"Former FBI Director James Comey began drafting a statement rejecting the idea of criminal charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her private email account about two months or more before Clinton was interviewed in the FBI probe, according to partial transcripts of interviews released Thursday by two Republican senators.

-----
"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation. "

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/31...242213?lo=ap_e1

Zitat von nahal im Beitrag #2151

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"Former FBI Director James Comey began drafting a statement rejecting the idea of criminal charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over her private email account about two months or more before Clinton was interviewed in the FBI probe, according to partial transcripts of interviews released Thursday by two Republican senators.

-----
"Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation. "

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/31...242213?lo=ap_e1

---

Mueller teams up with IRS in Russia probe: report
Special counsel Robert Mueller is working with members of the IRS's Criminal Investigations (CI) unit as part of the investigation into possible collusion between President Trump's campaign and Russia, according to a new report.

The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Mueller has teamed up with agents from the IRS unit dedicated to prosecuting financial crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering. One retired agent from the team said that the FBI doesn't have the "expertise" that the CI unit has when it comes to investigating financial crimes.

“The FBI’s expertise is spread out over so many statutes—and particularly since 9/11, where they really focused on counterintelligence and counterterror—that they simply don’t have the financial investigative expertise that the CI agents have,” Martin Sheil told The Daily Beast. “When CI brings a case to a U.S. Attorney, it is done. It’s wrapped up with a ribbon and a bow. It’s just comprehensive.”

The news comes just a day after it was revealed that Mueller is working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) to investigate possible ties to Russia involving Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager.
Schneiderman and Mueller are reportedly investigating possible financial crimes, including money laundering, by Manafort in New York. Schneiderman has also been conducting his own state-level investigation into Manafort's real estate dealings....
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrati...ia-probe-report

Exclusive: Mueller Enlists the IRS for His Trump-Russia Investigation
Will the accountants take down key members of Team Trump? Or force the president’s tax returns into the open?

This unit—known as CI—is one of the federal government’s most tight-knit, specialized, and secretive investigative entities. Its 2,500 agents focus exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. A former colleague of Mueller’s said he always liked working with IRS’ special agents, especially when he was a U.S. Attorney.
And it goes without saying that the IRS has access to Trump’s tax returns—documents that the president has long resisted releasing to the public....

...And he said Mueller and Weissmann are known admirers of those agents’ work.
“They view them with the highest regard,” Sheil said. “IRS special agents are the very best in the business of conducting financial investigations. They will quickly tell you that it took an accountant to nab Al Capone, and it’s true.”...

Very important:
"...As special counsel, Mueller is subject to the same rules as U.S. Attorneys. That means that if he wants to bring charges against Trump associates related to violations of tax law, he will need approval from the Justice Department’s elite Tax Division. Trump hasn’t yet named his pick to run the division, which is a post that requires Senate confirmation. At the moment, career officials are helming the division. -not Trump appointees and not necessarily his supporters.

One former Tax Division prosecutor told The Daily Beast that this could cause trouble for Trump.
“The fact that there is not a senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, and that the Trump people have disregarded it despite warnings as far back as December that they needed to fill the AAG’s spot… shows what a self-created mess the Trump administration has found itself in,” said the former prosecutor, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “They have no one to keep Mueller and his Brooklyn team honest. They should be concerned about that.”

The former prosecutor said it could have benefitted Trump if he had an appointee in the division as these proceedings unfold—and that he’s now missed that opportunity.
“They could have picked any two people in the world,” he added, “and they picked nobody.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-m...a-investigation

Mistakes easily made -by arrogant, full of themselves, fools.

Quebec Offered Texas Aid, but the Sec. of State Said They Just Needed Prayers
...Quebec’s Minister of International Relations Christine St-Pierre called up Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos this week offering all sorts of equipment and manpower.
St-Pierre literally said she could send over blankets, beds, pillows, hygienic products, and electricians to restore power. (They did that after Hurricane Katrina, too.)
Pablos’ response?
Thanks, but no thanks. We don’t need it. Just send some prayers.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyath...needed-prayers/


World in no rush to offer Trump help post-Harvey
After Katrina, countries around the globe offered to help the U.S. After Harvey, only a few — Mexico and troubled Venezuela among them — have volunteered aid.

The relative dearth of global goodwill, some analysts say, may stem from anger at Trump over his “America First” approach to the world, which has irked even staunch U.S. allies.
"Foreign governments are holding back, and that hasn’t been the case historically,” said Markos Kounalakis, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. “They appear to be much more cautious, whether it’s for domestic political reasons or displeasure with President Trump. Do they want to be seen as helping Trump?
http://www.politico.com/hurricane-harvey...reaction-mexico

WHOOPS! Tomi Lahren Accidentally Reveals The Truth About Fox News
Her first day on the job didn’t go so well.

