One positive thing about the Trump candidacy is that it has a way of confirming long-held suspicions, such as that the GOP base’s yearning for white nationalist politics remains strong and extends well beyond Dixie. Another is that Green Party favorite Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is basically the Milo Yiannopoulos of the tie-dyed set. Consider:
Unskews polls to predict glorious Trump victory — check:
US poll: Who will you vote to become President?
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 29, 2016
Links to The Gateway Pundit, aka, the Stupidest Man on the Internet, as if he were a credible source — check:
Ecuador under pressure end Assange asylum after #DNCleak & criticism of Hillary Clinton https://t.co/lK8QnvPSO4 pic.twitter.com/ElQpb0Vjcx
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016
Promotes wingnut fever-swamp conspiracy theories about the Clinton body count — check:*
WikiLeaks Offers $20K Reward for Information in Murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich https://t.co/c0YARaemzL
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 9, 2016
Seems like there’s very little “Wiki” involved in WikiLeaks anymore, so what we’re getting is information filtered through Assange’s anti-Clinton bile. Jill Stein recently called Assange a hero, which underscores her poor judgement. Whatever good will the organization generated by publishing material that exposed war criminals in Iraq is now being squandered by a founder who is, like Roger Stone and Breitbart.com, functioning as a oppo research and propaganda outlet for the Donald Trump campaign. Good to know.
*After strongly implying in an interview earlier this week that murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich was a WikiLeaks source, Assange walked it back a bit yesterday by reissuing a statement that neither confirmed nor denied a link to Rich. But the hint was picked up by the kooks as Assange intended, much as Trump’s dogwhistles find receptive ears.
dmsilev
I notice that “Free Assange” montage is inexplicably missing the words “Sweden” and “sexual assault”. Funny that.
lollipopguild
We have been down the Rabbit Hole so many times this election I have lost count.
Sicilian Dish
hmmm. turns out he’s just what i thought he was, an abuser of women, a coward, a liar, and the opposite of what he claims to be. At home in the Republican Party and the Trump Campaign. Pursuit of “The Truth” not necessarily as advertised.
Tom65
I surrender.
FlipYrWhig
As in the previous thread, I offer the nickname “Demghazi” for this conspiracy theory about how Hillary/Obama/Democrats/deep state/etc. abetted the killing of a staffer who knew too many inconvenient truths.
nominus
He seems to be oddly surprised by the fact that when you make a living pissing people off you don’t end up with many friends willing to help you when you piss off the wrong people.
He’s a typical internet troll who has made the long-envied leap to Useful Idiot.
dr. bloor
@dmsilev:
Sweden hasn’t forgotten.
hovercraft
I was not aware of his history. From The Guardian.
No wonder he’s with Trump, they have the same beliefs.
And his excuses are just as plausible.
cervantes
Yeah well evidently the Russians have given them hacked data from numerous Dem campaign committees and he’s planning to pick whatever appears embarrassing and post it at strategic times over the next three months. This is a real thing.
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
I like the fact that it says imprisoned without trail. Isn’t that why he’s hiding out? If he wants his day in court, all he has to do is come out and he’ll have it. It seems to me, he’s trying to avoid a trail and instead hold a referendum on his guilt or innocence in the court of public opinion, where he is not subject to cross examination.
ArchPundit
The infographic says “4 years detained without charge in the embassy”
First, there is a charge. Second, the embassy isn’t detaining him. Third, he’s free to leave the embassy and face extradition and the charges.
Fourth, what an asshole.
MattF
@cervantes: Maybe, but the Venn diagram intersection of ‘appears embarrassing to Julian Assange’ and ‘true’ is probably empty.
Betty Cracker
@cervantes: Watch out: There are scolds all over the internet ready to call you a neo-McCarthyite if you suggest that Assange & Co. are acting as useful idiots for Putin!
mkro
There are 2 important natural common threads between Assange and Trump:
1. Both are ultimate self-promoter egomaniacs
2. Both are full of overwhelming paranoia that leads to beliefs in conspiracy theories
Gin & Tonic
As long as we’re speaking of useful idiots, it appears that Brexit is already bearing fruit.
JPL
I’m listening to Trump and he’s not yelling. Is he sick?
wenchacha
Low-energy Donnie speaking on CNN right now.
Roger Moore
@hovercraft:
Exactly. Hiding out to avoid prosecution is not the same as being imprisoned without trial. Having to deal with the consequences of breaking the law is not the same as being persecuted. Assange is one of those people who think that being engaged in civil disobedience should exempt them from arrest.
mike in dc
@wenchacha:
Maybe he is bipolar and recent events have triggered a deep depression.
Gin & Tonic
Incidentally, the Twitter machine is telling me that Robert Conquest has died. In light of yesterday’s front-paging of Walter Duranty, the coincidence is odd.
trollhattan
@mkro:
3. Both are accused of rape.
Roger Moore
@mkro:
You missed that both of them are severe misogynists who have been accused of rape.
Eric U.
@mkro: 3) allegations of sexual assault
eta, 3rd with that comment, I am a loser. Sad!
