I have nothing to add to the Wohl shitshow discussed by Tom and Cheryl, but I felt this title for a post was too good to pass up. Watching the Pens and relaxing- Genine is on a flight back to the left coast.
Thurston misses her.
This post is in: Open Threads
I have nothing to add to the Wohl shitshow discussed by Tom and Cheryl, but I felt this title for a post was too good to pass up. Watching the Pens and relaxing- Genine is on a flight back to the left coast.
Thurston misses her.
This post is in: Criminal Justice, Election 2018, Information Warfare, Open Threads, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell
Tom has given us one of today’s gems of humor, and I want to share the other one. There are far, far more tweets than I can possibly include here, but I will try to indicate the range and depth of incompetence, which is truly monumental.
First, a narrative account for those of you who prefer such things.
At the center of the scheme is publicity-hungry Republican lobbyist Jack Burkman, who has repeatedly dabbled in internet conspiracy theories in the past, including promoting the idea that murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was killed by deep-state government operatives.
….
Burkman has not any offered any evidence at all of his accusations and his previous “bombshell” press conferences on other stories have become notorious flops in Washington media circles.
….
Burkman’s latest gambit has far higher stakes than his previous ones; but it too seems similarly bound for self-destruction. Allegations that he was offering to pay women to accuse Mueller come from an uncorroborated email sent to a number of media outlets, including The Daily Beast, by a person who identified herself as Florida resident “Lorraine Parsons.”
In her emails, Parsons claimed that Burkman and his associates were pressuring her to “make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller” and to “sign a sworn affidavit to that effect.” In exchange, she said, they were offering tens of thousands of dollars. Parsons repeatedly declined to talk to The Daily Beast on the phone, and internet searches have failed to provide any background on her. Parsons didn’t respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
….
Jacob Wohl, a right wing Twitter personality and a self-described friend of Burkman, said Burkman had told him he had hired Matthew Cohen, who is a managing partner at the private investigations company Surefire Intelligence, to assist with the investigation.
Surefire is a bit of a mystery. Since-deleted Craigslist advertisements for the company said it “was founded by two members of Israel’s elite intelligence community.” The ads billed services including “counter intelligence,” “private spies,” and “ethical hackers.”
More amusing details at the link. And yet more on Twitter. Stuff is being deleted (although I’m sure copies exist), which Popehat earlier pointed out could be destroying evidence in an FBI investigation.
https://twitter.com/EdKrassen/status/1057384188213637120
Bellingcat is ON IT! (disclosure: I have worked with Bellingcat and occasionally write articles for them.)
Just finished a new post that rounds up @JacobAWohl's hilariously bad attempts at smearing Mueller and making a fake intelligence firm:
The Unintelligent Design of SureFire Intelligencehttps://t.co/DqZK4IIZOa— Aric Toler (@AricToler) October 30, 2018
Looking into the employees for "Surefire Intelligence" on LinkedIn, and it's not a promising start for this being a legit place. pic.twitter.com/LgCtEsAsjt
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) October 30, 2018
Jacob Wohl is a moron and didn't realize that there are reverse image search engines other than Google when he was adding filters to these pictures. Yandex got this as the very first result.
— Aric Toler (@AricToler) October 30, 2018
Popehat and other lawyers are yukking it up.
In anticipation of likely questions: "being a moronic manchild" is not a defense to federal criminal charges.
— NotOutlandishHat (@Popehat) October 30, 2018
So we all know Jacob Wohl is a dumbass, but aside from the whole “ridiculous fake intel company that uses his mom’s voicemails and stolen photos of supermodels as Tel Aviv special agents,” there’s also this gem from today. pic.twitter.com/FtY1AFJvcb
— Ms. Entropy / سيدة الفتنة (@MsEntropy) October 30, 2018
Jacob Wohl is still trying to deny he set this whole thing up, despite the phone number for this company redirecting to his mum’s voicemail. https://t.co/u5ORLGgI7G
— Nick Waters (@N_Waters89) October 30, 2018
Odd. Jacob Wohl says he doesn't know nuttin' about Surefire Intelligence, the firm tied to the bizarre Mueller allegations. Take a look at the photos below of Mathhew Cohen, head of 'Surefire,' and of Jacob Wohl. pic.twitter.com/Q1rAW4wkPO
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) October 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/kim/status/1057363567693852672
A friend said this has been the best day he’s seen on Twitter for a while.
This post is in: Nature & Respite, Open Threads, WTF?
Sergey Savitsky, an engineer [at Bellingshausen Station, a Russian research station in the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica], is accused of stabbing welder Oleg Beloguzov in the chest, the Sun* reports.
So far, so good — just one more incident in the human carnival, albeit in chillier conditions than most. But wait! What could possibly have driven Savitsky to his savage act?
The alleged attack was said to be the result of an argument between the two over Beloguzov’s habit of spoiling the endings of books that he’d read from the remote outpost’s library.
Welp.
That changes the matter.
I mean — these guys are stuck together for year-long-stretches. Serial spoiling is no mere prank, and not even simply provocation: it’s an assault on all that’s right and holy!
