Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Part 182, some of Russian meddling, and related, material from F6 big ones. These from a post Tuesday, 04/10/18, covering
March 15, 2018, and headed, Enough! A Million Students Walk Out of Schools to Demand Action on Guns in Historic Day of Action
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=139944492

Number six

Jeremy Scahill on Trump’s Cabinet Shakeup, the Mueller Probe & the Iraq War 15 Years Later

Published on Mar 15, 2018 by Democracy Now!
Extended conversation with investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept. Scahill talks about Trump’s pick for
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Erik Prince’s ties to China, Trump’s ties to Russia and the 15th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/15/jeremy_scahill_on_trump_s_cabinet [with embedded video, and transcript]
[further to the "Jeremy Scahill: Gina Haspel Should Be Answering for Her Torture Crimes, Not Heading the CIA" Democracy Now! segment included as the third item in the post to which this is a reply]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK89bEpNT0g [with comments]

Twenty-seventh and eighth

Checkmate: BuzzFeed corners Trump lawyer demanding Stormy docs from WH

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/15/18
A new BuzzFeed letter revealed first on “The Beat” demands the Trump White House “preserve any documents" related to “Michael Cohen…Stephanie Clifford and Karen McDougal.” In an exclusive interview on “The Beat” BuzzFeed’s Editor-in-Chief and lawyer say they are “ready to fight that fight" and Trump’s lawyer, Ty Cobb, responds exclusively to “The Beat”.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/checkmate-buzzfeed-corners-trump-lawyer-demanding-stormy-docs-from-wh-1187128899956 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNYVCfrUtk [with comments]

*

Intel Dem: Speaker Ryan “enabling” Trump “to obstruct”

The Beat with Ari Melber
3/15/18
Special Counsel Mueller subpoenas the Trump Organization for Russia documents just as Republicans on the House intelligence committee shut down
their Russia probe. Former DNC chair Donna Brazile and Kathleen Parker, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post join “The Beat.”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/intel-dem-speaker-ryan-enabling-trump-to-obstruct-1187147843714 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZWhjYgXAg [with comments]

The thirty-second

What will Mueller find in the Trump Org documents?

All In with Chris Hayes
3/15/18
"It seems impossible to imagine there is not criminal activity recorded in e-mails, financial transactions, legal documents," says the New Yorker's Adam Davidson.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/what-will-mueller-find-in-the-trump-org-documents-1187209795886 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwZhpP3RCPw [with comments]

Thirty-six to eight

Mueller demands Russia documents from Trump Organization: NYT
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/15/18
Rachel Maddow relays a report by The New York Times that Robert Mueller has sent a subpoena to the Trump
Organization for Russia-related documents over a time that extends to before Donald Trump declared his candidacy.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-demands-russia-documents-from-trump-organization-nyt-1187333699580

*

Trump skips Russian sanctions law, meekly echoes Mueller instead

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/15/18
Rachel Maddow reports on new U.S. sanctions on Russia, the first action against Russia by the Trump administration, but instead of implementing
the sanctions passed into law by Congress, the Trump administration instead copied Robert Mueller's list of indicted Russian hackers.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-skips-russian-sanctions-law-meekly-echoes-mueller-instead-1187336771589 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvDmzYFJD0A [with comments]

*

New sanctions reveal Russian hacking of US energy infrastructure

The Rachel Maddow Show
3/15/18
Nicole Perlroth, cybersecurity reporter for The New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about new
details of Russia's efforts to hack vital U.S. infrastructure accompanying new sanctions on Russia.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/new-sanctions-reveal-russian-hacking-of-us-energy-infrastructure-1187279939930 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTNrNmyB0E [with comments]

Leave one, to this pair

Donald Trump's business in Russia draws investigator attention
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/15/18
Rachel Maddow reports on how both Robert Mueller's investigation and the House Intelligence
Committee Democrats have an eye on Donald Trump's business dealings with Russia.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/donald-trump-s-business-in-russia-draws-investigator-attention-1187368003973

*

Mueller subpoenas Trump Org, Democrats point to Russian bank deal
The Rachel Maddow Show
3/15/18
Rep. Eric Swalwell talks with Rachel Maddow about evidence House Intel Democrats say they've seen that
shows the Trump Organization negotiating a deal with a sanctioned Russian bank during the election season.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-subpoenas-trump-org-democrats-point-to-russian-bank-deal-1187305539950

