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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

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Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

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We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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Fuck these fucking interesting times.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

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You are here: Home / Politics / America / The Maskirovka Slips XV: Guccifer 2.0 Is Finally Exposed

The Maskirovka Slips XV: Guccifer 2.0 Is Finally Exposed

by Adam L Silverman|  March 22, 201810:19 pm| 247 Comments

This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2018, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, Not Normal

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SCOOP: An officer with Russia's military intelligence agency made a crucial slip-up in tradecraft – one that revealed his secret identity as Guccifer 2.0. @kpoulsen & I report. https://t.co/unXztJlG2q

— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) March 22, 2018

From Spencer Ackerman and Kevin Poulsen at The Daily Beast:

Guccifer 2.0, the “lone hacker” who took credit for providing WikiLeaks with stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee, was in fact an officer of Russia’s military intelligence directorate (GRU), The Daily Beast has learned. It’s an attribution that resulted from a fleeting but critical slip-up in GRU tradecraft.

That forensic determination has substantial implications for the criminal probe into potential collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia. The Daily Beast has learned that the special counsel in that investigation, Robert Mueller, has taken over the probe into Guccifer and brought the FBI agents who worked to track the persona onto his team.

Mueller’s office declined to comment for this story. But the attribution of Guccifer 2.0 as an officer of Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency would cross the Kremlin threshold—and move the investigation closer to Trump himself.

Proving that link definitively was harder. Ehmke led an investigation at ThreatConnect that tried to track down Guccifer from the metadata in his emails. But the trail always ended at the same data center in France. Ehmke eventually uncovered that Guccifer was connecting through an anonymizing service called Elite VPN, a virtual private networking service that had an exit point in France but was headquartered in Russia.

 But on one occasion, The Daily Beast has learned, Guccifer failed to activate the VPN client before logging on. As a result, he left a real, Moscow-based Internet Protocol address in the server logs of an American social media company, according to a source familiar with the government’s Guccifer investigation. Twitter and WordPress were Guccifer 2.0’s favored outlets. Neither company would comment for this story, and Guccifer did not respond to a direct message on Twitter.

Working off the IP address, U.S. investigators identified Guccifer 2.0 as a particular GRU officer working out of the agency’s headquarters on Grizodubovoy Street in Moscow. (The Daily Beast’s sources did not disclose which particular officer worked as Guccifer.)

Security firms and declassified U.S. intelligence findings previously identified the GRU as the agency running “Fancy Bear,” the ten-year-old hacking organization behind the DNC email theft, as well as breaches at NATO, Obama’s White House, a French television station, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and countless NGOs, and militaries and civilian agencies in Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

Much, much more at the link. Including a recounting of how the GRU officer posing as Guccifer 2.0’s stolen data was used by Republican campaigns aside from the presidential election. Now that Special Counsel Mueller can tie Guccifer 2.0 directly to the GRU (Russian military intelligence), it means that the counterintelligence portion of his investigation will not be contained just to the presidential campaign. Any Republican campaign official and/or operation; any Republican candidate, whether they won their race or not; and any conservative group that got and/or used Guccifer 2.0’s stolen Democratic information are highly likely to also be in the Special Counsel’s crosshairs.

As is the case with all the breaking Cambridge Analytica news this week, Ackerman’s and Poulsen’s reporting provides significant new information about another major and significant bridging node in Russia’s active measures and cyberwarfare network. This provides those of us paying attention and following the news reporting on Putin’s Cold War against the US, as well as our allies and partners, important information of who was doing what, when, and on whose behalf. It also tells us that the counterintelligence component of the Special Council’s investigation is still cranking away on determining the full dimensions and parameters of Putin’s active measures and cyberwarfare campaign against the US.

Stay frosty!

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

247Comments

  1. 1.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    March 22, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    The Atlantic hired Kevin Williamson of “hang women who get abortions” fame.

    And it seems Carson and Shulkin are next in the crosshairs.

  2. 2.

    PPCLI

    March 22, 2018 at 10:26 pm

    And Roger Stone said he was in regular contact with Guccifer 2…

  3. 3.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:27 pm

    @PPCLI: Yes, yes he did. That is also in the reporting.

  4. 4.

    Major Major Major Major

    March 22, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Oh boy.

  5. 5.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    The real question is, is Guccifer 2.0 a 400 lb. man?

  6. 6.

    Princess

    March 22, 2018 at 10:29 pm

    Any Republican campaign official and/or operation; any Republican candidate, whether they won their race or not; and any conservative group that got and/or used Guccifer 2.0’s stolen Democratic information are highly likely to also be in the Special Counsel’s crosshairs.

