The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    [Trump Scandals & Russian Interference] party like it's 2016

    By PeraclesPlease on Mon, 11/08/2021 - 11:00am |

    Comments

    Deripaska & Steele Dossier


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 12:04pm

    2020 overview if Deripaska/Kilimnik involving, plus Gates admitting how much heavy detailed polling review he & Manafort did with them...


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 05/24/2021 - 7:38pm

    Belarus downs plane, grabs press reporter


     

    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 12:07pm

    hmm Ret. Lt. Col. Vindman expresses interest in following these events:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 4:29pm

    Greenwald Condemns Hijacking, Arrest of Journalist

    "The strongman president of Belarus sent a fighter jet to intercept a European airliner traveling through the country’s airspace on Sunday and ordered the plane to land in the capital, Minsk, where a prominent opposition journalist aboard was then seized, provoking international outrage.....

    .... in Russia — where the state media described last year’s uprising against Mr. Lukashenko as a Western plot — the arrest met with approval among Mr. Putin’s supporters. Margarita Simonyan, editor of the pro-Kremlin RT television network, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Lukashenko “played it beautifully.” 

    link NYT

    Oh wait, Greenwald has said nothing, perhaps because he is a Putin / Russian intelligence asset, an RT regular who has never once criticized Putin.

    https://mediagazer.com/210523/p3


    by NCD on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 4:53pm

    Reminder: RT is propaganda, however smooth or awful it behaves at any moment. The parade of Assange-lovers and others going on have only helped their long game.

    Head of RT, Simonyan-

    I never thought that I would envy Belarus in any way. But now I somehow envy. Old Man performed beautifully.

    3:42 PM · May 23, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 3:02am

    Minsk not nearest airport!!!


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 05/24/2021 - 5:03am


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 12:12pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 05/23/2021 - 8:27pm

    The Rudy that always was

    https://www.salon.com/2021/05/29/rudy-and-me-my-1980s-legal-battle-with-...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 05/29/2021 - 1:37pm

    Javanka's grift


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 05/24/2021 - 10:07am

    Amb. Sondland who paid $1m to be ambassador, out another $1.8m for dealing with Rudy & Pompeo & Trump & getting involved with shaking a foreign country down for dirt on a political opponent.

    Expensive pegging your tarnished star to Donald "MadDog" Trump


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 05/24/2021 - 10:14am

    Manafort dirtier than ever


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 05/24/2021 - 12:38pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 1:34am

    More detail

    https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/politics/justice-dept-appeals-judges...

    Still weird - maybe DoJ wants to retain the right to hide background when it know it's blowing smoke up Congress's ass? Even without Barr? What's Garland thinking?


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 1:59am

    DoJ violators help lead DoJ investigation, write DoJ response -

    what could go wrong?


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 4:00am

    More DoJ memo fuckery

    (so who's running the asylum now?

    Garland's fine with this?)


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 7:31am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 8:47pm

    related WaPo's headine this evening:

    related earlier thread

    NY ATTORNEY GENERAL ADDS 'CRIMINAL CAPACITY' TO PROBE OF TRUMP ORGANIZATION

    from May 18 thru May 19

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 8:55pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 05/25/2021 - 9:49pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 05/26/2021 - 6:33pm

    New Jan 6 analysis


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 05/26/2021 - 9:27pm

    Or maybe co-opted analysis, dunno


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 05/27/2021 - 9:25am


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 05/27/2021 - 5:34pm

    hah hah hah hah, stuck in the pokey ONLY because Trump won't keep touting his lost cause:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 05/27/2021 - 6:28pm

    then there's that our founders apparently thought a dose of violence now and then was healthy? I am interested in what the judge says in response:

    if you haven't heard of it, do note the

      lawsuit filed by House Democrats accusing the organization as well as Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and the Proud Boys of conspiring to incite the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes.


    by artappraiser on Thu, 05/27/2021 - 6:35pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 05/28/2021 - 2:00am


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 05/28/2021 - 3:41am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 05/28/2021 - 1:40pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 05/29/2021 - 1:59pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 05/29/2021 - 5:15pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 05/29/2021 - 7:37pm

    I already put this Bratton/Dowd piece on the Policing thread, but I should point out that he makes a comment about Giuliani in the article:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 05/29/2021 - 11:20pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 05/30/2021 - 9:50pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 05/30/2021 - 10:15pm

    Trump CFO flip soon


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 05/31/2021 - 7:07pm

    TRUMP’S EX-NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER MICHAEL FLYNN CALLS FOR MYANMAR-TYPE COUP IN U.S.

    By rmrd0000 on Mon, 05/31/2021 - 5:32pm |

    Avowed QAnon disciple and confessed felon retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has called for a Myanmar-like military coup in America.

    “It should happen,” Donald Trump’s former national security adviser said in an astonishing declaration at a QAnon conference Sunday.

    Myanmar’s military violently seized control of the country from its civilian government in late January, detained democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and top party members, and killed more than 700 protesters as of early this month. The military justified its action by claiming unproven “election fraud.”

    Flynn presented his dark vision of a military coup and dictatorship in the U.S. in response to a question from the audience at the conference.

    “I wanna know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?” an unidentified member of the audience asked Flynn, though he pronounced the nation as “Minnimar.”

    “No reason,” Flynn responded to wild screams of approval. “It should happen.”

    URL: 

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-qanon-conference-myanmar-mi...


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 06/01/2021 - 4:44am

    Russia Appears to Carry Out Hack Through System Used by U.S. Aid Organization


    by artappraiser on Wed, 06/02/2021 - 1:18pm

    FEC kiss to Enquirer


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 06/02/2021 - 2:17pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 06/03/2021 - 5:00pm

    Michael Cohen & Stephanie Winston Wolkoff complain about the latest news:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 06/03/2021 - 7:55pm

    BuzzFeed whistleblower sentenced

    https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/03/former-treasury-official-senten...


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 06/03/2021 - 11:23pm

    America's Mayor goes intergalactic


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 1:01am

    I thought surely that must be The Onion, but no. #ETTD. Well, at least he's not the type to be too proud to refuse work when he needs money.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 11:06am

    Turns out Rudy had the dirt all along - didn't need Ukraine after all

    Of course it's awful that 2 grown men could indulge in racist banter, since 1 was assuredly in the powerless Driving Miss Daisy role, tho i was curious could there be anything morally wrong with publishing stolen data from someone's laptop, even if it contained the "n" word?

    BTW, a lot of very nasty naughty words are getting a free pass these days cuz they aren't the "n" word. Hiding behind that anonymity has been like a windfall for them: "nope, it was a different n word" - plus nuts, nadz, nose picker, necrophiliac, narcoman, nymphet - they've all been sidelined cuz they ain't bad enough - not like the "n" word - more like "h-e-double toothpicks" bad.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 06/09/2021 - 5:02am

    Part of Trump's appeal has always been the way he projects his own faults on others?


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 11:32am


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 9:16pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 10:20pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 10:23pm

    How's he related to them? How come we don't have a rap sheet on him yet?


