Found an old blog post of mine from 2005 complaining about having to pick up an extra 512 MB of RAM to supplement my already existing 256 MB in order to play World of Warcraft. 🤣

Great Presidential Quotes in History

Singing the 9/11 First Responders bill:

“Now I am going to sign this bill into law, and I don’t know if this stage will hold it, but if it doesn’t, we are not falling very far.”

— President Donald “Tone-deaf” Trump

Great Presidential Quotes in History

“The African American community is so thankful. They’ve called me and they’ve said, ‘finally somebody is telling the truth.’”

“The African American people have been calling the White House. They have never been so happy as what a president has done.”

— President Donald “Epic Conference Call” Trump

Great Presidential Quotes in History

“I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world … Al Sharpton – now he is a racist. What I’ve done for African Americans in two and a half years – no president has been able to do anything like it.”

— President Donald “Second Coming of Lincoln” Trump

Great Presidential Quotes of All Time

(Regarding a Washington Post op-ed calling Mitch McConnell a Russian asset)

“I think the Washington Post is a Russian asset, by comparison … Mitch McConnell is a man that knows less about Russia and Russian influence and even Donald Trump, and I know nothing.”

— President Donald “I Know Nothing” Trump

11th minute, we’re already up 2-0. We’re back in old form!

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Lyndon B. Johnson

The authorship of this is impeccable.

It was a 3-3 draw until this corner kick goal in the 90+4 minute! There was only about 10 seconds left.

Watching the parade for the national team and it’s got me a little emotional.

Senator from West Virginia has introduced a bill that would disallow federal funds to go to the 2026 World Cup (co-hosted by the US) unless US Soccer agrees to pay the women the same as men.

I would definitely encourage you to call your senators in support of this bill.

Fun fact: neither Americans nor the Dutch have trailed their opponents in any of their games in this tournament.

Barring a 0-0 draw all the way to a penalty shootout, that’s got to change today

Last day I get to cheer for Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe before I go back to booing them as players for Seattle and Orlando 🤣

Go 🇺🇲

World Cup final in 30 minutes.

This England Sweden game went from lopsided to on fire pretty quick

These kids are swimming naked in 60° weather in a cold pool.

So Trump is having his fourth of fascism day parade. Any advertisements for this event should read: “Have your face preserved in infamy during the coverage of this historic event! Imagine your great grandchildren pulling up the crowd photos and finding your face in rapture during the infamous 4th of Fascism day! Being a part of history has never been easier.”

The tagline could be: “Like Triumph of the Will but without the production value.”

11-year-old in one of our concentration camps:

“About three days ago I got a fever. They moved me alone to a flu cell. There is no one to take care of you there. They just give you pills twice a day. I also am having an allergic reaction all over my skin. My skin is itchy and red and my nose is stuffed up. Two times they gave me a pill for it but not anymore.”

14-year-old girl in one of our concentration camps:

“I was in the first cell for 7 days, sleeping with no mattress…. It is hard to sleep when you don’t have a mattress. I then came down with the flu. I then went into the flu cell for 7 days.

“When you are in the flu cell, you also sleep on the floor, but you have a mattress. There were 21 other kids in that space with the flu. I had a fever in there and I was shaking. Some of the other kids were vomiting. They all had fevers. No one was taking care of the kids with the flu….

“We were not allowed to leave the flu cell, ever. It was very boring. I did nothing to entertain myself nor was anything offered. It was sad, very sad. I felt locked up and closed in. In the other cells, we can go out of the cell to get water one time a day….”

Was waiting for the Portland Thorns to begin playing, but storms in Houston have postponed the match until 9pm local time.

Ryker is so excited about Super Mario Maker 2’s release that he’s running around in circles saying “I just need to sleep one more time!”

The June Democratic debates are coming up. Gamblers are out there making wagers on these debates. If you’re curious, there are currently four bets you can make on the most popular betting website. The amount in parenthesis is how much you would get back for a bet of $1.

“How many times will Donald Trump be mentioned?” •Over 45.5 (1.87) •Under 45.5 (1.87)

“How many times will someone mispronounce Pete Buttigieg’s last name?” •Under 1.5 (1.556) •Over 1.5 (2.50)

“Which candidate will speak the most during the second night?” •Bernie Sanders (4.25) •Joe Biden (4.25) •Pete Buttigieg (5.50) •Kamala Harris (6.00) •Andrew Yang (11.00) •Eric Swalwell (11.00) •John Hickenlooper (11.00) •Kirsten Gillibrand (11.00) •Marianne Willamson (11.00) •Michael Bennet (11.00)

“Which topic will the moderator bring up first?” •Gun Control (4.50) •Health Care (4.50) •Climate (5.50) •Economy (6.00) •Impeachment (6.50) •Immigration (7.50) •Iran/North Korea (8.50) •Wall/Border Security (11.00) •Retirement (16.00)

The final day of the Round of 16. Playing now is Italy vs China, the Netherlands vs Japan later today.

