ET Williams

The Doctor of Common Sense

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Obama’s Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice Spied on Trump

Investigate this bitch too. Drain the swamp, damit!

Top Obama Adviser Sought Names of Trump Associates in Intel

White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The pattern of Rice’s requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government’s policy on “unmasking” the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like “U.S. Person One.”

The National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice’s multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel’s office, who reviewed more of Rice’s requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.

The intelligence reports were summaries of monitored conversations — primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials. One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they contained valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration.

Rice did not respond to an email seeking comment on Monday morning. Her role in requesting the identities of Trump transition officials adds an important element to the dueling investigations surrounding the Trump White House since the president’s inauguration.

Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are probing any ties between Trump associates and a Russian influence operation against Hillary Clinton during the election. The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Representative Devin Nunes, is also investigating how the Obama White House kept tabs on the Trump transition after the election through unmasking the names of Trump associates incidentally collected in government eavesdropping of foreign officials.

Rice herself has not spoken directly on the issue of unmasking. Last month when she was asked on the “PBS NewsHour” about reports that Trump transition officials, including Trump himself, were swept up in incidental intelligence collection, Rice said: “I know nothing about this,” adding, “I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that account today.”

Rice’s requests to unmask the names of Trump transition officials does not vindicate Trump’s own tweets from March 4 in which he accused Obama of illegally tapping Trump Tower. There remains no evidence to support that claim.

But Rice’s multiple requests to learn the identities of Trump officials discussed in intelligence reports during the transition period does highlight a longstanding concern for civil liberties advocates about U.S. surveillance programs. The standard for senior officials to learn the names of U.S. persons incidentally collected is that it must have some foreign intelligence value, a standard that can apply to almost anything. This suggests Rice’s unmasking requests were likely within the law.

The news about Rice also sheds light on the strange behavior of Nunes in the last two weeks. It emerged last week that he traveled to the White House last month, the night before he made an explosive allegation about Trump transition officials caught up in incidental surveillance. At the time he said he needed to go to the White House because the reports were only on a database for the executive branch. It now appears that he needed to view computer systems within the National Security Council that would include the logs of Rice’s requests to unmask U.S. persons.

The ranking Democrat on the committee Nunes chairs, Representative Adam Schiff, viewed these reports on Friday. In comments to the press over the weekend he declined to discuss the contents of these reports, but also said it was highly unusual for the reports to be shown only to Nunes and not himself and other members of the committee.

Indeed, much about this is highly unusual: if not how the surveillance was collected, then certainly how and why it was disseminated.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-03/top-obama-adviser-sought-names-of-trump-associates-in-intel

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GFP Mooslim Terror Attack in Russia Kills 10, Injures 50

Here’s the goat fucker. Go get him, Putin, and take out his whole family.

Two attackers on the run as images emerge of first ‘terror suspect’ accused of planting a nail bomb which ripped through carriages on St Petersburg metro killing at least ten and injuring 50

  • The horrific blast occurred between Sennaya Ploshchad and Sadovaya train station in St Petersburg, Russia
  • Ambulances raced to the scene of the carnage caused by a nail bomb which was detonated on the network
  • Metro officials reported blast was from an improvised explosive device on board which included shrapnel 
  • At least 10 people are reported to have been killed by the blast and 50 including children have been injured
  • Nobody has claimed responsibility, but previous attacks on Russia have been blamed on ISIS and Chechens  

 

Police are hunting two suspected terrorists accused of planting explosive devices in St Petersburg metro stations – one of which detonated in a train killing at least ten and injuring 50 today.

Several Russian media outlets have released the CCTV picture of the bearded suspect who was wearing a long, black top and a hat blamed for caused the carnage by detonating a bomb that was packed with shrapnel.

The terrifying incident took place on a train that was travelling between Sennaya Ploshchad and Sadovaya metro stations. A second explosive device disguised as a fire extinguisher was found and defused in a nearby station.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but previous attacks on Russia have been blamed on ISIS and Chechens.

A search warrant has now been issued for two people in connection with the attack – one for planting the bomb which detonated at Sennaya Ploshchad and the other for leaving an explosive device at Ploshchad Revolutsii station.

A source said: ‘Two people are being sought on suspicion of planning the blasts, one of whom is thought to have placed the explosive device in the metro wagon and the second person for leaving a bomb at the metro station Ploshchad Revolutsii.’

Dozens have been injured, including at least three children, as it was reported the man left a briefcase on a train before moving carriages moments before the deadly blast.