TomiLahren: “How about when the mainstream media stops covering Russia day in and day out, maybe we can drop the Hillary email scandal.” pic.twitter.com/OwfYWfuhDD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 31, 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tomi...4b0dfaafcef29ef

:-))))

Trump’s Moscow Partner Was Apparently Financed by a Russian Bank Under US Sanctions
And Trump signed this deal while campaigning for president.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017...r-us-sanctions/

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2156

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WHOOPS! Tomi Lahren Accidentally Reveals The Truth About Fox News
Her first day on the job didn’t go so well.

TomiLahren: “How about when the mainstream media stops covering Russia day in and day out, maybe we can drop the Hillary email scandal.” pic.twitter.com/OwfYWfuhDD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 31, 2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tomi...4b0dfaafcef29ef

:-))))

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Willie, kleine Literaturempfehlung. Ich weiß, es wird nichts nutzen, es wird das Gebilde aus Selbstgerechtigkeit, Intoleranz gegenüber Andersdenkenden, politischem Manichäismus, in dem du dich eingemauert hast, nicht zum Einsturz bringen. Aber ich versuche es trotzdem:

The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8607...e-liberal-class

Zitat von Maga-neu im Beitrag #2159

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Willie, kleine Literaturempfehlung. Ich weiß, es wird nichts nutzen, es wird das Gebilde aus Selbstgerechtigkeit, Intoleranz gegenüber Andersdenkenden, politischem Manichäismus, in dem du dich eingemauert hast, nicht zum Einsturz bringen. Aber ich versuche es trotzdem:

The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8607...e-liberal-class

---

Pence Exposure to Serious Charge Revealed by Disclosure of Initial Comey Firing Letter
Renato Marotti, a former prosecutor, tweeted today the revelations in yesterday’s NY Times story about the initial draft of the letter firing James Comey may make VP Pence at least a witness, but also “may open the door” to a charge of misprision of a felony, which has these elements:

“(1) the principal committed and completed the felony alleged; (2) the defendant had knowledge of the fact; (3) the defendant failed to notify the authorities; and (4) the defendant took affirmative steps to conceal the crime of the principal.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/...y-Firing-Letter

Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2160

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Zitat von Maga-neu im Beitrag #2159

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Willie, kleine Literaturempfehlung. Ich weiß, es wird nichts nutzen, es wird das Gebilde aus Selbstgerechtigkeit, Intoleranz gegenüber Andersdenkenden, politischem Manichäismus, in dem du dich eingemauert hast, nicht zum Einsturz bringen. Aber ich versuche es trotzdem:

The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8607...e-liberal-class

---

:-)))

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Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2161

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Pence Exposure to Serious Charge Revealed by Disclosure of Initial Comey Firing Letter
Renato Marotti, a former prosecutor, tweeted today the revelations in yesterday’s NY Times story about the initial draft of the letter firing James Comey may make VP Pence at least a witness, but also “may open the door” to a charge of misprision of a felony, which has these elements:

“(1) the principal committed and completed the felony alleged; (2) the defendant had knowledge of the fact; (3) the defendant failed to notify the authorities; and (4) the defendant took affirmative steps to conceal the crime of the principal.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/...y-Firing-Letter

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Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2162

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Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2160

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Zitat von Maga-neu im Beitrag #2159

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Willie, kleine Literaturempfehlung. Ich weiß, es wird nichts nutzen, es wird das Gebilde aus Selbstgerechtigkeit, Intoleranz gegenüber Andersdenkenden, politischem Manichäismus, in dem du dich eingemauert hast, nicht zum Einsturz bringen. Aber ich versuche es trotzdem:

The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8607...e-liberal-class

---

:-)))

---

Far-right German candidate promises to get rid of Arabic numerals
A mayoral candidate for the far-right, anti-immigrant NPD party promised to get rid of Arabic numerals if elected, German media reported Friday.

Otfried Best, who is hoping to become mayor of Völklingen, near the French border, was asked by a member of Die Partei, a satirical party, during a debate earlier this week what he thought of Arabic numerals used in the town, Stern magazine reported.
http://www.politico.eu/article/far-right...c-numerals/amp/

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Zitat von Maga-neu im Beitrag #2164

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Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2162

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Zitat von Willie im Beitrag #2160

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Zitat von Maga-neu im Beitrag #2159

---

Willie, kleine Literaturempfehlung. Ich weiß, es wird nichts nutzen, es wird das Gebilde aus Selbstgerechtigkeit, Intoleranz gegenüber Andersdenkenden, politischem Manichäismus, in dem du dich eingemauert hast, nicht zum Einsturz bringen. Aber ich versuche es trotzdem:

The Death of the Liberal Class examines the failure of the liberal class to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are five pillars of the liberal establishment – the press, liberal religious institutions, labor unions, universities and the Democratic Party— and that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large and ultimately the corporate power elite they once served.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8607...e-liberal-class

---

:-)))

---

Far-right German candidate promises to get rid of Arabic numerals
A mayoral candidate for the far-right, anti-immigrant NPD party promised to get rid of Arabic numerals if elected, German media reported Friday.

