NBC (Winter, 11/16/18) is reporting that Mariia Butina is negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors.   Lawyers for Butina and prosecutors asked the judge for two more weeks before going ahead with scheduled hearings because they were negotiating “a potential resolution.”  Butina is facing charges of conspiracy and failing to register as a foreign agent.

On Thursday, Butina’s lawyers asked the court to dismiss the charges against her.  They argued that one of the statutes under which Butina is charged is unconstitutionally vague.  They also argued that she was being charged with two crimes for the same act.  They say the charge of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government is duplicating the failure to register charge (Hsu, 11/15/18).

Butina is being charged with helping her ex-boss, Alexander Torshin, “infiltrate politically powerful US. Organizations, including the NRA…”  It is thought that she served as a special assistant to Torshin, a “former Russian senator and deputy head of Russia’s central bank…”  Torshin was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in April of 2018 for having links to organized crimes (Winter, 11/16/18).

Her colleague and domestic partner, Paul Erickson, introduced Butina to influencital people in the Republican Party.  He also sought to organize a meeting between Trump and Alexander Torshin at a May 2016 NRA convention.  Troshin and Butina briefly chatted with Donald Trump Jr. during a dinner at the convention (Hsu, 11/15/18).

The Russian government has been active in trying to get Butina released.  There have been six consular visits to her in jail, four diplomatic notes, two personal complaints by Sergey Lavrov to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the official Kremlin Twitter account made Butina’s face its avatar (Hsu, 11/15/18).

Hsu, Spencer S.  (11/15/18)  Maria Butina, alleged Russian agent, asks U.S. court to dismiss charges as unconstitutional.”  The Washington Post.

Winter, Tom  (11//16/18)  “Alleged Russian operative Mariia Butina negotiating with prosecutors.  Washington Post.

 

Commentators on the podcast, Trump, Inc., are saying that high level Democrats feel that it is necessary to take it slowly and carefully when they start investigating Trump.  Evidently, they are afraid of looking like the Republicans conducting Bengazi.  What is the matter with Democrats?  How did they become so gutless?  Doesn’t anybody care anymore what’s right?

As I said days ago, I didn’t vote for the Democrats so they could be nice.  I didn’t vote for them so they could compromise with the Republicans.  There is no way to compromise with the Republicans.  I want Trump et. al. investigated.

Podcast: Trump, Inc. “The Emolument Suit Against Trump That is Moving Ahead.”

This is an essential podcast.

Podcast: Intercepted.  Chris Hedges on elections, “Christian Fascists” and the Rot Within the American System.”  November 7, 2018.

I just recently made a yearly contribution supporting the Intercept.  If you’re tired of listening to the same old rehash of stories on Cable News, try the Intercept.  Always interesting, always challenging, always a different take.

The Washington Post is reporting that hate crimes rose 17% last year.

The New York Times is reporting that shortly after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one of the kill team phoned and instructed his superior to “tell your boss.”  They are not certain that this was Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but it is likely.

One of the suspects identified by Turkey in the murder, has been closely identified with bin Salman, three others are linked by witnesses to bin Salman’s security detail.  A fifth man, the doctor, “holds senior positions in the Saudi Interior Ministry and medical establishment.” (NYT, 10/17/18)

CNN has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court to reinstate the White House credentials of Jim Acosta (NYT 11/13/18).

Jerome Corsi, a conspiracy theorist and associate of Roger Stone, and said that he expects to be indicted by Mueller for lying to investigators.  In a UTube live stream, he whined about his age and asked listeners for money to cover his legal fees.  Corsi has said that he believes he committed no crime.

 

Voter Suppression.  We wouldn’t have all these voter suppression efforts had the Supreme Court not eviscerated the Voting Rights Act.  The situation in Florida is turning out to look very much like the phony “riot” that took place when the Republican Party sent their operatives into Florida in 2000 to intimidate people out of continuing to count votes.

Joe Scarborough in a typical delusional rant last week, argued that in 2000 Republicans sent people to Florida to make sure all the votes were counted.  Sorry, but that’s just a lie.  This lie rivals Scarborough’s refusal to admit that he and the dreadful Mika helped Trump get elected.

Please remember that people like Elise Jordan who tries to pass herself off as a moderate supported Kavanaugh and during the hearings, retweeted a tweet asserting that the Ford accusation was a matter of mistaken identity.

Matt Whitaker should have never been anywhere near the Justice Department in an official capacity.  He should have never been Sessions’ Chief of Staff much less Acting Attorney General.  This man is a political operative (like Kavanaugh), a scam artist,  someone who feels (like Trump) he is above the law.  Whitaker was part of a company that was closed down and fined millions for defrauding people (including vets who they targeted).  He also ignored a ruling that he return profits from this company.

The Trump Administration is a daily example of the bias in the criminal justice system.  Scam artists and thieves like Matt Whitaker, Donald Trump and Paul Manafort  violated the law for years without being prosecuted.   They think they can get away with it because they have all their adult lives.  We cannot continue to have a country where white collar and corporate criminals are allowed to operate without consequences or are given slap-on-the-wrist sentences.

Mike Pence, Matt Whitaker and others in the Trump Administration are dangerous right wing religious zealots.   They do not believe in the separation of church and state, one of the foundations of the constitutional system in this country.  They must be removed from office.

Rep. Brian Higgins of New York, soon to be a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, is soft peddling (as is Nancy Pelosi) the resolve of the Democrats to investigate Trump.  Pundits on Cable News are all saying that the American people don’t want the congress to spend their time investigating, they want compromise, bi-partisanship.  I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s correct.  I did not vote for, work for, contribute to the campaigns of Democrats for them to cave in to an out-of-control right-wing set of Republicans.  I didn’t vote for them to compromise.  I voted for them to fight for us, to fight for regular people.

