Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

He really is that stupid.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Another Russiagate Open Thread: Projection That IMAX Can Only Envy

Another Russiagate Open Thread: Projection That IMAX Can Only Envy

by | 199 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

If there’s anything a smart Russian lawyer would understand, it’s how to manipulate the half-witted offspring of a couple of crooked ‘developers’ working for a paranoid oligarch…



I second Mr. Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire:

… What I believe I see here is an incredibly corrupt American family doing business with criminal gangs that are way, way out of their league, and that are in league with the institutions of government, and the formidable security apparatus, of an authoritarian state. Talk about punching out of your weight class. This isn’t cheating some poor subcontractor. These people throw you out windows. And the Trumps have being doing business in this financial abattoir for years. This doesn’t make them sharp. This makes them compliant minnows in a shark tank.

Not to borrow trouble, but what if these guys decide that the president’s son—or, god forbid, the president himself—have become as inconvenient as Sergei Magnitsky was. For months now, people have been asking what the Russians “have” on Donald Trump. Maybe it’s just fear. If it’s not, it ought to be.

Reader Interactions

199Comments

  1. 1.

    Big Ole Hound

    Yeah but is any of this “dirt combing” actually illegal or even lying about it?

  2. 2.

    Bill

    Also, Russian lawyer tells NBC it was the Trump campaign that approached her about getting dirt on Hillary, not the other way around.

    If this is true – which is still a big if – it’s an enormous fact. That would mean Trump’s campaign not only colluded with a foreign national to interfere in the election, but that they affirmatively sought the assistance. That it didn’t just fall in their lap.

  3. 3.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Many moons ago, I represented the patriarch of a family which was in a complex white collar fraud scheme that had drawn the attention of aboaut a half dozen government agencies. This was an Appalachian family – dad, mom and dad’s brother would have fought to a draw in a duel of widths with a bag of hammers, but their kids were well educated.

    DOJ pressured the adult offspring (who were in it up to their necks, the son more venal and corrrupt than his father, the daughter and her husband simply weak and malleable in his hands). They flipped on their mom, dad and uncle – made post prison thanksgivings awkward, I’m sure.

    I’m seeing some parallels.

  5. 5.

    Bruce K

    So what benefits Moscow more, a compliant cheeto administration or a kneecapped cheeto administration?

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Quinerly: I’m going to bet the farm that Natalia Veselnitskaya doesn’t go to the toilet without Vladimir Vladimirovich’s say-so.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chris:

    Kaspersky lab has been working with Russian intelligence

    Kaspersky Lab is Russian intelligence.

  14. 14.

    Anne Laurie

    @Big Ole Hound:

    Yeah but is any of this “dirt combing” actually illegal or even lying about it?

    Colluding with a foreign government is at least questionable, if only because it violates campaign finance law (information being a valuable commodity). And since Kushner “forgot” to mention this on his security clearance forms, even after he was allowed a round of amendments, there’s laws about that too.

  15. 15.

    satby

    @chris: I would never use Kaspersky simply because it was Russian. Considering all the hacks sourced to eastern Europe, it never felt like a secure bet to me.

  16. 16.

    ET

    Trump may not throw his favored child (Ivanka) to the wolves but I can totally see throwing the sons. He sees them as threats – not because they are threats (they definitely aren’t) – but because they are male. Ivanka is never going to be a threat because the humans with boobs can never be a threat to The Great And Powerful Donald, only those with a penis are.

    Of course this family got in bead with the Russians and have no idea how much peril they are in. They think very highly of themselves and because they have a totally unrealistic picture of their actual savvy and capabilities, they cannot fathom that they are rank amateurs when it comes to playing with Putin and the Russian state. They are totally clueless and totally clueless as to how clueless they really are. Mix that in with Donny’s genetic inability to admit that his is never wrong and his wrong-headed belief that he is always to smartest person in the room and is a master at getting what he wants, and of course that gets them into trouble.

  18. 18.

    geg6

    So…is Vlad throwing Donnie under the bus? His pet lawyer sure seems like she’s willing to do the deed for him.

  19. 19.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Bruce K:

    So what benefits Moscow more, a compliant cheeto administration or a kneecapped cheeto administration?

    Yes.

  22. 22.

    Mom Says I'm Handsome

    What was coming to life to make Kushner/Trump/whoever push Junior into traffic?

    Did the dude mean “coming to light?” Asking for an ESL friend.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    He doesn’t even have to say a word. He just silently watches the karma train in his usual quiet, classy way. #LastWord @POTUS44 pic.twitter.com/IlTfspBjKV
    — Dyann (@Dyann057) July 11, 2017

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    Breaking: Source with knowledge of investigation says there is solid proof that Manafort coordinated with Wikileaks in dumping HRC emails.
    — Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) July 11, 2017

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    8. And stunningly, Republicans who have spent decades slamming liberals as weaklings and traitors, have surrendered to the Kremlin.
    — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 11, 2017

  27. 27.

    Quinerly

    Sebastian Gorka is telling me if we had read the “Art of the Deal” we would know that the president makes 50 phone calls a day. Honestly, I tuned out the context…MSNBC was on in the background. I have burst out laughing. I may be losing my mind. What has happened to our country?

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @geg6: Putin does this regularly. Remember it was Russian state media that released the pics of the President in the Oval Office with both Lavrov and Kislyak – the latter of whom was not reported as being there up to that point in the official White House disclosures. It was one of Putin’s official reps who released the photo of Ivanka sitting in for the President at the G20 last week. Shortly after that at his press conference Putin when answering questions about the hacking told the media he’d instruct the White House to release a statement corroborating his statement.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Quinerly: One of the more amusing sideshows of this unfolding clusterfuck has been watching Hannity become more unhinged as each new revelation drops. If Trump has to resign or is removed from office (I don’t think it will happen, but please, FSM, grant your faithful jackals this favor!), some burly men in white coats are going to have to remove Hannity from his studio, chained to a gurney.

