Hey remember Guccifer 2.0, the guy who distributed those stolen DNC emails to Wikileaks? Turns out that dude was an agent for Russian intelligence.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Guccifer 2.0, the “lone hacker” who took credit for providing WikiLeaks with stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, was in fact an officer of Russia’s military intelligence directorate (GRU), The Daily Beast has learned. It’s an attribution that resulted from a fleeting but critical slip-up in GRU tradecraft. 

That forensic determination has substantial implications for the criminal probe into potential collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia. The Daily Beast has learned that the special counsel in that investigation, Robert Mueller, has taken over the probe into Guccifer and brought the FBI agents who worked to track the persona onto his team. 

While it’s unclear what Mueller plans to do with Guccifer, his last round of indictments charged 13 Russians tied to the Internet Research Agency troll farm with a conspiracy “for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016.” It was Mueller’s first move establishing Russian interference in the election within a criminal context, but it stopped short of directly implicating the Putin regime. 

Mueller’s office declined to comment for this story. But the attribution of Guccifer 2.0 as an officer of Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency would cross the Kremlin threshold—and move the investigation closer to Trump himself.

If you did not already suspect that this was the case you need to give yourself at least five demerits.

I think a lot of us were fairly certain about this way back before the election, but there was not any proof back then.

Now there is.

And now that we know this we also know that Roger Stone was promoting the stolen information that was being provided by the Kremlin to interfere in our election, and that Donald Trump was helping to disseminate that information.

We also know this:

Russian hacker Guccifer sent DNC data ➔ FL GOP operative, whose analysis he sent to Roger Stone#Trumprussia #maddow https://t.co/mBaUh2nNIQ pic.twitter.com/4iquR7uOtu

— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) May 25, 2017

"Nevins also received from Guccifer internal details re congressional districts in KY, PA, TX, VA, & WV. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely tied to Paul Ryan, used the stolen info in attack ads against Dems."#Maddow https://t.co/7c1zfXN7Td

— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) December 28, 2017

Mueller could actually make the case that the entire GOP was simply working as a propaganda arm of the Russian government in an attempt to destroy Hillary Clinton's campaign and help elect Putin's Manchurian candidate.

That's at least one way to look at it.

Actually, in my mind that is the ONLY way to look at it. 

Stephen Hawking has now "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to touch the face of....truth.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

Stephen W. Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist and best-selling author who roamed the cosmos from a wheelchair, pondering the nature of gravity and the origin of the universe and becoming an emblem of human determination and curiosity, died early Wednesday at his home in Cambridge, England. He was 76. 

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for Cambridge University. 

“Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of people around the world,” Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, said in an interview. 

Dr. Hawking did that largely through his book “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes,” published in 1988. It has sold more than 10 million copies and inspired a documentary film by Errol Morris. The 2014 film about his life, “The Theory of Everything,” was nominated for several Academy Awards and Eddie Redmayne, who played Dr. Hawking, won the Oscar for best actor. 

Scientifically, Dr. Hawking will be best remembered for a discovery so strange that it might be expressed in the form of a Zen koan: When is a black hole not black? When it explodes.

By any measure Stephen Hawking was an absolutely amazing human being.

And in fact a living lesson as to just what can be achieved by humanity itself once it steps away from superstition and fully embraces the miracles to be discovered by scientific exploration.

The challenges that Hawking faced in his life were the kind that would destroy most people, and yet he managed to not only adapt, but to overcome.

It kind of puts the challenges that most of us face into perspective doesn't it?

Remembering Stephen Hawking, a renowned physicist and ambassador of science. His theories unlocked a universe of possibilities that we & the world are exploring. May you keep flying like superman in microgravity, as you said to astronauts on @Space_Station in 2014 pic.twitter.com/FeR4fd2zZ5

— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2018

His passing has left an intellectual vacuum in his wake. But it's not empty. Think of it as a kind of vacuum energy permeating the fabric of spacetime that defies measure. Stephen Hawking, RIP 1942-2018. pic.twitter.com/nAanMySqkt

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) March 14, 2018

Have fun out there among the stars. pic.twitter.com/S285MTwGtp

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 14, 2018

I would say RIP, that would be an insult to the memory of this great man.

Here is the "stable genius" forgetting that he already introduced somebody only seconds earlier.

