code created by a Russian firm with close ties to the Kremlin, according to documents and two whistleblowers. The allegations raise concerns that Russian hackers could gain backdoor access to sensitive biometric information on millions of Americans, or even compromise wider national security and law enforcement computer systems. 

The Russian code was inserted into the fingerprint-analysis software by a French company, said the two whistleblowers, who are former employees of that company. The firm — then a subsidiary of the massive Paris-based conglomerate Safran — deliberately concealed from the FBI the fact that it had purchased the Russian code in a secret deal, they said. 

In recent years, Russian hackers have gained access to everything from the Democratic National Committee’s email servers to the systems of nuclear power companies to the unclassified computers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to US authorities.

This September, the Department of Homeland Security ordered all federal agencies to stop using products made by the Moscow-based company Kaspersky Lab, including its popular antivirus software, and media outlets reported that Russian hackers had exploited it to steal sensitive information on US intelligence programs. The department later clarified that the order didn’t apply to “Kaspersky code embedded in the products of other companies.” The company’s founder, Eugene V. Kaspersky, has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the hack. 

The Russian company whose code ended up in the FBI’s fingerprint-analysis software has Kremlin connections that should raise similar national security concerns, said the whistleblowers, both French nationals who worked in Russia. The Russian company, Papillon AO, boasts in its own publications about its close cooperation with various Russian ministries as well as the Federal Security Service — the intelligence agency known as the FSB that is a successor of the Soviet-era KGB and has been implicated in other hacks of US targets.

Is there any part of our government, law enforcement, or intelligence agencies that have NOT been infiltrated by the Russians?

Not that it makes that much difference anymore, since all the Russians have to do to learn what American spies have uncovered is to show up at the White House and get a briefing from their number one asset.

The Senate Intelligence Committee turns its attention to Jill Stein.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

The top congressional committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has set its sights on the Green Party and its nominee, Jill Stein. 

Dennis Trainor Jr., who worked for the Stein campaign from January to August of 2015, says Stein contacted him on Friday saying the Senate Intelligence Committee had requested that the campaign comply with a document search. 

Trainor, who served as the campaign’s communications director and acting manager during that time, told BuzzFeed News that he was informed of the committee’s request because during his time on the campaign, his personal cell phone was “a primary point of contact” for those looking to reach Stein or the campaign. That included producers from RT News, the Russian state-funded media company that booked Stein for several appearances, Trainor said. 

When asked Monday what the committee was looking for from the Stein campaign, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the committee’s chairman, responded, "collusion with the Russians." Burr said that the committee is "just starting" its work investigating two campaigns, but did not elaborate. 

Stein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

I have long believed that Stein was a Russian asset and now I am very interested in what an investigation of her connections to the Kremlin will reveal. 

I'm going to need a whole new batch of popcorn for this one.

The Trump Administration is considering the idea of outsourcing intelligence gathering and the capture of terrorists to a private company. So many red flags here.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

The White House and CIA have been considering a package of secret proposals to allow former US intelligence officers to run privatized covert actions, intelligence gathering, and propaganda missions, according to three sources who’ve been briefed on or have direct knowledge of the proposals. 

One of the proposals would involve hiring a private company, Amyntor Group, for millions of dollars to set up a large intelligence network and run counterterrorist propaganda efforts, according to the sources. Amyntor’s officials and employees include veterans of a variety of US covert operations, ranging from the Reagan-era Iran–Contra affair to more recent actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Amyntor declined to discuss the proposals, but a lawyer for the company said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that the type of contract being contemplated would be legal “with direction and control by the proper government authority.” 

Another proposal presented to US officials would allow individuals affiliated with the company to help capture wanted terrorists on behalf of the United States. In keeping with that proposal, people close to the company are tracking two specific suspects in a Middle Eastern country, the sources said, for possible “rendition” to the United States. 

A source speaking on behalf of the company stressed that while Amyntor officials are aware of and involved in the rendition plan, the company itself would not be involved.

What the actual fuck folks?

This is clearly an attempt to undermine the CIA and to engage in activities that the agency would never sanction.

Which seems to be supported by comments made by sources:  

Those familiar with the proposals say one of the driving impulses for privatizing some missions is a fear by some supporters of President Donald Trump, outside government, that the CIA bureaucracy has an anti-Trump bias that would thwart efforts to fulfill the president’s objectives. “The system does not work,” one source who is sympathetic to the Amyntor efforts told BuzzFeed News. “The people leaking this to you just want to destroy the president.”

Paranoid much?

The agency itself is located in the same small community of Whitefish, Montana which was also home to the company that received that sweetheart deal to restore electricity to Puerto Rico, and then failed miserably to do so. 

Gee, what a coincidence.

How could Congress even provide oversight to a private company like this, and how would the American people have any confidence that they were not breaking international laws in our name?

Such a bad feeling about this.

Justin Trudeau fights back tears as he apologizes to the indigenous people of Canada for their horrendous treatment they suffered at the hands of the government.

Justin Trudeau fought back tears as he apologized for Canada's role in mistreatment of Indigenous children in residential schools. pic.twitter.com/zEjGH2AOQP

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) November 24, 2017

I was really touched by this video as it brings up our shame as Alaskans for how we treated our own indigenous people.

The white man's government, often using religion as a bludgeon, tore families apart and demanded that native children only call each other by the Biblical names given to them by Christian missionaries/educators and were punished for speaking their own language, or for being slow to adapt to western culture.