Australia and Canada out of the World Cup in the first games of the knockout stage.

I’m very surprised.

Trump Administration: Iran caused the fall of Babylon 2558 years ago! Time to invade!

Trump Administration:

The Titanic was sunk by Iran. We better take their oil.

My referral link for Robinhood. Buy/sell stock and (depending on where you live) cryptocurrency. Signing up nets you one free stock (and using this link, a free one for me as well).

https://share.robinhood.com/douglac289

[[Metta Sutta - The Buddha’s Words on Loving-Kindness]]

One who knows the path of peace and seeks to promote welfare, let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and content. Peaceful, calm, and wise. Wishing in happiness and joy, that all beings be happy and free of suffering. Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger wish for another to suffer.

Just as a mother would protect her child with her life, even so, let one cultivate a boundless love towards all beings.

With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart and radiate boundless love towards the entire world - above, below, and all around, unhindered without hostility or hate.

Most effective way to spin something is to re-label it.

Dept of War became Dept of Defense

Garbage Dump became Sanitary Landfill

Civilian Casualties became Collateral Damage

Concentration Camp became Detention Center

Big big slpash for their first game. If football had a mercy rule, it would’ve been triggered a while ago.

⚽️ FIFA World Cup - Group F ⚽️ 🇺🇸 United States 13 - Thailand 0 🇹🇭

5 Goals: Alex Morgan 2 Goals: Rose Lavelle, Sam Mewis 1 Goal: Lindsay Horan, Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh, Carli Lloyd

Great quotes in presidential history:

Well this is weather like they don’t normally have, you know, this is supposed to be today a storm and it’s a little like the invasion itself, the weather was a big factor. And they delayed it a day and it worked out OK. And you look at the weather we have, we have beautiful weather. And it’s been this way wherever I’ve been. And I mean, we’ve been now for three and a half days and it’s like I’m saying is it always like this, it’s pretty beautiful. But it can be pretty rough.

Donald “Can’t Answer A Simple Question on the Storming of the Beaches of Normandy” Trump

I’ve got pneumonia…

Great quotes in presidential history:

They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!

Donald “Orbital Mechanics” Trump

The pets! 😢 I get they’re irradiated and it’s doing them a favor…. but damn 😢

I’ve decided that the miners in Chernobyl are real life dwarves.

Great presidential quotes in history:

“China, India, Russia, many other nations, they have not very good air, not very good water, and the sense of pollution. If you go to certain cities … you can’t even breathe, and now that air is going up … They don’t do the responsibility.”

Donald “Word Salad” Trump, Today

Great presidential quotes in history.

“I did say, ‘Well, the United States right now has among the cleanest climates there are based on all statistics.’ And it’s even getting better because I agree with that we want the best water, the cleanest water. It’s crystal clean, has to be crystal clean clear.”

Donald “Lie About Everything” Trump, Today

I began watching Chernobyl last night and got through the first two episodes.

This has to be one of the best TV shows ever made. The acting, the pacing, the drama, the carefully recreated late-80s Soviet Ukraine and the Soviet hierarchy. It is a mix of historical docudrama and historical fiction. Accurate in many ways and yet they’ve used artistic license to keep the drama coming.

This is definitely a show I would recommend you seeing.

Tonight is night 6 of this flu. It’s definitely better, but I haven’t kicked it completely.

😲

I can’t argue against this logic.

Go have the time of your afterlife is not exactly the words I ever thought I’d hear Donald Duck say.

Thank you, Kingdom Hearts III.

Thorns home opener and I’m too sick to attend. 😢 I’ve already given my tickets away. I hope they have a fun time.

My absolute favorite episode of Next Generation.

Fever of 101°

⚽⚽⚽ The Thorns are finally starting their season at home this Sunday and the World Cup is starting soon! ⚽⚽⚽

Lulz

At a dinner fundraiser for cancer research.

Can we NOT introduce the MD PhD as “the beautiful doctor”… 😡

Maybe THIS is what they mean by making American great again!?

⚠️ Minor Game of Thrones spoilers ⚠️

I don’t know what everyone is complaining about. The ending of Game of Thrones was just fine, though perhaps hastily written. It certainly confirmed my thought that in the end this entire story was a story of the Starks. It began with them, and it ended with them. It saw them (what was left of them) triumph.

But the hyperbole I see from people online reminds me why I refuse to partake in fandoms online.

I can’t wait to see all of the armchair writers go out and write their own ending on fanfiction websites. 🤣

I hope your protest vote/non-vote in 2016 was worth it. Both sides are the same, hey?