.@realDonaldTrump thanks @JohnCornyn -- twice. @Morning_Joe rewinds the tape for the instant replay. pic.twitter.com/48Ib0bMCo4

— Daniel Norwick (@danielnorwick) February 2, 2018

Courtesy of The Week:

 President Trump has boasted he has "one of the great memories of all time," although he didn't do much to prove it on Thursday during an appearance at the GOP retreat in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. When Trump got to the end of thanking Republican leaders by reading their names off his teleprompter, he asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), "Did they forget your name?" 

They hadn't — just moments before, Trump had thanked the Senate majority whip by name. Trump, though, asked with light-hearted frustration: "What's going on here? John Cornyn, but everybody knows. They didn't put his name up but that's okay."

Holy shit!

He JUST said his name.

This is how you know that teleprompter Trump has no relation to the real Donald Trump.

Teleprompter Trump just reads the words that are put in front of him by his staff, but real Donald Trump is completely disengaged and has no awareness of what he is saying.

Just another thing about this lunatic in the White House that should scare the shit out of us. 

Right Wing hack attempts to portray Bristol Palin as Chelsea Clinton's intellectual superior. No, seriously.

Bristol Palin seems so much smarter than her horse-faced counterpart Chelsea Clinton pic.twitter.com/2syucbz4e5

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 13, 2018

Let me remind you that this is a Twitter account owned by a man who tries to portray himself as a highly intelligent person.

However that is "highly intelligent" by conservative standards, so we are talking about an IQ in the mid to low 80's I would assume.

D'Souza is of course most famous for writing fact free books attacking the Clintons and President Obama, and for being an ex-con who served time after being convicted for violating federal election campaign laws in New York.

As for his suggestion that the skin school graduate is smarter than a woman who earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and her master's degree from Oxford University, well that's actually too ridiculous to even address. (Oops sorry, Chelsea has a doctorate from Oxford. My bad.)

D'Souza does not care for facts, but if he did he might learn that any public remarks attributed to Bristol Palin, that are not sent in an angry text to one of her exes, is most definitely written FOR her by one of Sarah Palin's paid ghostwriters, who were hired to try and make Bristol appear intelligent.

Unfortunately that failed miserably after Bristol Palin decided to go all Wasilla-billy on some poor bastard during his birthday party in Anchorage back in 2014.

I am trying to remember that time Chelsea Clinton drunkenly attacked a man at his own birthday party,

Anybody remember that?

As for that attack on Chelsea's appearance, well this is picture of Dinesh D'Souza.

Nuff said.

Putin calls Trump for the second time in four days to thank him for a supposed CIA tip that helped stop a "terrorist" attack. Things that make you go, "Hmm."

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke for the second time in four days on Sunday, the White House said, and agreed that a CIA tip which helped Russia prevent bombings in St Petersburg was “an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together”.The two leaders’ first call this week was on Thursday, when Trump thanked Putin for his remarks “acknowledging America’s strong economic performance”, according to the White House. 

The two presidents also discussed ways to address North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic weapons program.

The Kremlin said on Sunday Putin told Trump the information provided by the CIA was sufficient to track down and detain a group of Islamic State-linked suspects who were planning to bomb the Kazan Cathedral and other sites in the city. 

Putin asked Trump to convey his gratitude to the CIA and said Russian law enforcement agencies would hand over any information they get about potential terror threats against the US, as they have done in the past. 

The White House said Trump “appreciated” the conversation and “stressed the importance of intelligence cooperation to defeat terrorists wherever they may be”.

Do you all smell that fishy smell? Or is that just me?

What an amazing coincidence that as Trump and Putin push for some joint intelligence operation between America and Russia, that the CIA just so happens to stumble upon some information about a potential terrorist attack.

And how much more amazing is it that while Trump is suggesting that we need to work with Russia to fight ISIS, that this thwarted bomb attack is credited to them?

And if all of that were not amazing enough, how fortuitous is it that all of this is happening right as Robert Mueller suddenly seems to be getting much closer to learning some devastating new facts about the Trump campaign and their dealings with Russia?

I mean it all seems so perfectly timed, don't you think?

By the way in the past American intelligence agencies have treated Putin's claims of thwarted terrorist attacks with a high degree of skepticism.

Just thought I would throw that in there to provide a little context.

P.S. The Washington Post found the read out of the phone call to be a little troubling. 

I think today seems like the appropriate day to share this rather long Seth Abramson thread.

