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The Capricious Non partisan Government Arbitrary Action thread.
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Tornicade
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http://www.theonion.com/trumpdocuments
THE WHITE HOUSE February 17, 2017
Executive Order —Authorization to Enact the Theseus Protocol, Bringing About the Ninth Conjunction of Spheres and Shattering of the Crimson Veil
EXECUTIVE ORDER
AUTHORIZATION TO ENACT THE THESEUS PROTOCOL, BRINGING ABOUT THE NINTH CONJUNCTION OF SPHERES AND SHATTERING OF THE CRIMSON VEIL
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651), it is hereby decreed, proclaimed, and ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. That the Twelfth Age of this recension of Creation has run its course, and shall be allowed to expire, in order to bring forth the reign everlasting and undying of the Many-Instanced One, whose ninety-nine names and seventy-seven titles shall not be uttered for fear of the unweaving of the Veils; and that the shrieking, lamenting, and wailing from this instance shall echo throughout the land, specifically in this case, all 50 states irrespective of Tenth Amendment provisions; and that the dominion in this sphere shall endure forever.
Sec. 2. Founding and Establishment of Special Sites. By use of the Antiquities Act and through the invocation of Directive 315, or by eminent domain as and where necessary, five "Special Sites," arranged in the form of a five-edged dihedral polygon, drawn with five equal vertices meeting at 36-degree internal angles (viz., "pentagram"), will be graven, hewn, carved, or burnt as necessary into the very living rock of the United States of America, the better to enact the Smoldering-to-Come and facilitate the dissolution of the Veil of Crimson.
Sec. 3. Exemption of the Embrocated Few. Exemption will be granted to all agents, deputies, and acolytes of the Theseus Protocol, including but not limited to: the President of the United States; his cabinet and all advisors, extraordinary and plenipotentiary; the Many-Instanced One Himself; and any others that the aforementioned One may name, requisition, or entitle; from the strictures and requirements of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Sec. 4. Opening the Ancient Door. A cold and shriveling wind shall blow from the Ancient Door of m-Am-uuthua, shrink the hearts of all in their quailing breasts, and wrench the mewling voices of the subjugates from their failing lips. Ai-Uatala! Ai-Uatala-
i-Li-La! La!
Sec. 5. Suspension of All Laws Until the Next Recension. Under the authority granted by the National Emergencies Act and by the Perceived Glyphs of Ba'ual Heggith, the President, his cabinet and advisors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, the Director of the Theseus Project, and all their deputies, employees, agents, scions, pawns, mommets, gebbeths, golems, flesh-shrouds, and all others under the command and sway of the Many-Instanced One, shall be empowered to suspend all laws—federal, state, local, and metaphysical—for the duration of the Theseus Protocol and by extension, the current iteration of this universe.
THE WHITE HOUSE February 17, 2017
Executive Order —Authorization to Enact the Theseus Protocol, Bringing About the Ninth Conjunction of Spheres and Shattering of the Crimson Veil
EXECUTIVE ORDER
AUTHORIZATION TO ENACT THE THESEUS PROTOCOL, BRINGING ABOUT THE NINTH CONJUNCTION OF SPHERES AND SHATTERING OF THE CRIMSON VEIL
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651), it is hereby decreed, proclaimed, and ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. That the Twelfth Age of this recension of Creation has run its course, and shall be allowed to expire, in order to bring forth the reign everlasting and undying of the Many-Instanced One, whose ninety-nine names and seventy-seven titles shall not be uttered for fear of the unweaving of the Veils; and that the shrieking, lamenting, and wailing from this instance shall echo throughout the land, specifically in this case, all 50 states irrespective of Tenth Amendment provisions; and that the dominion in this sphere shall endure forever.
Sec. 2. Founding and Establishment of Special Sites. By use of the Antiquities Act and through the invocation of Directive 315, or by eminent domain as and where necessary, five "Special Sites," arranged in the form of a five-edged dihedral polygon, drawn with five equal vertices meeting at 36-degree internal angles (viz., "pentagram"), will be graven, hewn, carved, or burnt as necessary into the very living rock of the United States of America, the better to enact the Smoldering-to-Come and facilitate the dissolution of the Veil of Crimson.
