ICYMI: Update on the latest in the Dolt45 Russian Probe

So where did the emails come from – GSA – and why were they provided? The guy who said he would bury them died before they are hidden. “Earlier this year, Trump appointed the top attorney at the office responsible for providing all the electronics and email accounts the Trump transition team used. That attorney’s name was Richard Backler.
Now, as background, Backler was a white collar criminal defense attorney before his appointment. He helped rich criminals beat government convictions for a firm with a name you’ll find familiar. Bracewell & Giuliani.
So, Trump appointed Backler and then Backler went and ensured Trump transition team attorneys that he would not allow his org (the GSA) to provide any of their emails to investigators. One problem: Backler fell ill and ultimately passed away.”

The Friday Night Dump came on Saturday.

And, it’s a doozy.

Scoop: Mueller obtains “tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails, including emails of Jared Kushner, transition team sources tell Axios.

  • Trump officials discovered Mueller had the emails when his prosecutors used them as the basis for questions to witnesses, the sources said.

    The emails include 12 accounts, one of which contains about 7,000 emails, the sources said.

    The accounts include the team’s political leadership and the foreign-policy team, the sources said.

 

Why it matters: The transition emails are said to include sensitive exchanges on matters that include potential appointments, gossip about the views of particular senators involved in the confirmation process, speculation about vulnerabilities of Trump nominees, strategizing about press statements, and policy planning on everything from war to taxes.

“Mueller is using the emails to confirm things, and get new leads,” a transition source told me.

How it happened: The sources say Mueller obtained the emails from the General Services Administration, the government agency that hosted the transition email system, which had addresses ending in “ptt.gov,” for Presidential Transition Team.

Some back story Twitter tea on this:

 

From this Twitter Thread:

The Hoarse Whisperer‏ @HoarseWisperer

Settle in, politikids.

You’re going to enjoy this…

I’ve read the full letter Trump transition team attorneys sent to legislators re: Mueller obtaining their emails.

It has a delicious reveal.

1/

As we now know: 1) Mueller obtained ALL of the emails sent to/from Trump transition team accounts 2) The Trump gang only realized this after Mueller’s team seemed to know all about their emails 3) This made them quite… upset

4) Thier lawyers then wrote the letter in the link to congressmen complaining about just how upsetting all of this is. Here’s the classically amusing reveal in the letter…

Earlier this year, Trump appointed the top attorney at the office responsible for providing all the electronics and email accounts the Trump transition team used. That attorney’s name was Richard Backler.

Now, as background, Backler was a white collar criminal defense attorney before his appointment. He helped rich criminals beat government convictions for a firm with a name you’ll find familiar. Bracewell & Giuliani.

So, Trump appointed Backler and then Backler went and ensured Trump transition team attorneys that he would not allow his org (the GSA) to provide any of their emails to investigators. One problem: Backler fell ill and ultimately passed away.

So, until Mueller’s crew started asking Trump aides about those emails, they had absolutely no idea Mueller had them because they thought Trump’s guy on the inside was running interference for them. Let that one sink in.

Trump and his flunkies thought their friend at the GSA had locked their emails away *literally* in a vault no one could get to… They thought their bodies were all buried.

As a result, Trump’s people walked into their interviews with Mueller and team with a completely false sense of confidence that he didn’t know what he already knew in spades. They thought he was fishing. He was just reeling fish in.

Another Thread:

Renato Mariotti‏Verified account @renato_mariotti

THREAD: Why are Trump’s lawyers upset that Mueller obtained transition emails from a government agency? (Hint: They’re just playing politics, but this is a bad sign for them.)

3:03 PM – 16 Dec 2017

1/ Today @axios reported that Mueller obtained tens of thousands of emails from the General Services Administration, which possessed them.

2/ @axios reported that the emails included very frank discussions as well as emails from Jared Kushner. Trump’s team was unaware that Mueller possessed the emails and were surprised when Mueller’s team asked questions based on the emails.

3/ Now Trump’s team has written a letter to Congress, complaining that some of the materials were “susceptible to privilege claims.” So what does this mean?

