From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

On Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 11:55:31 AM UTC-7, Jeremy H. Denisovan wrote:

What a dishonest asshole.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently made it clear to an
audience of young, military graduates what he thinks of the man who
he had to pretend to respect for the last year and a half:

Speaking to soon-to-be graduates of the Virginia Military Institute
on Wednesday, Tillerson dropped this truth bomb:

"If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become
accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded
in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to
relinquishing our freedom."

There was no doubt Tillerson was speaking about Trump, whose delusional pathology Tillerson obviously now views as a threat to the country:

"A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to
preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and
is not, what a fact is and is not and begin by holding ourselves
accountable to truthfulness and demand our pursuit of America's future
be fact-based -- not based on wishful thinking, not hoped-for outcomes
made in shallow promises, but with a clear-eyed view of the facts as
they are, and guided by the truth that will set us free to seek
solutions to our most daunting challenges."

He also warned about a “crisis of ethics and integrity in our society
and among our leaders,” again unmistakably referring to Trump.

But a crisis is something unexpected. Tillerson walked into Trump’s
cesspool with his eyes wide open. It wasn’t a “crisis” he was witnessing but an ongoing sickness. His responsibility to the country he purports
to care about was not to call that out after the fact but denounce it immediately. Which is why the reaction to his speech has mostly been,
“too little too late.”

***

Trump's own former appointed Secretary of State calls Trump
"a crisis of ethics and integrity".

He's totally right, too. Even Trump's own appointed cabinet member -
a super-rich Republican oil executive raised in Texas and Oklahoma -
clearly sees Trump's corruption. If THAT guy can see it anyone can. :)

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: jeremyhdonovan@gmail.com

And let's not forget about all those business conflicts of interest...

***

Did China Just Bribe Trump to Undermine National Security?
By Paul Krugman

May 17, 2018

Did the president of the United States just betray the nation’s security in return for a bribe from the Chinese government?

Don’t say that this suggestion is ridiculous: Given everything we know about Donald Trump, it’s well within the bounds of possibility, even plausibility.

Don’t say there’s no proof: We’re not talking about a court of law, where
the accused are presumed innocent until proved guilty. Where the behavior of high officials is concerned, the standard is very nearly the opposite: They’re supposed to
avoid situations in which there is even a hint that their actions might be motivated by personal gain.

Oh, and don’t say that it doesn’t matter one way or the other, because the Republicans who control Congress won’t do anything about it. That in itself is a key part of the story: An entire political party — a party that has historically wrapped
itself in the flag and questioned the patriotism of its opponents — has become entirely complaisant in the possibility of raw corruption, even if it involves payoffs from hostile foreign powers.

The story so far: In the past few years ZTE, a Chinese electronics company that, among other things, makes cheap smartphones, has gotten into repeated trouble with the U.S. government. Many of its products contain U.S. technology — technology that, by
law, must not be exported to embargoed nations, including North Korea and Iran.
But ZTE was circumventing the ban.

Initially, the company was fined $1.2 billion. Then, when it became clear that the company had rewarded rather than punished the executives involved, the Commerce Department forbade U.S. technology companies from selling components to ZTE for the next
seven years.

And two weeks ago the Pentagon banned sales of ZTE phones on military bases, following warnings from intelligence agencies that the Chinese government may be using the company’s products to conduct espionage.

All of which made it very strange indeed to see Trump suddenly declare that he was working with President Xi of China to help save ZTE — “Too many jobs in
China lost” — and that he was ordering the Commerce Department to make it happen.

It’s possible that Trump was just trying to offer an olive branch amid what looks like a possible trade war. But why choose such a flagrant example of Chinese misbehavior? Which was why many eyes turned to Indonesia, where a Chinese state-owned company
just announced a big investment in a project in which the Trump Organization has a substantial stake.

That investment, by the way, is part of the Belt and Road project, a multinational infrastructure initiative China is using to reinforce its economic centrality — and geopolitical influence — across Eurasia.

[Evidence:
Trump Indonesia Real Estate Project Gets Chinese Government Ally
http://tinyurl.com/yc7qz3s5 ]

Meanwhile, whatever happened to that Trump infrastructure plan?

Back to ZTE: Was there a quid pro quo? We may never know. But this wasn’t the
first time the Trump administration made a peculiar foreign policy move that seems associated with Trump family business interests. Last year the administration, bizarrely,
backed a Saudi blockade of Qatar, a Middle Eastern nation that also happens to be the site of a major U.S. military base. Why? Well, the move came shortly after the Qataris refused to invest $500 million in 666 Fifth Avenue, a troubled property owned by
the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.

And now it looks as if Qatar may be about to make a deal on 666 Fifth Avenue after all. I wonder why?

[Evidence:
Kushners Near Deal With Qatar-Linked Company for Troubled Tower
http://tinyurl.com/y9hh3vd9 ]

Step back from the details and consider the general picture. High officials have the power to reward or punish both businesses and other governments, so that undue influence is always a problem, even if it takes the form of campaign
contributions or
indirect financial rewards via the revolving door.

But the problem becomes vastly worse if interested parties can simply funnel money to officials through their business holdings — and Trump and his family, by failing to divest from their international business dealings, have basically hung a sign out
declaring themselves open to bribery (and also set the standard for the rest of
the administration).

And the problem of undue influence is especially severe when it comes to authoritarian foreign governments. Democracies have ethical rules of their own:
Justin Trudeau would be in big trouble if Canada were caught funneling money to
the Trump
Organization. Corporations can be shamed or sued. But if Xi Jinping or Vladimir
Putin make payoffs to U.S. politicians, who’s going to stop them?

The main answer is supposed to be congressional oversight, which used to mean something. If there had been even a whiff of foreign payoffs to, say, Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter, there would have been bipartisan demands for an investigation — and a high
likelihood of impeachment.

But today’s Republicans have made it clear that they won’t hold Trump accountable for anything, even if it borders on treason.

All of which is to say that Trump’s corruption is only a symptom of a bigger problem: a G.O.P. that will do anything, even betray the nation, in its pursuit
of partisan advantage.

***

Let's repeat the important parts:

"Trump and his family, by failing to divest from their international
business dealings have basically hung a sign out declaring themselves
open to bribery (and also set the standard for the rest of the
administration). And the problem of undue influence is especially severe
when it comes to authoritarian foreign governments."

and...

"Today’s Republicans have made it clear that they won’t hold Trump accountable for anything, even if it borders on treason."

