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Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

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Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Russiagate / Paul Manafort In Tonight’s Russiagate News

Paul Manafort In Tonight’s Russiagate News

by | 248 Comments

This post is in: ,

CNN says that Paul Manafort was wiretapped through the past couple of years under suspicion for his ties to Russia.

The warrants for the wiretaps were obtained through the secret FISA court. One seems to have started in 2014 and ended last year, under concerns about  work done by a group of Washington consulting firms for Ukraine’s former ruling party. Then another warrant was obtained that extended into this year, part of the FBI’s efforts to investigate ties between Trump campaign associates and suspected Russian operatives.

Unfortunately,

The FBI wasn’t listening in June 2016, the sources said, when Donald Trump Jr. led a meeting that included Manafort, then campaign chairman, and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, with a Russian lawyer who had promised negative information on Hillary Clinton.

The anonymous sources are mentioned so many times in this article that I wonder if the reporters have some reservations about them.

Meanwhile, the New York Times was composing a piece about the fearsome tactics of Robert Mueller. That article starts out with the FBI raid on Manafort’s home. Not much new about that, except

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, then followed the house search with a warning: His prosecutors told Mr. Manafort they planned to indict him, said two people close to the investigation.

The rest of the article is about Mueller’s aggressive tactics, which is interesting, but I have to wonder why the Times put this into an article. It’s background more than news, which is helpful. It’s possible that someone behind the scenes, not necessarily at the Times, thought it was time for a warning.

Reader Interactions

248Comments

  1. 1.

    BlueDWarrior

    I’m not sure any ‘normal’ outlet is going to get info on the precise timing of when any listening happened, unless the leakers-that-be in the NatSec arms of the Government were trying to steer public opinion.

    It’s just my gut feeling that the community knew the contours of what Manafort was doing, but may or may not have any specific, actionable bits of info – at least to date. We will see what we see after while though.

  3. 3.

    MomSense

    Holy shit, CNN is also reporting that Manafort was being wiretapped since 2014 and captured conversations with trump.

    I want them all in shackles and orange jumpsuits. Treasonous bastards.

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    The rest of the article is about Mueller’s aggressive tactics, which is interesting, but I have to wonder why the Times put this into an article. It’s background more than news, which is helpful.

    FTNYT is fluffing Trump.

    And spiking Mueller.

    Traitors galore.

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    @MomSense:

    Holy shit, CNN is also reporting that Manafort was being wiretapped since 2014 and captured conversations with trump.

    Not enough coincidences in the world.

  6. 6.

    Patricia Kayden

    But but but I thought we were told that if Secretary Clinton was elected, she would be under constant FBI investigation. What has happened?

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    Trump says he wants a massive military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue on July 4

    Not only no, but fuck no.

    Trump’s trip to France for the country’s Bastille Day parade in July left a big impression. So big, in fact, that he wants to replicate the experience back home.

    As Trump met Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, the commander in chief gushed about seeing France’s military might on display in the streets of Paris during his visit. And he told reporters he is looking into the possibility of having a parade down the streets of Washington on Independence Day to show the United States’ “military strength.”

    “I was your guest at Bastille Day, and it was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Trump told Macron, who sat next to him. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might and, I think, a tremendous thing for France and the spirit of France.”

    “To a large extent because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July Fourth in Washington down Pennsylvania Avenue,” Trump said.

    This is not normal.

  9. 9.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @TenguPhule: Seems more like a warning to the Trumpies that shit is getting serious and that people might think about coming to talk to the friendly folks in Mueller’s office. There was a helpful article at Lawfare a week or two ago explaining how leaks work, and from what was said there, I would not expect leaks to be coming from Mueller’s shop, also that Mueller and his people seem to be the ultimate professionals. Maybe someone caught up in the investigation warning his brothers in omerta that these guys really mean business? Maybe the article didn’t contain everything it might because the Times wanted to compete with the CNN scoop?

  12. 12.

    Trentrunner

    Just dropping in for the obligatory:

    If you’re hoping Mueller will somehow save us from Trump, you’re in for more 11/8-level disappointment.

    Only we can save ourselves, by taking back the House and then winning the Presidency and Senate.

  14. 14.

    efgoldman

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    he wants to replicate the experience back home.

    Take a company each of Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy, bring out one of the bands, and have them march around and around the block. He wouldn’t know the difference

  15. 15.

    BlueDWarrior

    @TenguPhule: Of course it isn’t. Trump and his fanbois and gurls want to live in a twisted fantasyland where America has a benevolent dictator that always makes the correct decisions (because he is the one making them), and grossly jingoistic military parades are one of the hallmarks of a despotic regime.