  30. 30.

    rikyrah

    4. That said, pundits should cut the BS about “smoke but no fire” on Russia. There’s fire everywhere. Enough to ruin any other politician.
    — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 11, 2017

    6. And those contacts were concealed and misrepresented. On legally binding documents and in sworn testimony. That’s FIRE. Not just smoke.
    — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 11, 2017

  31. 31.

    JPL

    What if it is the Russians throwing Don Jr. under the bus, as a warning to Trump. Trump better pay up quickly or he’s next.
    Since nothing is normal, why not this theory.

  32. 32.

    MJS

    I hate to be this way, but this seems to good to be true. Also too convenient. It feels like the media is being set up, but I’m not sure how.

  33. 33.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @geg6:

    Lawyer chick’s public interview is phase two. Sew chaos to make ALL organs of government, including leadership, untrustworthy.

    Think latter day Imperial China – huge nation, large resource base, big population. At the same time, that population is hopelessly divided along ideological and ethnic lines, unable to fend off the imperial ambitions and encroachments of The European invaders that could have been easily repulsed.

  35. 35.

    Waspuppet

    @Bill: Just a reminder that when Al Gore’s campaign was offered a tape of GWB’s debate prep, they went to the FBI. Like an American would do.

  36. 36.

    Shalimar

    At least they are all on the same page insisting that no actual information was turned over to the Trump campaign. Since Donald Sr. wasn’t there, they might even all manage to stick to that lie for more than 24 hours. If he had been there, he would already be tweeting this morning about how damning the information they got on Clinton was and how horrible a person she is from those emails.

  37. 37.

    LAO

    Jr may be an idiot, but he’s hired a real top-notch defense attorney (and a super good guy).

  39. 39.

    Gin & Tonic

    @satby: It is coming along very slowly. Thanks for asking. I get another round of x-rays next week, which will tell me whether the radius is finally healing. “Malunion” is the term I think everyone on my team (including me, of course) is trying to avoid. I am now working with an ultrasonic bone-growth stimulator, so we will see how that goes.

    It turns out that this was a more serious injury than I had thought at the beginning.

  40. 40.

    GregB

    @rikyrah:

    One of my biggest hopes is to see that fascist turd-bag A**ange get flushed out and flushed down.

    Boy, the Trumpies continued insistence that this entire story is a nothingburger is getting lamer by the moment.

  41. 41.

    Mezz

    The only thing that may well save all of the rest of us is that this family is ALL FREDOs – from the man at the top on down.

    I’m always reminded of the great Deep Throat scene in All the President’s Men – these people really aren’t too bright. It’s actually most amazing to see how many wealthy people who are nothing more than just lucky sperm think they have some great, brilliant genius that made them super wealthy, not an inheritance from mommy or daddy.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: This is the guy who wrote a piece with Mensch about a month ago stating the Marshal of the Supreme Court had notified somebody that a sealed impeachment indictment had been handed down by Chief Justice Roberts.

    That’s not how any of this works.

  43. 43.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    For the first time since he took office, I think it’s more likely than not that he’s going to be gone before his term is up. At this point, I can’t see Republicans impeaching him, but I think he’ll resign. I can’t see this going on for another six months. If nothing else, Republicans will want this shit show fail parade wrapped up before the 2018 elections get fully underway. I can’t believe this is happening to my country. And yet, here we are…

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Waspuppet: Just remember that George Will stole a copy of President Carter’s debate prep book, hand delivered it to the Reagan campaign, then went back to his day job writing pro Reagan campaign and anti President Carter columns for WaPo.

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    Mike Pence voices support for radical health care alternative
    07/11/17 09:20 AM
    By Steve Benen

    If Senate Republicans fail to pass their regressive health care plan, there’s quite a bit of support among GOP members to strike a bipartisan deal with Senate Democrats and move on to other issues. There is, however, a radically different approach that’s also on the table.

    Donald Trump published a tweet two weeks ago in which he said he supports a repeal-and-delay model in which Congress immediately repeals the Affordable Care Act, and then figures out a replacement model at some point down the road. Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh asked Mike Pence if he’s on board with such an approach, and the vice president, after dismissing the idea of bipartisan policymaking out of hand, replied:

    “We believe if they can’t pass this carefully crafted repeal-and-replace bill – do those two things simultaneously – we ought to just repeal only, and then have enough time built into that legislation to craft replacement legislation.”

    ……………………………………

    Quite right. As regular readers may recall, the CBO found back in January – when “repeal an delay” was widely seen as the preferred Republican approach – that a full repeal along the lines of what Pence described yesterday, would cause premiums to spike and would take health coverage from 32 million Americans over the next decade.

    This, according to the sitting president and vice president, is the approach Republican policymakers should embrace if the Senate can’t pass the current GOP plan.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    Rachel lays it all out..from the beginning…a nice timeline here.

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/10/17
    Questions of Trump Russia collusion gain new specificity
    Rachel Maddow rounds up the latest reporting on connections between the Donald Trump campaign and Russian interference efforts, including breaking news that Donald Trump, Jr. was informed in an e-mail that the Russian government was behind information being delivered by a Russia lawyer at an upcoming meeting.

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/10/17
    NYT: E-mail told Trump Jr of Russian government campaign help
    Rachel Maddow shares breaking news from the New York Times that Donald Trump, Jr. was told in an e-mail that the Russian government was behind the anti-Hillary Clinton information he would receive at a meeting with a Russian lawyer

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Shalimar: I’ll reinject this into the comments:
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-russia-and-a-shadowy-business-partner/ar-BBCYNXQ

    While Trump’s kids were involved in the back-and-forth with Bayrock, it was Trump himself who always had the final say.

    “Donald was always in charge,” says Kriss. “Donald had to agree to every term of every deal and had to sign off on everything. Nothing happened unless he said it was okay to do it. Even if Donald Jr., shook your hand on a deal, he came back downstairs to renegotiate if his father told him to.”