(THREAD) It's time to tell the biggest untold story of the 2016 election: how a cadre of pro-Trump FBI agents and intel officers—some active, some retired—conspired to swing the election to Trump. The story involves Flynn, Prince, Giuliani, and others. Hope you'll read and share. pic.twitter.com/vcGhDTHX00

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

1/ True Pundit is a pro-Trump fake news site that began publishing on June 9, 2016—the day that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with Kremlin agents in Trump Tower to discuss the Kremlin's provision to the Trump campaign of incriminating material on Clinton.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

2/ True Pundit would quickly reveal itself as having the same agenda Trump Jr. had when he met with Kremlin agents on the day True Pundit launched: its mission would be to destroy Clinton's candidacy by uncovering incriminating material about her—particularly via her emails.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

3/ All articles on True Pundit are published anonymously. The only person publicly associated with the website operates under a pseudonym—"Thomas Paine." (Thomas Paine, a Founding Father of the United States, was instrumental in convincing the colonies to rebel against Britain.)

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

4/ From June 9, 2016 to June 12, 2016, it seemed clear True Pundit had been started up in a hurry—it published dozens of stories but no original reporting. More than 95% of stories were simply links to other sources, while True Pundit "originals" were two-sentence news summaries.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

5/ Many of True Pundit's early news sources were predictable: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, InfoWars, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, The Washington Free Beacon, Fox News, and The Daily Beast. Breitbart was far and away the most commonly linked-to website at the time.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

6/ But True Pundit also, in its first three days, occasionally linked to mainstream news sources like The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, ESPN, Reuters, The Guardian (UK), The Telegraph (UK), and The Independent (UK).

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

7/ That said, in its first 72 hours True Pundit also linked to two Russian news sources—RT and Sputnik—an intelligence-oriented site called "Intel News," and several fringe-right publications. A typical link assured readers Clinton would destroy America: https://t.co/zVAsOuZd8T

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

8/ Then, on June 12th, 2016, the Orlando nightclub shooting occurred—and it seemed a switch had been turned on. True Pundit had its story. The site meticulously covered Omar Mateen, the 29 year-old from a moderate Muslim family who killed 49 people at an LGBT club called "Pulse."

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

9/ It's important to know that of the site's first several dozen stories pre-June 12, only one was both a) not a link to another source, and b) more than two sentences. This story—about the July DNC—claimed True Pundit (just 3 days old) had "police" and "security expert" sources. pic.twitter.com/earxI8NRLp

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

10/ It must've seemed odd to any readers of True Pundit in those first 72 hours of operation to read that the Philly publication already had *multiple* sources in the Philadelphia Police Department and *multiple* Philly-based "recognized security expert" sources—but so they said.

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

11/ But Mateen changed everything. Suddenly True Pundit was publishing what it said were original ("exclusive") stories, all of which relied—or claimed to—on FBI sources. Not just one source, but multiple—and not just random sources, but sources close to the Pulse investigation. pic.twitter.com/VnUtO9xEH5

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

12/ The mystery of this was dispelled almost immediately, when True Pundit wrote the following in an "exclusive" on Mateen after the shooting: "True Pundit has folks who worked for the FBI and other agencies on staff." It then claimed to have "unique insight" into FBI operations. pic.twitter.com/EeRzCwOQJi

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

13/ Whether or not True Pundit really had ex-FBI staff, no reader could possibly know. But what was clear was that True Pundit was obsessed with the FBI, had—at a minimum—some basic knowledge of criminal investigation, and was very, very, angry at the current state of the Bureau: pic.twitter.com/18ySp1EWN2

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) December 9, 2017

Almost half way there, keep reading.

Donald Trump will break tradition and NOT meet with American Noble prize winners.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

President Trump will not meet with the American Nobel laureates this year, Stat News reported. 

The decision breaks with that of past presidents, who have met with the American Nobel Prize winners nearly every year since 2001. 

Two American Nobel Prize winners told Stat News they didn't plan to go to the White House if there was an event. 

Columbia biophysicist Joachim Frank said he was "relieved" he wouldn't see the president. 

“I will not put my foot into the White House as long as Trump, [Vice President] Pence, or [Speaker Paul] Ryan (i.e., the possible succession of impeachments) will occupy it,” Frank told Stat. 

“I cannot speak for the others; don’t know them personally yet, but I strongly believe that as thinking intelligent people they will have a similar attitude as I.” 