    These people won’t be happy until Big Daddy is whipping all the bad little boys and girls, including themselves.

    And I’ve said it in other contexts, there are hardworking doms out there that will let them get this out of their system without it affecting the rest of us.

  16. 16.

    different-church-lady

    @BlueDWarrior:

    Trump and his fanbois and gurls want to live in a twisted fantasyland where America has a benevolent dictator…

    You sure about the benevolent part?

  17. 17.

    HumboldtBlue

    Aaaaaand moderation. I come by for the first time in weeks without having called, no letter or note, throw out some cusses and a solid fucking link to good music and this is what I get.

    I see how y’all are.

  18. 18.

    BlueDWarrior

    @different-church-lady: … fair point. I think some of them wouldn’t mind living under an Idi Amin, so long as they were white and tossing the chosen minority du jour into the nearest body of water you could easily drown someone in.

    Yeah I really shouldn’t put anything past a lot of them…

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Seems more like a warning to the Trumpies that shit is getting serious and that people might think about coming to talk to the friendly folks in Mueller’s office.

    I would like for this to be true.

    But the FYNYT past behavior counts against them for a lot.

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Is anyone else getting the blaring video ads running constantly.

    Yes, Alain said he was going to swap it out with these big ugly ads up top instead.

    He lied to us. Now we have both.

  23. 23.

    gbbalto

    OT but please think good thoughts for Betty in Dominica and everyone else in the Leeward Islands, USVI, and Puerto Rico. The eye of Cat 4 Maria is headed directly for Dominica…160 mph winds
    ETA: PR has been the staging point for much of the Irma relief and the British have been working out of St Croix… next in line for a hit.

  24. 24.

    BlueDWarrior

    @TenguPhule: It’s the thing that in 30 years the Internet has still not figured out… how to make an advertisement that people would notice, but would not figuratively or literally hijack your browser.

    Apparently we’re still working on it.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T but Maria is now a Cat 5 and only 15 miles from Dominica. Good thoughts to Betty and anyone else in, or with family/friends in the Caribbean. This lady looks nasty.

    Edit: What gbbalto said @#23 except that Maria has been upgraded in the last few minutes to a 5.

  28. 28.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @efgoldman: He wants to see tanks rolling down the street.

    He’s a fucking idiot. There are no tanks around DC handy for this. There is a ceremonial 105mm Howitzer Battery attached to the Old Guard just for firing off gun salutes.

    Besides, the tanks would rip up PA AV. And the surrounding streets used to get to it.

  29. 29.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @TenguPhule: I like to look at things in context, not at the context as controlling things.

    There’s a developing thread on Twitter that seems to agree with my interpretation. It’s from a person I regard as reliable. Here’s the start of it. I’ll condense it when he’s done.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    @gbbalto: I saw that earlier, and hopefully we will hear from her soon. The devastation caused by Irma is awful, and Maria seems to attack the rest.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I believe, but am too lazy to go check it out, that he wanted a great military parade for his inauguration, and was told that Pennsylvania Avenue (and all other streets in DC) would be unable to deal with the weight of the tanks. Not sure why he thinks that will have changed by next July.

  41. 41.

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

    @TenguPhule: Oh goody. I’m sure Putin would just delight in seeing the US engage in stupid military parades like the old USSR did before it collapsed. Depending on what they use, the equipment would probably destroy the street. Pennsylvania Avenue is not Red Square.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You will be so happy!

    I am so happy, my head is spinning! This is the happiest anyone has ever been in the history of the world! I am sick of being happy!

  46. 46.

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

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I listen to them a few times in the morning on my way to classes in the car. Whenever discussing anything Trump related the host and the reporter/guest always have this giggly/amused quality to their voices that disgusts me. It’s like a total disconnect with how these policies will affect real people, here and abroad.

  50. 50.

    trollhattan

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    IIRC he wanted heavy armor, Soviet-style, down Pennsylvania on inauguration day and was informed the roads can’t take the weight. But in the meantime he’s been at the wheel of a semi and a fire truck and goddamnit, he’s getting his fvcking military parade! I would grudgingly approve if it meant popping his floof-helmeted head out the hatch of an M1 for all the world to see. Worked great for President Dukakis.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @p.a.:

    Helium balloons.

    I want him to inhale great huge hits of helium tomorrow just before he addresses the U.N.

    Wouldn’t that be awesome??