Donald Trump needs to be indicted.  We cannot have a criminal running the country.

Well, that’s not it, but it’s enough for one afternoon.  I’m going to walk my cat.

 

FBI Is Investigating Florida Company Where Whitaker Was Advisory-Board Member

Active case is being handled by FBI Miami office; acting attorney general oversees FBI

Donald Trump Played Central Role in Hush Payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Federal prosecutors have gathered evidence of president’s participation in transactions that violated campaign-finance laws,

“…Mr. Trump’s installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It’s illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid.”

“It defies one of the explicit checks and balances set out in the Constitution, a provision designed to protect us all against the centralization of government power.”

“For the president to install Mr. Whitaker as our chief law enforcement officer is to betray the entire structure of our charter document.”

 

Tired of listening to the rehash of the same old stories?  Take a listen to the Intercept Podcast.  Always interesting.

The Doctrine of American Mythology.

NYU’s Ruth ben-Ghiat and Yale’s Jason Stanley discuss Trump’s brand of authoritarianism and dissect the similarities and differences between Trump and fascist leaders Mussolini and Hitler.  Adam Johnson breaks down how white supremacy and fascism are discussed in U.S. media, hypocrisy on Saudi Arabia and the false both sides paradigm on radical right-wing violence and terrorism.

“

While many commentators in the U.S. media talk about Sergio Moro as a “crusading anti-graft judge,” (Reuters, 11/1/18) they fail to point out that Moro presided over the elimination of Brazil’s most popular politician from electoral consideration in the recent Presidential election.  Moro was the central player in the jailing of now president-elect Bolsonaro’s opponent, Lula da Silva.  Bolsonaro is rewarding Moro with an appointment as the head of the justice ministry.

Bolsonaro represents everything right-wing, everything authoritarian, everything pro-business, misogynist, anti-gay that politics has to offer.  Commentators often refer to him as the Brazilian Trump, but he is arguably far worse.  Like Trump, he was at one time caricatured in the media as a joke.  But, Bolsonaro is not a joke anymore.  He will soon take office as the President of Brazil.

Bolsonaro’s election stokes fears among those on the center and the left.  Bolsonaro has made openly misogynist statements, sworn to unleash the police on the poor, expressed a fondness for military dictatorship, and aligned himself with the most exploitive of business interests.

Congresswoman Erika Kokay of Brazil has stated that Brazil’s mainstream media had made a “national hero out of a great destroyer of the rule of law.”

See

Viga Gaier, Rodrigo (11/1/18)  Brazil’s Bolsonaro names judge who jailed his rival as justice minister.  Reuters.

 

 

 

This is a great website and an always informative podcast.

Homepage

“I’ll give carte blanche for the police to kill.”  Event in Deerfield Beach, FL, October 8, 2017

 

The Washington Post is reporting that according to individuals “familiar with the matter,” the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has referred to the Justice Department allegations that Ryan Zinke, head of the Interior Department, used his position for private gain.  The referral was evidently of only one of the several probes being conducted by the IG’s office into Zinke’s affairs and how he has conducted himself in office.  The IG’s office only refers cases of this type to the Justice Department if they have determined that there is a possibility of criminal charges.

Zinke has been trying to replace the acting Inspector General at Interior with a political appointee.  In this context, the referral to the Justice Department makes perfect sense.   According to Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the advocacy group Center for Western Priorities.   “If Interior’s inspector general is unable to hold Secretary Zinke accountable without political interference, it’s time for career prosecutors at the Justice Department to take over,” she said.

There are at least three probes into Zinke’s behavior.  It is unclear which of these was referred to the Justice Department.    One set of allegations involves Zinke’s involvement in a Montana land deal.  The land deal, backed by the chairman of the oil services firm Halliburton, involves the development of two parcels of land owned by Zinke and his wife.  A number of Halliburton’s operations are affected by decisions and policies made by the Department of the Interior, “…including rules on how oil and gas drilling must be conducted, and which public lands and federal waters are open to energy exploration and development.”  Zinke has no business being involved in any way with a company which is affected by Interior policies much less involved in a way that might involve personal gain.

In addition, the Inspector General’s office is looking at Zinke’s involvement in a decision by Interior not to approve a casino deal in Connecticut.  Career staffers had approved the application of Native America tribes to run a casino which would have competed with an MGM Resorts International casino.  After MGM and two Nevada Senators lobbied against the deal, Zinke refused to sign off on it.

Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) urged Zinke in a letter “to immediately cease any efforts to use the office of the Secretary of the Interior for personal gain and fully reimburse the public for your private use of public resources.”   In the letter, Democratic Senators asked why Zinke had invited former donors as official guests last year on a trip to California’s Channel Islands and questioned Zinke’s request that staffers look into designating his wife as a department volunteer.

Conveniently, Zinke may leave office after the midterm elections.

See Eilperin, Jiliet and Josh Dawsey  (10/30/18) “Zinke’s own agency watchdog just referred him to the Justice Department.”  The Washington Post.

The Washington Post is reporting that according to individuals “familiar with the matter,” the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has referred to the Justice Department allegations that Ryan Zinke, head of the Interior Department, used his position for private gain.  The referral was evidently of only one of the probes being conducted by the IG’s office into Zinke’s affairs and how he has conducted himself in office.  The IG’s office only refers cases of this type to the Justice Department if they have determined that there is a possibility of criminal charges.  Zinke is looking to replace the current acting IG, who is investigating him, with a political appointee.

If this is the kind of government you want, vote Republican.