Shares of Snap, Inc. ($SNAP) cratered to fresh lows after a week of carnage, coinciding with the expiration of the employee IPO lockup period, and a disappointing rejection from inclusion into the S&P 500 index due to new rules which exclude companies with multiple share class structures. Sad!
The first wave of insiders began selling locked up shares on Monday, with a broad-scale expiration kicking into gear August 14 – however as Tech Crunch points out, “for many employees who joined in 2015 or later, their shares are underwater and so it wouldn’t make sense for them to sell yet.”
Snap shares have fallen over 43 percent in the last three months, hitting an all time low of $12.52 today – 26% below it’s March IPO price.
Snap will get a chance to prove investors wrong in its quarterly earnings report this month, when Wall Street analysts say they will look for signs that Snap’s user growth is accelerating even as Instagram has users hooked.
Analyst Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets told “Squawk Box” on Monday that competition is “the single biggest risk” for Snap.
“It’s a very hard thing to predict. We do like, though, the ongoing… innovations that we’re seeing in Snapchat. I thought Snap Maps was one of the more interesting features that we’ve seen in the space for a while. They have to continue to do that, and this team seems to have a pretty good track record so far, the stock should work,” Mahaney said
Yesterday, a private investigator in the Seth Rich murder case hired by the family of the slain DNC staffer filed a lawsuit against Fox5 news and GOP financier Ed Butowsky for misrepresenting statements he made in order to”shift the blame from Russia and help put to bed speculation that President Trump colluded with Russia…” because “that is the way the President wanted the article,” the suit alleges.
The plaintiff, former D.C. Police detective Rod Wheeler, also asserts that the Trump administration was directly involved with the story. Butowsky, who paid for Wheeler’s investigation on behalf of the Rich family, arranged a sit-down meeting with former Press Secretary Sean Spicer to brief him on Wheeler’s findings. While Spicer acknowledges the meeting, he told NPR that he only agreed to it as a favor.
Butowsky later boasted to Wheeler that President Trump had personally reviewed the Fox story prior to publication – a statement he now says was a joke.
“Rod Wheeler unfortunately was used as a pawn by Ed Butowsky, Fox News and the Trump administration to try and steer away the attention that was being given about the Russian hacking of the DNC emails,” -Douglas Wigdor, attorney for Rod Wheeler
Fox’s ‘Fabricated’ Quotes
Wheeler asserts that in order to kill the Russian hacking narrative, Fox and the Trump administration fabricated the following quotes for the article:
“My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and Wikileaks”
and
“My investigation shows someone within the DC government Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward…”
Except Wheeler said Seth did contact WikiLeaks, which is the whole point
In an on-camera interview with Fox5, Wheeler conveyed the exact same sentiments as the allegedly fabricated quotes:
Wheeler: I believe that the answer to solving his death lies on that computer…
Fox5:You have sources at the FBI saying that there is information that could link Seth Rich to Wikileaks?
Wheeler:For sure, absolutely, and that’s confirmed.
Wheeler goes on to claim that the police were told to back off the case:
I have a source inside the police department that has looked at me straight in the eye and said “Rod, we were told to stand down in this case, and I can’t share any information with you.”
Detective Wheeler backpedaled the next day, calling his on-camera statements a “miscommunication.”
Then, a week after the Fox5 story – Wheeler then sat down and told investigator George Webb “I do believe there was some communication between Seth Rich and Wikileaks.”
Regardless of the other elements in the lawsuit, Rod Wheeler’s findings are on record: Seth Rich directly communicated with WikiLeaks – which, if true, destroys the Russian hacking narrative (notwithstanding any new attempts to smear Seth Rich as a traitor who worked with the Russians).
Aaron Rich
Wheeler also claimed in recently leaked audio that Seth Rich’s brother, Aaron – a Northrup Grumman employee, blocked him from looking at Seth’s computer and stonewalled his investigation.
