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Monthly Archives: September 2017

WSJ: Trump Legal Team Wanted Kushner To Step Down Over Russia Probe

According to the Wall St. Journal, several of President Trump’s lawyers were so concerned about ‘possible legal complications’ related to the Russia probe that they wanted him to step down as senior White House adviser.

Via WSJ:

Among their concerns was that Mr. Kushner was the adviser closest to the president who had the most dealings with Russian officials and businesspeople during the campaign and transition, some of which are currently being examined by federal investigators and congressional oversight panels. Mr. Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and confidant, has said he had four such meetings or interactions.

Advisers were also worried about Kushner’s failure to include of contacts with ‘dozens of foreign officials’ on his official disclosure forms, which congressional Democrats seized upon in June – demanding Kushner’s security clearance be revoked pending investigation.

“When there are credible allegations that employees may be unfit to continue accessing classified information, security clearances are supposed to be suspended while the allegations are investigated.”

“Mr. Kushner reportedly failed to disclose contacts with dozens of foreign officials on his security clearance application.”

Mueller investigation

A month before Kushner’s failure to disclose foreign contacts hit the wires, reports surfaced that the Presidential advisor was under investigation by FBI Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, as reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by journalist Yashar Ali.

In addition to the disclosure issues, Kushner may face heat over meetings with Russian government officials at a time the Kushner family sought financing for a $1.8 billion building on Fifth Avenue in New York.

The White House has said that the subsequent meeting with the banker was a pre-inauguration diplomatic encounter, unrelated to business matters. The Russian bank, Vnesheconombank, which has been the subject of U.S. sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has said the session was held for business reasons because of Kushner’s role as head of his family’s real estate company. -WaPo

Kushner also came under fire for allegedly trying to establish a diplomatic ‘back channel’ with Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, “in a meeting which “occurred in Trump Tower, where we had our transition office, and lasted twenty [to] thirty minutes,” Kushner wrote in an 11 page statement submitted to Congress in July, adding “Lt. General Michael Flynn (Ret.), who became the President’s National Security Advisor, also attended … I stated our desire for a fresh start in relations.”

“I did not suggest a ‘secret back channel,'” he wrote. “I did not suggest an on-going secret form of communication for then or for when the administration took office. I did not raise the possibility of using the embassy or any other Russian facility for any purpose other than this one possible conversation in the transition period. We did not discuss sanctions.”

While it appears Kushner impressed Congress during closed-door testimony, it remains to be seen whether or not his dealings with foreign officials will pose a liability to the Trump administration, leaving no doubt as to why his father-in-law’s advisers were worried.

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WATCH: Photographer Explains How 60 Minutes Made Steve Bannon Look Like “Bleary Eyed Drunk”

 

After Steve Bannon’s widely viewed interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes Sunday night, professional photographer Peter Duke uploaded a video to YouTube explaining how CBS may have used color adjustments to make the former Trump advisor ‘look bad’ in the interview.

In the video’s description, Duke writes “It seems like 60 minutes would like you to listen less and look more at Steve Bannon. By subtly tweaking the color of the video, they make him look like a bleary-eyed drunk. I show you how they did it.”

Duke goes on to explain how CBS adjusted shots of Bannon to make his eyes and lips red by increasing saturation levels. One clue that photographic trickery was afoot is the difference in color between Bannon’s orange blinds when comparing shots of Charlie Rose and Bannon. Rose’s shots were noticeably ‘cooler,’ to make the host’s make-up more subtle.

CBS Responds

In response to Duke’s video, a representative for CBS curtly told decider.com “It’s nonsense.”

Duke, in response to CBS’s ‘Nonsense’ comment, told Gateway Pundit’s Joshua Caplan that “All professional video production uses color correction in the editorial process. Minor tweaks can be done in all digital video editing tools, but the majors use Avid Media Composer or Davinci Resolve to add the final finish to the work.

In addition to my experience as a photographer and technologist, I spent 5 years of my career working as creative director at a post-house that produced marketing videos, electronic press kits, for every major studio in Hollywood.”

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Supreme Court Rips Up 9th Circuit Injunction On Trump Travel Ban – 24,000 Refugees Hosed

In a one-page ruling signed by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court issued a stay to the 9th circuit’s injunction on the Trump admin’s Executive Order banning travel from seven nations deemed to support terrorism.

