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solarbirdDonkeyballs Donald's interview on Fox Business today was from an alternate-reality, but it's the AU that he and the Trumpinistas believe and are going to run on and do everything in their power to make others think is real. This election will be a surreal maelstrom of delusion, cheap shams that rightists fall all over themselves to believe, and civil unrest possibly to the point of outright insurrection.
"Darkest winter" indeed.
And in conclusion, Cascadia Now.
----- 1 -----
"What is the crime?!"
12 May 2020
https://twitter.com/TheDailyEdge/status/1260248717988331524
Last night, thanks to twitter.com/BradMossEsq, we found out exactly why Trump couldn’t quite explain what #ObamaGate was, despite the existence of “notes” and “texts” that had QAnon abuzz and “raised a lot of questions” for Fox News anchor Shannon Bream. (h/t twitter.com/Acyn)
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
[TRANSCRIPT BY EDITOR]
FOX NEW HOST SHANNON BREAM: What do you make of this new release of all of these transcripts, the notes we found the week before, texts, all kinds of things that now are raising a lot of questions for people about the Flynn prosecution AND the Russia investigation?
BRAD MOSS, ESQ: Yeah, I'm sitting here trying to figure out what exactly constitutional deprivation was there?
What is the crime that people think Barak Obama and Joe Biden are going to be prosecuted under?
To be clear, and this is using the words of President Trump and his lawyers for the last three years, any sitting president can get any classified information they want, according to Donald Trump they can launch any investigation they want, they can tell the FBI to pursue only particular individuals.
This is not me saying it, this is what Donald Trump's been saying for three years. This was their argument during the Muller probe.
This was their argument during the impeachment investigation - that the President has this kind of authority. So what did we find out?
That Barak Obama was aware about intelligence intercepts on the Russian ambassador when he was talking with General Flynn?
That there had just been an attack on our election a couple months earlier, we were still dealing with the fallout of Russian election interference in 2016?
There was concern about a counterintelligence problem with Michael Flynn and they had a discussion?
I'm shocked, I can't believe they had that conversation!
What is the crime?!
----- 2 -----
FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus
By DEL QUENTIN WILBER, JENNIFER HABERKORN
MAY 13, 2020
[EDITOR: I have seen speculation that the Justice Department is moving against a member of the GOP because the intelligence committee which he chairs approved the bipartisan analysis saying yes, yet again, it was Russia behind election manipulation in 2016, and they were doing it again, and they are doing it to favour Trump. This is factually true, but it contradicts the Trumpian conspiracy theory that it was secretly Ukraine framing the Russians and they were doing it to help Hillary Clinton and by the way Clinton and Obama and Biden and everybody were all in it and and and so on. SEE ALSO item 3.]
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-05-13/fbi-serves-warrant-on-senator-stock-investigation
WASHINGTON — Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the novel coronavirus first struck the U.S., a law enforcement official said.
Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, turned over his phone to agents after they served a search warrant on the lawmaker at his residence in the Washington area, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a law enforcement action.
The seizure represents a significant escalation in the investigation into whether Burr violated a law preventing members of Congress from trading on insider information they have gleaned from their official work.
----- 3 -----
Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
14 May 2020
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1260921153096425472
TRUMP: "Actually, [Russia] wanted Hillary Clinton to win. Nobody's been tougher -- you can speak to Putin or anybody else -- nobody has been tougher on Russian than I have. They wanted Hillary Clinton to win." (Russia actually spent many millions of dollars to elect Trump.)
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 4 -----
Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
14 May 2020
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1260924880972853250
[EDITOR: Clip is much longer than this quote, and I'd argue worse.]
"They would rather see our country fail, and you know what that means because part of failure is death. They would rather see that than have me get elected." -- Trump claims that Democrats would rather have Americans die than him win a second term. Bartiromo agrees with him.
----- 5 -----
Trump’s latest Fox Business interview was an elaborate distraction campaign
Trump wants to change the topic from coronavirus to conspiracy theories. Fox is helping him out.
By Aaron Rupar
May 14, 2020
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/14/21258567/trump-maria-bartiromo-interview-obamagate-coronavirus
President Donald Trump previewed his 2020 reelection messaging with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business in a lengthy interview that aired Thursday morning — one that amounted to an elaborate, conspiracy theory-driven attempt to change the topic from the coronavirus to his desire to imprison his political opponents.
That’s not to say the pandemic didn’t come up at all. At the beginning of the interview, Trump once again moved the goalposts about what he expects the ultimate US death toll to be, saying “we’re gonna lose over 100,000 perhaps.” But he compared that grim reality favorably with a situation in which the federal government took no action at all to slow the spread of the virus, and more than 2 million people died.
