Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Part 148, some of Russian meddling, and related, material from F6 big ones. These from Tuesday,
02/20/18, headed, Remarks by Vice President Pence in Meeting with North Korean Defectors
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=138672441

Include Paul Begley's, who is as close to one might be to Trump-mania while dosed up with
Matrix-like muddle. As close as one could get to certifiable without being. Eleventh down

RWW News: Paul Begley Says Barack Obama Is Leading An Illuminati Plot To Assassinate Trump

Published on Feb 9, 2018 by RWW Blog [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMXqRHe8n1TX5iDvkLS62rw / https://www.youtube.com/user/RWWBlog , https://www.youtube.com/user/RWWBlog/videos ]
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paul-begley-obama-is-leading-an-illuminati-plot-to-assassinate-trump/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOtkeFEeKFs [with comments]

Yeah, Begley is hooked on the increasingly popular conservative conspiracy Kool-Aid known, in their cells, as The Age of Seasoning. Ding Dong. Tick Tock.

The seventeenth down

Why the replacement for Bob Mueller’s boss is leaving
The Beat with Ari Melber
2/9/18
NBC Justice Correspondent Pete Williams reports with MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent
Ari Melber on the pivotal departure of the third ranking DOJ official Rachel Brand.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/why-the-replacement-for-bob-mueller-s-boss-is-leaving-1158234179837

Add, Trump fired Comey. Why not Mueller too?
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=132161868

Into the second quarter

Dept. of Justice #3 Rachel Brand unexpectedly resigns
All In with Chris Hayes
2/9/18
In a move that could have far-reaching implications if President Trump decides to escalate his attack on the Mueller
investigation, Rachel Brand, the associate attorney general at the DOJ since May 2017, will be stepping down.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/dept-of-justice-3-rachel-brand-unexpectedly-resigns-1158285891930

Skip one to

Trump refuses to release Democratic memo on Russia probe
All In with Chris Hayes
2/9/18
President Trump announced he will not be declassifying a Democratic House Intelligence memo that was drafted
to rebut the Republican memo claiming the FBI improperly obtained an order to wiretap a former Trump official.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/trump-refuses-to-release-democratic-memo-on-russia-probe-1158288451690

Into the second third, these two

Trump closer to ending Russia probe as Rachel Brand quits DoJ

The Rachel Maddow Show
2/9/18
Rachel Maddow shows how the Nunes memo was a ploy to give Donald Trump an excuse to fire Rod Rosenstein who
oversees Mueller's Trump Russia investigation. With Rachel Brand out, Rosenstein's next-in-line position is empty.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-closer-to-ending-russia-probe-as-rachel-brand-quits-doj-1158335043931 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekS0ZUyhNlo [with comments]

*

Wittes: Brand denies undue pressure to leave Justice Department
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/9/18
Benjamin Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare and friend of Rachel Brand, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald
Trump's hollowing-out of the Justice Department and what Rachel Brand has told him about her decision to resign.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/wittes-brand-denies-undue-pressure-to-leave-justice-department-1158344771746

Three more down

Trump rejects Democratic rebuttal of Nunes, exposes GOP memo game
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/9/18
Rep. Jim Himes talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's rejection of the Democratic rebuttal to the Nunes memo.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-rejects-democratic-rebuttal-of-nunes-exposes-gop-memo-game-1158349379861

Skip three to

Third-ranking DOJ official steps down, raising new questions
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/9/18
The official who would oversee the Mueller probe if Rod Rosenstein is fired is stepping down. Watergate Asst. Special Prosecutor Jill
Wine-Banks says her resignation comes after Trump's "constant attacks" on the DOJ. Fmr. DOJ official Eric Columbus also joins.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/third-ranking-doj-official-steps-down-raising-new-questions-1158334019949

About on halfway, this pair

Trump blocks Democrats' Russia memo from being released
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/10/18
Citing national security, Trump's White House said Friday it will not release a
memo from House Democrats rebutting the Nunes memo on the FBI & Russia.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 9, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/trump-blocks-democrats-russia-memo-from-being-released-1158372931885

*

Third official in line at Trump's Justice Dept. steps down
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/10/18
Rachel Brand, the Justice Department's third-ranking official, is stepping down to take
a job in the private sector. What does it mean for the Russia probe? We explain.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 9, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/third-official-in-line-at-trump-s-justice-dept-steps-down-1158376515843

Three more down

Rep. Adam Schiff on the #DemMemo | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

