Trump talk: HOW MUCH for that inauguration?

[PerkingFaintly]

We can start whole new threads for less than $26,000,000.

This one only cost 23p I found down the back of the sofa:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3171217-Trump-Talk-or-Lift-every-voice-and-sing?pg=1

Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Melania Trump has parted ways with adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff after news broke about Wolkoff’s firm reaping $26,000,000 in payments to help plan Trump’s inauguration, NYT reports.
www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/us/politics/melania-trump-inauguration-adviser.html

Peri, Ukraine was what got me thinking about this. Yes we are idiots with our storage. The expectation seems to be that we can just import more. At the same time as we are burning our bridges with Europe. Stupid country.

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
@AP
BREAKING: Trump administration plans to sell 210 anti-tank missiles to Ukraine in major escalation of direct lethal aid.

The CNN Money view.

Dow falls amid trade war concerns

President Trump's steep tariff hikes on imported aluminum will impact the beer industry dramatically. A sharp increase in production costs will be passed along to consumers. The average 6-pack of beer is $7.49. The price is expected to increase to $8.60 within 45 days.
twitter.com/topropetravis/status/969318585532370944?s=21

Pain Re; McMasters sacking. DH and I saw that news article and switched channels. We're not seeing anything on CNN or MSNBC yet and no 'breaking news' break-ins on regular broadcasting.

In other news apparently Scrotus has sent the Dow plummeting again, this time due to announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum, oops I mean aluminium, imports. I'm sure he and his friends with domestic metals stocks or interests are doing a bit of backslapping and happy dancing. Prices are going to skyrocket!

Just breaking on CNN, FBI counterintel is apparently investigating Ivanka for an international business deal involving some hotel. FBI counterintelligence, not 'ethics'. As Lt Kenda would say "Well, my my my". '

Im not certain if this has been discussed much yet, but Putin does seem to be making a statement, doesn’t he? And Trump hasn’t yet responded. He’s most likely thinking, “Aren’t we great friends? Vladimir told me so ...”

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/01/vladimir-putin-threatens-arms-race-with-new-missiles-announcement

They could well have phone conversations that we know nothing of, after all.

This image of Putin talking to journalists is disturbing. It’s just the camera angle, but still ... I think Trump will like it though.

A hotel in Vancouver?? That's one I can't get right away, I have to say.

POTUS speaking about the opioid crisis. I think he is specifically referring to the Philippines’ Duterte, a known dictator Trump admires. These kinds of statements are dangerous; he is pointing out the benefit of the death penalty for society. The next tweet (I haven’t copied that one) states new policy will be rolled out in the next few weeks. What new policy?

Fox News @ FoxNews 2 hrs
More
.@POTUS: "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty [against drug dealers]. The ultimate penalty. And by the way they have much less of a drug problem than we do."

For Lweji.

Those of you who follow it will note that the Fear and Greed Index is now at 8. 8.

💕💖💗💙💚
But will have to watch later

I think the Vancouver hotel is the one, cozie. It was just a quick blurb and our dog was acting up being adorably naughty so I didn't get a good listen. Possibly money laundering?

Perish the thought!

Umm ... of course it will?

Fox News @FoxNews
27m27 minutes ago
More
.@RepSeanDuffy on gun control: "What frustrates me in this whole conversation is the fact that the Left wants to put new gun restrictions and new gun laws in place because they want to argue to the American people that that's going to keep us safer." #Tucker

across on McMaster:

MSNBC
@MSNBC
EXCLUSIVE: White House is preparing to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, in a move orchestrated by CoS John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to five sources.

mobile.twitter.com/MSNBC/status/969317139919392768/video/1

Colin Kahl
@ColinKahl
If Bolton replaces McMaster (and I’ve heard Kelly likes Bolton), we are all going to die.

Rachel Maddow MSNBC
@maddow
Well, that's putting a fine point on it.

[also, a bit more on Steve beigen, who is touted to be a potential replacement in the article. From the first hit on google, which brings up the ford website, where he is currently employed:

From 1992 to 1994, Mr. Biegun served in Moscow, Russia as the Resident Director in the Russian Federation for the International Republican Institute, a democracy-building organization established under the National Endowment for Democracy.

Mr. Biegun, born 1963, graduated from the University of Michigan where he studied Political Science and Russian Language. He is a third generation Ford Motor Company employee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and is a member of the boards of the US-Russia Foundation for Economic Development and the Rule of Law, the Moscow School of Politics, Freedom House, the US-Russia Business Council, the US-ASEAN Business Council and FordSollers, Ford Motor Company’s joint venture operating in the Russia Federation.

I mean, I don’t mean to sound russiaphobic but if they do replace McMaster, who ten days ago said there is incontrovertible proof Russia attacked us democracy with Biegun, it does seem a little suspicious. Though all unconfirmed at the point!]

