Nancy

Documentation. Witnesses. Facts. Truth. That's what they're afraid of.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Reading It So You Don't Have To: The Carter Page Warrants




Thread by @tgconsolidation: "@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Yeah. I was going to live tweet my reading of it, but it hardly seems worth it. @DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 […]" #Candidate1 #YESCOLLUSION #CandidateOne #CANDIDATEONESDAUGHTER



48 tweets2 hours ago
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@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Yeah. I was going to live tweet my reading of it, but it hardly seems worth it.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 But holy fuck: "the FBI believes that the Russian Government's efforts to influence the 2016 Presidential election were being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with Candidate #1's campaign..." #Candidate1 #YESCOLLUSION
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "As discussed below, Page has established relationships with Russian Government officials, including Russian intelligence officers..."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "from approximately 2004-2007, Page lived in Russia... during this time, Page began business dealings with Gazprom... According to information provided by Page during a... interview with the FBI... Page... " Tease!
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 I think this is stuff we haven't seen before: Three Russian agents who were charged in Jan 2015 by a sealed complaint for being agents of Russia. One was undercover as an employee in the Manhattan branch of a Russian bank. They were attempting to recruit NYCers as sources.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "Page's Coordination with Russian Government Officials on 2016 U.S. Presidential Influence Activies." The FBI was monitoring him on a trip to Russia in July 2016.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Whoa: the information came from "Source #1," who, from context is clearly Christopher Steele! The FBI says it compensated him but suspended its relationship with him in October 2016 for leaking to the press.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 However, the FBI said they believe his reporting to be "credible."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Hello, Dossier! Hello, Pee Pee Tape!
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "... during the meeting, Page and Sechin discussed future bilateral energy cooperation and the prospects for an associated move to lift Ukraine-related Western sanctions against Russia." Tit, meet tat.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Boy, did Page meet with a lot of Russians who were close to Putin during the campaign. Whoda thunk it?
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 This might be bigger than the Butina drop, and I'm only a quarter of the way through.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 The warrant goes on to cite articles that say that Trump (Candidate #1) softened the RNC's platform toward Ukraine and that after that, "while the reason for Candidate #1's shirt was not clear, [Trump's] more conciliatory words...
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "which contradict Political Party #1's (guess who?) official platform, follow Candidate #1's recent association with several people sympathetic to Russian influence in Ukraine, including foreign policy advisor Carter Page." BOOM.#YESCOLLUSION Trump fucking knew.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "According to the September 23rd News Article, certain members of Congress were 'taken aback' after being briefed on the alleged meetings between Page and Russian officials and viewed the meetings as a possible back channel to the Russians that could undercut foreign policy."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 I think I may now have to refer to the Dems as "certain members."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 It then goes on to say that Steele released his info to the press because he was upset about Comey's letter and "believed it world likely influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential election." The FBI again says its relationship w/ Steele was suspended, but they believe him reliable.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 It said Reid wrote to Comey (we know) citing "'significant and disturbing ties' between Candidate #1's campaign and the Kremlin that needed to be investigated by the FBI.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 In response to an article from September 23rd and other articles confirming it, it says Candidate #1's campaign tried to distance itself from Page. It lists a couple of BS quotes from the campaign that, in my eyes, the FBI does not appear to believe.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Page then wrote back to the FBI saying it was all lies.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 My god, if black-lined redactions could talk...
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "Based on the foregoing facts and circumstances, the FBI submits that there is probable cause to believe that Page... knowingly engage in clandestine intelligence activities... and, therefore, is an agent of a foreign power... there is probably cause to believe..."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "... that such activities involve or are about to involve violations of the criminal statutes of the United States." If Page hasn't been given immunity, he's going to prison.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 I'm wondering if he's one of Mueller's five.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 And that this came out now as a shot across Trump's bow.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 It's journalistic malpractice that neither CNN nor MSNBC are live and are talking about this right now.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "The authorities requested show not automatically terminate when... information has first been obtained.... The type of foreign intelligence information being sought and the fact that the activities of this target are ongoing preclude the conclusion, that, at a given time..."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "... all such information has been obtained and collection can be ended." So, the FBI is taking this case *particularly* seriously.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 The warrant then goes on for several pages about the methods of surveillance the FBI is authorized to use on Page, but it's all redacted.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "... the FBI believes that the Russian government engaged in efforts to undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election." I believe that earlier when the document (I think I'm actually now reading a renewal), talked about those efforts...
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 ... they were saying that it was publications that were making that assertion. By this point, the FBI was making that assertion directly.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "On or about November 8, 2016, Candidate #1 was elected President. Although Candidate #1 is now the President... unless otherwise stated, the original references to Candidate #1 and... team will remain the same as in previous applications filed..." So it is a renewal.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 In 9/16, Clapper gave an interview to a news organization and asserted that Russia had had a history of "interfering with elections."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Talks about the DNC e-mail drop and then about how Putin denied responsibility, and then says "Despite Russian's denial...." then more redactions.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 It then talks about Jeh Johnson's October warning and the Obama administration's December 29th statement about it.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 "Based on the Russian Government's historical efforts to influence U.S. and foreign elections, and the information discussed herein regarding Russia's coordination with Carter Page... to attempt an undermine and improperly and illegally influence the... election." #YESCOLLUSION
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 Eat that, Motherfucker. @realDonaldTrump#CandidateOne
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump "In or about March 2016, George Papadapolous and Carter Page... were publicly identified by Candidate #1 as part of his/her foreign policy team... the FBI believes that the Russian Government's efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. Presidential election..."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump "... were being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with Candidate #1's campaign." Hmmm.. Whoever this #CandidateOne is must be sweating bullets right now. "NO COLLUSION! NO COLLUSION! WHERE'S #CANDIDATEONESDAUGHTER?"
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump Anabelle points out:



