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The Official Paracast Political Thread! — Part Four

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Russian Propaganda Turns Up in USA Foreign Policy Query - RUSSIA ADVANCES INTO CRIMEA
TEXT: "Published on Feb 8, 2017"
 
Former Bernie Staffer Reveals Why Bernie REALLY Endorsed Hillary!
TEXT: "Published on Feb 13, 2017: Many progressives booed and hissed at Bernie Sanders’ decision to back Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Election. So why did Bernie throw his support behind Hillary? Nick Brana, Sanders’ former national political outreach coordinator, fills Lee Camp in on the latest Redacted Tonight VIP."
 
[47] Former Bernie Staffer Tells All & Wants To Create A New Party With Bernie!
TEXT: "Published on Feb 9, 2017: In this latest Redacted Tonight VIP, Lee Camp talks with Nick Brana, the former national political outreach coordinator for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016. Lee learns why Brana resigned from progressive political action group Our Revolution and his current effort to draft Sanders to lead a new political party, the People’s Party. Lee also asks Brana why Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton instead of joining the Green Party ticket, as well as the rampant election fraud and voter suppression that has resulted in the administration we have today."
 
Interesting - admittedly speculation and opinion - still interesting. We'll see if all this is correct.

Moby Just Took To Facebook To Expose Trump’s Unprecedented Corruption
LINK: Moby Just Took To Facebook To Expose Trump's Unprecedented Corruption
TEXT: Trailblazing electronic music artist “Moby” has been a vocal and highly visible political activist for years. Recently the artist, whose real name is Richard Melville Hall, 51, took to Facebook to proclaim he could “accurately” assert he knew President Donald Trump is being blackmailed by the Russian government. He also stated Trump’s administration is actively attempting to force a military confrontation with Iran.

The comments by Moby were curious not because he spoke out against Trump, but because of what he said in specific to provide validity to his claims. Moby wrote that he spent “the weekend talking to friends who work in dc” and because of that he knew the “russian dossier on trump is real. 100% real. he’s being blackmailed by the russian government, not just for being peed on by russian hookers, but for much more nefarious things.” He went on to say, “the trump administration is in collusion with the russian government, and has been since day one.” and followed that up by elaborating, “the trump administration needs a war, most likely with iran. at present they are putting u.s warships off the coast of iran in the hope that iran will attack one of the ships and give the u.s a pretense for invasion.”

Moby offered no actual evidence for any of his claims, nor did he disclose who the individuals he knew in Washington, D.C. were that allowed him to come to these bedrock conclusions.

moby-1.jpg


After Moby’s post became public it turned instantly viral. With such attention also comes criticism and those against Moby pilloried him and called him a liar, cheater, and a charlatan amongst other things. In response Moby took to Instagram to offer a sarcastic response in agreeing with his critics that he was merely a “bald clown” who knew nothing. The full post can be viewed below:

Hey, I'm just a clown. I mean, maybe there isn't a #trump administration plan to go to war with Iran. And maybe trump's inner circle isn't filled with Russian operatives. And maybe russia Doesn't have utterly damning info on trump that's keeping him under their thumb. And maybe the Koch bros and their pals aren't looking at options to get trump out of the White House. Just don't look too closely at Flynn and manafort and the uss Cole and the Russians who've disappeared or died recently and what's currently happening in the Ukraine. Again, I'm just a bald clown who probably knows nothing. I'm going to go make some balloon animals now.​

In the end if Moby’s commentary is shown to have validity, particularly that Trump is actively being pushed out by the Republican leadership and their top donors, it will be rather ironic. A vegan electronic music artist will have been Trump’s downfall, and one can not think of a more fitting end to a horrible political career.
 
Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence
LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/...170214&nl=breaking-news&nlid=54852892&ref=cta
TEXT: WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.

American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.

The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.

But the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public.

The officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other associates of Mr. Trump. On the Russian side, the contacts also included members of the government outside of the intelligence services, they said. All of the current and former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the continuing investigation is classified.

The officials said that one of the advisers picked up on the calls was Paul Manafort, who was Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman for several months last year and had worked as a political consultant in Ukraine. The officials declined to identify the other Trump associates on the calls.

The call logs and intercepted communications are part of a larger trove of information that the F.B.I. is sifting through as it investigates the links between Mr. Trump’s associates and the Russian government, as well as the hacking of the D.N.C., according to federal law enforcement officials. As part of its inquiry, the F.B.I. has obtained banking and travel records and conducted interviews, the officials said.