    So an awful lot of Republicans will have an interest in ending Mueller’s job as special counsel.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:29 pm

    @sukabi: Nope, according to Ackerman and Poulsen’s reporting, two different (sequentially – one replaced the other) senior GRU officers.

  8. 8.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 22, 2018 at 10:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    By now, we have to be asking who are the targets Mueller considers high value enough that he’s collecting his information with the aim of taking down. He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make a plea deal with Roger Stone.

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:33 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make a plea deal with Roger Stone.

    Nor should he be.

  10. 10.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 10:35 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: sooo, it is possible that together they weigh 400 lbs.

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 10:35 pm

    Now that Special Counsel Mueller can tie Guccifer 2.0 directly to the GRU (Russian military intelligence), it means that the counterintelligence portion of his investigation will not be contained just to the presidential campaign. Any Republican campaign official and/or operation; any Republican candidate, whether they won their race or not; and any conservative group that got and/or used Guccifer 2.0’s stolen Democratic information are highly likely to also be in the Special Counsel’s crosshairs.

    How. Does. He. Decide. every morning, “who shall I flip TODAY? who shall spill their guts over this highly-convoluted, ridiculous, unnecessary, and totally unpatriotic scam, this last refuge of scoundrels who can’t win elections just on the merits?”

    As is the case with all the breaking Cambridge Analytica news this week, Ackerman’s and Poulsen’s reporting provides significant new information about another major and significant bridging node in Russia’s active measures and cyberwarfare network. This provides those of us paying attention and following the news reporting on Putin’s Cold War against the US, as well as our allies and partners, important information of who was doing what, when, and on whose behalf. It also tells us that the counterintelligence component of the Special Council’s investigation is still cranking away on determining the full dimensions and parameters of Putin’s active measures and cyberwarfare campaign against the US.

    What is amazing is: this whole unbelievable fiasco is probably the result of less than 50 people total, worldwide. That’s including both Guccifer 2.0 officers AND Roger Stone there. That’s all it took to tip the balance, to throw the world’s greatest and oldest democracy into this shithole alternate reality.

    50 people, tops. That’s just fucking nuts.

  12. 12.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 10:36 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: @Adam L Silverman: I think Stone got slid into the file tabbed “clean up” a long time ago. No need to talk to him much, and certainly no need to offer a plea deal.

  13. 13.

    CaseyL

    March 22, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    @Jeffro: They had an awful lot of useful idiots helping them, particularly the MSM.

  14. 14.

    tomtofa

    March 22, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    @sukabi:

    The real question is, is Guccifer 2.0 a 400 lb. man?

    People keep mischaracterizing Trump on this. He said the hacker “could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds”. The bed, the bed – not the man. I can easily imagine a Russian security officer in his fancy dacha having a 400 pound bed – perk of the office.

  15. 15.

    Yutsano

    March 22, 2018 at 10:37 pm

    @Princess: That’s the kicker: removing the Special Counsel won’t end the investigation. Mueller may or may not go, but the investigation itself still continues.

  16. 16.

    mad citizen

    March 22, 2018 at 10:38 pm

    Our 241 year old nation continues to hang on a small group of people investigating a criminal conspiracy at the highest levels. Here’s hoping!

  17. 17.

    sdhays

    March 22, 2018 at 10:38 pm

    @tomtofa: Sure, that’s what he meant.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:38 pm

    Today in the news:
    – Trump's lawyer quits
    – Trump imposes tariffs on China
    – Dow dives, China retaliates
    – Trump fires 2nd national security advisor
    – Trump hires psycho warmonger
    – Playboy playmate says she had unprotected sex dozens of times with Trump

    — Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) March 23, 2018

    And just to be thorough, this one as well:

    The offer to pay “made me cry,” she said. “I felt really terrible about myself.”

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 23, 2018

    “All the time,” Trump told her, “I love you,” McDougal said

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 23, 2018

    “He said I was beautiful like her,” McDougal says, referring to Trump allegedly comparing her to Ivanka

    — Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 23, 2018

    Ewwwwww!!!!!!!

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    March 22, 2018 at 10:38 pm

    @Jeffro: Where do you come up with that number?

  20. 20.

    different-church-lady

    March 22, 2018 at 10:38 pm

    We live in the fastest possible timeline.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    @sukabi: Sure.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    @Jeffro: Yep. To be honest, he’s actually low hanging fruit.

  23. 23.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 10:40 pm

    @tomtofa: 400 lb bed? It would have to be a VERY. WET. BED. to weigh that much.

  24. 24.

    mai naem mobile

    March 22, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    Does this mean Roger Stone goes to a federal prison in the Deep South, with no a/c and crappy food, for a long long time? We deserve at least that much if Doit45 doesnt end up in SuperMax.

  25. 25.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @sukabi: Exactly.

