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Joined Oct 24, 2016
1,140 Blog Posts

COMEY FIRED: Trump Lets FBI Director Go After DOJ Recommendation

After receiving a recommendation from the DOJ, President Trump just gave FBI Director James Comey the axe.

“… you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgement of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.”

Quite frankly, this should have been done on day one – instead of days after Comey testified in the middle of the investigation into Russian election interference. The optics are bad – and carries the appearance of retribution for the FBI investigation into Trump / Russia connections during the 2016 election. Surprisingly, Edward Snowden has come to Comey’s defense!

Unsurprisingly, the left is flipping out:

Meanwhile, senator Chuck Grassley defends the decision, citing the Clinton email investigation debacle as a “clear example of how Comey’s decisions have called into question the trust and political independence of the FBI”

What do we know about Jim Comey?

He appears to have spent several years as a Clinton / Globalist operative – earning $ 6 Million dollars  in one year as Lockheed’s top lawyer, the same year the egregiously overbudget F-35 manufacturer made a huge donation to the Clinton Foundation. Comey also landed a seat on the board of HSBC bank shortly after NY AG (at the time) Loretta “tarmac” Lynch let the Clinton Foundation partner slide with a slap on the wrist for laundering drug money.

Then there was the kangaroo court FBI investigation of Clinton’s private server – in which Comey’s team recommended not prosecuting Hillary despite admitting horrendous breaches of protocol that would have landed any other Federal employee in prison. Back then, democrats loved him!

But then – reportedly under threat of leaks from the NYPD over Anthony Weiner’s laptop contents, Comey re-opened the investigation into Hillary’s private server a week and a half before the election, sifting through hundreds of thousands of emails in mere days – only to find no wrongdoing the day before polls opened. The Clinton camp has openly blamed Comey for contributing to Hillary’s loss – though they haven’t clarified if he’s ever spoken with a Russian ambassador, or where Comey’s actions rank in the whole blame game.

So, Comey is out. Good riddens to a another swamp monster – though the timing is at best ill advised. Read Trump’s letter to him below:

And Jeff Sessions’ letter to Trump:

As well as part of the deputy AG’s letter:

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Clapper: US Intel Couldn’t Corroborate Trump Dossier Used For FOIA Spy Warrant

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified on Monday that the intelligence community couldn’t verify the claims of a 35 page dossier produced by former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele.

We couldn’t corroborate the sourcing, particularly the second and third order sources -James Clapper

Two weeks ago it emerged that the FBI never paid Steele an agreed upon $50,000 if he could back the dossier’s claims. Steele was hired by intelligence firm Fusion GPS to dig up dirt on then candidate Trump, an effort funded by #NeverTrump Republicans. Steele’s deal with the FBI was allegedly part of his efforts to shop the document around the US intelligence community – with none other than John McCain delivering it to FBI director James Comey.

Despite the low level of confidence in the document, the FBI then used the dossier as the basis for a FISA warrant request in September of 2016 spy on one-time Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The warrant was granted, and Page was surveilled – presumably along with everyone he was contacted.

Former DNI Director Clapper’s testimony yesterday serves to further confirm the document’s inauthenticity. When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) whether he found the document to be credible, clapper responded “We didn’t make a judgement on that and that’s one reason why we did not include it in the body of our intelligence community assessment.”

Meanwhile, Carter Page, a one-time member of a Trump foreign advisory committee, has agreed to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee – however he is refusing to turn over records pertaining to the investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 US election (which James Clapper said there was no evidence of yesterday). In a letter issued to the committee and the press, Page called them “illogical,” “groundless,” and “distasteful.”

“I would like to reconfirm for you that I am still cooperating with the Committee’s investigation in the form of a future open testimony,”

I am increasingly coming to understand that these proceedings have thus far followed the precedent of prior show trials, which have historically been used as a means of intimidation.

Page also stated in the letter that he has had no financial stake in Russia since divesting shares of Gazprom oil in August, noting that he took a large loss on the transaction. He then slammed Obama and Hillary Clinton for the decline in share price:

Given the complete disaster that the Clinton/Obama regime made of U.S.-Russia relations and the related problems they inflicted on private industry across the Russian economy, I held no other financial or real estate holdings related to Russia between June 16, 2015 and January 20, 2016,”

We look forward to Page’s testimony…

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ISIS Magazine Suggests Terrorists In The West Use Craigslist, Ebay And Fake Apartment Ads To Lure Hostages For Execution

In case you didn’t know, ISIS has a disturbingly high quality magazine it produces to keep Jihadis cook on ideas for their next attack. Published in 10 languages and distributed widely, Rumiyah‘s May issue features an article entitled “Just Terror Tactics” – a guide for Radical Islamists living in the West to lure infidels “to an appropriate location before attacking, subduing, binding and then slaughtering them” using such fronts as Craigslist, Ebay, fake apartments, and potential jobs.

