Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

We still have time to mess this up!

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

T R E 4 5 O N

The revolution will be supervised.

Infrastructure week. at last.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

This fight is for everything.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans in disarray!

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

I was promised a recession.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Friday Night Fights Open Thread: No Such Thing As Slow-News Weekends Any More…

Friday Night Fights Open Thread: No Such Thing As Slow-News Weekends Any More…

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… The conversations deeply concerned US intelligence officials, some of whom acted on their own to limit how much sensitive information they shared with Flynn, who was tapped to become Trump’s national security adviser, current and former governments officials said.

“This was a five-alarm fire from early on,” one former Obama administration official said, “the way the Russians were talking about him.” Another former administration official said Flynn was viewed as a potential national security problem.

The conversations picked up by US intelligence officials indicated the Russians regarded Flynn as an ally, sources said. That relationship developed throughout 2016, months before Flynn was caught on an intercepted call in December speaking with Russia’s ambassador in Washington, Sergey Kislyak. That call, and Flynn’s changing story about it, ultimately led to his firing as Trump’s first national security adviser…

Trump angrily denied any collusion with Russia this week and denounced the newest investigation — now in the hands of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III — as “a witch hunt.”

And he has remained steadfast in his loyalty to Flynn, even as the scrutiny surrounding his fired aide continues to weigh down his presidency. Trump urged then-FBI Director James Comey in February to drop the bureau’s investigation into Flynn and “let this go,” according to a memo Comey wrote at the time. The conversation, first reported by The New York Times earlier this week, has opened the President up to charges from critics of obstruction of justice.

Trump’s obvious bond with Flynn, like his relationship with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other top advisers, appears rooted in the fact that they supported his then-longshot presidential campaign last year at a time when most Republicans were ostracizing him.

Trump (or his handlers) going for the “too dumb to be in criminal collusion” defense, I guess. YES PUPPET! YOU’RE A PUPPET!

I repeat: Thanks, Republicans!

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    I don’t understand how any intellectually honest person can continue defending @realDonaldTrump at this point.

    So, still defended by most of the Republicans in Congress then?

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    So, when can we expect the next Angry Trump Tweet? Morning US time, or do we have to factor in the time zones and jet lag from his jaunt to Saudi Arabia etc.?

  9. 9.

    efgoldman

    “This was a five-alarm fire from early on,” one former Obama administration official said, “the way the Russians were talking about him.”

    How the FUCK did a three-star general and supposed national security expert NOT know that his contacts with the Russians were known and monitored?
    And that’s even before he “remembered” that he got paid by a foreign government to carry their water and shitcan administration actions?

  10. 10.

    p.a.

    @dmsilev: I still think tRump might sooner or later be subjected to some kind of drug routine by his handlers to (attempt to) minimize his continual self-immolation.

  13. 13.

    scott (the other one)

    @efgoldman: So many questions. If this guy is as stupid as he seems, how did he make general in the first place? Or did he go crazy at some point? Or was he assured that there was no way his own intelligence agencies could find out the shady stuff he was doing? No good answers any way you shake it.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    @efgoldman:

    How the FUCK did a three-star general and supposed national security expert NOT know that his contacts with the Russians were known and monitored?

    I think he just didn’t care…he had to have believed that under a Trumpov administration, he’d never be called to account.

    One of the biggest things to hang around Trumpov’s neck, I think, is that he was explicitly warned by Obama and by Sally Yates (were there others) about Flynn being compromised. And yet it it weren’t for the WaPo, Flynn might still. be. NSA. today. Hell, Trumpov wants him back!?!

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    Le sigh…and AC has lost his silver fox status with me…even though I understand the “reason” for the apology…but there was no need for it!

    @andersoncooperI regret the crude sentence i spoke earlier tonight and followed it up by apologizing on air. It was unprofessional. I am genuinely sorry.
    https://twitter.com/andersoncooper/status/865754552766803969

    Hard….eyeroll from me!

  22. 22.

    Yarrow

    @p.a.: Wonder if they’ll opt for dementia as an excuse to get him out of office and, they hope, get him some sympathy. Or, perhaps, a fake heart attack. I’m sure that doctor will help out and supervise the recuperation at Trump Tower.

  23. 23.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Honus: Wrong. The promotion from O-6 to O-7 is the toughest one in the military. Once you get a star, the second isn’t that difficult, and three and four are a matter placement, timing, and political skill.