After all: who among us hasn’t felt the urge, and been saved from the evil impulse only by the fact that we can leave the house and read something else…
No jury would convict.
Amirite?
Oh, and btw:
Some reports suggest that alcohol was involved.
Ya think?
PS: the good news:
Beloguzov was evacuated to Chile for medical treatment, and his life is reportedly not in danger.
So anyway. I figured we needed a little respite today, and here it is. Open thread.
*Yeah. I know.
Image: Johann Hamza, The Reader, before 1928
by Betty Cracker| 135 Comments
This post is in: Election 2018, Gun nuts, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, General Stupidity
Meghan the Lesser tries a gotcha question on Stacey Abrams, invoking the specter of a black woman coming for Georgians’ shootin’ arns. It doesn’t go so well for her:
.@MeghanMcCain for some reason brings our org into her conversation about guns with future Georgia Governor Stacey Abrams. Gets drown out by audience applause for Abrams’ position. ???pic.twitter.com/0WfdPlxjOP
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 30, 2018
The contrast between McCain’s tiresome MillennialCon shtick and Abrams’ warmth and humor could not be more stark. I loved Abrams’ line about hunting: “I don’t hunt because I mostly eat chicken, and that just seems mean.”
I’m 150 miles or so from Georgia, but I’ll throw a week-long party if Abrams wins. The latest poll has Abrams edging Cheato Kemp — who is outrageously still presiding over an election in which he’s running, like the Banana Republican he is — by a point. Go Stacey, go!
by Adam L Silverman| 246 Comments
This post is in: America, Crazification Factor, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, Not Normal
I wasn't going to report on this, but I think my fears are coming true. Based on information that I am privy to, I believe false accusations will be spread about Mueller in order to discredit him and possibly the journalists who are preparing this story. https://t.co/HQXTvPYirD
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
I worked on this story and chased down leads, but found the woman to be very unreliable. She wouldn't get on the phone, she lied about journalists she was working with, etc. Furthermore, I got in contact with the man who allegedly was offering the money….
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
I still don't know what to make of the entire situation, but I fear that this is a scheme to discredit those who are reporting on the Russia investigation. If the story coming out tomorrow matches the story I heard, I will post more details.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
IMPORTANT: If you see a story tomorrow or anytime in the future of former colleagues of Mueller coming forward with sexual assault claims then please check in with my feed. I have receipts.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
Wohl just told me his info is coming from a GOP lobbyist, which makes me increasingly worried. I fear that someone covering Mueller has fallen for a fake story.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
This is pretty clearly a coordinated disinformation operation intended to both shift the news cycle going into the last weekend before the election and to influence attitudes in advance of, as well as set the conditions to diminish and negate the next round of indictments that everyone expects the Special Counsel’s Office to bring shortly after the mid-term elections. You have your pick of who is involved, let alone bankrolling this insanity. Charles Johnson of LGF has been wondering what his sociopathic namesake and stalker, popularly known as the Rage Furby, has been up to recently as he’s been very quiet. This is the type of thing he’d be involved in. Especially if someone was paying him!
I also am in complete agreement with Rick Wilson, the GOP campaign strategist and campaign communication specialist who is one of the leading NeverTrumpers.
It's.
A.
Trap.
My operative theory is that this is soon-to-be indicted geriatric ratfucker Roger Stone and his alt-right bitch boys, wannabes, and clingers trying to shank Robert Mueller.
Expect it to drop on Thursday night. https://t.co/PRcjqP0fz6
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) October 30, 2018
At that point, BRING THE GODDAMNED FIRE. https://t.co/uLWZxwjp33
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) October 30, 2018
Updated at 1:40 PM (hat tip to Cheryl Rofer in the comments)
Natasha Bertrand is reporting that the Special Counsel’s Office has already reported this to the FBI for investigation.
An alleged scheme to pay off women to fabricate sexual assault allegations against Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been referred to the FBI for further investigation, according to a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, Peter Carr. “When we learned last week of allegations that women were offered money to make false claims about the Special Counsel, we immediately referred the matter to the FBI for investigation,” Carr said in a statement on Tuesday.
The special counsel’s attention to this scheme—which was brought to the office by a woman claiming she herself had been offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against Mueller—and its decision to release a rare statement about it to reporters indicates the seriousness with which the office is taking the purported scheme to discredit Mueller in the middle of an ongoing investigation.
The special counsel’s office confirmed that the scheme was brought to its attention by several journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging that she herself had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman “to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.” The woman told journalists that she had worked for Mueller as a paralegal at the Pillsbury, Madison, and Sutro law firm in 1974. The firm has not returned a request for comment about whether the woman actually worked there.
He “offered to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I would do one thing,” the woman wrote to the journalists in an email, a copy of which I obtained. “In more of an effort to get him to go away than anything else, I asked him what in the hell he wanted me to do. He said that we could not talk about it on the phone, and he asked me to download an app on my phone called Signal, which he said was more secure. Reluctantly, I downloaded the app and he called me on that app a few minutes later. He said (and I will never forget exactly what it was) ‘I want you to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller, and I want you to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect.’”