  57. 57.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @trollhattan:

    But in the meantime he’s been at the wheel of a semi and a fire truck and goddamnit, he’s getting his fvcking military parade!

    “Vroooom! Vroooom! Vroooom!! I can go ANYWHERE I WANT!!!”

  60. 60.

    Thoughtful David

    @BlueDWarrior:

    fanbois

    I always liked this construction, because in Portuguese “boi” is an ox (e.g, usually a castrated adult male bovine). Thus it has a double meaning: “fan-boy” and “fan-ox.”

    Although, to be fair, in Portuguese it would probably be better spelled “fãboi” (I’m not kidding), would mean “fan-ox”, but would be pronounced “fanboy”.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Timurid:

    In a sick kind of way, there’s something rather wonderful about the thought that he gives an Executive Order (against all advice) to hold a giant military parade along PA Ave, the weight of all the heavy artillery crumbles the pavement to shreds, great huge sinkholes open up and swallow the tanks, the Combined Military Bands play “Nearer, my God, to Thee….”

  65. 65.

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

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    And imagine if Trump, in his capacity as “C-I-C” decides to ride in the lead tank and falls out into a massive sink hole?

    Paging Mike Pence…

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    the tanks would rip up PA AV. And the surrounding streets used to get to it

    Yeah, but think what could happen if an Abrams had a steering failure and just happened to take out the reviewing stand….

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    No reason to think he remembers that far back, especially when it involves remembering something he doesn’t want to accept.

    This is sadly true.

  69. 69.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: It also isn’t going to happen. The same problem that prevented it from happening at the inauguration is what will prevent it any other time: the DC streets will not hold up under the type of military equipment that the President wants as part of the parade. This will die in the planning stages.

  70. 70.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    Yeah, but think what could happen if an Abrams had a steering failure and just happened to take out the reviewing stand

    Wasn’t that the climax of Animal House?

  73. 73.

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

    @efgoldman:
    I’d pay good money to watch Trump, Pence and most of the cabinet getting run over by a 68 tonne tank. And nothing of any value would be lost.

  74. 74.

    efgoldman

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Not sure why he thinks that will have changed by next July.

    He doesn’t remember what he said, or what somebody said to him, yesterday. Why should he remember what somebody told him in January?

  75. 75.

    Lefthanded compliment

    @SiubhanDuinne: Totally OT, but you mentioned some time back that your younger sister was a classmate of Judy Jacklin’s. So was I (Wheaton Central High, class of ’69), and I’d be interested in comparing notes about that dry old town. BTW, were you a classmate of Judge Woodward’s nosy kid Bob, or was he a year behind you? My email address is (redacted by Adam. I’ll forward it directly to SD for her to follow up. This way you don’t have to worry about having your email posted publicly here.)

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Let me clarify: the President will be told it died in planning because the streets can’t handle it. In reality it won’t get that far.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

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

    I’m ignorant about Bastille Day. What’s the difference with what France does?

    You raise an interesting question, to which I do not know the answer. But I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that in France there is a cultural component to the Bastille Day parades (cultural in both senses of the word — artistic/musical, and drawing on France’s rich history).

    Since recent years the parade starts with military bands from the French Armed Forces taking stage with band exhibitions and drill shows, even including displays from foreign service troops and mounted units, and military and civil choirs and even singers singing classic French patriotic songs. This opening act ends with the playing of La Marseillaise, the National Anthem of France.

    (Wikipedia.)

    We simply don’t have that in the U.S. I mean, yeah, we have parades with bands and balloons and Boy Scouts and Shriners and all, but we don’t have any tradition of rolling out the tanks, or thousands of goose-stepping troops.

    I’m not saying that French troops goose-step, just, our traditionions are peculiar to us, and it is very wrong of Trump to suggest the we adopt/adapt another country’s military ceremonials. Yet another example, as if we really needed one, showing how completely tone-deaf and out of touch he is with the cultural heritage of the country he supposedly leads.

  84. 84.

    No Drought No More

    “The FBI wasn’t listening in June 2016, the sources said, when Donald Trump Jr. led a meeting that included Manafort, then campaign chairman, and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, with a Russian lawyer who had promised negative information on Hillary Clinton”.

    That’s got a Rosemary ’17 minute stretch’ Woods ring to it, doesn’t it?

    Recall that CIA operatives drawing their salaries courtesy of U.S. taxpayer dollars admittedly destroyed incriminating evidence concerning the agency’s torture of helpless individuals, and neither congress or the courts did a goddamn thing about it.