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    @Frankensteinbeck: Evolution-wise, it makes sense…risk-taking is (generally) beneficial to the species as a whole.

    And then there’s “Flynn risk-taking”…sigh…

  26. 26.

    jl

    Gee, I thought once a special prosecutor was announced, all the bad news would be shuttled into the safety of a confidential criminal investigation. And the Drumpf administration would get some breathing room.
    Hasn’t seemed to have happened yet.

    Gee, that’s too bad, huh?

  27. 27.

    Major Major Major Major

    Will Someone Please Adopt This ‘Utter Bastard Of A Cat’?

    Looking for a rescued cat to take home? There’s “Sunny Puss, friendly ginger cat.” “Tom Tom, loving tuxedo kitten.”

    Then there’s “Mr. Biggles, utter bastard of a cat.”

    The Cat People of Melbourne wrote an adoption listing for Mr. Biggles (aka Lord Bigglesworth) that reads less like an ad and more like a cautionary tale.

    Mr. Biggles “is an utter utter bastard,” Gina Brett wrote in the listing, which went viral. He is “a despot and a dictator.”

    He’s a gorgeous cat, but beware, she writes…

  29. 29.

    jl

    @Major Major Major Major: The pics are something else. That looks like some badass cat.

    ‘ Mr Biggles likes his cuddles on his terms, and will sit in your lap when he decides it’s time. If the stroking is not up to his standards, he will nip you.” ‘

    We had a cat like that when I was a kid.

  30. 30.

    Honus

    @Omnes Omnibus: ok but I thought you had to have some basic acumen that Flynn clearly lacks to get to Lieutenant General. But maybe not. I am always telling people impressed with generals and admirals that getting those tickets punched is basically a matter of not being responsible for anything

  32. 32.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I suggest we hang Dick Morris along with.

    Is there anyone else who doesn’t think Donald is Vlad’s bitch? Probably Glenn Greenwald.

  36. 36.

    hovercraft

    Has anyone been able to track any republican congresscritter down since this latest tsunami of shit hit this afternoon? What are the Sunday shows going to look like this week, are we actually going to have more democrats on than republicans, and if so when’s the last time that happened? I suspect some of the are finally getting nervous, the man they’ve hitched their wagons to is actually dumber than they thought he was, they all thought no one could be dumb enough to do something this ham-fisted, but hey Twitler always wants to be the best!

    Twitler really needs to stop this shit, I shouldn’t be spending Friday night watching msnbc and monitoring BJ comments.

  37. 37.

    Amaranthine RBG

    Seeing reports that person of interest inside the White House is Jared Kushner.

    If this is true, can we all just take a minute to admire the tactical brilliance of this?

    Even if you get the goods on Trump, you can’t prosecute outside the impeachment process. Fine, but you sure as hell can charge and try Kushner.

    There’s nobody in the world more important to Trump than Ivanka. Kushner is the perfect lever.

    Amazing. (If true …)

  41. 41.

    Miss Bianca

    @hovercraft:

    Twitler really needs to stop this shit, I shouldn’t be spending Friday night watching msnbc and monitoring BJ comments.

    you and me both, girlfriend! Tho’ I’m just about to relax with some “Bones”, Season 2. (yeah, I *am* about 15 years behind the pop culture curve, your point?)

  42. 42.

    mai naem mobile

    @dmsilev: maybe his staff told him the phone got destroyed/lost and they don’t have a secure back up. He’s apparently dumb enough to believe that. Or theyve got him on psych meds.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @EBT: In commissioned officer terms, it works this way: 1/100th of commissioned officers get a star.

  47. 47.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I will once again freely admit that IANAL, but I seem to recall from my “Law & Order” viewings that ignorance of the law is no defense.

    Though I also think they’re going to try the “Uncle Junior” gambit — Look at him, he obviously has dementia, you can’t put him on trial!

  48. 48.

    Mike J

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Let me note that I called the “useful idiot” scenario last July.

    It’s not as if all this stuff has been secret. A WaPo reporter told me last summer he thought I was being ridiculous and unfair because I made an unfavorable comparison between his work and that of WoodStein. Had he listened to me he’d be polishing his Pulitzer instead of his pud.

  49. 49.

    chris

    @Jeffro:

    I think he just didn’t care…he had to have believed that under a Trumpov administration, he’d never be called to account.

    I read somewhere that they were so sloppy because they didn’t expect to win and so didn’t think they’d end up under the microscope. That fate was reserved for Hillary.