Trump is playing international games with big money, enriching
*himself* and his own family members in the process. Trump is partaking
of the old "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" with foreign
governments, only with *personal* gain involved for himself.

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary
Offering Help to Win Election

By Mark Mazzetti, Ronen Bergman and David D. Kirkpatrick
May 19, 2018

http://tinyurl.com/y868vg8m

Excerpts:

WASHINGTON — Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at
Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary
for two wealthy
Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the
Middle East as a private security contractor.

The meeting was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team, and it forged relationships between the men and Trump insiders that would develop over
the coming months — past the election and well into President Trump’s first
year in office,
according to several people with knowledge of their encounters.

Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater,
arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
were eager to help his father win election as president. The social media specialist, Joel Zamel, extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign; by that time, the firm had already drawn up a multimillion-dollar proposal for a
social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump.

The company, which employed several Israeli former intelligence officers, specialized in collecting information and shaping opinion through social media.

It is unclear whether such a proposal was executed, and the details of who commissioned it remain in dispute. But Donald Trump Jr. responded approvingly, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting, and after those initial offers of help, Mr.
Nader was quickly embraced as a close ally by Trump campaign advisers — meeting frequently with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, and Michael T.
Flynn, who became the president’s first national security adviser. At the time, Mr. Nader was also
promoting a secret plan to use private contractors to destabilize Iran, the regional nemesis of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.

After Mr. Trump was elected, Mr. Nader paid Mr. Zamel a large sum of money, described by one associate as up to $2 million. There are conflicting accounts of the reason for the payment, but among other things, a company linked to Mr. Zamel provided Mr.
Nader with an elaborate presentation about the significance of social media campaigning to Mr. Trump’s victory.

The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication
that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign in the months before the presidential election. The interactions are a
focus of the
investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, who was originally
tasked with examining possible Trump campaign coordination with Russia in the election.

Mr. Nader is cooperating with the inquiry, and investigators have questioned numerous witnesses in Washington, New York, Atlanta, Tel Aviv and elsewhere about what foreign help may have been pledged or accepted, and about whether any such assistance was
coordinated with Russia, according to witnesses and others with knowledge of the interviews.

Erik D. Prince, the founder of Blackwater, arranged the meeting with Donald Trump Jr., George Nader and Joel Zamel.

The interviews, some in recent weeks, are further evidence that special counsel’s investigation remains in an intense phase even as Mr. Trump’s lawyers are publicly calling for Mr. Mueller to bring it to a close.

It is illegal for foreign governments or individuals to be involved in American
elections, and it is unclear what — if any — direct assistance Saudi Arabia
and the Emirates may have provided. But two people familiar with the meetings said that Trump
campaign officials did not appear bothered by the idea of cooperation with foreigners.

A lawyer for Donald Trump Jr., Alan Futerfas, said in a statement that “prior
to the 2016 election, Donald Trump Jr. recalls a meeting with Erik Prince, George Nader and another individual who may be Joel Zamel. They pitched Mr. Trump Jr. on a social
media platform or marketing strategy. He was not interested and that was the end of it.”

The August 2016 meeting has echoes of another Trump Tower meeting two months earlier, also under scrutiny by the special counsel, when Donald Trump Jr. and other top campaign aides met with a Russian lawyer after being promised damaging information about
Hillary Clinton. No evidence has emerged suggesting that the August meeting was
set up with a similar premise.

Stephen Miller, a senior aide to President Trump, was in Donald Trump Jr.’s office when the others arrived for the meeting.

The revelations about the meetings come in the midst of new scrutiny about ties
between Mr. Trump’s advisers and at least three wealthy Persian Gulf states. Besides his interest in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, Mr. Mueller has also been asking
witnesses about meetings between White House advisers and representatives of Qatar, Saudi Arabia’s bitter rival.

Kathryn Ruemmler, a lawyer for Mr. Nader, said, “Mr. Nader has fully cooperated with the special counsel’s investigation and will continue to do so.” A senior official in Saudi Arabia said it had never employed Mr. Nader in any capacity or
authorized him to speak for the crown prince.

Mr. Trump has allied himself with the Emirati crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin
Zayed al-Nahyan, endorsing his strong support for Saudi Arabia and confrontational approaches toward Iran and Qatar.

Mr. Prince, through a spokesman, declined to comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Advisers to the Court

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia,
the king’s main adviser, had long opposed many of the Obama administration’s policies toward
the Middle East. They resented President Barack Obama’s agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, his statements of support for the Arab Spring uprisings and his hands-off approach to the Syrian civil war.

News outlets linked to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates fiercely criticized Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent, when she was secretary of state, and diplomats familiar with their thinking say both princes
hoped for a president who
would take a stronger hand in the region against both Iran and groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. Nader had worked for years as a close adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed of Abu Dhabi, and Mr. Zamel had worked for the Emirati royal court as a consultant
as well. When Mr. Trump locked up the Republican presidential nomination in early 2016, Mr.
Nader began making inquiries on behalf of the Emirati prince about possible ways to directly support Mr. Trump, according to three people with whom Mr. Nader discussed his efforts.

One of Mr. Zamel’s firms did work for Oleg V. Deripaska, an aluminum magnate,
who has been linked to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Mr. Nader also visited Moscow at least twice during the presidential campaign as a confidential emissary from Crown Prince Mohammed of Abu Dhabi, according to people familiar with his travels. After the election, he worked with the crown prince to
arrange a meeting in the Seychelles between Mr. Prince and a financier close to
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Companies connected to Mr. Zamel also have ties to Russia. One of his firms had
previously worked for oligarchs linked to Mr. Putin, including Oleg V. Deripaska and Dmitry Rybolovlev, who hired the firm for online campaigns against their business rivals.

Mr. Deripaska, an aluminum magnate, was once in business with the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has pleaded not guilty in the special counsel investigation to charges of financial crimes and failing to disclose the lobbying work he
did on behalf of a former president of Ukraine, an ally of Mr. Putin. Mr. Rybolovlev once purchased a Florida mansion from Mr. Trump.

Mr. Nader’s visits to Russia and the work Mr. Zamel’s companies did for the
Russians have both been a subject of interest to the special counsel’s investigators, according to people familiar with witness interviews.

Mr. Prince has known Mr. Nader since he worked for Blackwater in Iraq.

A String of Meetings

Mr. Zamel and Mr. Nader were together at a Midtown Manhattan hotel at about 4 p.m. on the afternoon of Aug. 3 when Mr. Nader received a call from Mr. Prince summoning them to Trump Tower. When they arrived, Stephen Miller, a top campaign aide who is now
a White House adviser, was in Donald Trump Jr.’s office as well, according to
the people familiar with the meeting.