Otfried Best, who is hoping to become mayor of Völklingen, near the French border, was asked by a member of Die Partei, a satirical party, during a debate earlier this week what he thought of Arabic numerals used in the town, Stern magazine reported.
http://www.politico.eu/article/far-right...c-numerals/amp/

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Hmm, und was hat das mit meinem Posting zu tun? Was mit Trump? Richtig, nichts.
Das Versagen liberaler Institutionen - für die Demokraten gilt das Wort "liberal" auch nur noch eingeschränkt - hat allerdings etwas mit Trump zu tun, denn Trump ist ein Symptom dieses Versagens.

btw, falls du es nicht weißt, die Zahlen (so wie auch die Null) stammen ursprünglich aus Indien.

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Keine Beweise für Lauschangriff auf Trump-Tower

Das Justizministerium hat keinen Hinweis auf eine Abhöraktion gefunden. Trump hatte der Obama-Regierung vorgeworfen, seine Telefone zu belauschen.

Dem US-Justizministerium liegen nach eigenen Angaben keinerlei Beweise für eine von der Obama-Regierung veranlasste Abhöraktion während des Wahlkampfes im New Yorker Trump Tower vor. US-Präsident Donald Trump hatte im März in mehreren Tweets behauptet, dass ein solcher Lauschangriff im Oktober 2016 stattgefunden habe, ohne diese Anschuldigung zu untermauern. Nach US-Medienberichten bestätigte das Ministerium nun in einem bei einem Washingtoner Gericht eingereichten Dokument, dass es weder selber noch die ihm unterstellte Bundespolizei FBI Anhaltspunkte für die Stichhaltigkeit von Trumps Vorwurf hätten.

http://www.zeit.de/politik/2017-09/us-wa...ma-abhoeraktion

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/01/...tured-hysteria/

Thank God for the Charlottesville Nazis! For a moment there, it was looking like we were actually going to have a few days to stop and reflect on the state of America without being subjected to some new form of manufactured mass hysteria. Seriously, just a few short weeks ago, as the corporatist ruling classes’ ridiculous attempt to convince the world that Donald Trump is some sort of Russian sleeper agent appeared to be finally fizzling out, a significant number of leftist types were beginning to wonder if maybe, just maybe, the fact that the United States government is controlled by a global corporate plutocracy that has no allegiance to any nation, or people, or to anything other than itself, and that is in the process of demonizing and potentially deposing an elected president...

Elsewhere in America, Resistance members were frantically tearing down Confederate monuments, which had suddenly become intolerably offensive, and searching through online business directories for anyone named after Robert E. Lee, or horses named after General Lee’s horse, or the horses of other racist Nazis. That, and hastily organizing the upcoming March to Confront White Supremacy (presumably in order to make a mockery of the 1963 March on Washington), and penning lengthy explications of the evils of racism, white supremacy, and all other forms of Naziism associated with Donald Trump … and otherwise whipping people up into a sputtering frenzy of Nazi hysteria.

Now, you have to hand it to the fake Resistance …

Trump weighs pulling out of free trade deal with South Korea
resident Donald Trump is considering triggering a withdrawal from a free trade agreement with South Korea, a business lobbying group said Saturday, raising concerns about a move that could cause a fresh economic rift between allies at a moment of heightened tensions with a common foe.

The White House alerted lawmakers that a notification of intent to withdraw could come as soon as Tuesday, the U.S Chamber of Commerce wrote in an "all hands on deck" note calling on members to lobby the administration to stay in the deal.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory...-korea-49590597


GOP senator blasts Trump's '18th-century views of trade'
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) blasted the Trump administration on Saturday for having "18th-century views of trade" after it was reported that President Trump was preparing to withdraw the U.S. from its free trade agreement with South Korea.

"The president and Nebraska have a basic disagreement about trade," Sasse said in a statement.
"His Administration holds 18th-century views of trade as a zero-sum game. I side with our farmers and ranchers who are feeding the world now," the conservative senator added.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-r...-views-of-trade

Fox News poll: Majority thinks Trump is tearing the country apart
A majority of voters believe President Trump is tearing the country apart, according to a new Fox News poll released Wednesday.

Fifty-six percent of respondents in the poll said Trump is “tearing the country apart,” compared to the 33 percent who think he’s “drawing the country together.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/administrati...e-country-apart

Trump names climate science denier to run NASA
Republican Congressman had demanded Obama apologize for funding climate change research.