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 10:30pm

    I read the reporters as suggesting sotto voce that he is being used to confirm the accusations against Weisselberg by prosecutors--or like to contradict him--in that they mention they get into all this stuff that he may have been given immunity but then he better damn tell the truth. So he would confirm what Weisselberg is not being truthful about and then they use that to squeeze Weisselberg and turn him against Trump? Again, keeping in mind it's a grand jury and not a trial, which really are fishing expeditions as often as not.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/04/2021 - 11:51pm

    as to the question of "what happened to Jared?" I note this in the Karni/Haberman latest today At Once Diminished and Dominating, Trump Prepares for His Next Act

    This time around, Jared Kushner, his son-in-law who oversaw his 2020 campaign operation, has mostly dropped out, telling the small circle of advisers around the ex-president that he wants to focus on writing his book and establishing a simpler relationship with Mr. Trump, where he is just a son-in-law. Donald Trump Jr. has stepped in as the most politically involved family member in his father’s life.

    also about this constant player, she is still there

    Susie Wiles, the veteran Florida political consultant whom the former president and everyone in his orbit credit with winning the critical state in 2016 and again in 2020, oversees Mr. Trump’s fund-raising operation from Florida, shepherding the weekly conference call of the skeletal team that still runs the post-presidential operation.

    and these oldies are on the payroll but seemingly not doing much yet:

    Both of his 2020 campaign managers, Bill Stepien and Brad Parscale, are on Mr. Trump’s payroll and still involved in his world. But Mr. Trump is episodically enraged with most members of his team.

    It also interestingly describes that he is quietly commuting now from NJ to his old NY office which is not staffed with many people at all.


    by artappraiser on Sat, 06/05/2021 - 2:08pm


    by artappraiser on Wed, 06/09/2021 - 4:45pm

    McGahn, McGahn, McGahn!

    Just in: House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler says McGahn provided substantial new info re Mueller — “How dangerously close President Trump brought us to, in Mr McGahn’s words, the ‘point of no return.’”

    — Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 9, 2021

    Judiciary Cmte: Trump directed McGahn to write a false statement—knowing that the statement was false, and knowing that carrying out this order might expose McGahn to criminal liability, including prosecution by the Special Counsel. https://t.co/ODuz0Kqmb7

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 9, 2021

    everybody's tweeting about it, she links to the transcript and goes over some pages here

    After a protracted legal fight, former WH counsel Don McGahn finally testified by the House Judiciary Committee re: the Mueller probe, and the committee has just released the transcript: https://t.co/jRnJcwc8i1

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021


    Recall that we already know a lot of McGahn's version of events, since he talked to Mueller: https://t.co/g44EqTjeUv

    As Chair Nadler notes, the agreement reached for McGahn to testify incl. that he could only be asked about publicly avail. info in Mueller report: pic.twitter.com/Zygb5GhfDj

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021

    At least at the start, McGahn is careful to avoid answers that stray from the literal text of the Mueller report.

    Asked about a section saying Trump told Sessions to resign after learning about Mueller's appointment, McGahn replies: "I don't quibble with the syntax." pic.twitter.com/e4cJX5YAoK

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021

    "You rarely leave conversations with President Trump. There's never really a good beginning, middle, and end. It's just -- especially when you're the counsel. You're always kind of around." pic.twitter.com/NfrpJQRBX4

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021

    "You don't recall your reaction ... to learning that the press had reported that the President of the United States was under personal investigation by the special counsel?"

    "I don't recall my subjective impression on the evening of June 14th about a news report. No, I don't" pic.twitter.com/C7QIbNxFcf

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021

    On Trump's request to involve Rosenstein:

    Q "McGahn said he told the President that he would see what he could do."
    A I did say that, yeah. Yeah.
    Q Did you intend to see what you could do?
    A No.
    Q Then why did you say that to the president?
    A I was trying to get off the phone. pic.twitter.com/PpC5HZzVc9

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021

    More on Trump's call to McGahn asking him to get Rosenstein to oust Mueller:

    Q After you hung up with the President on that second phone call, how did you feel?
    A After I got off the phone with the President, how did I feel? Oof. Frustrated, perturbed, trapped. Many emotions. pic.twitter.com/3iku7eIdJF

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) June 9, 2021

    by artappraiser on Wed, 06/09/2021 - 5:43pm

    is a thread, he picks out things from the article he thinks most important


    by artappraiser on Thu, 06/10/2021 - 10:23pm

    Seth Abramson

     

    @SethAbramson

    ·

    6h

    1/ "As DOJ investigated who was behind leaks of classified info early in the Trump administration, it took a highly unusual step: Prosecutors subpoenaed Apple for data from the accounts of at least two Dems on the House Intel Committee, aides and family members. One was a minor."

    4

    99

    257

    Seth Abramson

     

    @SethAbramson

    ·

    6h

    2/ "The records of at least 12 people tied to HPSCI were seized in 2017 and early 2018, including those of Representative Adam Schiff of California, then the panel's top Democrat and now its chairman, according to committee officials and two other people briefed on the inquiry."

    3

    78

    229

    Seth Abramson

     

    @SethAbramson

    ·

    6h

    3/ "Prosecutors, under the beleaguered attorney general, Jeff Sessions, were hunting for the sources behind news media reports about contacts between Trump associates and Russia. Ultimately, the data and other evidence did not tie the Committee to the leaks." *Unbelievable*.

    7

    108

    359

    Seth Abramson

     

    @SethAbramson

    ·

    6h

    4/ I don't believe for a second that this was a "leak investigation." Trump was using DOJ to investigate his enemies. It's Watergate 2.0.

    29

    300

    1K

    Seth Abramson

     

    @SethAbramson

    ·

    6h

    5/ "An ex-DOJ official who worked on leak investigations says 'In combination with Trump's unmistakable vendetta against Schiff, it raises serious questions about whether the manner in which this was done was influenced by political considerations rather than purely legal ones.'"


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 06/11/2021 - 4:44am

    seems like EVERYBODY got a gag order:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/11/2021 - 10:56pm


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/11/2021 - 11:10pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 06/12/2021 - 1:52pm

    () UPDATE: I've now added a significant update (including new photographs) to the BREAKING NEWS from last night about Donald Trump secretly having contact with an insurrectionist leader—Alex Jones—on January 6. I hope you'll subscribe and RT this widely. https://t.co/xpsskKCgaS

    — Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) June 12, 2021

    edit to add:

     


    by artappraiser on Sat, 06/12/2021 - 6:37pm

    Nice. Also Greg Palast on Alexander and Georgia

     https://www.gregpalast.com/why-did-the-georgia-gop-team-with-a-riot-inst...


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 06/13/2021 - 2:21am

    Marcy McGahn splainer


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 06/13/2021 - 4:04pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 06/13/2021 - 6:36pm

    Daniel Dale still watching all Trump's statements (as well as fact checking Biden and others now) so we don't have to:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 06/13/2021 - 7:03pm

    old news junkies like me will recognize this name wishing Trump a happy birthday and are actually happy to know she is a fan, 'splains a lot:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/14/2021 - 9:38am

    think it highlights more than splains


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 06/14/2021 - 12:09pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/14/2021 - 1:45pm

    Russian mercenary porn on screen

    (African edition)

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/28/africa/wagner-mercenaries-tourist-fil...