  50. 50.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    there’s a ret’d Lt Colonel on MSNBC shouting about propaganda and arguing, I think, that the trump campaign acted in the interests of national security to find out if there was some plot. I guess after Boykin, Flynn and so many others, I shouldn’t be shocked at high ranking military personnel who shouldn’t be trusted to manage the Wendy’s drive-thru window on a Saturday night, but I still find it disconcerting.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/10/17
    Rep Schiff on potential criminality in Trump Russia collusion
    Congressman Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about which aspects of the Trump Russia collusion investigation have the potential for criminality beyond mere scandal

    Schiff: Trump Jr meeting key in 2016 Russian hacking timeline
    Congressman Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about the timeline of Russian hacking and the release of information to Wikileaks, and the Donald Trump Jr meeting with a Russian lawyer in that context.

  54. 54.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Ruckus: I saw on the Twitter that today, Tuesday, is the second day in a row that Donald has zero public events on his calendar. I guess he has to pass the time somehow.

  56. 56.

    Quinerly

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I caught part of the insane rant at the end. Trying to find the guy’s name. Not one of the usual retired military types on MSNBC. Never seen the guy before.

  57. 57.

    bystander

    Just caught some of Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC. She had Gorka on and it was a non-stop gish gallop touching on HRC giving away all our uranium while BC was being paid gazillions for “speaking” to Russian oligarchs. He kept shouting over her and blathering nonsense including calling Ruhle and MSNBC “fake news”.

    After that Evan McMullin and some CIA guy, all in different studios. Good thing, because the CIA guy would have smashed a chair over McMullin’s chrome dome.

    The trumputinites are out and crazed.

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    @Adam L Silverman: I blocked Taylor and Mensch weeks ago to escape retweets of the garbage they’re dumping on Twitter. I don’t know anything about Taylor except he’s in league with Mensch, which is enough to disqualify him as a credible source. Not sure what game they’re playing, but it’s not to our (Democrats’) benefit.

  59. 59.

    BBA

    If the DOJ isn’t working on indicting Hillary for something, ANYTHING to take the focus off Russia for a few news cycles, they’re worse at playing this game than I am. And I’m terrible at it.

  61. 61.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @Adam L Silverman: This immediately made me think of the moment when the tables are turned on Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men at trial. When you make a really big deal out of calling all the shots it’s hard to then turn around and argue that something extremely significant happened without knowing about it. Also, “You can’t handle the truth!” seems like a particularly appropriate quote for this administration.

  62. 62.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Bruce K: If Trump ever starts acting eratically towards either Russia or its client states, where Putin is scared out of his mind by Trump, then yes he would scuttle him

  63. 63.

    Barbara

    @Bill: Here is what I do know: I would only try to throw a well-connected Russian lawyer under the bus if I were inside a walled fortress surrounded by armed guards I have raised from birth. Maybe that is how Donald Trump perceives his situation at the present moment.

  67. 67.

    Quinerly

    @Ruckus:
    Obviously, you, too, didn’t read his book. If you did you would know that. Gorka couldn’t believe Stephanie Ruehl of MSNBC didn’t know about the 50 phone calls a day. I swear Gorka was turning on his heavy accent more than usual when he was almost mocking Ruehl.

  68. 68.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: You have to wonder how many compromised/fascist-leaning individuals exist in the military. Would their traditional non-interferance in domestic political affairs stay true?

  69. 69.

    NCSteve

    @Bill: she is lying through her Russian “lawyer” teeth. Her clai. To have no Kremlin ties is a self-evident lie that makes everything she says a potential lie.

    This woman is the Kremlin’s lead lobbyist in trying to get the US and other western countries to repeal Magnitsky sanction laws. “Talking about Russian adoptions” is code for “talking about repealing Magnitsky Act.”

    She is an unregistered(?) agent of the Russian government. And now she is acting like an agent of a very particular agency trying very hard to rattle Trump’s cage by sending a message about how much harm they can do if he doesn’t give them the “cyber security cooperation agreement” he promised Vlad.

    If I were Mueller or the Acting Director of the FBI, I’d scoop her up, sweat her and tell her not to try to leave the country.

  70. 70.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: maybe this guy, kinda looks like him, so you can see why MSNBC would want to give him airtime

    Anthony Shaffer (born 1962) is a retired U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel who gained fame for his claims about mishandled intelligence before the September 11 attacks and for the censoring of his book, Operation Dark Heart. He is currently Senior Fellow for the London Center for Policy Research
    …
    Theories[edit]
    In 2012, Shaffer claimed President Obama was “in the White House Situation Room in real-time watching” the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, a claim that has been denied by the Obama administration.[7] He further implied the White House was conspiring to prevent charges against released American POW Bowe Bergdahl.[7]

  71. 71.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: Let me know if you find it. I’m curious who they got. Was it possibly Ralph Peters? I think he switched up and became a East European/Russia FAO before he retired, though I thought he was a Fox exclusive kind of guy.

  72. 72.

    bystander

    @Adam L Silverman: I didn’t get his name either. But if I heard him correctly he said “…and you keep calling me an “analyst”. I’m an operative.” And the chyron under his name at that moment said “CIA Analyst”. He was wildeyed and frothing.

  74. 74.

    tobie

    @bystander: I’ve noticed that all of Trump’s defenders have taken to interrupting anyone who presents an opposing view on TV. It seems like a strategy–drown out the opposition by not letting them get a word in edgewise. And it works perfectly in our media environment which loves the both-sides-do-it narrative and has a PRO and CONTRA voice in just about every segment. Hosts need to learn to turn off the mike on guests who interrupt.

  75. 75.

    Charley

    Why don’t we call this episode Kremlinks II, this time as a prequel to the first darker movie.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @bystander: Yep, that’s the debunked Secretary Clinton sold the uranium to the Russians story. In reality that decision was made by the Secretary of Energy. While all the departments, agencies, and bureaus within the Interagency have input to the Interagency board that makes the recommendations, the board is populated by deputies, not principals. And since this involved a decision under DOE purview, it was DOE that had the final say. It is highly unlikely that the Secretaries of the other departments even knew this was being debated until notified of the final decision.

    These knuckleheads all need a primer on how the Federal government actually works as opposed to their fantasies about how it works.

  77. 77.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I remember the Bowe Bergdahl mess. God, people I knew were so rabid about that, even in the early days, when we didn’t have much info. He was a traitor that had to be executed. Nuts

  78. 78.

    bystander

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Yes. But you know when you’re a master criminal like Hillary, it’s a given that she always escapes punishment for her crimes because she executes them so expertly. Like seizing all the US’s uranium and selling it to Russia for a check payable to the so-called Clinton Foundation.