Published on Feb 9, 2018 by Real Time with Bill Maher
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) joins Bill to discuss his actions as Ranking Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee and President Trump's refusal to release the Democrats' memo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxEmwdd97j4 [with comments]

About smack on two thirds in

Even George W. Bush Sees Evidence Of Russia Meddling

Published on Feb 9, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
We've entered an alternative universe where Former President George W. Bush is right about things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1zHtig9BZA [with comments]

To ""stashed February 9, 2018:

Democrats' 'Resistance' to Trump Is Eroding, and So Are Their Poll Numbers
The notion that the president “constitutes a crisis in American governance,” is waning among party leaders, jeopardizing their mid-term advantage.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/democrats-resistance-to-trump-is-eroding-and-so-are-their-poll-numbers/552845/

Trump Angry Mark Warner Tried to Speak with Dossier Author Christopher Steele, but so Did Devin Nunes
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-angry-mark-warner-tried-speak-dossier-author-christopher-steele-so-did-801934

Marco Rubio Defends Democratic Colleague Over Misleading Fox News Report
But then Trump weighs in.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) pushed back against a Fox News report that implied Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) had engaged in misconduct by texting with a lobbyist associated with a Russian billionaire last year. But his efforts to defend his colleague were thwarted when President Donald Trump shared the Fox News claims on Twitter hours later.
Fox’s “exclusive” Thursday report said Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, had “extensive contact last year” with lobbyist Adam Waldman to set up a meeting with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote a dossier on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Waldman runs the Endeavor Group, a Washington lobbying firm that worked with a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska in 2009 and 2010.
Waldman offered last March to connect Warner with Steele to discuss the infamous dossier. The article states that “secrecy seemed very important to Warner” and that the senator “seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop ? at least initially.”
But as the Fox News story eventually acknowledges, Waldman informed the intelligence committee about the messages months ago, and the communication appears to fall in line with Warner’s duties on the intelligence committee.
Rubio pointed this out in his tweet Thursday.
“Sen. Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago,” he wrote on Twitter, with a link to the article. He continued to note that the text messages have had “zero impact on our work.”
[...]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marco-rubio-fox-news-mark-warner_us_5a7cfdbae4b0c6726e11a837

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dvoMMOFvevdtUvMLuAG7K5CFFmSFM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Documentary Profiles Trump As The ‘P.T. Barnum’ Of Boasts And Bankruptcies

( https://youtu.be/5ZTEJdAQwW8 )
He’s still “lying and creating false scenarios,” the director of “Confidence Man” says.
A new Netflix documentary about Donald Trump characterizes him as a “P.T Barnum” carnival barker who hyped his reputation despite failed businesses and capitalized on an image as a powerful deal-maker on “The Apprentice” to launch himself into the White House.
Director Fisher Stevens told HuffPost that Trump is still leaving victims in his wake, just as he did in business, like so much “road kill.”
And his behavior is the same: “lying and creating false scenarios,” said Stevens, who produced the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary “The Cove,” about dolphin slaughter in Japan.
Trump was “pretty down and out,” after a series of bankruptcies, said Fisher. ”‘The Apprentice’ gave Trump a new life. He keeps bouncing back. You can punch him, and he comes back.”
“The Confidence Man” is part of a new Netflix series called “Dirty Money.” The Trump segment examines his life before he became president, focusing on his business deals, bankruptcies, business partners and the popular reality show about him that its creators considered a “scam.” The documentary does not cast a favorable light.
Trump biographer Tim O’Brien calls him a “P.T. Barnum” who continually hyped his own inflated image of himself. Trump declared bankruptcies several times, leaving investors, contractors and banks holding the bag, while declaring his incredible success, O’Brien noted.
Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey — touted as the “eighth wonder of the world” in ads — went bankrupt even though Trump’s father, Fred Trump, gave him a hand by buying $3 million in chips — and not using them — in a quiet loan, according to Trump casino executive Jack O’Donnell. The Taj was a “financial disaster,” thanks to Trump, O’Donnell says in the film.
But Trump blamed Taj CEO Stephen Hyde and COO Mark Etess, who had been killed in a helicopter crash. When O’Donnell complained, he said Trump replied, “What does it matter? They’re dead.” The documentary notes that Trump’s other two casinos in Atlantic City, the Trump Castle and the Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel, also went broke.
Throughout the 1990s for Trump, business was scarce and loans were tough to get from U.S. banks because of his bankruptcies. He made the rounds of talk shows and pitched McDonald’s burgers and Kentucky Fried Chicken in commercials. He eventually hit on the idea of selling his name to mark projects built by others around the world and began doing business with “some of the sketchiest people in the sketchiest countries,” New Yorker writer Adam Davidson explains in the documentary. Some associates were “unbelievably corrupt,” including a key investor suspected of laundering money for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Trump International Hotel and Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, Davidson adds.
In 2004, Trump became the star of “The Apprentice.”
The reality TV show’s creators remade the offices of the Trump Organization for “The Apprentice,” giving it what they considered a “tongue-in-cheek” look, they note in the documentary. The offices included a boardroom set reminiscent of the one from the movie “Network,” where crazed TV anchor Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch, is lectured by the head of his company that “the world is a business.”
“How funny to have this washed-up, five-time-bankruptcy guy who lives in a golden palace that other people are paying for” as the star of the show, says “Apprentice” supervising editor Jonathon Braun in the documentary. “We just didn’t know how many people would look at that and say, ‘That’s cool. That’s real.’”
When people saw the “Apprentice” Trump as the real thing, “We all sort of rose up and said, ‘Now wait a minute, people, what we did, that was a scam. That was an entertainment,’” said series producer Bill Pruitt.
Davidson suggests that the Trump presidency could be the “great con ... the great grift ... all part of the 45-year showbiz project known as the Trump Organization.”
Stevens said his hope is that “The Confidence Man” convinces people to get “motivated” to change things.
“The fossil fuel industry is running the country now,” he told HuffPost. “Trump doesn’t care about the environment. I worry about the next generation. I’m concerned for my children.”
[...]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/documentary-profiles-trump-as-pt-barnun-of-hyped-boasts-failed-businesses_us_5a7cdae7e4b08dfc9302363d

