Ball of Thread, Ball of Kash
LOLGOP and I have done the final installment of our Ball of Threads podcast — focused on Kash Patel, who serves as kind of the alpha and omega of Trump’s grievance narrative.
The Senate is rushing to confirm Kash in days ahead, in spite of all the prevarication and conflicts we review in this video.
The whole series was great! Thank you Marcy. Is a book coming?
Kash should have been withdrawn faster than Matt Gaetz (any ratings yet on his show?) but as the GOP has demonstrated, there is no will to challenge Convict-1 especially now that Elon has announced that any such challenge means instant primary. They want power above all else and their seats give them that power (so they think). That’s why admitted sexual harassment survivor Joni Ernst was A-OK with Pete Hegseth after Convict-1 laid down his law.
It’s about the math: in their district / state MAGA voters make a majority or at least a substantial bloc that would require 100% support from non-MAGA GOP to prevail. Since MAGA voters seem to be remarkably unable to link their problems to Convict-1’s policies they’ll vote for whoever Dear Leader demands. I do note however that there are successes in special elections in primaries and generals for (relative) sanity, but the Congresscritters don’t see that.
I know that asking other posters to ask the mods to revise their previous comments is unusual, but would you (RUGGER_9) consider removing the word “admitted” from the above post? Or at least posting a subcomment about it? “…admitted sexual harassment survivor…” is technically accurate but has a very negative connotation to me. Not sure if others will agree, so maybe I’m overreacting, but it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
I’m not going to edit it, we typically don’t do that. Your point is good and it should be made — you’re doing it with your comment.
Rugger_9, being a victim of sexual assault is not a crime; using the word “admitted” may imply that it is. This is the rare case in which a few extra words would have served better: “Joni Ernst — who’s disclosed she has been sexually assaulted in the past — was A-OK with Pete Hegseth after Convict-1 laid down his law.“
The disclosure came in a Time magazine interview in 2014 (I suppose during her initial Senate run) and given her opinion then (remove the chain of command from the investigation and prosecution of claims) I have to wonder what changed, really especially considering her subsequent actions including in 2017 asking SecDef nominee Mattis about stopping sexual harassment in the military. In March 2017 she responded to a nude picture scandal by asking Congress for an immediate reporting law for sexual harassment at government facilities, so it was clearly a hot-button issue for her.
Disclosed, then. Sorry about that.
Dr. Wheeler,
Thank you so much for the whole “ball of thread.” Rehearing the same story in a different format strengthens my understanding.
datnotdat
I watched the final Ball of Thread Marcy. TY.
Wow, so many moving parts, actors, players, power-brokers.
KP’s nomination, like his vow to dismantle the FBI, is an orgasmic domination of the free press.
Wish Mitt’s 25 grandkids would stand up in front of congress and scream at the top of their lungs, HELP!
I guess my satellite view of this current legal-politics-propaganda battle is best rendered down to:
“My grievance narrative is bigger than your belief in the constitution”.
no transcripts for us to masticate ?
Sorry! I will get the transcript up by this weekend.
Thanks for putting this Ball of Thread series together. What is the book going to cover? I really look forward to reading.
I would like to learn more about the history of Grassley and protecting whistleblowers. There is something there that I just can’t get out of my mind.
Something about the proximity of Grassley with Michael Flynn. And something about the proximity with Flynn and Qanon, which could be described as a fake whistleblower with a “turbo-charged flow of intelligence.”
And something about the history of psychological warfare. Such as how a planner would try to exploit a narrative that is already inherent in the local populations. Similar to Lansdale exploiting the local superstition in vampires against the Huks in Philippines, or the ghost voices in Vietnam.
On that specific issue, you want to look up Barbara and Michael Leeden (including posts on this site about how Barbara undercut the Mueller investigation).
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/05/11/oversight-mike-flynn-lied-to-protect-barbara-ledeen-who-then-fed-disinformation-to-sara-carter/
But generally, Grassley has been great on whistleblowers but in his aged state right now, that has become easily exploited. As I’m sure you know former staffers of him were behind the disgruntled IRS agents in the Hunter Biden case.
I think there’s more to Patel’s story and role in the “Ukraine caper”.
Transition 2016: Kash wants to join the White House, Nunes recognize him from the Benghazi investigation and his time with SOCOM, Kash claims he gives up push to join White House because Nunes is so “persuasive” and is promised an eventual recommendation to the White House. [Patel doesn’t mention Grassley or Flynn, the latter of whom is in talks daily with Nunes and will become National Security Advisor to Trump]
Late 2018 events:
* Counterintelligence investigation into Hunter has begun at least by October 5
* IRS investigation into Hunter opens
Kulyk compiles 11 page dossier on Hunter and Burisma
* Rudy gets tipped of about the Manafort Black Ledger by ”my former chief of the criminal division in the US Attorney’s office, who is now the president of one of the larger investigatory firms in the world”
* Cummins acts as intermediary between Lutsenko (and likely Kulyk) and SDNY about Hunter and Manafort’s Black Ledger
* Cummins passes info on to Rudy
* Rudy connects with Parnas
* Nunes and Harvey go to Europe where speculation is they do something involving the Ukraine caper and Nunes alibi is that he met with a corrupt Maltese official and a Libyan warlord
* Trump taps Parnas and Fruman to go to Ukraine and help Rudy on a “special mission”
* An undisclosed person [Grassley? Patel? Trump? Nunes?] taps Solomon to report on Ukraine; Solomon will soon obtain Hunter’s bank records that were gathered by the FBI, from an undisclosed source
* Hunter is ensared in Ablow’s ketamine web
* Ezra Cohen leaves his post as Jeff Sessions National Security Advisor
* Patel is tapped to join the White House NSC as a low-level staffer with direct access to Trump, where he will later have a promotion after the Ukraine caper explodes
And of course
* Trump has private call with Putin from his hotel room reported out only on the Russian side, after ditching the WW1 ceremonies and making the “suckers and losers” comment
Marcy, apologies for not knowing this, but when you can, I’d like to know when you appeared on Mika & Joe’s show. Background looks like you are in Ireland. Even a month/year is good. I’m just curious how recently they had the balls to have you on.
Thanks for all of your incredible work!