Mr. Prince is a longtime Republican donor and the brother of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, and Mr. Prince and Mr. Nader had known each other since Mr. Nader had worked for Blackwater as a business agent in Iraq in the years after the American
invasion. Mr. Prince has longstanding ties to the Emirates, and has frequently done business with Crown Prince Mohammed.

Mr. Prince opened the meeting by telling Donald Trump Jr. that “we are working hard for your father,” in reference to his family and other donors, according to a person familiar with the meeting. He then introduced Mr. Nader as an old friend with
deep ties to Arab leaders.

Mr. Nader repeatedly referred to the Saudi and Emirati princes as “my friends,” according to one person with knowledge of the conversation. To underscore the point, he would open his mobile phone to show off pictures of him posing with them, some of
which The New York Times obtained.

Mr. Nader explained to Donald Trump Jr. that the two princes saw the elder Mr. Trump as a strong leader who would fill the power vacuum that they believed Mr.
Obama had left in the Middle East, and Mr. Nader went on to say that he and his
friends would
be glad to support Mr. Trump as much as they could, according to the person with knowledge of the conversation.

Mr. Zamel, for his part, laid out the capabilities of his online media company,
although it is unclear whether he referred to the proposals his company had already prepared. One person familiar with the meeting said that Mr. Nader invited Donald Trump Jr.
to meet with a Saudi prince — an invitation the younger Mr. Trump declined. After about half an hour, everyone exchanged business cards.

“There was a brief meeting, nothing concrete was offered or pitched to anyone
and nothing came of it,” said Mr. Mukasey, the lawyer for Mr. Zamel.

By then, a company connected to Mr. Zamel had been working on a proposal for a covert multimillion-dollar online manipulation campaign to help elect Mr. Trump, according to three people involved and a fourth briefed on the effort. The plan involved using
thousands of fake social media accounts to promote Mr. Trump’s candidacy on platforms like Facebook.

There were concerns inside the company, Psy-Group, about the plan’s legality,
according to one person familiar with the effort. The company, whose motto is “shape reality,” consulted an American law firm, and was told that it would
be illegal if
any non-Americans were involved in the effort.

Mr. Zamel, the founder of Psy-Group and one of its owners, has been questioned about the August 2016 meeting by investigators for the special counsel, and at least two F.B.I. agents working on the inquiry have traveled to Israel to interview employees of
the company who worked on the proposal. According to one person, the special counsel’s team has worked with the Israeli police to seize the computers of one of Mr. Zamel’s companies, which is currently in liquidation.

In the hectic final weeks of the campaign and during the presidential transition, several of Mr. Trump’s advisers drew Mr. Nader close. He met often with Mr. Kushner, Mr. Flynn and Stephen K. Bannon, who took over as campaign chairman after Mr.
Manafort resigned amid revelations about his work in Ukraine.

***

Let's repeat the most important part of all that:

"It is illegal for foreign governments or individuals to be involved
in American elections, and it is unclear what — if any — direct
assistance Saudi Arabia and the Emirates may have provided."

and...

"A company connected to Mr. Zamel had been working on a proposal
for a covert multimillion-dollar online manipulation campaign
to help elect Mr. Trump, according to three people involved and
a fourth briefed on the effort. The plan involved using thousands
of fake social media accounts to promote Mr. Trump’s candidacy
on platforms like Facebook.

"The company, whose motto is “shape reality,” consulted an American
law firm, and was told that it would be illegal if any non-Americans
were involved in the effort."

If there IS any evidence of "direct assistance", that would be
some of the "collusion" Trump keeps swearing doesn't exist.

And, it is possible such evidence might exist, again:

"According to one person, the special counsel’s team has worked with
the Israeli police to seize the computers of one of Mr. Zamel’s companies"

***

Fingers crossed on this one. :)

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

Steve Bannon tried to suppress black vote,
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says

RACHEL LEAH for Salon
MAY 18, 2018

http://tinyurl.com/yc75jmld

Excerpts:

Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower and a former employee of the firm, told Congress Wednesday that the company ran voter suppression campaigns, which targeted black Americans and other liberal demographic groups.
He said that those
orders came from Steve Bannon, former chief executive of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and later Chief Strategist in the Trump White House.

"Mr. Bannon sees cultural warfare as the means to create enduring change in American politics. It was for this reason Mr. Bannon engaged SCL (Cambridge Analytica's parent company), a foreign military contractor, to build an arsenal
of informational
weapons he could deploy on the American population," Wylie told CNN after the hearing, adding that "voter disengagement tactics" were used to "discourage or demobilize certain types of people from voting" — specifically, African-Americans.

Political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was partly funded by right-wing billionaire Robert Mercer; Bannon was the firm's vice president until he joined
the Donald Trump campaign, which then hired the firm to help win the 2016 election. In March,
Wylie came forward and claimed that Cambridge Analytica improperly harvested personal information from some 50 million Facebook users to try to manipulate voters.

"We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles," Wylie told the Observer. "And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on."

Wylie's testimony to Congress marks the first time he's presented evidence on the wide-reaching and allegedly exploitative data breach since his public disclosure.

When Wylie spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.,) asked if one of Bannon's "goals was to suppress voting or discourage certain individuals in the U.S. from voting."

Wylie said, "That was my understanding, yes." He added that discussions about "voter disengagement" and the targeting of African-Americans, prompted his departure from the firm, according to the Guardian, saying he saw documents referencing this
operation.

In one example, "Facebook posts were targeted at some black voters reminding them of Hillary Clinton’s 1990s description of black youths as 'super predators', in the hope it would deter them from voting," the Guardian reported.

***

They actively targeted black voters, hoping to stop them from voting.
Yeah, that sounds like exactly the kind of thing those folks would do.
But looks like even the Trump administration has a sense of humor.
Let's see how far the idea can be taken, though...

Colbert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U52sG0o8Xrc

***

And today's Doonesbury is amusing, sort of: https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2018/05/20

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

Bill Maher - Trump Is Above The Law
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RYb72FPzzc

Colbert - One Year Anniversary of the Mueller Investigation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0cU2-IlCE

Seth Meyers - Trump Deals with New Russia and Michael Cohen Bombshells https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05U0AYfnWgI&feature=youtu.be

***

Any comments, Andy?