  93. 93.

    joel hanes

    Lieutenant Scheisskopf longed desperately to win parades and sat up half the night working on it while his wife waited amorously for him in bed thumbing through Krafft-Ebing to her favorite passages. He read books on marching. He manipulated boxes of chocolate until they melted in his hands and then maneuvered in ranks of twelve a set of plastic cowboys he had bought from a mail-order house under an assumed name and kept locked away from everyone’s eyes during the day. Leonardo’s exercises in anatomy proved indispensable. One evening he felt the need for a live model and directed his wife to march around the room.

    “Naked?” she asked hopefully.

    Lieutenant Scheisskopf smacked his hands over his eyes in exasperation. It was the despair of Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s life to be chained to a woman who was incapable of looking beyond her own dirty, sexual desires to the titanic struggles for the unattainable in which noble man could become heroically engaged.

  96. 96.

    ThresherK

    @TenguPhule: A quick trip to Disney and their Main Street Parade ought to distract him well enough.

    We’d end up with some licensing problems, but just replace Mickey with Foxy or. Oswald and the costs will come down significantly.

  98. 98.

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

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Putin still has delusions of bringing the USSR back. Not gonna happen, even if the US were to collapse like the SU did tomorrow.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Are you forgetting that was farther back than yesterday? Which seems to be the limit to drumpf’s memory.
    Yeah there doesn’t seem to be a lot to worry about destroying the city streets or paying millions to bring the tanks and so on to DC in the first place if he can’t remember that he wanted something stupid in 9 1/2 months.

  105. 105.

    Fair Economist

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I believe, but am too lazy to go check it out, that he wanted a great military parade for his inauguration, and was told that Pennsylvania Avenue (and all other streets in DC) would be unable to deal with the weight of the tanks. Not sure why he thinks that will have changed by next July.

    He can’t remember that he has come into a room to do a signing ceremony. You think he can remember infrastructure information from 8 months back?

  108. 108.

    chopper

    @lamh36:

    that’s brilliant. so now any old schmuck can kidnap the president’s kid. then again, given how trump treats his sons, it wouldn’t matter either way. now, if they got their hands on ivanka, the “fuckable” one…

  109. 109.

    Roger Moore

    @Davebo:
    I think it’s less a generically bad memory and more a selectively bad memory for things he doesn’t want to remember. Tell him something bad about Hillary, and he’ll never forget it. Tell him he can’t do what he wants, and he’ll forget what you told him in 5 minutes.

  112. 112.

    Roger Moore

    @chopper:
    I’m sure he’s more worried about having snoops around who might hear his secret discussions with the wrong people. Also too, who might arrest him if/when indictments start being issued.

  113. 113.

    gene108

    @TenguPhule:

    I can’t believe we haven’t fallen farther.

    All three branches of government are in the hands of Republicans.

    They should be able to do what they want, but so far have not.

  116. 116.

    lamh36

    I’m cynical, pessimistic and or realistic enough to know this is a def probability

    @ira 42s42 seconds ago
    More
    After Trump leaves the White House he’ll probably get an Apprentice reboot from NBC let’s be real

  117. 117.

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

    As man, Stanislav Petrov died. One of the few people who can claim saved the world.

  120. 120.

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

    @lamh36:
    Hopefully he’ll be in late-stage dementia and have poorly paid STNA’s picking dingleberries out of his ass by then

  121. 121.

    Wapiti

    @Omnes Omnibus: One of the first jobs the engineers had in Panama after the invasion settled was excavating a tank or two that the airborne dropped into a swamp. Not quite a sinkhole, but the tanks weren’t moving on their own, and they were too deep to just winch out.

  122. 122.

    James Powell

    @Trentrunner:

    If you’re hoping Mueller will somehow save us from Trump, you’re in for more 11/8-level disappointment.
    Only we can save ourselves, by taking back the House and then winning the Presidency and Senate.

    Totally agree. No disrespect to the many fine people who are following this story and reporting here. I am glad to be informed of it – most days anyway. But the proceedings with Mueller are starting to remind of DailyKos diaries with BREAKING! in the title that promised this latest revelation – at long and dear last – was going to blow the lid off the Bush/Cheney Junta and their phony wars.

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    It’s almost like…like someone said…that there would be indictments coming in late September. I’m trying to remember who that guy was…hmm…lemme get back to y’all on that…

    ;)

  124. 124.

    James Powell

    @p.a.:

    The FBI wasn’t listening in June 2016,

    Every available agent was trying to find something anything in Hillary’s emails. You can bet on that.

