Trump 36: We Shall Overcome

[fraurosena]

When you sow hate, this is what you get.

And it doesn't stop there either, because...

This is horrendous and terrifying. And completely what this administration is aiming for.

[Cartmann99]

 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/clintons-obama-suspicious-packages/h_5b4e97a9fc939b819816a54d46b84659

Quote

Secret Service has not intercepted a suspicious package addressed to the White House

A US Secret Service spokesperson says there are only two packages intercepted by Secret Service -– the one addressed to Clinton at NY screening facility and the one addressed to Obama at a screening facility in the Washington area. 

CNN was initially told there was a package addressed to the White House that was being examined at the offsite processing facility that handles White House mail.

So yeah, apparently there was a claim that a bomb was sent to the White House as well. I don't know if the claim was camouflage because the "White House" doesn't want to admit that they ginned up a right wing crazy to the point of sending bombs through the mail (hey, if we got one too, it's just a garden variety crazy), or if Dear Leader can't stand anybody else getting attention - "Oh, Clinton and Obama got bombs? I got sent a bigger bomb!"

[fraurosena]

Huh. Nothing sent to the WH; the official lied. Unsurprising.

 

Link to the official statement:

SECRET SERVICE STATEMENT REGARDING INTERCEPTION OF SUSPICIOUS PACKAGES

Quote

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Secret Service has intercepted two suspicious packages addressed to Secret Service protectees.

Late on October 23, 2018, the Secret Service recovered a single package addressed to Former First Lady Hillary Clinton in Westchester County, New York. Early this morning, October 24, 2018, a second package addressed to the residence of Former President Barack Obama was intercepted by Secret Service personnel in Washington, DC.

The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such. Both packages were intercepted prior to being delivered to their intended location. The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.

The Secret Service has initiated a full scope criminal investigation that will leverage all available federal, state, and local resources to determine the source of the packages and identify those responsible.

 

[fraurosena]

The rightwing's rhetoric is ridiculous and reprehensible.

Pro-Trump Media Insists Bomb Threats Against Clinton, Obama, CNN are ‘Pure BS,’ a ‘False Flag’

Quote

Minutes after news broke of “potential explosive devices” being mailed to the homes of former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, along with CNN’s New York City studio, the dark corners of the conservative Internet were declaring it a plot to gin up empathy for Democrats.

Cries that the bomb threats was merely a “false flag” operation were evident on Twitter and pro-Trump forums. Many of the personalities pushing the claim were fringe types. But not all of them.

Popular talk radio host Rush Limbaugh hinted that the attempted bombings were set-up by Democrats, saying they would serve a political “purpose.”

“It’s happening in October,” Limbaugh said. “There’s a reason for this.”

Frank Gaffney, an Islamophobe who has held posts on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign and in the Ronald Reagan White House, suggested the packages were a “deflection” technique. “None of the leftists ostensibly targeted for pipe-bombs were actually at serious risk, since security details would be screening their mail,” he tweeted. “So let’s determine not only who is responsible for these bombs, but whether they were trying to deflect attention from the Left’s mobs.”

John Cardillo, a former NYPD officer and popular right-wing radio host, initially denounced political violence on both sides of the aisle, but quickly broadcast his skepticism that the threats were legit. “Just too coincidental that two weeks before Election Day, as the ‘blue wave’ has turned into a ripple, and the left is losing ground because of incivility and violent rhetoric, explosive devices show up in the mailboxes of Soros, Clinton, and Obama,” he wrote on Twitter. He later deleted the tweet.

Gab, a social media network that’s popular with alt-right figures who have been kicked off of Twitter, implied that the bomb attacks were a false flag. Devoted Trump supporters on forums like 4Chan and Reddit had similar reactions, claiming the bombs were set up by Democrats—or regretting that the bombs didn’t go off.

The explosive devices sent on Wednesday came on the heels of a similar discovery outside the home of Democratic financier George Soros on Tuesday. And they all follow a weeks-long debate over the absence of civility in politics—a theme heavily pushed by President Donald Trump to portray Democrats as the party of “mobs.” On Wednesday mornings, numerous Republican lawmakers, including the Vice President himself, moved swiftly to condemn the bomb threats and to call for the restoration of calmness and sanity with the midterm elections approaching.

Online, many of the biggest Trump-backing conservative voices refused to concede that the threats were real. Conservative columnist Kurt Schlichter tweeted that the “potential explosive devices” were a “super convenient turn of events.” Michael Flynn Jr., the son of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and a former promoter of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, claimed the bombs were “a total false flag operation.”