Wheeler said that brother Aaron Rich tried to block Wheeler from looking at Seth’s computer, even though there could be evidence on it. “He said no, he said I have his computer, meaning him,” Wheeler said. “I said, well can I look at it?…He said, what are you looking for? I said anything that could indicate if Seth was having problems with someone. He said no, I already checked it. Don’t worry about it.”
Aaron also blocked Wheeler from finding out about who was at a party Seth attended the night of the murder.
“All I want you to do is work on the botched robbery theory and that’s it,” Aaron told Wheeler
Leaked phone call with Seymour Hersh destroys Russia narrative
Rod Wheeler’s lawsuit also drags Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh into the Seth Rich fray. Hersh is as legitimate as they come – and is very connected to cloak-and-dagger types, however he drew sharp rebuke in 2011 when he said that the U.S. raid on Bin Laden was “one big lie, not one word of it is true.”
In Wheeler’s lawsuit, Butowsky claims Hersh – who was also investigating the Seth Rich case, told him of a ‘purported FBI report establishing that Seth Rich sent emails to WikiLeaks.”
Hersh denied the claim, telling NPR “I hear gossip… [Butowsky] took two and two and made 45 out of it.”
Not exactly…
While Hersh told NPR on Monday that Butowsky’s claims of an FBI report hold no water, Butowsky taped their conversation – as profanity-laced leaked audio, reported Tuesday by Cassandra Fairbanks of Big League Politics, confirms that according to Hersh, Seth Rich contacted Wikileaks.
What the report says is that some time in late Spring… he makes contact with WikiLeaks, that’s in his computer,” he says. “Anyway, they found what he had done is that he had submitted a series of documents — of emails, of juicy emails, from the DNC.”
Hersh explains that it was unclear how the negotiations went, but that WikiLeaks did obtain access to a password protected DropBox where Rich had put the files.
“All I know is that he offered a sample, an extensive sample, I’m sure dozens of emails, and said ‘I want money.’ Later, WikiLeaks did get the password, he had a DropBox, a protected DropBox,” he said. They got access to the DropBox.”
Hersh also states that Rich had concerns about something happening to him, and had
“The word was passed, according to the NSA report, he also shared this DropBox with a couple of friends, so that ‘if anything happens to me it’s not going to solve your problems,’” he added. “WikiLeaks got access before he was killed.”
Brennan and Russian disinformation
Hersh also told Butowsky that the DNC made up the Russian hacking story as a disinformation campaign – directly pointing a finger at former CIA director John Brennan as the architect.
I have a narrative of how that whole f*cking thing began. It’s a Brennan operation, it was an American disinformation, and the fu*kin’ President, at one point, they even started telling the press – they were backfeeding the Press, the head of the NSA was going and telling the press, fu*king c*cksucker Rogers, was telling the press that we even know who in the Russian military intelligence service leaked it.
Listen below, or read the full transcript by Reddit user /u/candylotus:
And with that, Rod Wheeler and Seymour Hersh – in their own words, all but confirmed that Seth Rich directly provided Wikileaks with the emails which were leaked during the election. Moreover, and this can’t be overlooked – Hersh accused the Obama administration, and John Brennan in particular, of fabricating the Russia narrative.
Awan Brothers connection?
In a pair of odd tweets from last week, Wheeler hints that the arrest of DNC IT staffer Imran Awan is somehow connected to the Seth Rich case:
An internal investigation has been opened to find out why D.C Capitol Police sent it’s elite tactical team to Nancy Pelosi’s waterfront condo during the shooting of congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA), according to Bloomberg.
The tactical squad did make it to the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, where the shooting took place and it’s unclear how much time the unit lost because of the mix-up. It also wasn’t clear whether the squad arrived at Pelosi’s house or was redirected en route. –Bloomberg
Scalise was shot at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia – while Pelosi’s residence is over seven miles away.
On Monday, Capitol Police spokesperson Eva Malecki stated “The Alexandria incident continues to be an ongoing investigation. We do not comment on ongoing investigations.”