Mr. Manafort, who has not been charged with any crimes, dismissed the officials’ accounts in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “This is absurd,” he said. “I have no idea what this is referring to. I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers, and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today.”

He added, “It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer.’”

Several of Mr. Trump’s associates, like Mr. Manafort, have done business in Russia. And it is not unusual for American businessmen to come in contact with foreign intelligence officials, sometimes unwittingly, in countries like Russia and Ukraine, where the spy services are deeply embedded in society. Law enforcement officials did not say to what extent the contacts might have been about business.

The officials would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, the identity of the Russian intelligence officials who participated, and how many of Mr. Trump’s advisers were talking to the Russians. It is also unclear whether the conversations had anything to do with Mr. Trump himself.

A report from American intelligence agencies that was made public in January concluded that the Russian government had intervened in the election in part to help Mr. Trump, but did not address whether any members of the Trump campaign had participated in the effort.

The intercepted calls are different from the wiretapped conversations last year between Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, and Sergey I. Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States. In those calls, which led to Mr. Flynn’s resignation on Monday night, the two men discussed sanctions that the Obama administration imposed on Russia in December.

But the cases are part of American intelligence and law enforcement agencies’ routine electronic surveillance of the communications of foreign officials.

The F.B.I. declined to comment. The White House also declined to comment Tuesday night, but earlier in the day, the press secretary, Sean Spicer, stood by Mr. Trump’s previous comments that nobody from his campaign had contact with Russian officials before the election.

“There’s nothing that would conclude me that anything different has changed with respect to that time period,” Mr. Spicer said in response to a question.

Two days after the election in November, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy Russian foreign minister, said “there were contacts” during the campaign between Russian officials and Mr. Trump’s team.

“Obviously, we know most of the people from his entourage,” Mr. Ryabkov told Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The Trump transition team denied Mr. Ryabkov’s statement. “This is not accurate,” Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said at the time.

The National Security Agency, which monitors the communications of foreign intelligence services, initially captured the calls between Mr. Trump’s associates and the Russians as part of routine foreign surveillance. After that, the F.B.I. asked the N.S.A. to collect as much information as possible about the Russian operatives on the phone calls, and to search through troves of previous intercepted communications that had not been analyzed.

The F.B.I. has closely examined at least three other people close to Mr. Trump, although it is unclear if their calls were intercepted. They are Carter Page, a businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign; Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative; and Mr. Flynn.

All of the men have strongly denied that they had any improper contacts with Russian officials.

As part of the inquiry, the F.B.I. is also trying to assess the credibility of the information contained in a dossier that was given to the bureau last year by a former British intelligence operative. The dossier contained a raft of allegations of a broad conspiracy between Mr. Trump, his associates and the Russian government. It also included unsubstantiated claims that the Russians had embarrassing videos that could be used to blackmail Mr. Trump.

The F.B.I. has spent several months investigating the leads in the dossier, but has yet to confirm any of its most explosive claims.

Senior F.B.I. officials believe that the former British intelligence officer who compiled the dossier, Christopher Steele, has a credible track record, and he briefed investigators last year about how he obtained the information. One American law enforcement official said that F.B.I. agents had made contact with some of Mr. Steele’s sources.

The agency’s investigation of Mr. Manafort began last spring as an outgrowth of a criminal investigation into his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and for the country’s former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. It has focused on why he was in such close contact with Russian and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

The bureau did not have enough evidence to obtain a warrant for a wiretap of Mr. Manafort’s communications, but it had the N.S.A. scrutinize the communications of Ukrainian officials he had met.

The F.B.I. investigation is proceeding at the same time that separate investigations into Russian interference in the election are gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. Those investigations, by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, are examining not only the Russian hacking but also any contacts that Mr. Trump’s team had with Russian officials during the campaign.

On Tuesday, top Republican lawmakers said that Mr. Flynn should be one focus of the investigation, and that he should be called to testify before Congress. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the news about Mr. Flynn underscored “how many questions still remain unanswered to the American people more than three months after Election Day, including who was aware of what, and when.”