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    @JPL:

    Donald doesn’t even know who he is. He only saw him once.

    Who, that Felix Sater guy? Yeah…I take Trumpov at his word about that, despite the Everest Base Camp level of evidence about them. Don’t you? LOL

    We may finally be in for some comic relief folks. It’s entirely possible. Maybe. Let’s hop!

  128. 128.

    Roger Moore

    @debbie:

    What TV show would want him, knowing they’d never get more than a 27% market share?

    These days, there are plenty of people in TV who would kill their parents to get a 27% share.

  129. 129.

    TenguPhule

    Fuck, Wapo just confirmed.

    Congress’s nonpartisan budget analyst said it is working to provide a “preliminary assessment” of the latest Republican health-care bill by early next week but will not estimate how the measure would affect health insurance premiums or the number of people with medical coverage until later.

    The notice Monday from the Congressional Budget Office angered Democrats, who planned to use the complete figures to hammer the Graham-Cassidy legislation, which is picking up steam in the Senate ahead of a possible vote within two weeks.

  130. 130.

    lamh36

    @Acosta
    Following
    More
    Kellyanne Conway no longer receiving USSS protection per sources. Via @ElizLanders and me.

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    The FBI raid on Manafort’s House – they got permission from the judge to PICK HIS LOCK. He didn’t know that they were in his house -UNTIL THEY POUNDED ON HIS BEDROOM DOOR.

  132. 132.

    TenguPhule

    @lamh36:

    Kellyanne Conway no longer receiving USSS protection per sources.

    Why the hell was she even getting that in the first place?

    FUCK THESE GRIFTERS.

  134. 134.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    He didn’t know that they were in his house -UNTIL THEY POUNDED ON HIS BEDROOM DOOR.

    /Snort

    Excuse me, I need to find a quiet bathroom so I can break down into hysterical laughter.

  135. 135.

    A Ghost to Most

    Man, I can put up with a certain amount of skeevy ads, but the ad for PureFlix xian streaming service just made me grind my teeth.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    Spandan @ TPV‏ @thepeoplesview

    Stop harassing Nancy Pelosi. If you wanted a ‘clean’ Dream Act, you needed to have worked a LOT harder to elect Hillary Clinton.
    2:45 PM – 18 Sep 2017

  140. 140.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Always amazing that Mubarak knew just when to kneel down and look for his contact lens. Even though he didn’t wear contacts.

    I thought he was reaching down to tie his Velcro shoelaces?

  141. 141.

    J R in WV

    @Adam L Silverman:

    They can lay down sheets of steel on the pavement, and cover that with a layer of something, rubber, to provide the traction tank treads wouldn’t have on bare steel. There are lots of ways to make a military parade ala Bastille Day or May Day in Red Square happen for el Presidente. But it would be wrong, and that’s why it shouldn’t happen.

    You would think with his campaign manager being next to indicted Trump might suspect he could be in for trouble. That pardon power only works so far.

  145. 145.

    Jeffro

    @Corner Stone: Sometimes, on rare occasions…I can read tea leaves. And see dead people. And my tea leaves tell me that Manafort and Flynn and many, many others are among those dead people.

  147. 147.

    rikyrah

    Anika Noni Rose’s Patience With Cicely Tyson Is the Blackest Thing That Ever Happened This Week
    Damon Young
    Today 11:38am

    ……………………………………

    Ultimately, all we got is us. Which is why Issa Rae’s comment about rooting for everybody black was so beautiful. As was Lena Waithe’s speech on the superpowers of the LGBTQIA community. And Donald Glover’s shot at the white progressives in the room where he “joked” that Trump’s election and the subsequent white guilt are the only reason his work on Atlanta was recognized by them. And Sterling K. Brown not allowing the timer music to end his speech, especially not when Nicole Kidman was allowed to read the entire first chapter of Gone Girl just moments earlier. And Riz Ahmed articulating the ambivalence of winning an Emmy while playing a marginalized character.

    And no moment better exemplified the beauty of that edict than when Anika Noni Rose and Cicely Tyson presented the Award for Outstanding Limited Series. Overcome with nerves, the 92-year-old Tyson—one of the few people who can legitimately be considered a living legend—struggled when reading her speech. But the sublime Rose put her arm around Tyson, bent down to her ear and encouraged her with graciousness, patience and love. I don’t know exactly what she said, but the message communicated by that gesture was “It’s OK, I got you.” And also “They’re on your time; you’re not on theirs. So take your time.”