Online sales by way of buy and sell websites such as Craigslist, Gumtree, eBay, the Loot and others are an alternative means to luring one’s victims. –Rumiyah, Issue 9

Falsely advertising property for rent is an effective way to lure victims (Rumiyah)

Suitable weapons

According to the International Business Times, Rumiyah suggests taking potential hostages from night clubs, college campuses, theatres, malls, and ice skating rinks – and most importantly, to have an appropriate weapon:

“It is essential to have a suitable weapon for one’s operation, i.e. a strong, sharp knife, and possibly a bat or a small club that one may use to subdue the victim by striking them over the head before slaugh­tering them.”

In a previous issue, readers were taught how to plot their attacks:

When seeking to initiate an attack, it is important to define the objective. One’s attack may be to harvest a large kill count. It may be aimed at disrupting the financial stability of a specific nation. It may simply be aimed at terrorizing the enemies of Allah and depriving them of a peaceful sleep.

The objective of hostage-taking in the lands of dis­belief [i.e. West] – and specifically in relation to just terror op­erations – is not to hold large numbers of the kuffar hostage in order to negotiate one’s demands. Rather, the objective is to create as much carnage and terror as one possibly can until Allah decrees his appointed time and the enemies of Allah storm his location or succeed in killing him [i.e. the attacker].

And of course, advice on conducting vehicle attacks

Though being an essential part of modern life, very few actually comprehend the deadly and destructive capability of the motor vehicle and its capacity of reaping large numbers of casualties if used in a premeditated manner. This was superbly demonstrated in the attack launched by the brother Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel who, while traveling at the speed of approximately 90 kilometers per hour, plowed his 19-ton load-bearing truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, harvesting through his attack the slaughter of 86 Crusader citizens and injuring 434 more.

The method of such an attack is that a vehicle is plunged at a high speed into a large congregation of kufar, smashing their bodies with the vehicle’s strong outer frame, while advancing forward – crushing their heads, torsos, and limbs under the vehicle’s wheels and chassis – and leaving behind a trail of carnage.

And in Eurpe, networking with criminals in order to obtain firearms:

Maybe all these angry Islamists need is a nice taxpayer subsidized apartment and their own no-go zones throughout America? I hear it’s working well in France.

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Horrendous Security Flaw Allows Windows Computers To Be Taken Over By Single Unopened Email $MSFT

If you’re running a Windows system, make sure you run Windows Update pronto…

Google Project Zero researches Natalie Silvanovich and Tavis Ormandy have found a particularly insidious security flaw in virtually every iteration of Microsoft’s anti-malware software in Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and Server 2012, which allows a hacker to take over a vulnerable PC by sending a single email which doesn’t even need to be opened for the hack to activate. As soon as the anti-malware scanner inspects the virus “payload,” it executes the file, allowing it full access to the system where it can install spyware, steal files, deploy ransomware, or a multitude of other things.

Ormandy described the bug as “crazy bad” and the “worst in recent memory.” In a description, he wrote:

On workstations, attackers can access mpengine by sending emails to users (reading the email or opening attachments is not necessary), visiting links in a web browser, instant messaging and so on.

Vulnerabilities in MsMpEng are among the most severe possible in Windows, due to the privilege, accessibility, and ubiquity of the service.

Matthew Hickley, co-founder of Hacker House said

The [proof-of-concept hack] demonstrates remote code execution capability in various scenarios: you could exploit a system by uploading a file to [a] web server or sending an email to a Microsoft desktop. The malware protection service is enabled by default in Windows 8 and up. It’s a very critical bug.

“It seems this malware protection service might be an Achilles heel in Microsoft security model and system owners should consider disabling it.” Forbes

In response, Microsoft has rushed out a fix to all potentially affected machines, greatly impressing Ormandy.

In case you haven’t done so already, here’s the official patch:

Microsoft Emergency Update

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Has President Trump Fallen Out Of Love With H.R. McMaster? The White House Is Leaking Again

While the national spotlight has shifted to Trump’s former Director of National Security, Mike Flynn, Bloomberg is out with a piece by Eli Lake (previously of Daily Beast and  Kurt Eichenwald’s employer Newsweek)  suggesting that Flynn’s replacement, H.R. McMaster, is seriously undermining President Trump’s agenda and has fallen out of favor. This is all according to new leaks from McMaster’s ‘allies and adversaries’ inside the White House.