    Yarrow’s right (glad to see you back!) , it’s so damn hard to keep up.

  52. 52.

    Major Major Major Major

    Donald Trump Has Caused Time to Dilate

    Roger Ailes died.

    Actually happened: Yesterday.

    Feels like it happened: Wednesday.

    News broke that Trump had told former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has been asked to testify before Congress about the Russia investigation, to “stay strong.”

    Actually happened: Yesterday morning.

    Feels like it happened: Tuesday night.

    News broke that Flynn had rejected a plan to seize ISIS’ capital, Raqqa, that perhaps not coincidentally would have alienated the government of Turkey, which paid Flynn more than $500,000 last year through an intermediary.

    Actually happened: Wednesday night.

    Feels like it happened: Tuesday morning.

    Trump complained to Coast Guard graduates that he is the most mistreated politician “in history.”

    Actually happened: Wednesday afternoon.

    Feels like it happened: Monday. Remember when we all started the week off by chuckling about how people like Abraham Lincoln had gotten a little more mistreated than Trump?

  53. 53.

    Jeffro

    Just added to the thread below – yes I know it’s Erick son of Erick, but holy cow: Here Comes The GOP Bloodbath

    Not notable so much for the predictions of electoral consequences, but the damning indictment of “christian” voters who went along with this amoral clown:

    Second, I thought that Trump, even if he won, would be deeply destructive to the national fabric and to the conservative ideas I support.

    Third, I strongly believed that Trump lacks moral character and that he sets a bad example both for my children and for people of faith. I repeatedly said throughout the campaign that if God wanted Trump in the White House, he would not need Christians to dirty themselves to make it happen.

    Unfortunately, while I was wrong about my first concern, I am increasingly worried about the latter two. Trump’s evangelical Christian supporters often told me that whether we liked Trump or not, we needed him to save the Supreme Court. My response remains that four years of Clinton appointing judges, while awful, would be nothing compared with a generational wipeout of the GOP. Watergate may have turned Charles Colson from hatchet man to pastor, but the defense of President Trump is turning a lot of pastors into hatchet men. Few people come away from Trump’s orbit without compromising their characters.

    Trumpsubstantiation!

    Worse yet:

    The president exudes incompetence and instability. Divulging classified information to the Russians through bragging; undermining his staff’s defense of his conduct through inane tweets; even reportedly asking the FBI director to suspend an investigation of a former adviser — all these strike me not so much as malicious but as the ignorant actions of an overwhelmed man. Republicans excuse this behavior as Trump being Trump, but that will only embolden voters who seek greater accountability to choose further change over stability. The sad reality is that the greatest defense of the president available at this point is one his team could never give on the record: He is an idiot who does not know any better.

    Go long on popcorn, long on butter…

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @jl:

    Biggles likes his cuddles on his terms, and will sit in your lap when he decides it’s time. If the stroking is not up to his standards, he will nip you.” ‘

    So, basically, he’s a fairly typical cat, at least judging by our youngest cat. She’s a nipper and a love biter, and gets indignant if you don’t properly appreciate the difference between the two.

  56. 56.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Villago Delenda Est: A small but non-zero number of lefties think not so much that Trump isn’t Putin’s bitch, but that having Trump be Putin’s bitch is a good thing.

    Because it acts as a check on US imperialist hegemony. And cements peace-and-friendship between our two great peoples.

    Moscow’s religious obscurantism, homophobia, epic corruption, etc. somehow sails right by them.

  57. 57.

    Gin & Tonic

    The NBA playoffs are supposed to pit the best teams against each other. How the fuck do you lose a game by 44 points? Celtics should just forfeit the next two and go to the golf course.

  58. 58.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman: Ah, I missed the “several weeks ago.” At this time of night, I’m mostly capable of being silly and hopeful. I wonder what he’ll do while traveling.

    The whole thing about his not liking to travel is so bizarre to me. I’ve loved going to unusual places, eating the food, sleeping in strange beds, yes, even using crouch toilets. I read that the Saudis are planning to serve him his fave overdone steak with catsup. What a waste!