Leave one more, to this pair

Lawrence: The subpoena Trump feared more than any other

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/15/18
The New York Times reports that Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Org. in "recent weeks." Lawrence O'Donnell theorizes
it could have been the same day that the president, absent of any relevant news, shouted "WITCH HUNT!" on Twitter.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-the-subpoena-trump-feared-more-than-any-other-1187292227876 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNMFwPiecTA [with comments]

*

Mueller subpoena expected by authors of 'Russian Roulette'

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
3/15/18
Michael Isikoff and David Corn, the co-authors of 'Russian Roulette,' say they are "surprised it's taken so long" for Mueller
to subpoena the Trump Org. because, as they put it, the people who work there are central to Trump's Russia connections.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/mueller-subpoena-expected-by-authors-of-russian-roulette-1187297859595 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLoufB_tStA [with comments]

Leave another, to this one

Mueller reportedly targets Trump's business with subpoena

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
3/16/18
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is moving closer to the president, targeting The Trump
Organization with a new subpoena for documents on Russia and other matters. Our panel reacts.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired March 15, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/mueller-reportedly-targets-trump-s-business-with-subpoena-1187336771550 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACUvjGzWfHc [with comments]

Leave five, to this one

Trump Lies to Trudeau, Fills His Staff with Loyalists: A Closer Look

Published on Mar 15, 2018 by Late Night with Seth Meyers [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVTyTA7-g9nopHeHbeuvpRA / https://www.youtube.com/user/LateNightSeth , https://www.youtube.com/user/LateNightSeth/videos ]
Seth takes a closer look at Trump lying to Canada's prime minister, major news
in the Russia investigation and rumors of more staff turnover at the White House.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FQfThSU11E [with comments]

To "stashed March 15, 2018:"

How Democracies Die: One Small Change to Normalcy at a Time - excerpt from the book [ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/ ]
Even if Donald Trump does not break the hard guardrails of our constitutional democracy, he has increased the likelihood that a future president will.
https://www.alternet.org/books/how-democracies-die-one-small-change-normalcy-time

Slovak PM quits after journalist's murder but coalition stays in power
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Long-serving Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico resigned on Thursday, passing his government to a deputy after the murder of an investigative journalist provoked the country’s biggest protests since the fall of communism.
President Andrej Kiska asked Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini to form the next government, opening the way for the three-party coalition to stay in power even though tens of thousands of Slovaks are demanding early elections.
The unsolved killing of 27-year-old reporter Jan Kuciak, who delved into fraud involving businessmen with political connections, has fueled public anger over corruption and threatened to bring down the coalition before the party leaders agreed a change of guard.
Fico vowed on Thursday to remain in politics as the active leader of his Smer party.
Pellegrini presented the president with a list of signatures showing coalition lawmakers supported the switch in prime ministers, guaranteeing a parliamentary majority.
But Pellegrini, a former speaker of parliament, will face his first test already on Friday as the protests are scheduled to continue into a third week. Organizers are demanding new elections and a thorough investigation of Kuciak’s murder in late February.
The events of the past few weeks have also exposed growing unease in some central European countries that governments may be backsliding on democracy almost 30 years after communism was pushed out of the region.
President Kiska himself had urged a government shake-up or snap elections to restore public trust.
“After two weeks of international shame, a denial of political responsibility and mass protests, we are back at the start, at a government resignation and change of prime minister,” Kiska said before Fico tendered his resignation to him.
Fico had promised to step aside if Kiska allowed Smer, the biggest coalition party, to pick his successor.
The government will continue with Smer, the Most-Hid party which represents the ethnic Hungarian minority, and the Slovak National Party that has shifted to center in recent years from the far right.
Fico will stay on as caretaker prime minister until his successor is officially named.
Kiska and Fico were opponents in the last presidential run-off vote and have battled again in the crisis. Fico has accused outside forces of trying to destabilize the country and questioned Kiska’s meeting last year with financier George Soros, echoing attacks on the Budapest-born billionaire by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
NOT GOING AWAY
Protesters are also taking to the streets in the neighboring Czech Republic, a fellow member of the European Union and NATO. Thousands demonstrated last week against a Communist Party lawmaker being voted chairman of parliament’s police oversight commission despite his past as a riot policeman before the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
Thousands of Poles also protested last year against an overhaul of the judiciary that has put the right-wing government in Warsaw in dispute with Brussels over safeguarding the rule of law.
Fico has been the dominant figure in Slovak politics for over a decade, and despite keeping an anti-immigration line with central European neighbors has been trying to stand out from more euroskeptic leaders in the region. Last year, he called Slovakia a “pro-European island” in central Europe.
He said he was not finished. “I told the president: rest assured, I’m not leaving politics, I want to be an active party leader,” he said.
Slovakia’s economy has grown rapidly in the last decade and the country is a major car producer despite its small population of 5.4 million. But many accuse Fico of not clamping down harder on corruption and cronyism.
Just before he was found shot dead along with his fiancee at his house outside of Bratislava, Kuciak had been looking into suspected mafia links of Italians with businesses in Slovakia.
In his final report published after his death, Kuciak said one of the Italians had past business links with two Slovaks, including a former model, who later worked in Fico’s office. Both have resigned but deny connections to the murder. Their Italian former business partner has denied having connections with the mafia.
No one has been charged over the killing.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-slovakia-crime-politics/slovak-pm-quits-after-journalists-murder-but-coalition-stays-in-power-idUSKCN1GR16Z