----- 6 -----
Mike Flynn Case Gets Even Weirder: Judge Considers Criminal Contempt
By Tierney Sneed
May 13, 2020 8:02 p.m.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mike-flynn-case-gets-even-weirder-judge-considers-criminal-contempt
The judge overseeing Michael Flynn’s case took the extraordinary step of appointing a retired judge to brief him on whether Flynn should be held in contempt of court.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan announced Wednesday the appointment of retired U.S. District Judge John Gleeson less than a week after the Justice Department announced that it was seeking to drop its case against Flynn.
Gleeson was appointed to the federal bench in the Eastern District of New York by President Bill Clinton. Earlier in his career, Gleeson was a federal prosecutor and won the conviction of the Teflon Don, John Gotti, in the 1980s.
Sullivan’s order said that Gleeson would be briefing him on whether the judge should issue an order to show cause as to why Flynn should not be held in “criminal contempt for perjury,” while citing both federal law and rules of procedure that allow for criminal contempt sanctions for misconduct in court.
----- 7 -----
Black delivery driver held against his will in Oklahoma neighborhood
14 May 2020
by: Jessica Bruno and Nexstar Media Wire
https://fox8.com/news/black-delivery-driver-held-against-his-will-in-oklahoma-neighborhood/
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A viral video shows a delivery driver, who is black, being held against his will in an Oklahoma City area neighborhood Monday, blocked in by a man who identified himself as the homeowners association president.
Travis Miller, a home appliance and furniture delivery driver, captured the encounter on Facebook Live while driving through the neighborhood of Ashford Hills.
“I want to know where you’re going,” says the resident whose car is blocking Miller’s way.
“It’s none of your business. I’m going out, that’s where I’m going,” Miller replies.
“Got me blocked in so I can’t leave,” Miller says to the camera, showing the man’s white Subaru blocking the road out of the gated community.
----- 8 -----
april glaser
twitter.com/aprilaser
14 May 2020
https://twitter.com/aprilaser/status/1260646957367717889
SCOOP: Google has drastically rolled back its diversity work due to fears of being perceived as anti-conservative. Sources say employees have been pushed out, programs cut, and workers have been discouraged from even using the word diversity anymore
[LINKS TO STORY]
"Darkest winter" indeed.
And in conclusion, Cascadia Now.
- "What is the crime?!"
- FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus
- TRUMP: "Actually, [Russia] wanted Hillary Clinton to win."
- Trump claims that Democrats would rather have Americans die than him win a second term.
- Trump’s latest Fox Business interview was an elaborate distraction campaign
- Mike Flynn Case Gets Even Weirder: Judge Considers Criminal Contempt
- Black delivery driver held against his will in Oklahoma neighborhood
- Google has drastically rolled back its diversity work due to fears of being perceived as anti-conservative.
----- 1 -----
"What is the crime?!"
12 May 2020
https://twitter.com/TheDailyEdge/status/1260248717988331524
Last night, thanks to twitter.com/BradMossEsq, we found out exactly why Trump couldn’t quite explain what #ObamaGate was, despite the existence of “notes” and “texts” that had QAnon abuzz and “raised a lot of questions” for Fox News anchor Shannon Bream. (h/t twitter.com/Acyn)
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
[TRANSCRIPT BY EDITOR]
FOX NEW HOST SHANNON BREAM: What do you make of this new release of all of these transcripts, the notes we found the week before, texts, all kinds of things that now are raising a lot of questions for people about the Flynn prosecution AND the Russia investigation?
BRAD MOSS, ESQ: Yeah, I'm sitting here trying to figure out what exactly constitutional deprivation was there?
What is the crime that people think Barak Obama and Joe Biden are going to be prosecuted under?
To be clear, and this is using the words of President Trump and his lawyers for the last three years, any sitting president can get any classified information they want, according to Donald Trump they can launch any investigation they want, they can tell the FBI to pursue only particular individuals.
This is not me saying it, this is what Donald Trump's been saying for three years. This was their argument during the Muller probe.
This was their argument during the impeachment investigation - that the President has this kind of authority. So what did we find out?
That Barak Obama was aware about intelligence intercepts on the Russian ambassador when he was talking with General Flynn?
That there had just been an attack on our election a couple months earlier, we were still dealing with the fallout of Russian election interference in 2016?
There was concern about a counterintelligence problem with Michael Flynn and they had a discussion?
I'm shocked, I can't believe they had that conversation!
What is the crime?!