  62. 62.

    hovercraft

    @Jeffro:

    This has gone from a witch hunt to a lynch mob

    — Dick Morris

    Nah, I’m not really okay with that phraseology, most victims were innocent. Dick Morris is a supporter of this administration that has Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, a man who didn’t cite lynchings or racism as reasons for condemning the klan, he cited fucking pot! An administration that’s reprising Nixon’s law and order bullshit, which we all know is not even a subtle way of saying to their racist supporters that we are going back to locking up black and brown people and making sure that they are kept there as long as possible. These are the people who are fine with police and vigilantes killing black and brown people with impunity, what the fuck do they think the “I was afraid for my life, I thought they were reaching for a gun” defense is? It’s the 21st century version of lynching, and just like when it happened to Emmett Till, the people who do it get to just walk away and live their lives while we mourn another dead child.

    These evil fuckers don’t get to co-opt the language of the victims of policies and or practices they support to garner sympathy.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jeffro:

    And yet Erick fell in line anyway when push came to shove.

    Sorry, comrade, too late to complain now that the leopards that Hillary warned you were about to eat your face are now eating your face.

  64. 64.

    Cheryl Rofer

    BTW, in the Iran election, the moderate Rouhani won with something like 60% of the vote and a much larger turnout than last time. He’s the one who made possible the nuclear deal. There has been a lot of complaining in Iran that the deal didn’t make as much improvement in the economy as people had expected, but looks like that was not as big a deal as it had sounded. Maybe being a responsible part of the world makes a difference to more Iranians.

  66. 66.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    @Cheryl Rofer: What’s he doing on his trip? Right now? Right now I’m guessing he’s screaming at his staff and blaming them for all his fuckups. I don’t know how long it takes to fly from Washington to Saudi Arabia. I’m guessing eight hours? Ten? Twelve? I don’t even want to think about what it must be like to be crammed in with that manbaby for that long when the only way out is 35,000 feet straight down into the Atlantic. Right now, I wonder how many on that flight are thinking that might be a good deal…

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: @scott (the other one): Back in January I developed a theory about Flynn. I emailed it to a former colleague who is a retired military intel colonel and then a select few folks. Given that the CNN article included this gem:

    He (Flynn) first met Kislyak in June 2013 during an official trip to Russia, according to The Washington Post. He led the Defense Intelligence Agency at the time and met his counterparts at the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU.

    So here’s a copy and paste of my theory from back in January (the “you” in the below is a reference to my collleage):

    My theory on Flynn is he doesn’t know the Russians have flipped him. He was authorized to, and did, go and teach a course at the GRU’s school when he was DIA Director. It was already an open secret that he was at odds with Clapper and the folks at the White House including the President and that he’d alienated almost all the senior civilian folks, SES and GS, at DIA. I would put money on his host, the GRU director at the time, simply talking him up. Starting with “Putin, he thinks because he ran the KGB he understands military intelligence. You can’t tell that guy anything, he just doesn’t want to hear it”. And from there he let Flynn start to grouse and he just empathized and sympathized with him. And they’ve been cultivating him ever since – the paid speeches and appearances on RT, which is Russia’s primary externally directed propaganda outlet, as well as his being paid to be at the RT anniversary gala and banquet where he was seated right next to Putin. I don’t think he thinks he’s being played. But I think he’s been cultivated, unwittingly, and is being manipulated. He’s angry, he’s got a grudge, he’s got that genius of seeing connections other’s don’t that when not contained/constrained by good supervisors, peers, and subordinates turns into conspiracy theory thinking. You know much, much better than I that this is the type that HUMINTers are looking for in order to cultivate people and that people like this are easily cultivated and often don’t even realize it. I can’t prove it. I’m not going to go and post it on the Internet, but I think this is the case and I think the current IC leadership thinks so to.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    By the way, for anyone who was curious after a previous thread: yes, a really good margarita can make you not care that you still have the flu. Hooray! ?

    Mnem +1

  70. 70.

    PPCLI

    No, Dick, this is an investigation. A lynch mob would look like this: we would fill a large auditorium with wackos and then a series of rabid speakers would lead us in chants of “LOCK HIM UP, LOCK HIM UP…” over and over.

  71. 71.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Yarrow: I hear you. I have work tomorrow, and should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I can’t stop reading these Trump-Russia threads. It really is like Nixon on fast forward…

  72. 72.

    Calouste

    @hovercraft: I think Chaffetz AKA jasonoutofthehouse is just the first rat to flee the sinking SS Shitgibbon. Keep in mind that he is the Chair of the Oversight Committee and might have seen more than most, and wants to get a fat sinecure on the wingnut welfare circuit ahead of the mad rush. Ross-Lehtinen on the Intelligence Committee has also already announced that she is not running for re-election. Would be interesting if there are more GOPers from those committees having different plans for the future…

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: By the time he lands in Saudi he’ll be fully marinated and will have stewed in his own juices for hours. He’s confined in a tin can. As soon as he gets alone, and he will get time alone, he’s going to lose it.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    Below it was a breathless claim that–wait for it–Hillary Clinton is soon going to be arrested! These assholes must get off on being wrong all the time.