Bridenstine is a politician without any scientific credentials, unlike previous NASA chiefs, and for that reason his nomination has already been criticized by both Florida’s senators Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D), Politico reports. Rubio said, “I just think [his nomination] could be devastating for the space program.”

NASA scientists have led the way in documenting the scientific reality of climate change. But in 2013, Bridenstine not only gave a speech on the House floor filled with standard denier talking points, he actually ended his remarks with a demand that President Obama apologize for funding research into climate science.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-names-cl...a-c9a46a6f4a52/


Trump nominates former coal exec to run MSHA
President Donald Trump on Saturday indicated he has chosen as the nation’s top mine safety official the former chief executive of Rhino Resources, a coal company that repeatedly clashed with federal regulators when the Obama administration Labor Department tried to step up industry-wide enforcement in the wake of the worst U.S. coal mining disaster in a generation.
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/201709...xec-to-run-msha

Missouri Republican calls for vandals of Confederate monument to be lynched
Reached by ThinkProgress, Rep. Warren Love offered a measured apology.

“This is totally against the law,” Love wrote while sharing an article about how paint was thrown on a statute of Confederate Major General Sterling Price. “I hope they are found & hung from a tall free with a long rope.”
https://thinkprogress.org/missouri-repub...d-f52f52ecb56b/

White House acknowledges Trump lied about ‘witnessing first hand’ the devastation of Harvey
The best Trump could do was post an Instagram photo of him watching weather radar.
https://thinkprogress.org/white-house-ac...y-24a197f25361/

Lifting the Veil on Another Batch of Shadowy Trump Appointees
The administration continues to quietly hire political staffers — more than 1,000 so far, many of them regulating industries they previously worked for — but we’ve uncovered more identities. “The swamp continues,” says a Trump campaign official who is now a lobbyist.

President Donald Trump has left hundreds of government jobs unfilled that require a vote by the Senate. Yet his administration has installed more than 1,000 people through political appointments at every major federal agency, handing over control of the government’s day-to-day operations to industry insiders and loyalists to an unprecedented degree.

Among the latest Trump administration appointees is a lobbyist who until March worked for a leading hepatitis C drugmaker that priced its treatment at $1,000 a pill and is now leading a White House working group setting drug pricing policies. The list includes the new head of the government’s offshore oil drilling safety and enforcement agency, who previously sat on the board of Sunoco Logistics and who told an industry conference earlier this month that deepwater drilling should ramp up. Then there’s the Hollywood actor who has called global warming and climate change a “leftist political tool” and “not sound science” on Twitter and who is now the communications director at the Department of Health and Human Services. Finally, this group also includes the 80-year-old retired chief legal officer of Morgan Stanley, who once told government lawyers he was “going to kick your ass” and is now a deputy attorney general in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, overseeing litigation while his boss awaits Senate confirmation. (At the time, Kempf denied using the expletive in exactly those terms.)...
https://www.propublica.org/article/lifti...tent=1504308104

Trump Reportedly To End DACA With 6-Month Delay
Trump could still reverse his decision. Congress could step in. Either way, the futures of 800,000 are filled with uncertainty.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trum...kushpmg00000009

Inside the DACA fight
Beyond North Korea, Trump has another "no good options" dilemma this week: his decision, due Tuesday, on whether to terminate DACA — the Obama-era program that temporarily shields from deportation illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before their 16th birthday.
https://www.axios.com/inside-the-daca-fight-2481145690.html

GOP rep: Delaying the end of DACA is 'Republican suicide'
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Sunday said it would be "Republican suicide" if President Trump followed through on a report that he was planning to end DACA with a six-month delay, insisting that the program instead needed to be ended immediately.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/349097...ublican-suicide

Republican Party Autopsy Author Goes Off On GOP As Trump’s DACA Decision Nears
“Those in Republican leadership who have enabled his behavior by standing silent or making excuses for him deserve the reckoning that will eventually come for the GOP,” Sally Bradshaw, a longtime adviser to Jeb Bush, told BuzzFeed News.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/henrygomez/repu...2RX#.fhnYN0KOPJ

Funding battle looms as Texas sees Harvey damage at up to $180 billion
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday challenged Congress to raise the government’s debt limit in order to free up relief spending for Hurricane Harvey, a disaster that the governor of Texas said had caused up to $180 billion in damage.

Harvey, which came ashore on Aug. 25 as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, has killed an estimated 50 people, displaced more than 1 million and damaged some 200,000 homes in a path of destruction stretching for more than 300 miles (480 km).

“Without raising the debt limit, I am not comfortable that we will get money to Texas this month to rebuild,” Mnuchin told Fox News.
Republican lawmakers, who control both houses of Congress, have traditionally resisted raising the debt ceiling, but linking the issue to Harvey aid could force their hand with people suffering and large areas of the fourth-largest U.S. city under water.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-...n-idUSKCN1BE0TL