----- 2 -----
FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus
By DEL QUENTIN WILBER, JENNIFER HABERKORN
MAY 13, 2020
[EDITOR: I have seen speculation that the Justice Department is moving against a member of the GOP because the intelligence committee which he chairs approved the bipartisan analysis saying yes, yet again, it was Russia behind election manipulation in 2016, and they were doing it again, and they are doing it to favour Trump. This is factually true, but it contradicts the Trumpian conspiracy theory that it was secretly Ukraine framing the Russians and they were doing it to help Hillary Clinton and by the way Clinton and Obama and Biden and everybody were all in it and and and so on. SEE ALSO item 3.]
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-05-13/fbi-serves-warrant-on-senator-stock-investigation
WASHINGTON — Federal agents seized a cellphone belonging to a prominent Republican senator on Wednesday night as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into controversial stock trades he made as the novel coronavirus first struck the U.S., a law enforcement official said.
Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, turned over his phone to agents after they served a search warrant on the lawmaker at his residence in the Washington area, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a law enforcement action.
The seizure represents a significant escalation in the investigation into whether Burr violated a law preventing members of Congress from trading on insider information they have gleaned from their official work.
----- 3 -----
Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
14 May 2020
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1260921153096425472
TRUMP: "Actually, [Russia] wanted Hillary Clinton to win. Nobody's been tougher -- you can speak to Putin or anybody else -- nobody has been tougher on Russian than I have. They wanted Hillary Clinton to win." (Russia actually spent many millions of dollars to elect Trump.)
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
----- 4 -----
Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
14 May 2020
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1260924880972853250
[EDITOR: Clip is much longer than this quote, and I'd argue worse.]
"They would rather see our country fail, and you know what that means because part of failure is death. They would rather see that than have me get elected." -- Trump claims that Democrats would rather have Americans die than him win a second term. Bartiromo agrees with him.
----- 5 -----
Trump’s latest Fox Business interview was an elaborate distraction campaign
Trump wants to change the topic from coronavirus to conspiracy theories. Fox is helping him out.
By Aaron Rupar
May 14, 2020
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/14/21258567/trump-maria-bartiromo-interview-obamagate-coronavirus
President Donald Trump previewed his 2020 reelection messaging with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business in a lengthy interview that aired Thursday morning — one that amounted to an elaborate, conspiracy theory-driven attempt to change the topic from the coronavirus to his desire to imprison his political opponents.
That’s not to say the pandemic didn’t come up at all. At the beginning of the interview, Trump once again moved the goalposts about what he expects the ultimate US death toll to be, saying “we’re gonna lose over 100,000 perhaps.” But he compared that grim reality favorably with a situation in which the federal government took no action at all to slow the spread of the virus, and more than 2 million people died.
----- 6 -----
Mike Flynn Case Gets Even Weirder: Judge Considers Criminal Contempt
By Tierney Sneed
May 13, 2020 8:02 p.m.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mike-flynn-case-gets-even-weirder-judge-considers-criminal-contempt
The judge overseeing Michael Flynn’s case took the extraordinary step of appointing a retired judge to brief him on whether Flynn should be held in contempt of court.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan announced Wednesday the appointment of retired U.S. District Judge John Gleeson less than a week after the Justice Department announced that it was seeking to drop its case against Flynn.
Gleeson was appointed to the federal bench in the Eastern District of New York by President Bill Clinton. Earlier in his career, Gleeson was a federal prosecutor and won the conviction of the Teflon Don, John Gotti, in the 1980s.
Sullivan’s order said that Gleeson would be briefing him on whether the judge should issue an order to show cause as to why Flynn should not be held in “criminal contempt for perjury,” while citing both federal law and rules of procedure that allow for criminal contempt sanctions for misconduct in court.
----- 7 -----
Black delivery driver held against his will in Oklahoma neighborhood
14 May 2020
by: Jessica Bruno and Nexstar Media Wire
https://fox8.com/news/black-delivery-driver-held-against-his-will-in-oklahoma-neighborhood/
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A viral video shows a delivery driver, who is black, being held against his will in an Oklahoma City area neighborhood Monday, blocked in by a man who identified himself as the homeowners association president.
Travis Miller, a home appliance and furniture delivery driver, captured the encounter on Facebook Live while driving through the neighborhood of Ashford Hills.
“I want to know where you’re going,” says the resident whose car is blocking Miller’s way.
“It’s none of your business. I’m going out, that’s where I’m going,” Miller replies.
“Got me blocked in so I can’t leave,” Miller says to the camera, showing the man’s white Subaru blocking the road out of the gated community.
----- 8 -----
april glaser
twitter.com/aprilaser
14 May 2020
https://twitter.com/aprilaser/status/1260646957367717889
SCOOP: Google has drastically rolled back its diversity work due to fears of being perceived as anti-conservative. Sources say employees have been pushed out, programs cut, and workers have been discouraged from even using the word diversity anymore
[LINKS TO STORY]