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 06/15/2021 - 5:29am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 06/15/2021 - 5:34pm

    Plotting the coup by email

    https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/new-documents-show-trump...


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 06/15/2021 - 9:26pm

    Kraken action gets sanctioned


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 06/17/2021 - 10:21pm

    He lost Pootie's attention!


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/18/2021 - 2:20am

    rubbing it in::


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/18/2021 - 2:26am

    "Always flatter your opponent." - Pootie rule #1


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 06/18/2021 - 2:29am


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/21/2021 - 9:35pm

    a reminder that Roger has a million stories

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 06/22/2021 - 3:43pm

    Maybe Secret Svc testifies finally?


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 06/22/2021 - 3:51pm

    is "trending" as "Trump in Capitol" looks like mostly left-wing screaming about Biden/Garland so far...


    by artappraiser on Tue, 06/22/2021 - 7:12pm

    Rudy's law license suspended


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 06/24/2021 - 12:06pm

    KKK reg used on Trump caravan


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 06/24/2021 - 2:35pm

    getting real uppity with the ghost of Ronnie behind him: Pence said he's 'proud' Congress certified Biden's win on Jan. 6 @ TheHill.com, June 24


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/25/2021 - 1:19am

    from now no more of the political party thing, you are either for Trump or you're part of the evil political parties, sort of a doppelganger upside down and flipped Geo. Washington?


    by artappraiser on Fri, 06/25/2021 - 11:49pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 06/26/2021 - 1:07am

    I suspect any person or entity who doesn't support the idea that the election was stolen from him will ever get a mulligan on that, no matter how many other things they are supportive about?


    by artappraiser on Sat, 06/26/2021 - 9:00pm

    (Treason)in' like Flynn


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 06/27/2021 - 4:33pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 06/27/2021 - 4:35pm

    lots of pushback out there on this:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 06/27/2021 - 5:00pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 06/27/2021 - 6:07pm

    Mitt Romney Snarks at Trump Pushing the Big Lie: ‘This Is Like WWF...It’s Not Real’

    ‘IT’S GOING TO NOWHERE’

    “So where did he hear it from? The MyPillow guy? Rudy Giuliani? What are their sources of information?” Romney sighed about Trump’s sources.

    Justin Baragona @ DailyBeast.com, Published Jun. 27, 2021 12:05PM ET 

    QAnon Supporters Express Boredom With 'Same Old' Trump Speech: 'This Is Getting Ridiculous'

    By Benjamin Fearnow  10 hrs ago @ Newsweek via msn.com.


    by artappraiser on Sun, 06/27/2021 - 9:03pm

    Mother Jones: more Ivanka fibs


     

    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 9:26am


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 1:08pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 1:27pm

    Trump cheered on MAGA rioters -- then called them 'idiots' after they made him look bad: Michael Wolff

    @ Raw Story, June 28, 2021


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 2:30pm

    Wisconsin GOP just says no to feeding the Trump troll:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 6:23pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 6:27pm

    ^ this is causing much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth among hopeful Trump attack dogs on internet, with headline "Manhattan D.A. won't charge Trump", and among Trump supporters it's "where does he get his apology?" The correct spin on it seems to be the above "this is just the first indictment". That said, it does sound like a Mueller report or "Fitzmas" type thing, where expectations may be too high.


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 6:34pm

    Palmer Report seems quite pleased with how things are going in general, tho:


    by artappraiser on Mon, 06/28/2021 - 6:47pm

    Willard Hotel insurrection sessions


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 2:31am

    Trump Org indicted

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_60dc8a82e4b0b9e497e15fbf


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 3:28am

    Trump's CFO surrenders

    More from CNN: 

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/01/politics/trump-organization-allen-wei...

    Gag order ne ended?

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/01/opinions/gag-order-against-trump-woul...


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 6:51am

    the traditional NYC "perp walk" thing:

    They uncuffed him and he is seated at the front of the court with his legal team and multiple officers standing beside him. They walked him in handcuffs through the lines of cameras outside first, before bringing him down the aisle through the rows of press.

    — Ema O'Connor (@o_ema) July 1, 2021

    (Is actually quite the nasty, wherein police and/or prosecutors have more ability to influence the public via the media than the defense)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 2:23pm

    All Roger Stone's Men


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 5:00am

    Liz Cheney payback time

    https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/01/politics/nancy-pelosi-announces-membe...


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 12:04pm

    Palmer Report makes a good comment:

    Which I suspect may be correct especially if he does nothing about this:

    Then there's also the "Back The Blue" or "Law and Order" party problem:

    Then there's the other renegade who will always tattle about what's really going on:

    And in the end I would remind that in midterms it is the more mature rational voters that usually turn out to vote. Not Trump-and-Qanon type crazies. The kind of voter who might vote for a Kinzinger or Cheney, but not a Greene.


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 12:43pm

    Trump Jan6 war rooms


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 07/02/2021 - 10:48am

    and I am reminded of this kind of thing

    27 Big Celebrities Who've Had Tax Trouble

    and yes, the "only the little people pay taxes" thing is often a subject of fascination more than outrage

    BUT even though Trump is favored by fans as the first celebrity president, how can they excuse away that he actually WAS PRESIDENT, meaning he was in charge of getting the money in to run the country, NOT JUST a celebrity.

    The amount of cognitive dissonance necessary to still like the idea of him being president is astounding sometimes.


    by artappraiser on Fri, 07/02/2021 - 2:21pm

    pray for snitches:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 07/02/2021 - 5:00pm

    p.s. they already signed this one:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 07/02/2021 - 5:09pm

    Planning a big shew, gonna be YUGE:

    New key phrase WITCH HUNT! ?

    Enquiring minds want to know: will Ivanka, Don Jr. and/or Eric be there?


    by artappraiser on Sat, 07/03/2021 - 6:01pm

    Lance Link, Secret Chimp style no doubt.

    What was that game with all the intertwined monkeys? None dare call it chimpiracy, "just minding our own bidness"


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/03/2021 - 6:24pm

    swear I only saw this Chait column now, 8 hrs. after my comment:

    Republicans Invent a Whole New ‘Witch Hunt’ Defense for Trump’s Tax Crimes

    The fair thing would be to let Trump’s criminal accomplices go free.

    Here's a big excerpt due to me currently doing a trial subscription (their coverage of NY mayoral race the main reason)

    [....] Instead, the Trumps and their defenders fell back on the claim that Trump’s 15-year-long scheme to pay CFO Allen Weisselberg under the table was a piddling thing. Everybody does it, nobody gets charged for it, and therefore, Mr. Trump is once again facing a Witch Hunt.