@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump "Divyekin... had met secretly with Page and that their agenda for the meeting included Divyekin raising a dossier or "kompromat' that the Kremlin possessed on Candidate # [the good one, obvs,] and the possibility of it being released to Candidate #1's campaign." That's direct.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump LOL! I'm not sure if we knew this already, but in February 2017, Page sent the FBI accusing Hillary of "severe election fraud in the form of disinformation, suppression of dissent, hate crimes, and other extensive abuses."
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump I love that. "Hate crimes." Page has decided he's a protected class.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump "Page further claims that the information... are lies that were completed fabricated by Candidate #2's paid consultants and private investigators." Poor widdle Carter.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump Onto the next warrant -- April 2017. Hey! I'm learning how to read a warrant!
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump "... Putin said ... that Russia was not responsibile for the hack, but said that the release of the DNC documents was a net positive: 'The important thing is the content that was given to the public.'" That's some Grade A Russian trolling.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump Really nothing new in the final warrant, other than that McCabe signed off on it instead of Comey, who did the first three. It was also signed off on by Rosenstein.
@DemocracyJourno @worldflood1 @realDonaldTrump Anyway, the bottom line is that Mueller has all of this, including the 75% or so that's been redacted. To be a fly on the wall at Bedminster right now...
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Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Just Read It



Jonathan Chait has written the most important piece I've read on #TrumpRussia yet. The money line:

Who could believe that the world’s most powerful country was about to hand its presidency to a Russian dupe? That the United States government had, essentially, fallen?

Well, someone mainstream wrote it. But as we get ready for the Republicans to likely steal another Supreme Court seat for decades with Russian help, the question we need to ask is, "Now what?"

I haven't had time to watch any news tonight, but I'm hoping this was covered heavily, and I hope we start hearing suggested answers to that question.

Now what?
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Saturday, June 30, 2018

Families Belong Together March!



I couldn't be there myself, but here are some of the sights from around the United States:














These are the days I'm a little more optimistic.
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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Viewing Hate from the Receiving End (Updated)

I originally posted this a week after the election in November 2016. I'm reposting now because of the Red Hen story.

Have you been the victim of a hate crime? Have you ever really experienced true hatred before? Hate is different from anger because it's irrational.  You can be angry that someone wronged you, but it would be irrational to hate whatever race or ethnicity that person belongs to because of that incident.  Or maybe you were never even wronged by an individual within the group you hate. You just "know" that they are the reason things aren't perfectly rosy around you. Experiencing hate firsthand is an indescribable feeling. You are left confused, angry, and saddened all at once. While I was a graduate student in upstate New York in 2006, a restaurant refused my partner and I service because we were an interracial couple.  Racism was one of those things that you only read about, but not really experience when you aren't black.  Yet, there it was in all of its glory just three hours west of New York City.

Lunch Counter Protesters in the 1960s

In 1991, an individual set my synagogue on fire. As a 10-year old, it was the first time I had experienced hate firsthand. Of course as a Jew, we learn about 3,200 year old Egyptian enslavement, as well as Babylonian, Persian, and Roman persecution. Most Jews probably remember learning about the 525 year old Spanish Inquisition and pogroms in Europe during the "Age of Enlightenment."  And all can probably cite how many Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany and her allies in the 1930s and 1940s.

But it's hard to really know hate until you are a target.  And while my synagogue burning down was the first time I experienced hate, I first became a target of hate in 1994 when I was in 8th grade.  I attended a typical small public suburban school much like students attend anywhere in the United States.  Mine happened to have just been named to the prestigious Federal Blue Ribbon list. Early that Spring semester I was handed a note in class (note to Millennials, this was the 20th Century's version of texting) with a crude sketch of Hitler and a box-form swastika.  A week later, my locker was vandalized with three more swastikas drawn at eye level.  My school launched a campaign to bring in a local holocaust survivor and added content to its European History curriculum.  The culprit turned himself in, apologized to me and the rest of the school and pled ignorance.  For the longest time, even as I accepted his apology, I didn't fully trust his story of ignorance. After all, I was only a few years removed from the incident at my synagogue.

I bring this up for two reasons. First, I, like most of you, did not know the first thing about different forms of the swastika (did you click that last link?). As it turns out though, with the emergence of the alt-right, we have had to deal with a lot more swastikas since President Obama was elected.  And their swastikas are different from the ones that were drawn at my school in the early 1990s.  The Nazi Swastika is drawn at a 45 degree angle. The swastikas at my school were of the garden variety found everywhere in the world up until World War II.  A real anti-Semite would probably know the difference and would have probably drawn the one that reflects hatred.  But the average American? Probably not.

Neo-Nazis Marching in Charlottesville, VA in 2017

My second point is that with the the tightening linkages between the alt-Right and the incoming Trump Administration via its chief strategist Steve Bannon, neo-Nazis have suddenly become empowered  and legitimized. So much so that they are enboldened to engage in the same type of behavior that the original Nazis engaged in when they took power.  Take a look at the swastika graffiti in North Carolina. That's no garden-variety swastika. Many believe it to have been an inside-job. But whether it was or wasn't, it is still part of the mainstreaming of hate that has been occurring at an accelerated pace over the last 18 months.

The hate I have seen this year is unparalleled by any I have seen in my lifetime. And Trump still hasn't even taken office yet.
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