“I condemn all political violence but again the timing is bullsh#t,” Flynn tweeted. He, too, later deleted his tweets...

 

...only to kind of echo them upon clarification.

Those suspicions were echoed by other right-wing figures. Jacob Wohl, a prominent Trump supporter on Twitter, claimed that the bombs were false flag attacks “carefully planned for the midterms.” Bill Mitchell, a Trump-loving Twitter personality, called it “Pure BS.” James Woods, the conservative film actor, said it was an “obvious political stunt.” Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur who has made her name yelling in public at various Democratic figures, tweeted that she was “not buying it.” Chadwick Moore, a conservative reporter, tweeted that it was “impossible to believe these stories if you know how dirty [Democrats] are.”

The aftermath of major threats are always ripe moments for conspiracy theorist to flourish, especially so close to a national election. In the lead up to the 2016 election, many pro-Trump Internet forums were obsessed with the notion that the Clintons had been operating a pedophilia ring in the basement of a popular Washington D.C. pizzeria—which, needless to say, was not true. The conspiracy lost stature after an adherent went to the pizzaria with a rifle.

What’s been new about the Donald Trump era is how these wild theories have continued to flourish, personified by the growth of the pro-Trump QAnoncommunity which posits that Trump is engaged in a secret war against high-ranking globalist pedophiles in Hollywood and the Democratic Party.

On Wednesday, QAnon posters were also quick to claim that the bomb threats were a false flag operation meant to make Republicans look bad, in part because they had spent the days beforehand fixated on an anonymous internet post that claimed Soros would arrange for a shooting at a liberal political rally that would be set up to look like it was committed by a QAnon supporter. QAnon believers took the bomb scares as proof that the anonymous post had correctly predicted a false flag operation—even though none of the details in the post, including the rally shooting, were actually confirmed.

“Despite the fact that these particular incidents don’t match any of the specifics of that rumor, they’re acting like it was predicted,” said Travis View, an amateur researcher who tracks the shifting beliefs of QAnon supporters.

Initial reports that the White House had also received a bomb, prompted users on Reddit’s The_Donald forum to modify their theories that the threats were a convenient political set up. The conspiracy, they posited, was even more elaborate than initially believed. “It's too obvious if we just send them to the blatant targets, let's shut down any possibility of a false flag discussion by throwing one at the WH too,’” one user wrote.

Soon thereafter, the Secret Service clarified that they had not intercepted a suspicious package at the White House.

 

[tweets and pics embedded in quote]

[fraurosena]

Sadly, things are getting worse.

 

 

[fraurosena]

The FBI is now asking for the public's help.

This is their full statement:

Statement on the FBI’s Investigation of Suspicious Packages

Quote

Between October 22 and 24, 2018, suspicious packages were received at multiple locations in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas and Florida. The packages are being sent for analysis at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

“This investigation is of the highest priority for the FBI. We have committed the full strength of the FBI’s resources and, together with our partners on our Joint Terrorism Task Forces, we will continue to work to identify and arrest whoever is responsible for sending these packages,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “We ask anyone who may have information to contact the FBI. Do not hesitate to call; no piece of information is too small to help us in this investigation.”

The packages are similar in appearance, as depicted in the below photograph, and contain potentially destructive devices.

[pic as seen in tweet in post]

The packages were mailed in manila envelopes with bubble wrap interior. The packages were affixed with computer-printed address labels and six Forever stamps. All packages had a return address of “DEBBIE WASSERMAN SHULTZ” [sic] in Florida. Packages identified to date were addressed to:

• George Soros
• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
• Former President Barack Obama
• Former CIA Director John Brennan, care of CNN
• Former Attorney General Eric Holder

The package addressed to former Attorney General Holder did not reach its intended destination, but was rerouted to the return address in Florida.

The FBI will continue to work with our federal law enforcement partners at the United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as our state and local law enforcement partners, to identify and arrest the person or people responsible for sending these packages.

It is possible that additional packages were mailed to other locations. The FBI advises the public to remain vigilant and not touch, move or handle any suspicious or unknown packages.

If you have information about these packages, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov. If you observe any suspicious activity that requires an immediate response, please call 911 or contact your local law enforcement.

 

[fraurosena]

From the FBI agents association. I'm amazed and rather glad to see they're calling it domestic terrorism.

 

[fraurosena]

Sweet Rufus.

I don’t think they even know what the chant actually means. It’s just a Pavlovian reaction to her name.

[fraurosena]

Stupid is as stupid does.