Sec. 3. Exemption of the Embrocated Few. Exemption will be granted to all agents, deputies, and acolytes of the Theseus Protocol, including but not limited to: the President of the United States; his cabinet and all advisors, extraordinary and plenipotentiary; the Many-Instanced One Himself; and any others that the aforementioned One may name, requisition, or entitle; from the strictures and requirements of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Sec. 4. Opening the Ancient Door. A cold and shriveling wind shall blow from the Ancient Door of m-Am-uuthua, shrink the hearts of all in their quailing breasts, and wrench the mewling voices of the subjugates from their failing lips. Ai-Uatala! Ai-Uatala-
i-Li-La! La!
Sec. 5. Suspension of All Laws Until the Next Recension. Under the authority granted by the National Emergencies Act and by the Perceived Glyphs of Ba'ual Heggith, the President, his cabinet and advisors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, the Director of the Theseus Project, and all their deputies, employees, agents, scions, pawns, mommets, gebbeths, golems, flesh-shrouds, and all others under the command and sway of the Many-Instanced One, shall be empowered to suspend all laws—federal, state, local, and metaphysical—for the duration of the Theseus Protocol and by extension, the current iteration of this universe.
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gourimoko
Fighting the good fight!
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washingtonpost.com
Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence
https://www.facebook.com/ellennakashimapost/
8-10 minutes
President Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials.
Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election.
Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the requests, which they both deemed to be inappropriate, according to two current and two former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private communications with the president.
Trump sought the assistance of Coats and Rogers after FBI Director James B. Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 that the FBI was investigating “the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”
Trump’s conversation with Rogers was documented contemporaneously in an internal memo written by a senior NSA official, according to the officials. It is unclear if a similar memo was prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to document Trump’s conversation with Coats. Officials said such memos could be made available to both the special counsel now overseeing the Russia investigation and congressional investigators, who might explore whether Trump sought to impede the FBI’s work.
Team Trump’s ties to Russian interests
[Flynn takes the Fifth, declines to comply with Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena]
White House officials say Comey’s testimony about the scope of the FBI investigation upset Trump, who has dismissed the FBI and congressional investigations as a “witch hunt.” The president has repeatedly said there was no collusion.
Current and former senior intelligence officials viewed Trump’s requests as an attempt by the president to tarnish the credibility of the agency leading the Russia investigation.
A senior intelligence official said that Trump’s goal was to “muddy the waters” about the scope of the FBI probe at a time when Democrats were ramping up their calls for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel, a step announced last week.
Senior intelligence officials also saw the March requests as a threat to the independence of U.S. spy agencies, which are supposed to remain insulated from partisan issues.
“The problem wasn’t so much asking them to issue statements, it was asking them to issue false statements about an ongoing investigation,” a former senior intelligence official said of the request to Coats.
The NSA and Brian Hale, a spokesman for Coats, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
The turmoil surrounding former FBI Director James Comey and President Trump started long before Comey was fired on May 9. Here are the pivotal moments in Comey's time as head of the agency. The turmoil surrounding former FBI Director James Comey and President Trump started long before Comey was fired on May 9. (Jenny Starrs,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)
(Jenny Starrs,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)
“The White House does not confirm or deny unsubstantiated claims based on illegal leaks from anonymous individuals,” a White House spokesperson said. “The president will continue to focus on his agenda that he was elected to pursue by the American people.”
In addition to the requests to Coats and Rogers, senior White House officials sounded out top intelligence officials about the possibility of intervening directly with Comey to encourage the FBI to drop its probe of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. The officials said the White House appeared uncertain about its power to influence the FBI.
“Can we ask him to shut down the investigation? Are you able to assist in this matter?” one official said of the line of questioning from the White House.
The new revelations add to a growing body of evidence that Trump sought to co-opt and then undermine Comey before he fired him May 9. According to notes kept by Comey, Trump first asked for his loyalty at a dinner in January and then, at a meeting the next month, asked him to drop the probe into Flynn. Trump disputes those accounts.
Current and former officials said either Trump lacks an understanding of the FBI’s role as an independent law enforcement agency or does not care about maintaining such boundaries.
Trump’s effort to use the director of national intelligence and the NSA director to refute Comey’s statement and to say there was no evidence of collusion echoes President Richard Nixon’s “unsuccessful efforts to use the CIA to shut down the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in on national security grounds,” said Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel at the CIA. Smith called Trump’s actions “an appalling abuse of power.”