[I]nside the White House, the McMaster pick has not gone over well with the one man who matters most. White House officials tell me Trump himself has clashed with McMaster in front of his staff.

On policy, the faction of the White House loyal to senior strategist Steve Bannon is convinced McMaster is trying to trick the president into the kind of nation building that Trump campaigned against. Meanwhile the White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, is blocking McMaster on a key appointment. Bloomberg

So, McMaster – an ‘establishment masterstroke’ and intellectual, has clashed with Trump in front of underlings, and has allegedly been trying to trick Trump into regime changing guys like Bashar Al Assad and Kim Jong Un – actuibs which would be in direct opposition to the “America 1st” platform Trump was elected on. Moreover, McMaster has apparently been talking down to his new boss.

McMaster’s allies and adversaries inside the White House tell me that Trump is disillusioned with him. This professional military officer has failed to read the president  — by not giving him a chance to ask questions during briefings, at times even lecturing Trump.

And while President Trump explicitly reaffirmed his public support of McMaster, the National Intel Director allegedly went behind the President’s back and called South Korea to let them know Trump was full of shit on them paying for their own missile defense Apparently this upset the President, according to the leakers.

Opponents of McMaster have pointed out that he was very close to David Patraeus, former director of the CIA under Obama and commander of US Central Command. McMaster is also a member of the globalist hive known as the ‘Council on Foreign Relations’ – an institute ideologically polar opposite to the nationalist platform Trump campaigned on. And apparently McMaster’s antics have pissed off the boss:

Trump was livid, according to three White House officials, after reading in the Wall Street Journal that McMaster had called his South Korean counterpart to assure him that the president’s threat to make that country pay for a new missile defense system was not official policy. These officials say Trump screamed at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share.

This was not an isolated incident. Trump has complained in front of McMaster in intelligence briefings aboutthe general undermining [of] my policy,” according to two White House officials. The president has given McMaster less face time. McMaster’s requests to brief the president before some press interviews have been declined.

So – McMaster is apparently on the outs, though word that dyed in the wool neocon John Bolton was apparently considered as his replacement makes me think this all might be 4D kabuki theater.

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Happening Now: Sally Yates and James Clapper Testify On ‘Russian Interference’ – Grassley Grills

For the past several hours, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have been testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions regarding alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US Election.

Yates was famously fired after refusing to enforce Trump’s travel ban Executive Order in January, stating:

The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States. This order was approved as to form and legality by the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.

Ms. Yates is an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration.

Here are some of the highlights surrounding today’s hearing:

President Trump fired off an early morning Tweet before the hearing, suggesting the committee ask Yates if she knows how classified info leaked to newspapers;

Senator Graham (R-SC) opened by asking Clapper and Yates whether either had evidence which would confirm collusion between the Trump team and the Kremlin. Clapper said no, and Yates refused to answer – saying it would reveal classified info.

Clapper opened by suggesting Russia must be very happy with themselves:

Yates said she made the determination that the travel ban was unlawful:

But then Senator Kennedy (R-LA) asked Yates “Who appointed you to the United States Supreme Court?”

On her recommendation to be careful of incoming Nat. Sec. Advisor Flynn, Yates said that he could be blackmailed by the Russians:

Yates testified that she had two meetings in person at the White House and one phone call regarding Flynn, including a discussion of “potential prosecution.”

From Axios:

Yates’ reasoning for telling the White House about Flynn:

  • “The underlying conduct that Gen. Flynn had engaged in was problematic in and of itself.”
  • “We felt that the Vice President and others were entitled to know that the information they were conveying to the American people was untrue.”
  • “We were concerned that the American people had been misled about the underlying conduct and what Gen. Flynn had done.”
  • “The Russians also knew what Gen. Flynn had done and that Gen. Flynn had misled the Vice President and others…that created a compromise situation — a situation where the national security advisor essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians.”

Both Yates and Clapper deny being the source of the leaks:

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) grilled Yates and Clapper on unmasking:

Will update as the hearing progresses…

 

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Renowned Oil Trader Pierre Andurand Liquidates Last Longs, Running At “Very Reduced Risk” $USO $OIL

Andurand Capital – one of the largest and historically bullish hedge funds specializing in oil has just closed out the last of their long positions and is running at “a very reduced risk at the moment,” per Reuters, while crude oil prices have dropped to their lowest level since November – following reports of Libya’s return to the oil export market. Moreover, technicals suck per Citi’s Ed Morse. That said, Macron’s win in France seems to have woken up some oil spirits.