Ryker just told me that on Monday Neptune will break apart and become the Death Star.

Just, you know, FYI.

By David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post

In the fall of 1996, a charity called the Association to Benefit Children held a ribbon-cutting in Manhattan for a new nursery school serving children with AIDS. The bold-faced names took seats up front.

There was then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) and former mayor David Dinkins (D). TV stars Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford, who were major donors. And there was a seat saved for Steven Fisher, a developer who had given generously to build the nursery.

Then, all of a sudden, there was Donald Trump.

“Nobody knew he was coming,” said Abigail Disney, another donor sitting on the dais. “There’s this kind of ruckus at the door, and I don’t know what was going on, and in comes Donald Trump. [He] just gets up on the podium and sits down.”

Trump was not a major donor. He was not a donor, period. He’d never given a dollar to the nursery or the Association to Benefit Children, according to Gretchen Buchenholz, the charity’s executive director then and now.

But now he was sitting in Fisher’s seat, next to Giuliani.

…

Afterward, Disney and Buchenholz recalled, Trump left without offering an explanation. Or a donation. Fisher was stuck in the audience. The charity spent months trying to repair its relationship with him.

From American Sportswriter Rick Reilly:

While Trump was meeting with Kim [Jong Un] in Singapore, a club championship was held at Trump International, a course Trump built near Mar-a-Lago in Florida for his rich people friends to join. So anyway, a month later, Trump’s there at his golf course, with the Secret Service and the SWAT team guys and all that stuff. And he sees Ted Virtue, one of the financiers behind the movie Green Book.

Virtue — who wouldn’t speak to me directly, but the story was reported by Golf.com and I confirmed it through two other members of the club — was playing with his kid, who I think is 10 or 11 years old. He [Trump] sees Ted on the 12th hole and decides to drive his cart over there. He tells Ted: Congrats on winning the club championship, but you didn’t really win it because I was out of town.

Ted tries to laugh it off, but Trump is dead serious. Trump says, “We’re going to play these last six holes for the championship.” And Ted’s like, “I’m playing with my son, but thanks anyway.” But Trump says, “No, your son can play too.” So they end up playing.

They get to a hole with a big pond on it. Both Ted and his son hit the ball on the green, and Trump hits his in the water. By the time they get to the hole, Trump is lining up the kid’s ball. Only now it’s his ball and the caddie has switched it. The kid’s like, “Daddy, that’s my ball.”

But Trump’s caddie goes, “No, this is the president’s ball; your ball went in the water.” Ted and his son look at each other confused, not sure if this is really happening. And Trump’s caddie says, “This is the president’s ball. I don’t know what to tell you.”

Trump makes that putt, wins one up, and declares himself the club champion.

So Trump would buy stock in a company, publicly announce that he was considering buying the company, watch the stock price soar (people had this belief he was an impeccable businessman), then slowly begin to sell off his positions with no intention of ever really wanting to buy the said company.

This is a textbook example of a pump-and-dump scheme. I own stock and if I hype one of them to people without informing them of my interest in the company, rest assured that the SEC would be all over my ass.

This is reportedly the ONLY way he made any real money in the 80s. Literally, everything about him is a giant scam and rampant fraud.

So we were straight up dancing next to the governor. I can now check that off of my list of things I’d never thought I’d do.

We all fear the future of our young ones.

That must’ve been a sight to see. Me in my underwear tearing apart our clothes dryer as I curse the sheet metal for cutting me, shake my fist at the cramped housing as I try to use my screwdriver, and finally do a little cheer when I can confirm it was the heating element that has died and not some random other thing.

My only regret is that Kerrie missed the show. 🤣

Happy May Day!

“We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable—but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance & change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.” ~ Ursula Le Guin

As the clocks strike midnight in Japan, the 30-year Heisei era (平成) has officially come to an end following the abdication of Emperor Akihito (明仁). His eldest son, Emperor Naruhito (徳仁) has ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne (皇位) and begins the Reiwa era (令和).

Emperor Akihito is the first Japanese emperor to abdicate since Emperor Kōkaku (光格天皇) in 1817, 202 years ago.

Joe Biden is currently my top pick for the Democratic candidate I’d like to see lose to Elizabeth Warren.

When you buy your kid’s a black metal Barbie, we all do the windmill.

I have shared most of the principal conclusions of the Mueller report with the hashtag #MuellerReportSummaryBySection

I have done them by section or category, and they’re all set to public to allow sharing if you like.

Mueller Report - Conclusion

Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President’s conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Overarching factual issues

We did not make a traditional prosecution decision about these facts, but the evidence we obtained supports several general statements about the President’s conduct.