Tim C.
@dr. bloor: The North remembers….
MikeTheZ
@JPL: I’m in the only airport in America that doesn’t have the 25/8 news channels on. He saying anything profoundly stupid?
wenchacha
Funny, there was no applause for many minutes. He finally rallied a bit, but he rambles.
RaflW
Keeping in mind that Assange is accused of both rape and sexual molestation in Sweden might give some perspective on his Clinton hatred. It may just be that he generally hates women, only wanting them for his disgusting pleasure and power assertion needs. Or so I’ve heard from many many important people. Lots of them. Who say these things.
schrodinger's cat
Since I called out my “independent” friend she refuses to discuss politics with me. If you quote from Brietbart’s wingnut outlet you are no independent. I was not born yesterday.
schrodinger's cat
Speaking of Australia, their treatment of migrants has been among one of the worst. Stay classy, Australia.
Mnemosyne
I’ve thought for a long time now that Assange is an entitled dick, and he and Wikileaks don’t care who gets hurt as long as they can have their “scoop.” Exhibit A: Chelsea Manning, who was exploited by Wikileaks for their purposes and then hung out to dry.
Also, another slightly unrelated thought — this is another aspect of the anti-war coalition breaking down that I was talking about yesterday. There were quite a few isolationists in that coalition (like Greenwald) who are now proving to be more trouble than they’re worth, because they’re pissed off that most Democrats and liberals are anti-stupid war, not isolationists like themselves. And now they’re going to punish us for being dumb enough to trust them.
Gin & Tonic
@Gin & Tonic: Well, I are an idiot with a bad memory. He died a year ago.
Jeffro
OT but (as some folks have noted upthread) I’m seeing people comment on Trump’s seeming acceptance of his coming loss in November, as well as his general low energy. The psychodrama between now and Nov 8th is going to be quite unbelievable.
Have y’all already seen that TIME “meltdown” cover of him? Wow.
hovercraft
@FlipYrWhig:
The problem for the Demghazi, e-ghazi, and the Benghazi conspiracists, is that they are the same groups of people, the free Assange/ Manning/ Snowden people. Who don’t seem to understand that standing up for our principles means being willing to accept the consequences of your actions. And the rethug base who believe that the Clintons are Borgia’s, always scheming and always just beyond the reach of the law. These are people who believe that Chelsea had children just to soften her mothers image. They may intensify the Clinton Derangement Syndrome within their ranks, but fortunately the epidemic is pretty contained.
Waldo
Friends of mine on the left are sure Assange is planning an October surprise to derail Hillary. I think the biggest surprise will be if Trump is even in the race come October. If Wikileaks has anything, the time to open the spigot is like a week ago.
Jeffro
@schrodinger’s cat:
Amen! To which I’d add the same about folks who consider taxes to be “theft”. Drives me nuts.
RaflW
@hovercraft: Exactly. The BBC timeline I was just looking at says that Sweden has had to drop two of the charges against him (but not the rape charge) because they’ve run out of time to question him. This is of course a perversion of justice, since the reason they can’t question him is his craven cowardice, hiding in that embassy. I appreciate that Swedish law incorporates issues of timeliness of charges, but if the alleged perp is actively avoiding questioning, can’t a judge just say “fuck this, he can’t run the clock out like we’re morons”?
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: I did see that cover, and you can bet your boots the shouty cantaloupe saw it too, which may account for his slough of despond…
dmsilev
@Jeffro:
It’s awesome.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: I’m now getting a minor jolly trying to imagine that moron attempting to comprehend “slough of despond.”
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Voluntarily hiding out at a country’s embassy rather than trying to fight the charges at trial is totally like being Nelson Mandela, maaaaan! (or the Australian slang equivalent thereof).
Also, I’m pretty sure the worst thing that could happen for Assange is that he would get through the trial in Sweden, do whatever sentence is required and then … nothing. No extradition by the US, because he’s just too small a fish to fry, and the vast majority of his own importance is in his own mind.
Wasn’t there some online worry by Greenwald that he would be detained if he traveled to the US and it turned out, nope, he can go back and forth freely and no one really gives a shit? It seemed to annoy him quite a bit when someone pointed that out while Greenwald was making an appearance in the US.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: @dmsilev:
Iz our media lerning? Film at 11
Hal
Another murder conspiracy? How many does this make now? One of my conservative friends on Facebook buys hook, line and sinker into all of this.
dmsilev
@hovercraft:
His story is that he can’t leave the embassy and stand trial because if he did, the US would extradite him from Sweden. I’m dubious.
Tom
Didn’t he just release something that made public information on thousands of Turkish women opposed to the Turkish dictator Erdogan, thus exposing them to harm?
Matt McIrvin
@hovercraft: There’s also a bit of a split happening within that bunch: Greenwald and Snowden are trying to dissociate themselves from Assange, who they realize has gone around the bend and is behaving increasingly recklessly.
wenchacha
@Betty Cracker: That “slough of despond” is what I want to see. Moar slough!
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
In August 2015.