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    Also possible to imagine him pulling up the drawbridge leaving his kids to face whatever

    Of course this is what he’s going to do. Narcissist 101.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    @Bruce K:

    So what benefits Moscow more, a compliant cheeto administration

    Vlad wants the sanctions lifted. That $ 500 BILLION DOLLAR Exxon deal.
    Once again, I ask..

    why do you think Tillerson was chosen in the first place, and had never met Dolt45 before?
    Because, he was chosen by Vlad.

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NCSteve:

    If I were Mueller or the Acting Director of the FBI, I’d scoop her up

    As she is currently in Moscow, that’ll be difficult.

  86. 86.

    Barbara

    @Yarrow: I don’t know how they would react to that. I believe that they have a case of familial Stockholm Syndrome and that odds are very good that the sons might actually allow themselves to be used like this. Ivanka is the wildcard, and specifically, whether she would allow her husband to take the fall for her father. But really, I think Jared Kushner has a lot to do with what is going on here, even more so than the president, and certainly more than Junior.

  87. 87.

    sherparick

    @Bill: And 60 million Republicans, e.g. Fox News watchers, Rush Limbaugh listeners, Mark Levine Followers, and Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter fans will be saying “So what, at least Russia was going after the evil bitch, Hillary, and the Kenyan Usurper and trying to Maker America White, er, Great Again.” https://medium.com/@LaddEveritt/from-russia-with-love-for-the-nra-ffc69088fe41

    Again, for many of these people, rich and poor, maintaining, or in their mind, reestablishing White Supremacy is what “Defending the West” is all about.

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @bystander: I think it might’ve been. He refers to himself as an “Intel Operative”, capitalized, on his twitter bio

    Tony Shaffer‏Verified account @ T_S_P_O_O_K_Y 49m49 minutes ago
    Joining msnbc now to discuss Russia, Russia, Russia! @ MSNBC Studios

    Look for me this morning on @MSNBC at approx 9:30 AM to discuss Russia, Russia, Russia

  89. 89.

    randy khan

    @ET:

    Trump may not throw his favored child (Ivanka) to the wolves but I can totally see throwing the sons.

    I agree. That’s also why Kushner is somewhat protected – he’s connected to the golden child.

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Betty Cracker: He worked a part time staff assignment in the Bill Clinton White House as Director of Volunteers. He seems to have some decent sources – as in some of the stuff he tweets does get confirmed. I’ve not done a deep dive into his hit or miss ratio, but once he started writing really bad US legal system/impeachment fan fiction you have to just shake your head, step back, and wonder. If you can’t take five minutes and get the basics of how the various processes work correctly before you hit post, I’m not sure why you should be taken seriously. We’re not talking about having a typo or a comma splice that happens to everyone from Josh Marshall to Charlie Pierce to most of us here.

  91. 91.

    Betty Cracker

    @Yarrow: Bingo. Trump is motivated by two things only: collection of adulation and avoidance of shame. Nothing else has any meaning for him, including family ties, love of country, etc.

  96. 96.

    sherparick

    @Quinerly: With regard to “peak wingnut,” you are talking about an infinity function. The nuttier and wilder your accusations against the Clintons, Obama, Democrats and liberals in general, gays, Blacks, immigrants, Hispanic and Asian Americans, the more you get rewarded in the Wingnut universe. Sean Hannity’s net worth is nearing $100 million dollars right now, and going up like rocket. Ditto Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Mark Levine, and Alex Jones. They have no conscience or sense of shame and feel they must be doing God’s work or else they would not be so rich!

  97. 97.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Bruce K:

    I think about 75% of the effort will be in fomenting distrust of information among the folks charitably described as “the common clay of the New West”. The other 25% in leaving him in place to fuck up even more.

    Rupert Murdoch should have had his Charlotte Corday moment decades ago. He’s responsible, more than anyone else, for poisoning the common well of information.

  98. 98.

    Jeffro

    Guys guys guys quit distracting me with all this good news while I’m trying to drive back from Philly

    ( actually just kidding I pulled over to get a breakfast sandwich and coffee at Wawa)

  100. 100.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Quinerly: Don’t know if it was him on MSNBC, but he’s a little odd:
    http://nypost.com/2017/07/07/trump-soars-in-warsaw-but-gets-suckered-in-hamburg/

    In Warsaw on Thursday, President Trump gave the most impressive speech by a US president on European soil since Ronald Reagan raised the challenge, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” His speechwriter served him splendidly, deservedly praising Poland’s long struggle for freedom and repeatedly calling out Russia for its invasions, occupations and atrocities.

    The historical references, such as to the Katyn Forest Massacre of 15,000 Polish officers held as POWs, resonated with the Poles and galled Moscow. Listening to our president, I felt like standing up and cheering. Then Trump met Vladimir Putin on the rim of the G-20 summit in Germany, and he fell under the same spell that had seduced three US presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama, the latter of whom ended up as Putin’s strategic punching bag.

    Listening to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s summary of the two-hour-plus meeting was painful. The naivety on display played into Putin’s hands. We got nothing, Putin got a big win.

    While it seemed a fine thing that our president brought up Russian interference in our election, Tillerson undercut it by stressing that he and the president didn’t want to re-litigate the past but seek to move forward.

    That was terrific news for Putin, who needs to be punished harshly for his election-meddling (yes, the Russians indisputably meddled). Russia’s new czar got a free pass for a still-to-be-issued promise not to do it again.

    We held all the aces. And we folded.

    From Wiki:

    Role of the United States military Edit
    Peters’ 1997 article “Constant Conflict”[8][9] stated: “There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing.”