Several features of the conduct we investigated distinguish it from typical obstruction-of-justice cases. First, the investigation concerned the President, and some of his actions, such as firing the FBI director, involved facially lawful acts within his Article II authority, which raises constitutional issues discussed below. At the same time, the President’s position as the head of the Executive Branch provided him with unique and powerful means of influencing official proceedings, subordinate officers, and potential witnesses-all of which is relevant to a potential obstruction-of-justice analysis. Second, unlike cases in which a subject engages in obstruction of justice to cover up a crime, the evidence we obtained did not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference. Although the obstruction statutes do not require proof of such a crime, the absence of that evidence affects the analysis of the President’s intent and requires consideration of other possible motives for his conduct. Third, many of the President’s acts directed at witnesses, including discouragement of cooperation with the government and suggestions of possible future pardons, took place in public view. That circumstance is unusual, but no principle of law excludes public acts from the reach of the obstruction laws. If the likely effect of public acts is to influence witnesses or alter their testimony, the harm to the justice system’s integrity is the same.

Although the series of events we investigated involved discrete acts, the overall pattern of the President’s conduct towards the investigations can shed light on the nature of the President’s acts and the inferences that can be drawn about his intent. In particular, the actions we investigated can be divided into two phases, reflecting a possible shift in the President’s motives. The first phase covered the period from the President’s first interactions with Corney through the President’s firing of Corney. During that time, the President had been repeatedly told he was not personally under investigation. Soon after the firing of Corney and the appointment of the Special Counsel, however, the President became aware that his own conduct was being investigated in an obstruction-of-justice inquiry. At that point, the President engaged in a second phase of conduct, involving public attacks on the investigation, non-public efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation. Judgments about the nature of the President’s motives during each phase would be informed by the totality of the evidence.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Conduct involving Michael Cohen

The President’s conduct towards Michael Cohen, a former Trump Organization executive, changed from praise for Cohen when he falsely minimized the President’s involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow project, to castigation of Cohen when he became a cooperating witness. From September 2015 to June 2016, Cohen had pursued the Trump Tower Moscow project on behalf of the Trump Organization and had briefed candidate Trump on the project numerous times, including discussing whether Trump should travel to Russia to advance the deal. In 2017, Cohen provided false testimony to Congress about the project, including stating that he had only briefed Trump on the project three times and never discussed travel to Russia with him, in an effort to adhere to a “party line” that Cohen said was developed to minimize the President’s connections to Russia. While preparing for his congressional testimony, Cohen had extensive discussions with the President’s personal counsel, who, according to Cohen, said that Cohen should “stay on message” and not contradict the President. After the FBI searched Cohen’s home and office in April 2018, the President publicly asserted that Cohen would not “flip,” contacted him directly to tell him to “stay strong,” and privately passed messages of support to him. Cohen also discussed pardons with the President’s personal counsel and believed that if he stayed on message he would be taken care of. But after Cohen began cooperating with the government in the summer of 2018, the President publicly criticized him, called him a “rat,” and suggested that his family members had committed crimes.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Conduct towards Flynn, Manafort, [[** REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter **]]

After Flynn withdrew from a joint defense agreement with the President and began cooperating with the government, the President’s personal counsel left a message for Flynn’s attorneys reminding them of the President’s warm feeling towards Flynn, which he said “still remains,” and asking for a “heads up” if Flynn knew “information that implicates the President.” When Flynn’s counsel reiterated that Flynn could no longer share information pursuant to a joint defense agreement, the President’s personal counsel said he would make sure that the President knew that Flynn’s actions reflected “hostility” towards the President. During Manafort’s prosecution and when the jury in his criminal trial was deliberating, the President praised Manafort in public, said that Manafort was being untreated unfairly, and declined to rule out a pardon. After Manafort was convicted, the President called Manafort “a brave man” for refusing to “break” and said that “flipping” “almost ought to be outlawed.” [[** REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter **]]

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Efforts to have McGahn deny that the President had ordered him to have the Special Counsel removed.

In early 2018, the press reported that the President had directed McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed in June 2017 and that McGahn had threatened to resign rather than carry out the order. The President reacted to the news stories by directing White House officials to tell McGahn to dispute the story and create a record stating he had not been ordered to have the Special Counsel removed. The President then met with McGahn in the Oval Office and again pressured him to deny the reports. In the same meeting, the President also asked McGahn why he had told the Special Counsel about the President’s effort to remove the Special Counsel and why McGahn took notes of his conversations with the President. McGahn refused to back away from what he remembered happening and perceived the President to be testing his mettle.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Further efforts to have the Attorney General take control of the investigation

