There are many people taking notice of modern politics for the first time in their lives. There is also some confusion noticed between two groups who talk above and around each other. Two groups communicating from two entirely different sets of understanding.  Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity.
Many, heck, most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past.
There is not a single congress person who writes legislation or laws.
In 2017 not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct. This simply doesn’t happen.
Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body. Here’s how it works right now.
(more…)

Things could get a whole lot more interesting if Kimberley Strassel is correct in her research and analysis of how the Clinton Campaign paid for the creation of the “Steele Dossier”, pushed it to the FBI, and then used their influence to generate media coverage of it.   There’s a lot more questions to be asked; a lot more.

The basic outline as it appears is:  Clinton paid for the sketchy dossier to be put together; then pushed it to the FBI (Sally Yates); who then used it to open a counter-intelligence investigation; which was then used to begin wiretaps etc. on Trump; while simultaneously reporters were fed information -from Fusion GPS- about the dossier and intelligence investigation; to start the Russian conspiracy narrative, using leaks within the intelligence investigation which were created by the dossier.
Byron York lays out the timeline and asks a similar set of questions.  Additionally, there are strong indications Fusion GPS paid journalists to promote the dossier narrative along with other stories.
(more…)

Former ODNI James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan, appear with Jake Tapper to defend themselves against President Trump calling them out as political hacks yesterday. Together they attempt round #3 of couples grief therapy while selling their nonsense. Oh, how they both think we have forgotten – we haven’t.

As you watch James Clapper read his teleprompter, and yes, he’s reading from prepared script because he’s a useful idiot (see: 02:28 for confirmation), it should be noted that President Obama blamed James Clapper for the “rise of ISIS“.  Additionally it should be noted that Clapper previously admitted to lying to congress about ‘spying on Americans’.
John Brennan is even worse.  Earlier in the year Brennan contradicted Comey and stated he told congress and the FBI about Russian activity AFTER Comey testified he didn’t. Go figure. Then again, earlier in his career Brennan admitted to hacking into the State Department in 2008 to review/modify candidate Obama’s passport records; six years later, following an Inspector General report, Brennan was forced to admit and apologize to the Senate Intelligence Committee for using the CIA to spy on congress.
How Brennan was never prosecuted for those crimes is a question never answered.  Then again, he’s defending the weaponized FBI so there’s that quid-pro-quo angle to digest.  I digress:
(more…)

Last year against the backdrop of President Obama’s sanctions announcement against Russia, we closely reviewed the “Russian Malicious Cyber Activity – Joint Analysis Report”. This December 2016 intelligence report (actual document below) is the report where the media talking points “17 intelligence agencies agreed” and the Russian “hacking of the election” began.
The report was released to coincide with President Obama kicking out Russian diplomats as punishment for the content therein.  Everyone talks about this report, yet almost no-one talking about it has actually read it.  WE HAVE.


President Obama’s administration released the ‘Joint Analysis Report’ which various politicians and media claimed to outline details of Russia’s involvement hacking into targeted data, computer systems, and political networks during the election.
Except it doesn’t.
Not even a little.
(more…)

Curiouser and curiouser…  An interesting development amid the various swampy happenings both domestically and internationally.  With Robert Mueller focusing on foreign interest lobbying efforts within Washington DC; and amid Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman confronting corruption within the financing of foreign political influence; Podesta CEO Kimberley Fritts announces she is leaving to form her own firm.

Considering that Mrs. Fritts previously announced her intention of remaining at the Podesta group and rebranding the lobbying firm, sans Tony Podesta, questions arise as to what might have made Fritts change her mind.

(Via Politico) Kimberley Fritts, the longtime chief executive of the Podesta Group, is leaving the firm to start her own lobbying shop, according to three Podesta Group staffers.

(more…)

The role of Fusion GPS as an active participant in the 2016 election is growing in scale amid yet another report showing the scope of their involvement.
Two weeks ago the DNC and Clinton Campaign teams were forced to admit they hired Fusion GPS to engage in political activity and research against presidential candidate Trump.  That’s sketchy. Then last week we discovered that Fusion GPS head, Glenn Simpson, actually met with Russian operative Natalia Veselnitskaya immediately prior to her visit to Trump Tower and immediately after. That’s beyond sketchy.  Now we discover Glenn Simpson actually wrote the material that Natalia Veselnitskava used to pitch herself into a meeting with Don Trump Jr.  Wait,… what…