    Iraq War Edit
    Peters was a strong supporter of the 2003 invasion and ongoing war in Iraq. Defending the war from critics who claimed that Iraq was descending into civil war, he authored a March 5, 2006 piece in the New York Post, entitled “Dude, Where’s My Civil War?”, in which he wrote: “I’m looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can’t find it (…) The Iraqi Army has confounded its Western critics, performing extremely well last week. And the people trust their new army to an encouraging degree.”[10] Claims that Iraq was descending into civil war, he wrote, were the politically motivated claims of “irresponsible journalists” who have “staked their reputations on Iraq’s failure”. By August 2006, Peters had turned more pessimistic on Iraq, stating in an interview with FrontPageMagazine.com that “civil war is closer than it was (…) The leaders squabble, the death squads rule the neighborhoods.” He said that while it would be “too early to walk away from Iraq”, the fate of the country was threatened by the US’s failure after the invasion to provide adequate troop levels to maintain order, as well as “the Arab genius for screwing things up.”[11]

    On November 2, 2006, he wrote in USA Today: “Iraq is failing. No honest observer can conclude otherwise. Even six months ago, there was hope. Now the chances for a democratic, unified Iraq are dwindling fast (…) Iraq could have turned out differently. It didn’t. And we must be honest about it. We owe that much to our troops. They don’t face the mere forfeiture of a few congressional seats but the loss of their lives. Our military is now being employed for political purposes. It’s unworthy of our nation.” In this piece he speculated that “only a military coup – which might come in the next few years – could hold the artificial country together” and that “it appears that the cynics were right: Arab societies can’t support democracy as we know it.”[12]

    Bowe Bergdahl Edit
    Peters expressed sympathy for POW Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl’s family, but speculated (Fox News, July 19, 2009) that Bergdahl might be “an apparent deserter … if he walked away from his post and his buddies in wartime – I don’t care how hard it sounds – as far as I’m concerned the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.” He characterized Bergdahl’s description (in the Taliban produced video) of U.S. military behavior in Afghanistan as collaboration with the enemy, even if coerced.[22] Peters hoped Bergdahl would be reunited with his family, but argued that the US media had glorified one captured soldier who Peters claimed had shamed his unit and lied, while ignoring genuine heroes and casualties (The O’Reilly Factor, July 21).[23]

    Donald Rumsfeld Edit
    Peters was quoted as saying, regarding former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “I am allergic to Rumsfeld. We did a great thing in Iraq, but we did it very badly. He is an extremely talented man but he has the tragic flaw of hubris. His arrogance is unbearable. My friends in uniform just hate him.”[24]

    Anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism equivalent Edit
    Peters has claimed that being anti-Israeli was the equivalent of being anti-Semitic. He also stated that the Middle East was a “sea of barbarism”.[25]

    Obama foreign policy Edit
    Ralph Peters stated that Barack Obama’s “preemptive retreat” was the reason for an ongoing “blood bath” in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Libya.[26]

    Commenting on the ongoing U.S. diplomacy with Cuba, Iran, and Russia, Ralph Peters stated that President Obama has been “date raped.” He added that soft questioning that NPR posed to President Obama regarding foreign relations was “what you need to know about the state of NPR.”[27]

    During Stuart Varney’s Fox Business Network show on December 7, 2015, Peters referred to Obama as a “total pussy”, leading Fox News to suspend him for two weeks.[28]

    Iran Edit
    Peters has stated that Iran is “building a new Persian Empire.”[29]

  101. 101.

    tobie

    I’m just waiting for Edward Snowden, that fierce defender of civil liberties, to weigh in on the horrors of a state violating privacy and hacking into people’s and organization’s email accounts. Oh, the irony is by turns sickening and delicious…

  102. 102.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Could a front pager get my comment out of moderation?

  103. 103.

    NCSteve

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Retired Lt. Colonel” = “forced to retire.” Only 50% of lt. colonels get promotion and the rest are retired. And this is the point where a reputation for being an extremist, a nut or a potential embarrassment to the service really becomes a major, though unofficial, factor for promotion boards. This is the place where people they don’t ever want the politicians considering for a star get weeded out.

    Not being conspicuously nutty or tactless until you get a star or, preferably three, is critical to climbing past O-5.

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: There aren’t as many as appearances by retirees on cable news would lead you to believe. They do tend to lean conservative. They also tend to be more religiously conservative too. But this tends to be selection bias as a result of which communities the officer corps of our all volunteer force comes from (more rural, more southern and western, much more white). The officer corps, at least for the Army, tends to be overwhelmingly introverted as well. But we do a very good job of socializing them to civilian control of the military over the course of their careers.

  106. 106.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @rikyrah:

    I wish that Schiff would stop using the phrase “damaging information” with relation to the DNC and Hillary emails.

    There was no damaging information – what was there was garden variety communication that was twisted, distorted and disseminated in such a way as to make it appear damaging to independent and progressive voters.

  108. 108.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WereBear: Thanks. Those things are a real fucking racket, though. Thing is worth maybe a couple hundred, being very generous. “List price” is like $5k, insurance bills it at $2.5k, I have a 20% co-pay so I’m out of pocket just about $500. It’s “medical equipment” so you can’t rent it, you have to buy it. I can’t sell it back, again because it’s medical equipment, even though only one (small) part of it ever touches me, and only on my skin. That part could easily be made disposable/replaceable, but it isn’t, by design. There’s a ton of these on eBay for $50-100, but they are effectively useless, because the device has a built-in calendar, and if it’s unused for some unknown but relatively brief number of days it self-disables, requiring a reset by a manufacturer-authorized service tech. It’s unknown how much that may cost. This shit is infuriating, but I guess the medical-device lobby is strong.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    @bystander: Shaffer. He’s well out there. It is amazing, given just how rigorous the screening process that the Agency uses during its recruitment and vetting phases, that these guys make it through. Of course we could also look at it that only a few of them do make it through showing that the vetting process works pretty well.

  111. 111.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Occasionally one of the retired guys is allowed to go on. The guy who oversaw the Agency’s paramilitary work in Afghanistan shortly after 9-11 wrote a book about what they did shortly after he retired, had it cleared through the appropriate channels, and did the TV rounds for a couple of years. McMullin was also CIA Ops.

  112. 112.