4/ First of all, it’s not unusual at all for prosecutors to obtain emails from other parties. That’s extremely common in white collar criminal investigations and is not improper.

5/ What *is* unusual here is that Mueller obtained emails from GSA even though he could have obtained (many of) the same emails from lawyers for the Trump Transition.

6/ Typically, in a white collar case, prosecutors obtain as many emails and documents as possible from defense attorneys instead of from another source.

7/ That’s because the defense team would review the emails, take out the ones that are not relevant, sort the emails, and put them in a format could be useable by Mueller.

8/ When a prosecutor obtains emails from a third party, usually irrelevant emails aren’t sorted out. So why would Mueller get the emails from GSA instead?

9/ One reason comes to mind. Mueller was concerned that he wouldn’t receive all of the emails if he obtained them from the Trump team. That’s surprising and suggests that he has reason to distrust Trump’s team.

.@chrisgeidner spoke to a senior GSA lawyer, who said of the Trump transition team: “In using our devices,” transition team members were informed that materials “would not be held back in any law enforcement” actions.
“Therefore, no expectation of privacy can be assumed.” http://pic.twitter.com/D0uqNtgR9S

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) December 17, 2017

Mueller just hauled in “thousands” of emails from the Mike Pence-led transition

It’s closing in on the VPhttps://t.co/HPqrs7xKOb http://pic.twitter.com/pH2WcRUhAs

— Shareblue Media (@Shareblue) December 17, 2017

YES!!

Folks,

We wonder why we haven’t seen hide not hair of Rudy ‘911’ in awhile.

It was his responsibility to take care of the email problem.

He did that by installing one of the partners of his firm into the head of the GSA.

But, the dude died, and didn’t bury the emails.

They, of course, don’t respect bureaucracy, so, there was nothing there but career staffers when Bobby Three Sticks came a knocking, and they followed the law.😄😄

What was left unsaid:

Bobby Three Sticks knew the answer to the questions he asked.

Can we say

LYING TO THE FBI, Boys and Girls?😄😄😄😄

One of the things that I am enjoying most?

We don’t find out anything about what Bobby Three Sticks is doing, until he wants us to. This happened MONTHS ago 😄

Louisiana activist buys land in path of proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline

LEAD%20IMAGE%209B3A9891.jpg?itok=ElSjjP0

Julie Dermansky’s blog

With Tribal Blessing, Louisiana Activist Buys Land in Path of Proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline

By Julie Dermansky • Sunday, December 17, 2017 – 19:51

On December 16 anti-pipeline activists calling themselves water protectors gathered in Rayne, Louisiana, on land located along the proposed route of the Bayou Bridge pipeline. The gathering occurred two days after 

Russia used a network of 150,000 Twitter accounts to meddle in Brexit

Theresa May and Vladimir PutinTheresa May and Vladimir Putin last year.AP

  • New data is the “most significant evidence yet” that Russia-backed social media accounts meddled in the Brexit referendum.
  • Over 150,000 Twitter accounts based in Russia tweeted about Brexit during the referendum campaign, an investigation has found.
  • Theresa May told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Britain “knows” what Russia is doing.


LONDON — Twitter accounts based in Russia posted 45,000 tweets about Brexit within the space of 48 hours during last year’s referendum on EU membership, an investigation commissioned by The Times has found.

Data scientists at the University of Swansea and University of California, Berkeley found that over 150,000 accounts based in Russia posted content relating to Brexit in the days leading up to voting day on June 23, 2016.

These accounts had previously focused on issues like Russia’s annexation of Crimea, before focusing their attention on the Brexit referendum, with the majority of tweets seen by the Times encouraging people to vote Leave.

A “massive number of Russian-related tweets was created a few days before the voting day, reached its peak during the voting and the result and then dropped immediately afterwards,” the paper to be released by researchers says.

“The main conclusion is that bots were used on purpose and had influence,” Tho Pam, one of the paper’s main authors, adds.

The Russian accounts were most active on the day of the referendum (Thursday, June 23) and following day (Friday, June 24) when the final result became clear. The accounts posted over 39,000 tweets on Friday, June 24.

