and @BuzzFeedNews confirms: it was Jared who ordered Flynn to call the Russians, "according to a person who was present in the room when Flynn took the call"
https://twitter.com/mattmittenthal/status/936671774925877250

The Alt-Right Propaganda Machine is Winning Because Americans Insist on Being Stupid: A Timeline of The Al Franken “Scandal”

Al Franken is not the first sacrificial lamb — and definitely won’t be the last — as Americans refuse to acknowledge or take action against the fine-tuned Propaganda Machine that is omni-present on our social media platforms.



America has its very own Joseph Goebbels, yet we seem to be either too ignorant to history, or too ignorant to technology, to acknowledge and deal with the massive propaganda machine that’s been assembled over the last 2 years here in America. Al Franken is just the latest casualty, and there will be more.

It’s disturbing to see Americans still falling for the same dirty tricks we fell for the entire 2016 election season. We have the benefit of hindsight now and a cavalry of expert citizens educating us about propaganda and how to counteract it. Yet time and again, we are let down. Our media fails us. In their desperation for clicks they hop on any bandwagon that appears lucrative. And our people fail each other. They suspend critical thinking skills to line up on “sides” that don’t even truly exist.

So let’s use this past week’s Al Franken “scandal” as an illustration of the latest pizzagate-style propaganda hit job against our common senses. These manufactured “news stories” always follow the same distribution and amplification process, with few (but detectable) variables.

We start on Wednesday, November 15th at 10 PM — a full 9 hours before Leeann Tweeden shares her “#metoo” story with the world.

When Roger Stone tweets, the troops assemble

For an alt-right super-villain at the center of the “Russia-gate” conspiracy, American’s seem to be surprisingly unconcerned with the contemporaneous activities of Roger Stone. Suffice to say, he’s currently under federal investigation for his role in coordinating the DNC hacks with Guccifer 2.0, a “Russian hacker” who has since been identified by American Intelligence as an agent of the Russian FSB (aka KGB). But what he’s doing present tense to weaponize information as part of America’s flourishing Alt-Right Propaganda Machine appears to fly largely under the radar.

Please read the article & look at the graphics here: https://medium.com/@Erinlank/the-alt-right-propaganda-machine-is-winning-because-americans-insist-on-being-stupid-a-timeline-of-e3bad99a51be

Al Franken: The Obvious Setup and Liberals Took the Bait

With all of the sleazy, disgusting and lurid sexual problems that seem to be a part of the Republican official’s way of life, it was only a matter of time before there was a lash back against a Democrat. This is not to say that there aren’t any liberals that are never part of this mix, it’s just that the overtly religious doctrine that conservatives follow does lend to repressed sexual conditions.

So in scanning any Democrat that maintained both logic and a powerful presence as well as one that is knee-deep in calling out those Republicans involved in lying and RussiaGate, there was one name that is both popular and had the potential to be taken down: Al Franken. And so, a woman named Leeann Tweeden has come forward to accuse Al Franken of sexual assault during a USO tour in which they performed together in Afghanistan in 2006. Conservatives know the liberal market and also understand that if they throw out a piece of red meat that accuses a well-respected Democrat of having bad behavior, liberals will climb all over each other to rip him or her apart; and that is exactly what happened as many liberals called for Franken to step down, refused to believe or look at any of the logic behind the accusation and proceeded to argue with each other under the defense that “we are better than them”.

Everyone is familiar with Franken’s background as a comedian and his celebrity on the comedy show Saturday Night Live. Having attended many shows at the Los Angeles famed “Comedy Store” in the 80’s, I am also well-aware that the skits that were performed away from the camera were often saucy and bawdy. This made Franken’s past a hot potential to find at least one or two questionable situations and when you added in his work with the USO tours, it was a formula for success for conservatives.

... snip

But as a drooling media grabs onto this accusatory story and runs with it in their typical non-journalistic way to get improved ratings, they are missing some very important pieces of the puzzle. Examining Franken’s history and combining it with Tweeden’s, there is a very strong smell of a rat, and the “rat” has the name of Fox and conservatives all over it.

More: https://democracyguardian.com/al-franken-the-obvious-setup-and-liberals-took-the-bait-5f3515d379a0

Does cooperating witness have info on Flynn tie to Turkey?

by Tom Winter and Julia Ainsley

A gold trader who is close to Turkish President Recep Erdogan is now cooperating with federal prosecutors in a money-laundering case, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, and legal experts say prosecutors may be seeking information about any ties between the Turkish government and former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.

Reza Zarrab, a dual Turkish-Iranian national, faces charges in federal court in Manhattan for skirting sanctions on Iran by allegedly moving hundreds of millions of dollars for the Iranian government and Iranian firms via offshore entities and bank accounts.

But Zarrab is now out of jail and speaking to prosecutors — a move President Erdogan had been desperately hoping to avoid.

... snip

"You can fill in the gaps that federal investigators are looking for any relation between Erdogan and Flynn," said Cevallos. "So, to the extent that Zarrab has any connection or knowledge of that, it is very important that they're flipping him."

More: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/does-cooperating-witness-have-info-flynn-tie-turkey-n821341

Trump Biz Ally Agrees To Give Interview In Senate Committee’s Russia Probe

One of Donald Trump’s former real estate partners has agreed to be interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Felix Sater, who tried to broker a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 election, told TPM that he will cooperate.

“I intend on cooperating fully with any and all government agencies and investigations,” Sater said in a text to TPM. “And if I am called I hope you make the trip to witness it in person because I don’t think it’s going to go the way of everyone’s favorite narrative.”

... snip

“Mr. Sater intends to be fully cooperative with any and all government investigations in this matter,” Sater’s attorney Robert Wolf told TPM in an emailed statement. McClatchy first reported Sater’s cooperation Wednesday night.

Sater told TPM this summer that he has regularly worked for US intelligence since his arrest for fraud in a pump-and-dump stock scheme in 1998.

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/sater-feinstein-testimony

Senate Judiciary Committee: Kushner forwarded emails about 'a Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite'

President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner forwarded emails concerning a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite” to Trump campaign officials and failed to produce those emails to the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to a letter the senators sent Kushner's lawyer on Thursday.

Kushner also failed to produce emails on which he was copied involving communication with WikiLeaks, and with the Belarusan-American businessman Sergei Millian, the senators said. Millian most recently headed a group called the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.

"There are several documents that are known to exist but were not included in your production," Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein wrote to Kushner.

They continued:

"For example, other parties have produced September 2016 email communications to Mr. Kushner concerning WikiLeaks, which Mr. Kushner then forwarded to another campaign official. Such documents should have been produced in response to the third request but were not. Likewise, other parties have produced documents concerning a 'Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite' which Mr. Kushner also forwarded. And still others have produced communications with Sergei Millian, copied to Mr. Kushner. Again, these do not appear in Mr. Kushner’s production despite being responsive to the second request."

More: http://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-emails-russia-backdoor-feinstein-grassley-2017-11