Trump made his appeal to Coats days after Comey’s testimony, according to officials.
That same week, Trump telephoned Rogers to make a similar appeal.
In his call with Rogers, Trump urged the NSA director to speak out publicly if there was no evidence of collusion, according to officials briefed on the exchange.
Rogers was taken aback but tried to respectfully explain why he could not do so, the officials said. For one thing, he could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Rogers added that he would not talk about classified matters in public.
While relations between Trump and Comey were strained by the Russia probe, ties between the president and the other intelligence chiefs, including Rogers, Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, appear to be less contentious, according to officials.
Rogers met with Trump in New York shortly after the election, and Trump’s advisers at the time held him out as the leading candidate to be the next director of national intelligence.
The Washington Post subsequently reported that President Barack Obama’s defense secretary and director of national intelligence had recommended that Rogers be removed as head of the NSA.
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Military, defense and security at home and abroad.
Ultimately, Trump decided to nominate Coats, rather than Rogers. Coats was sworn in just days before the president made his request.
In February, the Trump White House also sought to enlist senior members of the intelligence community and Congress to push back against suggestions that Trump associates were in frequent contact with Russian officials. But in that case, the White House effort was designed to refute news accounts, not the testimony of a sitting FBI director who was leading an open investigation.
Trump and his allies in Congress have similarly sought to deflect scrutiny over Russia by attempting to pit U.S. intelligence agencies against one another.
In December, Trump’s congressional allies falsely claimed that the FBI did not concur with a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump win the White House. Comey and then-CIA Director John Brennan later said that the bureau and the agency were in full agreement on Moscow’s intentions.
As the director of national intelligence, Coats leads the vast U.S. intelligence community, which includes the FBI. But that does not mean he has full visibility into the FBI probe. Coats’s predecessor in the job, James R. Clapper Jr., recently acknowledged that Comey did not brief him on the scope of the Russia investigation. Similarly, it is unclear to what extent the FBI has brought Coats up to speed on the probe’s most sensitive findings.
Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence
https://www.facebook.com/ellennakashimapost/
8-10 minutes
President Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials.
Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election.
Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the requests, which they both deemed to be inappropriate, according to two current and two former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private communications with the president.
Trump sought the assistance of Coats and Rogers after FBI Director James B. Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on March 20 that the FBI was investigating “the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts.”
Trump’s conversation with Rogers was documented contemporaneously in an internal memo written by a senior NSA official, according to the officials. It is unclear if a similar memo was prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to document Trump’s conversation with Coats. Officials said such memos could be made available to both the special counsel now overseeing the Russia investigation and congressional investigators, who might explore whether Trump sought to impede the FBI’s work.
Team Trump’s ties to Russian interests
[Flynn takes the Fifth, declines to comply with Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena]
White House officials say Comey’s testimony about the scope of the FBI investigation upset Trump, who has dismissed the FBI and congressional investigations as a “witch hunt.” The president has repeatedly said there was no collusion.
Current and former senior intelligence officials viewed Trump’s requests as an attempt by the president to tarnish the credibility of the agency leading the Russia investigation.
A senior intelligence official said that Trump’s goal was to “muddy the waters” about the scope of the FBI probe at a time when Democrats were ramping up their calls for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel, a step announced last week.
Senior intelligence officials also saw the March requests as a threat to the independence of U.S. spy agencies, which are supposed to remain insulated from partisan issues.
“The problem wasn’t so much asking them to issue statements, it was asking them to issue false statements about an ongoing investigation,” a former senior intelligence official said of the request to Coats.
The NSA and Brian Hale, a spokesman for Coats, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
The turmoil surrounding former FBI Director James Comey and President Trump started long before Comey was fired on May 9. Here are the pivotal moments in Comey's time as head of the agency. The turmoil surrounding former FBI Director James Comey and President Trump started long before Comey was fired on May 9. (Jenny Starrs,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)
(Jenny Starrs,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)
“The White House does not confirm or deny unsubstantiated claims based on illegal leaks from anonymous individuals,” a White House spokesperson said. “The president will continue to focus on his agenda that he was elected to pursue by the American people.”
