monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Everyone was shocked when former President Barack Obama appointed the nominal “Republican” James Comey as director of the FBI. However, new evidence indicates that Comey was only appointed because he was implicated in the Clintons’ corruption.

Former FBI Director James Comey had numerous ties to the corrupt Clinton political machine, and he still does. One connection is his brother, Peter. Peter Comey is an executive at DLA Piper, the law firm responsible for filing the Clinton Foundation’s taxes. James Comey holds the mortgage for his brother’s mansion, tying a direct financial connection between Comey and the Clinton Foundation while he was investigating Hillary.

James Comey was appointed by Obama because he was a political insider with many dark connections to the Democrats. Obama trusted Comey not to target the establishment he was a part of.

The former president’s hunch was ultimately proven correct, as James Comey allowed numerous Democrat crimes to go unpunished during his three-year term leading the FBI.

James Comey has been connected to the Clinton criminal network for decades. In 1996, James Comey acted as the deputy special counsel for the Senate committee investigating the Whitewater scandal. The Senate was investigating shady real-estate loans authorized while Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas.

Many people connected to the Whitewater company were arrested and charged with over 40 crimes, yet the Clintons remained unscathed. James Comey acknowledged that Hillary Clinton obstructed the investigation and destroyed evidence, yet he decided not to prosecute due to lack of “intent”.

After leaving the Department of Justice in 2005, Comey moved into the private sector to receive his rewards. He was hired as the General Counsel for Lockheed Martin — the largest recipient of contracts from the Department of Defense. Comey was paid over $6 million before leaving the corporation in 2010.

Immediately after Comey left Lockheed Martin, he became a partner of the Clinton Global Initiative and was awarded 17 contracts from the Hillary Clinton State Department.

James Comey left Lockheed Martin with newfound wealth and joined the board of directors of HSBC Holdings, a British bank. The bank is a long-time partner of the Clinton Foundation and rewarded Comey well until he was appointed by Barack Obama.

James Comey’s career highlights the incestuous pay-for-play relationship between major corporations and the political elite. Comey let the Clintons off for their crimes and was heavily rewarded by corporations who were, in turn, rewarded with government contracts and favorable policy. This is exactly the swamp that President Trump promised to drain, and removing Comey was the first major step.

More hypocrisy. Every single thing he criticized Hillary of doing, Of course that was before the King gave him something shiny, now its all good!

Wealthy people don't, proportionately, owe any more to society than do poor people.

Salman Abedi named as the Manchester suicide bomber

His parents were both born in Libya but came to the UK to escape the Gaddafi regime. There were unconfirmed reports in Manchester that the whole family apart from the two elder sons recently returned to Libya.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the attack, calling him a "soldier of the Caliphate."

"We know that both al Qaida and Islamic State seek to conduct attacks in the UK, and that the UK's terror threat level has been at 'severe' for three years."

(President Donald Trump's) Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said Russia is employing similar tactics attempting to influence elections in Europe to those it used to influence the 2016 U.S. election, today at the Capitol.

Anything about the US employing similar tactics attempting to influence elections in Europe to those it used to influence the Russian election in 2011?

I didn't follow the hearing all the time - it's certainly easier for you.
Did you hear such? Is it part of that investigation?

Maybe he and his family didn't exactly "assimilate" in British society, but he seems to have "assimilated" in that crowd just fine, eh?

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Comey during a widely-watched Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday whether Fusion GPS was “part of the Russian intelligence apparatus.”

“I can’t say,” the FBI chief said.

“Do you agree with me that if Fusion was involved in preparing a dossier against Donald Trump that would be interfering in our election by the Russians?” Graham asked.

“I don’t want to say,” Comey said, without elaborating further.

Grassley has pressed Comey and Fusion about the firm’s work, both on the dossier and with Akhmetshin. The Republican has questioned Comey about reports that FBI agents met with Steele and at one point agreed to pay him $50,000 to continue researching Trump. The bureau also cited the dossier in an application for a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

“Where did the money come from, and what motivated the people writing the dossier?” Grassley asked on Wednesday.

Comey provided few answers to Grassley’s questions during the hearing. And in a response letter last month, Fusion GPS refused to cooperate with the committee.

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Browder, who once supported Putin, lobbied Congress heavily to help pass the sanctions bill. President Obama opposed the measure. Browder filed a complaint with the Justice Department in July laying out the case that Fusion GPS and Akhmetshin are acting as foreign agents of Russia. Foreign agents are required to register with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

I do know the situation at Piccadilly Station/Arena.


