Puppet MastersS


Laptop

FBI's "outside contractors", the DNC servers and Crowdstrike

Jeff Carlson
themarketswork.com
Fri, 18 May 2018 22:44 UTC
crowdstrike
© Crowdstrike
The DNC lawsuit against Russia and the Trump Campaign provides for a new timeline of events. And raises new questions.

Recall, the DNC famously refused to allow the FBI to examine their servers - which has always seemed more than a bit odd.

If the DNC had definitive proof of Russian hacking, one would expect a standing invitation to examine the evidence. Instead, they have protected those servers from any outside examination.

This may be tied to NSA Director Rogers' discovery of Outside Contractors.

The generalized story is that the DNC was hacked in April 2016. This is not accurate. Nor is the DNC's timeline of events complete.
Read More...
Laptop

New WikiLeaks emails show Podesta lied about his work for Podesta Group, ties to Russian businesses

Ruby Henley
Investment Watch Blog
Mon, 21 May 2018 22:31 UTC
clinton podesta
It has been quite some time since I have reported on John and Tony Podesta. Tony Podesta has literally disappeared from public view. As far as John Podesta, he does tweet now and again.

Judicial Watch has received access to new emails coming from John Podesta. The emails prove John Podesta lied when he said he was not affiliated with the Podesta Group.

There are documents from the U.S. Department of State showing the Podesta Group working on behalf of the pro-Russia Ukrainian political group "Party of Regions."

The documents also reveal then Obama White House Counsel John Podesta lobbying on behalf of his brother's firm. Plus, he was, in fact, embroiled with a pro-Russia Ukrainian political group called the "Party of Regions."

Was this not grounds for an investigation on John Podesta? I would say so!

The emails can be read at judicialwatch.org.

Comment: In other words, everyone in Washington does it. It's called the swamp for a reason.

Read More...
Blackbox

Flashback Was the entire Russiagate-Trump 'investigation' a Clinton operation?

Aussie Downer
Investor's Business Daily
Tue, 06 Mar 2018 21:26 UTC
hillary clinton
© Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesFormer US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks onstage at the Paley Center for Media on Nov. 13, 2017 in New York City.
You might not know the name of Alexander Downer, but you should. The former Australian Foreign Minister and current Australian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Downer is the person who actually started the ball rolling in creating the anti-Trump dossier. And, it turns out, he's a Clintonite.

Downer sat down for a pint or two in a London pub with former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos back in 2016. Papadopoulos claimed to Downer that the Russians had some nasty information on Hillary Clinton.

Downer subsequently told the FBI. And the FBI then began investigating not Clinton, but possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

When it became known that a foreign diplomat had informed the FBI, it was treated as if it was a simple act of diplomatic chivalry by an ally tipping us off to dirty tricks by the Russians.

It turns out it's a bit more complicated than that. In fact, as The Hill has reported, Downer is a Clintonista, and signed over $25 million in Australian government funds to the Clinton Foundation to fight AIDs in Southeast Asia. It was one of the biggest gifts ever to the foundation.

Comment: And not only that: the FBI had a spy in the Trump campaign, Stefan Halper. And Steele, Halper, Mifsud (with whom Papadopolous spoke) and Downer all have ties to British intelligence.

Read More...
Microscope 1

Mueller's ever-expanding probe is even more expansive than it seems

Natasha Bertrand
The Atlantic
Mon, 14 May 2018 00:01 UTC
Mueller
Special Counsel Robert Mueller leaves the U.S. Capitol Building after meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., on June 21, 2017.

The special counsel's team has interviewed a number of big names. But their interest in more obscure players tells a story, too.