Bloodied passengers were left strewn across the platform in the Russian city as emergency services scrambled to save those wounded by the bomb and the resulting shards of glass and twisted metal.

Vladimir Putin is in his hometown of St Petersburg today for talks with the president of Belarus and confirmed ‘there are dead and injured’, offering his condolences to the families of those killed.

The Kremlin leader, who wanted to visit the scene in the aftermath of the attack but was held back by security services, said: ‘I have already spoken to the head of our special services, they are working to ascertain the cause of the blasts.

‘The causes are not clear, it’s too early. We will look at all possible causes, terrorism as well as common crime.’

Interfax news agency cited an unidentified source who says the suspect in Monday’s blast might have left the explosive device in a bag.

Russian online news outlet Fontanka published the grainy photo which shows a middle-aged man who entered Petrogradskaya station 20 minutes before the blast.

Interfax news agency earlier quoted a source as saying that surveillance cameras had captured photos of the blast suspect.

At this stage it is not clear whether or not the suspect was wearing the hat and gown as a disguise.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied earlier speculation that President Putin was due to pass by the Sennaya Metro station around the time of the blast.

The explosion happened between the Sennaya Ploshchad station and Tekhnologichesky Institut at around 2.40pm local time, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said.

A witnesses told Russia’s Life News: ‘People were bleeding, their hair burned. We were told to move to the exit, because the movement stopped. People just fled.

‘My girlfriend was in the next car that exploded. She said that he began to shake. When she came out, she saw that people were mutilated.’

A male eyewitness said: ‘It’s just like a war here. Every special service is here, the FSB, police, and multiple – really a lot of them – ambulances.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen to many paramedics in my life. Something completely horrible is happening here.’

Eight bodies were recovered from the carriage while two more were found on the platform or were in the tunnel.

Earlier reports indicated a backpack had been thrown onto the train and witnesses also suggested there had been multiple explosions, but officials confirmed just the one blast.

Russian security agencies did find an explosive device at a different metro station in central St Petersburg and made it safe, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement.

The device was found at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station, a different location from where a blast earlier took place.

Other witnesses also described a man leaving a briefcase on one carriage before moving to another just seconds before the huge explosion.

As reports of the suspected terror attack trickled through to the capital, Moscow heightened its security and local reports suggest three metro stations – Nagatinskaja, Savelovskaya and Ugrezhskaya (CIP) – were cordoned off due to suspicious packages.

The leader of the Kremlin is visiting the city today and is expected to hold talks with the Belarusian president later in the day.

Sennaya Ploshad is one of the Russian city’s main metro stations, where three underground lines connect.

It is beneath the large ‘Sennaya’ shopping centre as well as the offices of Gazprombank, Russia’s third largest bank.

The St Petersburg metro said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that it has closed two stations, Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad – two neighbouring stations on one line – and is evacuating all passengers.

‘Evacuation of passengers is ongoing, there are people injured,’ it said.

‘An unidentified object supposedly blew up in a (train) carriage.’

Following the reports, the Moscow metro also announced that it is ‘taking additional security measures’ as required by law in such situations, according to the network’s official Twitter account.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4375518/Explosion-metro-St-Petersburg.html#ixzz4dCxTr3r0

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FBI Tried to Hire British Spy to Find Anything To Ruin Trump

Find shit on Trump… Everyone has tried and has come up with nothing.

Byron York: Senate committee targets FBI No. 2 in Trump dossier probe

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey demanding the story behind the FBI’s reported plan to pay the author of a lurid and unsubstantiated dossier on candidate Donald Trump. In particular, Grassley appears to be zeroing in on the FBI’s deputy director, Andrew McCabe, indicating Senate investigators want to learn more about McCabe’s role in a key aspect of the Trump-Russia affair.

Grassley began his investigation after the Washington Post reported on February 28 that the FBI, “a few weeks before the election,” agreed to pay former British spy Christopher Steele to investigate Trump. Prior to that, supporters of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign had paid Steele to gather intelligence on Clinton’s Republican rival. In the end, the FBI did not pay Steele, the Post reported, after the dossier “became the subject of news stories, congressional inquiries and presidential denials.” It is not clear whether Steele worked under agreement with the FBI for any period of time before the payment deal fell through.

“The idea that the FBI and associates of the Clinton campaign would pay Mr. Steele to investigate the Republican nominee for president in the run-up to the election raises further questions about the FBI’s independence from politics, as well as the Obama administration’s use of law enforcement and intelligence agencies for political ends,” Grassley wrote in a letter to Comey dated March 28.