In early summer 2017, the President called Sessions at home and again asked him to reverse his recusal from the Russia investigation. Sessions did not reverse his recusal. In October 2017, the President met privately with Sessions in the Oval Office and asked him to “take [a] look” at investigating Clinton. In December 2017, shortly after Flynn plead guilty pursuant to a cooperation agreement, the President met with Sessions in the Oval Office and suggested, according to notes taken by a senior advisor, that if Sessions unrecused and took back supervision of the Russia investigation, he would be a “hero.” The President told Sessions, “I’m not going to do anything or direct you to do anything. I just want to be treated fairly.” In response, Sessions volunteered that he had never seen anything “improper” on the campaign and told the President there was a “whole new leadership team” in place. He did not unrecuse.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence

In the summer of 2017, the President learned that media outlets were asking questions about the June 9, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower between senior campaign officials, including Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer who was said to be offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” On server occasions, the President directed aides not to publicly disclose the emails setting up the June 9 meeting, suggesting that the emails would not leak and that the number of lawyers with access to them should be limited. Before the emails became public, the President wited a press statement for Trump Jr. by deleting a line that acknowledged that the meeting was with “an individual who [Trump Jr.] was told might have information helpful to the campaign” and instead said only that the meeting was about adoptions of Russian children. When the press asked questions about the President’s involvement in Trump Jr.’s statement, the President’s personal lawyer repeatedly denied the President had played any role.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Efforts to curtail the Special Counsel’s Investigation

Two days after direction McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed, the President made another attempt to affect the course of the Russia investigation. On June 19, 2017, the President met one-on-one in the Oval Office with his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a trusted advisor outside the government, and dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to Sessions. The message said that Sessions should publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal from the Russia investigation, the investigation was “very unfair” to the President, the President had done nothing wrong, and Sessions planned to meet with the Special Counsel and “let [him] move forward with investigating elections meddling for future elections.” Lewandoski said he understood what the President wanted Sessions to do.

One month later, in another private meeting with Lewandowski on July 19, 2017, the President asked about the status of his message for Sessions to limit the Special Counsel investigation to future election interference. Lewandowski told the President that the message would be delivered soon. Hours after that meeting, the President publicly criticized Sessions in an interview with the New York Times, and then issued a series of tweets making it clear that Session’s job was in jeopardy. Lewandowski did not want to deliver the President’s message personally, so he asked senior White House official Rick Dearborn to deliver it to Sessions. Dearborn was uncomfortable with the task and did not follow through.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: Appointment of a Special Counsel and efforts to remove him

On May 17, 2017, the Acting Attorney General for the Russia investigation appointed a Special Counsel to conduct the investigation and related matters. The President reacted to news that a Special Counsel had been appointed by telling advisors that it was “the end of his presidency” and demanding that Sessions resign. Sessions submitted his resignation, but the President ultimately did not accept it. The President told aides that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and suggested that the Special Counsel therefore could not serve. The President’s advisors told him the asserted conflicts were meritless and had already been considered by the Department of Justice.

On June 14, 2017, the media reported that the Special Counsel’s Office was investigating whether the President had obstructed justice. Press reports called this “a major turning point” in the investigation: while Comey had told the President he was not under investigation, following Comey’s firing, the President now was under investigation. On June 17, 2017, the President called McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: The President’s termination of Comey

On May 3, 2017, Comey testified in a congressional hearing, but declined to answer questions about whether the President was personally under investigation. Whinin days, the President decided to terminate Comey. The President insisted that the termination letter, which was written for public release, state that Comey had informed the President that he was not under investigation. The day of the firing, the White House maintained that Comey’s termination resulted from independent recommendations from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General that Comey should be discharged for mishandling the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But the President had decided to fire Comey before hearing from the Department of Justice. The day after firing Comey, the President told Russian officials that he had “faced great pressure because of Russia,” which had been “taken off” by Comey’s firing. The next day, the President acknowledged in a television interview that he was going to fire Comey regardless of the Department of Justice’s recommendation and that when he “decided to just do it,” he was thinking that “this thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.” In response to a question about whether he was angry with Comey about the Russia investigation, the President said, “As far as I’m concerned, I want the thing to be absolutely done properly,” adding the firing Comey “might even lengthen out the investigation.”