Congressional Republicans were practicing for an annual baseball game vs. Democrats when James Hodgkinson of Belleville, IL showed up with a 9mm handgun and a 7.62 caliber rifle. Hodgkinson reportedly asked passers by where conservatives were practicing, before opening fire on the GOP members. Two officers assignd to Rep. Scalise’s security detail were the first to return fire at the gunman, followed by Alexandria police officers. The shooter was shot dead before the Capitol Police tactical team re-routed from Pelosi’s residence – late to the party.
Scalise was seriously injured in the shooting, undergoing multiple surgeries only to be released last week.
Ben Rhodes, former aide to President Obama, is a “person of interest” in the House Intel Committee’s unmasking investigation, according to Sara Carter of Circa News.
Former Obama White House National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes is now an emerging as a person of interest in the House Intelligence Committee’s unmasking investigation, according to a letter sent Tuesday by the committee to the National Security Agency (NSA). This adds Rhodes to the growing list of top Obama government officials who may have improperly unmasked Americans in communications intercepted overseas by the NSA, Circa has confirmed.
House Intel Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) reportedly sent a letter to the NSA requesting information on the number of ‘unmasking’ requests Rhodes made between Jan 1, 2016 and Jan 20, 2017, and have requested that the information be made available to the committee no later than August 21.
All Rhodes lead to jail
If the unmasking rumors are true, Rhodes – a former deputy national security advisor under Obama, is in deep shit – joining a list of Obama admin officials included in the House Intel Committee probe, along with former CIA director John Brennan, Susan Rice, and former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. A letter sent last week from Nunes to Trump’s director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, suggested that hundreds of unmasking requests were made during the 2016 presidential elections.
Per Circa:
The story, which was first reported by The Hill last week, stated that the requests were made without specific justifications as to why the unmasking was necessary. Rice and Brennan have confirmed they sought the unredacted names of Americans in NSA-sourced intelligence reports but insisted their requests were routine parts of their work and had no nefarious intentions.
Power also has legal authority to unmask officials, though the practice has not reportedly been common for someone in her position.
Last week, the Washington Examiner reported that Ben Rhodes sat down with the House Intelligence Committee, the same day Jared Kushner apparently dazzled them with his performance.
It was already known that Jared Kushner, top adviser and son-in-law to President Trump, on Tuesday spoke with members of the panel, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to the Trump campaign. CNN’s Manu Raju tweeted Tuesday evening that the network’s chief political analyst Gloria Borger had learned that Rhodes also spoke to the committee.
The Intelligence Committee is investigating intelligence leaks, and Rhodes has become a person of interest for certain Republicans as someone who may be playing a role in the leaking of classified information from the Trump administration to reporters.
This news follows a report that Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) named Ben Rhodes as the creator of an ‘in-house echo chamber’ meant to mislead reporters and the public about President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, stating “Any Obama holdover at any of these agencies, you’ve got to get them out of there because clearly they’re not on the same team and particularly on the [White House] National Security Council,” adding “I think Congress and some members of the Intelligence Committee can call Ben Rhodes to testify . . . He may be able to invoke executive privilege from when Obama was president but he definitely can’t do that in any interactions he’s had since then.” –Washington Free Beacon
Was recently installed White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s stance on human trafficking and drug cartels a factor in President Trump’s decision to promote the man originally picked to head up Homeland Security?
In a revealing 2014 interview, the retired 4-star US Marine Corps general told PRISM magazine that the ‘most concerning’ threat facing the United States comes from international criminal networks trafficking in drugs and sex workers:
These are international criminal networks – everything gets in. Hundreds and hundreds of tons of illicit narcotics. Relatively small amounts are taken out of the flow by our border controls. Tens of thousands of sex workers, in many cases adolescents, come into the United States every year through these networks to serve the sex industry. I spoke at a human rights conference at the University of South Florida, in Tampa. The audience was shocked when I talked about sex workers. –Gen John Kelly
Speaking Trump’s language
Upon taking office, President Trump made the fight against human trafficking and pedophilia a top priority for his administration – kicked off by a human trafficking awareness ad released in early February by the Department of Homeland Security (headed by… General Kelly, 67).
