Is it really possible for a Democrat to win in 2020 with the Russians proceeding full speed ahead to intervene on Trump’s behalf?
Tag: Robert Mueller
BOOK REVIEW: ‘A Very Stable Genius’ — not
In retrospect, humiliating Sessions seems petty compared to reassuring the American public that anyone can get a test whenever they need for a virus that can kill them, when, in fact, they can’t get a test because this very stable genius had already presided over the mass firing of the very people who know most about viruses, and had already cut the budgets of every agency we’d normally rely on to combat the disease.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Crime in Progress,’ an attempt to set the record straight, offers other side of story
I found it refreshing that Simpson is honest enough to admit Fusion didn’t appreciate the great stakes involved, and I credit him with acknowledging the integrity of Christopher Steele, a man who’s been unfairly vilified. More than anyone else, he is the hero of this story.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘A Warning’ a chilling account of the Trump administration that’s not easily put down
At the end of the day, what’s most important is what Anonymous has been a witness to, and what we learn about our commander in chief.
CONNECTIONS: The idea of America is in danger
If America is an idea…it would be in the interest of anyone who wanted to weaken America to weaken the public’s understanding of, and trust and belief in, that idea.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Siege’ reveals the constant provocations, never-ending nastiness of the Trump administration
Episode after episode reveals a mean-spirited, self-absorbed bully who doesn’t read, study or listen to anyone who says anything he disagrees with.
Mueller for Dummies, Part II: Obstruction of justice
Mueller lists the actions that prompted his decision “that there was a sufficient factual and legal basis to further investigate potential obstruction-of-justice issues involving the President.”
Mueller for Dummies, Part I: Russia
Everything was made even more complicated for us when Attorney General William Barr and his deputy AG Rod Rosenstein decided to jump the gun and mischaracterize the report while keeping from Congress and the public the most easily understood sections of Mueller’s finding: the summaries.
ORANGE ALERT: The (almost) daily outrage
In instance after instance, his staff acted as a bulwark against Mr. Trump’s most destructive impulses.
CONNECTIONS: Waiting for Mueller
All the clever people who were calculating the odds, acutely judging the politics, and weighing cost/benefit, what do they have to say now? All elected officials who cared more about keeping their jobs than doing their jobs, how do they like waiting for Mueller now?
Activists rally, demand that officials #ReleaseThe(full)Report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller
Many were carrying—or, in some cases, wearing—signs condemning Trump and demanding that officials “release the full report” and insisting that “no one is above the law.”
National day of action to demand release of Mueller report
Protests will take place in hundreds of cities and towns and are being organized by a coalition of dozens of public interest organizations.
ORANGE ALERT: The (almost) daily outrage
Taken at face value, Barr’s arguments would render the president immune from liability for a wide range of clearly criminal acts.
REVIEW: ‘The Threat’ offers a nuanced look at the always-complex challenges of trying to enforce law and order
Andrew McCabe has spent his life on the front lines and appreciates the stakes in a way most of us can’t. His passion is matched by his sense of urgency. It says something when some of the toughest folks in the land—FBI officials, former CIA officials—are frightened.
The Trump Chronicles: Collusion, No. Conspiracy, Yes.
Let’s start with the fact, and praise be to the Times for finally using the right word, that there are too many people using the wrong word: “collusion.” The president and his odd PR attorney Rudy Giuliani insist there is no proof of capital “C” collusion.
CONNECTIONS: Waiting for impeachment
Might not public hearings commence so we as a nation can come together, experience the presentation of evidence, and agree on the necessity to bring a charge (impeachment) or the lack of justification for impeachment? Every report ends with the words “we must wait for Mueller.” Must we?
BOOK REVIEW: ‘House of Trump, House of Putin,’ the plot to put a Russian operative in the White House
Unger makes several startling claims: Trump was but one of dozens of U.S. politicians and businesspeople targeted over more than 20 years who became indebted to Russia.
Pop-up demonstrations protest threats to Mueller investigation
Some 120 demonstrators showed up to a hastily organized rally at Great Barrington Town Hall, one of more than 1,000 rallies nationwide occurring at 5 p.m. to support the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election..
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics’ has current implications
Stephen Greenblatt has asked himself a question many of us need to ask these days: “How is it possible for a whole country to fall into the hands of a tyrant?” An accomplished scholar, Greenblatt has enlisted one of humankind’s great minds to help solve this mystery: William Shakespeare.
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: The Russians and more Russians
Thanks to special counsel Mueller’s July 13, 2018, indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence officers, we’ve learned in excruciating detail about the extensive hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and cyberattacks on the boards of elections of various states, and companies that supply software and other technology related to the administration of U.S. elections.
REVIEW: ‘The Plot to Hack America,’ the untold war on American soil
We are used to the images of war: bombs and bullets and blood. But Nance knows what many Americans are unwilling to recognize: We are at war and this war is being fought on our land.
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: Michael Cohen – the early years
Since we’re working our smoke-signal way through the supporting cast the president has surrounded himself with, it’s probably a good time to get to know the president’s private attorney. And because of the recent raid on his offices and the seizure of a massive amount of documents and some recordings, Michael Cohen’s importance in the Russian Affair and the Neverending Obstruction looms even larger.
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: Comey on Comey in ‘A Higher Loyalty’
Critical reviews of “A Higher Loyalty” are easy to find. Instead, I’m going to offer some excerpts many critics have neglected—reminiscences that reveal why James Comey has become the man he is, providing perspective about why he responded the way he did to the Clinton email investigation and the improper demands of Donald Trump.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump’ by Michael Isikoff and David Corn
Isikoff and Corn try to answer an essential question: Why is Trump so enamored of Putin? So willing to turn a blind eye to Russia’s efforts to sabotage American democracy, so unwilling to strike back when he continually brags about his commitment to answer every blow with 10?
CONNECTIONS: The makings of a dictator
There are handbooks on becoming a dictator. You have to have the taste for it and the talent but, if you do: create an oligarchy, encourage thuggery, undermine checks and balances and silence the press.
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: Kushner, the Mercers and Cambridge Analytica – Round One
As you continue to read, I want you to imagine an iceberg. Both Forbes and the New York Times thought they were being told, and telling us, the true story of Cambridge Analytica. But they and we saw only a small portion of what Cambridge Analytica wanted us to see.
ORANGE ALERT: The (almost)daily outrage
“If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it,” Trey Goudy, the South Carolina Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: Connecting the Kushner dots
“Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.”
— The Washington Post
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: The Russians and their trolls
There really was, the Justice Department is saying, a Russian influence operation to interfere in the U.S. political system during the 2016 presidential election, and it really was at the expense of Hillary Clinton and in favor of Donald Trump.
Enough
It didn’t take long for me to realize that the young adults of Parkland were cutting through the layers of despair I had built up all these years. They were telling their truth with passion and conviction.
Smoke Signals from the Swamp: The Son-in-Law
With all the talk about the varied skills of Corey Lewandoski, Paul Manafort and Steve Bannon, who took turns steering the Trump campaign, many were surprised by the title of the Nov. 22, 2016, Forbes article: “How Jared Kushner Won Trump the White House.”
Four Freedoms contingency plans for emergency protest
The Four Freedoms Coalition, in partnership with Greylock Together, Indivisible Pittsfield, the Berkshire Democratic Brigades and others, is making contingency plans for a rapid response protest at Park Square in downtown Pittsfield, Mass.