ETA: And I see (@31) you also caught it.
dmsilev
@Hal: The real conspiracy goes deeper than you know. Vince Foster wasn’t killed by Clinton’s Ninja Strike Force, that was simply a ruse so he could go undercover as her elite assassin. Yes, that’s right, Vince Foster killed that DNC staffer.
Keith G
Despite the rumors and other bits of noise out there, it is still the case, as Ezra Klein points out, that every candidate for president since 1952 who has been ahead in the polls two weeks after the conventions has gone on to win the presidency. I see nothing predictable in the cosmos that suggest this election year to be different than the others.
So let’s tribute money 2 Hilary, let’s find ways to volunteer to help the effort comma and can we please start talking about more gratifying things than this wackadoodle bullshit.
FlipYrWhig
@wenchacha: For teh Slough fix you need.
Matt McIrvin
@Waldo: I’m sure he is planning an October surprise. His behavior and what he’s released so far makes me think it’s either a nothingburger that he’s elevated in his mind to the shockingest swerve ever, or something completely fabricated.
dmsilev
Apparently there’s a poll out this morning showing Trump with a 2 point lead….
…in South Carolina.
Edit: poll link
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, pursuant to our conversations of last night, this is the “pivot” I see in BJ trolling as well – now that we don’t have Sanders v. Clinton to kick around anymore, we have Clinton! Warhawk! and “libtard apologists for American hegemony OH NOES”. Le sigh.
hovercraft
@cervantes:
But to what end? On morning Joe today, some politico hack was on with the news that according to newly obtained e-mails, Hillary’s people became concerned in 2013 after Sid Blumenthals e-mails were hacked, that Hillary’s server might be vulnerable, and so they took the server offline for a few days and changed her e-mail address. When it was pointed out that she was no longer SoS in 2013 and that that sounded like a reasonable response, he said yes but it raises questions. What f**king questions does it raise? That the media is full of stupid people?
But the panel glumly conceded that unlike Trump’s eruptions which are “sexy” and soundbiteable, e-ghazi is vague and not simply digestable, so it’s not as potent a weapon against her. Plus since it’s been simmering for over a year, it doesn’t have the same potency as the daily episodes of verbal diarrhea Trump is subjecting us to. The consensus was that unless there is a smoking gun, with explicit quid pro quo, alas this will do almost no damage.
wenchacha
Oh hell no. Joe Lieberman just showed up on CNN, plugging No Labels, and saying “I’m With Her.” Camerafornicator.
catclub
@MikeTheZ:
Treasure those moments.
Jeffro
@dmsilev:
I still prefer the more creative Obama conspiracy theories…Mother Jones has a “Obama Conspiracy-O-Rama” up (I can’t tell when it was originally published) that’s hysterical to those of us on the Left and HYSTERICAL!!1! to those on the Right, too.
dedc79
This is all disgusting, but the Seth Rich part is particularly noxious. A tragic story to begin with, and I can’t even imagine how painful it must be for his family/friends to now have to deal with these crazy conspiracy theories.
lollipopguild
@dmsilev: No, they used Obama’s Heart Attack Machine(TM).
Jeffro
@dmsilev: I do think that if he stays in the race, Trump will lose Utah to Clinton. Everyone better get in a doorway or under a desk when that happens.
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: I think a lot of Sanders’ core support was always that–only Sanders was a poor vehicle for it, because he was mostly interested in domestic economics and his foreign-policy pitch didn’t have much to it beyond “I didn’t vote for the Iraq AUMF”.
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: Unexpectedly brutal, for TIME. At least, the American edition.
schrodinger's cat
Assange’s attitudes don’t surprise me. I remember from the time I used to follow cricket religiously, there were some Australian players who used to use racist taunts to needle the Indian team that they were playing against. Such gauche behavior was unheard of from say the South African, Kiwi or the English teams. You know and they didn’t have to, they have been consistently one of the best if not the best national team among the countries that play cricket.
catclub
@dmsilev: Someone has been watching Red Dwarf. I recognize that scenario – Kennedy was the man on the grassy knoll.
FlipYrWhig
@Miss Bianca: I’m already outraged by the NEXT American empire!
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: It’s not shaping up that way–Utah is close-ish, but Trump seems to have stopped the bleeding; he’s not doing as badly there as he was before the Comey/RNC surge.
JPL
@MikeTheZ: He has charts, that help keep him remember his talking points. Pretty much the same Trump, but he is using his soft voice. SAD
I turned it off.
Woodrowfan
@lollipopguild: “Watership Down” didn’t have this many rabbit holes!
SiubhanDuinne
@FlipYrWhig:
And even before that — this.
Soylent Green
@JPL:
He was on top of the world, ma, but it’s not fun anymore.
I think he will find an excuse to drop out. Hopefully not till mid-October.
catclub
@dmsilev: wow.
Really fluffing Reince Priebus, though.
geg6
Well really, Betty. I was told yesterday that I was going too far in comparing Assange to PUAs and MRAs. He’s a hero, for gawd’s sake! One of my betters told me so. I don’t know what I’d do without men telling me what to think!
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
Great cover, Donnie must be having a sad.