In addition to the requests to Coats and Rogers, senior White House officials sounded out top intelligence officials about the possibility of intervening directly with Comey to encourage the FBI to drop its probe of Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, according to people familiar with the matter. The officials said the White House appeared uncertain about its power to influence the FBI.
“Can we ask him to shut down the investigation? Are you able to assist in this matter?” one official said of the line of questioning from the White House.
The new revelations add to a growing body of evidence that Trump sought to co-opt and then undermine Comey before he fired him May 9. According to notes kept by Comey, Trump first asked for his loyalty at a dinner in January and then, at a meeting the next month, asked him to drop the probe into Flynn. Trump disputes those accounts.
Current and former officials said either Trump lacks an understanding of the FBI’s role as an independent law enforcement agency or does not care about maintaining such boundaries.
Trump’s effort to use the director of national intelligence and the NSA director to refute Comey’s statement and to say there was no evidence of collusion echoes President Richard Nixon’s “unsuccessful efforts to use the CIA to shut down the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in on national security grounds,” said Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel at the CIA. Smith called Trump’s actions “an appalling abuse of power.”
Trump made his appeal to Coats days after Comey’s testimony, according to officials.
That same week, Trump telephoned Rogers to make a similar appeal.
In his call with Rogers, Trump urged the NSA director to speak out publicly if there was no evidence of collusion, according to officials briefed on the exchange.
Rogers was taken aback but tried to respectfully explain why he could not do so, the officials said. For one thing, he could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Rogers added that he would not talk about classified matters in public.
While relations between Trump and Comey were strained by the Russia probe, ties between the president and the other intelligence chiefs, including Rogers, Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, appear to be less contentious, according to officials.
Rogers met with Trump in New York shortly after the election, and Trump’s advisers at the time held him out as the leading candidate to be the next director of national intelligence.
The Washington Post subsequently reported that President Barack Obama’s defense secretary and director of national intelligence had recommended that Rogers be removed as head of the NSA.
Checkpoint newsletter
Military, defense and security at home and abroad.
Ultimately, Trump decided to nominate Coats, rather than Rogers. Coats was sworn in just days before the president made his request.
In February, the Trump White House also sought to enlist senior members of the intelligence community and Congress to push back against suggestions that Trump associates were in frequent contact with Russian officials. But in that case, the White House effort was designed to refute news accounts, not the testimony of a sitting FBI director who was leading an open investigation.
Trump and his allies in Congress have similarly sought to deflect scrutiny over Russia by attempting to pit U.S. intelligence agencies against one another.
In December, Trump’s congressional allies falsely claimed that the FBI did not concur with a CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump win the White House. Comey and then-CIA Director John Brennan later said that the bureau and the agency were in full agreement on Moscow’s intentions.
As the director of national intelligence, Coats leads the vast U.S. intelligence community, which includes the FBI. But that does not mean he has full visibility into the FBI probe. Coats’s predecessor in the job, James R. Clapper Jr., recently acknowledged that Comey did not brief him on the scope of the Russia investigation. Similarly, it is unclear to what extent the FBI has brought Coats up to speed on the probe’s most sensitive findings.
Tornicade
2018 RBF League Champion
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apparently he gets a lot of letters from the children
http://www.theonion.com/live/childrens-letters-president-55962/entry/389
and if you want to know when one of the white house memebrs might be available. they have published their schedules.
http://www.theonion.com/live/daily-schedules-55964/entry/392
Tornicade
2018 RBF League Champion
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Is Coats the Crimson Veil?
Hurl Bruce
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Tlyons
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So many facepalm moments...so many
Hurl Bruce
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Hurl Bruce
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View: https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/866975588145393664
I'm surprised it wasn't ended with, "San Dimas High School football RULES!!!"
I'm surprised it wasn't ended with, "San Dimas High School football RULES!!!"
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Say what you will about him being a human catastrophe but Trump does print well.
David.
Radical Centrist
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I'd shoot a man on 5th for that penmanship
gourimoko
Fighting the good fight!
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She did it again, today, btw...
Hurl Bruce
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-counsel-idUSKBN18J30W
Trump retains Marc Kasowitz as private attorney for Russia probe: source
By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump has tapped a longtime legal adviser to serve as his private attorney while a special counsel investigates whether his campaign worked with Russia in last year's election, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters Tuesday.