    Quinerly

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):
    Thanks. Guess I should have put my contacts in. BTW, NPR’s “1-A” devoting first hour to Jr.’s background. Story about Sr. slapping Jr. in front of Jr’s college classmates at a baseball game over how Jr. was dressed. Again, came late to the show. Might be worth it to catch the entire show on rebroadcast. Vanity Fair writer giving Jr’s background.

  115. 115.

    Quinerly

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Think he is driving around out West. He knows all the MSNBC personalities and would have answered immediately about that insane ranting lieutenant colonel.? Come to think of it, his favorite…Joy Reid is also MIA. A rendezvous’? It would be irresponsible not to speculate. But, I digress?

  117. 117.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @Adam L Silverman: I love Claude’s photography, and he seems to have some good sources, but he tends to buy into entirely too many of Mensch’s wild ideas. And forgets that Brits often don’t understand US govt procedure.

  119. 119.

    tobie

    Someone may have posted this already…but there’s good news. Kobach’s “voting integrity” commission has had to suspend its request for voter data. A lawsuit was filed, claiming among other things, that the request violates the Electronic Privacy Act that mandates that an assessment be done of the consequences of data collection before the collection itself can begin.

  120. 120.

    Yarrow

    @Barbara:

    But really, I think Jared Kushner has a lot to do with what is going on here, even more so than the president, and certainly more than Junior.

    Donald Trump has been in bed with the Russians since his visited Moscow in 1987. He took out a full page ad in the NYT calling for pulling out of NATO and other things–all of which would have been good for the then Soviet Union and subsequently Russia. They bailed him out financially when no American bank would give him loans. He’s the center around which all the Russian treason happens. Jared is a latecomer to the whole thing.

  125. 125.

    maryQ

    Fuck the GOP for subjecting the country to this. And fuck Bernie for pretending the election was about something else.

  127. 127.

    Iowa Old Lady

    The news about Junior getting an email spelling out the collusion is so ridiculous that I am having a moment of doubt. What if it’s disinformation of the kind Maddow reported the other night?

  128. 128.

    Mike in NC

    First heard of Ralph Peters when he started writing fiction, as in Grade Z level Tom Clancy stuff that regularly turned up on the shelves at Fairfax County (VA) Public Library. If nothing else, he was prolific. Also did a series of Civil War spy novels. This was all before FOX News even existed. He was described as a retired Major with a background in Army Intelligence, so at some point he was able to get upgraded to LTC. Haven’t read or seen him on TV in many years.

  130. 130.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Barbara:

    I believe that they have a case of familial Stockholm Syndrome and that odds are very good that the sons might actually allow themselves to be used like this.

    It’s interesting with this family. When we think of Tiffany Trump (assuming we ever do), it’s usually with the strong awareness that her mother, Marla Maples, brought her up. And in the past few months, we’ve almost started bracketing “Melania-and-Barron,” essentially acknowledging that his bond is far stronger with his mother than with his father.

    But with the three oldest? Presumably their mother, Ivana, played a major role in rearing them, yet she is never mentioned. Last year she surfaced briefly to lobby for being named Ambassador to the Czech Republic, but as mother to Uday, Qusay, and Lucrezia, you just never ever hear of her. Do the kids ever talk to their mom? Does she ever visit Ivanka and Jared on weekends to play with the grandkids?

    I vaguely remember reading a story about Don Jr refusing to speak to his father for literally a full year at the time of l’affaire Marla and his parents’ divorce. Maybe, even after all this time, Donald is contemplating getting back at his namesake son for that. Back at that press conference shortly before the Inauguration when he announced that Jr and Eric would have day-to-day management of Trump properties, he publicly threatened them if they did a poor job. Yes, he framed it as a joke, a throwaway line, but it was still a threat. It was bullying and humiliating. I think he’s more than capable of tossing his son under an entire fleet of Greyhounds if it suits him to do so.

  131. 131.

    Knight of Nothing

    Here’s a question: why is she speaking Russian? Her English is probably better than mine, and she’s doing an interview for American TV. And I’d bet real money that Donald Jr and Kushner don’t speak Russian.

  132. 132.

    Vhh

    @Big Ole Hound: Campaign finance law clearly makes it illegal to even solicit anything of any value from foreign person or entity. Veselnitskaya is described in Russian langusge press as well connected (ie, Kremlin) lawyer and fixer (exact translation). I wonder if this gambit is intended to send the Don a msg that he had better deliver or else his family goes down.

  133. 133.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Josh BarroVerified account @ j barro
    My theory is something real bad happened in the Putin meeting that we don’t know about and these leaks are a reaction to that.

    Daniel W. Drezner‏Verified account @ dandrezner 36m36 minutes ago
    Corollary: something bad happened and Trump and Tillerson aren’t experienced enough to know it.

    so, if it is something like this, who was in the meeting to tell whomever (? maybe McMaster and some establishment-y people around Pence and/or Priebus?) that the trumps had to be wounded, and fast. Somebody who knew what Junior was up to and was able to find out that trump and Tillerson really stepped on their own dicks with Putin?

  134. 134.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Adam L Silverman: “Was.” I had the impression from the show summary here that the guy was implying “is”, so my comment was on that. Non-retired “operatives” would not be appearing on TV

  136. 136.

    The Moar You Know

    And fuck Bernie for pretending the election was about something else.

    @maryQ: The Russians have Bernie’s balls too. He did what he was supposed to, and got his payoff.

    Problem for Bern is this: you jump into bed with these people and you can never jump out. He’ll be called on again. And he’ll do what he’s told. And if he’s reluctant, well, y’know, he’s old. Old people have bad accidents sometimes.

  137. 137.

    sherparick

    @Adam L Silverman: They are both English right-wing g@Adam L Silverman: Actual knowledge, as well as a conscience and a sense of honor, would impede the Grift. Whether they are just out to work this particular vein (gullible lefties), or as cat’s paws for others who would like to discredit the whole Trump-Russian investigation, is a question I will to others. I note that they are to lazy even to read a Wikipedia article on the impeachment process to put out obvious howlers.

  139. 139.

    tobie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Josh Barro’s take is not implausible. Remember that Melania was called in to see if she could end the meeting. This wasn’t an accident. She didn’t waltz in to tell her husband she wanted to go shopping. She was sent.