When Trump Phones Friends, the Chinese and the Russians Listen and Learn

Quote

When President Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.

Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. White House officials say they can only hope he refrains from discussing classified information when he is on them.

Mr. Trump’s use of his iPhones was detailed by several current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could discuss classified intelligence and sensitive security arrangements. The officials said they were doing so not to undermine Mr. Trump, but out of frustration with what they considered the president’s casual approach to electronic security.

American spy agencies, the officials said, had learned that China and Russia were eavesdropping on the president’s cellphone calls from human sources inside foreign governments and intercepting communications between foreign officials.

The officials said they have also determined that China is seeking to use what it is learning from the calls — how Mr. Trump thinks, what arguments tend to sway him and to whom he is inclined to listen — to keep a trade war with the United States from escalating further. In what amounts to a marriage of lobbying and espionage, the Chinese have pieced together a list of the people with whom Mr. Trump regularly speaks in hopes of using them to influence the president, the officials said.

Among those on the list are Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group chief executive who has endowed a master’s program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Steve Wynn, the former Las Vegas casino magnate who used to own a lucrative property in Macau.

The Chinese have identified friends of both men and others among the president’s regulars, and are now relying on Chinese businessmen and others with ties to Beijing to feed arguments to the friends of the Trump friends. The strategy is that those people will pass on what they are hearing, and that Beijing’s views will eventually be delivered to the president by trusted voices, the officials said. They added that the Trump friends were most likely unaware of any Chinese effort.

Steve Wynn, who owned a resort in Macau, is among the friends of Mr. Trump the Chinese hope to use to influence the president.CreditThomas Lee for The New York Times

L. Lin Wood, a lawyer for Mr. Wynn, said his client was retired and had no comment. A spokeswoman for Blackstone, Christine Anderson, declined to comment on Chinese efforts to influence Mr. Schwarzman, but said that he “has been happy to serve as an intermediary on certain critical matters between the two countries at the request of both heads of state.”

Russia is not believed to be running as sophisticated an influence effort as China because of Mr. Trump’s apparent affinity for President Vladimir V. Putin, a former official said.

China’s effort is a 21st-century version of what officials there have been doing for many decades, which is trying to influence American leaders by cultivating an informal network of prominent businesspeople and academics who can be sold on ideas and policy prescriptions and then carry them to the White House. The difference now is that China, through its eavesdropping on Mr. Trump’s calls, has a far clearer idea of who carries the most influence with the president, and what arguments tend to work.

The Chinese and the Russians “would look for any little thing — how easily was he talked out of something, what was the argument that was used,” said John Sipher, a 28-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency who served in Moscow in the 1990s and later ran the agency’s Russia program.

Trump friends like Mr. Schwarzman, who figured prominently in the first meeting between President Xi Jinping of China and Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida resort, already hold pro-China and pro-trade views, and thus are ideal targets in the eyes of the Chinese, the officials said. Targeting the friends of Mr. Schwarzman and Mr. Wynn can reinforce the views of the two, the officials said. The friends are also most likely to be more accessible.

One official said the Chinese were pushing for the friends to persuade Mr. Trump to sit down with Mr. Xi as often as possible. The Chinese, the official said, correctly perceive that Mr. Trump places tremendous value on personal relationships, and that one-on-one meetings yield breakthroughs far more often than regular contacts between Chinese and American officials.

Whether the friends can stop Mr. Trump from pursuing a trade war with China is another question.

Officials said the president has two official iPhones that have been altered by the National Security Agency to limit their abilities — and vulnerabilities — and a third personal phone that is no different from hundreds of millions of iPhones in use around the world. Mr. Trump keeps the personal phone, White House officials said, because unlike his other two phones, he can store his contacts in it.

Apple declined to comment on the president’s iPhones. None of them are completely secure and are vulnerable to hackers who could remotely break into the phones themselves.

But the calls made from the phones are intercepted as they travel through the cell towers, cables and switches that make up national and international cellphone networks. Calls made from any cellphone — iPhone, Android, an old-school Samsung flip phone — are vulnerable.

The issue of secure communications is fraught for Mr. Trump. As a presidential candidate, he regularly attacked his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign for her use of an unsecured email server while she was secretary of state, and he basked in chants of “lock her up” at his rallies.

Intercepting calls is a relatively easy skill for governments. American intelligence agencies consider it an essential tool of spycraft, and they routinely try to tap the phones of important foreign leaders. In a diplomatic blowup during the Obama administration, documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, showed that the American government had tapped the phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

Foreign governments are well aware of the risk, and so leaders like Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin avoid using cellphones when possible.