    I can envision the Malevolent Traitorous Leprechaun telling one of his minions (not Rosenstein, but I’m sure there’s someone sympathetic in the DoJ) to come up with SOMETHING/ANYTHING to charge Hillary with. Doesn’t gave to be anything they’d have a reasonable chance of proving, just something to distract the MSM. (“Squirrel!!!!”) I realize that there are probably safeguards, and even those pesky things called “laws,” which would prevent persecutorial prosecutorial abuse, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Sessions at least had someone try it.

  77. 77.

    Mnemosyne

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    I was saying in an earlier thread that I guarantee you that the Manbaby is the kind of boss who barges in on you when you’re in the bathroom because s/he needs to talk to you right now!

    … about a project that’s due in three weeks.

    I had a boss like that once. She was actually not a completely bad person, but one of the managers was on anti-anxiety drugs before that boss finally retired.

  78. 78.

    efgoldman

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    Even if you get the goods on Trump, you can’t prosecute outside the impeachment process.

    Nobody knows that for sure. He can’t be removed except by impeachment or the 25th amendment, but Agnew was indicted for bribery when he was still sitting VP.

  80. 80.

    El Caganer

    @hovercraft: I’m sure if they begged him hard enough, they could get the elusive John McCain to come out of hiding. Did you know he was a POW? It’s true!

  82. 82.

    NotMax

    @PPCLI

    Well-remembered lines (among many) from Firesign Theater:

    crowd: “String him up!:

    lone voice: “Anybody got any string?

    crowd: “Lynch him!”

    lone voice: “Anybody got any lynch?

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @El Caganer:

    Did you know he was a POW? It’s true!

    I thought that was Lindsey Graham? Oh, wait, wasn’t he a JAG OFFicer? I can never remember

  86. 86.

    efgoldman

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Celtics should just forfeit the next two and go to the golf course.

    I stayed with the hockey, but it sounds like one of those early-season UConn women’s games

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @SFAW:

    If anything, I’d guess that Sessions announces that he’s opening an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s campaign that somehow never ends or finds any actual information, but makes gullible people like the troll I’ve been arguing with all afternoon think that an actual indictment is just around the corner and they’re totally going to catch that Roadrunner this time.

    Meep. Meep.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    And, as I mentioned the other night when linking to a decent article about the subject, Aaron Burr was charged with murder.

  92. 92.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: Rouhani is a religious reactionary. He may be more moderate than say Ahmedinijad, but he’s still a reactionary. On his society’s political spectrum that makes him moderate and closer to the Iranian center. Given how things have been going in the US with conservatism, it might make him closer to the center here too!

  95. 95.

    Yarrow

    @Ridnik Chrome: Yeah, it really is. I can’t stop reading. It’s so much information I keep forgetting who did what and, oh, yeah, that guy over there and those things he did!

  97. 97.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman: But he has a BED on Air Force 1! What I wouldn’t have given for a bed on some of my trips! One time I had a full middle row of five seats all to myself and I could lie down.

    Your recruitment scenario is plausible. But, along with other commenters, it’s hard for me to see how he could miss so much. It’s not like he hadn’t heard about how recruitment is done. I do think resentment at his firing must have played a big part. There are reports that his behavior changed while he was head of DIA, so it could be that he had some sort of break. Or now I see speculation that he was recruited when he was still at DIA.

  98. 98.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    @EBT: Becoming a warrant isn’t that hard. Seeing one working*, now that’s hard. Lol.

    Seeing a CW5 in the flesh is literally like seeing a unicorn.

    *Statement does not apply to property book officers, or the occasional maintenance warrant.

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    @SWMBO:

    Well, I did drink one entire margarita all at the same time, which is guaranteed to throw me for a loop for at least a couple of hours even when I don’t have a mild fever. But I’m kind of like Marge Simpson: “I’ve been drinking a glass of wine every day. I know they say you’re supposed to drink a glass and a half, but I just can’t drink that much wine!”

    I’m supposed to go to a nonrefundable art + cooking class tomorrow. I think I’m going to go for the art portion and explain to the instructor that she really doesn’t want me touching other people’s food right now.