  140. 140.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: I believe Ivana lives in trump tower? and she has, maybe for financial reasons, expressed support for the Rough Beast in politics.

  141. 141.

    The Moar You Know

    The news about Junior getting an email spelling out the collusion is so ridiculous that I am having a moment of doubt.

    @Iowa Old Lady: Did it go down a lot like this? Of course. Did it go down like the emails say? No, and they’ll have proof. Dan Rather all over again. What makes me suspicious? It made it to the front page of my local GOP rag (one of the larger papers in the country) by this morning. That never happens.

    Lucy and the football again.

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Quinerly:

    Come to think of it, his favorite…Joy Reid is also MIA. A rendezvous’? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

    Hah! Glad to hear he’s okay. Thanks for the update.

  143. 143.

    Yarrow

    @The Moar You Know:

    The Russians have Bernie’s balls too. He did what he was supposed to, and got his payoff.

    Problem for Bern is this: you jump into bed with these people and you can never jump out. He’ll be called on again. And he’ll do what he’s told. And if he’s reluctant, well, y’know, he’s old. Old people have bad accidents sometimes.

    Yep. The whole Tad Devine (who worked with Manafort) thing. I don’t have the impression he was actively seeking involvement with the Russians. Perhaps his ego made him an easy target and he got hooked and couldn’t get out.

  144. 144.

    Mike in DC

    WSJ and NYT have dropped their bombs on collusion. Still waiting for the rumored WaPo blockbuster.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    The news about Junior getting an email spelling out the collusion is so ridiculous that I am having a moment of doubt. What if it’s disinformation of the kind Maddow reported the other night?

    I understand where you’re coming from, but this isn’t just the Times. In the morning thread, someone said that David Ignacius said that this lawyer was ‘under surveillance’. As the poster pointed out, Ignacius is The Spooks’ favorite reporter. They put this out in the universe, which only backs up the other stuff. I know that we don’t need to trust everything, but there’s enough here. I think something very bad happened with Vlad and Dolt45 at the G20, and The Spooks are just SO DONE.

  146. 146.

    sherparick

    @maryQ: You know, Bernie supported Hillary after the election. I had no problem with the campaign up to New York primary. After that loss, he should have called off the dogs and that was a mistake, as he and his campaign spent the next two months echoing Trump’s attacks on Hillary. But after that he was okay (if not some of his noisier supporters, to wit Susan Sarandon, etc.)

  149. 149.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Correct. Shaffer is retired from the US Army. Don’t know if he put enough time in at the Agency to retire, but he no longer works for them.

  150. 150.

    rikyrah

    Surprising that this obvious point is coming from a former Republican. DEMOCRATS use your OUTSIDE voice. Our country was stolen. ? https://t.co/1tJGId1hA2
    — Robin’s Resisting (@puppymnkey) July 11, 2017

    It’s important to remember that Russia intervened in 2016 not only to elect Trump, but to help congressional GOP https://t.co/GzAPxhrfc1
    — David Frum (@davidfrum) July 10, 2017

  151. 151.

    rikyrah

    We need to stop saying folks are going to lose their health care if the GOP repeal bill passes. We’re not losing it: they’re taking it away.
    — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 30, 2017

  152. 152.

    rikyrah

    Tim Kaine just told reporters the Russia investigation is now potentially a treason investigation.
    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 11, 2017

    ‘Stench of bribery and treason’: Legal expert points to Don Jr’s Russia meeting as ‘proverbial smoking gun’ https://t.co/2Fi8AWSHOw pic.twitter.com/1R0zlx6oiP
    — Raw Story (@RawStory) July 11, 2017

  153. 153.

    Yarrow

    @rikyrah:

    I think something very bad happened with Vlad and Dolt45 at the G20, and The Spooks are just SO DONE.

    I’d expect the Germans at least had that meeting room bugged. Putin probably knew that but Trump is so oblivious he probably either didn’t know or wouldn’t believe what he was told. Tillerson is so green he may not have understood the situation either. German IC passes on recording and as you said, The spooks are DONE with this mess.

  155. 155.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    zounds, the Times says they have the email

    The June 3, 2016, email sent to Donald Trump Jr. could hardly have been more explicit: One of his father’s former Russian business partners had been contacted by a senior Russian government official and was offering to provide the Trump campaign with dirt on Hillary Clinton.
    The documents “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” read the email, written by a trusted intermediary, who added, “This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
    If the future president’s elder son was surprised or disturbed by the provenance of the promised material — or the notion that it was part of an ongoing effort by the Russian government to aid his father’s campaign — he gave no indication.
    He replied within minutes: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

    Trying to contain my inner would-be John LeCarré, but is seems like somebody wants trump gone

    ETA: :MSNBC says Fredo released the emails. the Times story doesn’t suggest that

  158. 158.

    randy khan

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    The New York Times is now reporting that it has the email.

    The email said there were documents that “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father” and that the “high level and sensitive information” was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

    DJT, Jr.’s reply said “If it’s what you say I love it.”

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    he’s tweeting this stuff out? What the ever loving blue-eyed fuck is going on?

    Matthew Yglesias‏Verified account @ mattyglesias 2m2 minutes ago
    Does Junior think this is exculpatory somehow?

  165. 165.

    Keith P.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think he’s dumb enough to think that “getting it all out there” is in and of itself proof of doing nothing wrong, like we won’t actually *read* the emails. His lawyer must be shitting bricks right about now “What the FUCK is wrong with your family, Jr.?!??!”

  168. 168.

    Tilda Swintons Bald Cap

    Blanket pardon after indictments. Problem solved, Congress has his back. NO ONE will spend a day in jail. What do you propose we do if this happens?

  169. 169.

    Aleta

    There’s an article about young Trump’s lawyer in the Wapo. He’s what you’d expect. If that’s who is his dominant handler, modulated by the yelling and contradictions from the OO and his own weaknesses … then god has forsaken him for the time being.

    (But look to John Poindexter, Pincus Green, Scooter Libby for ideas about how even indictments and convictions can be architected (as Ivanka would put it) to play out OK in the long run.)