The White House said Trump wouldn't meet with the recipients in person because of foreign travel. Trump has been traveling through Asia and is expected to return late Tuesday.

Yeah, okay.

Both Barack Obama and George W. Bush met with the American Nobel prize winners during their presidencies, but then again they were not quite as terrified of intelligence as Tangerine Hitler.

You know you really cannot blame the two scientists quoted in this article for not wanting to meet Trump.

It would be akin to Jane Goodall attempting to sit down to tea with one of the chimpanzees she was studying.

Robert Mueller partnering with New York Attorney General to go after Paul Manafort.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into Paul Manafort and his financial transactions, according to several people familiar with the matter. 

The cooperation is the latest indication that the federal probe into President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is intensifying. It also could potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trump’s campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes.

The two teams have shared evidence and talked frequently in recent weeks about a potential case, these people said. One of the people familiar with progress on the case said both Mueller’s and Schneiderman’s teams have collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering. 

No decision has been made on where or whether to file charges. “Nothing is imminent,” said one of the people familiar with the case.

This Robert Mueller is scary smart, and he obviously recognized what signal Trump was sending with his pardon of Joe Arpaio.

Trump's problem is that these men are playing a sophisticated game of three dimensional chess while he and his merry band of legal misfits are playing Tic Tac Toe.

My takeaway from all of this is that Manafort is still refusing to cooperate and Mueller is putting the screws to him hard until he breaks.

I can guarantee that Trump is sweating like a convict in a Louisiana prison hot box right about now.  

According to former DNI James Clapper, Watergate "pales" when compared to the Trump/Russia investigation.

Courtesy of Reuters:  

The Watergate scandal pales in comparison to events in Washington surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump and alleged links between his campaign and Russia, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said on Wednesday. 

Clapper questioned Trump's continued pro-Russian stance, saying his sharing of intelligence with Russia "reflect either ignorance or disrespect, and either is very problematic". 

"I think if you compare the two that Watergate pales, really, in my view, compared to what we're confronting now," Clapper told reporters in Canberra, Australia's capital.

You know when a regular person says this is worse than Watergate you can dismiss that fairly easily.

When a reporter suggests that this is worse than Watergate you might think they are simply trying to be provocative in order to get more interest in an article.

But when the former DNI says that this is worse than Watergate, well....that is something else entirely.

Finally got to the bottom of who was "unmasking" all of those names in the intelligence about the Russian meddling. It was the Republican led House.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee asked U.S. spy agencies late last year to reveal the names of U.S. individuals or organizations contained in classified intelligence on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, engaging in the same practice that President Trump has accused the Obama administration of abusing, current and former officials said. 

The chairman of the committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), has since cast the practice of “unmasking” of U.S. individuals and organizations mentioned in classified reports as an abuse of surveillance powers by the outgoing Obama administration. 

Trump has argued that investigators should focus their attention on former officials leaking names from intelligence reports, rather than whether the Kremlin coordinated its activities with the Trump campaign, an allegation he has denied. “The big story is the ‘unmasking and surveillance’ of people that took place during the Obama administration,” Trump tweeted Thursday. 

According to a tally by U.S. spy agencies, the House Intelligence Committee requested five to six unmaskings of U.S. organizations or individuals related to Trump or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton between June 2016 and January 2017. Officials familiar with the matter said that the committee’s requests focused on the identities of U.S. organizations that had been hacked by the Russians in 2016. Officials declined to say how many of the requests came from Democrats vs. Republicans.

Interesting, and here I thought, according to the Republicans, it was just those nasty ole Obama officials carelessly unmasking the names of American citizens swept up in those Russian surveillance recordings.

And yet none of the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee even mentioned that they themselves were also involved with "unmasking."

In fact Nunes is making unmasking the target of this newest political witch hunt.  

Nunes served subpoenas this week to the CIA, the NSA and the FBI asking for information about unmaskings requested by three former officials: national security adviser Susan E. Rice, CIA director John Brennan and U.N. ambassador Samantha Power. 

On Thursday, Nunes tweeted, “Seeing a lot of fake news from media elites and others who have no interest in violations of Americans’ civil liberties via unmaskings.”

Intelligence officials continue to say that unmasking is a necessary and routine part of the job, so this is of course much ado about nothing.