    “Corporations almost never get criminally prosecuted for this sort of thing,” complains Dan McLaughlin (failing to consider how often corporations attempt such blatant tax evasion), “but Vance wanted the name ‘Trump’ in his indictment.” National Review’s Andrew McCarthy, author of one book assailing President Obama’s “Sharia Agenda” and another calling for his impeachment, complains prosecutors “are angering fair-minded people” — the news here is that McCarthy has ever met one — “who can’t help but see a two-tiered society, with its two-tiered justice system, in which Democrats and the radicals with whom they sympathize have immunity, while no infraction by a Republican — and especially, a Trump supporter — is too trivial for a good drawing and quartering.”.

    The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, characteristically, goes even farther: “The politicized attacks on Trump — including the blatant weaponization of our legal system — are *at best* 3rd-world banana republic stuff but more accurately and disturbingly authoritarian.” Authoritarian! First they came for the millionaire tax cheats, but I said nothing.

    It is true that tax-evasion cases do not always result in criminal charges. It’s not true that they never do. “Small companies, including restaurants and family-owned businesses, are routinely charged criminally for state tax violations in New York,” one prosecutor tells the Washington Post.

    The rather obvious context for the decision to charge Weisselberg is, first, Donald Trump’s decades-long crime spree, which has been documented by his family members, tax forms, prosecutors, and allegations prosecutors are currently pursuing.

    Second, there is Trump’s curious habit of sealing himself off from any criminal liability by refusing to use email or put his name on any document. Indeed, Trump stunned his lawyers in the White House by demanding they refrain from taking notes in his presence, insisting that his old lawyer, Roy Cohn, never took notes. (Cohn’s habit was no doubt appreciated by his mob-boss clients.)

    The reason Trump takes such pains to avoid leaving a written record of his decisions is that he is a gigantic crook. That’s why the prosecutors are focusing on turning Weisselberg: They need his testimony to get avoid of Trump’s own direction of his illegal schemes.

    But rather than acknowledge this obvious interpretation, Trump’s defenders instead present the prosecutors’ inability to produce documents implicating Trump personally as if it proves Trump’s innocence. “Vance is left trying to squeeze out of the CFO the case he apparently can’t make on the documents,” sneers McCarthy. “You can bet that [Prosecutor Cyrus Vance] would have indicted The Donald if he had the goods,” argues McLaughlin.

    Except the reason Vance doesn’t have the goods on Trump is because of Trump’s mob-boss habit of avoiding a paper trail. Now, obviously, prosecutors can’t just put him behind bars because they know he’s guilty. What they can do is charge his subordinates for their clear criminal violations, and hope the threat forces his underlings to turn on him.

    The Republican position is that a millionaire like Donald Trump can spend years engaging in systematic financial fraud, but as long as he takes precautions not to leave a paper trail, not only should he get away with it, but so should his accomplices who didn’t take those precautions.

    Trump’s defenders don’t say they’re worried Weisselberg will flip on Trump. They claim their real concern is that “real” criminals — wink, wink — are getting away in order to focus on Trump’s crooks [....]


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/04/2021 - 2:51am

    Martha Stewart called, wants to talk.
    Note, one reason Trump's indictments are taking so long to roll out is he successfully stonewalled showing his tax returns to the New York DA, et al. for years. But will argue, "this is all old stuff". All of 2-3 years ago for some of it.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/04/2021 - 4:46am

    The Insurrection Trump Built


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/04/2021 - 4:56pm

    The Trumpish Armada metaphor

    https://digbysblog.net/2021/07/a-metaphor/


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/04/2021 - 5:08pm

    Insurrectionists stored guns


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/04/2021 - 5:44pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/04/2021 - 8:33pm


    by artappraiser on Mon, 07/05/2021 - 4:09pm


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 9:24pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/06/2021 - 9:36pm

    thread continues with speculative comments & discussion from peeps who clearly follow this scene


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 9:28pm

    Assange let's make a deal


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 10:05pm

    Rudy suspended in DC now


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/07/2021 - 10:23pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/08/2021 - 3:04am


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/08/2021 - 3:02am

    Babbitt's co-executioners


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/08/2021 - 3:36am

    Interesting what Kimberly thinks Trump donors want to hear:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 07/09/2021 - 1:18pm

    Yeah, well, 1960s rules, Delta House and all...

    We shall call Don Jr "Flounder".


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 07/09/2021 - 1:35pm

    Trump years thru a far-right prism (long thread)


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 12:54am

    Seth & Roger finding a room


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/10/2021 - 2:49pm

    Trump insurrection rooms


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:44am

    Ivanka & inauguration scam

    (PIC is Presidential Inauguration Committee)


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 5:49am

    He's at it again:


    by artappraiser on Sun, 07/11/2021 - 2:07pm

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:10am

    Steele Dossier "libs made me do it" backgrounder -
    how Deripaska/Manafort fed the Steele Dossier's disinfo
    to the FBI, Dems & GOP, and how they've been using the
    disinfo exactly as Deripaska intended from the start -
    even justifying the attack on the US Capitol it seems.
    Beautiful. Great work if you can get it.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:40am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:19pm

    5-parts Kavanaugh - read & weep


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/26/2021 - 5:07am

    Joint Chiefs chairman feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power

    I find myself not shocked by this but, rather, I guess the word is grateful that we have military trained to think this way, they are supposed to be thinking worst case scenario contingency all the time, actually. That tendency is actually where civilians overseers are supposed to reign them in....


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 8:58pm

    dupe replaced with

    link to video Laurence O'Donnell segment interview with Michael Wolff: ‘Trump is even crazier than I thought.’

    Mon, July 12, 2021, 11:33 PM

    Lede: In his third book about Donald Trump, author Michael Wolff reports that Donald Trump made calls to U.S. attorneys in swing states to try to get them to investigate election fraud - Wolff wouldn’t be surprised if there are tapes: “I think that anyone who speaks to Donald Trump should be switching on their iPhone to tape what’s going on. Donald Trump is only half aware of what he’s saying, it just spews out.”


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 9:09pm

    this most recent video release makes me think of "A Clockwork Orange", perhaps Trump should be made to watch some of these videos of the leaders of the mob of his "very fine people", with toothpicks holding his eyelids open:

    Final video is another view of the attack on police. Note that the crowd begins to cheer and get loud as the violence picks up, there's a person pumping their fist in front of the camera at around 14 seconds, someone yells "there you go!"; others chant "pull them out!" pic.twitter.com/5vQGDsZ3NL

    — Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) July 15, 2021

    It's all fun and games until you've created an actual mob.

    Edit to add: perhaps I am thinking of this because I just realized it was Bastille Day, which in the original version wasn't all fun and games either, not exactly like as presented in Les Miserables on Broadway.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 07/14/2021 - 9:57pm

    George's reading reinforcing what he already knows:

    (see whole thread)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 12:07am

    George also agrees with an interesting suggestion regarding the Jan. 6 commission:


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 12:26am

    Not hyperbole (a reminder that he was chief tethics lawyer for Bush White House, 2005-7, now he's a law school prof.)


    by artappraiser on Thu, 07/15/2021 - 2:05pm

    new at The Guardian:


    by artappraiser on Sat, 07/17/2021 - 1:06pm

    Team Trump's criminal referrals


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 8:58am


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 4:17pm



    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 5:12pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/20/2021 - 7:17pm

    Avenatti in court


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 07/22/2021 - 8:53pm

    Weisselberg wife silenced

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/key-trump-witness-jennifer-weisselberg-is-...