As oil began to crater in March and April, Pierre Andurand, considered one of the world’s best-known oil traders, remained “fundamentally bullish on oil,” resulting in a loss of 15.4% through April for his $1.5 billion fund. The loss was in stark contrast to 2016, when Andurand achieved a 22 percent return after nailing crude’s January slide and subsequent recovery, however he remained fervently bullish into 2017. Oil is down 17% YTD.

Just two weeks ago Andurand said he thought there was a rebound in sight despite the “choppy market,” betting that slowing production out of the Middle East and declining U.S. fuel inventories suggest prices should rise. In a letter to investors, he wrote:

“While the price action year-to-date has proven to be extremely frustrating, our bullish outlook for oil prices has not changed,” Andurand wrote. “We maintain the view that front month oil prices will reach new highs over the next few months as fundamentals improve considerably going into the summer.”

That’s all out the window as of yesterday…

Andurand throwing in the towel follows months of scrutiny after he quickly lost $130 million in the first part of 2017, before oil prices plunged. Ouch.

Want to try your hand at nailing the oil trade? Here’s a way to play via various ETFs:

$USO – United States Oil Fund

$OIL – iPath Crude Oil Total Return Index

$UCO – Proshares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (2x)

$UWT – 3x long

$SCO – UltraShort (2x)

$DWT – 3x short

Complete list here.

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Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald Wishes GOP To Be Tortured By Slow Death Of Loved Ones

Senior Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald has a message for members of the GOP who voted for the American Health Care Act on Thursday; he hopes each one of them is ‘tortured’ by watching a family member come down with a long term illness, lose their health insurance, and die:

Eichenwald has a history of odd behavior and unconventional journalism, such as the time he paid an alleged child porn performer for ‘research’ purposes without telling his editors. Last December he had a now infamous exchange with Tucker Carlson, for which he prepared by bringing a literal binder full of ‘Tucker Carlson Falsehoods’ he bandied about during the interview Later that night, Eichenwald went home and browsed Twitter – only to be triggered into an epileptic seizure by a flashing picture sent by a man named John Rivello. Eichenwald was able to get the FBI to arrest Rivello, who was charged with a hate crime using a ‘deadly weapon.’ Kurt has reported that he may sue 90 other people for sending similar tweets.

Before that, Eichenwald used his bully pulpit to get a journalist fired for misattributing a quote from an article he wrote to Clinton advisor Sydney Blumenthal during the Wikileaks releases.

Jump back another month or so; Kurt tweeted an unsubstantiated allegation about Trump being institutionalized “in a mental hospital for a nervous breakdown in 1990,” which Eichenwald later said was a joke, and ‘a signal to a source to talk to me.’

 

And before that, Eichenwald said he ‘accidentally accessed a few illegal images’ while doing a month’s long reporting on internet child pornography. He also paid a suspected child porn performer named Justin Berry $2,000 after he says he stumbled upon a scoop while researching an unrelated story. Thinking Berry was underage, Eichenwald sent him the money, agreed to meet, and only upon learning that the young man wasn’t underage (and wanted to leave the industry) did Kurt tell his bosses. Not only that, he asked for the money back!

Needles to say, Kurt is a strange man who now wishes horrible suffering and death to befall the family members of the GOP.

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Ja Rule’s Partner Squandered Fyre Festival Cash – Kendall Jenner Paid $250K For Single Instagram Post

New information has emerged in the Fyre Festival debacle which left thousands of attendees stranded on a remote island in the Bahamas. According to sources close to the event, 26 year old co-organizer Billy McFarland squandered millions of dollars and on models, jets, yachts, advertising, guys-only “working vacations” to the Bahamas, and a sundry of paid “influencers” who received over $20,000 apiece for their endorsement – including Kendal Jenner, who was reportedly paid a quarter of a million dollars for a single Instagram post receiving over 6 million views:

He spent $250,000 on a single Instagram post from Kim Kardashian’s half-sister Kendall Jenner and laid out hundreds of thousands more on lesser-name “influencers,” none of whom were paid less than $20,000, one person familiar with the payments said. Vice

Models were reportedly offered $35,000, tickets to the festival, and a chartered flight to the event in exchange for promoting it.

Kendall Jenner was reportedly paid $250,000 for this Instagram post

 

Models sued

A new lawsuit (one of three to date, including a $100 million class action) claims that the models paid to promote Fyre failed to disclose that their endorsements were paid promotions, with the exception of “Gone Girl” actress Emily Ratajkowski – who was not included in litigation. These omissions, the suit claims, were Federal Trade Commission violations for not “disclosing material connections between advertisers and endorsers.”

Where is Ja Rule in all of this?