    All we got is us. And Anika Noni Rose reminded us that’s all we need.

  149. 149.

    efgoldman

    @J R in WV:

    They can lay down sheets of steel on the pavement, and cover that with a layer of something, rubber, to provide the traction

    Or they can build a battalion of phony tanks out of cardboard and plywood, same way we fooled the German reconnaissance in WW2

  151. 151.

    Jeffro

    Just for the record: Manfort = FISA warrant. Page = FISA warrant. How many others in the Trumpov campaign and/or administration?

    Shouldn’t this be front page news, all day every day? I mean, I know Trumpov is nominally a Republican and therefore not subject to “Democrat Rules” (much less “Clinton Rules”) But sweet baby wiretapping jesus, this is eight steps beyond normal or explainable.

  154. 154.

    oldgold

    This has to be disquieting news to anyone who spoke with Manafort since 2014.

    The game just became much dicier for all the possible targets.

  160. 160.

    Another Scott

    The Rapture is Saturday, just in case you had plans:

    Citing verses in Luke 21:25 through 26, Meade thinks that the recent events like the solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey are signs of the apocalypse. To make matters worse, there’s been an uptick in meteors falling to Earth. But rather than look at the science behind the increase in severity of storms or focus on the fact that most calendar years see two solar eclipses somewhere in the world, Meade sees a sign, The Sun reports.

    “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the Earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken,” says Luke 21:25.

    “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken,” Luke 21:26 continues.

    For Meade, that translates into the end of the world and the Rapture being predicted for this Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. Meade says he used numerological codes in the Bible to generate a “date marker” in the pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

    Nice knowing you folks!!11

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  162. 162.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @trollhattan: I saw those protests on the MSNBC, and they went to a young activist who agreed with the protestors that Dems are as big a problem as Republicans on immigration. At the end of the interview they revealed that he had been an outreach director for a presidential campaign. Guess which one?

  163. 163.

    Repatriated

    @p.a.:

    The FBI wasn’t listening in June 2016,

    The gang that couldn’t cop straight

    Alternatively, the FBI wasn’t listening, but some other Three Letter Agency was and the problem now is how to get what they heard but shouldn’t have, into evidence.

  167. 167.

    rikyrah

    Damn , she going ALL THE WAY

    His Nigra Wake-up call is about to be Fierce!!

    Political commentator Scottie Nell Hughes filed a lawsuit against Fox News on Monday accusing the network of retaliating against her after she claimed she was raped by Fox Business anchor Charles Payne.

    The New York Times reports that in the lawsuit, Hughes said Payne coerced her to have sex with him even though she has repeatedly refused him by saying “no” and “stop.”

    https://twitter.com/thehill/status/909905389487104003

  170. 170.

    Baud

    @Another Scott:

    Citing verses in Luke 21:25 through 26, Meade thinks that the recent events like the solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey are signs of the apocalypse.

    But not Trump?

  177. 177.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    I thought it was a good job by the younger woman, Anika Noni Rose, very caring and personal, to help Ms Tyson out. As you say, living legend. Maybe the best thing of the week, can’t speak to the blackness of it, but surely a best thing for the Emmys. And done so respectfully, too.

  182. 182.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Lefthanded compliment:

    I would have to check with my sister — I may be seeing her later this week — but if I recall correctly, it was Judy Jacklin’s sister that my sister knew, not JJ herself (although she probably met her in passing, just as I met Judy’s sister Pam, I think her name was). Not sure how the Wheaton Central High connection works in. I went to Oak Park-River Forest High School all four years (1956-60). My sister, three years younger, went to OPRFHS 1959-61, then transferred to Evanston High when our mother remarried. I honestly don’t remember at this point in which town my sister palled around with Pam Jacklin, but probably Oak Park.

    My brother — Joyce’s twin brother Steve — worked as a sound designer/editor in LA for years, and at some point did a film with Jim Belushi. Just to bring everything full circle :-)

    (BTW, email address for you that Adam provided does not work.)

  186. 186.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T but Cat 5 Maria just made landfall in Dominica. Hope Betty will check in with us as soon as she is able.

  187. 187.

    Gin & Tonic

    Does anyone remember a brief story about some allegedly hacked SMS messages to or from Manafort’s daughter, in which she referred to his assets as “blood money”? Why might she have called it that? Because Manafort was at least somewhat implicated in Yanukovych’s decision to allow his Berkut force to fire on protesters in the streets of Kyiv. These events happened in late February of, wait for it, 2014.

    What a coincidence.