  26. 26.

    mad citizen

    March 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @Jeffro: I’m hoping Mueller has a spinning wheel with the criminals’ names on it to decide who to flip.

    If at some point we had gone to popular vote for President, we wouldn’t be in this nightmare. Aside from everything else, I’d really like to hear gerrymandering and nixing the Electoral College as major issues in the next two campaigns.

    Great Scoop!

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @mad citizen: And the vast swath of the citizenry that are not willing to put up with this. Get everyone you know to register to vote. And everyone they know. Then get them to vote. And everyone they know to do so as well. The midterm elections, from municipal and municipal special district offices to US Senator and every office in between are very, very important. That is one of the most important theaters, if not the most important theater, that this war will be fought on.

  28. 28.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @mai naem mobile: tropical “vacay” @ Gitmo would work for me

  29. 29.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    March 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @different-church-lady: At least it’s November 2nd, 2018.

  30. 30.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 22, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    @mad citizen:
    Our nation depends on us voting. Mueller is only sweeping up some of the mess.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 10:43 pm

    @Jeffro:

    oldest democracy

    Switzerland says hi.

  32. 32.

    tomtofa

    March 22, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    @sukabi:

    400 lb bed? It would have to be a VERY. WET. BED. to weigh that much.

    As I said, perk of the office ;-)

  33. 33.

    mai naem mobile

    March 22, 2018 at 10:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: i think he said that to Stormy Daniels as well. BTW, I wonder if Melania gets to redo the prenuptial again. Does she have a lawyer on call with her standard prenup with a blank for the dollar amount so that he can change it with each bimbo eruption? Also too, if I was Melania I would hire the Avinetti guy for the divorce.

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:46 pm

    This looks interesting!

    Well this should be interesting.

    "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and other law enforcement officials will hold a press conference Friday, March 23, 2018 for a major cyber law enforcement announcement." pic.twitter.com/17mL8ofhTL

    — Eric Geller (@ericgeller) March 22, 2018

  35. 35.

    different-church-lady

    March 22, 2018 at 10:46 pm

    @mai naem mobile: The idea that Melania didn’t know any of this was going on is farcical.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @mai naem mobile: I’m single with two lab mixes. I know nothing about prenups. Or marriage.

  37. 37.

    mai naem mobile

    March 22, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @sukabi: I forgot Gitmo. Dolt45 is an enemy combatant so it’s fitting.

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 10:48 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh please. There’s America and then there’s all those other sh… …just kidding.

  39. 39.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    March 22, 2018 at 10:50 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Iceland says it was rude if you to so thoughtlessly snub her.

  40. 40.

    Jay

    March 22, 2018 at 10:50 pm

    @Princess:

    Actually, an awful lot of Republicans will be wearing orange coveralls,

    The 2018 Polonium Epidemic in DC’s gonna be awesome.

  41. 41.

    jeffreyw

    March 22, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    I like pie.

  42. 42.

    Mary G

    March 22, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I was just about to ask you if you knew anything about that. Is it the Guccifer 2.0 news, leaked early, or something else entirely?

  43. 43.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 10:51 pm

    @Corner Stone: Um, sophisticated wild-ass-guess? Take Trumpov’s campaign clowns (the top dozen or so), figure there were about as many low-level cut-outs like Stone and Papadopoulus and Page, add in another dozen Russians, stir in Assange and Prince, and top off with folks like Nunes = 50 max. It’ll be sad to see if/when it comes in lower than that, because it will.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Iceland knows what it did.

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    March 22, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    @Jay:

    The 2018 Polonium Epidemic in DC’s gonna be awesome.

    You shouldn’t joke about that.

    .

    […but please continue anyway.]

  46. 46.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 10:53 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: He’s like an enemy pillbox overtaken by an armor offensive…just leave a couple grunts behind to watch the entrance, take him out later.

  47. 47.

    mad citizen

    March 22, 2018 at 10:53 pm

    Thanks for the encouragement, I agree of course. Vote vote vote!!! I’m not making promises about registering people, but will try to report if I do. My wfie and me are planning on going to the local march for our lives event Saturday.

  48. 48.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    @mad citizen: The EC clearly needs to go…if it won’t stop the most obviously incompetent, corrupt, illegitimate president-elect in our lifetimes, then it serves no purpose (other than increasing the voting ‘weight’ of small rural states, and fuck them).

  49. 49.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 22, 2018 at 10:55 pm

    @different-church-lady:
    Yes. I do think Melania is essentially a sex worker on a long term contract. Of course she knew ahead of time that Trump would sleep around as much as he could. She made her decisions accordingly. I feel bad for McDougal, who it sounds like was naive enough to think he actually thought of her as anything other than a prostitute herself. You don’t have to be in love for that to be a crushing betrayal. It turns everything you think you did it for, even if that’s just ‘We’re getting along well and having fun’ into a lie. I don’t blame her for falling for it, either. I doubt she had enough warning about him at the time to know just how vile he is. He’s way beyond ‘shallow and egotistical.’