Grassley demanded the FBI turn over all its records relating to Steele and the dossier, in addition to “all FBI policies, procedures, and guidelines applicable when the FBI seeks to fund an investigator associated with a political opposition research firm connected to a political candidate, or with any outside entity.”

But the most noteworthy thing about Grassley’s letter is its focus on McCabe. Grassley noted that McCabe is already under investigation by the FBI’s inspector general for playing a top role in the Hillary Clinton email investigation even though McCabe’s wife accepted nearly $700,000 in political donations arranged by a close Clinton friend, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, for her run for state senate in Virginia.

“While Mr. McCabe recused himself from public corruption cases in Virginia…he failed to recuse himself from the Clinton email investigation,” Grassley wrote, “despite the appearance of a conflict created by his wife’s campaign accepting $700,000 from a close Clinton associate during the investigation.”

Now, Grassley wrote, there could be a problem with McCabe’s participation in the Trump-Russia probe. If McCabe had a conflict being too close to Clinton, how could he then investigate Trump? A key passage from Grassley’s letter:

Mr. McCabe’s appearance of a partisan conflict of interest relating to Clinton associates only magnifies the importance of those questions. That is particularly true if Mr. McCabe was involved in approving or establishing the FBI’s reported arrangement with Mr. Steele, or if Mr. McCabe vouched for or otherwise relied on the politically-funded dossier in the course of the investigation. Simply put, the American people should know if the FBI’s second-in-command relied on Democrat-funded opposition research to justify an investigation of the Republican presidential campaign.

Grassley followed with a dozen questions, all targeted at McCabe. Has McCabe been involved “in any capacity” in investigating alleged collusion between TrumpWorld and Russia? Has McCabe been involved in surveillance or intercepts of any sort in the case? Has McCabe “made any representations to prosecutors or judges” regarding the Steele dossier? Has McCabe had any interactions with Steele himself? Did McCabe brief anyone in the Obama administration on the Trump-Russia investigation? Was McCabe ever authorized by the FBI to speak to the media about the case? Did he ever do so without authorization? Has anyone in the FBI raised questions about McCabe’s possible Clinton-Trump conflict of interest? Has any complaint been filed about it? Has anyone at the FBI recommended or requested that McCabe recuse himself from the Russia-Trump investigation?

The March 28 letter is the second Grassley has sent to FBI Director Comey regarding the Trump dossier. Grassley’s first letter, on March 6, demanded that the FBI turn over extensive documentation and answer questions about how the bureau came to agree to pay for Steele’s services in the midst of a presidential campaign. So far, Grassley has not received the material he seeks.

Look for the chairman to keep pushing. Grassley, a longtime champion of inspectors general in the federal departments, can be a tenacious opponent. Armed with majority control of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he’s not likely to give up.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-senate-committee-targets-fbi-no.-2-in-trump-dossier-probe/article/2619120

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White Children Excluded From “Multi-Cultural’ Playground

Whites don’t have culture?

A mother in Australia has been forced to leave a playground with her kids after the officials told her they can’t play in a “multicultural group” because she’s white.

Tara Coverdale, a mother of two and currently living in Sydney, Australia, claims she was told to leave the playground because it was a multicultural playgroup and she’s a white Australian, according to The Daily Telegraph Australia.

The mother said went with her eight-month-old baby and her four-year-old son to Alexandria Park Community Centre located in the inner-city Sydney.

Shortly after she arrived to the community centre for a playgroup, a staff member approached her asking whether this was her first time. Rather than being welcoming, the staff member announced that Coverdale isn’t allowed to be there.

“I’m sorry you can’t come here. It’s a multicultural playgroup,” staff member said and asked, “Can I ask what your cultural background is?”

Coverdale, a blonde mother with freckles, replied saying she’s Australian, prompting the staff to deny her entry into the playground. “I’m sorry, you can’t come here. It’s for multicultural families and people who speak languages other than English at home.”

The mother refused to leave the playground, claiming her son was having a good time with a friend in the playground, asking “Why should I leave?”

She was then approached by Jo Fletcher, the centre’s facilitator, who asked the same question as the staff member: “Can I just ask what your cultural background is?”

“I’m sorry you can’t come here. It’s a multicultural playgroup,” Fletcher said after finding out Coverdale is a fourth-generation Australian.

Fletcher didn’t respond to the paper’s requests for comment, only confirmed to the NSW Department of Education that such conversation had taken place.

According to the Australian mother, the cener insisted that the playgroup was exclusively for “multicultural” mothers who “might be lonely and might want to build a network of people who speak the same language”.

