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The Cohen searches and Trump's mess

Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 13:11 UTC
Michael Cohen Trump Tower
© Stephanie Keith/ReutersMichael Cohen arrives at Trump Tower in New York City, January 17, 2017.


The Stormy Daniels scandal could be more perilous for Trump than the Russia investigation has been.

Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was caught hiding the sources of 1,300 large campaign donations, aggregating to nearly $2 million. The campaign also accepted more than $1.3 million in unlawful donations from contributors who had already given the legal maximum.

Under federal law, such campaign-finance violations, if they aggregate to just $25,000 in a calendar year, may be treated as felonies punishable by up to five years' imprisonment - with offenses involving smaller dollar amounts punishable by incarceration for a year or more. (See Section 30109(d) of Title 52, U.S. Code, pp. 51-52 of the Federal Election Commission's compilation of campaign laws.)

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

British regime ready to bypass Parliament to authorize unprovoked attack on beleaguered Syria


RT
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 20:21 UTC
theresa may
© Tom Nicholson / Global Look PressMartial May, British dictator who gases her own people
UK Prime Minister Theresa May appears ready to get the UK involved in a possible military strike against Syria without seeking the Parliament's approval, the BBC reports citing "well-placed sources."

May reportedly sees an "urgent" need for a response, according to government insiders. She also appears to believe a military intervention will prevent further chemical incidents in Syria.


Comment: What happens when you multiply one delusion by another delusion? You get the British government.


May's reported willingness to jump on board the looming strike, which the US says it is still making up its mind on, comes despite the fact that no investigation has yet been carried out into the alleged chemical incident in Syria's Douma, which fired up Western governments openly supporting the forces seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. While a number of anti-government groups, including the so-called White Helmets, have accused Assad of waging a new chemical attack on civilians, Damascus and Moscow have dismissed the incident as a staged act. With Douma being the last Islamist-occupied town in eastern Ghouta, which the Syrian Army has recently liberated from militants, and Damascus having been engaged in talks with the Jaysh al-Islam group now leaving the area, there was no logical justification for such an attack offered by those accusing Assad.

The absence of proof seems to have made May reluctant to jump to war immediately, at least according to a report by the Times, which suggested that she requested "more evidence" during private phone calls with US President Donald Trump. This is despite public statements by May and her government officials claiming that there were "all the indications" that the Syrian government was responsible for the yet-unverified incident.


Comment: That's rich coming from May, coming as it does right after the Skripal scam. She didn't need any evidence there! But she's reportedly come around:
"We're rapidly reaching an understanding of what happened on the ground. All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible, and we'll be working with our closest allies to consider how we can ensure that those responsible are held to account, and also how we can prevent and deter the humanitarian catastrophe of the use of chemical weapons in the future."
Dress it up all you like, it's still a pig. Only a trained British liar like May could hype up not having any firm conclusion because no investigation has been carried out to the level of near certainty - all with the words "rapidly reaching", as if rapidly moving from nowhere to nowhere else is somehow significant.

No doubt she was presented with as much evidence re: Douma as she required re: Skripal - i.e., none.


Comment: Thankfully there are a few sane people with a voice in the UK. George Galloway, for instance: "If Theresa May takes Britain to war in Syria as the ally and the air force of ISIS and Al-Qaeda, Great Britain will die of shame and our brave pilots will be shot down over Syria by Russian anti-aircraft missile batteries. It's time today to tell your MP: 'Not in my name.'"



And ex ambassadors Peter Ford and Craig Murray:
"I don't think Assad is in the least worried that the inspectors will find out his guilt - he is probably not guilty on this occasion," he said. "We have to engage our brains as well as our emotions here, not be stampeded by those videos which are described as being unverified, but which by dint of being repeated over and over again come to acquire a spurious credibility," Ford added. "We have to ask ourselves what are the sources in this stampede to war?"