  50. 50.

    different-church-lady

    March 22, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: My guess: related to “Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA)”

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    @Mary G: I just saw it. If there’s live video feed of it, I’ll put up a thread for it tomorrow.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 22, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I wonder whether, in a few centuries or millennia, the names “Trump,” “Flynn,” “Sessions,” “Kushner,” et al.* will be thought of in the same way we think of, for instance, Caligula, Nero, Borgia, and Machiavelli.

    *Not intended to be a complete list, by a long shot.

  53. 53.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    @Mary G: a surprise appearance by Mr. Mueller and his crew dragging a crate of indictments and accompanying bracelets would be too much to ask for I’m guessing.

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    @different-church-lady: Does this mean my Belgian mail order bride won’t be arriving?//

    More seriously: that would still be a good thing.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 22, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    O/T, did you see that the original Bozo the Clown died?

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 22, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    Stone needs to hang.

  57. 57.

    Mike in NC

    March 22, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    Gonna love the smell of more indictments on Friday morning. Smells like one step closer to victory.

  58. 58.

    GregB

    March 22, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    Oh boy.

    This looks like the big enchilada.

    Does anyone have that video of the Trump crew getting dragged off to a crooner’s song?

  59. 59.

    patroclus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    Not to get off the subject, but I’m watching C-SPAN 2 and there’s a good chance that the government may shut down yet again tomorrow thanks to the ever-present Rand Paul’s shenanigans.

  60. 60.

    Fair Economist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:07 pm

    U.S. investigators identified Guccifer 2.0 as a particular GRU officer working out of the agency’s headquarters

    I expect a certain GRU officer is going to take an accidental swan dive out of a 5th floor window or drop a bathtub on his head or some such in the near future.

  61. 61.

    hueyplong

    March 22, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    When shit like Bolton as NSD happens, I have to go to a happier place. I imagine Roger Stone in a windowless room. Mueller enters. Stone says he’s ready to flip, asks what Mueller wants to know.

    Mueller takes a quarter out of his pocket and says, “What’s the most you have ever lost on a coin toss?”

  62. 62.

    Radiumgirl

    March 22, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Wouldn’t that be the second liaison who claimed he compared her to Ivanka?

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @patroclus: Don’t rule out a best supporting actor appearance by Senator Cruz.

  64. 64.

    tracy ratclif

    March 22, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @GregB:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Uy0Uznw4E Daredevil season 1 finale redone with “From Russia with Love”

  65. 65.

    Fair Economist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I wonder whether, in a few centuries or millennia, the names “Trump,” “Flynn,” “Sessions,” “Kushner,” et al.* will be thought of in the same way we think of, for instance, Caligula, Nero, Borgia, and Machiavelli.

    No. Those historical figures were all smart (even if the Roman emperors were loco).

    Putin might be thought of like them. Trump will be thought of more like Caligula’s horse, perhaps viewed from the rear.

  66. 66.

    John Revolta

    March 22, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I think about this too. I believe the name on top of the list will be “Murdoch”.

  67. 67.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 22, 2018 at 11:12 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m at an age where “Belgian” means beer, not bride.

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 11:12 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: It’s quite possible that “Trump” will survive, in a reverse-Machiavelli kind of way. Like, “be evil…but do everything you can to step on your own wang, publicly and loudly”

    The rest don’t even deserve footnotes. How could they? They cycle in, implode, and leave with crap all over them, never to be employed again.

    Actually, THAT might last several centuries: “to be Trumped”, as in, “to be so utterly debased by willing service to the lowest form of humanity that one is actually *below* that person”
    That’s a definition that might last a while…

  69. 69.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 11:13 pm

    @Radiumgirl: The second one who’s publicly confirmed it, yes.

  70. 70.

    tomtofa

    March 22, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    I hope Mueller isn’t a drinker. If he is he’s in the corner of a bar somewhere right now, head bent, crying into his drink and muttering “There are just too many, I can’t put all this together. Isn’t there a single goddamned innocent person anywhere in this mix?”

  71. 71.

    MobiusKlein

    March 22, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    Myself, I am literally sick from all the botnet / cyberwar / money laundering crap going on. (yes, ER visit from stress several months ago.)
    And yes, so much of it seems to come from Russia and other malicious sources. When a million IP addresses get used in one time attacks, this is a situation that has gotten out of control. I’m seriously considering breaking into people’s houses and ‘fixing’ their routers on a mass scale. You phone infected with malware bot crap? Plasma torch to the rescue.

