Special Counsel Robert Mueller adds prosecutor who specializes in illegal foreign bribery to his team.

Courtesy of Reuters:

 A former U.S. Justice Department official has become the latest lawyer to join special counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election, a spokesman for the team confirmed. 

Greg Andres started on Tuesday, becoming the 16th lawyer on the team, said Josh Stueve, a spokesman for the special counsel. 

Most recently a white-collar criminal defense lawyer with New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, Andres, 50, served at the Justice Department from 2010 to 2012. He was deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division, where he oversaw the fraud unit and managed the program that targeted illegal foreign bribery.

Well now, isn't THAT interesting?

Seems to me that Special Counsel Mueller has a potential lead.

Popcorn anyone?

Mitch McConnell attempts to bribe Alaskan Senators into supporting Trumpcare.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The latest version of the Senate health care bill has a host of provisions designed to woo hesitant lawmakers — but perhaps none is more blatant than a change targeted at Alaska’s two GOP senators. 

Both Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski have not committed to supporting the proposal, and Murkowski has been one of the harshest critics of the bill’s closed-door drafting process.

Mich McConnell cannot afford to lose any more votes, so this is how desperate he has become:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., apparently hopes to appeal to Murkowski by slipping in a provision that could allow her state to access more than $1 billion in federal money. 

States with high premiums would receive access to a $182 billion fund designed to stabilize their insurance exchanges. One percent of that money would be earmarked specifically for states that have premiums more than 75 percent higher than the national average — and Alaska is the only state that would meet the standard. 

This means the state could get more than $1.8 billion over the next decade. Alaska has some of the highest health care costs in the nation because of its remoteness and lack of medical facilities in many rural areas. 

Sullivan said that the program, dubbed the “Kodiak Kickback” or “Polar Payoff” by pundits, would serve as a big boost for his state.

Dan Sullivan is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Koch brothers, so he will vote as they tell him to.

Murkowski on the other hand at least has some semblance of independence, though she will vote in what ever way will ensure her reelection.

So I guess as Alaskans we need to pressure her into doing the right thing, for all of her wrong reasons.

Personally as an Alaskan I do not want to be singled out so that we are protected from a policy that hurts millions of my fellow Americans. And I was raised to believe that Alaskans were kinder and more giving than those living in other parts of the United States.

That may not be as true anymore, but back in the day when all we had was each other to survive in one of the harshest climates on the planet, nobody sat in a broken down car on the side of the road for more than a few minutes without somebody stopping to help.

And nobody went hungry in the winter without the community coming together to help their family get enough to eat and warm clothes to wear.

THAT is who we used to be, and THAT is how many of us still would still like to see ourselves.

We cannot have while others have not.

So Lisa Murkowski needs to vote NO on this bill, and then needs to lead the GOP to work together with the Democrats to fix Obamacare and make it work better for ALL of us.

THAT is how she ensures her reelection.

Trump's buddy in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, may be facing indictment on bribery charges.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Police are likely to recommend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted following an investigation into bribery allegations, national broadcaster Channel 2 has reported. 

Multiple investigations into the leader were opened, but Case 1000 – which allegedly involves illegal gifts – was being treated as separate to the other ongoing investigations. 

The TV channel reported that Case 1000 was to be closed with a recommendation to indict the Israeli leader in the next six weeks. 

Mr Netanyahu was reportedly questioned under police caution three times as part of the inquiry. He is expected to be interviewed once more before the probe closes.

The leader is accused of accepting of tens of thousands of dollars in gifts – including suits and cigars – from wealthy businessmen. He has vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

Well now we know why Donald Trump gets along so well with the Israel Prime Minister. 

Corrupt pieces of shit have so much in common with other corrupt pieces of shit.

Good question. Update!

And the thing is that right now the media is working over time in an attempt to slime Hillary with allegations that folks who contributed to the Clinton Foundation got special access, and here they have a factually based story of bribery and political corruption and virtually all you hear are crickets.

Update: Trump claims there is no connection between the donation and the Trump U case.