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/26/2021 - 2:18pm

    Mike Flynn inciting violence (thread)


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/26/2021 - 2:28pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 12:17am


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 07/31/2021 - 9:31pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/03/2021 - 7:10pm

    Broidy/Nader behind Qatar attack


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 08/06/2021 - 10:20pm


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 8:26am

    article sounds to me like there's a shitload of investigations going on behind closed doors in Congress and elsewhere so that lately Rosen has become like a full time witness about the Trumpco presidency

    “Sen. Blumenthal said Mr. Rosen discussed previously reported episodes, including his interactions with Mr. Clark, with the Senate Judiciary Committee. He called Mr. Rosen’s account ‘dramatic evidence of how intent Trump was in overthrowing the election.’” https://t.co/fPRyGHfxCp

    — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 8, 2021

    It's gonna get real interesting when House members eventually are confronted with their cynical lying by the more rational Trump supporters in their constituencies, many will no doubt be blaming the instructions of dear leader Kevin McCarthy. Maybe have to start up "GOP factions" threads again.

    I cannot foresee how Trumpco can be of much help in 2022 to GOP candidates right when so many loser narratives about Trump are hitting the fan right around the same time. Maybe I am wrong but I see Cheney and Kinzinger making wise choices about the future, they could be the new leadership when the house of cards really comes crashing down...time is on their side

    Edit to add: folks like Bill Kristol and his compadres at The Bulwark have not suddenly become Democrats just because they hate what Trump did to their party. They are biding their time eating popcorn and watching the show. whilst thinking up new schemes (likewise for conservatives like say, Andrew Sullivan and others like him who signed "The Harper's Letter" and have made temporary peace wih folks like Greenwald who they still don't agree with policy wise at all.


    by artappraiser on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 10:20pm

    Rudy, FBI & Ukraine (more)


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 08/07/2021 - 11:36pm

    Rewriting DoJ history?


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/08/2021 - 1:23pm

    Uppity young writer challenging Seth Ambramson as perhaps getting too myopic and full of himself with the import of his own narrative big picture historical perspective  (believe it or not! from a youngin! Gives me hope!)


    by artappraiser on Sun, 08/08/2021 - 9:51pm

    Availability syndrome? Yeah, Seth gets pretty stuffy. Glad he's tucked away in some northeast refuge for unbearable intellectuals - only can take so much.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/10/2021 - 10:43am

    (long thread)


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 08/12/2021 - 12:09pm

    Mary Trump's summation (long)

    https://newrepublic.com/article/163115/donald-trump-plot-against-america


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 08/12/2021 - 9:12pm

    Trump DoJ Coup#2


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 08/15/2021 - 10:16am

    Toobin & Stone? jackoff-gate?


    What started this jackoff-a-thon:


    Who knows what pilots Toobin from those seedy days, but maybe he's paying back a debt. Would be nice if he spared us, but self-awareness is obviously not his forte.

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/17/2021 - 2:05am

    How to charge Trump 101


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 08/19/2021 - 11:21am

    Boebert poops the stage

    (It was ok in 2019, but that window's gone... We have a functioning DoJ again)


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 08/20/2021 - 12:22am

    Seth Ambramson thread on Reuters latest "EXCLUSIVE FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated-sources"

    (note one of Reuters piece authors is Mark Hosenball, who does have a lot of sources"


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/20/2021 - 9:11am

    Marcy Wheeler thread on the same Reuters/FBI leak article:


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/20/2021 - 12:01pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/24/2021 - 4:32pm

    DoJ & Jan5 speakers


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 08/25/2021 - 6:50pm

    Trump Kraken lawyers sanctioned

    https://www.salon.com/2021/08/25/judge-sanctions-trumps-kraken-lawyers-o...


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 08/26/2021 - 12:30am

    I don't usually pay attention to what he's saying anymore but this one I just ran across is especially rich. Makes me realize that the still common accusations of Biden dementia by Trump fans are pure projection

    Not to mention the dementia accusations against Biden rarely make sense on their face, i.e. he's talking slow or not following the teleprompter exactly or some such...


    by artappraiser on Fri, 08/27/2021 - 1:47pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 08/31/2021 - 11:34pm


    by artappraiser on Sun, 09/05/2021 - 2:18pm

    Syrian po-Russkiy


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 09/08/2021 - 4:39pm

    Manafort gave RU weekly polling


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 09/09/2021 - 7:44pm

    Lindsay Graham & Proud Boys


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/10/2021 - 8:55am

    Fact checking w deniers

    They get that alternate universe thing 

    They value their "facts" over any other evidence

    https://edition.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/08/13/social-media-fact-che...


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/10/2021 - 11:57pm

    "The man understood optics" pic.twitter.com/bmiejtCRnL

    — Atticus Goldfinch (@AtticusGF) September 11, 2021

    edit to add my favorite reply on that thread:

     


    by artappraiser on Sat, 09/11/2021 - 11:55pm

    Not so secret insurrection


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 09/12/2021 - 7:04pm

    GOP stunt/fashion posers

    (the males they find in ridiculous professions like pillow or "extra large toilet seat" salesmen, or just self-obsessed political, military & rap personalities)

    .

     

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 09/14/2021 - 5:23am

    Bob Woodward's Crazytown Part II, Scene I, January 8 2021: A real military coup--one curbing Trump's nuke powers. (Call it the military version of executing the 25th Amendment if you prefer.)

    ‘CIA director Haspel warned Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, "We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum."’ https://t.co/G3sgbqJ4n7

    — Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) September 14, 2021

    Of course this could also be c.y.a. fiction by leakers; the two Bob's write a story based on what people they trust tell them and then you decide.

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 09/14/2021 - 6:54pm

    WaPo's also got a preview of Woodward's Crazytown, Part II, Scene 1 -- is just a slightly different angle of the Gen.Milley-as-savior plot (that's CNN'S above), with China's role stressed:

    Top general was so fearful Trump might spark war with China that he made secret calls to his counterpart in Beijing, new book says https://t.co/cb8ypg6JvF

    — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 14, 2021

     


    by artappraiser on Tue, 09/14/2021 - 7:07pm

    of course


    by artappraiser on Wed, 09/15/2021 - 2:03am


    by artappraiser on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 12:54pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 9:56pm

    Durham tees up a turkey


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 09/17/2021 - 8:13am


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 09/19/2021 - 12:15am


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 09/19/2021 - 12:41am

    Durham hearts Benghazi subpoenas,

    slow-mo pseudo fishing expedition (he doesn't actually care about outcomes, just smears & innuendo) continues.

    Fortunately CNN is handling in an adult fashion.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/politics/durham-subpoenas-probe-russia-fb...