  72. 72.

    Mary G

    March 22, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @sukabi: I’ve been singing that “Wouldn’t it Be Nice” song in fear and hope all day.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    March 22, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I’m going to paint with a broad brush and posit that someone who makes porn her career probably has some major psychological issues that go back to her childhood, most of which probably involve family members with Cluster B personality disorders like narcissism, borderline personality, sociopathy, etc.

    I doubt that Trump was her first relationship with a narcissist. For her, a guy like that would be familiar and hard to resist.

  74. 74.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    Off topic:
    SELECT Committees.NAME, new_table.CMTE_ID, new_table.NAME, new_table.CITY, new_table.STATE, new_table.TRANSACTION_AMT, new_table.MEMO_TEXT
    from new_table
    inner join Committees on new_table.CMTE_ID = Committees.committee_id
    where new_table.NAME='CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA';

    ‘NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY’, ‘C00038505’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘WILMINGTON’, ‘DE’, ‘65000.00’, ‘MICROTARGETING CONSULTING FEES’
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘57275.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘114550.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘30000.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘113674.50’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘57275.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘196000.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘98000.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘98000.00’, ”
    ‘KEEP THE PROMISE II’, ‘C00575431’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘500000.00’, ”
    ‘KEEP THE PROMISE II’, ‘C00575431’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘70000.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘6500.00’, ”
    ‘JOHN BOLTON SUPER PAC’, ‘C00542464’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘40000.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘231352.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘301763.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘110000.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘6000.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘301763.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘1870.00’, ”
    ‘MAKE AMERICA NUMBER 1’, ‘C00575373’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘ALEXANDRIA’, ‘VA’, ‘-110000.00’, ‘SEE SCH. E LINE 24; ORIGINALLY REPORTED ON SCH B LINE 21B M9’
    ‘CARSON AMERICA’, ‘C00573519’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘100000.00’, ”
    ‘CARSON AMERICA’, ‘C00573519’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘90000.00’, ”
    ‘CARSON AMERICA’, ‘C00573519’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘30000.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘52495.16’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘141417.84’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘556459.57’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘71809.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘100000.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘114708.47’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘300000.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘500000.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘978655.24’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘990818.24’, ”
    ‘CARSON AMERICA’, ‘C00573519’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘163065.09’, ”
    ‘CARSON AMERICA’, ‘C00573519’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘55000.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘8400.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘358009.87’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘250449.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘389652.22’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘243047.45’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘122610.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘62925.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘87185.00’, ”
    ‘CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT’, ‘C00574624’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘476910.17’, ”
    ‘FRIENDS OF ROY BLUNT’, ‘C00304758’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘12000.00’, ”
    ‘THOM TILLIS COMMITTEE’, ‘C00545772’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘25000.00’, ”
    ‘THOM TILLIS COMMITTEE’, ‘C00545772’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘25000.00’, ”
    ‘THOM TILLIS COMMITTEE’, ‘C00545772’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘25000.00’, ”
    ‘THOM TILLIS COMMITTEE’, ‘C00545772’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘25000.00’, ”
    ‘RICK KOZELL FOR CONGRESS’, ‘C00579102’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘1500.00’, ”
    ‘RICK KOZELL FOR CONGRESS’, ‘C00579102’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘1500.00’, ”
    ‘RICK KOZELL FOR CONGRESS’, ‘C00579102’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘1500.00’, ”
    ‘RICK KOZELL FOR CONGRESS’, ‘C00579102’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘BEVERLY HILLS’, ‘CA’, ‘710.50’, ”
    ‘WALTERS FOR CONGRESS’, ‘C00546853’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘20000.00’, ”

  75. 75.

    GregB

    March 22, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    When I saw that name trending on Twitter I assumed Trump had a new NSA pick.

  76. 76.

    Jay

    March 22, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @Jeffro:

    It’s way more than 50,

    And then there’s all the Ususal Suspects who’s inaction, slurs and bloviating, means spending the rest of their lives having the FBI and IC pour through everything, looking for even the tiniest impropriety.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: The Borgias and good old Nicolo get a lot of undeserved bad press.

    @SiubhanDuinne: I would be sad because a part of my childhood is gone, but he was a FUCKING CLOWN, FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!!!!