The court denied a lower court ruling at the request of the Justice Department which would have allowed refugees an exemption to the ban by claiming resettlement organizations constitute “bona fide connections” to the U.S. – a loophole previously obtained by an estimated 24,000 refugees.

“Today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision is a clear victory for our national security,” said Trump in a statement”…As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive,” adding”My No. 1 responsibility as commander in chief is to keep the American people safe. Today’s ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nation’s homeland.”

The Supreme Court made it clear that a limited version of the Executive Order can be enforced immediately, with a full hearing including oral arguments slated for October:

“An American individual or entity that has a bona fide relationship with a particular person seeking to enter the country as a refugee can legitimately claim concrete hardship if that person is excluded,” the court wrote. “As to these individuals and entities, we do not disturb the injunction. But when it comes to refugees who lack any such connection to the United States, for the reasons we have set out, the balance tips in favor of the government’s compelling need to provide for the Nation’s security.”

Hawaii will fight

Via Independent.co.uk

Neal Katyal, a lawyer representing the state of Hawaii in its suit against the ban, said on Twitter the he would fight the decision. Hawaii is one of more than a half-dozen states that have sued to block the ban since its implementation.

Lawyers have argued that the ban, which bars entry for refugees and residents of six Muslim-majority countries, constitutes a ‘Muslim ban’. Such a ban would violate constitutional prohibitions on favouring one religion over another. Two separate appeals courts have already ruled the ban unconstitutional.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, maintains the ban is a necessary national security measure.

Interestingly, six of the seven nations included in the travel ban forbid citizens from various nations based on nationality – including Israel, Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

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FLASHBACK: Hollywood Star James Woods Witnessed 9/11 Dry-Run (VIDEO)

Joshua Caplan of Gateway Pundit reports:

On a flight from Boston to Los Angeles, Hollywood star and firebrand conservative James Woods witnessed what the FBI believes was a ‘dry-run’ for the 9/11 attacks. According to Reuters, Woods “tipped off the FBI about his encounter with four suspicious airline passengers a month before last Tuesday’s attacks on America.”

ABC News reported:

On a flight from Boston to Los Angeles about a month ago, Woods observed four men of apparent Middle Eastern origin acting so oddly that he reported them to the flight attendants and authorities on the ground when he landed.

The Oscar-nominated actor told the FBI last week that he was alone in first class with the four men and noticed during the entire cross-country flight that none of them had anything to eat or drink, nor did they read, sleep, or appear to make themselves comfortable. They sat erect in their seats and stared straight ahead, saying nothing to flight attendants and speaking to each other only in inaudible tones.

[…]The flight now appears to have been a dry run for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, in which hijackers seized and crashed four commercial planes, including one flying the same Boston-to-Los Angeles route. The day after the terrorists crashed the planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in western Pennsylvania, Woods called the FBI to report his eerie experience.

Sixteen years ago today the US came under attack by radical Islam. 2,997 people were murdered in a series of coordinated attacks by the Islamic group Al-Qaeda. The Twin Towers at the World Trade Center were destroyed in the attacks.

Today One World Trade Center stands in its place.

And today America has a populist president who puts Americans first.

On Monday September 11, 2017, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump honored those lost on 9-11 with a moment of silence at the White house.

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Bannon Scorches Earth On 60 Minutes: GOP Establishment Trying To Nullify The 2016 Election

Former Trump campaign manager and White House strategist Steve Bannon sat down with 60 minutes for his first interview since his ouster from the White House, where he dropped a succession of truth MOABS about D.C. corruption, and clarified his positions on everything from immigration to civil rights, to Comey, to “not very bright” Hillary Clinton, to what ol’ Steve is up to these days.

Bannon called out Clinton, Obama, Bush, Gary Cohn, Condoleezza Rice, Susan Powell, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and called white supremacist David Duke a loser.

When it comes to the swamp, Bannon says “you’re not going to drain the swamp in 8 months. You’re not going to drain it in 2 terms… it was built over the past 50 years,” adding that the GOP Establishment is trying to ‘nullify’ the 2016 election:

Huffington Post contributor Yashar Ali gave a stellar and unbiased play by play of Bannon’s comments, presented below (with more video following):

 

VIDEOS:

Comey: 

Steve’s a “street fighter” and is going to be Trump’s wingman… 

Bannon the street fighter:

Bannon also creeped people out with an odd facial tick:

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Sessions Wants To Polygraph Every Single NSC Employee To Find Leakers

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reportedly told co-workers that he seeks to interrogate the entire National Security Council (NSC) staff with a lie detector test to “root out leakers,” according to Axios.