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: The President’s Reaction to the Continuing Russia Investigation

In February 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions began to assess whether he had to recuse himself from campaign-related investigations because of his role in the Trump Campaign. In early March, the President told White House Counsel Donald McGahn to stop Sessions from recusing. And after Sessions announced his recusal on March 2, the President expressed anger at the decision and told advisors that he should have an Attorney General who would protect him. That weekend, the President took Sessions aside at an event and urged him to “unrecuse.” Later in March, Comey publicly disclosed at a congressional hearing that the FBI was investigating “the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” including any links or coordination between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. In the following days, the President reached out to the Director of National Intelligence and the leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) to ask them what they could do to publicly dispel the suggestion that the President had any connection to the Russian election-interference effort. The President also twice called Comey directly, notwithstanding guidance from McGahn to avoid direct contacts with the Department of Justice. Comey had previously assured the President that the FBI was not investigating him personally, and the President asked Comey to “lift the cloud” on the Russia investigation by saying that publicly.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: COnduct involving FBI Director Comey and Michael Flynn

In mid-January 2017, incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn falsely denied to the Vice President, other administration officials, and FBI agents that he had talked to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about Russia’s response to U.S. sanctions on Russia for its election interference. On January 27, the day after the President was told that Flynn had lied to the Vice President and had made similar statements to the FBI, the President invited FBI Director Comey to a private dinner at the White House and told Comey that he needed loyalty. On February 14, the day after President requested Flynn’s resignation, the President told an outside advisor, “Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over.” The advisor disagreed and said the investigations would continue.

Later that afternoon, the President cleared the Oval Office to have a one-on-one meeting with Comey. Referring to the FBI’s investigation of Flynn, the President said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Shortly after requesting Flynn’s resignation and speaking privately to Comey, the President sought to have Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland draft an internal letter stating that the President had not directed Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak. McFarland declined because she did not know whether that was true, and a White House Counsel’s Office attorney thought that the request would look like a quid pro quo for an ambassadorship she had been offered.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary Factual Results of the Obstruction Investigation Investigation: The Campaign’s response to reports about Russian support for Trump

During the 2016 presidential campaign, questions arose about the Russian government’s apparent support for candidate Trump. After WikiLeaks released politically damaging Democratic Party emails that were reported to have been hacked by Russia, Trump publicly expressed skepticism that Russia was responsible for the hacks at the same time he and other Campaign officials privately sought information [[** REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter **] about any further planned WikiLeaks releases. Trump also denied having any business in or connections to Russia, even though as late as June 2016 the Trump Organization had been pursuing a licensing deal for a skyscraper to be built in Russia called Trump Tower Moscow. After the election, the President expressed concerns to advisors that reports of Russia’s election interference might lead the public to question the legitimacy of his election.

#MuellerReportSummaryBySection

Mueller Report - Executive Summary The Special Counsel’s Charging Decisions Part 2

The Office investigated several other events that have been publicly reported to involve potential Russia-related contacts. For example, the investigation established that interactions between Russian Ambassador Kislyak and Trump Campaign officials both at the candidate’s April 2016 foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., and during the week of the Republican National Convention were brief, public, and non-substantive. And the investigation did not establish that one Campaign official’s efforts to dilute a portion of the Republican Party platform on providing assistance to Ukraine were undertaken at the behest of candidate Trump or Russia. The investigation also did not establish that a meeting between Kislyak and Sessions in September 2016 at Session’s Senate office included any more than a passing mention of the presidential campaign.

The investigation did not always yield admissible information or testimony, or a complete picture of the activities undertaken by subjects of the investigation. Some individuals invoked their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination and were not, in the Office’s judgment, appropriate candidates for grants of immunity. The Office limited its pursuit of other witnesses and information - such as information known to attorneys or individuals claiming to be members of the media - in light of internal Department of Justice policies. See, eg., Justice Manual §§ 9-13.400, 13.410. Some of the information obtained via court process, moreover, was presumptively covered by legal privilege and was screened from investigators by a filter (or “taint”) team. Even when individuals testified or agreed to be interviewed, they sometimes provided information that was false or incomplete, leading to some of the false-statements charges described above. And the Office faced practical limits on its ability to access relevant evidence as well - numerous witnesses and subjects lived abroad, and documents were held outside the United States.

Further, the Office learned that some of the individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated - including some associated with the Trump Campaign - deleted relevant communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long-term retention of data or communications records. In such cases, the Office was not able to corroborate witness statements through comparison to contemporaneous communications or fully question witnesses about statements that appeared inconsistent with other known facts.

Accordingly, while this report embodies factual and legal determinations that the Office believes to be accurate and complete to the greatest extent possible, given these identified gaps, the Office cannot rule out the possibility that the unavailable information would shed additional light on (or case in a new light) the events described in the report.

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Mueller Report - Executive Summary The Special Counsel’s Charging Decisions

In reaching the charging decisions described in Volume I of the report, the Office determined whether the conduct it found amounted to a violation of federal criminal law chargeable under the Principles of Federal Prosecution. See Justice Manual §9-27.000 et seq. (2018). The standard set forth in the Justice Manual is whether the conduct constitutes a crime; if so, whether admissible evidence would probably be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction; and whether prosecution would serve a substantial federal interest that could not be adequately served by prosecution elsewhere or through non-criminal alternatives. See Justice Manual §9-27.220.