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    @hueyplong: Bolton will self destruct. He’s an unguided, self directing weapon of mass destruction. He will cause so much chaos and confusion that he will actually wind up defeating himself. What pissed the President off about LTG McMaster is that he actually did the job the right way and took his duties and responsibilities seriously. Bolton couldn’t care less about the Interagency and Interagency process. If Secretary Mattis and Gen (ret) Kelly couldn’t get along with LTG McMaster, which, I think, was partially because they’re 4 stars and he’s only a 3 star, yet he was the nat-sec and foreign policy gatekeeper, they’re definitely not going to get along with Bolton. He will so degrade and destroy the process that the President won’t be able to achieve anything in terms of national security and foreign policy. Remember, the US economy is about to be overrun by the Chinese in the coming trade war. Do you really think Bolton has any idea how to manage the Interagency process to minimize the damage to the US economy? Not a chance.

    This is definitely a sub-optimal choice, but mark my words, it’s not sub-optimal just because Bolton is an always wrong, belligerent, double A type authoritarian (kiss up, kick down). Rather it is sub-optimal because Bolton is going to self destruct, because that’s who and what Bolton is.

  79. 79.

    Gretchen

    March 22, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    @hueyplong: we need a like button.

  80. 80.

    Mike in DC

    March 22, 2018 at 11:17 pm

    At some point Mueller will indict the Russian hackers, and Putin himself may be an unindicted co-conspirator (though indicting him would be a blast just to watch the ensuing shitstorm). That will create the predicate for any future conspiracy and obstruction charges.
    Of the “big fish” list, two are already caught, with one cooperating. The remainder:
    Sessions
    Don Jr
    Kushner
    Eric
    Ivanka
    Pence
    45

    The very first member of Team Trump to be indicted for conspiracy is likely to set off a political firestorm the likes of which we have never seen before.

  81. 81.

    different-church-lady

    March 22, 2018 at 11:18 pm

    @Mike J:

    Off topic:

    I think all the topics are starting to collapse into a singularity.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:18 pm

    @Radiumgirl: I’m trying not to think about it and therefore not count the occurrences.

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 22, 2018 at 11:20 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Couldn’t care less.

    /pedant

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 22, 2018 at 11:20 pm

    @Mike J: Izzat for reals?

  85. 85.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:20 pm

    @different-church-lady: John Bolton Super PAC kind of jumped out at me.

  86. 86.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 11:21 pm

    @Mike J: are those $$ amounts? And if so are they from those mentioned to Cambridge?

    Where was that info pulled from?

  87. 87.

    NotMax

    March 22, 2018 at 11:21 pm

    any Republican candidate, whether they won their race or not; and any conservative group that got and/or used Guccifer 2.0’s stolen Democratic information are highly likely to also be in the Special Counsel’s crosshairs.

    We’re gonna need a bigger paddy wagon.

  88. 88.

    Yutsano

    March 22, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Y u hate the Alþingi?

  89. 89.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I only downloaded the 2015-16 expenditures. But yeah, all I did was put the 2015-16 expenditure files from the FEC into mysql.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    @Mike J: Huh?

  91. 91.

    Gretchen

    March 22, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: So can we hope he will self-destruct before he causes irreversible damage? That’s the most cheerful take I’ve heard all day.

  92. 92.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    @GregB: What the DAREDEVIL mash-up?

    ETA ah I see Tracy Ratcliff beat me to it…

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    March 22, 2018 at 11:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Bolton will self destruct.

    Yes, but how much of the planet will he take with him?

  94. 94.

    B.B.A.

    March 22, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    @Mike in DC: How does indicting a foreign head of state even work? Setting aside that we have no extradition treaty with Russia.

  95. 95.

    danielx

    March 22, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    As does Iceland.

  96. 96.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @sukabi: Those are dollars, info is from the FEC. I encourage others to go to their website and double check it for me.

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 22, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: It says John Bolton’s SuperPAC paid Cambridge Analytica 3/4 of a million bucks in 2015-16.

  98. 98.

    Fair Economist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    @Mike J: And now we know CambAnal was intimately connected to Russian intelligence.

  99. 99.

    Yutsano

    March 22, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Also: fuck the Borgias. Their name should be dirt for ruining the university at Urbino.

  100. 100.

    Vhh

    March 22, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    @different-church-lady: She may have been relieved that Donald was getting relief elsewhere. One (kid) and done.

  101. 101.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:29 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    And now we know CambAnal was intimately connected to Russian intelligence.

    And Trump’s national security advisor paid them $750,000.

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    March 22, 2018 at 11:30 pm

    Strange that I know in my bones that this is coming to an end soon…because Fox News dot com is running with the McDougal affair story and not even trying to slant it.

    I think they’re done with him. We just have to make sure that they don’t try to “look forward, not back” – the whole ticket is corrupt and is the result of an attack by a hostile foreign power x criminal conspiracy. New election or declare the Democrat the winner, SCOTUS.