Here is a picture of Donald Trump walking with the Florida Attorney General that he totally did not pay to dismiss a lawsuit against him just last month.

Donald Trump accuses AG Lynch of accepting a bribe to explain FBI decision not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton.

Courtesy of TPM:  

Republican Donald Trump is accusing Hillary Clinton of bribing Attorney General Loretta Lynch following a report that said Clinton would consider keeping Lynch if she's elected president. 

"It's a bribe!" Trump declared at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tuesday, hours after the FBI said it wouldn't recommend charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. 

Trump was referring to a story in The New York Times that quoted "Democrats close to" Clinton saying she may decide to rehire Lynch. 

Trump says Lynch may have believed that, if she let Clinton off the hook, she'd have four more years on the job.

Damn Trump will literally say anything, and smear anybody's character, to win this election won't he?

And who couldn't have predicted that his response to the news that Hillary will not be indicted would be to roll out yet another conspiracy theory?

By the way there is a great article over at Think Progress which explains why it would have been impossible to indict Hillary Clinton.

Here is how it was summed up in the end:

Setting aside the bare language of the law, there’s also a very important practical reason why officials in Clinton’s position are not typically indicted. The security applied to classified email systems is simply absurd. For this reason, a former CIA general counsel told the Washington Post’s David Ignatius, “’it’s common’ that people end up using unclassified systems to transmit classified information.” “’It’s inevitable, because the classified systems are often cumbersome and lots of people have access to the classified e-mails or cables.’ People who need quick guidance about a sensitive matter often pick up the phone or send a message on an open system. They shouldn’t, but they do.” 

Indicting Clinton would require the Justice Department to apply a legal standard that would endanger countless officials throughout the government, and that would make it impossible for many government offices to function effectively.

It should also be noted that in the actual FBI statement it talks about "e-mail chains" which refers to e-mails that were sent to Clinton and various others within the State Department, some also not using the State Department servers, which would have meant that if Comey had indicted Hillary he would have had to indict a large number of state department staff members who were sending supposedly classified information over, or to, unsecured devices and servers.

Doing so would essentially have shut down the State Department and rendered it ineffective for months, if not years.

But hey the REAL reason she's not being indicted is all because of bribery, right Donald?

Oil company offers Iowa resident teenage prostitute in exchange for the right to build an oil pipeline on his property.

Hughie Tweedy courtesy of Blog for Iowa

Courtesy of Radio Iowa: 

A landowner from southeast Iowa today said he has recorded proof a land agent for the proposed Bakken Pipeline offered to get him an 18-year-old prostitute if he’d grant access rights to his property so the pipeline may pass through. 

A spokeswoman for the pipeline developers issued a written response this afternoon. 

“We are aware of allegations that have been made concerning the conduct of an employee of one of our contractors,” said Vicki Anderson Granado, media relations coordinator for Energy Transfer Partners. “We take these types of matters very seriously and are investigating further.” 

Hughie Tweedy of Montrose said he recorded two of his conversations with the land agent. 

“On these recordings you will hear evidence of my senior pipeline representative offering me not once, not twice, but three times the sexual services of a woman,” Tweedy said, “the last time being a $1200 teenage prostitute.”

This is my favorite part:  

“If an old junkyard dog like me was offered the sexual services of little girls to get my hackles down, I wonder what was offered to the powerbrokers of this state to gain their support for silence,” Tweedy said. “Shame, shame, shame.”

I wish I could be surprised by this, but after living through the seventies and eighties up here in Alaska, when oil companies were throwing money around like confetti, I have seen a number of deals that were signed with one or more of the participant's pants down around their ankles.

This Tweedy guy is a pretty tough cookie. He refers to the oil companies as the "pipeline mafia" and claims they treated him like a hick and a fool.

Apparently he was not quite the fool they were hoping for.

Former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife found guilty of multiple charges. Another GOP star bites the dust.

Courtesy of CBS News: 

Former Gov. Bob McDonnell, R-Va., and his wife, Maureen, have been found guilty on multiple counts of conspiracy, corruption and bribery. 