"Trump Boasts That His Impeachment Will Get Higher TV Ratings
Than All Other Impeachments"

“My impeachment will make the Royal Wedding’s ratings look pathetic,” Trump bragged. “Everywhere I go, people tell me that if I am impeached, they’re going to watch it,” Trump said.

Public Demands Investigation of Why F.B.I. Infiltrators
in Trump Campaign Failed to Prevent Him from Being Elected

"Americans expressed dismay at the news that F.B.I. might have had
a golden opportunity to prevent the nation’s current unspeakable
nightmare from unfolding but did not get the job done."

“The thought of F.B.I. infiltrators being inside the Trump campaign
but not sabotaging it is, in a word, devastating,” one American said.
“If it turns out to be true, I will totally lose my faith in
F.B.I. infiltrators.”

"Trump Fears Next Election Will Be Decided by Americans"

"Trump has reportedly ordered his staff to do everything in its power
to prevent Americans from meddling in the 2020 election."

"An aide said that the President is panicking over a doomsday scenario
in which Americans, sidelined during the 2016 election, play a dominant
role in influencing the 2020 contest."

"In Note Thanking Him for Welcome Home,
Melania Misspells Trump's Name as "Phuckface"

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

Castaneda fans should all be thrilled right now, since the
United States has acquired and is battling a huge petty tyrant.
And it is our President.

***

New York Times Editorial Board
Trump v. the Department of Justice

May 21, 2018

http://tinyurl.com/yaeyrau7

Excerpts:

As the old saying goes, if the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law
is against you, argue the facts. If both the facts and the law are against you,
pound the table and yell.

Welcome to the central organizing principle of the Trump White House. As the Russia investigation burrows closer to the Oval Office, the president, his staff, his collaborators in Congress and his defenders in the right-wing media are sparing no
institution in their quest to undermine it. Look, a mole!

President Trump sank to a new low on Sunday, tweeting, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and
if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

Putting aside the cartoonish language (“I hereby demand”? Really?), consider the seriousness of the threat posed by a president ordering federal law enforcement officials to investigate the people who are investigating him.

On Monday, Mr. Trump persuaded the Justice Department to ask its inspector general to look into his accusations, hoping that these countercharges make the
public forget the broader context of the Russia investigation. So let’s look at what we already
know.

First the facts: There was a sophisticated, multiyear conspiracy by Russian government officials and agents, working under direct orders from President Vladimir Putin, to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in support of Donald Trump. The
American law enforcement and intelligence communities warned the Trump campaign
and asked it to report anything suspicious. The campaign didn’t do this. To the contrary, at least seven Trump campaign officials met with Russians or people linked to
Russia, and several seemed eager to accept their help. As the F.B.I. became aware of these contacts, it began to investigate. And yet the bureau went to great lengths to shield this investigation from becoming public before the election, even as James
Comey, then the F.B.I. director, spoke openly about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

These facts aren’t disputed. The intelligence community confirmed Russia’s efforts on Mr. Trump’s behalf in January 2017, and last week Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he saw “no
reason to dispute�
� those findings.

Do these sound like the actions of government officials intent on bringing down
a presidential candidate?

What about the law? It is a federal crime to lie to federal authorities, obstruct justice, launder money, fail to register as a foreign agent and conspire with a foreign power to influence the outcome of an election. Top officials in Mr. Trump’s
campaign and administration have already been indicted on or pleaded guilty to some of these charges. This is just the start; the special counsel, Robert Mueller, appears to have gathered a great deal more evidence with the help of cooperating witnesses.
And we haven’t even talked about Michael Cohen yet.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress compound their shame daily, either by standing by in silence or by working actively with the White House and conservative media to help expose the identity of an F.B.I. informant. Was it just a year ago that these same
people professed outrage at the supposed “unmasking” of American citizens caught up in duly-authorized surveillance?

This self-interested assault is doing incalculable damage to the integrity of American law enforcement. It’s up to those people who have devoted their lives to the nation and to the rule of law, like Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the F.B.I.
director, Christopher Wray — both Republicans and Trump appointees, don’t forget — to stand up to the president and defend these institutions.

One doesn’t have to agree with the particulars of every investigation to see the fundamental difference here: The members of our law enforcement and intelligence communities are trying to protect the country. Donald Trump and his supporters are simply
trying to protect Donald Trump.

***

That insufferable son-of-a-bitch Trump is crossing every line and is
now making serious moves to establish tyrannical control of our nation.
Trump is indeed a petty tyrant for the United States - and now we get
to see if the United States collectively is enough of a warrior to
defeat him.

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

By Demanding an Investigation, Trump Challenged a Constraint on His Power

By Charlie Savage
May 21, 2018

http://tinyurl.com/yczu63n7

WASHINGTON — When President Trump publicly demanded that the Justice Department open an investigation into the F.B.I.’s scrutiny of his campaign contacts with Russia, he inched further toward breaching an established constraint on executive power:
The White House does not make decisions about individual law enforcement investigations.

“It’s an incredible historical moment,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School who helped write a coming scholarly article on the limits of presidential control over the Justice Department. Mr. Trump’s move,
she said, “is the
culmination of a lot of moments in which he has chipped away at prosecutorial independence, but this is a direct assault.”

Almost since he took office, Mr. Trump has battered the Justice Department’s independence indirectly — lamenting its failure to reopen a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton that found no wrongdoing, and openly complaining that Attorney General
Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia inquiry. But he had also acknowledged that as president, “I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department,” as he told a radio interviewer with frustration last fall.

As part of that pattern, he has also denied the account by James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he abruptly fired, that the president privately urged him to drop an investigation into Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser.

But Mr. Trump has also been flirting with going further, as he hinted late last
year when he claimed in a New York Times interview that “I have an absolute right to do what I want to with the Justice Department.” And now, by unabashedly ordering the
department to open a particular investigation, Mr. Trump has ratcheted up his willingness to impose direct political control over the work of law enforcement
officials.

Mr. Trump’s demand was part of the latest cycle in the campaign by his allies
in Congress and conservative news media outlets to discredit the special counsel investigation into whether his campaign conspired with Russia in its interference in the 2016
election and whether he committed obstruction of justice.

One of Mr. Trump’s most stalwart defenders, Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has been using his oversight powers to investigate the F.B.I.’s investigation, portraying several
early steps in 2016 as scandalous. Most recently, with backing from Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Mr. Nunes has been trying to force the Justice Department to identify a confidential source who assisted the F.B.I.

[Nunes is a psycho.]