Wow, new DHS / ICE Human Trafficking vid opens with a #Pizzagate ref: "The signs are there, sometimes you just have to take a second look" pic.twitter.com/DgatsUnWzq
That was only the beginning. Five days later on February 9, Trump signed an Executive Order to combat human trafficking (“Presidential Executive Order on Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking”).
Then in late February, Trump told a room of advisors and representatives from anti-trafficking organizations that he vowed to fight the ‘epidemic’ of human trafficking, promising to bring the ‘full force and weight‘ of the U.S. government to address the problem. Of note, a record 1500+ arrests of pedophiles or sex traffickers were made during Trump’s first month in office.
And in a June speech at a launch ceremony for the State Department’s 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report, Ivanka Trump said that ending human trafficking is in our ‘moral and strategic interests,’ and a top White House priority.
“Ending human trafficking is a major foreign policy priority of the Trump administration,” -Ivanka Trump
Finally, last Friday, President Trump told a group of law enforcement officials on New York that human trafficking is possibly worse ‘than it’s ever been in the history of the world.’
You go back 1,000 years, where you think of human trafficking, you go back 500 years, 200 years, 100 years, human trafficking, they say — think of it, what they do — human trafficking is worse now, maybe, than it’s ever been in the history of this world. -Donald Trump
Map of human trafficking, polarisproject.org
In 2004, the State Department estimated between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across an international border each year – of which 70 percent are thought to be female, and 50 percent minors. According to the Daily Caller: The Polaris Project, a human trafficking-focused NGO, estimates that the issue of human trafficking in the U.S. is getting worse. From 2015 to 2016, reported human trafficking cases jumped by 35 percent; reports of labor trafficking, in particular, jumped by 47 percent from 2015 to 2016.
MS-13
Trump’s February Executive Order was aimed at international cartels dealing in both drugs and human trafficking – and MS-13 has been singled out as a primary threat.
These groups are drivers of crime, corruption, violence, and misery. In particular, the trafficking by cartels of controlled substances has triggered a resurgence in deadly drug abuse and a corresponding rise in violent crime related to drugs. Likewise, the trafficking and smuggling of human beings by transnational criminal groups risks creating a humanitarian crisis.
The weak illegal immigration policies of the Obama Admin. allowed bad MS 13 gangs to form in cities across U.S. We are removing them fast!
In addition to AG Jeff Sessions targeting MS-13 last month, Trump vowed to ‘destroy the vile criminal cartel’ during last Friday’s speech to law enforcement professionals. “[MS-13 has] transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields,” Trump said. “They’re animals. We cannot tolerate as a society the spilling of innocent, young, wonderful vibrant people”
For a brief look into the gang, Tucker Carlson recently traveled to El Salvador for his week-long series “Hunting MS-13,” which includes an interview with a cartel assassin:
To that end, Gen. Kelly also shared his thoughts on cartels in 2014 with PRISM magazine:
These are international criminal networks – everything gets in. Hundreds and hundreds of tons of illicit narcotics. Relatively small amounts are taken out of the flow by our border controls.
“Could someone come in with a weapon of mass destruction, biological weapon travel on this network?” Of course! Last year [2013], this network carried 68,000 children into the United States. We are dealing with a very efficient network, which worries me.
Can you see why Trump chose Kelly from the beginning?
John Kelly is a plain spoken pragmatist who lost his son in President Bush’s ill fated desert wars. He understands crime – both within the United States, and the external elements which fuel the problem. He speaks of democracy and sovereign rights. When asked by PRISM magazine in 2014 about anti-American sentiment brewing in South America, Kelly responded “if they are all functioning democracies – as we understand it with a functioning free press, with functioning human rights protections, with militaries sub-ordinate to civilian control – they have every right to go in any direction they want and choose their alliances.”