Conservative MP Damian Collins, who chairs the digital, culture, media and sport select committee, said the research is “the most significant evidence yet of interference by Russia-backed social media accounts around the Brexit referendum.”

He added: “The content published and promoted by these accounts is clearly designed to increase tensions throughout the country and undermine our democratic process. I fear that this may well be just the tip of the iceberg.”

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have identified 419 accounts operating from the Russian Internet Agency attempting to influence British politics, the Guardian reports

A Kremlin-linked account tweeted a bogus picture showing a Muslim woman ignoring victims of the Westminster bridge terrorist attack earlier this year. This picture was subsequently reported by The Sun and Mail Online. 

Russia tweet Westminster Bridge attackTwitter / @SouthLoneStar

Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday used a speech to accuse Russia of using fake news to “sow discord” in the west and “meddle” in democratic processes.

“[Russia] is seeking to weaponise information. Deploying its state-run media organisations to plant fake stories and photo-shopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the West and undermine our institutions,” May said.

“So I have a very simple message for Russia. We know what you are doing. And you will not succeed. Because you underestimate the resilience of our democracies, the enduring attraction of free and open societies, and the commitment of Western nations to the alliances that bind us.”

MPs including Labour’s Chris Bryant and Ben Bradshaw have repeatedly urged the UK government to up its investigation into the level of Russian interference in the EU referendum.

A spokesperson for Theresa May told Business Insider on Tuesday that the while the UK government had seen “no evidence of successful direct interference in UK democratic processes,” they were taking “all the necessary steps to make sure we have the right protections in place and that our democratic processes aren’t interfered with.”

Hack attack

Drax Power Station, North Yorkshire, EnglandDeborah Benbrook / Shutterstock

National Cyber Security Centre chief Ciaran Martin will today confirm that Russia hacked Britain’s energy grid and its agents have tried to penetrate British telecommunications services, such as BT.

It is believed Russian hackers successfully hijacked Britain’s energy network this summer and intended to leave dormant in there which will disrupt the network at a later date.

Martin is expected to say: “I can’t get into precise details of intelligence matters.

“But I can confirm that Russian interference, seen by the National Cyber Security Centre over the past year, has included attacks on the UK media, telecommunication and energy sectors.”

Den Originalartikel gibt es auf Business Insider UK. Copyright 2017. Und ihr könnt Business Insider UK auf Twitter folgen.

Russia-linked Twitter accounts ‘tried to divide UK’ after terrorist attacks





Tributes left near Finsbury Park mosque, north London, after a van was driven into pedestrians.
Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Fake social media accounts linked to Russia were used to influence and interfere with public debate in the aftermath of four terrorist attacks in the UK this year, researchers have found.

At least 47 Russian Twitter accounts posted material after attacks at Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, according to researchers at the Cardiff University Crime and Security Research Institute (CSRI), who voiced concern that third parties were using social media to amplify the public harm caused by terrorism in Britain.

Of the 47 accounts, eight were especially active, posting at least 475 tweets about the four attacks, which were reposted more than 153,000 times.

The accounts intervened on both sides of polarised debates to ramp up the level of discord online, the research found.

Fake account owners also aimed messages at “thought communities” more sympathetic to and aligned with their online identities. There were multiple instances of them “@ing” Tommy Robinson, former leader of the English Defence League, and Nigel Farage, the former leader of Ukip.

The team, led by Prof Martin Innes, who directs the CSRI, concluded the use of Russian-linked social media to engineer social division in the UK, including through Twitter, was considerably more extensive than previously thought.

The report said: “In the wake of the 2017 terrorist attacks, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook were used to spread rumours, fake news and conspiracy theories to amplify and extend the impact and harm associated with the incident.

“Terrorist violence is fundamentally designed to ‘terrorise, mobilise and polarise’ its audiences, so if social media platforms are being ‘weaponised’ by third parties to amplify these effects, then they need to be required to urgently do something to mitigate this.

“The evidence suggests a systematic strategic political communications campaign being directed at the UK designed to amplify the public harms of terrorist attacks.”