  103. 103.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    March 22, 2018 at 11:30 pm

    I’m waiting for GG and Julian to weigh in before I rush to judgment.//

  104. 104.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    @mai naem mobile: BTW, I wonder if Melania gets to redo the prenuptial again

    I’ve been wondering if there was an addendum to get her to agree to stay till he’s out of the White House, an extra 50 grand a month, 10,000 for events like yesterday’s event on “anti-bullying”

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Aha.

  106. 106.

    Steeplejack

    March 22, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    @jeffreyw:

    Did you accidentally (reverse-)pie yourself?

  107. 107.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 22, 2018 at 11:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, and it also says Rafael (Ted) Cruz paid CambAnal nearly 6 million clams in that reporting period.

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Their name should be dirt for ruining the university at Urbino.

    it was a cow college.

  109. 109.

    Fair Economist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    I just looked at my pie list and – it works. Not many names, but they are all essentially gone and some used to be frequent. Use the power of pie!

  110. 110.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Heck of a football team though.

  111. 111.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:35 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks for catching that. I’m fighting a late winter/early spring head cold and am sort of out of it right now.

  112. 112.

    mike in dc

    March 22, 2018 at 11:35 pm

    @B.B.A.: Well, in theory we could bring a case to the ICC, depending upon whether the charge was one recognized under the laws recognized by the ICC.

  113. 113.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 22, 2018 at 11:36 pm

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Both of them need to hang, too.

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    @mike in dc: When did we sign on with the ICC?

  115. 115.

    Ohio Mom

    March 22, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    @Jeffro: That’s what Margaret Mead said, it only takes a small group of committed people to change the world.

    Though I think she meant that in the sense of improving things.

  116. 116.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    @Jeffro: Tucker Carlson apparently unloaded on trump for choosing Bolton today…saw a headline, didn’t read it because -> Tucker Carlson.

  117. 117.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 22, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: “Could care less” vs. “Couldn’t care less” has been an issue for some time. Some of us could, and actually do, care about it. Most people couldn’t care less.

  118. 118.

    GregB

    March 22, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    Dowd is now telling press Trump told him to make his fire Mueller announcement.

    McMasters is free to talk. Rex is free to talk.

    Avenatti us teasing with a photo of a DVD about what it contains.

    Tomorrow the stock market craters again.

    The Trump Train has begun exiting the rails.

  119. 119.

    Mary G

    March 22, 2018 at 11:43 pm

    For MomSense and Mnem as well as other knitters among us:

    I made a hat for 2018! #BlueWave + #Pussyhat pic.twitter.com/TBUvGJmNgc— Frances Langum (@bluegal) March 21, 2018

  120. 120.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 11:44 pm

    @Mary G: nice????

  121. 121.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:44 pm

    @sukabi: I posted the link here the other night.

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:45 pm

    Matthew Yglesias @ mattyglesias
    A valuable reminder that “the establishment” view of foreign affairs is completely crazy and terrible in its own way too.
    Andrea Mitchell @ mitchellreports
    #HR McMaster gets a sustained spontaneous standing ovation when given shoutout tonight from Jeb Bush, speaking to US- Saudi dinner in DC honoring McCain and Bush 41 in absentia and attended by Saudi Crown Prince. Talk of the dinner: the big change at national security

    One wonders is Mrs Greenspan is there as a journalist or a (paying?) guest. I think we know. She used to troll the Iran deal like it was personal to her that it go down. (and whenever somebody makes a “but her emails…” joke, I hear it in her voice)

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    March 22, 2018 at 11:46 pm

    @mike in dc

    U.S. has never ratified the Rome Statute and has informed the ICC it has no intention to be a member nor to abide by nor be held to any obligations by dint of signing.

    BTW, just this week the U.N. informed the Philippines that they cannot immediately leave the ICC as Duterte wants but must wait for one year after giving notice to do so.

  124. 124.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:46 pm

    @Gretchen: I have no idea on the timeline, but he will be self defeating and self destructive.

  125. 125.

    GregB

    March 22, 2018 at 11:47 pm

    World markets are a bloodbath right now.

    Heckuva job Donnie!

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: And given the amount of money the Mercer’s gave to Bolton’s Super PAC, and that Mercer is one of the owners of Cambridge Analytica, he was basically laundering his own money through Bolton’s Super PAC to his own business.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:48 pm

    @GregB: It’s McMaster, damn it.

  128. 128.

    sukabi

    March 22, 2018 at 11:49 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: didn’t catch the link the other night…and there wasn’t any indication in Mike’s comment where it came from. ?

  129. 129.

    Mike J

    March 22, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    @sukabi: I didn’t see Adam’s post. I was just playing with the dataset and it was just kind of a random query I ran.