As a result of that battle, the existence of the source has shaken into public view. The informant, an American academic who has taught in Britain, approached
several of the members of the Trump campaign who had been in contact with suspected Russian
agents and tried to find out what they knew about Russian hackers’ theft of Democratic emails. Mr. Trump’s allies have portrayed this as the F.B.I. infiltrating his campaign with a spy.

On Sunday, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes
— and if any such
demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

In response, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, referred the matter to the department’s independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and issued a statement clearly intended to mollify Mr. Trump: “If anyone did infiltrate or
surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.”

The Justice Department rarely discloses when it has opened a criminal investigation, but it appeared on Monday that Mr. Rosenstein’s move had satisfied Mr. Trump for the time being without opening a criminal investigation. Still, he established a
significant new precedent by directly demanding that the department scrutinize specific actions.

“Yesterday made explicit what before was implicit, which is that Trump is crossing every line that protects the independence of the Justice Department,” said Neal Katyal, who drafted the department’s special counsel
regulation in 1999 for the
Clinton administration and served as acting solicitor general in the first term
of the Obama administration.

Mr. Trump’s suggestion that Obama-era officials may have abused their investigative authority to spy on his campaign for their own political purposes
complicates his demand for the Justice Department to investigate itself now. Still, senior law
enforcement officials appointed by Mr. Trump already knew what steps the department took in 2016 and had not previously deemed those facts a sufficient basis to open an investigation, noted Bruce Green, a Fordham University law professor who wrote the
article with Ms. Roiphe.

Legally, it is ambiguous and contested whether a president has the lawful power
to order the attorney general to open or close a case — especially one involving his personal interests. But either way, as a practical matter, it may
make little
difference.

That is because attorneys general who view a president’s request or demand as
unjustified can refuse it. But the president can fire and replace the attorney general. The primary check against a president abusing that power is the willingness of
Congress to impeach him, as well as potential voter backlash.

The article by Ms. Roiphe and Mr. Green documented several scattered early examples of presidents who got directly involved in case decisions. George Washington, they wrote, ordered the prosecution of people involved in the Whiskey Rebellion by
distillers in western Pennsylvania who rose up against the federal whiskey tax and threatened its enforcers. Washington later ordered that case shut down.

But such cases were rare and typically involved foreign affairs, Ms. Roiphe and
Mr. Green wrote. And because the presidents’ involvement went unchallenged, the Supreme Court never weighed in about its legitimacy. The federal law enforcement system
evolved over time; Congress created the Justice Department in 1870.

A century later, after the Watergate scandal, the norm of Justice Department independence became more entrenched. Senators have since routinely asked attorney general nominees at confirmation hearings questions eliciting promises
to resist any effort by
a president to intrude upon matters of prosecutorial discretion.

[Oh, will you do this for us? Pretty please with sugar on top? Sheesh...]

A few weeks before leaving office last year, President Barack Obama published a
piece in the Harvard Law Review about the president’s role in advancing a criminal justice overhaul. In it, he nodded to the importance of constraints on
presidential
intrusion into specific Justice Department case decisions, citing the need “to avoid even the appearance of politicization” when it comes to administration of criminal law.

“For good reason, particular criminal matters are not directed by the president personally but are handled by career prosecutors and law enforcement officials who are dedicated to serving the public and promoting public safety,” Mr. Obama wrote. “
The president does not and should not decide who or what to investigate or prosecute or when an investigation or prosecution should happen.”

***

Remember, this isn't just another opinion and Obama wrote this *prior*
to leaving office. Before becoming a two-term President, Obama was
president of the Harvard Law Review and as a professor taught
constitutional law.

Trump is crossing serious lines and MUST be stopped.

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: allreadydun@gmail.com

pinche tirano deluxo = don Trumpski

( a new catagory of tyrant )

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

Washington Post

Stop waiting for the constitutional crisis that President Trump is sure to provoke. It’s here.

by Eugene Robinson
May 21

http://tinyurl.com/y87v2p2o

On Sunday, via Twitter, Trump demanded that the Justice Department concoct a transparently political investigation, with the aim of smearing veteran professionals at Justice and the FBI and also throwing mud at the previous administration. Trump’s only
rational goal is casting doubt on the probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, which appears to be closing in.

Trump’s power play is a gross misuse of his presidential authority and a dangerous departure from long-standing norms. Strongmen such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin use their justice systems to punish enemies and deflect attention from their own crimes.
Presidents of the United States do not — or did not, until Sunday’s tweet:

“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people
within the Obama Administration!”

Rather than push back and defend the rule of law, Justice tried to mollify the president by at least appearing to give him what he wants. The Republican leadership in Congress has been silent as a mouse. This is how uncrossable lines are crossed.

The pretext Trump seized on is the revelation that FBI source Stefan A. Halper made contact with three Trump campaign associates before the election as part of the FBI’s initial investigation into Russian meddling.

With the full-throated backing of right-wing media, Trump has described this person as a “spy” who was “implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president.” This claim is completely unsupported by the facts as
we know them. Trump
wants you to believe a lie.

The informant was not embedded or implanted or otherwise inserted into the campaign. He was asked to contact several campaign figures whose names had already surfaced in the FBI’s counterintelligence probe. It would have been an appalling dereliction
of duty not to take a look at Trump advisers with Russia ties, such as Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, when the outlines of a Russian campaign to influence the election were emerging.

Trump claims this is the nation’s “all time biggest political scandal” because, he alleges, Justice Department officials and the FBI used a “spy” to try to “frame” him and his campaign, in an effort to boost his opponent Hillary Clinton’s
chance of winning the election. This conspiracy theory has so many holes in it that it’s hard to know where to begin. But let’s start with the glaringly obvious: If the aim was to make Trump lose, why wasn’t all the known information about the
Trump campaign’s Russia connections leaked before the election, when it might
have had some impact?

The truth appears to be precisely the opposite of what Trump says, which is not
uncommon. The record suggests that Justice and the FBI were so uncomfortable investigating a presidential campaign in the weeks and months before an election that they
tiptoed around promising lines of inquiry rather than appear to be taking a side. The FBI director at the time was James B. Comey, and while we heard plenty about Clinton’s emails before the vote, we had no idea that such a mature investigation of the
Trump campaign was underway.

Now that the Mueller probe has bored into Trump’s inner circle — and federal authorities have raided the homes and office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen — the president appears to be in a panic. The question is whether he sees this “spy�
� nonsense as a way to discredit Mueller’s eventual findings, or as a pretext
for trying to end the investigation with a bloody purge akin to Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre.”