President Barack Obama was careful with cellphones, too. He used an iPhone in his second term, but it could not make calls and could receive email only from a special address that was given to a select group of staff members and intimates. It had no camera or microphone, and it could not be used to download apps at will. Texting was forbidden because there was no way to collect and store the messages, as required by the Presidential Records Act.

“It is a great phone, state of the art, but it doesn’t take pictures, you can’t text. The phone doesn’t work, you know, you can’t play your music on it,” Mr. Obama said on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in June 2016. “So basically, it’s like — does your 3-year-old have one of those play phones?”

When Mr. Obama needed a cellphone, the officials said, he used one of those of his aides.

Mr. Trump has insisted on more capable devices. He did agree during the transition to give up his Android phone (the Google operating system is considered more vulnerable than Apple’s). And since becoming president, Mr. Trump has agreed to a slightly cumbersome arrangement of having two official phones: one for Twitter and other apps, and one for calls.

Mr. Trump typically relies on his cellphones when he does not want a call going through the White House switchboard and logged for senior aides to see, his aides said. Many of those Mr. Trump speaks with most often on one of his cellphones, such as hosts at Fox News, share the president’s political views, or simply enable his sense of grievance about any number of subjects.

Administration officials said Mr. Trump’s longtime paranoia about surveillance — well before coming to the White House he believed that his phone conversations were often being recorded — gave them some comfort that he was not disclosing classified information on the calls. They said they had further confidence he was not spilling secrets because he rarely digs into the details of the intelligence he is shown and is not well versed in the operational specifics of military or covert activities.

In an interview this week with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump quipped about his phones being insecure. When asked what American officials in Turkey had learned about the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, he replied, “I actually said don’t give it to me on the phone. I don’t want it on the phone. As good as these phones are supposed to be.”

But Mr. Trump is also famously indiscreet. In a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office with Russian officials, he shared highly sensitive intelligence passed to the United States by Israel. He also told the Russians that James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, was “a real nut job” and that firing him had relieved “great pressure.”

Still, Mr. Trump’s lack of tech savvy has alleviated some other security concerns. He does not use email, so the risk of a phishing attack like those used by Russian intelligence to gain access to Democratic Party emails is close to nil. The same goes for texts, which are disabled on his official phones.

His Twitter phone can connect to the internet only over a Wi-Fi connection, and he rarely, if ever, has access to unsecured wireless networks, officials said. But the security of the device ultimately depends on the user, and protecting the president’s phones has sometimes proved difficult.

Last year, Mr. Trump’s cellphone was left behind in a golf cart at his club in Bedminster, N.J., causing a scramble to locate it, according to two people familiar with what took place.

Mr. Trump is supposed to swap out his two official phones every 30 days for new ones but rarely does, bristling at the inconvenience. White House staff members are supposed to set up the new phones exactly like the old ones, but the new iPhones cannot be restored from backups of his old phones because doing so would transfer over any malware.

New phone or old, though, the Chinese and the Russians are listening, and learning.

 

[fraurosena]

Presiduncial ignoramus was sundowning again.

 

[fraurosena]

And now Joe Biden has got one too. 

Authorities searching for package addressed to Joe Biden amid bomb scare

Quote

Law enforcement officials are reportedly seeking out a package addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden because of similarities it has to suspicious packages sent to a number of other Democratic officials this week.

CNN's Jim Sciutto cited two law enforcement officials with the development Wednesday evening.

NBC News contributing correspondent Jonathan Dienst said on MSNBC that law enforcement officials are concerned that a potential package addressed to Biden was sent to the wrong address and therefore shipped to an office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida because that address appeared on the return label. He added that information from that U.S. Postal Service indicated that the package is out somewhere.

An array of Trump critics around the country were sent potentially explosive devices this week, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, California Rep. Maxine Waters, and liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros. Another package was sent to ex-CIA Director John Brennan at CNN's offices in New York City.

The potentially explosive devices included in these packages, sent in manila envelopes with a return address to Wasserman Schultz's office, are being examined by the FBI.

Earlier in the day it was reported that the package addressed to Holder was sent to the wrong address and therefore sent to Wasserman Schultz's office.

Authorities have yet to say they have a suspect.

"This country has to come together. This division, this hatred, this ugliness has to end," Biden tweeted earlier in the day.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I can't imagine any president in recent memory not disavowing an endorsement from David Duke:

 

[fraurosena]

And another one. This is not going to end before those responsible get caught.

 

More info.

 

[fraurosena]

Presiduncial credo: If you can't blame the dems, blame the MSM.