Radio presenter Gary Robertson was having none of it. He pushed back on Ford, telling the ex-ambassador that "Assad has form [bombing his own people], and there has been fairly conclusive proof that chemical agents have been used."

Ford replied: "The correct response is obviously to get inspectors on to the alleged sites of the alleged offences. In fact, in the last few hours Russia has offered to provide escorts for inspectors from the recognized body in this field - the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons."

Ford's comments reflected the same concerns with intelligence sources that he expressed to the BBC a year ago."Based on previous experience, we can see that we cannot take on face value what the so-called intelligence experts tell us," he said, in reference to the Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack.

"In August 2016, [the Jihadis] mounted a chlorine gas attack on civilians and they tried to make it look like a regime operation. Mark my words, [the jihadis will make it look like the regime did it] and it will get the warmongers coming to tell us that Assad is defying us and we must go in more heavily into Syria."

When questioned by Robertson as to what "would be the interest of [the jihadis] to stage these events?" A dumbfounded Ford responded that even "a child can see that the intention was to produce hysteria."

"Now the military action that we are on the point of taking, risking our own safety. What the jihadis have done is jerk our leash," he added.

Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray took to his blog on Wednesday, penning a scathing piece entitled 'The Four Horsemen Gallop By;' taking aim at Theresa May and her eager finger-pointing in the Skripal poisoning, and the media... which has moved on from the Salisbury attacks and "now focuses on an attack by chemical weapons in Douma."

"[It] 'could only be' by the Russian-backed Assad regime, except there is no evidence of that either, and indeed neutral verified evidence from Douma is non-existent," Murray said.

"There is a reckless disregard for evidence base on the pretexts for all this. Indeed, the more the evidence is scrutinized, the dodgier it seems. Finally, there is a massive difference between mainstream media narrative around these events and a deeply skeptical public, as shown in social media and in comments sections of corporate media websites.

"The notion that Britain will take part in military action against Syria with neither investigation of the evidence nor a parliamentary vote is worrying indeed. Without Security Council authorization, any such action is illegal in any event.

"It is worth noting that the many commentators who attempt to portray Russia's veto of a Syria resolution as invalid, fail to note that last week, in two separate 14 against 1 votes, the USA vetoed security council resolutions condemning Israeli killings of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza."


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Attention

Hardly 'friends': Mark Zuckerberg fends off senators on privacy

Mary Clare Jalonick, Barbara Ortutay, David Hamilton
Associated Press
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
Zuckerberg
© APMark Zuckerberg
Under fire for the worst privacy debacle in his company's history, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg batted away often-aggressive questioning Tuesday from lawmakers who accused him of failing to protect the personal information of millions of Americans from Russians intent on upsetting the U.S. election.

During some five hours of Senate questioning, Zuckerberg apologized several times for Facebook failures, disclosed that his company was "working with" special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian election interference and said it was working hard to change its own operations after the harvesting of users' private data by a data-mining company affiliated with Donald Trump's campaign.

Seemingly unimpressed, Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said Zuckerberg's company had a 14-year history of apologizing for "ill-advised decisions" related to user privacy. "How is today's apology different?" Thune asked.

Comment: See also:

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Briefcase

Mueller grossly overstepped in seizing Michael Cohen's files

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 18:46 UTC
CohenTrumpMueller
© Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call; Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/NDTV.comMichael Cohen • Donald Trump • Robert Mueller
Whilst the world's attention is focused rightly on Syria, it is important not to lose sight of an extraordinary and dangerous step which has just happened in the US, and which I suspect is causing Donald Trump far more concern than the situation in Syria.

This is the raid Special Counsel Robert Mueller instigated against Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Donald Trump is furious about this, and has complained about it far more vocally than he has complained about the situation in Syria.

He is right to be furious.