Last week someone from Politico was on TV mocking the fact that even though he has banned Politico from his events (no credentials), he had called them up to request hundreds of copies of their new magazine, because he was on the cover. Apparently covers are the only thing he likes more that polls showing him in the lead. How many copies will he request of this new one?
SAD !!
dmsilev
This analysis of Trump’s Twitter feed is great. There are a whole slew of indicators used to tell when Trump himself is posting vs. some poor schmuck of a staffer, starting with what kind of phone is used (Trump uses Android, staffer uses iPhone) and going on from there.
schrodinger's cat
@dmsilev: I love it. He is already sounding like he belongs in a padded cell and not the White House. His reaction when he sees it, is going to be huge, believe me.
Keith G
@Keith G: It’s almost amusing the way my voice recognition randomly decides to spell out some variation of the word comma instead of just using the symbol
eric
@schrodinger’s cat: I call bullshit. Hater! the Australians were just as shitty to the natives so it is even steven!
Miss Bianca
@FlipYrWhig: Ah, I thought I recognized you – aren’t you one of the founders of Mothers of the Next American Revolution? ; )
FlipYrWhig
@SiubhanDuinne: Right!
dmsilev
@hovercraft: Have you seen the pictures of Trump’s personal office? The wall is covered with magazine covers and the like (all in gold frames, of course), all of which feature pictures of Trump. Strip away his ego, and there’d be nothing left except a few strands of pseudo-hair.
FlipYrWhig
@Miss Bianca: :D
Cacti
@hovercraft:
St. Julian also has a history of blaming conspiring Jews for trying to bring down his noble work.
Yeah, small wonder he favors the white nationalist U.S. candidate.
FlipYrWhig
@dmsilev: Like the Cheshire Cat?
nominus
@dmsilev: The best part of the SC poll is Graham’s unfave numbers tanking across all party lines. Haley is down too. It would be nice if HRC’s campaign can scrounge 2-3% more out of the couch cushions even though she doesn’t need the state, but it’s promising to see trump’s yuge loser stink starting to stick to everything.
1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)
@lollipopguild: The rabbits are getting to be annoyed, too.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
Yes, he frames and displays them for all to see.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Conquest died last year.
ETA: You already caught it.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: …though I’d like to understand more about the pattern that seems to have some states (like Utah) leaning more toward Clinton in her spring surge than they are now, and others (like Georgia) the reverse.
It may just be racial: I think white conservatives are a bit more likely to be resigned to Trump now than they were during his previous slump, but the remnant of non-whites who used to vote Republican are getting more and more appalled by him, and you’re seeing things like the fraction of black Republican supporters in some states going from 5-10 percent down to indistinguishable-from-zero.
eric
@Jeffro: no way because you would hit your head on the way up — cause that’s the Rapture bitches!
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@trollhattan:
. 4. Both are useful tools of Putin.
I mean seriously, WTF does some Swedish moral dengerate have buisness in a US election??
sigaba
@lollipopguild: Like James T. Kirk’s Tanatalus Field from the Mirror Universe?
sigaba
@Enhanced Voting Techinques: He’s Australian. He just visits Sweden to rape women.
Miss Bianca
@Cacti: Oh, on top of his apparent misogyny, that preening ballsack is an anti-Semite, too? Now, why am I more disgusted than shocked, I wonder?
hovercraft
@Matt McIrvin:
Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of vipers, what is there not enough glory to go around. I mean seriously, everything is subject to editing, that does not a conspiracy make. No institution and or government is completely transparent, they cannot be, this is the real world. The fact that these groups are cracking up over where to draw the line shows that there is no such thing as complete openness. The only question is who is making the call on where to draw the line. I no more trust Greenwald and Snowden with that decision than I do Assange. Everything we see or read is filtered. When it’s not filtered / edited you end up with the perorations of Donald Trump.
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
Is that Jason Bourne’s real identity?
nonynony
@cervantes:
Sure it’s a real thing but will it actually be damaging? Is Assange actually capable of understanding what will and won’t be damaging in a US presidential contest?
Assagne’s ability to analyze politics in foreign countries has never really been good. He’s kind of terrible at it. I’m sure that there is stuff in the campaign e-mails that is not favorable to various politicians involved but I’ll go on record to say that I doubt there’s anything as damaging as the e-mails that were released that forced DWS to resign. Which, to be honest, were almost entirely stupid and amounted to mostly nothing. If there were more damaging e-mails he would have leaked them already. This “trickle out” threat sounds like some James O’Keefe level of promotion to hype up a nothingburger and convince the press that it’s something real rather than something someone who really had damaging information would do.
Hal
@dmsilev: I believe it. After all according to some, Trump is a Clinton plant, which means Hillary has engineered decades of rightward lurch in the GOP. She purposely threw the 2008 election so Obama could get elected thus contributing to the melt down of the GOP, which made Trump possible. Now here we are.
schrodinger's cat
@hovercraft: I always read your handle as hovercat.
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: Almost everyone who is sufficiently seriously into the conspiracy mindset seems to turn into an anti-Semite eventually. I noticed it when I was curious about flat-earthers.