 

[fraurosena]

 

[Howl]

Re: Mail bombs  

Trump can't control this.  I keep wanting to use terms like "blow up in his face" but that doesn't seem appropriate.  It's actually painful to watch his totally inability to rise to this occasion, or any occasion. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

What a bloody waste of resources. As if they haven't got better things to do.

And what exactly are they going to do? Shoot people trying to cross the border? 

Also, how can 800 people, military or not, defend the whole US Mexico border, which is  approx. 1,954 miles long? That would mean that a single person would have to defend about 2,5 miles of border, alone. 

What's next? Landmines?

[fraurosena]

Help me out here guys, is it...

to chand, chand, chanded, or 

to chand, chund, chund?

 

 

[mango_fandango]

Trump: “We must come together in peace and harmony”

With you as President? Please. It’s YOU who’s causing this shit. If this was happening to Republicans they would be frothing at the mouth. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

1 hour ago, mango_fandango said:

Trump: “We must come together in peace and harmony”

With you as President? Please. It’s YOU who’s causing this shit. If this was happening to Republicans they would be frothing at the mouth. 

This one goes out for Donald:

Spoiler

 

 

[fraurosena]

Oh dear, it turns out the judge won't accept a presiduncial persecution complex as a defense. 

Trump Handed Big Loss As Judge Shoots Down His Defense in Foundation Fraud Case

Quote

New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood sued Donald Trump, three of his children and his foundation in June, saying he illegally used the charity as a personal “checkbook” for his own benefit, including his 2016 presidential campaign and business.

On Thursday, Trump tried to use his persecution complex as a defense in the case claiming political bias was the motive for the charges, but a New York judge wasn’t having it.

“I don’t want to get involved with that,” New York Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla said at a hearing Thursday.

Trump’s lawyers asked the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds the lawsuit was politically motivated and argued that Trump and his children did not break any laws.

“The allegations are what they are. Until you deny them I accept them,” the judge said.

The New York state attorney general sued Trump and his kids for engaging in systemic illegal activity and unlawful political coordination by using their “charity” as a family slush fund. With his defense shot down, Trump is not going to be able to beat the rap in what could be the first in a series of state-level lawsuits and criminal charges to come down on the president and his family.

 

[fraurosena]

Trump used charity money to buy his own portrait because no one else would: lawyers

Quote

Donald Trump had no choice but to blow $10,000 in charity money on a giant painting of himself — because no one else wanted it, his lawyers claimed in court Thursday.

Trump picked up the infamous painting — now at the center of a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general who alleges suspect spending by the charity — during a 2014 auction benefiting The Unicorn Foundation at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida.

“So Mr. Trump donates $10,000 to start the bidding, and then when the bidding goes on and no one else bids, they’re stuck with the painting,” his attorney Alan Futerfas told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Saliann Scarpulla as he asked for the case to be dismissed.

And so the “Art of the Deal” author got the raw end of the deal and wound up having to plunk down $10,000 on the portrait. But rather than fork over the dough himself, Trump billed his own Donald J. Trump Foundation for the cost.

Prosecutors say Trump also used charitable foundation money to pay off his creditors, decorate one of his golf clubs with the portrait, and boost his presidential campaign.

“They’re making a mountain out of a molehill,” Futerfas said of the allegations.

Beyond the painting, Assistant Attorney General Yael Fuchs said that in 2016, the foundation was “used to collect and distribute funds at the direction and for the benefit of the Trump campaign.”

The foundation and the campaign worked hand in hand to stage a televised “Trump for Vets” event in Iowa a week before the state’s caucuses. The event brought in $5.6 million of tax-free donations — $2.8 million of which went straight into foundation coffers while the remainder went to charitable groups, according to the AG.

“I think it’s beyond dispute that these were improper self-dealing transactions,” Fuchs said.

But Futerfas countered that “every dime, every penny” from the fundraiser went to veterans charities.

“Candidates can go out and raise money for charity. That’s absolutely proper,” Futerfas said.

The judge said the question was whether the Trump campaign directed payment of the proceeds from the foundation to specific charities in order to curry favor with voters — which would be illegal.

Scarpulla said she’d wait to rule on the case until a Manhattan appeals court determined whether a sitting president could be sued in state civil court.

 

[47of74]

Trump: “We must come together in peace and harmony”
With you as President? Please. It’s YOU who’s causing this shit. If this was happening to Republicans they would be frothing at the mouth. 

He can go fuck himself. I have no intention of breaking bread with branch trumpvidians.