The centre’s facilitator also didn’t help Coverdale to find a playgroup that she’s allowed to participate. “We don’t have one here for you,” she said. “You’ll have to go up to Erskineville or Newtown,” locations which don’t suit the mother as they are too far away.

“We’re in a pretty progressive area, it’s very accepting of all people. But I feel like I’m excluded,” Coverdale told the paper. “How does that help Australia, help people to integrate, speak English and build a life… I pay a lot of tax. I pay my rates. To think I’m actually not welcome is unfair.”

She added that other mothers thought the way the center dealt with her was “terrible” as they “think it’s a great facility and appreciate it but they don’t want to exclude people”.

While she was at the center, she claims other mothers were allowed to enter and “were made to feel very welcome. Because they didn’t look white, they didn’t even get asked about their background.”

Following the controversy, Education Minister Rob Stokes had instructed the centre to allow all families to attend the playground.

“I was disappointed to hear that a mum and her young child felt they were not welcome… This is not acceptable. Everyone, regardless of their background, should feel included in these wonderful community activities.”

The Department of Education also “counseled” center’s facilitator Jo Fletcher on the requirements of the program to be “inclusive”.

https://heatst.com/culture-wars/mother-expelled-from-multicultural-playgroup-because-shes-white/?mod=sm_tw_post

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Schumer Whines About Gorsuch Nominee, Not ‘Mainstream’ Enough

Schumer is a whining moron. Hey Grandpa, learn to say “Justice Gorsuch”

Schumer: Trump Should Ditch Gorsuch for a ‘Mainstream Nominee’

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said President Donald Trump should change his Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch for “a mainstream nominee” who can get 60 votes in the senate.

Schumer said, “Let me make a proposal here to maybe break this problem that we have, okay? It looks like Gorsuch will not reach the 60-vote margin. So instead of changing the rules, which is up to Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority, why doesn’t President Trump, Democrats, and Republicans in the Senate, sit down, and try to come up with a mainstream nominee? Look, when a nominee doesn’t get 60 votes, you shouldn’t change the rules, you should change the nominee. And let’s just take, give me one minute here, because this is important, let’s just look at the history, okay?”

“Our nominee was Merrick Garland, Mitch McConnell broke 230 years of precedent and didn’t call him up for a vote,” he continued. “It wasn’t in the middle of an election campaign, it was March.Second, then now it looks like we have the votes to prevent Gorsuch from getting on. Now that doesn’t mean you have to change the rules. Each side didn’t get their nominee. Let’s sit down and come together. Our Republican friends are acting like, you know, they’re a cat on the top of a tree and they have to jump off with all the damage that entails. Come back off the tree, sit down, and work with us and we will produce a mainstream nominee.”

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/04/02/schumer-trump-ditch-gorsuch-mainstream-nominee/

 

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Vladimir Putin Asks To Meet With Trump

Putin to Trump: Glad to see a man in the White House running the country again.

Putin seeking meeting with Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday extended an invitation to meet with President Trump through a spokesman who emphasized the need to build a relationship between the two nations.

Putin adviser Dmitry Peskov said on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos that Trump and the Russian president should “meet each other and exchange views” in order to build a relationship between the two nations.

He said this just moments after Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said she does not trust Putin and that “there’s no love” in the relationship between the U.S. and Russia.

A number of investigations are underway in Washington over the extent of Russia’s involvement in hacking last year’s U.S. presidential elections.

Democrats are pressing the idea of Trump’s complicity with Russia in the hacking scandal. Trump as recently as Saturday prodded the press to stop covering the story, labeling it “fake news.”

The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are currently investigating Russia’s hacking of the U.S. election last year, including whether or not U.S. officials leaked information to Russia officials.

Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired earlier this year for misleading Vice President Pence about his meeting with the Russian ambassador during the transition period after the election. His attorneys said Flynn is offering to testify before the committee, but only if he is given immunity.

Meanwhile, Russian officials continue to dismiss the accusations of interference in the election. “They should either stop talking about that or produce some proof at last. Otherwise, it all begins to look unseemly,” Peskov said in December, when the Obama administration was still in power.

Putin himself recently addressed the allegations enigmatically.

“Watch my lips: No,” Putin said on Thursday after being asked by a journalist if any evidence would be found that Russia ran an influence campaign on the U.S. election. Putin was referring to a promise by George H.W. Bush that he would not raise taxes as president — a promise that turned out not to be true.

FBI Director James Comey said last month that his agents are investigating Russian involvement in the presidential election, including whether there was coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/putin-seeking-meeting-with-trump/article/2619134