Mr. Warner said Mr. Flynn’s resignation would not stop the committee “from continuing to investigate General Flynn, or any other campaign official who may have had inappropriate and improper contacts with Russian officials prior to the election.”​
 
Unbelievable Turmoil’: Trump’s First Month Leaves Washington Reeling
LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/..._th_20170215&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=54852892
TEXT Excerpted: WASHINGTON — The resignation of Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser caps a remarkably tumultuous first month for President Trump’s White House that has burdened the early days of his presidency with scandal, legal challenges, personnel drama and questions about his temperament during interactions with world leaders.

Mr. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, lasted only 24 days before his tenure was cut short by an admission that he had misled the vice president and other White House colleagues about the contents of a phone call with the Russian ambassador to the United States. The resignation on Monday night and the continuing turmoil inside the National Security Council have deeply rattled the Washington establishment.

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, railed against the administration on Tuesday, decrying the “dysfunction” of the country’s national security apparatus and accusing the White House of being a place where “nobody knows who’s in charge and nobody knows who’s setting policy.” Gen. Tony Thomas, head of the military’s Special Operations Command, expressed concern about upheaval inside the White House. “Our government continues to be in unbelievable turmoil. I hope they sort it out soon because we’re a nation at war,” he said at a military conference on Tuesday. Asked about his comments later, General Thomas said in a brief interview, “As a commander, I’m concerned our government be as stable as possible.”

But Mr. Flynn’s late-night departure just added to the broader sense of chaos at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In record time, the 45th president has set off global outrage with a ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries, fired his acting attorney general for refusing to defend the ban and watched as federal courts swiftly moved to block the policy, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive power.

In record time, the 45th president has set off global outrage with a ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries, fired his acting attorney general for refusing to defend the ban and watched as federal courts swiftly moved to block the policy, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive power.

The president angrily provoked the cancellation of a summit meeting with the Mexican president, hung up on Australia’s prime minister, authorized a commando raid that resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL member, repeatedly lied about the existence of millions of fraudulent votes cast in the 2016 election and engaged in Twitter wars with senators, a sports team owner, a Hollywood actor and a major department store chain. His words and actions have generated almost daily protests around the country.

“I’ve never been so nervous in my lifetime about what may or may not happen in Washington,” said Leon Panetta, a Democrat who served as chief of staff, secretary of defense and C.I.A. director during a 50-year career that spanned nine presidents from both parties. “I don’t know whether this White House is capable of responding in a thoughtful or careful way should a crisis erupt,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “You can do hit-and-miss stuff over a period of time. But at some point, I don’t give a damn what your particular sense of change is all about, you cannot afford to have change become chaos.”​
 
This may be one indicator that Trump is tied to the Kremlin, as his rhetoric implies to play along with Russia or face a potential nuclear holocaust. Pre-election Kremlin associates implied of a nuclear exchange if Clinton were elected, as meant to drive fear into the U.S. population.

Trump raises specter of 'nuclear holocaust' while talking Russia

Below; is an image briefly capturing my full attention.
 

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This came from the Politico story on the nutty Trump press conference Thursday afternoon.

That it quotes a Fox News anchor is especially significant:

Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith, on his program Thursday afternoon, defended Acosta’s questioning of the president during the presser, and suggested that Trump's answers were meant to deflect from the hard questions.

“It is crazy what we are watching every day. He keeps repeating ridiculous throwaway lines that are not true at all, and sort of avoiding this issue of Russia as if we are fools for asking the question,” Smith said. “That you call us fake news and put us down like children for asking these questions on behalf of the American people is inconsequential. The people deserve that answer, at very least.”​
 
Gene Steinberg said:
This came from the Politico story on the nutty Trump press conference Thursday afternoon.

That it quotes a Fox News anchor is especially significant:

Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith, on his program Thursday afternoon, defended Acosta’s questioning of the president during the presser, and suggested that Trump's answers were meant to deflect from the hard questions.

“It is crazy what we are watching every day. He keeps repeating ridiculous throwaway lines that are not true at all, and sort of avoiding this issue of Russia as if we are fools for asking the question,” Smith said. “That you call us fake news and put us down like children for asking these questions on behalf of the American people is inconsequential. The people deserve that answer, at very least.”​
Click to expand...

Video
Shep Smith Fires Back At Trump: “We’re Not Fools For Asking These Questions And We Demand To Know The Answer”
 
Yep. Smith is one of the few people at Fox News who actually behaves as a newsperson rather than a purveyor of fake news or a commentator.
 
I tend to avoid Murdoch’s empire, although, I respect Smith for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina and his opinion of the way Blackwater mercenaries failed in handling the crisis.
 
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