FBI agents working for special counsel Robert Mueller allegedly detained a lawyer with ties to Russia who is closely associated with Joseph Mifsud, the shadowy professor who claimed during the election that Russia had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

The revelation was made in a book co-written by that lawyer, Stephan Roh, and set to be published next month. "The Faking of RUSSIA-GATE: The Papadopoulos Case" is the latest in a stream of books aiming to capitalize on the chaos of this political moment. But it sheds new light on the expansive nature of Mueller's investigation into Russia's election interference and possible ties between President Donald Trump's campaign team and Moscow. It also highlights Mueller's interest in answering one of the probe's biggest outstanding questions: whether the campaign knew in advance that Russia planned to interfere in the election.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Question

Mueller vs. Trump: Is there a constitutional confrontation in the offing?

Theodore B. Olson
The Weekly Standard
Fri, 18 May 2018 00:31 UTC
Trump and Mueller charicature
© Thomas Fluharty
Can special counsel Robert Mueller require President Trump to testify before a grand jury? It would be unprecedented, and his effort to do so could lead to a major constitutional confrontation.

The president could, of course, resist a grand jury subpoena by asserting his right under the Fifth Amendment not to be a witness against himself. However, for political reasons, he may not wish to do that. And he may not need to.

Another off-ramp for the president, which he may choose not to take, is to remove the special counsel. Mueller is an appointee of the Department of Justice, part of the executive branch. He is therefore a subordinate of the president. Trump might have to jump through some hoops to remove him-such as removing the deputy attorney general who selected Mueller - but he has the power to do so. If, that is, he's willing to withstand the public outcry and demands for impeachment that would surely follow. Legislative measures, such as those already introduced in Congress, to shackle or impede the president's power to remove the special counsel are almost surely unconstitutional. So the president could avoid a grand jury subpoena by removing the official who is threatening to obtain one. But this is another step with potentially grave political implications that he may not wish to risk.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
War Whore

Flashback 9/11, permanent war, and the men behind the curtain: The Transnational Capitalist Class

Peter Phillips
Project Censored
Sat, 19 Nov 2016 20:11 UTC
Anschlag World Trade Center 11. September 2001


Editor's note: This is the text of a talk delivered at the 9/11 Film Festival at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, CA, September, 2016

Globalization of trade and central banking has empowered private corporations to positions of power and control never before seen in human history. Under advanced capitalism, the structural demands for a return on investment require an unending expansion of centralized capital in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The financial center of global capitalism is so highly concentrated that less than a few thousand people dominate and control some $100 trillion dollars of wealth.

These few thousand people controlling global capital amount to less than 0.0001 percent of the world's population. They are the Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC) in what David Rothkopf calls the superclass. David Rothkopf, former managing director of Kissinger Associates, says that the superclass is comprised of 6,000 to 7,000 people. These are the Davos-attending, Gulfstream/private jet-flying, megacorporation-interlocked, policy-building elites of the world-in other words, people at the absolute peak of the global power pyramid. They are 94 percent male, predominantly white, and mostly from North America and Europe.

Three years ago, a Project Censored research team decided to identify the people on the boards of directors of the top ten asset management firms and the top ten most centralized corporations. Because of overlaps, this is a total of thirteen firms, which collectively have 161 directors on their boards. We think that this group of 161 individuals represents the financial core of the world's transnational capitalist class. They collectively manage $23.91 trillion (2014) in funds and operate in nearly every country in the world. They are the center of the financial capital that powers the global economic system. Western governments and international policy bodies work in the interests of this financial core to protect the free flow of capital investment anywhere in the world. Add several hundred to this 161 and you find $100 trillion in assets-half the wealth in the world-managed by this small concentrated set of the TCC, who could fit into this theater.
Read More...
MIB

Stefan Halper: The FBI Informant who spied on Trump Campaign also oversaw a CIA spying operation in the 1980 election

Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
Sat, 19 May 2018 16:27 UTC
Stefan Halper
An extremely strange episode that has engulfed official Washington over the last two weeks came to a truly bizarre conclusion on Friday night. And it revolves around a long-time, highly sketchy CIA operative, Stefan Halper.