The destruction of the native people's sense of identity and connection to their culture was horrific, and is often cited as one of the main causes for suicide and alcoholism even among today's population. 

This shame that Prime Minister Trudeau speaks of is shame that should be shared among the people of Alaska, as well as the people living in the Lower 48.

Our ancestors all participated in the destruction of the history and culture of the people that were here when we arrived, and we have yet to really make amends for what we did.

Trump's National Security Adviser says he has the intelligence of a "kindergartner."

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster mocked President Trump’s intelligence at a private dinner with a powerful tech CEO, according to five sources with knowledge of the conversation. 

Over a July dinner with Oracle CEO Safra Catz — who has been mentioned as a candidate for several potential administration jobs — McMaster bluntly trashed his boss, said the sources, four of whom told BuzzFeed News they heard about the exchange directly from Catz. The top national security official dismissed the president variously as an “idiot” and a “dope” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner,” the sources said. 

A sixth source who was not familiar with the details of the dinner told BuzzFeed News that McMaster had made similarly derogatory comments about Trump’s intelligence to him in private, including that the president lacked the necessary brainpower to understand the matters before the National Security Council. 

Both Oracle and the Trump administration heatedly denied the comments that Catz later recounted.

Keep in mind that just last month Rex Tillerson, Trump's Secretary of State, was also reported to have called Trump "a moron."

At this point I am ALWAYS going to believe other sources as opposed to officials in this White House simply because lying seems to be job one with them.

And in addition to that we can all see for ourselves that Trump is a fucking moron, so how could we not think that members of his cabinet also see that he is a fucking moron?

We have seen numerous reports in the past that Trump is surrounded by babysitters whose job it is to keep him from destroying his presidency, or the country, from within.

I tend to give a lot more validity to those rather than assurances from this White House that it a giant love fest and that everybody respects the president and admires the job he is doing.

P.S. You knew this was coming.

right-wing conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney just blasted out an email w/subject line: "H.R. McMaster Unfit to Serve Following Pattern of Insubordination to President." Cites BuzzFeed story as example. pic.twitter.com/k84tFMwMpg

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 20, 2017

So predictable.

Robert Mercer, huge supporter of Donald Trump, and the man who bankrolls Breitbart, taps out.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

Robert Mercer, the hedge fund billionaire who has come under media scrutiny for his role in helping elect Donald Trump, announced today he would step down from his role as co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies. The decision, announced in a memo to Renaissance employees, followed a BuzzFeed News exposé revealing the connections of Breitbart — partially owned by Mercer — to white nationalists and neo-Nazis. 

Sources familiar with Renaissance informed BuzzFeed News in recent days of significant anger within the company about the report, which revealed that former Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos had cultivated white nationalists and used them to generate ideas and help edit stories on the site. 

Mercer's statement specifically denounces Yiannopoulos and states that "I was mistaken to have supported him, and for several weeks have been in the process of severing all ties with him." He also announced his intention to sell his stake in Breitbart to his daughters. 

Mercer was a major funder of Donald Trump's presidential effort.

That BuzzFeed expose was a huge hit, but there may be other contributing factors as well.

Another old story that gained little traction at the time Nazi-lover, Trump funder, Bannon buddy Robert Mercer owes IRS 7 BILLION DOLLARS. https://t.co/BHedMWfwXP

— Candy A Liberal (@candyasslib) November 2, 2017

Damn! I cannot even imagine HAVING seven billion dollars much less OWING seven billion dollars.

Bob Mercer selling stake in Breitbart won't reduce his legal exposure over owning Cambridge Analytica, likely central to the Mueller probe

— Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) November 2, 2017

That's right, there is an ever increasing possibility that Robert Mercer will be called in to testify before the Mueller investigation, assuming that it has not already happened.

So to be clear, with Mercer's daughter taking over there will still be money flowing to Steven Bannon and Breitbart, but this is still a huge hit to the conservative media, and certainly sends a signal to Donald Trump that NOBODY is safe regardless of their wealth and power. 

(H/T to Crooks and Liars.)

For those wondering why Hillary Clinton did not use the Christopher Steele dossier that her lawyer helped finance during the campaign, the answer is she did not know about it.

Courtesy of CBS News:  

Hillary Clinton only learned about the now-infamous "Trump dossier" after BuzzFeed News posted it, despite the fact that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund it, a source confirmed to CBS News. 

A former British spy, Christopher Steele, complied the explosive allegations in the 35-page dossier for Fusion GPS during the 2016 campaign. In January 2017, BuzzFeed News published the full dossier, though it contained unsubstantiated allegations.

That Clinton was unaware of the Trump dossier was first reported by The New York Times. 

Law firm Perkins Coie, which represented both the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and Clinton campaign lawyer Marc E. Elias confirmed Wednesday it had retained the firm Fusion GPS in April 2016 to "perform a variety of research services." 

I think that the fact that much of the dossier has still not been confirmed is why Elias did not notify Hillary about what it contained.

And if he HAD informed her there is no way that such a careful candidate would have allowed it do be used in campaign ads or mentioned by her surrogates.

To be honest. considering what we know now, it is unlikely that having it out there would have changed the outcome of the election anyhow.   

If the "grab them by the pussy" tape was not enough to turn these people off to that pig, it is highly unlikely that mention of the pee pee tape would have done the job either.