grumpsaesthetics:

this is going to be long, but trust me, it’s worth reading. i’m not joking, parts of it sounds like it could be taken straight out of a detective novel, but it’s unfortunately very real, and while this is likely just the tip of the iceberg, it’s already shaping up the be the greatest political scandal in US history

• on the 11th of January Buzzfeed published a 35 page long report they claimed were compiled by a former British agent, which contained intel on how Russia has compromising information about Trump [x]
• this included a memo which said Russia allegedly has audio and video recordings of Trump making several sex workers perform “golden showers” (aka pissing on each other) in the presidential suite at the Ritz Carlton hotel, because Barack and Michelle Obama had previously stayed there
• people were quick to call it fake news, and the alt-right neo nazi’s on 4chan took credit, claiming this was just an elaborate prank which they had been able to fool the CIA with
• but plot twist: the report is real
• it had fuck all to do with 4chan
• not only is it real, it turns out the man behind it is Christopher Steele, a highly thought of and sought after ex-m16 agent [x]
• the CIA, FBI, and the British government all regard him as a reliable source, and he’s considered as one of the single most well respected IC personnel on Russian affairs
• Steele was hired by someone through a research and investigative firm in Washington by one of Trump’s republican opponents in the primary campaign (speculated to be Jeb Bush)
• however, by the time Steele began his research, the primary was over. the original client dropped out, but he was later hired by a new (anonymous) democratic client
• by July he had collected a significant amount of material
• the material was based on Russian sources he deemed trustworthy, and unsurprisingly had nothing to do with 4chan (even if the alt-right neo nazi propaganda machine would like you to believe otherwise)
• he delivered the report to his client, but also delivered a set to former colleagues in the FBI because of the gravity of its content
• sometime this fall he asked the FBI for more information on the investigation, but he heard nothing back because instead of looking into the report, the FBI was obsessed with investigating Clinton’s emails
• so Comey was well aware of the potential ties between Trump and Russian when he decided to fuck over Clinton 11 days before the election by announcing they had found more emails
• this plays a huge role in why Clinton lost [x]
• Steele suspected there might be a cover-up in progress
• frustrated by the FBI, Steele let himself be persuaded to share his findings with Washington editor of Mother Jones, who first reported on the existence of the report on the 31th of October [x] (this was before any of the 4chan posts were made)
• several news outlets have confirmed that they already knew of the report back in October, and a journalist at the BBC were personally informed of the piss tapes by the the firm who hired Steele during the final week of the election campaign [x]
• BBC decided not to publish the story, as they had no way to confirm it
• however, the journalist later used an intermediary to pass questions to active duty CIA officers dealing with the case file
• the CIA officers reply was:  "more than one tape", “audio and video”, on “more than one date”, in “more than one place” – in the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow and also in St Petersburg – and that the material was “of a sexual nature”.” 
• McCain got his hands on the report as well, and dispatched a trusted emissary, a former US official, to meet Steele [x]
• the meeting was like something taken out of a fucking detective novel, as the emissary was told to “look for a man with a copy of the Financial Times”
• convinced by Steele and his excellent reputation, McCain arranged a one-on-one meeting with Comey on

  on the 9th of December, and handed over the report

• McCain has later confirmed that the report published by Buzzfeed was the same report he was in contact with [x]
• the CIA view these claims presented in Steele’s dossier as credible, which is why they ended up in an

  highly classified intelligence report on Russian interference

  given to both Trump and Obama [x]

• Steele had nothing to gain by spreading false information
• the former m16 agent is now currently in hiding, fearing for his life after he was outed as the agent behind the report [x]
• even though the information in the report is unverified, and does likely contain errors (it’s human intel after all), Steele makes it clear through his own actions that he at least believes it’s true, as he’s the one who personally handed the report over to the FBI, and pushed for an investigation

sources:

[x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]

avatar-dacia:

plaidadder:

I want to talk for a moment about the infamous Trump Happy New Year tweet. We’re all familiar with it. It went like this:

“Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!”

The general reaction could best be summed up as, “What an asshole!” But I’m glad he tweeted this, because it really clarifies things. Trump views everyone who didn’t and/or doesn’t support him as a conquered enemy. This ought to put to rest any talk of Trump “uniting the country” or “giving him a chance.” In fact, you know what, Donald?

If you are going to treat me like a conquered enemy, then I have to assume I am now living in an occupied country. And that means that from me, you get:

* no benefit of the doubt

* no cooperation

* no respect

and

* no legitimacy.