The Justice Department answered Trump’s tweeted demand by announcing that an existing investigation by its inspector general will now “include determining
whether there was any impropriety or political motivation” by the FBI. Deputy
Attorney
General Rod J. Rosenstein may hope that is enough to avoid a showdown. I fear he is wrong.

None of this is normal or acceptable. One of the bedrock principles of our system of government is that no one is above the law, not even the president. But a gutless Congress has refused, so far, to protect this sacred inheritance.

Trump is determined to use the Justice Department and the FBI to punish those he sees as political enemies. This is a crisis, and it will get worse.

***

Then again... one Washington Post columnist whose politics are described
as "center-right" thinks Christopher Wray and Rod Rosenstein may have
been playing Trump to set him up.

***

Right Turn Opinion
Did Rosenstein and Wray play Trump?
http://tinyurl.com/y8l94c94

On Monday, President Trump met at the White House with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats (among others) about the investigation into “any irregularities with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s tactics concerning the Trump Campaign” and congressional access to highly confidential material. This set off a furious reaction among those concerned with the erosion of democratic
norms. There is widespread agreement outside of Trumpland that the meeting between investigators responsible for an inquiry into the president’s misconduct and those directly involved in the investigation is unprecedented and alarming. When it comes to
the wisdom of Rosenstein and Wray’s attendance, there are two schools of thought.

As a preliminary matter, let’s note that all three of these are Trump appointees, all three have publicly attested that Russia interfered in the election to help Trump and none has a close personal relationship with Trump (nor does, for example,
Attorney General Jeff Sessions).

[Yeah, so how the hell is the situation supposedly biased against Trump?
All four of those people are Republican appointees. :) ]

One side, aptly represented by experts such as Jack Goldsmith, argues that we need to cut Rosenstein and Wray some slack. “Some people think they already should have resigned because of the president’s attacks on the integrity and independence of DOJ
and FBI. They would certainly have plenty of reason to resign in protest,” he
said in an interview with Isaac Chotiner. “But the main reason they appear to
be staying on is to see the investigation through. It would disrupt the investigation for an
uncertain period, and in an uncertain but probably bad way if Rosenstein, Wray,
or Mueller left for any reason. That’s why I think we should support them in their decision to stay on, take the heat, and see the investigation to its completion, or at
least as far towards completion as possible.” He added, “I am sure there are red lines, but given the stakes of resignation, and Trump’s unpredictable
behavior, it is hard to know what they are.” The thinking is that the meeting
was a tactical
concession that gives up little ground, a means of deflecting Trump that permits them to do their work.

Others, including former attorney general Eric Holder, argue that the meeting was a hugely significant breach of democratic norms and Justice Department practice. Accordingly, Wray and Rosenstein are essentially enabling, rather than curtailing Trump’s
trashing of constitutional norms. These critics worry that Rosenstein and Wray are incrementally damaging the very norms they want to protect.

I find the latter argument a little hard to fathom given that Wray and Rosenstein almost surely consulted with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III before attending. Moreover, Rosenstein has demonstrated that he is determined to give Mueller wide berth
to conduct the investigation, including a recent public declaration that the Justice Department would “not be extorted.” Unless he has experienced a complete change of heart, one should imagine that in agreeing to the meeting he
did not consider
himself to be a victim of extortion.

I would suggest a third take on the meeting: Wray and Rosenstein, with Mueller’s full backing, might be setting up Trump. We know Mueller is already
pursuing an obstruction-of-justice inquiry that might relate to acts such as Trump firing former FBI
director James B. Comey, falsely accusing him of illegally leaking confidential
material, pressuring Comey to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn, helping draft a phony cover story to explain the June 9 Trump Tower meeting and
conducting an
extended campaign to smear, discredit and disrupt the work of the FBI and the special counsel. In that vein, wouldn’t a meeting directly ordering Wray and Rosenstein to conduct what amounts to a wild goose chase and to put confidential material into
the hands of congressional allies be part of the pattern of possible obstruction they are investigating?

Goodness knows what Trump said in the meeting and what he revealed about his intent with regard to outing the previously secret source. Moreover, Wray and Rosenstein already may have a very good idea who leaked the name of the source (initially to the
right-wing Daily Caller, it appears) and may be keen to see whether the materials shared with congressional Republicans get leaked as well. (They, too,
understand the finite protections of the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause.)

This isn’t, alas, the “Deep State” at work. Remember, it’s Trump himself who is demanding the inquiry and document sharing; it’s his appointees who are complying with his wishes. If this is the “Deep State,” then it is so devious as to
draft Trump and his top associates into its secret enclave.

But let’s get back to reality. Going to the meeting, taking copious notes, analyzing the notes to determine the propriety of Trump’s comments and referring that information over to Mueller is precisely what any responsible law-enforcement officials
would do. It was, come to think of it, precisely what Comey did.

In short, I’m certainly inclined to give Rosenstein and Wray the benefit of the doubt as to their efforts to navigate around Trump. In fact, I’m willing to bet they knew exactly what they are doing and saw utility in having the meeting. We’ll know
soon enough whether that meeting was part of the investigation, not an attempt to protect the investigation.

***

I sure as hell hope she's right. Even the "center-right" sees this
as insane crap. But try to imagine what it looks like from a Democrat perspective. Here we have a Republican president and several Republican congressmen pressuring major Republican appointees to drop or tone
down a hugely significant investigation. To a Dem, that all just looks
like dangerous and insane bullshit.

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: slider@anashram.com

here is the king of all myths:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50

the shit that keeps the world brainwashed.

### - iow: the same old shit/formula going back 1000's upon 1000's of
years, re-imagined for each & every new age...

sounds about right heh :)

i mean, no wonder they 'stuck' to it; it works & is time tested?

no 'need' to invent summat totally new hahaha :)))

of course, old eric von danikin wants to suggest an 'origin' for it all?

aliens! (aliens?? riiiight...) :)

***

Basically we are not really that much different from other mammals and creatures. Beyond our ability to talk, the thing that makes human beings
really stand out is our apparent ability to create a 'conceptual' image of
the world and then relate to that idea (or any idea apparently) to the exclusion of virtually everything and anything else. Thus, our densely populated human world is full of different cultures and beliefs, all competitively vying and clamouring for attention. So much so, that some
suggest humanity has gradually become divorced from the underlying
background reality that all other living creatures on this planet still
have and retain an awareness of.