  188. 188.

    Repatriated

    @Repatriated: They got the evidence to resume monitoring from somewhere…[Alcoa Yarmulke] Perhaps they wanted to make it seem as though they’d stopped looking…[/Alcoa Yarmulke]

  190. 190.

    Millard Filmore

    @J R in WV:

    They can lay down sheets of steel on the pavement, and cover that with a layer of something, rubber, to provide the traction tank treads wouldn’t have on bare steel.

    That will not work. The weight of the tanks may crush any buried conduits for water, sewer, electric, steam, subway, car tunnels (an interstate goes under Pennsylvania Ave), whatever. An engineering survey must be done first, and the weight of the tank will have to be distributed among an appropriate number of wheels (like carried on a flatbed truck).

  191. 191.

    Jeffro

    @El Caganer:

    If Trump can’t get the military for his parade, maybe he can get the juggalos instead.

    Can’t decide if 10,000 Juggalos marching down Pennsylvania Ave is the end of the empire or a new post-Trumpov national rebirth. I guess it decides what they decide to chant?

  192. 192.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’ve found this guy’s twitter feed pretty useful in all these health care dramas

    Taniel‏Verified account @Taniel 3h3 hours ago
    Situation via Politico
    —no: Paul
    —lean no: Collins
    —undecided: Murkowski, McCain, Gardner, Portman, Moran
    —lean yes: Lee
    —no mention: Capito

  196. 196.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Yep. In the texts she claims her father has killed at least one person in Ukraine in support of Yanukovych.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-manafort-daughter-text-messages-ukraine-2017-3

    “Don’t fool yourself,” Andrea wrote to her sister, according to the texts. “That money we have is blood money.”

    “You know he has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly,” she continued, according to the reviewed texts. “As a tactic to outrage the world and get focus on Ukraine. Remember when there were all those deaths taking place. A while back. About a year ago. Revolts and what not. Do you know whose strategy that was to cause that, to send those people out and get them slaughtered.”

  202. 202.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steve in the ATL: Well, we have been told that the world was created at 9:00 am, so I would think that a certain symmetry would be appropriate. As a management attorney, do you really expect to be raptured? And the teams? They’ll likely stay behind as well. You should be fine.

  205. 205.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: good points. Maybe the punters and a long snapper have a chance at getting raptured?

    ETA: 9 am GMT? Or eastern time as New Yorkers assure me that manhattan is the center of the universe. Daylight savings time or not? This is getting complicated.

  211. 211.

    tobie

    The afternoon thread about Ty Cobb’s and John Dowd’s lunch at the BLT Steakhouse seems like ancient history already but there’s one question that’s stuck with me all day. Cobb apparently said that McGahn had two documents in a safe to keep from Mueller. If those documents have been requested, isn’t that refusing to comply with discovery? Isn’t that a serious offense? IANAL but I imagine McGahn would have to invoke executive privilege expressly to justify withholding documents. Anyone else catch this?

  214. 214.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Omnes Omnibus: Bishop Usher? or Ussher

    James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation as “the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October… the year before Christ 4004”; that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 bc according to the proleptic Julian calendar.

  219. 219.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie: Depending on what the documents are they may either be covered under executive privilege claims or attorney-client privilege claims. The speculation is that it may be the McGahn annotated copy of the Stephen Miller drafted justification memo for firing Comey and McGahn’s formal memo delineating why it could not be used.

  223. 223.

    tobie

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for the explanation. There are so many angles to this. Mcgann is not Trump’s personal attorney–but counsel to the Office of the President–so it’s hard to say where attorney/client privilege begins and ends in this case.

  225. 225.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Adam L Silverman: would love to sully that thread as well but I have an early flight tomorrow. Can’t wait to breathe that fresh Rocky Mountain air! Or what’s left of it that gets piped into a law firm conference room in downtown Denver.

  226. 226.

    Adam L Silverman

    @tobie: Correct, he’s the White House Counsel. Cobb is the inside the White House (as in on the government payroll) attorney hired to handle the inquiries from the Special Counsel’s office and the Congressional investigators so that McGahn can do his job. Dowd is the outside counsel/personal attorney for the President on these matters. So Dowd represents the President because McGahn cannot (and should not) in a criminal investigation. Cobb is, essentially, the liaison officer.