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/01/2021 - 7:10am

    I hope the dozens of attendees from today’s Justice for J6 rally make it safely back to their desks at the FBI.

    — Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021

    From the “rally”. Can these fedbois be more obvious? pic.twitter.com/cOgJSexToH

    — Kaitain (@Kaitain_US) September 18, 2021

    Attendance at the Justice for January 6 rally is almost all press, very few actual rally attendees pic.twitter.com/unzjG9hjKV

    — Audrey Fahlberg (@AudreyFahlberg) September 18, 2021

    Dagblog believers in being deathly ascared of the supposed danger to our nation of rioting right wingers, Proud Boys etc. must be terribly disappointed that law enforcement keep them all away. (Now if BLM had their way, where tribes take care of their own law enforcement, things might have turned out different.)


    by artappraiser on Sat, 09/18/2021 - 3:56pm

    GOP fuckbunny/RU spy wins office, Trump asslicker CEO Patrick Byrne sends her millions of dollars
    Perhaps the most infuriating was when Butina streamed a promo video from lockup, certainly in defiance of all prison rules. But under Trump/Barr, all normalcy was suspended.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 09/20/2021 - 3:06pm


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 09/21/2021 - 6:21am

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/30/2021 - 5:31am

    same old same old Uncle Donald


    by artappraiser on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:34am

    Trump knew claims baseless (in this case the voting machines, but pick an issue, any issue - he's always bluffing. He lost like 69 of 70 election lawsuits?)

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_614a3daee4b001718341de85


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 09/22/2021 - 3:46am


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 09/23/2021 - 9:20pm

    How Rudy Giuliani's massive ego saved the country from an utter disaster on election 'fraud'

    Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large. Updated 1:03 PM ET, Wed September 22, 2021

    By mid-December 2020, Donald Trump's amen chorus was dwindling, with even many longtime allies suggesting that it might be time to admit defeat in the 2020 election and move on.

    Desperate to find some path back to victory, Trump huddled with a trio of conspiracy theorists -- former national security adviser Michael Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne -- to consider his craziest move yet: Appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate (non-existent) voter fraud.

    "'I'm making Sidney a special counsel to the president," Trump told his chief of staff Mark Meadows. "'Mark, you get her the forms. ... Give her the forms to onboard her.'"

      It's not clear what "forms" Trump is referring to. Or how he would appoint a special counsel outside of the Justice Department. Attorney General Bill Barr was broadly dismissive of Trump's wild claims about election fraud -- and openly disdainful of Powell. (In that same meeting, Trump suggested that he would use the rarely-invoked National Emergencies Act to seize voting machines. So, yeah.)

      The whole episode is recounted in "Peril," the new book from authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. And it depicts just how far Trump was willing to push the bounds of the government to make the outcome he wanted -- a full turning-over of the election -- a possibility.

      Powell, who among other things had alleged a widespread communist conspiracy tied to the voting machines, never wound up being named special counsel. And amazingly, we have Rudy Giuliani to thank for that [....]


      by artappraiser on Fri, 09/24/2021 - 1:09am

      Kagan on Trump fascism

      https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2021/9/25/2054144/-A-terrifying-essay-on-...


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 09/26/2021 - 11:47am

      How Yahoo etc al get it wrong on Assange and key officials - years after all this is known.


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 09/27/2021 - 10:25am

      Trump & VA patient data grift


      by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 09/29/2021 - 5:32am

      Bill DeJoy effing up USPS still

      https://www.salon.com/2021/09/29/louis-dejoy-rolls-out-plan-to-slow-post...


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 09/30/2021 - 11:35am

      DHS's shitty response - who sabotaged DHS? Why does it exist then?

      https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/28/dhs-pentagon-jan-6-capitol-riot...


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 09/30/2021 - 12:33pm

      Russiagate & DHS interference
      (among other branches of government - and don't forget white nationalists & their influence on Proud Boys/Oath Keepers & Trump/Stone's other semi-militias. "Whack-a-mole" indeed)
       


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 5:54am

      About those Capitol windows...


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 10/04/2021 - 10:18am

      waaaah!


      by artappraiser on Sat, 10/02/2021 - 10:01pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/03/2021 - 2:04am

      Madame (ex-)President


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/03/2021 - 4:21am


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/03/2021 - 11:59pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/09/2021 - 10:53pm

      Rep. Adam Kinzinger yesterday as regards the Jan. 6 committee on Twitter & on CNN:

      Congress has a broad investigative authority—& so the @January6thCmte will use every avenue possible to ensure subpoenas are enforced.

      The American people deserve answers & that means we need ALL the facts about the events of that day & all those leading up to it. https://t.co/0Osa9G2gME

      — Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) October 5, 2021

      by artappraiser on Wed, 10/06/2021 - 9:55pm

      Alex Jones' fake stage (& Ali Alexander's covered up Stop the Steal permits collusion that could lead to conspiracy charges)

      Stage was for 9am - that they ignored even the presence of the stage at it's appointed time after having misrepresented it and the organization behind it, which didn't actually exist, was just a front for Alex Jones with Stop the Steal to breach the East Entrance, luring his Pied Piper followers with promises of Trump)

      https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/09/29/alex-jones-use-the-promise-of-a-pe...


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 2:17am

       


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 5:35pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 9:42pm


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 5:38pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 9:53pm

      SUBVERTING JUSTICE: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election

      Majority Staff final interim report by Senate Committee on The Judiciary, Chair Dick Durbin

      Newly published 394-page PDF with impressive cover page and very nice table of contents

      Here NYTimes writes about one scene in this new book (available free of charge from your Congress at the above link)

      Isn’t a President obligated to uphold the Constitution? via @NYTimes https://t.co/xksXIaNWRm

      — Susan Higgins (@prepostmeltdown) October 7, 2021

      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 10:25pm

      Manu Raju picks out some "key findings" of the new Senate Dem's Judiciary report for those who can't read the whole 394 pages AND links to Grassley's GOP report AND links to witness testimony

       


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 11:18pm

      Maggie's always watching the grifter for clues:


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/07/2021 - 11:22pm

      New: Trump hid over $73 million in losses on his D.C. hotel, a new House committee report alleges.

      Report also reveals Deutsche Bank USA modified Trump's loan in the middle of his presidency, allowing him to defer principal payments for 6 years.

      https://t.co/5jKdVfmwAk

      — Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) October 8, 2021


      by artappraiser on Fri, 10/08/2021 - 3:19pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/08/2021 - 4:51pm

      Jason Leopold on Capitol police


      by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 10/08/2021 - 6:51pm


      by artappraiser on Fri, 10/08/2021 - 10:22pm

      Bannon has a point - they should lock him *and* Trump up until Trump decides to comply. Unfair to make Steve suffer alone. What would Susan MacGregor do?


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/09/2021 - 12:28am

      Liz Cheney corrects Rick Wilson!


      by artappraiser on Fri, 10/08/2021 - 11:25pm

      The Devil went down to GA

      https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/4-days-in-january-the-story-of-t...