Butchered his name - it’s stephen Biegun

Re: Ivanka Trump

Exclusive: FBI counterintel investigating Ivanka Trump business deal

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/03/01/politics/ivanka-trump-fbi-investigation/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Mueller eyes charges against Russians who stole, spread Democrats' emails

www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/amp/mueller-eyes-charges-against-russians-who-stole-spread-democrats-emails-n852291?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&__twitter_impression=true

An excerpt

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller is assembling a case for criminal charges against Russians who carried out the hacking and leaking of private information designed to hurt Democrats in the 2016 election, multiple current and former government officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

Much like the indictment Mueller filed last month charging a different group of Russians in a social media trolling and illegal-ad-buying scheme, the possible new charges are expected to rely heavily on secret intelligence gathered by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), several of the officials say.

Mueller's consideration of charges accusing Russians in the hacking case has not been reported previously. Sources say he has long had sufficient evidence to make a case, but strategic issues could dictate the timing. Potential charges include violations of statutes on conspiracy, election law as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. One U.S. official briefed on the matter said the charges are not imminent, but other knowledgeable sources said they are expected in the next few weeks or months. It's also possible Mueller could opt not to move forward because of concerns about exposing intelligence or other reasons — or that he files the indictment under seal, so the public doesn't see it initially.

The sources say the possible new indictment — or more than one, if that's how Mueller's office decides to proceed — would delve into the details of, and the people behind, the Russian intelligence operation that used hackers to penetrate computer networks and steal emails of both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Exclusive: Secret Documents From Russia’s Election Trolls Leak

www.thedailybeast.com/exclusive-secret-documents-from-russias-election-trolls-leak

The Kremlin-backed troll farm at the center of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election has quietly suffered a catastrophic security breach, The Daily Beast has confirmed, in a leak that spilled new details of its operations onto obscure corners of the internet.

The Russian “information exchange” Joker.Buzz, which auctions off often stolen or confidential information, advertised a leak for a large cache of the Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) internal documents. It includes names of Americans, activists in particular, whom the organization specifically targeted; American-based proxies used to access Reddit and the viral meme site 9Gag; and login information for troll farm accounts.

Even the advertisement for the document dump provides a trove of previously unknown information about the breadth of Russia’s disinformation effort in the United States, including rallies pushed by IRA social media accounts that turned violent.

While special counsel Robert Mueller’s recent conspiracy indictment against the IRA showed a sophisticated organization aimed at targeting U.S. voters with disinformation, the seller appears not to have understood the implications of the auction.

The listing was titled “Savushkina 55,” the physical address in St. Petersburg from which the troll farm used to operate. The date on the auction is listed as Feb. 10, 2017—seven months before Facebook and Twitter identified and pulled down Internet Research Agency accounts from Twitter. It received no bids. The seller, “AlexDA,” has not posted any other listings, and was unable to be reached. In Russian, the listing promised “working data from the department focused on the United States.”

[the rest of the article is comprehensive but fascinating]

Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
Russian politician Alexander Torshin has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the NRA and documented efforts over 6 years to leverage those connections and gain access deeper into American politics—including access to Trump, NPR has learned

Depth Of Russian Politician's Cultivation Of NRA Ties Revealed

www.npr.org/2018/03/01/590076949/depth-of-russian-politicians-cultivation-of-nra-ties-revealed?sc=17&f=590076949&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

[nothing in this article jumped out as being new information - I thought Torshin’s Links wth the nra were already established? If anyone can tell me what I’m missing, would be most grateful!]

Dark money group America First Policies is running a pro-Trump polling operation. Here is an inside look at its secretive work

www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/03/01/america-first-policies-dark-money-polling-for-trump.html?__twitter_impression=true

• America First Policies, a nonprofit group with close ties to President Donald Trump, has hired Trump's pollsters to conduct a wide range of political polling and research.

• The practice breaks with decades of tradition and raises concerns about potential coordination between the dark money group, the White House and the RNC.

• CNBC, over the past six months, obtained more than 50 documents through an obscure portal on the America First Policies website.

Much of what the group polls and surveys would be standard work for a presidential campaign or a major political party. But America First Policies, which was founded days after Trump's inauguration, is not a campaign or a party. It's what the IRS calls a "social welfare organization," permitted to operate tax-free and keep its donors secret as long as its main focus isn't politics and it doesn't coordinate with candidates.
Election lawyers typically interpret this to mean 51 percent of a group's activities must be issue related. "Our primary purpose has to be issue related, but that doesn't mean we can't throw in questions that are news related or political [in our polling]," said Erin Montgomery, communications director for America First Policies.

[...] [ look who turns up as the founder of America First Policies ]
This week, Trump announced that Brad Parscale, a founder of America First Policies and a senior advisor to the group who also ran digital operations for Trump's 2016 campaign, will lead his 2020 re-election bid.

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who is known to stay in close contact with Trump, is also a senior advisor to America First Policies

Jim Sciutto
@jimsciutto
SCOOP: NSA McMaster has spoken to senior leadership at Stanford's Hoover Institution about a possible position there after departing WH, source with knowledge of discussions tells me

More hints about Russia playing silly games again
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43251315