CSRI derived the identities of the Russian accounts from several open source information datasets, including releases through the US Congress investigations and the Russian magazine РБК.

The research was funded by the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats.

CDC Update: Candida Auris – December 2017

Yikes – no explanation for the spread by state…

Candida%2Bauris%2Bus%2Bmap.JPG
Credit CDC

,973

In June of last year the CDC issued a Clinical Alert to U.S. Health care facilities about the Global Emergence of Invasive Infections Caused by the Multidrug-Resistant Yeast Candida auris.

C. auris is an emerging fungal pathogen that was first isolated in Japan in 2009. It was initially found in the discharge from a patient’s external ear (hence the name `auris’).  Retrospective analysis has traced this fungal infection back over 20 years.

Since then the CDC and public health entities have been monitoring an increasing number of cases (and hospital clusters) in the United States and abroad, generally involving bloodstream infections, wound infections or otitis (see November Update).

Adding to the concern:

  1. C. auris infections have a high fatality rate
  2. The strain appears to be resistant to multiple classes of anti-fungals  
  3. This strain is unusually persistent on fomites in healthcare environments.
  4. And it can be difficult for labs to differentiate it from other Candida strains

The CDC has updated their C. Auris surveillance page, where they show – as of November 30th – 174 confirmed cases and 29 probable cases, across 10 states.

The number of colonized asymptomatic cases detected by targeted screening in four states has risen to 257  (see FAQ for Patients and Family Members).

Candida%2BCDC%2Bupdate.JPG

Last August the CDC promoted the first ever Fungal Disease Awareness Week, and presented a COCA call webinar called Tackling an Invasive, Emerging, Multi-drug Resistant Yeast: Candida auris — What Healthcare Providers Need to Know, which is now archived and available online.

CIDRAP’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Project (ASP) also held an hour long webinar (see below), which is now available on the CIDRAPASP Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCO7kWdnbkY

 (Note: you’ll find more than a dozen other on-topic videos available on this channel as well).

For more on this emerging fungal pathogen, you may wish peruse the CDC’s dedicated web page:

And for some older blogs on the topic, you may wish to revisit:

This Week in Egypt: Week 51-2017 (Dec 11-17)

Nervana

Top Headlines

  • Russia to resume flights to Egypt, halted after 2015 bombing
  • Egypt raises security level around churches ahead of Christmas
  • Egypt’s giant Zohr gas field starts production
  • Egyptian presidential Shafiq hopeful apologizes to arrested supporters
  • Egypt’s FP Shoukry: Sending an Egyptian force to Yemen is not an option
  • An Egyptian army delegation visits South Sudan to discus straining of the S. Sudan’s army

Putin and Sisi

Russian President Putin with Egypt’s Sisi in Cairo

Photo via Reuters 

Main Headlines

 Monday

Tuesday

View original post 832 more words

Putin thanks Trump for help in foiling attack plot

Bromance and confirmation that Trump is sending classified information to Putin – Putin says ISIS but who knows if anything was passed on – up front and open fake news? Putin spoke by phone with Trump to thank him for intelligence supplied by the CIA which allowed Russia’s FSB security service to break up an Islamic State group cell that was planning a suicide attack on December 16, it said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

The Poem for Which Dareen Tatour’s Under House Arrest: ‘Resist, My People, Resist Them’

Not a poem to be arrested for! Release her!

ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY

The year 2015, according to a new report by Hamleh (The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media), saw a surge in the number of Palestinians being arrested, in Israel, on the charge of “incitement through social media.”:

tatourOne of the most prominent cases is of the poet Dareen Tatour, who was arrested last October, charged in November, and spent several months in prison before being placed under house arrest — with no access to the internet — in January. She is currently confined to a Tel Aviv apartment and had her first court hearing this month, charged for Facebook postings and a poem posted to YouTube.

According to Nadim Nashef of Al-Shabaka, “The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a non-governmental organization dealing with prisoners’ rights, estimates that more than 150 arrests took place between October and February 2016 based on Facebook posts expressing opinions on the uprising.”

Nashef writes…

View original post 381 more words

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