Michael Cohen is one of the individuals whose name appears in the Trump Dossier, where he is alleged to have attended a secret meeting with Russian officials in Prague. Cohen denies that the meeting ever took place and has produced his passport to show that he has never been to Prague. Though Cohen's denial came in for some ridicule initially, I think that it is now generally accepted as true.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Zuckerberg dodges Senate question about Facebook tracking users across the web

Lucas Nolan
Breitbart
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
Zuckerberg
© AP/Andrew HarnikFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
While testifying before the Senate, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dodged a question about Facebook tracking users activity even after they leave the website.

While testifying before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees in Washington today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg refused to confirm that Facebook continues to track users activity even after they've left the Facebook website. Facebook has admitted that they do this on their own company website while Breitbart News has reported on this fact extensively. However, when asked directly by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) if Facebook tracked users after they left the site, Mark Zuckerberg failed to give a straight answer.
"There have been reports that Facebook can track users internet browsing activity even after that user has logged off of the Facebook platform. Can you confirm whether or not this is true?" asked Senator Wicker.
Mark Zuckerberg replied; "Senator, I want to make sure I get this accurate so it would probably be better to have my team follow up afterward." Senator Wicker asked; "so you don't know?" to which Zuckerberg replied; "I know that people use cookies on the internet and that you can probably correlate activity between sessions, we do that for a number of reasons including security and including measuring ads to make sure that the ad experiences are most effective which of course people can opt-out of. But I want to make sure I'm precise in my answer so we'll probably follow up with you after."
Senator Wicker replied; "when you get back to me sir, would you also let us know how Facebook discloses to its users that engaging in this type of tracking gives us that result?"
Zuckerberg simply replied "yes."
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Question

Could Trump be setting Macron up as America's Syrian 'fall guy'?

Adam Garrie
Eurasia Future
Sat, 07 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
TrumpMacron
© Politico Europe
When French President Emmanuel Macron invited a member of the YPG's political arm PYD to the Élysée Palace, it was not only a dangerous move but a diplomatically unwise move. In the 21st century, mature states should not be dealing with non-state entities that are hostile to the legitimate authorities of their country, while mature states should also avoid courting non-state entities that pose a direct terrorist threat to their neighbours. In inviting PYD "politician" Khaled Eissa to the presidential palace of France, President Macron did both of these things. Taken in totality, Macron did nothing more than shake hands with a terrorist.
Khaled Eissa
© wordpress.com
But if Macron's move in inviting a terrorist to a palace normally reserved for fellow heads of state and legitimate politicians was not bad enough in terms of posing an overt security risk by attempting to legitimise a terrorist organisation, it was a diplomatically foolish move. The YPG/PKK's primary enemy is Turkey and as a fellow NATO member, France has a responsibility not to show support for terrorist groups whose stated goal is making war upon Turkey. President Erdogan made his feelings about the incident known when he delivered the following statement about Macron's antics,
"France is abetting terrorists by hosting them at the presidential palace... as long as you nurture these terrorists, the West will drown".

Comment: See also:

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X

3 UNSC resolutions fail to pass on 'chem attack' in Syria, Russia calls for restraint


RT
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 23:42 UTC
NikkiHaleyUNSC
© HECTOR RETAMAL / AFPUS ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, UNSC meeting
The Russian envoy to the UN called on the West to "refrain from plans" it might be harboring for Syria, after three consecutive resolutions to investigate the alleged recent chemical attack near Damascus failed to pass.

The latest resolution to fail was a Russian-sponsored draft backing an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding mission at the site of the alleged attack in Douma. The draft received five votes in favor (Russia, China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Bolivia), four votes against (the US, the UK, France and Poland) and six abstentions, falling short of the minimum nine votes required for adoption.

The failure of an "innocuous" draft in support of an impartial investigation into the alleged chemical incident in Syria's Douma is a "litmus test which speaks volumes," Russia's UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia said. The draft was based on, and "almost completely copied," an earlier proposal by Sweden. Nebenzia argued that the proposal was stonewalled simply because it ultimately came from Russia.