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/10/2021 - 1:34am

      things are not going too well for the big lie in Wisconsin:


      by artappraiser on Mon, 10/11/2021 - 5:42pm


      by artappraiser on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 5:03pm


      by artappraiser on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 5:45pm

      STEVEN MNUCHIN STEPPED IN TO PREVENT IVANKA TRUMP WORLD BANK APPOINTMENT

      President Donald Trump very much wanted Ivanka at the helm, and it was the Treasury secretary who blocked her ascent.

      @ TheIntercept.com, Oct. 10

      (apologies if you already posted this here and I missed it.)


      by artappraiser on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 7:56pm


      by artappraiser on Tue, 10/19/2021 - 8:13pm


      by artappraiser on Tue, 10/19/2021 - 10:06pm

      Did Ivanka plant the pipe bombs?


      by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 10/20/2021 - 12:43am

      FBI still looking for this Jan. 6 perp:


      by artappraiser on Tue, 10/19/2021 - 10:25pm


      by artappraiser on Wed, 10/20/2021 - 9:46pm


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/21/2021 - 3:32pm

      so a few hours ago the House voted Bannon in contempt of Congress, 229-202 including 9 Republicans (gosh what a crowning achievement in your career, Steve!) so now it's on to Garland's DOJ to see how it will be prosecuted if at all:


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/21/2021 - 9:44pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/21/2021 - 7:37pm

      what John Dean thinks on what Bob Woodward said on CNN:


      by artappraiser on Sun, 10/24/2021 - 2:51am

      John's old; Special Counsels don't work. Mueller did an okay job - half-ass cuz *he's* old too, but Barr buried his work. Now we got a holdover Special Counsel John Durham appointed under a witchy stormy moon out of Macbeth to stick it to the libs. How was Ken Starr, bringing us the scandals of blowjobs & Henry Cisneros' lover, while jailing Susan McDougal 18 months for contempt. Iran-Contra that didn't even find Cap Weinberger and Bush Sr.'s notes/diaries? That Iraq WMD leak thing where Scooter Libby today the dive for everyone with still a sweetheart deal?


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 10/24/2021 - 11:03am

      EXCLUSIVE: Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff

      Two sources are communicating with House investigators and detailed a stunning series of allegations to Rolling Stone, including a promise of a “blanket pardon” from the Oval Office.

      By  @ RollingStone.com, Oct. 24

      As the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack heats up, some of the planners of the pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington, D.C., have begun communicating with congressional investigators and sharing new information about what happened when the former president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Two of these people have spoken to Rolling Stone extensively in recent weeks and detailed explosive allegations that multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent. 

      Rolling Stone separately confirmed a third person involved in the main Jan. 6 rally in D.C. has communicated with the committee. This is the first report that the committee is hearing major new allegations from potential cooperating witnesses. While there have been prior indications that members of Congress were involved, this is also the first account detailing their purported role and its scope. The two sources also claim they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence. 

      The two sources, both of whom have been granted anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, describe participating in “dozens” of planning briefings ahead of that day when Trump supporters broke into the Capitol as his election loss to President Joe Biden was being certified. 

      “I remember Marjorie Taylor Greene specifically,” the organizer says. “I remember talking to probably close to a dozen other members at one point or another or their staffs.”

      For the sake of clarity, we will refer to one of the sources as a rally organizer and the other as a planner [....]


      by artappraiser on Sun, 10/24/2021 - 9:14pm

      How Charlottesville relates to Jan 6


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 10/25/2021 - 11:12am


      by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 10/27/2021 - 12:06pm


      by artappraiser on Wed, 10/27/2021 - 8:10pm

      Trump's speech is bizarre - we should continually be amazed and exploring how it is that someone with such a strange grasp of the English language got so far. I continue to be reminded of of The Mule in Asimov's 2nd Foundation - a cartoonist jokester buffoon that was actually the most powerful creature in the universe with amazing psychic powers. I wouldn't go that far with The Donald, but that he continues to be underestimated and has left so much roadkill of sanctified ideas & figures in his wake is not to be disregarded. Days after Jan 6, Trump was toast. A week later he was essential and the guiding standard again, the Sine Qua Non. How's he do it? What's the mechanism, the actual scientific explanation?


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/30/2021 - 4:50am

      From Russia with Love


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/28/2021 - 2:27pm

      It's gone viral, so she did her job if you go for "all publicity is good publicity"? Russia agitators like agitation, after all.


      by artappraiser on Thu, 10/28/2021 - 3:09pm

      Yep, aware odd that - like clockwork


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/28/2021 - 4:30pm

      Lindell, Byrne, & Kray 2.0


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/28/2021 - 11:35pm


      by artappraiser on Sat, 10/30/2021 - 1:43am

      David Rohde has scary thoughts (but then he was held hostage by the Taliban so he's used to those):


      by artappraiser on Fri, 10/29/2021 - 12:20am

      [...] Though she called it important to send a message “they are not trespassers, they are criminals,” Judge Howell said the government tied her hands by charging Griffith with a “petty offense” and recommending non-jail sentences for similarly situated defendants. She also imposed a term of 90 days of home confinement and a $500 restitution, a price tag agreed upon under the plea deal.

      For roughly two hours, Howell roasted the government for describing the siege of the Capitol as the “crime of the century” and “resolving it with a Class B, petty offense.”

      Casting this approach as “schizophrenic,” Howell blamed it for public confusion about the gravity of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

      “No wonder,” she said, audibly frustrated [...]


      by artappraiser on Sat, 10/30/2021 - 2:56am


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 10/30/2021 - 5:22am

      Maggie Haberman says:

      But I just can't believe it, I must be in denial, I can't believe people will still give such a loser money to do anything. Definitely "TrumpISM" still has powerful allure ( a reminder that's the case worldwide) but I just can't see the "Trump brand" as doing anything but harm to the cause. I just have this strong feeling that he's fading away, slowly drowning, not getting more powerful, more the loser stereotype every day.


      by artappraiser on Sat, 10/30/2021 - 10:11am


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 11/01/2021 - 12:45am

      Bannon indictment threads



      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 11/01/2021 - 5:36am


      by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/02/2021 - 8:14am

      Seth's Trump/Ali occupation plan (long thread)


      by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/03/2021 - 5:58am

      Durham/NYT Danchenko slander
      (why Durham hasn't been fired is anyone's guess, I suppose that treasured special prosecutor status that kept assholes like Ken Starr going for years)



      and on and on...

      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/04/2021 - 2:54pm

      Trump's Jan 6 profits(emoluments? What emoluments? Price gouger-in-chief pulls another wicked scam)

      https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-dc-hotel-room-prices-capitol-riot-g...


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 11/06/2021 - 9:26am


      by artappraiser on Mon, 11/08/2021 - 2:18am


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 11/08/2021 - 1:03pm

      headline story at NYTimes.com right now:

      Flynn and 5 Others Subpoenaed as Jan. 6 Panel Looks Into Election Plot
      The latest batch of subpoenas reflected an effort to go beyond the events of the Capitol riot and focus on the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
      Michael Flynn, who served as former President Trump’s national security adviser, was among those called to turn over documents and sit for depositions.