Bob McDonnell was found guilty on 11 different counts relating to the conspiracy charges. Maureen McDonnell was found guilty on eight of the 11 conspiracy charges as well as one charge of obstruction of official proceeding that occurred during the grand jury investigation. 

The jury reached the verdict after three days of deliberations. There was loud sobbing in the courtroom as the counts were read. 

Sentencing has been set for Jan. 6, according to news reports. The couple could face years of jail time.

Yeah I bet there was sobbing. 

I thought McDonnell staged one of the most cowardly defenses I have ever seen, where he essentially blamed everything on his wife and made sure they were never seen arriving or leaving the courthouse together.

I am not saying that his wife was without fault, but as the Governor HE is the one that was supposed to maintain the ethical standards.

Not only that but McDonnell was offered a plea deal that would have seen him convicted of only one of the charges against, him, and not the corruption one either, and allowed his wife to avoid any jail time at all, and he refused to take it. 

You may remember that McDonnell, also known as Governor Ultrasound, was once touted as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016.

Instead it looks like he might be spending some time behind bars where his prison husband can treat him just as shabbily as he treated his own wife.

Now let's see if we get a similar happy ending from the Rick Perry indictments. 

Mitch McConnell's campaign manager resigns most likely due to 2012 political payola scandal.

Courtesy of TPM:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) campaign manager, Jesse Benton, announced his resignation amid questions about his alleged role in 2012 Iowa bribery scandal. 

According to the Kentucky Herald-Leader, Benton met with McConnell on Friday afternoon and gave the top Senate Republican his letter of resignation, which McConnell accepted. 

Benton's resignation is effective Saturday. 

Gee, I wonder what ole Jesse did to get the heave ho like that?

Could it be bribing an Iowa state Senator into endorsing Ron Paul?

Nah, that couldn't be it, could it?

Personally I think this is a pretty good indication that McConnell is feeling the heat in Kentucky.

There was a time that Mitchy would have circled the wagons to defend his boy and claim it was all a liberal attack to undermine his campaign.

But not anymore, oh no, not anymore.

Former Iowa state senator pleads guilty to taking bribes to stop supporting Michele Bachmann and start supporting Ron Paul for the GOP nomination. Funny thing, turns out Bachmman was paying him as well.

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

A former Iowa state senator pleaded guilty Wednesday to concealing campaign expenditures and obstructing justice as part of an endorsement-for-pay scheme that roiled the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2012. 

Kent Sorenson, of Milo, Iowa, admitted in federal district court that former Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign secretly paid him $73,000 after he dramatically dropped his backing of Rep. Michele Bachmann in late 2011 and endorsed Paul’s White House bid, saying at the time that Bachmann was no longer a viable candidate. 

A furious Bachmann charged then that Sorenson was being paid to flip his support to Paul -- an accusation that Sorenson, Paul and his campaign officials all denied. 

But in court papers filed Wednesday, Sorenson acknowledged that he had been paid by both presidential campaigns.

As it turns out Sorenson was already being paid between $7,000 to $7,500 a month to support Bachmann and the Ron Paul people simply out bid her.

I guess there really is no honor among thieves, or Republicans right?

At the time Sorenson gave this statement to explain his change of heart:

“The decision I am making today is one of the most difficult I have made in my life,” Mr. Sorenson said in a statement. “But given what’s at stake for our country, I have decided I must take this action.” 

Mr. Sorenson said he was “saddened at the dismissive way she’s been treated among some conservatives,” but he said that it had become clear Mrs. Bachmann was no longer a viable contender.

Gee I wonder if it was THIS news that convinced Bachmann to not seek reelection?

By the way, the guy who orchestrated all of this for Ron Paul, Jesse Benton, is now running the reelection campaign for Mitch McConnell.

Color me unsurprised. 

New allegations against Sarah Palin revealed.

I am going to stay out of this one, but I am sure you can decide for yourself just how seriously these allegations could affect our ex-Twitter Quitter.