Section V of the report provides detailed explanations of the Office’s charging decisions, which contain three main components.

First, the Office determined that Russia’s two principal interference operations in the 2016 U.S. presidential election - the social media campaign and the hacking-and-dumping operation - violated U.S. criminal law. Many of the individuals and entities involved in the social media campaign have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to defraud the United States by undermining through deceptive acts the work of federal agencies charged with regulating foreign influence in U.S. elections, as well as related counts of identity theft. See United States v. Internet Research Agency, et al., No. 28-cr-32 (D.D.C.). Separately, Russian intelligence officers who carried out the hacking into Democratic Party computers and the personal email accounts of individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign conspired to violate, among other federal laws, the federal computer-intrusion statute, and they have been so charged. See United States v. Netyksho, et al., No 18-cr-215 (D.D.C.). [[REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter]] [[REDACTION - Personal Privacy]]

Second, while the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges. Among other things, the evidence was not sufficient to charge any Campaign official as an unregistered agent of the Russian government or other Russian principal. ANd our evidence about the June 9, 2016, meeting and WikiLeaks’s releases of hacked materials was not sufficient to charge a criminal campaign-finance violation. Further, the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired with representatives of the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.

Third, the investigation established that several individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign lied to the Office, and to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the investigation of Russian election interference. The Office charged some of those lies as violations of the federal false-statements statute. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying about his interactions with Russian Ambassador Kislyak during the transition period. George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor during the campaign period, pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about, inter alia, the nature and timing of his interactions with Joseph Mifsud, the professor who told Papadopoulos that the Russians had dirt on candidate Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. Former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress about the Trump Moscow Project. [[REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter]] And in February 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that Manafort lied to the Office and the grand jury concerning his interactions and communications with Konstantin Kilimnik about Trump Campaign polling data and a peace plan for Ukraine.

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Mueller Report - Executive Summary Russian Contacts with the Campaign

The social media campaign and the GRU hacking operations coincided with a series of contacts between Trump Campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government. The Office investigated whether those contacts reflected ore resulted in the Campaign conspiring or coordinating with Russia in its election-interference activities. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.

The Russian contacts considered of business connections, offers of assistance to the Campaign, invitations for candidate Trump and Putin to meet in person, invitations for Campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved U.S.-Russian relations. Section IV of this Report details the contacts between Russia and the Trump Campaign during the campaign and transition periods, the most salient of which are summarized below in chronological order:

Beginning here near the end of page 5 all the way through the end of page 8, the summary details contacts between the Trump Campaign and Russians beginning in late 2015 through mid-2017. This is far too long to type into a Facebook post.

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Mueller Report - Executive Summary Russian Hacking Operations

At the same time that the IRA operation began to focus on supporting candidate Trump in early 2016, the Russian government employed a second form of interference: cyber intrusions (hacking) and released of hacked materials damaging to the Clinton Campaign. The Russian intelligence services known as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army (GRU) carried out these operations.

In March 2016, the GRU began hacking the email accounts of Clinton Campaign volunteers and employees, including campaign chairman John Podesta. In April 2016, the GRU hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The GRU stole hundreds of thousands of documents from the compromised email accounts and networks. Around the time that the DNC announced in mid-June 2016 the Russian government’s role in hacking its network, the GRU began disseminating stolen materials through the fictitious online personas “DCLeaks” and “Guccifer 2.0.” The GRU later released additional materials through the organization WikiLeaks.

The presidential campaign of Donal J. Trump (“Trump Campaign” or “Campaign”) showed interest in WikiLeaks’s releases of documents and welcomed their potential to damage candidate Clinton. Beginning in June 2016, [[REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter]] forecast to senior Campaign officials that WikiLeaks would release information damaging to candidate Clinton. WikiLeaks’s first release came in July 2016. Around the same time, candidate Trump announced that he hoped Russia would recover emails described as missing from a private server used by Clinton when she was Secretary of State (he later said that he was speaking sarcastically). [[REDACTION - Harm to Ongoing Matter]] WikiLeaks began releasing Podesta’s stolen emails on October 7, 2016, less than one hour after a U.S. media outlet released video considered damaging to candidate Trump. Section III of this Report details the Office’s investigation into the Russian hacking operations, as well as other efforts by Trump Campaign supporters to obtain Clinton-related emails.