In other words, Kelly’s core values are in alignment with the constitution and the ‘law and order’ presidency Trump promised when he was elected. He’s also a disciplinarian, a seasoned voice of reason, and perhaps most importantly – a key player in the shrinking circle of advisors the President can trust.
Scores of liberals cried out in collective psychic pain over the Department of Justice’s use of the term ‘illegal alien’ to refer to foreigners in the U.S. illegally, instead of politically correct ‘undocumented migrants.’
In a memo last week cracking down on sanctuary cities, the DOJ used the word several times:
“So-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “These policies also encourage illegal immigration and even human trafficking by perpetuating the lie that in certain cities, illegal aliens can live outside the law. This can have tragic consequences, like the 10 deaths we saw in San Antonio this weekend. As part of accomplishing the Department of Justice’s top priority of reducing violent crime, we must encourage these ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions to change their policies and partner with federal law enforcement to remove criminals.
“Advocates for immigration reform contend that the term “illegal” is a “racial slur” and believe it is dehumanizing. Instead, they prefer if the term “undocumented immigrant” is used.
“They’re using a legally inaccurate term that’s deployed to unfairly label and scapegoat people who are out of status due to a variety of systemic circumstances,” Xakota Espinoza from the Center for Racial Justice Innovation, told LawNewz.com”
The Chicago Tribune took particular umbrage with the DOJ’s language, calling it a ‘loaded’ term. “He [Sessions] wants to create the impression that all aliens who are in the U.S. without permission are criminals,” professor Michael H. LeRoy of the University of Illinois told the Tribune, adding “Aliens have constitutional rights, and to convict them, they must have a trial. Immigration law is set up to provide a much faster process, called removal.”
For some reason the term ‘illegal alien’ didn’t seem to be a point of contention before Obama waved his wand of political correctness and sprinkled abject retardation over a now confused nation.
Sorry liberals, not only is the Trump administration properly reintroducing the term ‘illegal alien,’ it’s taking action:
The Mayor of Denver demanded that ICE stop arresting illegal aliens at the courthouse. ICE ignored the Mayor; continues to make Denver safe. pic.twitter.com/xZW7m1nnkp
According to anonymous spiders in the White House, Trump advisor and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is being considered as the next Communications Director, according to the Daily Caller. The rumor comes hours after former director Anthony Scaramucci was fitted with a pair of concrete shoes and chucked into the Potomac just 10 days after starting his new job.
I guess that’s what happens when you A) reveal the White House has ‘FBI digital fingerprints’ on leakers, B) tell a reporter for the New Yorker that Trump’s Chief Strategist Steve Bannon “sucks his own cock,” C) Leak the impending ouster of the President’s Chief of Staff, and D) erroneously refer to the publication of a publicly available financial disclosure as a “felony leak.”
Scaramucci displayed extreme ignorance less than two weeks at his job – starting with the fact that one should never assume a conversation with a reporter for the “MSM opposition party” is off the record – especially if you’re the COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR THE GOD DAMN WHITE HOUSE.
I liked Scaramucci’s swagger and the fact that he was a true outsider, and I didn’t mind his coarse language – but that level of dumbfuckery cannot be overlooked.
I haven't seen an Italian dude fly by that fast since Mario Andretti. #Scaramucci
Independent journalist Austin Fletcher went to this year’s Politicon in Pasadena, CA to cover the festivities and interview some folks – one of whom was Democratic congressman Brad Sherman, from Sherman Oaks, CA.
After cracking a joke about “Sherman from Sherman Oaks” I’m sure his wife is fucking sick of, Fletcher asked a question about the Awan brothers – Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Pakistani IT staffers who had access to the emails of the entire House of Representatives – including Brad Sherman, who is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees, and is the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade.
Witness a man who collects $174k from the taxpayer dodge a simple question. Of course, Sherman probably also realizes House Democrats have been severely compromised by the Awans, and anything he says or does can and may be used against him in a court of law.
