July 26, 2017

Christopher Wray/Christie client/attorney relationship "extraordinarily unusual, possibly unethical"

Rachel had this last night; here's more. Hope Al Franken is on this.

Christie's Hiring of FBI Nominee as Bridgegate Attorney Raises Questions

President Trump's nominee for FBI director, Christopher Wray, represented Gov. Chris Christie as his personal, publicly-funded Bridgegate attorney for 11 months before signing a mandatory retainer agreement, according to new documents provided to WNYC through a public records request.

Wray began working for Christie as his personal, publicly-funded attorney, according to bills submitted to the state, in September 2014. But it wasn't until August 2015, 11 months later, that Wray and Christie formally agreed to the arrangement.

Several lawyers who work with the government said the extended delay was extraordinarily unusual, possibly unethical, and could indicate that Christie, who was preparing to run for president at the time, was keeping it hidden from the public that he had a taxpayer-funded criminal attorney. Indeed it wasn't until the summer of 2016 that it was revealed that Wray was holding onto a piece of potential evidence — one of Christie's cell phones that his former aides, charged in the Bridgegate affair, unsuccessfully sought to subpoena.

Wray and his colleagues would ultimately bill taxpayers more than $2 million in fees and expenses, including meals, hotel rooms, cab fare and flights. They continued working — and being paid — even after the Bridgegate trial ended and those convicted were sentenced to prison. It is unclear what work was done, since the governor was neither charged nor called to testify.

Shortly thereafter Christie recommended Wray to his friend, President Trump, for the job of FBI director.

More:
http://www.wnyc.org/story/ethics-question-christies-hiring-fbi-director-nominee-bridgegate-attorney/

July 25, 2017

Wyden on Rachel talking Kushner: gotta have him in open hearing; watch Rachel if you can! Loaded...

Wyden says Kushner was evasive, made very careful lawyer-ly statements in his statement.
T has gone from saying no collusion to"'so what?"
Talking to Wyden about T trying to push Sessions out.
If pres fires Mueller w/o cause, it will trigger constitutional crisis. (But we knew that...)

July 25, 2017

Sen. Wyden: Kushner statement work of clever lawyer; should be no presumption he is telling truth

Everyone probably knows by now that Sen. Wyden is on Senate Intel and has been a champion for transparency and public hearings since even before the election!

Wyden Statement on Kushner Testimony
Monday, July 24, 2017

Washington, D.C. –Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today called for full transparency by Jared Kushner, in response to the statement Kushner released this morning.

“It is imperative that the public hear Jared Kushner testify in an open session of the Senate Intelligence Committee, under oath, and support his claims with full transparency in the form of emails, documents and financial records,” Wyden said.

“Kushner’s statement, which he released publicly to the press, raises far more questions than it answers.

His description of his financial relationships with individuals and businesses tied to Russia appears incomplete, at best. Notably, the comment ‘I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector,’ is clearly the work of a clever lawyer trying to protect his client, not someone trying to clear up questions raised by Congress and the American people. He has an obligation to be transparent with all relevant documents to back up his claims.

More broadly, Kushner has repeatedly concealed information about his personal finances and meetings with foreign officials. There should be no presumption that he is telling the whole truth today.”

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-statement-on-kushner-testimony

July 23, 2017

Actor Ron Perlman's hilarious recreation of Trump's NYT interview on AM Joy

Actor Ron Perlman appearing on AM Joy with Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University John McWhorter, delivered accurate impression of President Trump’s rambling speech patterns based upon the N.Y.T. interview with the president from earlier in the week.

Watch Joy and McWhorter crack up.

Perlman part is shortly after the 3 minute point, but the whole thing is well worth watching.

July 22, 2017

Rachel on. Thought she wouldn't be. Talking Mueller/ T "disturbed" RE finance investigation.

Looks like investigation will get into his taxes! Finally. WH going nuclear.
Rachel's producer called one of T's lawyers to check out report T team was checking out statute of limitations on certain crimes. Atty said he will never talk to Rachel again and it's not true!!

July 22, 2017

Trevor Noah: Sessions is an elf, not a genie! He couldnt predict he'd have to recuse himself.

Trevor Noah last night on Trump saying Sessions should have told him before he took the job that he would recuse:
"Why would you think Sessions could magically predict he would have to recuse himself after he took the job? He’s an elf, not a genie! He can’t do this. It’s not how his brain works. It’s not his magic."

http://www.cc.com/episodes/p6jc8w/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-july-20--2017---issa-rae-season-22-ep-22133

about the ten minute point
won't let me post video

July 20, 2017

Joy in for Chris Hayes. Just talked about T threatening Mueller. Next up more on this.

Just talked about McCain and after break going to NYT article RE T saying Mueller should not investigate his finances and extra meeting with Putin. Malcolm Nance on next.