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
When even Steve Kornaki and msnbc are speculating that a landslide just may be possible, things are bad.
Albatrossity
Amazing how short some memories are. I remember Sarah Palin calling for Assange to be assassinated, and little Billy Kristol saying that Wikileaks is a criminal enterprise hostile to US interests! I guess if you are a Hillary-hater, all of that can be forgiven.
hovercraft
@dedc79:
Same goes for Vince Foster’s. His sister was begging for people to just stop.
Miss Bianca
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh, noes! What if you’re Jewish and you become a conspiracy theorist? SAD!
D58826
@FlipYrWhig: I have lon g wondered, and wish I could ask these ‘body-count’ conspiracy theorists – if the Clinton are so good at murdering people why not just kill Klayman/Assage/ken Star/etc the people who are the real threats not some low level DNC staffer? oh wait that would make sense. never mind
Jeffro
@Hal:
I’m seeing this in FB as a Limbaugh-promoted theory…”the Clintons didn’t want to look TOO powerful, so they let O win and take the reins for 8 years, and now she’s REALLY going to drive home a million Socialist nails…”
There really is no end to their paranoia, is there? In that sense – which may well be the root of all their madness – there truly is no Peak Wingnut.
hovercraft
@schrodinger’s cat:
LOL.
That’s why I don’t sit on glass tables.
catclub
@hovercraft: I hope the next movie is Bourne Free. It could happen!
catclub
@Jeffro: Speaking of conspiracies, people are saying that Donald Trump gave to NAMBLA, but he wants to hide it by not releasing his tax forms. Not that I believe it, but just saying.
Miss Bianca
@schrodinger’s cat: O/T, but Pancho Kitty was first seen catching a mouse this morning! Office Kitties becoming the Mighty Hunters of their birthright!
@catclub: I love it. Then comes “Bourne to be Wild!”
hovercraft
@catclub:
The correct phraseology is some people are saying, I don’t know, but some people are saying he gave to NAMBLA.
schrodinger's cat
@Miss Bianca: We can has photos?
Lizzy L
@catclub: “People are saying…” lol
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
I think you meant to address your comment to @schrodinger’s craft.
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: Yes, even them, I’m afraid. And they are the saddest of all.
Miss Bianca
@schrodinger’s cat: I haz some – or rather, one of my coworkers does! I just have to figure out how to put them into some online album!
Miss Bianca
@Matt McIrvin: “What if…what if I *am* one of the Elders of Zion? IT COULD HAPPEN!!”
bemused
@Miss Bianca:
Our two kitties are indoor only but one still manages to use her hunting instincts. I have a basement craft room with a loom to weave rag rugs. Almost every day she goes in there and finds big wool or fuzzy fabric pieces, hauls them up and announces her feats with loud meows. When we had the painting supply box out, she brought up fuzzy paint roller covers laying several neatly on a throw rug and a few large paintbrushes. She is so proud of herself, we have to praise her and she’s happy.
mike in dc
I expect a massive cyber-attack on Russian state databases, and the private servers of various oligarchs, to commence within the first 100 days of the new Clinton administration. How best to distribute those leaks to the Russian populace will have to be worked out.
Calouste
@Miss Bianca: Are we also going to get “Bourne in the USA” and “Bourne on third base”?
pamelabrown53
@FlipYrWhig: #5
Seth Rich, the new Vince Foster?
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: They say the memory is the second thing to go.
Mary
@schrodinger’s cat: John Oliver got in a bit of trouble awhile back for saying on his podcast after a visit to Australia that it was the most comfortably racist place he’d ever been.
Peale
@hovercraft: And the reason that there is no smoking gun with a quid pro-quo just proves how guilty she obviously is as she’s covering it up. #clintonrules1992-2016
FlipYrWhig
@pamelabrown53: THERES A PATTERN PEOPLE!
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I was talking to someone last night who had seen the same “news” on Twitter. For some reason, the story seems to be going around.
Mike J
Emails show how trump trapped himself in an elevator.
Villago Delenda Est
Julian Assange: patron saint of identity thieves.
Miss Bianca
@Calouste: “Bourne to Run”!
Cacti
@Miss Bianca:
The left fringe has always sidestepped that inconvenient aspect of their hero’s personality.
The right fringe, of course, has no problem with it at all.
CONGRATULATIONS!
My working theory is that Trump is a rapid-cycling bipolar.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I hear Joe Cocker just died. Again.
Cacti
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I’ve thought he’s a coke addict for a while now.
Maybe he’s both.
catclub
@hovercraft: I am trying to do my part in salting the ole google cache.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne:
Us? Who’s this us you’re referring to? I could smell the bullshit wafting off of Greenwald even back when he started pounding on GWBush.
D58826
Only somewhat OT I guess. There is a guy on Twitter by the name of John Schindler who hates the very air that Obama and Hillary move thru. He responded to a question about where Daesh came from with the following :AQI + Ba’th bitter-enders = Daesh. in 2006 when W was POTUS. But what he left out was Invasion 2003 + occupation = AQI. Again under POTUS. AQI and/or Daesh didnot exist in Iraq prior the the invasion.