Accordingly, human beings, via this ability, have created their very own multifaceted ‘version’ of reality, one that increasingly flies in the face of the way things are in reality for the rest of nature, to the point that
most people these days generally feel that they lack a deeper connection
to the rest of the universe, an idea that leaves them feeling somehow
empty or incomplete and thus has people searching for some kind of deeper meaning to life, whether it be religion or philosophy. The standard social
norm of having a good job, a nice home and family, doesn’t always seem totally to fulfil that yearning need.

I suppose this is precisely where religion and philosophy are supposed to
come into the picture, except that those religions and philosophies
themselves also often seem to fail us, in that almost all our religions
only really succeed in distancing us even farther from nature instead of bringing us closer to it. Our religions comfort us by pertaining to answer
all our questions, only they don’t really answer them beyond telling us to behave ourselves in the meantime, while at the same time, rather
frustratingly, just putting off the whole subject until after we die. As
such they are more a way of ‘explaining away’ the mysteries of life rather than bringing us closer to them.

I suspect the simple truth is that there is probably no ‘sense’ (no
meaning per se, or at least not a rational one) to life in quite the way
we might want there to be; that while we are alive we can, of course, do
all the usual things that the majority of people like to do, such as
working and having homes and families. Nevertheless, we still have to understand that all these ‘things’ do not really constitute nor represent the ‘meaning of life’ in and of themselves. Yet in modern society that is exactly and precisely what people are encouraged to turn to for some sort
of sense of completion and solace. The end result is that no one really
knows what they are doing any more. More often than not, we merely bluff
our way through life instead of consciously living it to the full in
complete awareness of doing so.

(2-cents from - The WILD Way To Lucid Dreaming)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: slider@anashram.com

On Tue, 22 May 2018 21:01:44 +0100, Jeremy H. Denisovan <david.j.worrell@gmail.com> wrote:

***
I sure as hell hope she's right. Even the "center-right" sees this
as insane crap. But try to imagine what it looks like from a Democrat perspective.

### - haha tell me about it lol; they're ALL nuts! and mostly of lower intelligence too! :)))

the rich and powerful (a right wing minority) should never be 'allowed' to
get into power!

many of the 'principles' of the right (law & order for example) absolutely
need to be kept, just never allowed to be wielded 'by' them?? (i.e., law & order become oppressive/repressive under them; "peace through strength"??
vote for us we'll 'force' everyone to behave! zero tolerance! lock every
fucker up! spend more on weapons! ban everything else! haha jeeze + what a philosophy??)

Here we have a Republican president and several Republican
congressmen pressuring major Republican appointees to drop or tone
down a hugely significant investigation. To a Dem, that all just looks
like dangerous and insane bullshit.

### - honestly think he loves it? (the limelight i mean) and is literally
in his element!

what a career thi' huh? and now prez as well?? fuck me what a trip he's
on! lol :)

plus the way the law works things can mostly be delayed almost
indefinitely if/when required; the more serious the shit the longer it
takes, often years! which 'all' these big-business dudes employ on
occasion; are experts at it! have 'teams' of attorneys! - and all of them 'as-evil' as the day is long! + big wink to thang hahaha (not evil per se sport, merely corrupted/compromised all to hell/to the hilt; and as such,
is one of the 'worst' cults there is to get out of! metaphorically
speaking ;)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: allreadydun@gmail.com

here is the king of all myths:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88GTUXvp-50

the shit that keeps the world brainwashed.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: slider@anashram.org

wants a bit more writes...

no one is able to answer this one simple
question: wtf are we doing here ?

no one ever has a real answer BECAUSE
they just don't know.

i suspect since there have been about
109 billion of us since the beginning
that we are building something.
building for the future?
or building for who?

### - (smile...) but isn't that a bit like in the movie 'logan run' where everyone believes in some place called 'sanctuary' - only it doesn't exist?

maybe we're just here... right?

none of it makes any 'rational' sense so we 'supply' that sense we crave
there to be by inventing it!

***

What then is this ‘fullness’ we seek, where is this ‘life more abundant’
that everyone inwardly craves but can’t really find? I don’t have any definitive answers, although being a keen observer I do think I’ve managed
to pick up a few clues here and there that might just well be of interest
to those with similarly inquiring minds.

For example, if there’s such a thing as a meaning to life and we are part
of it, then we really shouldn’t have to look any further than into our own inner being in order to be able to understand it all, or at least our own
part in it.

Perhaps by going along with the universe, instead of rebelling against it
by indulging in all our own ideas that we project and superimpose upon the world instead of dealing with it the way it really is, we might just gain
a few insights. Not because we have so cleverly figured it all out with
our pencils and computers and such like, but because by going along with
things sometimes you can also come to understand more of its true nature
and that, although it may not be able to give you straight verbal answers,
that doesn’t mean you can’t still learn something from observing the way
it behaves and conducts itself with you and with everything else.

Maybe what we have to try and first understand and accept is that nature
itself isn’t intellectual and that, in the main, it has got to where it
has today after billions of years of unfolding without the benefits of
rational thinking and language to explain it; that although its purpose,
its (and thus our) whole reason for being, is a totally silent one that requires no explanation to function, which doesn’t mean we can’t still learn to go along with it and pick up a few interesting and useful things
about it and ourselves in the process. Nature is our friend. Nature
doesn’t lie. In other words, if we start off at home by looking a little
more into our own nature and our own natural abilities, then later may
come a view of the bigger picture in which we all naturally belong.

***

iow: just be here now!

(slider then whispers merely for the histrionics of it all heh: 'coz maybe that's all there actually is... that maybe another 'unexplored'
knowledge-set altogether derives from behaving that way instead; a
different (possibly a lot more immediate) way of knowing/experiencing life
& the world...)

you turn on... tune in... and then drop out?

step back from it... and then just let 'em all get on with it...

'coz they're all livin' in wallyworld that lot! swimming/drowning in their
own sea of ideas!

may be :)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: allreadydun@gmail.com

no one is able to answer this one simple
question: wtf are we doing here ?

no one ever has a real answer BECAUSE
they just don't know.

i suspect since there have been about
109 billion of us since the beginning
that we are building something.
building for the future?
or building for who?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: intraphase@gmail.com

https://theconservativetreehouse.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/crossfire-hurricane-3.jpg


McCabe & Brenner get arrested first.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/05/26/spygate-the-inspector-general-and-the-expanded-fisa-investigation/#more-149775

The republicans are dragging this out to hurt the democrats.
Trump defeated the republicans in an "undeniable" way.
The democrats have squandered precious time they needed to regroup.
They are still not processing the shock-denial-sorrow-bargaining-transcend
type of catharsis necessary to get up off the canvas and fight.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: david.j.worrell@gmail.com

"The day that we can't protect human sources is the day
the American people start becoming less safe."
- Republican Trump-appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray

"His exposure is unacceptable... It is a breach of the duty we owe
to these men and women, who serve our country at great risk and
trust us to protect their identities."
- Jerrold Nadler, top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee

Nadler wants the leaking of the informant's name investigated.
Rightly so, since that leak was clearly an actual crime.