Four decades ago, Halper was responsible for a long-forgotten spying scandal involving the 1980 election, in which the Reagan campaign - using CIA officials managed by Halper, reportedly under the direction of former CIA Director and then-Vice-Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush - got caught running a spying operation from inside the Carter administration. The plot involved CIA operatives passing classified information about Carter's foreign policy to Reagan campaign officials in order to ensure the Reagan campaign knew of any foreign policy decisions that Carter was considering.

Over the past several weeks, House Republicans have been claiming that the FBI during the 2016 election used an operative to spy on the Trump campaign, and they triggered outrage within the FBI by trying to learn his identity. The controversy escalated when President Trump joined the fray on Friday morning. "Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president," Trump tweeted, adding: "It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a "hot" Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!"

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Calendar

Giuliani: Mueller probe into Trump obstruction to end by Sept 1


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 20:58 UTC
Trumpclap
© The TelegraphPresident Donald Trump
Special counsel Robert Mueller will conclude his probe into claims US President Donald Trump obstructed the Russia investigation by the beginning of September, according to the president's personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani.

Giuliani told the New York Times that Mueller shared a copy of his timeline as both sides continue to negotiate the terms of a possible interview between Trump and the special counsel. The attorney, and former mayor of New York, said he feared a delay in wrapping up the investigation would cast a cloud over the midterm elections in November.

"You don't want another repeat of the 2016 election where you get contrary reports at the end and you don't know how it affected the election," Mr. Giuliani told the paper, citing then-FBI chief James Comey's decision to reopen the Hillary Clinton email investigation days before the polls opened in the US presidential election.

The obstruction charge arises from claims made by Comey who said Trump asked him to end an investigation into then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Trump's official explanation for firing Comey invoked a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein accusing the FBI director of misconduct in the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server use.

Comment: There is a lot of time between now and then...so, Mr. President, save that applause.

Read More...
Russian Flag

Bypass US sanctions, counter China, why Modi's agenda-less Putin meeting is more than chit-chat


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 21:56 UTC
PutinXiModi
© Wu Hong/ReutersRussian President Putin • Chinese President Xi • Indian Prime Minister Modi
Narendra Modi arrives in Sochi for an "agenda-less" meeting with Vladimir Putin, but there won't be time for chit-chat: the two must save key arms deals left up in the air by US sanctions, and find common ground on China.

"This is a very different kind of meeting. Normally, we have a system of annual bilateral summits, that are very structured, where you negotiate and you come out with documents, contracts and joint statements," said Pankaj Saran, India's ambassador in Moscow, ahead of his prime minister's arrival in the Black Sea resort on Monday afternoon.

Instead, says Saran, the one-day visit, planned in short order after Putin won March's election for his fourth term, and conducted without honor guards, official dinners and other accoutrements, will be a chance for the two leaders to develop "personal chemistry, build up their relationship" and "discuss issues important to their own countries."

Comment: India has a fickle nature, ready to switch sides whenever it suits its needs.
See also:

Read More...
Snakes in Suits

DOJ to investigate Trump campaign infiltration by FBI


RT
Sun, 20 May 2018 22:14 UTC
FBIDOJ/TRUMP
© UnknownPresident Donald Trump
The Department of Justice has formally requested a review into possible abuses of the surveillance application process amid claims the FBI "infiltrated" the President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

The news comes just hours after Trump demanded that the DOJ investigate claims that federal authorities surveilled his campaign for political purposes. Writing on Twitter, the president said he also wanted to know if any "demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration."

The department asked the inspector general to liaise with federal prosecutors to bring charges against FBI personnel found guilty of criminal conduct while investigating allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
"The Department has asked the Inspector General to expand the ongoing review of the FISA application process to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election," a statement from DOJ spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores read.

Comment: As Russiagate has become a cul-de-sac leading nowhere, the investigation may finally be turning the corner...onto another very long and complicated street.

See also:

Read More...