Fox Business News and ABC first reported that Trump hired Marc Kasowitz, a New York-based trial lawyer known as a tenacious litigator, to represent him in a Justice Department investigation headed by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller.
The appointment of a private attorney may indicate that Trump is seriously considering the impact the federal investigation could have on him personally and that he may wish to protect himself should others in his administration turn against him.
The source said Kasowitz is expected to bring other lawyers on to work as a team to protect Trump.
Other candidates for the job, including Brendan Sullivan and Robert Giuffra, withdrew their names from consideration, the source said.
"He can be aggressive - he's got that in him for sure," said John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, who has worked with and opposite Kasowitz. "He also can be smooth as silk, respectful and deferential."
Kasowitz and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Kasowitz has represented Trump for more than 15 years but he is not known as a criminal defense lawyer. During last year's presidential campaign, Kasowitz threatened to sue the New York Times if it did not retract a story about women who accused Trump of touching them inappropriately. The Times did not retract the story.
He also assisted in the defense of fraud claims against Trump University, a series of real-estate seminars. After the election, Trump settled the claims for $25 million.
Trump has looked to Kasowitz's firm to fill positions in his administration. He has described former Senator Joseph Lieberman, a senior counsel at the firm, as a top candidate to serve as FBI director and is considering Edward McNally, a white-collar defense lawyer at the firm, as the next U.S. attorney in Manhattan. A former partner at the firm, David Friedman, was chosen by Trump as U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Kasowitz also represents OJSC Sberbank of Russia, the country's largest bank, which is being accused in a U.S. federal court of conspiring with granite company executives and others to raid the assets of a competitor.
ALSO IN POLITICS
Mueller was appointed as special counsel by the Justice Department last week to investigate the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia. Several congressional committees and the FBI are also investigating the matter.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump's favor. Russia has denied involvement, and Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia.
Controversy has engulfed Trump since he fired FBI Director James Comey two weeks ago as Comey oversaw an investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.
Trump retains Marc Kasowitz as private attorney for Russia probe: source
By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump has tapped a longtime legal adviser to serve as his private attorney while a special counsel investigates whether his campaign worked with Russia in last year's election, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters Tuesday.
Fox Business News and ABC first reported that Trump hired Marc Kasowitz, a New York-based trial lawyer known as a tenacious litigator, to represent him in a Justice Department investigation headed by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller.
The appointment of a private attorney may indicate that Trump is seriously considering the impact the federal investigation could have on him personally and that he may wish to protect himself should others in his administration turn against him.
The source said Kasowitz is expected to bring other lawyers on to work as a team to protect Trump.
Other candidates for the job, including Brendan Sullivan and Robert Giuffra, withdrew their names from consideration, the source said.
"He can be aggressive - he's got that in him for sure," said John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan, who has worked with and opposite Kasowitz. "He also can be smooth as silk, respectful and deferential."
Kasowitz and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Kasowitz has represented Trump for more than 15 years but he is not known as a criminal defense lawyer. During last year's presidential campaign, Kasowitz threatened to sue the New York Times if it did not retract a story about women who accused Trump of touching them inappropriately. The Times did not retract the story.
He also assisted in the defense of fraud claims against Trump University, a series of real-estate seminars. After the election, Trump settled the claims for $25 million.
Trump has looked to Kasowitz's firm to fill positions in his administration. He has described former Senator Joseph Lieberman, a senior counsel at the firm, as a top candidate to serve as FBI director and is considering Edward McNally, a white-collar defense lawyer at the firm, as the next U.S. attorney in Manhattan. A former partner at the firm, David Friedman, was chosen by Trump as U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Kasowitz also represents OJSC Sberbank of Russia, the country's largest bank, which is being accused in a U.S. federal court of conspiring with granite company executives and others to raid the assets of a competitor.
ALSO IN POLITICS
- Trump seeks to slash $3.6 trillion of spending in austere budget
- Ex-CIA chief: Worries grew of Trump campaign contacts to Russia
Mueller was appointed as special counsel by the Justice Department last week to investigate the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia. Several congressional committees and the FBI are also investigating the matter.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump's favor. Russia has denied involvement, and Trump has denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia.
Controversy has engulfed Trump since he fired FBI Director James Comey two weeks ago as Comey oversaw an investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.