Doin’ the Monster Mash! Good morning on this beautiful Valentine’s Day, politocadoes!

Big news that came in last night: the judge in the Manafort case has determined that he lied to investigators on at least three separate occasions while ‘cooperating’ with the Special Counsel. These lies included communications with Konstantin Kilimnik which also involved multiple meetings, as recently as 2018. New is the revelation of an August 2016 meeting in the Grand Havana Room at the Jared Kushner owned 666 Fifth Avenue which reportedly “goes to the heart of the investigation” This means that the agreement is off and prosecutors no longer have to go light on sentencing for him. Harsher sentencing could add years to Manafort’s sentence.

Federal judge finds Paul Manafort lied to Mueller probe about contacts with Russian aide

Meanwhile, at a Middle East security conference, the whole region appears to be blaming Iran for its woes. The conference, which Iran was not invited to, covered numerous subjects though all conflicts somehow went back to Iran. While Mike Pompeo and Bibi Netanyahu hailed it as a warming of relations between Israel and the Gulf States. The focus entirely on Iran’s actions is worrying especially given the bellicosity of members of the Trump administration, notably Flavor Saver Mustache Man NSA Director John Bolton. Bolton just said on February 12  to the Ayatollah ‘I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries to enjoy’, one can’t help but shake the view that the conference is nothing more than an attempt to get everyone on the same page on Iran for when the US decides to invade. Yayyyyyyyy

Middle East conference opens with warnings that all problems originate in Iran

Welcome to Thursday! Please be excellent to each other. Mayor McSquirrel Rule is in effect because we’re better than him. Alert a mod if you think a news item is getting too Clammy, so they can post it to the top of the thread.