  100. 100.

    SFAW

    @Mnemosyne:

    the troll I’ve been arguing with all afternoon

    Which one? I’ve been actually having a life today, for a change, and thus I missed it.

  101. 101.

    Davis X. Machina

    @SFAW: Now, now, let’s not be judgmental. When you’re trying to smash US imperialist hegemony, you have to take your allies as they come.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    @Amaranthine RBG: TheIndependent:

    The [Washington] Post said the person under investigation was close to the President, but did not identify them. However, the number of people who fit such a profile would be very small.

    Peter Sterne ✔ @petersterne
    NYmag reporter says that WH official identified as a “person of interest” in Russia investigation is Jared Kushner https://twitter.com/yashar/status/865659133969575936 …
    4:33 PM – 19 May 2017 · Brooklyn, NY

    Yashar Ali, a contributor to New York magazine said on Twitter: “It’s Jared Kushner. Have confirmed this with four people. I’m not speculating.”

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: If he started meeting with Kislyak in 2013 when he visited the GRU school, that’s when the cultivation began. As I speculated: he doesn’t think he’s been cultivated. He’s supremely arrogant and thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. What he was was a good targeteer that had a gift for seeing connections others didn’t or couldn’t.

  104. 104.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: Good theory. I’m sure they reassured him all along the way that really, weren’t they all of like minds?

    “We all see a need for much more respect for the military and intelligence agencies, and a much tougher line against those dastardly Muslims…why, we’re practically allies, General Flynn. Here, how about I get you a nice speaking fee at our upcoming dinner…it’ll be good to be among people who understand, am I right?”

    And then before you know it…

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Flying back from Atlanta to LAX, I was SO JEALOUS to see that the first class passengers had those nifty seats that fold down into a bed. The plane was supposed to continue on to Sydney from LAX and it was a direct (no plane change) flight for a lot of people.

  106. 106.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I don’t think he thinks he’s being played. But I think he’s been cultivated, unwittingly, and is being manipulated.

    OK, that makes sense.
    But a half million bucks from Turkey wasn’t a surprise to him, certainly.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    @Cheryl Rofer

    Particularly notable is that Khamenei’s hand-picked candidate (and presumed successor) fared poorly, even after another hard line candidate dropped out so as not to split the vote.

  108. 108.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    lone voice: “Anybody got any lynch?

    It’s a little scary that that line was the first thing that came to my “mind” when I read Dickhead Morris’s tweet. Waiting for the Electrician?

  113. 113.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman: Rouhani made the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action possible. He was better than his much more conservative opponent. Political movement is usually incremental rather than revolutionary. I’ll take that.

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: That was in the context of his consultancy. What he probably didn’t realize was that the Turkish business man that was paying him isn’t just close to Erdogan, he is also very close to Putin.

  115. 115.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    By the time he lands in Saudi he’ll be fully marinated and will have stewed in his own juices for hours. He’s confined in a tin can.

    Unlike a commercial aircraft, AF1 has private rooms. Whether that does anybody any good? Who knows.

  119. 119.

    Davis X. Machina

    @SFAW: OK. This week, let me look at my planner….

    Oh, yes: “Supplant prevailing late-capitalist mode of production.”

  120. 120.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: I’m not arguing against him. I think he’s better than just about anyone else you’re going to get. But the context is important. Because if we ignore it because he’s referred to as a moderate, forgetting the context of what moderate means in regards to Iranian politics and religion, we’re going to get ourselves into trouble.

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: I’m aware. It isn’t going to make any difference. He’s still confined within a tin can. No matter how comfortably appointed a tin can it is.

  122. 122.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: What about the speculation that Pence was completely in on it so Flynn wasn’t just acting on his own but was actually following orders from Pence during the transition?

  123. 123.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    What happens with the hockey?

    Penguins went up 3-0 after two, held on for dear life for a 3-2 win.
    The next time they hit anybody will be the first.
    Switching to Murray was the right play. When it was no score in the first, he made some spectacular saves.

  124. 124.

    Jeffro

    Ok, I know he’s trolling a bit on the Twitters…but…

    Bill Kristol:
    The Land of But
    But…Hillary
    But…Obama
    But…unmasking
    But…the media
    But…the elites
    But…the deep state
    But…the will of the people

    I guess I’ll file this under, “Even a Stopped Clock…or a Bloodthirsty NeoCon…Are Right Twice a Day”?