The rapidly unfolding case against Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Pakistani IT spy ring already had huge implications for National Security. Now, the story apparently goes beyond just the Democrats the Awan family was working for…
Judge Andrew Napolitano appeared on Fox Business Network on Monday where he dropped a new bombshell: not only did the Awans had access to the emails of every member of Congress, Imran Awan reportedly sold information to still unknown parties, which the FBI is currently investigating.
Napolitano: He was arrested for some financial crime – that’s the tip of the iceberg. The real allegation against him is that he had access to the emails of every member of congress and he sold what he found in there. What did he sell, and to whom did he sell it? That’s what the FBI wants to know. This may be a very, very serious national security situation.
Varney: Wait a second, he was the IT worker along with his two Pakistani brothers, for DWS, and other Democrats in the House – and the theory is that he got access to all of their secrets or whatever, and sold some?
Napolitano: Yes, and this was at the time that Congresswoman Schultz was also the chair of the Democratic National Committee. So at this point I don’t believe they know what he sold, and to whom he sold it – but they do know what he had access to, which is virtually everything in the House of representatives, which would include classified material in the House intelligence committee.
Watch:
As The Gateway Pundit reported Thursday – the Awans were sending sensitive information to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Per GWP:
The explosive claim is backed up by a report in Frontpage Magazine linking the Awan brothers to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Pakistani IT staffers worked for Democrat Congressmen Andre Carson as well.
The office of Andre Carson, the second Muslim in Congress, had employed Imran Awan. As did the offices of Jackie Speier and Debbie Wasserman Schultz; to whom the letter had been addressed.
Carson is the second Muslim in Congress and the first Muslim on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and, more critically, is the ranking member on its Emerging Threats Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Department of Defense Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Subcommittee.
The Emerging Threats Subcommittee, of which Carson is a ranking member, is responsible for much of counterterrorism oversight. It is the worst possible place for a man with Carson’s credentials.
Carson had inherited his grandmother’s seat and exploited it to promote a radical Islamist agenda. He has interfaced with a laundry list of Islamist groups from CAIR to ISNA to ICNA to MPAC. Islamists have funded Carson’s career to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. The Center for Security Policy has put together a dossier of Carson’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is the parent organization of many key Islamic terror groups posing a threat to our national security including Al Qaeda and Hamas.
Andre Carson shared the stage at a CAIR banquet with Sirraj Wahaj: an unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing who had once declared,” You don’t get involved in politics because it’s the American thing to do. You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam.” CAIR itself had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in terror finance.
It’s ironic the Awan brothers cry Islamophobia, when in all actuality, the religion they practice deserves all the scrutiny it receives. Simply put, the Awan brothers are of the Muslim faith sending sensitive information to Islamic fundamentalist group, Muslim Brotherhood.
One person is dead and several wounded after an Iraqi-born gunman burst into a German nightclub in the early hours of Sunday and opened fire with a machine gun.
The 34 year old attacker fled the club and was taken out by German special forces in a helicopter following a pursuit and a shootout. Police have ruled out terrorism, and noted that he was not an asylum seeker.
“The motives of the man who acted alone are unclear,” Konstanz police spokesman Fritz Bezikofer told broadcaster N-TV.
“We are still investigating but the circumstances surrounding the events at the disco in the evening before the shooting are a bit clearer and this led us to rule out a terrorism background.”
The police also suggested this might be a dispute between criminals.
#Konstanz shooting:gunman was an Iraqi&lived in Germany for a long time, "According to our investigations this is not terror-related"-police pic.twitter.com/DRLL5VyemE
On Friday, a failed asylum seeker killed one person and injured six others in the northern city of Hamburg. Officials said he was an Islamist known to security forces and he was psychologically unstable. (Reuters)
The first wave of insiders began selling locked up shares on Monday, with a broad-scale expiration kicking into gear August 14 – however as Tech Crunch points out, “for many employees who joined in 2015 or later, their shares are underwater and so it wouldn’t make sense for them to sell yet.”
According to anonymous spiders in the White House, Trump advisor and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway is being considered as the next Communications Director, according to the 