July 19, 2017

"Secrets and Lies": the Trump-Russia scandal lands the cover of People magazine

People magazine has breathlessly covered the Trump family as celebrities for decades — even after Donald Trump won the presidency — to the ire of many. But on its latest cover, the weekly magazine notably changed course, blasting the "SECRETS & LIES" involved in the Trump campaign-Russia scandal.

The cover shows a photo of President Trump, his daughter Ivanka, son Donald Jr., and son-in-law Jared Kushner behind a large banner headline proclaiming “THE TRUMP FAMILY SECRETS & LIES.” Beneath the headline, it reads: “Donald Trump taught his children to fight dirty and win, no matter what the cost. How the ruthless family culture has shaped Don Jr., his siblings — and the Presidency.”

Despite statistics showing Trump voters care little about the first family’s contact with Russian government actors, the story’s prominence on a People cover indicates that the scandal has broken through to become relevant beyond the realm of political junkies, and is getting through to the average American consumer of news and entertainment. People boasts an audience of more than 41 million people, one of the largest of any American magazine, and is ubiquitous in a way many publications aren’t: People is available not only by subscription and in the magazine racks of bookstores and newsstands but also in the checkout racks at most major grocery chains.

In short: The editors of People are motivated to sell magazines, and the People covers, calling out from among racks of other magazines, are a major tool for selling them. Per reporting from the magazine data organization MagNet, in 2016, 373.2 million magazines were sold at newsstands and grocery store checkouts around the country. Time Inc., which owns People, was listed as the second-largest national distributor. If People’s editors didn’t think readers would be interested in this story, they wouldn’t have broken with their typical fawning coverage of the Trumps and pushed other go-to topics like the British royal family and Kardashian-related drama to the margins (literally).

More:
https://www.vox.com/2017/7/19/15997896/secrets-and-lies-trump-russia-scandal-people-magazine-cover

July 18, 2017

Great Sousa photos of our favorite president with Sasha & Malia

I always find it bittersweet to see a great photo of Obama, and that is probably the case for most of us. Sweet for what we had, but it makes the loss more acute to see such a photo.

July 18, 2017

Good New for Russia: 15 States Use Easily Hackable Voting Machines, Computer Experts Warn

Touch-screen machines can be programmed to change votes and are nearly impossible to audit, computer experts say.

WASHINGTON ― In 2006, Princeton computer science professor Edward Felten received an anonymous message offering him a Diebold AccuVote TS, one of the most widely used touch-screen voting machines at the time.

Manufacturers like Diebold touted the touch-screens, known as direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines, as secure and more convenient than their paper-based predecessors. Computer experts were skeptical, since any computer can be vulnerable to viruses and malware, but it was hard to get ahold of a touch-screen voting machine to test it. The manufacturers were so secretive about how the technology worked that they often required election officials to sign non-disclosure agreements preventing them from bringing in outside experts who could assess the machines.

Felten was intrigued enough that he sent 25-year-old computer science graduate student Alex Halderman on a mission to retrieve the AccuVote TS from a trenchcoat-clad man in an alleyway near New York’s Times Square. Felten’s team then spent the summer working in secrecy in an unmarked room in the basement of a building to reverse-engineer the machine. In September 2006, they published a research paper and an accompanying video detailing how they could spread malicious code to the AccuVote TS to change the record of the votes to produce whatever outcome the code writers desired. And the code could spread from one machine to another like a virus.

That was more than a decade ago, but Georgia still uses the AccuVote TS. The state is one of five ― the others are Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey and South Carolina ― that rely entirely on DREs for voting. Ten other states use a combination of paper ballots and DRE machines that leave no paper trail. Many use a newer version of the AccuVote known as the TSX ― even though computer scientists have demonstrated that machine, too, is vulnerable to hacking. Others use the Sequoia AVC Advantage, which Princeton professor Andrew Appel demonstrated could be similarly manipulated in a 2007 legal filing. Appel bought a Sequoia machine online for $82 and demonstrated that he could remove 10 screws and easily replace the Sequoia’s memory card with a modified version that would alter the outcome of an election.

Election security, typically a niche topic, emerged as a mainstream concern last summer after the Democratic National Committee announced that Russian hackers had penetrated its computer systems. The DNC hack was an early indication that Moscow had decided to interfere with the U.S. presidential election, raising alarms that Russian efforts could extend to the vulnerable touch-screen machines that record millions of votes around the country. By the time the cyberattack became public, it was too late to replace them, but in the year since the DNC hack revelations, there has been little tangible progress in securing America’s voting machines.



snip

Trump’s stance on election security makes it hard for Republicans to publicly advocate changes to voting machines, since doing so would imply that Russian interference, not voter fraud, was the main problem with last year’s election. Some Trump allies have followed the president’s lead on the Russia hacking issue ― including Kemp, who is now running for Georgia governor and recently told The Washington Post he doesn’t “necessarily believe” that Russia interfered with the 2016 elections.

snip

Much more; very important info:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/electronic-voting-machines-hack-russia_us_5967e1c2e4b03389bb162c96