Did Trump’s Hotel Concede His Defeat?

https://politicalwire.com/2020/12/28/did-trumps-hotel-concede-his-defeat/

December 28, 2020 at 7:52 am EST By Taegan Goddard 52 Comments

1100 Pennsylvania: “After having been blocked off on the reservation calendar for six months, over this past weekend rooms at the Trump Hotel D.C. became available to book the week of the presidential inauguration.”

Teachers, healthcare workers, food service, grocery workers and then anybody earning under $50,000 a year.

The numbers ought to be doable.

Ghislaine Maxwell Calls Jail Oppressive. Prosecutors Say She Has It Easy.

Ms. Maxwell, a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, has asked to be released on $28.5 million bond as she awaits trial on federal charges.


By Benjamin Weiser and Amy Julia Harris

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/nyregion/ghislaine-maxwell-bail.html

Dec. 18, 2020

In Ghislaine Maxwell’s telling, the conditions in her Brooklyn jail are oppressive. Guards with flashlights rouse her every 15 minutes to check whether she’s breathing. She is subjected to constant surveillance and to frequent strip searches. In her own cell away from other prisoners, she has been deprived of food and sleep, and she is unable to communicate with friends or family.

But on Friday, federal prosecutors contended that Ms. Maxwell didn’t have it so bad. She is released from her cell for 13 hours a day. She has her own shower, her own phone and exclusive use of two computers — even her own TV.

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The dispute over Ms. Maxwell’s living conditions has been continuing. Last month, one of Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers, Bobbi C. Sternheim, wrote that her client had spent the entirety of her pretrial detention in “de facto solitary confinement under the most restrictive conditions where she is excessively and invasively searched and is monitored 24 hours per day.”

Weeks later, in a letter sent on Dec. 7 to the judge, Ms. Sternheim argued that Ms. Maxwell had been an exemplary detainee, and that the Bureau of Prisons had imposed “extraordinarily onerous conditions” of confinement on her to avoid “the catastrophic consequences of negligence” that led to Mr. Epstein’s jailhouse suicide.

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What's an onerous and oppressive condition is being a child who is/was being sexually trafficked by Ghislaine Maxwell.

Original black and white.

Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Kwanza, Good Winter Solstice Rebirth, Felice Las Posadas, Joyful Diwali, Happy Chinese New Year, and a Productive Festivus to the rest of us!

Trump was in turmoil yesterday.

He is in turmoil today.

For update on Trump in turmoil tomorrow, just check in here.

Trump downplays Russia in first comments on hacking campaign
By JILL COLVIN and MATTHEW LEEyesterday

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-politics-mark-levin-coronavirus-pandemic-hacking-6080f156125a4a46edef2a6dcf826611

WASHINGTON (AP) —

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“The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control,” Trump tweeted. He also claimed the media are “petrified” of “discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!).”

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It is not clear whether Pompeo got that message before his interview, but officials are now scrambling to figure out how to square the disparate accounts. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the statement or the basis of Trump’s claims. The State Department also did not respond to questions about Pompeo’s remarks.

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It’s not clear exactly what the hackers were seeking, but experts say it could include nuclear secrets, blueprints for advanced weaponry, COVID-19 vaccine-related research and information for dossiers on government and industry leaders.

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While Trump downplayed the impact of the hacks, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has said it compromised federal agencies as well as “critical infrastructure.” Homeland Security, the agency’s parent department, defines such infrastructure as any “vital” assets to the U.S. or its economy, a broad category that could include power plants and financial institutions.

-snip-

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Associated Press writers Frank Bajak in Boston, Eric Tucker in Washington and Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.

Bulgaria Expels Another Russian Diplomat For Spying On U.S. Troops
December 18, 2020 15:30 GMT Updated December 18, 2020 16:50 GMT

https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-expels-another-russian-diplomat-for-spying/31007938.html

SOFIA --

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The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has declared “persona non grata” a diplomat from the Russian Embassy “due to actions incompatible with his diplomatic status," the ministry tweeted on December 18.

Bulgarian prosecutors issued a separate statement alleging that from 2017 until now the diplomat "has engaged in spying activities, during which he collected military information, including about the numbers of U.S. troops deployed on Bulgarian territory during exercises."

The aim was to transfer this information to Russian military intelligence, prosecutors said, adding that they had evidence the diplomat had been in contact with a Bulgarian citizen with access to classified information to whom money had been offered.

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“We have in recent weeks and months seen too many examples of Russian officials carrying out aggressive actions, from espionage in Bulgaria to poisoning opponents both at home and abroad,” the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, and Interfax