***

Trump has repeatedly interjected himself into an investigation
in which he himself is a potential subject. That IS unethical.

Trump's confrontation with and pressuring of the FBI and the
Justice Department has no precedent in modern times and he is
wreaking untold damage on major democratic institutions.

It's not the FBI or the Justice Department that is corrupt.
TRUMP and his administration are MUCH closer to actual corruption.
Yet they're trying to create a tyranny of "anyone loyal to Trump" -
undermining and/or destroying anyone who won't kowtow to him
or who tries to bring his people to justice.

“To turn on the F.B.I. using this loaded language like ‘spy’
and ‘infiltrate,’ President Trump is trying to poison public
opinion against the F.B.I. for his own reasons”
- Barbara McQuade, career federal prosecutor who served as
United States attorney in Michigan.

Trump is doing his best to tear down the FBI and Justice Department
and replace them with "goons" loyal to HIM. This all sits fine with shit-for-brains conservative conspiracy theorists peddling idiotic
notions of "deep-state corruption" which are mostly vague hand-waving
and pure bullshit.

Contrary to Trump’s assertions, there is no evidence the FBI
spied on his campaign and no evidence the investigation had
a partisan origin. The F.B.I. was investigating Russian efforts to
influence the American election, and they had evidence people around
Trump WERE in contact with the Russians, evidence that has only
grown since then. There is now voluminous evidence of just that.

Adam Schiff of California, Democratic head of the Intelligence
Committee investigation said the recent briefings by Rosenstein
and Wray made clear “there is no evidence to support any allegation
that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a ‘spy’ in the
Trump campaign.” Put plainly, it's pure crap. That didn't happen.

The hysterical allegation which has now been hysterically repeated
over and over is nothing but yet another Trump LIE - one of the
thousands of lies he's already told while in office.

Trump is dangerous. Even before taking office, Trump disparaged
the intelligence agencies that concluded Russia sought to influence
the election on his behalf. At one point he in effect compared them
to Nazis, although their conclusion is one no reasonable person would
any longer dispute. And rather than actually do anything about it,
instead he publicly badgered law enforcement officials - including
his own appointed Attorney General - to shut down the Russia inquiry.
To anyone with a brain that's obviously corrupt and dangerous.
Trump HAS worked to obstruct justice. And he still is.

Trump DOES obstruct justice, anytime he thinks he needs to to 'win'.
Because he has no genuine integrity. And should now be obvious to
anyone with any decency and a minimally functioning brain.

.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: slider@anashram.com

On Sun, 27 May 2018 19:46:35 +0100, Jeremy H. Denisovan <david.j.worrell@gmail.com> wrote:

Trump DOES obstruct justice, anytime he thinks he needs to to 'win'.
Because he has no genuine integrity. And should now be obvious to
anyone with any decency and a minimally functioning brain.

### - he has the 'integrity' of a... politician!

nuff-said lol... :)

(might as well ask al capone to be honest?? riiiight... :)))

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: intraphase@gmail.com

On Sunday, May 27, 2018 at 3:02:41 PM UTC-4, slider wrote:

On Sun, 27 May 2018 19:46:35 +0100, Jeremy H. Denisovan <david.j.worrell@gmail.com> wrote:

Trump DOES obstruct justice, anytime he thinks he needs to to 'win'. Because he has no genuine integrity. And should now be obvious to
anyone with any decency and a minimally functioning brain.

### - he has the 'integrity' of a... politician!

nuff-said lol... :)

(might as well ask al capone to be honest?? riiiight... :)))

Al Capone WAS HONEST. That snake Elliot Ness framed him to get a TV show. :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8nZBlPfR7Y

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: slider@anashram.com

On Mon, 28 May 2018 04:28:28 +0100, LowRider44M <intraphase@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Sunday, May 27, 2018 at 3:02:41 PM UTC-4, slider wrote:

On Sun, 27 May 2018 19:46:35 +0100, Jeremy H. Denisovan
<david.j.worrell@gmail.com> wrote:

Trump DOES obstruct justice, anytime he thinks he needs to to 'win'.
Because he has no genuine integrity. And should now be obvious to
anyone with any decency and a minimally functioning brain.

### - he has the 'integrity' of a... politician!

nuff-said lol... :)

(might as well ask al capone to be honest?? riiiight... :)))

Al Capone WAS HONEST. That snake Elliot Ness framed him to get a TV
show. :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8nZBlPfR7Y

### - he WAS being 'completely' honest when he (capone) argued upon arrest
that he was only doing what 'they' (the government) were doing heh...

ness readily agreed, and so pinched the fucker for tax evasion instead
hehehe :)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)

From: thangolossus@gmail.com

On Thu, 17 May 2018 13:09:04 -0700 (PDT), "Jeremy H. Denisovan" <david.j.worrell@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 11:55:31 AM UTC-7, Jeremy H. Denisovan wrote:

What a dishonest asshole.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently made it clear to an
audience of young, military graduates what he thinks of the man who
he had to pretend to respect for the last year and a half:

Speaking to soon-to-be graduates of the Virginia Military Institute
on Wednesday, Tillerson dropped this truth bomb:

"If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become
accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded
in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to
relinquishing our freedom."

There was no doubt Tillerson was speaking about Trump, whose delusional >pathology Tillerson obviously now views as a threat to the country:

"A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to
preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and
is not, what a fact is and is not and begin by holding ourselves
accountable to truthfulness and demand our pursuit of America's future
be fact-based -- not based on wishful thinking, not hoped-for outcomes
made in shallow promises, but with a clear-eyed view of the facts as
they are, and guided by the truth that will set us free to seek
solutions to our most daunting challenges."

He also warned about a “crisis of ethics and integrity in our society
and among our leaders,” again unmistakably referring to Trump.

But a crisis is something unexpected. Tillerson walked into Trump’s >cesspool with his eyes wide open. It wasn’t a “crisis” he was witnessing >but an ongoing sickness. His responsibility to the country he purports
to care about was not to call that out after the fact but denounce it >immediately. Which is why the reaction to his speech has mostly been,
“too little too late.”

Sounds like sour grapes to me. Winners are grinners, as they say :)

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