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Mueller Report - Executive Summary Russian Social Media Campaign

The Internet Research Agency (IRA) carried out the earliest Russian interference operations identified by the investigation - a social media campaign designed to provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States. The IRA was based in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received funding from Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin and companies he controlled. Prigozhin is widely reported to have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, [[REDACTION: Harm to Ongoing Matter]]

In mid-2014, the IRA sent employees to the United States on an intelligence-gathering mission with instructions [[REDACTION: Harm to Ongoing Matter]]

The IRA later used social media accounts and interest groups to sow discord in the U.S. political system through what is termed “information warfare.” The campaign evolved from a generalized program designed in 2014 and 2015 to undermine the U.S. electoral system to a targeted operation that by early 2016 favored candidate Trump and disparaged candidate Clinton. The IRA’s operation also included the purchase of political advertisements on social media in the names of U.S. persons and entities, as well as the staging of political rallies inside the United States. To organized those rallies, IRA employees posed as U.S. grassroots entities and persons and made contact with Trump supporters and Trump Campaign officials in the United States. The investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons conspired or coordinated with the IRA. Section II of this report details the Office’s investigation of the Russian social media campaign.

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Some firefighters pulled up to Notre Dame and ran in to save some art and artifacts.

You know, no matter how bad I am at a job, at least I’ll never be “burned down the Notre Dame” bad.

It’s going to be rough for the worker(s) that caused it.

Just watched the movie A Quiet Place and I have one problem:

All of Earth’s brilliant scientist didn’t once think “aliens with super sensitive hearing!? I bet they hate high frequencies like anything else with sensitive hearing.”

Anyways, it’s a fantastic movie. I just think in reality it’d be one of the first things people would try.

In my left hand, I’m playing with Ryker with legos. Two dragons fighting each other, … with fart weapons.

With my right hand, I’m playing with Aurora with her stuffed Pluto dog and a dog toy. I toss the toy, Pluto fetches it.

Quickly, in between events, I’m ordering groceries to be delivered later.

And we’re all sick. Just another day in the life…

Season tickets in hand! Season begins in 3 days, but due to stadium construction, home games won’t begin until June! 😢

This video describes the atmosphere, but it’s so much better when you’re there in person.

President Snowflake and the Eternal Victimhood of the Republican Mind.

I’m really starting to come around on this Pete Buttigieg guy.

Even if chrome doesn’t think his name is spelled right. 🤣

Watched 30 minutes of Aquaman and I’m done and out.

The Tigers are undefeated!!!!

Just 161 games to go…

Can I get $2 billion in loans from Deutsche Bank? I have the same capabilities as Trump to pay them off. I am pretty good at Football Manager, I’d like a team!

Aurora just gave me a timeout for not allowing her to eat cookies for breakfast.

Even used a finger point!

People need to stop their shit. Captain Marvel was a good film. I found it far more enjoyable than the non-Civil War Captain America movies.

Today I learned that American Football added the down system in 1882 after weaker teams would just make a pretense at play but would just keep possession as long as possible.

The original rule gave teams 3 downs to gain 5 yards or lose 10. A few years later it was modified to gain 5 or lose 20.

Why is it that people that barely graduated high school think they know more than scientists?

Oh my…

ðis iz wut iŋgliŝ wʊd lʊk layk if eĉ lɛtr rɛprizɛntid wun siŋgul spisifik sawnd!

For you Kerrie

We have a national emergency ⚠️⚠️⚠️

Should I stay indoors? Stock up on supplies? Resort to cannibalism?

The new pro football league was fun to watch. No kickoffs or 1 point conversions was interesting.

Today a new professional American Football league begins. The Alliance of American Football will begin its inaugural season tonight at 8pm East/5pm West with the San Diego Fleet at San Antonio Commanders, and Atlanta Legends at Orlando Apollos.

It will be interesting to see this. This will be the first big attempt at a large professional league since the XFL in 2001.

Some things that make this league stand out from the NFL:

There are no TV timeouts and 60% less “full-screen commercials” which means they’re likely to use on field ads like other sports.

The league is aiming to have the games completed at least 30 minutes shorter than NFL games.

The play clock is 35 seconds.

There are no kickoffs. Possession automatically begins at the 25-yard line.

If a team is losing by 17 points or more or there are less than 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter, a team may attempt to keep possession of the ball after a touchdown/field goal by attempting to convert a 4th and 12 at their 28-yard line.

A team may attempt this “onside conversion” after a safety at any time.

There is no 1-point field goal after a touchdown. All teams must attempt a 2-point conversion.

One overtime period will be played during the regular season under the “Kansas Playoff” rules. Each team gets a chance at possession from their opponent’s 10-yard line. The final result after each team gets one go is the final score. In the postseason, the format continues until there is a winner.

A legal catch only requires a single foot inbound like the NCAA and CFL.

There will be a ninth official called the “sky judge.” They will have the ability to call or take away penalties made or missed by the officials on the field.