The woman was not willing to speak to the reporters by phone, so portions of her story have gone uncorroborated. Around the time that the journalists began receiving the email, Burkman released a video on his Facebook page claiming, without evidence, that Mueller “has a whole lifetime history of harassing women.” On Tuesday, the day the special counsel revealed that it had referred the woman’s claims to the FBI, Burkman tweeted a similar allegation.In a statement, Burkman denied knowing the woman who originally alerted journalists to the alleged scheme. But he told me in an email that “on Thursday 1200 NOON ROSSYLN HOLIDAY INN we will present a very credible witness who will allege that Mr. Mueller committed against her a sexual assault.” Mueller’s spokesman reiterated that the claims are false. Burkman, a conservative radio host, is known for spreading conspiracy theories. He launched his own private investigation into the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, and earlier this year offered $25,000 to FBI whistleblowers for any information exposing wrongdoing during the 2016 election.
Updated at 1:55 PM EDT (hat tip to Cheryl Rofer in the comments)
2. Keep in mind this woman has been unreachable to every reporter I've spoken to. But we do know that Jack Burkman (Seth Rich conspiracy theorist) has been pushing this line about Mueller and what makes this newsworthy now is that Mueller has referred this to the FBI.
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) October 30, 2018
Updated at 3:55 PM EDT (hat tip to germy in the comments)
Jacob gave us comment at first, but went quiet when we told him Surefire Intelligence's phone number redirected to a voicemail account registered to his mom.https://t.co/aVPzVDjGR4
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 30, 2018
Forewarned is forearmed!
Open thread!
Disinformation Operation Incoming!!!!!!! Special Counsel EditionPost + Comments (246)
by DougJ| 78 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Maze Dancer emailed to say that PostCardPatriots has moved onto texting voters, since it’s too late to send more postcards. Here’s what else she said:
Pat yourselves on the back, Balloon-Juice. If your wrist isn’t too sore.
We sent out 12,000 PostCards over 27 days.
Have to say, I have been in Advertising for decades. Have helped launch businesses and new products global, national, and local.
Never seen anything like those skyrocket-in-flight results. (Little DougJ homage using a lyrical reference.)
Democrats are sizzling hot, determined, will not be stopped.
If for some unknown reason – cheating, lying, voter interference to name three – we do not prevail, it won’t be from not trying.
And now – texting!
What’s better for people who like to write PostCards than texting to voters? (Well, possibly, phone banking because only 1 in 20 people ever answer their phone.)
PostCardPatriots.com has been retooled with links to text for Beto, Claire, Florida Dems, and across the nation. We’re declaring every Dem a BJ Candidate now.
We also have some phone banking links.
You do not have to use your own phone number. And it’s all really easy.
And after the election, we have some ideas about how to keep the Power of PostCards going.
But for now, well done, Balloon-Juicers, well done!
This post is in: Dolt 45, Election 2018, Open Threads, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Assholes, MONSTERS, Nobody could have predicted
Axios, continuing its chipping away at our republic, has an exclusive from President Trump. He wants to end birthright citizenship and believes he can do it with an executive order. Of course, some of the lawyers I follow on Twitter are saying, birthright citizenship is a part of the Fourteenth Amendment and cannot be nullified by an executive order. But Trump could issue such an order (written by Steven Miller, of course) and set up a confrontation that would go to the now-packed Supreme Court. Anyone want to bet how Brett Kavanaugh would vote find?
Troops to the border to stop a caravan of brown people who are 1000 miles away, and now this. It’s quite clear who Trump thinks make up the Republican base. So if you haven’t voted already, vote straight Democratic. The Republicans are a danger to the country.
If you think this is an extreme position or an opinion, you haven't read enough about the white nationalist movement, Stephen Miller, Bannon, Sessions, etc.
Eliminating birthright citizenship is a central plank in a well-articulated, coherent movement to make America whiter.
2/— Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) October 30, 2018
(continuing the white power explanation)
– All whites, by nature, would know they only want a white society.
– An outside group–hint, it's the Jews!–is tricking them into going against their nature (white nationalists think they know a lot about core human nature).
4/
— Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) October 30, 2018
Plus more, but Davidson is clearly so angry that he gets a little incoherent.
Daniel Drezner is a bit more sanguine:
Speaking for myself, it’s because: a) Despite control over key branches of government, Trump has accomplished surprisingly little; and b) There’s an election coming up that suggests Trump will face greater constraints going forward. https://t.co/HvjX0K3c7d
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 30, 2018
There’s a fair bit of media criticism too.
Not exclusive: this is a terrible, inaccurate headline and a credulous article worthy of a government-affiliated propaganda outlet https://t.co/aTfpeG5RyJ
— Anil Kalhan (@kalhan) October 30, 2018
This all has shoved Trump’s plan to return us to the nuclear fears of the 1980s and his followers’ attempts at murder to the back burner, at least for the few hours until he comes up with something else. But some good news.
The seat now held by vacating Republican Sen. Jeff Flake….. https://t.co/yE3SnmQaLg
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) October 30, 2018
It’s possible that the open racism will push people toward the Democrats. Get your friends to the polls!
And open thread.
GOP Closing Argument: Vote For White PowerPost + Comments (172)