That tweet frees us all from any remaining scruples any of us might have had about rejecting his legitimacy and authority. You can’t be someone’s “enemy” and be their president at the same time.

Thank you for putting into words what was skeeving me the fuck out about that tweet, in a manner more eloquent than the “dear non-faith-specific God, he sounds like a literal supervillain out of central casting” that was springing to mind.

billykaplxn:

Dedicate 2017 to Carrie Fisher. Do what space mom would have done. She never gave up and she wouldn’t want you to either. She’d want you to go and fight Donald Trump and use lots of emojis while doing it.

deliverusfromsburb:

scienceofeds:

1. Hillary was leading the polls before the election. 

2. Hillary won the popular vote by >1.72 million. 

3. EXIT polls do NOT match up with results in 4 key states. Hillary won according to exit polls in NC, PA, WI, and FL. 

4. Trump won these with RAZOR-THIN margins. Also this. A shift of just 55,000 votes to Hillary in PA, MICH & WISC would’ve made Hillary the winner. 

5. More than 20 states have faced major election hacking attempts, DHS says. 

The DHS official — speaking on background because of the subject’s sensitive nature — explained that hackers of all stripes are constantly testing the digital defenses of every state’s public-facing election systems. But in 20-plus states, the agency determined that these intrusion attempts have become what DHS calls “probing of concern.”

6. Feds believe Russians hacked Florida elections-system vendor. (And remember they hacked the DNC emails). 

7. Trump has lowest approval ratings of any president-elect in recent history. LOWER than Hillary according to PEW results. The only time this happened in recent history was in 2000. Gore had higher grades.

8. There were irregularities in many key states. 

In Florida: Lost by 120,000. One Attorney quoted in article: “Tallahassee-based VR Systems was also allegedly hacked. The company provides electronic poll books for a number of jurisdictions which communicate in real time with each county’s voter registration system. According to the company’s web site VR Systems serves almost all of Florida’s counties and 14 other states.“

In Wisconsin: Lost by 27,000 votes. BUT: “But Clinton won only counties using all-paper ballots, the computer voting experts said. In the counties using a mix of electronic and paper-based voting systems that President Obama won in 2012, Clinton lost by 1-2 percent. In the Obama counties using all paperless machines, she lost by 10 to 15 percent”

In North Carolina: Lost by 178,000. “… what happened across the state on Election Day has become the focus of serious concern for the election integrity experts. In one Democratic epicenter, Durham County, the state’s voter registration database and e-poll books tied into it were down, prompting long lines, delays and necessitating people fill out provisional ballots. The data was also scrambled, with voter rolls in the wrong locations, people tagged as voting when they had not, and people not on lists even though they had their state registration cards. Those snafus were reported to election protection call centers.”

“… if it was the latter, who was behind the cyberattack? These questions must be answered immediately, especially if the answers lead to questions about the integrity of the election process in other jurisdictions.

In Michigan: Lost by 11,000 votes. “Election night’s unofficial returns found Trump ahead by 11,000 votes. But 87,000 ballots did not show a presidential vote, the election integrity team said, which broke a 49,000 empty-vote record from previous presidential election”

In Pennsylvania: Lost by 68,000 votes. “… The concern is that 16 counties are still using aging countywide tabulators which Finnish computer security specialist Harry Hursti has shown can be easily hacked to change the reported results. These computers use old versions of Microsoft operating systems, which have security vulnerabilities that have never been fixed.”

9. Unsurprisingly, in many places, HILLARY won in counties using paper votes but lost in those using electronic in key states. For example: North Carolina  and Wisconsin .

10. Russia confirms it has been in touch with Trump throughout the campaign. 

And there’s so much more. Like the fact that manipulating vote count in just a dozen areas in few key states would be enough. 

THERE IS STILL TIME TO AUDIT THE ELECTION. 

WHAT CAN YOU DO? 

MOST IMPORTANTLY: call the Dept of Justice comment line at 202 353 1555 and leave a message asking to #AuditTheVote due to Russian interference. DO IT RIGHT NOW, PLEASE. CALLS ARE BEING TALLIED.

DEMAND AUDIT IN NC, MI, PA, and WI. 

SIGN THE PETITION. 

Also: Follow @AndreaChalupa and @sarahkendzior on Twitter.  

Your truly,

Concerned Canadian 

If you keep getting a busy signal, try calling 202 514 2000 to get the DOJ switchboard. You can press 4 to leave a message.