  227. 227.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    I remember reading somewhere(it was a legit source)that Carter Page had been under a FISA warrant since 2014 so it makes sense that they got Manafort during a conversation he had with Page and got a FISA warrant on him. I’m pretty sure Page and Flynn have already flipped. Also,Donny Jr probably gave up his SS protection because somebody told him how Bill Clinton’s SS detail had to testify in front of Congress during the Monica deal. I figure Manafort,Flynn,Kushner and Donny Jr. will be doing some time in the Big House and I ain’t talking Mar A Lago. I hope they all go broke. The whole lot of grifters .

  229. 229.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mai.naem.mobile: No, the reporting was very clear that the FISA approval for Manafort started as a result of the work he was doing in Ukraine. And included the constellation of US campaign consultants and political strategists doing work for Yanukovych and his Party of Regions. You may now speculate if Tad Devine was also subject to FISA approved surveillance.

  231. 231.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mai.naem.mobile:

    so it makes sense that they got Manafort during a conversation he had with Page and got a FISA warrant on him.

    No it doesn’t. Page is a) a nutjob and b) small potatoes. Paul Fucking Manafort has real skeletons in his closet. Lots of them. If the IC *hadn’t* gotten a FISA warrant on him after the events of February, 2014, they’d have been grossly negligent.

  233. 233.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Millard Filmore: I read very quickly. And I’ve been able, for various reasons, to work on research projects for my boss from home for a while now. So I get to structure my time how I want.

  235. 235.

    J R in WV

    @Millard Filmore:

    Have you never driven in a construction zone? They lay down 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plates of steel over vast openings, and drive 100 ton coal trucks over those giant holes, no problems. You might to calculate how big and thick a sheet of steel is needed, and how many sheets, but I suspect that would be all the engineering needed. The issue is the tracks on the pavement, not the weight alone, and steel plates solves the tread chewing the pavement issue totally. In WV coal trucks weigh up to 125 tons… ~35 tons heavier than a main battle tank, I suspect.

    If you also unload the ammo, short the fuel, you lighten up that big guy quite a bit.

    Pounds per square inch, spread over the comparatively vast size of a highway hole covering sheet of steel, would be easy to calculate and to manage. They do drive heavy concrete trucks around downtown DC after all. Two side-by-side sheets 8 feet wide, however long required to make the pounds/inch adequate. I’ma not gonna do the math, because I don’t care to. Disprove my hypothesis with math if you want to.

    Obviously they would need to start now to get it done by next July 4th. A lot of work to be canceled if Trump is arrested/indicted/impeached…

    I don’t think we have many big ICBM rockets on wheeled trailers, but it would be easy to fake, the Red Square folks do it all the time.

  238. 238.

    burnspbesq

    I’d love to see the affidavit that the FBI presented to the magistrate in order to get permission to run a no-knock service of the Manafort search warrant.

    That was the juiciest detail in the Times story: they picked the lock on his front door and invited themselves in to serve the warrant.

  242. 242.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Another Scott: @Omnes Omnibus: If you don’t know what you are talking about, you shouldn’t really make a call. With military things, being able to tell the difference between a self propelled howitzer, an armored personnel carrier, and a MBT is a marker.

  243. 243.

    frosty

    @J R in WV: Agreed, I was thinikng PSI too. If you want a tank to go across bare ground, the treads had better spread the weight out enough that it could handle a city street without crushing the utilities underneath. My guess is that the surface pavement layer would be the only problem.

    But hell, I’m not a highway engineer.

  244. 244.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: meh. ;-) Other contemporaneous reports said there were “tanks” in the parade. I didn’t have time to watch the whole thing to see if M1A2s were there or not, so I just thought I’d give some time stamps for others who wanted to look through it.

    I know this stuff is near and dear to your heart, but lighten up.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  246. 246.

    bjacques

    C’mon! Missiles! Lots of missiles on flatbeds! We’re talking Trump here. You can make those out of sheet aluminum tubing, spray-paint them olive-drab and scribble some numbers on them. Make the parade a kid’s idea of what an army looks like. Trump will never know the difference.

  247. 247.

    Zach

    People who are in Mueller’s sights (Manafort) are leaking exactly the kinda stuff that they think might push Trump over the edge into Saturday night massacre territory… which would probably result in Trump’s impeachment and a pardon for all involved so that America can move on or whatever.

    Specifically: leaking that Manafort was wire tapped and that he was talking to Trump… feeds right into Trump’s paranoia that he’s under surveillance personally and that deep state is operating without keeping him in the loop.

    If it works, today’s tweet storm should be epic.

    It might explain why the tweet storm yesterday was so off the rails despite a relatively good news day for Trump (no bad news; polls modestly less horrible; markets up a bit).

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