      WaPo has it on the story on the home page by not making as big a deal about it:

      House Jan. 6 committee issues subpoenas to 6 top Trump advisers, including pair involved in Willard hotel ‘command center’

      The Hill does have it as their headline story

      Here are the six latest Trump allies to be subpoenaed by Jan. 6 panel

      11/08/21 06:44 PM EST-with 3 reporters on it, that's atypical for them

      (site says there's 12,700+ comments, but I should admit I doubt the accuracy of their counter sometimes)


      by artappraiser on Tue, 11/09/2021 - 3:16am

      Riots break out in more than a dozen major cities...

      This is the grisly climax of a report published in mid-October 2020 by the Claremont Institute and Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) called “79 Days to Inauguration,” prepared by “Constitutional scholars, along with experts in election law, foreign affairs, law enforcement, and media . . . coordinated by a retired military officer experienced in running hundreds of wargames.”

      The GOP scripted a cosplay insurrection that largely anticipated and justified their over-the-top reaction on Jan 6 and in various state capitols - gets very Dawn of the Dead-ish in their fevered imaginations - sadly and shockingly not completely imagination.

      https://www.thebulwark.com/notes-on-an-authoritarian-conspiracy-inside-t...


      by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/09/2021 - 6:11am

      Trump's Hitler Youth


      by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/09/2021 - 10:12am

      Judge Rejects Trump’s Bid to Keep Papers Secret in Jan. 6 Inquiry

      But a Trump lawyer has signaled an intent to appeal the ruling, which raises novel issues about an ex-president’s executive privilege powers.

      By Charlie Savage @ NYTimes.com, Nov. 9, 2021 Updated 10:21 p.m. ET

      WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday night rejected a bid by former President Donald J. Trump to keep secret papers about his actions and conversations leading up to and during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.

      In a 39-page ruling, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held that Congress’s constitutional oversight powers to obtain the information prevailed over Mr. Trump’s residual secrecy powers — especially because the incumbent, President Biden, agreed that lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 riot should see the files.

      Mr. Trump “does not acknowledge the deference owed to the incumbent president’s judgment. His position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity,’” Judge Chutkan wrote. “But presidents are not kings, and plaintiff is not president.”

      [Read the document Judge’s ruling]

      Mr. Trump retained the right to assert that his records were privileged, she added, but Mr. Biden was not obliged to honor that assertion. The incumbent president, she said, is better situated to protect executive branch interests, and Mr. Trump “no longer remains subject to political checks against potential abuse of that power.” [....]


      by artappraiser on Tue, 11/09/2021 - 11:10pm


      by artappraiser on Wed, 11/10/2021 - 8:29pm


      by artappraiser on Wed, 11/10/2021 - 8:46pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 3:56pm

      BREAKING: A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection while it considers an appeal from former President Trump. https://t.co/OyFHK2v3mE

      — The Associated Press (@AP) November 11, 2021

       


      by artappraiser on Sat, 11/13/2021 - 6:16pm

      Steele & Ohr/FBI - perspective, dammit! Tip of iceberg.
      So much more than these headlines misleadingly suggest.


      by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/16/2021 - 3:16am

      also


      by artappraiser on Wed, 11/17/2021 - 2:02am


      by artappraiser on Wed, 11/17/2021 - 11:01pm

      I thought the definition of "Conservative" was "staying in the past", at least by how they've branded themselves the last 20-30 years. But i wish Murdoch all the best, obviously - he has nothing to do with this feral regressive mindset, I'm sure.


      by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/18/2021 - 2:26am

      Now Jamie Diamond has cut off Don Jr.'s hopes and dreams:


      by artappraiser on Thu, 11/18/2021 - 2:28pm

      Don't be evil - sure Jan


      by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 11/19/2021 - 5:04pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 11/19/2021 - 8:33pm


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 11/20/2021 - 5:14pm

      Flynn's crooked pardon & Trump's obstruction of justice (trip down memory lane):
      https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-flynn-pardon-matters
      But Flynn keeps opening himself up for new unpardoned charges - will it happen?


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/21/2021 - 4:16am

      Jared's $100m Covid bro scam
      https://www.salon.com/2021/11/18/gave-100m-for-response-to-agency-run-by...
      Just give money to friends, it'll work out. Don't need to actually produce anything.
      and then there's Trump's kneecapping any pandemic response, resulting in obviously unnecessary deaths.
      https://www.salon.com/2021/11/18/and-his-regime-committed--or-at-least-c...

       


      by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/21/2021 - 4:26am

      Michael Cohen, released from house arrest, says on teevee that Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka will probably be prosecuted:


      by artappraiser on Mon, 11/22/2021 - 10:36pm

      Internecine warfare on the right?

      (Long curious thread)


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 11/27/2021 - 8:39pm

      cross-link Why the Discredited Dossier Does Not Undercut the Russia Investigation @ NYTimes.com, Dec. 1


      by artappraiser on Thu, 12/02/2021 - 2:42am

      Federal Detroit Judge makes a stand against his courts being used for nonsense political ops:

      Sidney Powell and a group of other pro-Trump attorneys have been ordered to pay $175,000 for suing public officials in an effort to overturn Michigan's election results.https://t.co/TRiO3jSYws via @axios

      — Dr. Joseph Frusci (@JFrusci) December 2, 2021

      The fine is too low for my taste, though; I'm sure that all-in-all, handling this suit cost taxpayers much more than that.


      by artappraiser on Thu, 12/02/2021 - 6:55pm


      by artappraiser on Thu, 12/02/2021 - 8:06pm

      Pence on Christian Broadcasting Network:

      Headline is 'I Believe There Were Irregularities' in the 2020 Election: What Pence Says to Angry MAGA Fans About What He Did on Jan. 6 

      but I notice that the url also promotes that he says he played a key role in Trump's pro-life picks for the Supreme Court


      by artappraiser on Thu, 12/02/2021 - 8:13pm

      Alt Mueller report in January


      by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/03/2021 - 12:46pm

       What kind of editor was Mr. Mueller is the question?


      by artappraiser on Fri, 12/03/2021 - 8:08pm

      1) he seemed more self-estrained, even w/o Barr's machinations

      2) i get the idea Weismann's team was out to document everything, prosecutable or not (especially if shut down?) which would be very good. We'll see. Final release more likely in Feb/March.


      by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 12/04/2021 - 5:10am


      by artappraiser on Sat, 12/04/2021 - 12:58am

      Mike Flynn's brother's problem

      The Jan 6 that never was


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/06/2021 - 1:59pm

      Longer thread


      by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 12/06/2021 - 2:37pm


      by artappraiser on Mon, 12/06/2021 - 5:54pm

      laughing gif above goes with this one too:

       


      by artappraiser on Mon, 12/06/2021 - 5:58pm

      but this one not a laughing matter:


      by artappraiser on Mon, 12/06/2021 - 6:08pm

      Meadows guilty as fuck punts

      https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/07/mark-meadows-capitol-riot-inves...


      by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 12/07/2021 - 1:07pm