Well it's not about nothing, it's about deflecting attention away from the legitimate and ever growing investigation into the Trump campaign's ties, and possible collusion, with the Russians.

And toward that end Nunes, who you may remember recused himself from leading the Russia investigation, is now reinserting himself and insisting that he must "sign off" on all subpoenas having to do with that investigation.

Can you say "obstruction?" I knew that you could.

James Comey used fake Russian intelligence to make decisions about Hillary Clinton email investigation.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Then-FBI Director James Comey knew that a critical piece of information relating to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email was fake -- created by Russian intelligence -- but he feared that if it became public it would undermine the probe and the Justice Department itself, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the process. 

As a result, Comey acted unilaterally last summer to publicly declare the investigation over -- without consulting then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch -- while at the same time stating that Clinton had been "extremely careless" in her handling of classified information. His press conference caused a firestorm of controversy and drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. 

Comey's actions based on what he knew was Russian disinformation offer a stark example of the way Russian interference impacted the decisions of the highest-level US officials during the 2016 campaign. 

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that this Russian intelligence was unreliable. US officials now tell CNN that Comey and FBI officials actually knew early on that this intelligence was indeed false.

So Comey used intelligence that he knew was fake to end an investigation, that he also must have known by then was based on false allegations?

Here's more: 

In classified sessions with members of Congress several months ago, Comey described those emails in the Russian claim and expressed his concern that this Russian information could "drop" and that would undermine the Clinton investigation and the Justice Department in general, according to one government official. 

Still, Comey did not let on to lawmakers that there were doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, according to sources familiar with the briefings. It is unclear why Comey was not more forthcoming in a classified setting.

I don't get this at all, becasue all Comey had to do if this information did "drop" was reveal that it was bullshit. 

It seems more likely to me that Comey was more concerned about the response from the Right Wing fringe, some of who also apparently work in the FBI, to that fake intelligence, which of course they would NEVER believe to be fake at all.

That makes me wonder if that was not also part of the reason why Comey was so quick to send that letter about reopening the investigation based on those emails on Anthony Weiner's computer?

Is James Comey really this easily manipulated?

He is due to give testimony again after Memorial Day, perhaps we can get some answers about all of this at that time.

Edward Snowden is being paid as much as $30,000 to speak by satellite, from the comfort of his Moscow apartment, to American college students. And that is WRONG!

Snowden's Russian ID.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

The university paid $30,000 through an American speakers’ bureau to digitally host Snowden, one of his largest known contracts to date, according to documents obtained by Yahoo Finance. The Ohio State event was one of a series of speeches that have netted Snowden — who is still a fugitive in the eyes of the U.S. government — well over $200,000 in the past two years, as Yahoo News first reported last year. He has continued to give paid speeches, including at U.S. colleges, in 2017. 

The ongoing speaking contracts come at a time when Snowden’s fate and influence are more uncertain than ever. A campaign by Snowden’s supporters to win him a pardon was rebuffed by the outgoing Obama White House, and new President Donald Trump previously labeled him a “terrible traitor.” 

Moreover, Snowden’s efforts to present himself as an Internet privacy pioneer are now complicated by an American political environment colored by increasing wariness and hostility toward Snowden’s host since June 2013: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Gee, no shit!

In my opinion Snowden should receive NO funds from American colleges or universities in the wake of the hack of our 2016 election by the Russians.

I think it is now beyond obvious that this the new Russian expertise in hacking American companies, political organizations, and US citizens is due to their access to the materials that Snowden pilfered from the NSA.

In my opinion Snowden is the worst kind of traitor and I believe his actions have undermined our very democracy,

Keep in mind that it was Julian Assange who sent one of his compatriots to assist Edward Snowden and helped him to gain entry into Russia, after dissuading him from going to Latin America.

As we now know it was through Wikileaks that Russia released the information they hacked during the 2016 campaign, leaving no doubt that they are Russian stooges.

And I am 100% certain that when Snowden arrived in Russia, with the NSA tools that he smuggled out of America, that they immediately found their way into the hands of the FSB, Russian Intelligence, and that THAT was the impetus for all of the hacking and manipulations that we have seen since.

Remember, Wikileaks JUST released those CIA hacking tools.

How could they have possibly gotten their hands on that without the information that Snowden carried with him into Russia?

They couldn't have.

It is time for all of these Snowden fan boys to finally recognize that their idol is at best a "useful tool" of the Russian government, and at worst a spy for Vladimir Putin.