Dems say whistleblower emails show gov’t workers targeted for not backing Trump
Two top House Democrats sent a letter to the White House and State Department Thursday saying that information from a whistleblower alleges officials are targeting career civil servants who supposedly don't support President Donald Trump.
Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Eliot Engel of New York, ranking member on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the whistleblower alleges that high-level officials in the Trump administration have been coordinating with an outside network of prominent conservatives, including former GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich and a former adviser to Dick Cheney, to devise ways to undertake a "cleaning" of long-serving employees at the State Department.
Trump officials have described certain State Department employees as a "leaker and troublemaker," "turncoat" and "Obama/Clinton loyalists," according to emails the lawmakers said they obtained from the whistleblower.
"Over the past year, we have heard many reports of political attacks on career employees at the State Department, but we have not seen evidence of how extensive, blunt, and inappropriate these attacks are until now," the lawmakers wrote in the letter to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan that seeks documents about staffing decisions and interviews with officials.
"They appear to have targeted these staffers despite being fully aware that they were career civil service employees and despite the career employees expressing willingness to support the policy priorities of the Trump Administration," their letter continues.
Cummings and Engel quote from an email forwarded by Gingrich in which the former Cheney aide, David Wurmser, says, "I think a cleaning is in order here. I hear Tillerson actually has been reasonably good on stuff like this and cleaning house, but there are so many it boggles the mind..."
In one case detailed in the Cummings-Engel letter, a 12-year State Department veteran raised concerns about being targeted by a conservative news outlet and emailed her boss at the State Department for help. Her supervisor then forwarded her email to the White House, where officials used her work under the Obama administration to question her loyalty to Trump. The employee was removed from her detail at the department, the lawmakers said.
Cummings and Engel indicate that they have not confirmed the authenticity of the whistleblower emails.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/dems-say-whistleblower-emails-show-gov-t-workers-targeted-not-n856976

House Democrats say a whistleblower has proof State Dept. is targeting career employees who don't support President Trump
Andrea Mitchell Reports
Mar.15.2018
https://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/house-democrats-say-a-whistleblower-has-proof-state-dept-is-targeting-career-employees-who-don-t-support-president-trump-1186733635878

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=house+democrats+whistleblower

Mueller Subpoenas Trump Organization, Demanding Documents About Russia
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/us/politics/trump-organization-subpoena-mueller-russia.html

As he prepares to face Mueller, Trump boasts of his ability to lie
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/03/15/as-he-prepares-to-face-mueller-trump-boasts-of-his-ability-to-lie/

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=mueller+trump

Stormy Daniels' Lawyer Says More Women Are Exploring Legal Cases Against President Trump
A lawyer representing the adult film actor said he has received inquiries from other women about potential cases against the president.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/stormy-daniels-lawyer-says-more-women-are-exploring-legal

Stormy Daniels' lawyer says other women are considering legal cases against Trump
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/us/stormy-daniels/index.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/duo0LZJvkqDSCOMCmM-N6lfB9ua0M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Hitting Putin Where It Hurts
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/opinion/russia-britain-theresa-may.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dP8S3RKGoPP8V1M_m4w3ONRRGBpgM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Gina Haspel as CIA director? It’s a test of America’s conscience.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/03/14/gina-haspels-nomination-for-cia-director-is-a-test-of-americas-conscience/

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d9HxfCVHE-ogAOMxjEjTR-LEgTo8M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Why hasn’t Mueller talked to Donald Trump Jr. yet?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/15/why-hasnt-mueller-talked-to-donald-trump-jr-yet/

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dO_sgBkeoOJtkzMcFysUPr4CnksjM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Complaint claims Trump lawyers threatened Panama magistrate
https://www.apnews.com/9443755a28b3438a875fe5c142534092/Complaint-claims-Trump-lawyers-threatened-Panama-magistrate