Yes, we are now in “ludicrous mode“.  It’s no longer a surprise why Glenn Simpson’s lawyers are trying desperately to keep him from a congressional subpoena. Clinton Lawyers, Perkins Coie, acknowledged they paid $1.02 million to Fusion for research related to candidate Donald Trump. However, the entire story now looks like the DNC and Clinton camp hired Fusion GPS to construct negative material, not “discover” it.
(more…)

If you haven’t followed the entirety of how the “Freedom Alliance” was assembled in the very early months shortly after the election of President Donald Trump, it’s hard to understand the scope of what is taking place in the middle-east.
The nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), led by Saudi Arabia, are on the cusp of transforming themselves into a modern and engaged era. The goals of the GCC allies, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) are to remove the influence agents who have supported extremism, the Muslim Brotherhood, and stimulated and/or enabled crisis for personal and ideological gains.
Because of the financial reach within the parties involved, the downstream consequences are being felt within the political bodies of most nations including our own. Specifically within Washington DC’s deep-state institutions, career politicians on foreign affairs committees, and within the upper and lower tiers of the aggregate U.S. State Dept.  A great realignment is taking place.

Caption: There will come a time when you will need to choose a side. Think wisely…

French President Emmanuel Macron said today he will make an unexpected trip to Saudi Arabia after leaving the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discuss crises in Lebanon, Yemen and the wider region.  This happens simultaneous to the UAE announcing they too are examining bank accounts for their own officials, officers and leaders within their nation.

DUBAI (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is making a previously unscheduled trip to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to see Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, notably over Lebanon and Yemen.

(more…)

To celebrate the anniversary of the 2016 presidential election President Trump tweets “Congratulations Deplorables”:

(LINK)

 

The role of Fusion GPS as an active participant in the 2016 election is growing in scope amid another report showing increased involvement.   Previously the DNC and Clinton Campaign teams were forced to admit they hired Fusion GPS to engage in political activity and research against presidential candidate Trump.  The outcome of their efforts centered around the Russian Dossier by Christopher Steele.
However, today a report shows the founder of Fusion GPS actually met with Russian operative Natalia Veselnitskaya immediately prior to her visit to Trump Tower and immediately after.
There is a concern that Fusion GPS might have been conducting a political operation against Trump using Veselnitskaya.

(Via Fox News) […] The June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya occurred during a critical period. At that time, Fox News has learned that bank records show Fusion GPS was paid by a law firm for work on behalf of a Kremlin-linked oligarch while paying a former British spy Christopher Steele to dig up dirt on Trump through his Russian contacts.
But hours before the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, Fusion co-founder and ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson was with Veselnitskaya in a Manhattan federal courtroom, a confidential source told Fox News. Court records reviewed by Fox News, email correspondence and published reports corroborate the pair’s presence together. The source told Fox News they also were together after the Trump Tower meeting.  (read more)

Those who have followed the Chinese strategy of President Trump will note strong signals of success therein amid an advanced visit ground report from Reuters News Service.
BACKDROP – From the outset the Trump administration displayed a very specific strategy where respect toward China’s leadership was coupled with visible praise for their business acumen and kind words toward the culture of the Chinese people.
This became evident in Mar-a-largo when Prime Minister Xi Jinping and President Trump spent a weekend getting to know each other.
While the surface impression of the relationship is geopolitical adversaries, President Trump has also positioned himself inwardly toward the Chinese people as a modern counter cultural figure not concerned with political correctness and not ashamed of his business success.   This approach is intensely well received in the bamboo forest.
In a culture where the political and sociological influences have historically presented an outlook of affluence and influence as the measure of success, the image of unabashed and unapologetic opulent Trump represents the external personification of this perspective.
Quite simply, it becomes impossible for China’s control authority to ridicule a successful businessman -now influential politician- when they have been selling that image as an honorable goal for decades amid their own culture. The timing is remarkable in consequence.
Simultaneous to this impression, and in a very methodical plan to counter the expansive influence of China, President Trump has used the scale of the U.S. economy to create massive changes in geopolitical economic landscape.
While Trump’s Grandkids sing sweet Mandarin Chinese songs to Xi Jinping and Peng Liyaun (Xi’s wife and herself a cultural icon), he has simultaneously cultivated a powerful counter-leverage position with India’s Prime Minister Modi. In essence, President Trump has positioned himself -and as a consequence the United States- as a powerhouse to be courted by both sides.
India and China are direct and consequential economic adversaries.  President Trump has maneuvered our own U.S. economic policy into the position where that competitive dynamic is now leverage for U.S. economic engagement, trade deals, national security and long-term interests.
It is not coincidental that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson first injected the term “Indo-Pacific” into the geopolitical lexicon of U.S. policy.   It’s a brilliant strategy and paying huge dividends. Bigly.
(more…)