Nebenzia warned of the consequences that ill-conceived decisions by the West might lead to, saying that the threats towards Syria "should worry us, all of us, greatly, because we could find ourselves on the threshold of some very sad and serious events."

Comment: The stall-out is not surprising. It is a familiar, frustrating and polarizing tactic. If the accusations are based on reports from White Helmets, there is no truth to the chemical attack, meaning the West is fabricating an excuse to go to war. This is beyond reason, beyond shameful.

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Briefcase

We have Clinton, Comey, Uranium One... So who is John W. Huber?


Judicial Watch
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
USATTYJohn W Huber
© AP/Rick BowmerUS Attorney, Utah, John W. Huber
Widespread head-scratching has followed Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recent disclosure that U.S. Attorney John W. Huber is leading an investigation into 2016 election controversies. In a March 29 letter to Republican committee chairmen, Mr. Sessions said that Mr. Huber, the U. S. Attorney for Utah, had been appointed to "evaluate certain issues" raised by the GOP. He did not say which issues, but there are plenty.

In a July 27, 2017 letter, GOP leaders had called on Mr. Sessions to "appoint a second special counsel to investigate a plethora of matters connected to the 2016 election and its aftermath." These included actions by Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Loretta Lynch and others, email controversies, mishandling of classified information, Fusion GPS and the Steele Dossier, FISA warrants, wire taps, leaks, grand juries, the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One deal.

Mr. Sessions instead appointed Mr. Huber, "an experienced federal prosecutor," and left the door open to a special counsel. Mr. Sessions noted that Mr. Huber
"will make recommendations as to whether any matters not currently under investigation should be opened, whether any matters currently under investigation require further resources, or whether any matters merit the appointment of a Special Counsel."
Translation: Mr. Huber is investigating the investigations, not the underlying allegations.

Comment: See also:

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Question

Was he forced out? Trump's Homeland Security advisor resigns


RT
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:26 UTC
Tom Bossert
© Kevin Lamarque/ReutersFormer Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has announced the resignation of President Donald Trump's Homeland Security adviser, Tom Bossert.

"The president is grateful for Tom's commitment to the safety and security of our great country," said Sanders.

Bossert's resignation comes just days after an appearance on ABC's This Week on Sunday, during which he questioned the "timing" of Saturday's alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, which came only days after President Trump promised a withdrawal of US forces from the country.
"American troops aren't going to fix the six or seven different ongoing conflicts and wars going on in the Middle East or in Syria at this stage," he said. "We need regional partnership increased and we need US presence decreased."
Nevertheless, Bossert said that his team had been reviewing evidence overnight since news of the apparent attack broke, adding that no possible response should be taken "off the table."

Comment: And another one's gone...revolving door syndrome?

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Propaganda

Glenn Greenwald: It's 'obvious' Assad used chemical weapons on Syrians

Charles Bausman
Russia Insider
Wed, 11 Apr 2018 13:12 UTC
Glenn Greenwald
© www.ibtimes.comJournalist Glenn Greenwald
I was watching Amy Goodman's much admired 'Democracy Now' over bacon this morning, looking forward to Glenn Greenwald setting the nation straight, as he can usually be relied upon to do, and he explained to the credulous masses, that in fact, it seems to him that Assad had used chemical weapons, and that the evidence was 'overwhelming'. Goodman didn't blink, and then of all things, cut to video of Ben Cardin, the senator from the great state of AIPAC, saying the same thing and demanding war, to reinforce the point, in case some of the sheeple out there weren't getting her drift.

Please don't ask me why I was watching this uber-liberal show whose views on many things I find reprehensible. It is a tedious story of no importance. Goodman is good on some things, but terrible on most. She has been pushing the Russiagate lie, which is telling, but I suppose you could argue that if she didn't her whacko liberal base would drop her. Still, there is much admirable in her work.

Comment: While it's 'obvious' to some that Assad gassed his own people, the evidence, common sense and history suggest otherwise:

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