And for the military types I have a question. At the time in 2010/2011 the US was trying to negotiate a residual military presence of 10-20k troops. Now why would that small a number of made any difference in the growth of Daesh? The failure of al-Malki to treat the Sunnis decently was/is a major source of Daesh’s strength in western Iraq. Certainly the US didn’t need to tell the Shiites that revenge on the Sunni’s would have blow-back.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
and right on cue, here is Bob Woodward proving he’s one of the world’s great idiots presumably because he will not stand for Assange outdoing him…how did he ever manage to help break Watergate his single candle power intellect?
different-church-lady
@Jeffro: You know the cliche “Is he peaking too soon?” In the back of my mind I’m worried Trump is troughing too soon.
D58826
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: He is complaining that Hillary is saying mean things about the Trump kids so its ok for Trump to talk 2nd amendment solutions. Woodward is saying it violates the norms of leaving the kids out of political debate. Only Trumps kids are adults and have been all over the tube for their father so that makes them fair game.
mike in dc
@D58826:
This. The Iraqis didn’t want us there anymore, at least not with immunity from local prosecution. I love the notion that we could have just forced the Iraqis to accept everything on our terms when we had made such a big deal out of their autonomy and sovereignty. 20,000 troops would not have arrested the rise of ISIS in Syria. At best it might have halted their advance in Iraq.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Which doesn’t even meet the laugh test. He’s trying to argue that he has to hide out from the rape charges because otherwise he might hypothetically be extradited to the US to face as yet unannounced US charges, and this makes him a prisoner of conscience or something. Don’t dislocate your shoulder nailing yourself to the cross, Julian.
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826: Booby is a dickhead. The Drumpf kids are all integral parts of his campaign. They’re acting as surrogates at rallies.
They are fair game. They’re as loathsome as their sire.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
Just be mentally prepared that after a while, they will bring half-dead prey to you so they can teach you how to hunt, too. After all, you’re not going to be able to eat out of cans forever and you’re going to need to know how to catch your own food. They’re helping!
@bemused:
Our cat Annie LOVES wool yarn and the bigger the skein, the better. I’ve caught her trying to drag her “prey” off more than once.
She seems to particularly like some yarn that I’m currently making a cowl out of, so I’m trying to figure out how to make her a little “security blanket” of the leftovers that she can drag around with her.
Citizen_X
@Mnemosyne:
Sheila.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
And a mountain of debt.
Mnemosyne
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Actually, I liked AL’s theory of undiagnosed ADHD (which can look quite similar in behavior) coupled with NPD. The combination of the two can be incredibly toxic.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@MikeTheZ:
I’m at LAX between SJC and DTW. I magically found a TV-free corner! Because I don’t care what Donnie says in real time. I’ll view the wreckage tonight.
Mnemosyne
@D58826:
Ivanka is reportedly working out the Trump education policy, but we can’t talk about her because she’s faaaaaamily?
daryljfontaine
@Miss Bianca: Of course, they’ll be seeking a premium release date for the next installment, so we may get Bourne on the Fourth of July.
D
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: Ha! If they do that I will *really* feel like my work as Cat Mama will be complete! Apparently, we’re not at that stage in their development yet – Pancho was hovering over his half-dead mousie and growling to keep anyone from coming too near!
@daryljfontaine: LOL!
Roger Moore
@Calouste:
“Bourne in the Wagon of a Traveling Show”
Roger Moore
@Cacti:
Who says it’s inconvenient. There are plenty of anti-Semites on the left fringe.
Leah Appet
@hovercraft: I agree with your analysis. I hope you won’t mind if I use it as a jumping off place for asking if you or anyone else in this thread have any concerns about the growing number of media reports of Hillary going after republican voters, including some who were part of the George W administration? I feel that she needs to be extremely careful here. She needs the Democratic base, including the Sanders’ voters more than she needs Republicans. I also worry about her focusing only on Trump. I feel she needs to make clear that he is a Republican, and all the worst aspects of his ideas have been Republican failures for years, from supply-side trickle down economics to deregulation and utter disregard for environmental issues, like climate change.
Just this morning I read that in her economic speech in Michigan today, she’ll be attacking Trump for his tax cuts adding to the deficit. Her own promise to create jobs by doing something, at last, about our rotting infrastructure depends on not falling into the Republican trap of using that as an excuse for never allowing the Federal Government to do anything. She should be reminding voters that the reason our infrastructure is so terrible, which Trump is trying to make his issue is the result of his party not allowing the Obama administration and the congress, which Republicans rule in both houses, to do anything, despite the fact that we will never be able to borrow at such low interest rates. It’s been a typically stupid Republican idea of governance that will cost this country billions in the future.
Miss Bianca
@Roger Moore: I’m actually waiting for the Sinbad/Bourne Identity crossover that’s going to give us “Jason Bourne and the Argonauts”.
FlipYrWhig
@Roger Moore: Probably not “Bourne a Poor Black Child.”