Trump lawyers have no easy options on [Mueller] interview request
https://www.apnews.com/872c20f6b2e648218cfdbf72b5421fd2/Trump-lawyers-have-no-easy-options-on-interview-request

Mueller witness is convicted pedophile with shadowy past - George Nader
https://www.apnews.com/b9268204c9e040c7bca98af0fc7337db

US gets tougher on Russia; new sanctions, accusations
https://apnews.com/2964ce37e2084ae5b4c13da748b35cff

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dT5GZ1pEaUi8VcM0LwjGUMsSgj6gM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Russian Twitter trolls stoked racial tension in wake of Sherman Park rioting in Milwaukee before 2016 election
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/15/russian-twitter-trolls-stoked-racial-tension-wake-sherman-park-riots-milwaukee-before-2016-election/421439002/
referenced by:
Report: Russia-linked accounts stirred discord in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Russia-linked Twitter accounts sought to spur racial and political discord in Wisconsin after a police officer’s fatal shooting of a black man sparked riots, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The accounts sent more than 30 tweets during the August 2016 unrest in the city’s Sherman Park neighborhood following the shooting, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The accounts garnered more than 5,000 retweets during the two nights of rioting.
One of the accounts, @TEN_GOP, is named in a recent federal indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller. The account tweeted during the riots: “These photos are not from Iraq ... This is Obama’s America! #Milwaukee.” Another account claimed Black Lives Matters supporters were targeting “white people for a beat down.”
Last year, jurors acquitted former officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown of homicide charges for fatally shooting Sylville Smith when Smith ran from a traffic stop. Heaggan-Brown is also black, but the shooting in the majority African-American neighborhood made already tense police-community relations boil over.
Police arrested about 40 demonstrators during the riots and multiple officers were hurt. Protesters also set fire to eight businesses and a squad car.
“To think that halfway around the world people are using this tragic series of events for partisan gain ... it’s daunting. It’s heartbreaking,” said Democratic state Rep. Evan Goyke, who represents the Sherman Park area.
The Journal Sentinel reported the Russia-linked accounts appeared aimed at boosting then-candidate Donald Trump’s chances in Wisconsin and spread fake news to help the primary challenger of U.S. Speaker Paul Ryan, who had criticized Trump in the lead-up to the election.
Trump was the first Republican to win Wisconsin since the 1984 presidential election.
The tweets also sought to elevate the voice of former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke — a conservative firebrand who is one Trump’s biggest supporters — by quoting Clarke during the riots. The newspaper reported there is no indication Clarke was aware of what Russia was doing.
“These are enemies of the United States who are trying to sow dissention in our country and on the streets of Milwaukee,” Mayor Tom Barrett said in a statement.
The Journal Sentinel said it researched its story by using an NBC News archive of 203,000 tweets from 453 accounts that Twitter and Mueller have linked to Russia in their investigations. The newspaper said it also found images of some of the tweets by using other web archives.
https://www.apnews.com/0fbbe03b42114fb19b5584632624b15b/Report:-Russia-linked-accounts-stirred-discord-in-Milwaukee

What Is Robert Mueller Looking For?
The New York Times reports that the special counsel has demanded records from the Trump Organization.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/what-is-robert-mueller-looking-for/555743/

Special Counsel Robert Mueller Has Subpoenaed Trump Organization in Russia Investigation
Trump Organization had already been voluntarily producing documents to Mueller’s team
https://www.wsj.com/articles/special-counsel-robert-mueller-has-subpoenaed-trump-organization-in-russia-investigation-1521143068

Did Robert Mueller just cross Donald Trump's red line on Russia?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/politics/mueller-firing-analysis/index.html

Trump business partner: I’m only guilty of trying to build the world’s tallest building
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-business-partner-im-guilty-build-worlds-tallest/story?id=53782887

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dCR3ElifyLhrEYMMQsFc81UVkCvbM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en

Hackers are targeting nuclear facilities, Homeland Security Department and FBI say
Since May, hackers have been penetrating the computer networks of companies that operate nuclear power stations.
Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation was one company targeted.
7 July 2017
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/07/hackers-are-targeting-nuclear-facilities-homeland-security-department-and-fbi-say.html

more: https://www.google.com/search?q=hackers+are+targeting+nuclear+facilities

What Does It Mean to Hack an Electrical Grid?
https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/electrical-grid-hack-russia-explanation.html

more: https://news.google.com/news/story/daGDY4w1PmDEl_MOvVP37vxNvX4LM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en