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    @Davis X. Machina:

    “Supplant prevailing late-capitalist mode of production.”

    Tricky, that. Might take a bit of time. Can I get back to you on that? [On the plus side, it’s not as hard as coming up with the question for the answer “42” was.]

  127. 127.

    Wag

    I continue to channel my 11 and 12 year old Nixon hating self and anticipate that the schadenfreude that I felt then will pale
    In comparison to the schedenfreude to come when Trump get his just desserts.

  130. 130.

    Sab

    @Mnemosyne: Jesus fuck. I like you usually, but this week you are like typhoid mary. You are sick. You are contagious. Stay the fuck home. What the fuck is wrong with you that you feel this need to go out and contaminate complete strangers when you would rather be home in bed where you belong.

  131. 131.

    Felonius Monk

    I hope Drumpf has a food taster along on this trip. I think he’s going to need one.

  132. 132.

    hovercraft

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Rex is not a very good liar, which considering he was the CEO of EXXON I would have be, the lies don;t just roll off of his tongue.

  133. 133.

    efgoldman

    @Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire:

    Seeing a CW5 in the flesh is literally like seeing a unicorn.

    CW5? My dad (an AG/personnel specialist) got promoted to CW4 and had to stay two extra years to retire in grade, so he got to go to ‘Nam. Whoopee (he retired around ’66 or ’67)
    Where did CW5 come from?

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: I have no idea if Pence was given instructions, but he was notified via a letter from Congressman Cummings back during the transition in December. For him to claim he was not notified is a lie. He has a long history of doing this. He got out of Indiana before it finally caught up to him. I have no idea if he is going to skate this time. But you can’t inspire confidence in a bid to become president with a narrative of: “when I get put in charge of something, no one tells me anything and no one lets me make any decisions”.

  135. 135.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Omnes Omnibus: I had a Signals CW3 (ran the main message center in Seoul) in my unit in Korea. We treated each other as equals. Technically, an O-3 outranks a W-3, but the guy knew his shit better than I could ever hope to. I had no problem with that. A W-2 COMSEC guy I worked with in Honduras? Same thing, first name basis.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    @efgoldman:

    As I was saying above, the only one who has a private room is Trump. Anyone else’s room is subject to invasion by the Manbaby at any time because it’s his plane because he’s the fucking president!

  138. 138.

    JGabriel

    Doug Mataconis (via Anne Laurie @ Top):

    I don’t understand how any intellectually honest person can continue defending @realDonaldTrump at this point.

    If Donald Trump, or the GOP, relied on intellectually honest people to win elections, they wouldn’t get a single vote.

  139. 139.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: Cummings’ letter was even earlier than that – November 18th. It’s not like they didn’t know. That’s why the speculation if Pence was turned and his directions to Flynn meant that Flynn was actually following orders. Saw some tweet today that Pence came to the Russia game late but was very keen once involved, or something like that.

  140. 140.

    efgoldman

    @Sab:

    Stay the fuck home. What the fuck is wrong with you that you feel this need to go out and contaminate complete strangers

    I’m not worried. Most microbes can’t travel 3000+ miles by themselves.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @Sab:

    I have nitrile gloves and hand sanitizer. I did cancel the appointment with my shrink today and, though I did have to go to work for 4 hours to do some really urgent stuff, I warned everyone to stay away and used hand sanitizer every time I stood up. At the theater, I made G open every public door but the ladies room, and I used my sleeve to open that one. I may be an asshole, but I’m not 100 percent a dick.

    It may depend on how I feel tomorrow morning. So far, there’s been very little coughing, sneezing, or runny nose, but a runny nose suddenly showed up out of nowhere this afternoon. If it’s still drippy tomorrow, no class for me.

  142. 142.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Villago Delenda Est: My battalion PBO wiped out about 7,000 in debt for my battery commander at a change of command inventory because i talked him into just considering it stuff that was ordered by not arrived. He also once answered a radio call by saying ” [Call sign] You are coming in fucked up and broken, over.”

  146. 146.

    Sanjeevs

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t agree with your unwitting agent theory, He met with Svetlana Lokhova in 2014 in the U.K. He never reported the contact. Two months later he was fired.
    If he was unwitting then why did Flynn cover up the contact with Lokhova?