Lacking confidence in the intelligence agencies, Donald Trump demands to see "raw data" himself. Oh I have a bad feeling.

"I'm like very smart."

Courtesy of The Hill:

Officials have urged the intelligence community to supply President Trump with fewer analysis reports compiled by experts and more raw intelligence, the Associated Press reported Saturday. 

Raw intelligence was a larger priority under the former national security adviser Michael Flynn, the report said. He was ousted last month for misleading White House officials about the contents of his discussion with Russia's U.S. ambassador. 

Many intelligence experts in the past have raised concerns about the possibility that Trump would want to sidestep data analysts during his presidency. 

“The risk is that you request raw data to support a conclusion and you avoid seeing anything that contradicts it,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told The Hill in January. 

“We can already see we have a president-elect who has difficulty with facts that are at odds with the narrative that he wants to tell or diminish his achievements.”

Do you know that feeling you get when the music gets louder in the horror movie right before somebody gets axed in the face?

Yeah well I have that feeling right now. 

Donald Trump knows NOTHING about intelligence gathering and he would not be able to make heads or tails out of it.

So who is he going to call in to help to understand what he is looking at?

I can tell you right now that the guy whose hand would go up the fastest to volunteer for that job would be Stephen Bannon.

You know, the conspiracy theorist who used to head Breitbart news and once thought that Sarah Palin was destined for the White House.

Yep, here comes the axe to the face.

Trump's son-in-law is scheduled to face questions by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Ruh Roh!

Remember to come to my room tonight and tell me stories about having sex with my daughter. I love those!

Courtesy of Philly.com: 

Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump, will be questioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of the panel's investigation into Russia’s interference during the 2016 election. 

"Mr. Kushner has volunteered to be interviewed as part of the committee's investigation into the Russian activities surrounding the 2016 election," senators Richard Burr (R, N.C.) and Mark Warner (D, Va.), the committee's chairman and vice chairman, told the New York Times in a statement. 

According to the Times, the questions for Kushner will focus on two meetings he had with Russian agents in December, prior to his father-in-law's inauguration as president. 

The first took place with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak alongside ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn at Trump Tower. 

The second was a previously undisclosed meeting between Kushner and Sergey Gorkov, the head of Russia’s state-owned Vnesheconombank, which has been under sanctions since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Apparently the White House had failed to mention that second meeting, but don't worry because the White House spokesperson said that the meeting "went nowhere" and is certainly not something that anybody needs to probe into more deeply.

Seriously, stop looking!

Here is my prediction of what is going to happen during this questioning.

Kushner is going to lie.

And if he gets caught lying, he is going to lie again.

I know this like I know that Donald Trump has not seen his penis without the help of a series of mirrors for several years now.

This is what these people do, and so the only questions remaining are what will the Senate Intelligence Committee do about it when they discover the lie? And how will that affect Kushner's new job as the head of a "fix the government" SWAT team?

Rep. Adam Schiff's opening remarks before the Comey hearing were epic!

Schiff laid out the entire case, as it is publicly known, against Donald Trump and his team in clear and unambiguous language, and it was amazing.

US forced to apologize after White House Spokesperson accuses Britain of spying on Donald Trump for President Obama. Update!

Courtesy of The Telegraph: 

The US has made a formal apology to Britain after the White House accused GCHQ of helping Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump in the White House. 

Sean Spicer, Mr Trump's press secretary, repeated a claim on Thursday evening – initially made by an analyst on Fox News - that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in the lead-up to last November's election. 

The comments prompted a furious response from GCHQ, which in a break from normal practice issued a public statement: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."

Intelligence sources told The Telegraph that both Mr Spicer and General McMaster, the US National Security Adviser, have apologised over the claims. "The apology came direct from them," a source said. 

I swear every day I wake up thinking we cannot possibly go any further down the rabbit hole than we did the day before, and every day I am wrong.

You would think I would stop allowing myself to be shocked, but I guess I keep assuming that there must be a limit to the incompetency of this White House.

There must be, right?

Update: Nope there is no limit, here is Sean Spicer saying he has no regrets for accusing Britain of spying on his boss:  

White House press secretary Sean Spicer flatly denied Friday that the White House apologized to the British government after citing an uncorroborated Fox News report to allege that a UK intelligence agency spied on President Donald Trump at the behest of former President Barack Obama.