Trump Blocks Release of [Dem FISA] Memo Rebutting Republican Claims
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/us/politics/trump-blocks-release-of-memo-rebutting-republican-claims.html

Trump Blocks Release Of Democrats’ Rebuttal To GOP FISA Memo
The House Intelligence Committee voted to release the Democrats’ memo on Monday.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-democrats-response-memo_us_5a7b488ce4b0c6726e0ea82e

Trump will not immediately release Democrats’ memo on FBI surveillance
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gop-mulling-ban-on-the-use-of-politically-funded-information-in-surveillance-requests/2018/02/09/6830ad5c-0dcf-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/diJf_LloSc8xeZM6FVh7o23iyePKM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Third-highest ranking official at the Justice Department stepping down - Rachel L. Brand - [was] next in line to fire Mueller if Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, the department’s No. 2 official, was fired by Trump or recused himself from the matter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/third-highest-ranking-official-at-the-justice-department-stepping-down/2018/02/09/4fae32fc-0de5-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html

No. 3 Justice Department Official Rachel Brand Will Step Down
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/09/584673003/no-3-justice-department-official-rachel-brand-will-step-down

As Trump Attacks U.S. Law Enforcement, Another Top Official Quits - Reuters
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2018-02-09/as-trump-attacks-us-law-enforcement-another-top-official-quits
original https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-brand/as-trump-attacks-u-s-law-enforcement-another-top-official-quits-idUSKBN1FT2XP

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d3OgmdpqPm5z7jMMUKgYQvfFv2MAM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

As Jared Kushner’s security clearance is delayed, White House hesitates to act on others with possible problems
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-jared-kushners-security-clearance-is-delayed-white-house-hesitates-to-act-on-others-with-possible-problems/2018/02/09/256fa1e6-0dbe-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html

Jared Kushner and Dozens of White House Staffers Handle Sensitive Information Without Permanent Security Clearance
http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-security-clearance-white-house-802066

WTF is going on with Jared Kushner’s security clearance
Nevertheless, he's given access to America's most sensitive intelligence.
https://thinkprogress.org/its-been-385-days-and-jared-kushner-still-doesnt-have-a-permanent-security-clearance-e58c4f7dfa8f/

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=as+jared+kushner%27s+security+clearance+is+delayed

Huh. Umm. Ok. Fixed with a Trump 'I-I-I know' syndrome

Professor Didn’t Think Australia Was A Country, Almost Failed Student Who Pushed Back - for fuagf
“Australia is a continent; not a country,” the teacher reportedly said.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/professor-fired-australia-country_us_5a7ddf58e4b0c6726e1305ad

Still NH is a peaceful place. I have family there in a lovely old house with, last i heard, a
leaky roof. In the bush. Beautiful. They travel to exhibit James Baldwin material. Thanks, F6