    I think they already suspected Flynn of being compromised in 2014 and that’s why he was fired.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/31/michael-flynn-new-evidence-spy-chiefs-had-concerns-about-russian-ties

  149. 149.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: The Russians have done a good job making connections among Christian conservative circles. Hence last week’s Franklin Graham/Russian Orthodox Church coordinated conference on protecting Christianity. Pence gave one of the talks.

  150. 150.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sanjeevs: I’m saying the cultivation goes back before 2014 to when he gave his seminar at the GRU school in Russia in 2013. I’m also saying he’s supremely arrogant, thinks he’s smarter than everyone else, thinks the rules don’t apply to him, and has been carrying a huge chip on his shoulder since he got to DIA, which was well known by 2013.

  151. 151.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    @Adam L Silverman: At my first unit, our property book officer was a CW3, Chief Ziegler. Tough as nails. I found a mistake she made in our unit’s hand receipt once, when I was a lowly PFC. I had the paperwork lined up and ready to go, and my supply sergeant told me, “you found the mistake, you go tell her.”

    I’ve never been so scared for my life. Lol.

  152. 152.

    SgrAstar

    @Cheryl Rofer: that is great news, Cheryl! Thanks for the update. I’ve been so fixated on the trump saga I’ve forgotten to pay attention the the world beyond.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @hovercraft:

    To me, that says he believed all of the lies he told at Exxon, or at least believed that the Exxon lies were necessary for the good of the company, but he’s not nearly as comfortable with having Trump put lies in his mouth.

    I wonder if he and/or his wife are re-thinking that revelation from God that she had about him becoming SoS?

  156. 156.

    JGabriel

    @efgoldman:

    How the FUCK did a three-star general and supposed national security expert NOT know that his contacts with the Russians were known and monitored?

    Flynn knew; he didn’t care. He figured that once he was NatSec Advisor, either no one would challenge him, or he could fire anyone who did.

    I mean, I’m guessing, I don’t know for sure. But it’s either that or his cognitive skills and mental state are deteriorating.

    Or, most likely, it’s all of the above.

  157. 157.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    Saw some tweet today that Pence came to the Russia game late but was very keen once involved, or something like that.

    Vlad is a Godly man, don’t’cha know? He’s keeping the wimmens and the queerz in their place just like Pence has been told the Bible says to do. He’s never actually read it — too many hard words — but Mother told him what’s in it.

  159. 159.

    Sab

    @Mnemosyne: Okay. I will back off a bit. You sound like you have been responsible, but I am touchy because a casual infection for my spouse could be life threatening instead of annoying. I do like your comments, and I very much hope you feel better next week, because colds do suck.

  163. 163.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’d roast some LT alive for using profanity over the radio, but probably not a PBO, because it was probably justified.

  165. 165.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: I’ll see you all a Society of Pope Pious the IX whack job and raise you two haredim, three gush emunimers, a bobover, and a satmar.

  167. 167.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sanjeevs: No worries. I wasn’t sure if it was or wasn’t and didn’t want to respond if not. I think that the drive by with Lokhava is all part of the longer cultivation play. So you are correct that it is important and that it shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle. Especially as her claims about access to a secret archive that no one else has ever had access to, because such things are given to 24 year olds, should have been a huge red flag for Flynn. That it wasn’t, that he took it seriously and tried to follow up shows you he was way off of center line by then.

  175. 175.

    Divf

    @Adam L Silverman: you can’t tell your whack jobs without getting the names right.

    It is 7:45 am here in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. I’m at KAUST and suffering from severe jet lag (+10 hours from PDT).

  177. 177.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sanjeevs: I tend to pay attention when the CI briefings are given before official travel. But I’m funny that way.

  179. 179.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Divf: Get some rest. Then have some good tea and coffee. And enjoy whatever you’re doing at the school.

  181. 181.

    Divf

    @Adam L Silverman: Good advice, thanks. I deliberately came the weekend before to allow me to rest and adjust, but it is turning out to be more difficult than expected.

  182. 182.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Especially as her claims about access to a secret archive that no one else has ever had access to, because such things are given to 24 year olds, should have been a huge red flag for Flynn.

    I’ve never seen a picture of Ms. Lokhava, but I’m pretty sure I can guess what distracted Flynn from the discrepancies in her story.

  187. 187.

    fuckwit

    The Morris brain-queef is the perfect punchline to this.

    Un be fucking lievable.

  189. 189.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m pretty sure even Archer would be able to figure that one out.

    Not if her boobs are big enough to block his view.

    /Sorry, but this is Archer we’re talking about.

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