Have you been there, too?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former CIA Director John Brennan said Tuesday he personally warned Russia last summer against interfering in the U.S. presidential campaign, telling the Russians that continued meddling would backfire and prevent any warming of relations after the election.

The former CIA chief also told the House intelligence committee that he had become so concerned about Russian interference — and contacts between Americans "involved" with the Trump campaign and the Russians — that he convened a group of officials from the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency in late July to focus exclusively on the issue.

Republicans on the committee pushed Brennan about whether there was evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, a point President Donald Trump has tried to enlist allies to quash. Brennan said the CIA focuses on intelligence, not "evidence," and he was not able to answer that question.

Brennan's statements about the number of contacts between associates of the Trump campaign and the Russians again put details about the campaign's contacts with the Kremlin into the spotlight as reports emerged that Trump had asked his national intelligence director and NSA chief to state publicly there was no evidence of collusion before investigations into the matter were complete.

Former CIA Director John Brennany on Tuesday, testifed to House lawmakers on Tuesday. The public hearing is the House Intelligence Committee’s first since March 20, when then-FBI Director James Comey testified that the bureau is investigating Russian influence and possible collusion with members of Trump’s campaign.

Brennan said during Tuesday's open hearing he did not know whether Trump’s campaign “colluded” with Russia.

Brennan's comments were made during a tense exchange with Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, who pressed the Obama-era official on what evidence he had of a "connection" between the Trump campaign and Russian state actors.

"As I said Mr. Gowdy, I don't do evidence," Brennan said.

The South Carolina congressman responded, "I appreciate that you don't do evidence, Director Brennan. Unfortunately, that's what I do."

His determined discipline in the Middle East stood in stark contrast to his recklessness back home
[...]
You’ve got to hand it to him: In the short space of three days, Trump carried out a semi-revolution. He placed himself and the United States at the head of the anti-Iranian Sunni coalition, cashing in on hundreds of billions of Saudi dollars in return. He positioned himself as Mr. Tough on Terror, a strength made timelier by the terrible terror attack against Manchester teens during his visit. And he won over an edgy and apprehensive Israeli public, consigning Barack Obama in the eyes of many Israelis to the rogues’ gallery of US Presidents and placing himself in serious contention, for now at least, for the title of friendliest President ever.

Trump’s triumphs – which could very well be marred during his visits over the next few days to Rome, Brussels and Sicily – stood in stark contrast to his deteriorating situation in Washington. His determined discipline in the Middle East, possibly the result of a lack of confidence, was the opposite of his reckless bluster back home. It’s as if there is a Doctor Donald when he’s abroad who turns into a Mr. Hyde when he’s in the Oval Office. Perhaps there’s a dybbuk that has invaded his body that is scared of leaving American shores.

It’s still early days, of course. For now, Trump has gotten away with mere talk. There could very well be dire consequences down the road for isolating Iran and its Sh'ite allies, and for possibly forcing their Russian sponsor to react in kind to Trump’s unequivocal embrace of the Sunnis. The time will also come when Trump will have to put up or shut up regarding his nebulous fantasies of achieving peace, and if he doesn’t deliver, all hell could break loose, for Israel if not for himself too.
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He even cited Theodor Herzl, and received a rousing applaud in return.
The visit was a godsend for Netanyahu, allowing him to claim vindication for his eight year-long confrontation with Barack Obama and for his admittedly belated backing of Trump. Trump’s messages were also a bonanza for Israeli right-wingers who gleefully cited the president’s Zionist speech, belligerence towards Iran, strong condemnation of terror and glaring avoidance of any mention of a two-state solution, 1967 borders or a shared Jerusalem. Trump even threw some morsels at Israel’s pathetically beleaguered left, by refraining from moving the Embassy to Jerusalem, seeming to get along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and leaving IOU’s all over the place, that he’ll make good on his promise to facilitate peace sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Trump’s success in Israel, on the other hand, will agonize many American Jews who dislike him, especially those on the pro-Israel left who are torn between their wish of seeing progress in the peace process and their anguish at Trump’s general policies. It could thus widen the ever-growing gulf between Israelis, who are now Trump groupies, and liberal American Jews, who can’t stand the sight of him. For the time being at least, Netanyahu and his allies couldn’t care less.

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He [Brennan] convened a group of officials from the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency in late July to focus exclusively on the issue.

Trump’s success in Israel, on the other hand, will agonize many American Jews who dislike him, especially those on the pro-Israel left who are torn between their wish of seeing progress in the peace process and their anguish at Trump’s general policies