"I don't think we regret anything," Spicer told reporters at a gaggle Friday afternoon. Asked by CNN's Jim Acosta if there was an apology by the administration to the British government over the matter, Spicer replied, "No, we were just passing on news reports."

Unbelievable. 

Christopher Steele, the former MI-6 agent behind that infamous Russian dossier, resurfaces.

Courtesy of Belfast Telegraph: 

Christopher Steele, 52, who runs London-based Orbis Business Intelligence, said he was returning to work and thanked people for their support.

Speaking outside his firm's offices in Belgravia, the former MI6 agent told the Press Association: "I'm really pleased to be back here working again at the Orbis's offices in London today. 

"I'm now going to be focusing my efforts on supporting the broader interests of our company here. 

"I'd like to say a warm thank you to everyone who sent me kind messages and support over the last few weeks. 

"Just to add, I won't be making any further statements or comments at this time." 

Mr Steele, who was forced into hiding when he was named in January, read a prepared statement and did not wish to answer any further questions.

Okay first off I just hope this guy has the best security that money can buy, which should include a food taster, and a bullet proof car.

Secondly I hope that his silence is only temporary and that he does intend to speak at some point very soon.

And thirdly I hope that some of those folks he plans to talk to include American intelligence agencies and possibly one or more our journalists (Rachel Maddow).

Speaking of Maddow this was how she covered this news last night. 

I agree with Rachel, we need to hear this man's story.

The MI-6 agent who compiled that infamous dossier has been approached by the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify for their investigation into the connections between Trump and Russia.

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy who prepared the explosive Trump report, has been approached about testifying before the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the new President’s alleged links with Russia, The Independent can reveal. 

Mr Steele’s friends say it is currently unlikely he would be willing to travel to the US. But it is understood Democrats – as well as some Republicans – in Congress are prepared to facilitate discreet initial meetings in the UK or on other neutral territory. 

John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent an intermediary to London in November last year to collect Mr Steele’s dossier, which was subsequently passed personally by the Senator to FBI director James Comey.

You know it is getting harder and harder to dismiss the information contained in that dossier.

Remember this follows on the news that the FBI tried to recruit this Christopher Steele guy themselves a few weeks before the election.

Donald Trump can yell "fake news" until he is even more orange in the face, but clearly many in Washington are convinced that it is potentially quite credible.

And the noose gets just a little bit tighter.

She said it.

@KellyannePolls: "We certainly don’t want intelligence interfering with politics and we don’t want politics interfering with intelligence.” pic.twitter.com/eG28IitcDy

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 7, 2017

Yeah if "intelligence had interfered with politics" there is NO WAY that her guy would have been elected.

I can certainly see why they would want to keep the two separate.

My favorite part of this is that Trump retweeted this to his adoring fan base.

You cannot make this stuff up folks.

British intelligence tipped off the US to Russian hacking way back in the fall of 2015. Also tracked communications between Trump advisors and Moscow.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

British intelligence reportedly provided a vital tipoff to the US in 2015 about the extent of Russian hacking on the presidential election. 

The report on the UK’s involvement came after US intelligence agencies published an unclassified version of their finding that Vladimir Putin ordered a multi-pronged operation to interfere in the election in favour of Donald Trump. 

The New York Times, citing “two people familiar with the conclusions” of the report, said British intelligence was “among the first” to raise the alarm in autumn 2015 that Moscow had hacked the computer servers of the Democratic National Committee.

The Brits also noticed something else:

Over the course the campaign, British officials were as alarmed as their US counterparts over the extent of contacts between Trump advisers and Moscow and by Trump’s consistently pro-Russian stance on a range of foreign policy issues.

Well isn't that interesting? And completely unsurprising?

Here's more:  

Allegations about the depth and nature of contacts between the Trump camp and Moscow have been passed to the FBI but it is unclear whether they are the subject of a full investigation. 

There was no reference to them in the public version of the joint intelligence report on Russian interference in the election, compiled by the CIA, FBI and NSA.

You know if the FBI can undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign with a last minute, and false, suggestion that she might soon be under criminal indictment, then why are they saying nothing about a possible criminal investigation of Donald Trump before he is sworn into office? 

Never mind, I think the answer to that question is because the FBI, or at least director James Comey, may have been compromised in some way.

Which makes me wonder just who else the Russians managed to hack in the lead up to this election?