Mnemosyne
@FlipYrWhig:
I dunno, that would be one hell of a reveal!
bemused
@Mnemosyne:
When we did let previous cats outdoors, they always brought us mice, presents we called them, with the heads eaten, begging to be let in with their catches. On occasion, a bird or even rabbit. I don’t miss those presents on our doorsteps.
The fabric kitty has made a gigantic mess in my loom room. My once neatly organized shelves with fabric precisely organized by color, type and weight are completely fubar. It will probably take two whole days to straighten that up before I can even weave again. I can’t get mad at though. She is too darn funny and cute. Anyway it’s not her fault there’s no door yet to keep her out. A cat has to do what a cat has to do.
schrodinger's cat
@bemused: Headless mice seems to be a kitteh thing. Our bosscat does that to his nip mice too. First the tail is severed and then the head. Kittehassasin is deadly.
Mnemosyne
@bemused:
@schrodinger’s cat:
The head does appear to be the tastiest part for a kitteh. One of my high school boyfriends lived in a farmhouse, and their cats used to leave headless mice in his mom’s bed while she was asleep. She did NOT appreciate the gesture!
Joel
@mike in dc: US doesn’t need to do anything nefarious. Just push the production of oil to tank the Russian economy. Reducing consumption would be an even better way to do it.
bemused
@schrodinger’s cat:
I always thought they must eat the tastiest part first but who knows?
Mouse sees cat, squeaks to the other mice, Run, Quick, Kittehassasins will eat our brains!
Miss Bianca
@FlipYrWhig: Is it bad that I was thinking of that one too?
@bemused: Cats…yarn…there seems to be a universal theme there somewhere, if only I could tease it out…
schrodinger's cat
@Mnemosyne: I had a friend who raised horses and lived out in the sticks. Her cat would bring her half dead snakes as presents, and leave them on her pillow. Fortunately this was New England and the snakes were not of the poisonous variety.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@D58826: according to the TPM article his evidence that Hillary surrogates are being mean to Trump’s kids is a Thomas Friedman column…since when is Thomas Friedman connected in any way with anyone’s political campaign?
schrodinger's cat
@bemused: Kittehassasins is deadly huntah killahs (say that in a Bawstun accent)
cokane
good lord wikileaks is linking Gateway pundit now?
bemused
@Mnemosyne:
Oh gag. It was bad enough that once in awhile a cat would manage to sneak a dead critter inside, a couple of times still alive, but not without we humans noticing. Our cats never did catch on that dropping their prey as soon as they got inside so they could brag about it, the gig was up. I have no doubt the prey would have ended up in our bed if the cats had gotten that far.
Harold Samson
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Carl Bernstein did the hard work.
Roger Moore
@bemused:
I have a theory that we’ve been unintentionally breeding cats to present us with their prey. People have mostly kept cats for rodent control, so when they did breed them intentionally, they’d choose the ones they knew were most effective. How did the humans know their cats where doing their job? They’d see which cat brought home the most dead prey. That may have been effective in choosing good hunters, but it was also effective in choosing cats who would bring their prey where their humans could see it rather than keep it hidden. The net result is generation after generation of selecting for cats that present their humans with prey.
D58826
@Mnemosyne: ok to tell a parakeet story? My Mom would lay out the paper pattern and then pin it to the cloth when she was sewing. If the bird was out of his cage, he would follow along and pull the pins out as fast as my Mom put them in. No idea what was going on in that little bird brain to cause that kind of behavior.
And if we left him along overnight, when we got home he would pointedly turn his back on us. Usually he would hop up and down for attention.
Calouste
@Roger Moore:
The Credence Trilogy:
“Bourne on the Bayou”
“Bourne to Move”
“Bourne Under a Bad Sign”
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
Maybe you need to get some yarn stuff sacks to protect the skeins from depredation by the kitties.
bemused
@Roger Moore:
Cats are notoriously independent but I do think they respond to praise, in their own cat way. Our cats get praised a lot for using the scratching post, catching paper balls and they do seem to kind of get it. It could also just be coincidence or our imagination.
D58826
@Roger Moore: Or maybe they just think you are their offspring and they are bringing you dinner (gag)
D58826
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: well have to find something so you can say ‘both sides do it’
Captain C
@RaflW: Or something along the lines of, “since you obviously know about the charges, the clock stops until you turn yourself in. If you can’t remember the events well enough after hiding out for years, that’s your problem”
Granted, I don’t know if this is reasonably possible under Swedish law.
D58826
Trump is now saying Obama is DAesh’s MVP. Everytime he opens his mouth another electoral college vote falls into Hillary’s lap.
Captain C
@Mnemosyne:
Though if he ever did try to enter the U.S., they would likely refuse him entry and send him back to wherever he came from the long way around via Decrepit Airways.
Mnemosyne
@D58826:
Our (now late) cat Natasha would turn her back on us when she was mad at us. And if we got up and went into a different room, she would follow us in there and then once again pointedly turn her back on us.
@Roger Moore:
I have many such containers — the Ziploc Flexible Totes are my favorites and hold a lot of yarn. But she will still sneak around trying to find stray skeins that are not fully secured.