  170. 170.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Quinerly:

    Again, sadly, my local NPR station didn’t ever see fit to air Diane Rehm. I used to catch her show occasionally when I was on the road, and she was a terrific interviewer, but she’s never been part of my regular listening.

  171. 171.

    SFAW

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    MSNBC says Fredo released the emails.

    Part of me wants us to find a different iconic fuck-up than Fredo: at least Fredo Corleone had a highly competent father and brother (not counting Sonny). Not sure who should replace him, I’m trying to think of a (fictional) family where it’s “morons all the way down.”

  175. 175.

    Mike in DC

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
    Pardon power limited in two crucial ways:
    1) federal only (Snyderman may bring charges in NY)
    2) “except in cases of impeachment”–a lot goes into how thats interpreted. Interpreted broadly, any crimes to which the president is a party or beneficiary, and which might form the basis of an impeachment proceeding, would be arguably exempt from the use of the pardon power.

  176. 176.

    cmorenc

    @MJS:

    I hate to be this way, but this seems to good to be true. Also too convenient. It feels like the media is being set up, but I’m not sure how.

    This is among the reasons the Mueller investigation grinds on at a deliberate pace – to avoid having solid serious criminal cases against members of the Trump Administration undermined by pieces of temptingly incriminating but deliberately planted forged evidence put out precisely to undermine the credibility of the entire investigation – just as Rove did for George W in 2004 to spike the NG controversy dogging Bush’s reelection campaign. And Dan Rather unwittingly took the bait, hook line and sinker.

  177. 177.

    Joey Maloney

    @Barbara: If this were a novel instead of the most harrowing yet tedious Black Mirror episode ever, at some point an angst-ridden patriotic member of the President’s protective detail would draw his weapon in the Oval Office and blow off the back of Trump’s head. Then he’d refuse counsel, plead guilty, and request the death penalty.

  179. 179.

    rikyrah

    found at TOD…

    All I can say is..YEAH!!!!!!!

    A book of White House photographs of Michelle Obama by Amanda Lucidon will be released on October 17th, a few weeks before Pete Souza release his of President Obama.

  181. 181.

    Aleta

    @rikyrah: big difference, thanks for this point. Rs would have us beg and trade concessions for the scraps of what they are stealing.

  183. 183.

    Aleta

    @Quinerly: She was of the best, and head and shoulders an original.

    Hope Poco is well. I’ve been using your tip on theanine, preventatively for thunder and fireworks anxiety. It’s working well.

  185. 185.

    patrick II

    @Bill:

    That the Trump’s were actively looking for Hillary emails is not out of line with what was told to the Wall Street Journal about republican hit man Peter Smith and Michael Flynn own attempt to contact russians for dirt on Hillary. It looks like it was an all-hands-on-deck operation.

  189. 189.

    Quinerly

    @Aleta:
    Poco is doing well in his training. The L-Theanine is a wonderful product. You might want to talk to your vet. Both my vet & trainer said once on it, should be taken regularly for life. It’s an herbal supplement. Thanks for checking in about Poco. He’s getting ready for another NC beach trip in about 10 days.

  191. 191.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NCSteve: O-5 is also the rank most officers are at when they hit 20 years of service and can retire. Retiring at that rank does not necessarily mean forced out.

  192. 192.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NCSteve:

    “Retired Lt. Colonel” = “forced to retire.”

    Oh, Bangalore, Stevarino! I once worked for a card-carrying sociopath whose XO was a retired USAF lite kernel [sic] that we referred to behind his back as the Turkey Buzzard owing to a striking visual resemblance to a character in this comic strip. Allegedly the TB had been a navigator while serving with the (“Up In The Air) Junior Birdmen” = but when I once asked him to work a simple trig problem that I needed quickly & was too sore beset to do myself, & even provided him a charge number, the dumb mofo dunned me for most of a day & still couldn’t solve it. Navigator! Simple trig! Asshole.

  193. 193.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Mike in DC:

    Interpreted broadly, any crimes to which the president is a party or beneficiary, and which might form the basis of an impeachment proceeding, would be arguably exempt from the use of the pardon power.

    And who will ultimately do the interpreting? Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Kennedy & Gorsuch. And before any of them might possibly entertain thoughts of upholding such a finding, word will be passed to them (very quietly & unattributably) that certain folks are fully aware of who is most precious to them & we wouldn’t want anything unfortunate to happen, now, would we?

  194. 194.

    TenguPhule

    @Bruce K:

    I suppose what I’m really asking is: is Moscow more likely to prop Trump up against his insufficiently-myriad enemies, or is Moscow more likely to torpedo Trump and make hay while Washington is in chaos?

    Yes.

  195. 195.

    jonas

    @Iowa Old Lady: Yeah, but if it was a Dan Rather-style ratfucking operation, the tactic would have been to let the NYT run with some fake emails, build all this momentum, and then dump the “real” ones to disprove the MSM narrative. Dumping your own emails that essentially *confirm* what the NYT was reporting doesn’t make much sense.

  196. 196.

    Wjs

    @Betty Cracker: They are garbage. When they’re not misleading people desperate for hope they are doxxing people who have caught on to the fact that they are grifters.

  197. 197.

    Seanly

    I still think the goal is for the GOP to limp along with Trump until February 2019, then turn on him & dump him. They think they’ll retain their majorities in House & Senate, then get Bible Boy Pence installed. His time serving out the remainder of Trump’s term wouldn’t count towards the presidential term limits. The GOP is delusional enough to think that creepy Pence could then be elected president in 2020 and 2024.

    I think this is all some opium den level of dreaming by the GOP.

  198. 198.

    RobNYNY

    @Mike in DC: In addition, if someone is pardoned, he can no longer rely on the Fifth Amendment, and can be subject to criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify.

  199. 199.

    Stan

    @NCSteve:

    “Retired Lt. Colonel” = “forced to retire.” Only 50% of lt. colonels get promotion and the rest are retired.

    Yeah but I hope you are not implying that the 50% who retire are somehow nutty or flawed somehow. There are tons of very decent humans, really good officers, who do not make full bird.

Comments are closed.