Sessions’ idea is to do a one-time, one-issue, polygraph test of everyone on the NSC staff. Interrogators would sit down with every single NSC staffer (there’s more than 100 of them), and ask them, individually, what they know about the leaks of transcripts of the president’s phone calls with foreign leaders. Sessions suspects those leaks came from within the NSC, and thinks that a polygraph test — at the very least — would scare them out of leaking again.

Sessions has told associates he likes the idea of targeting the foreign leader phone calls because there’s a small enough universe of people who would have had access to these transcripts. Also, the idea that the President of the United States can’t have private conversations with foreign leaders was a bridge too far, even for Democrats.

That said, doubt has been cast on Polygraph tests – which are apparently easy to beat according to Russell Tice – nearly 20 year NSA veteran turned whistleblower on warrantless wiretapping.

Via US News:

Tice, who is no longer at the NSA, says he, along with those still in contact with at the agency, marvel at how easy it is to beat the lie detector.

First, Tice says, a person can trick the tester on “probable-lie” questions. During a polygraph’s pre-test interview, the tester usually asks a person to answer questions they are likely to lie about. These include questions like: ‘Have you ever stolen money?,’ ‘Have you ever lied to your parents?,’ or ‘Have you ever cheated on a test?’. Most people have done these at least once, but lie about it. So the tester uses a person’s response to a likely lie as a way to establish how a person physically reacts while lying.

Tice says to trick the tester, a person should lie in response to these questions like most other people would, but also bite their tongue hard while doing so, which will set off other physiological reactions in the body. The tester’s “needles will fly everywhere,” says Tice, “and he will think, ‘This guy is a nervous nelly. He has a strong physical reaction when he’s lying.'”

Think of a warm summer night… or drinking a beer, whatever calms you. You’re throwing them off,” he says. “The needle might nip a little [because you’re lying], but not off the charts.” And since the person has already convinced the tester that they have off-the-charts physiological reactions while lying, Tice says, a small reaction likely won’t tip the tester off.

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VIDEO: Irma Rips Roof Off Building In Downtown Miami

As downtown Miami does its best impression of Venice, Italy, The Gateway Pundit has been sent eyewitness video of Hurricane #Irma ripping the roof off of a building in West Brickell, Miami. A man can be heard shouting as the roof flies away.

Meanwhile…

 

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Looters Already Hard At Work In Ft. Lauderdale

The inevitable looting in the wake of Hurricane #Irma has begun. Footage has emerged of 8-9 looters ransacking a Simon’s shoe store in Ft. Lauderdale through a gaping hole smashed out of the window.

Ft. Lauderdale City Manager Lee Feldman said “Looting is not acceptable in Ft. Lauderdale. Even during the height of IRMA2017 we will arrest…”

Arrests have been made: 

Meanwhile, 43 arrests were made in Palm Beach County for breaking curfew:

Miami police are driving around looking for looters:

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#Irma Update: Projected To Hit South Of Tampa As Cat-4

It looks like #Irma is scraping along Cuba, slowing it down and pitching it up the west coast of Florida for an early Monday hit just south of Tampa.

Meanwhile, you can check out a (currently) live cam from Duval street in Key West. It’s interesting to watch the random interloper walking or biking around in the jaws of death.

 

More live cams HERE

Check out what a ghost town Miami is…

A few clips / pictures of #Irma’s wrath

 

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Simulation of Miami Flooding If Hurricane #Irma Is A Direct Hit

Right now, category 4 Hurricane Irma is brushing up against Cuba, which should slow it down somewhat. While it’s still forecast to hit FL as a Cat5, a straight shot missing Cuba into the 90 degree waters south of Florida would be a worst case scenario.

And while current forecasts have Irma hitting the southwest region of Florida, continuing up into the Tampa region, the folks at Climate Central have put together a simulation of what Miami would look like on Sunday morning, according to Friday AM storm surge forecasts.

Update: Climate Central has offered this update. Apparently they #FakeNews’d us with an ‘incorrect tidal point reference.’ Still a very interesting simulation.

Wherever Irma hits, it’s not going to be pretty.

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