Mnemosyne
@Captain C:
Most likely. After all, there is no right for a foreign national to enter the US — it’s a privilege. That’s why Roman Polanski is still sulking in Europe. Turns out that when you jump bail and flee the country, the US isn’t particularly interested in letting you come back for a visit.
delk
@Mnemosyne: My dog skips the yarn and just eats the needles.
Patricia Kayden
@D58826: And he so loves to talk. And talk. And talk. And talk. In fact, people say he has the best words. Believe me!
Captain C
@Roger Moore: I think most of them knew, at least until recently, that if they expressed such sentiments in public it would make them look bad and thus hurt their cause (or at least their donations, depending on the individual).
grandpa john
@nominus: Living in SC ,I can’t imagine Haley even having positive numbers
Saskexpat
@Mnemosyne: Just a clarification. Roman Polanski can come back to the US anytime he wishes. In fact, his presence here is very much desired by the Los Angeles Superior Court, who wants to sentence him for the rape he admitted to in open court. He simply chooses to stay in countries that will not extradite him.
Saskexpat
I am stealing “Patchouli-Scented Breitbart,” but will give attribution wherever possible. Also, is too late to nominate Dave Weigel for an Andrew Sullivan Award? If so, can we make sure he gets on the ballot next time? He is showing Olympic level flexibility on Twitter right now in trying to avoid calling Trump’s “Obama founded ISIS” statement an outright lie.
nhoj
@Mary: TOO SOON! No more mentions of the dearly departed Bugle.
catclub
@Mnemosyne:
We disagree. The US government wants to make the case that Assange convinced Chelsea Manning to release that vast number of cables,
and hence is guilty of something like espionage. The people who think this have long memories.
glory b
@Leah Appet: I know I’m late to this, but people who have only just voted Dem ARE NOT THE BASE!!!!!
Jeez, look up the definition! The base consists of the voters who will turn out, the loyal ones, not the ones who you have to constantly worry about their poor, poor feelings!
JenBob
It’s interesting that instead of focusing on the content of the bad deeds unearthed, the messenger becomes the target.
Start asking yourselves why this dirt is out there in the first place instead of why it does not remain hidden.
Miss Bianca
@glory b: @Leah Appet: Yeah. And you know what? Maybe HRC should just make a radical point of *appealing to whoever is ready to hear her message*.
Shalimar
@Saskexpat: How is “Obama founded ISIS” not an outright lie? Trump talked with Hugh Hewitt and reiterated, no, he does not mean Obama’s policies led to ISIS, he means Obama was the actual founder of the organization. I assume Weigel is unaware of that appearance, because he isn’t generally an idiot or propagandist.
FlipYrWhig
@Leah Appet:
No.
Saskexpat
@Shalimar: It is without doubt a lie, but Weigel called it “false hyperbole.” He also got in some Twitter beefs with folks who called him on it. I am not sure why he wants to die on that hill, but he was unquestionably making a stand. I actually think Weigel can often be pretty accurate when factually reporting, but he, like Sullivan, seems to have a very serious aversion to ever admitting that he made a mistake in his analysis. I expect more similar to come from Weigel, because Trump is a candidate that will cause a lot of mistakes in initial “hot” takes. Weigel should definitely be in the running for the next Sullivan Award.
Rich (In Name Only) in Reno
(Warning: Satire Alert.) You know, as bad as Julian Assange may be, I seriously doubt that he’s so consumed with irrational anger that he’ll literally end up dying in the gutter like St. Andrew did. More likely, after those Russian Mafia emails revealing Meliana was an East European porn slave that Putin gifted to Trump are released, SEAL Team Six will storm the Ecuadorian Embassy and take Assange out on orders of President Trump.
Betty Cracker
@JenBob: I’m actually disappointed that Assange turned out to be a raging douchebag who has utterly destroyed his organization’s credibility because the concept of WikiLeaks is an interesting one. I don’t trust any government or politician 100%, and some of the material WikiLeaks dumped out on the web in years back deserved to see the light of day, even if it should have been released more carefully to avoid blow-back on innocent parties. But thanks to Assange’s recent antics, I won’t believe anything they publish until it’s verified by credible third parties. As Assange’s preferred US presidential candidate might say, sad!
jayjaybear
@Harold Samson: This. I’ve seen it phrased that Bernstein was the actual reporter and Woodward just opened doors for Bernstein with his family’s political connections. I’ve seen nothing out of Woodward since Watergate that countervenes that analysis.
J R in WV
@D58826:
Way dead thread, but Imma gonna tell a fuzzy dog story. We used to give out first puppeh a bath before taking her to parent’s house. One day she came in really, exceptionally vile smelling, so we gave her a bath, just to cut the smell.
Then we went out for dinner, w/o dog.
For three days she would see one of us looking at her, and she would stand up stomp her feet, pointedly turn her back and sit down. How did she learn this from your parakeet?
I dunno!?!? Both of ’em smarter than Trump, tho.
Joe Miller
@Gin & Tonic: He died over a year ago.