• WELCOME
  • CONVERSATION
  • CONTACT

October Surprise

October 30, 2017 by Terry Moseley

Embed from Getty Images

So – a few things to watch for Monday, October 30th.

Late Friday afternoon, October 27th, CNN reported that a federal grand jury in Washington, DC approved the first criminal charges in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation meaning that someone is expected to be arrested and taken into custody as early as Monday, October 30th. Great read by Garrett M. Graff of WIRED as to how to interpret Mueller’s new charges.

From the story: “Expect to see garden-variety white-collar crimes—charges like money laundering, mail fraud, wire fraud, and “structuring,” (arranging financial transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements)—as well as the possibility of some more exotic charges like violating the nation’s election laws or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or there’s a general catch-all known as 18 USC Sec. 371, “conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States.”

“The approach, then and now, has been almost always been similar: Work on peripheral figures first, encourage them to cooperate with the government against their bosses in exchange for a lighter sentence, and then repeat the process until the circle has closed tightly around the godfather or criminal mastermind.”

Speculation is rife as Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager/advisor, Jeffrey Yohai, Manafort’s estranged son-in-law, Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn (ret.), Trump’s former National Security Adviser and his son, Michael G. Flynn, a former Trump transition team staff member are bookie favorites.

Upon hearing the impending arrest on Friday evening, Roger Stone , a controversial advisor and staunch defender of U.S. President Trump, launched into a threatening and abusive tirade against CNN anchors and contributors resulting in a permanent suspension on Twitter.

Trump made no reference to Stone but in a flurry of Tweets on Sunday, October 29th, made allegations against former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Democrats re: e-mails, dossier, uranium, and Comey with an emphatic request demanding Republicans to “DO SOMETHING!”

To quote The Bangles, it’s just another manic Monday.

_____________________________________

25 days and counting – that’s how many legislative days are left between now and the end of the year and there’s a lot to get accomplished including budgets, taxes, healthcare and cyber security.

According to POLITICO, as of this week, the Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to get documents from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for its probe into Russian election interference while the House Intelligence Committee is getting access via the FBI to the much ballyhooed Trump pee tapes dossier for its own Russian investigation.

_____________________________________

Catalonia latest: To bring you up to speed, the parliament of Catalonia, a semi-autonomous (and wealthy) region of Spain, voted to declare independence. The Spanish government said, “no bueno” and dissolved the regional government to the chagrin of the deposed Catalan president, Carles Puigdmemont. On Sunday, October 29th, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Barcelona to call for Spanish unity.

Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy has called for regional elections on December 21st.

_____________________________________

On a historical note, on this day in 1974, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman stepped into the ring and the history books for the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali won the heavyweight championship after knocking out Foreman in the 8th round; and finally, in 1905, Russian Tsar Nicholas II, in an attempt to stave off a revolt, issued the October Manifesto , which laid the groundwork for the protection of civil rights, the creation of a constitution, and establishment of a parliament called the Duma.

 

Filed Under: October 2017 Tagged With: Catalonia, Donald J.Trump, Hillary Clinton, Robert Mueller, Rumble in the Jungle

Nyet to Russia’s request to monitor U.S. elections

October 21, 2016 by Terry Moseley

Initially, I thought this was a brilliant trolling piece by The Onion but no, it’s just Putin being Putin.

O hai

Filed Under: October 2016 Tagged With: Donald Trump, election monitors, Hillary Clinton, Russia, White House

The politics of entertainment

February 23, 2016 by Terry Moseley Leave a Comment

Having covered politics and entertainment, I’m aware they’re decidedly similar — namely fame and influence — but does star power translate into voter appeal? Hollywood makes the campaign trail slightly more interesting yet I can’t imagine a sizable number of potential voters saying, “Hey, I was undecided about [candidate] but since [celebrity] likes you, I know who I’m voting for!”

Let’s look at some of the endorsements, to date.

If you’re looking for A-listers, Hillary Clinton has it in abundance: Beyonce, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian West, Lady Gaga, Kerry Washington, Eva Longoria, Morgan Freeman, Anna Wintour, Salma Hayek, and Robert De Niro, to name a few.

“Feeling the Bern” celebrity supporters include Susan Sarandon, Daniel Craig, Will Ferrell, Mark Ruffalo, Sarah Silverman, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Danny DeVito, Neil Young, Bonnie Rait, Jackson Brown, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Spike Lee although Ferrell recently switched to Team Hillary.

As for Donald Trump, who commands a dominant lead in polling numbers across the U.S., as well as winner of New Hampshire and South Carolina, he’s received accolades from Gary Busey, David Lee Roth, Mike Tyson, Ted Nugent, Stephen Baldwin, Dennis Rodman, Hulk Hogan, and Wayne Newton.

Rounding out the remaining GOP candidates, Ted Cruz, wearing camouflage attire, scored the approval of Phil Robertson from “Duck Dynasty” while Tim Allen lends his support and voice to John Kasich’s bid for the White House. As for Marco Rubio, he recently welcomed Donny Wahlberg‘s endorsement while Ben Carson got Kelsey Grammer and Kid Rock, which admittedly, I did not see coming.

Filed Under: February 2016 Tagged With: Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, U.S. Presidential election

CONNECT

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

BIO

Journo. Mischief monger. Former @Reuters & Hill staffer. Known to photobomb the red carpet. | terry@newsmaven.com

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · Kassandra on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in