While co-founder Ja Rule initially received heat for his involvement in Fyre, and he gave an embarrassingly cliché kickoff toast, it appears that most of the blame lies with festival CEO Billy McFarland, who began planning the festival just six months ago in October of 2016. McFarland was previously known for his sketchy “Magnises,” social club – another Ja Rule collaboration which catered to millennials who could pony up $450 for a membership promiseing to grant it’s holder access to exclusive events, discounts on services, and reserved tables at nightclubs. Many have referred to the club as a scam.

Former employees speak out

During the planning phase of the event, McFarland reportedly flew down every other weekend to the Bahamas with male employees of the festival along with several models for “lavish vacations,” under the guise of work.

Billy would take all the boys down there, it would be boys only,” the employee said. “They talk about f—ing bitches and hoes in conference meetings.”

The employee said McFarland would often urinate in the office with the door open for employees to see. “It’s a boys club,” the employee said. “They laugh about it.” Another former contractor called the environment “low-key sexist and racist.”

“They were just stoked on getting vacation homes there. I didn’t feel like they were taking it seriously at all.” –Vice

While McFarland has shifted blame over the debacle onto “naiive and overwhelmed” staff, insiders told Variety magazine that event organizers were frequently warned that the Fyre Festival would be impossible to pull off in the necessary time frame.

“They did know,” one said. “It’s so gross to me that [McFarland] says they were naïve — they had been told at every point that it was impossible and they ignored it.” Variety

And according to a former Fyre staffer, “the infrastructure just wasn’t there.”

“It had to be built. [Fyre] hired a bunch of professionals and the professionals told them it was impossible — and they couldn’t handle that, so they fired everyone. I think the statement they released is a slap in the face to the people on the island and the production company that did end up working with them. They just didn’t want to hear it.

As cash dwindled the event was lacking critical infrastructure, then there were problems with customs…

By March, McFarland’s magnum opus was in serious trouble. Having wasted millions of dollars on celebrity endorsements and other ‘marketing’ expenses, the festival needed cash to pay it’s vendors. In a desperate attempt to salvage the impending train wreck, the Fyre CEO and his team approached a second round of investors armed with a laughable yet slick pitch deck seeking $25 million in funding.

It appears that despite the late attempt to raise capital, in which one investor said he was “sold a story,” Fyre was unable to pay it’s staff – asking event employees to use their own credit cards for hotel rooms in Miami and the Bahamas. Restaurateur Stephen Starr, lined up to serve the festival, allegedly pulled out of their agreement on April 2nd – which explains the sad cheese and bread sandwiches served to attendees.

And according to late-hired production staff, an alarming lack of infrastructure was going to lead to disaster. There were no lights, no water supply, and things like toilets and showers would be impossible to arrange in time. In perhaps the nail in the supply chain coffin, right after event organizer Billy McFarland told last-minute suppliers “you don’t have to worry about customs,” Bahamian officials shut down the event site for failure to pay Customs duty taxes on items already imported for the festival.

On Sunday, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism told ABC News, “Customs has the area on lockdown because [festival organizer] Billy [McFarland] has not paid customs duty taxes on the items that he imported” for the event. “He and his staff have left the items with a security company guarding it.” ABC News

Despite the fact that Fyre was very obviously doomed, organizers decided to push on and ‘become legends’

And on that count, McFarland’s Fyre Festival debacle has become a legendary lesson in overambitious, materialistic, abject failure.

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After Spending Months Claiming Putin Interfered With US Election, Obama Endorses Macron

Former President Obama went on camera this week to endorse the second loser in 12 months; French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron – leading some to wonder if ol’ Barry isn’t interfering in a foreign election! Considering that the US congress is currently holding hearings in both the house and the senate revolving around the notion that election interference is a bad thing, Obama’s attempt to influence French voters to vote for a man married to a pedophile is astounding.

While not quite on par with allegations of hacking and running disinformation campaigns, and Obama is now a private citizen – he is still considered highly influential in cuck circles. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall any recent former heads of state endorsing another country’s candidate for President. Given the moralizing the left has done over “influencing an election” until a few short weeks ago, it seems a bit hypocritical for the globalists to send in agent Barry Sotero to stage a last minute charm offensive on the French.

In regards to the US investigation into Russian election interference which has seemingly gone cold; it’s funny how dropping a few dozen Tomahawks on a Russian ally turned a Russophobic witch hunt into a dog and pony show. Of course, that whole “Obama spied on Trump’s team to help Hillary win the election” story went away right around the time the Susan Rice ‘unmasking’ scandal was breaking – so maybe it was a mutual détente.

Watch:

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