  130. 130.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:51 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Which he also got from Mercer. Everyone Mercer backs is required to hire Mercer’s people as minders (Conway, Bannon, Bossie, and daughter Rebekah Mercer) and use his pet data shop Cambridge Analytica. Here’s a real question: how much did Mercer make off of all of this? He donates to the candidate and/or PAC. Then he requires them to hire his company to work for them. Mercer was using these campaigns and PACs as laundries.

  131. 131.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:51 pm

    @sukabi: Hence my “huh?” earlier in the thread.

  132. 132.

    ? Martin

    March 22, 2018 at 11:51 pm

    @Mike J:

    ‘WALTERS FOR CONGRESS’, ‘C00546853’, ‘CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’, ‘NEW YORK’, ‘NY’, ‘20000.00’, ”

    I’ll be visiting her office on Saturday (assuming this fever breaks in time). CA-45 is being viewed as something of a national bellwether. First, consider that for a moment – a district deep in the middle of primarily white, affluent Orange County is being seen as a tossup.

    Perhaps I’ll make a nice sign with the above information.

  133. 133.

    patroclus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:52 pm

    Actually, it’s Senator Risch from Idaho that’s holding up the vote right now because the bill designates a wilderness area to be named after former Governor Cecil Andrus. Rand Paul is in his office trying to read the bill right now – he’s gotten up to page 600 so far.

    Dow Futures down 161 while the Asian markets plummet. “Normally,” one would expect a bounceback after such a down day. It looks like the rout is continuing instead. tech and Boeing just tanking…

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:52 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m actually not feeling well and didn’t bother to proof the comment.

  135. 135.

    randy khan

    March 22, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Well, plus all of the campaign operatives in lower-level campaigns and whoever knew about the contributions from the Russians at the NRA.

  136. 136.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    President Donald Trump’s decision to abruptly fire national security adviser H.R. McMaster surprised senior White House aides who had been preparing a single statement announcing the departure of multiple top Trump officials, according to two senior administration officials.
    White House chief of staff John Kelly and other top aides were waiting for inspector general reports that they believed would deliver devastating verdicts on Veteran Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who have both been accused of racking up extravagant expenses. They were also debating whether several senior White House aides, including McMaster, should go with them.

    when do we move on to Pruitt and Zinke ?

  137. 137.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 22, 2018 at 11:54 pm

    @sukabi: @Mike J: I put it in a comment or two. No worries.

  138. 138.

    Jay

    March 22, 2018 at 11:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Thiel’s PAC paid too, and he still sits on the FB Board.

  139. 139.

    ? Martin

    March 22, 2018 at 11:57 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Bolton will self destruct. He’s an unguided, self directing weapon of mass destruction. He will cause so much chaos and confusion that he will actually wind up defeating himself.

    Problem is that Trump is much more of all of that, and here we are still stuck with him. I take your point that he serves at the pleasure of the President, where Trump can’t be summarily dismissed, but Bolton is a boot licker. He’s smart enough to know what to do to keep his job, so he’ll do his work by getting Trump on board and then being the worlds best defender of those stupid ideas.

  140. 140.

    randy khan

    March 22, 2018 at 11:58 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Isn’t money from Bolton’s superPAC to CA just money out of one Mercer pocket into another?

  141. 141.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 22, 2018 at 11:59 pm

    @patroclus:

    Burgess Everett @ burgessev
    Sen. Risch is trying to stop a park from being named after a dead former governor of his state.

    Phil Mattingly @ Phil_Mattingly
    Risch has been causing a scramble for staff and leadership all afternoon/evening. *Very* upset about the re-naming of the White Clouds Wilderness preserve in Idaho after a former political rival, sources say

    Well, Senator Risch sounds like a very stable genius. ETA: I think he’s in line to take over as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee when Corker’s gone, unless we take the Senate

  142. 142.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 22, 2018 at 11:59 pm

    @Mike J: You didn’t give a link or offer context. I had no clue wtf your comment was about.

  143. 143.

    Elizabelle

    March 23, 2018 at 12:00 am

    A headline on the WaPost at the moment: Tillerson bids farewell to a ‘mean-spirited town’

    And, sadly, the teenaged girl shot by the Maryland high school student is brain dead; will be removed from life support soon. Two dead, and thank dog the shooter only had a handgun. Her name is/was Jaelynn Willey, forever 16. The shooter was Austin Wyatt Rollins, 17.

    Fellow student Desmond Barnes, 14, is home after surgery on his thigh.

  144. 144.

    Mary G

    March 23, 2018 at 12:01 am

    @Adam L Silverman: Just making sure you have this in your files:

    Golf Cart-Driving Florida Man Tries to Blow Up Neighbor’s Chickens With Home-Made Whiskey Bomb During Dispute Over BB Gun https://t.co/GqzNNafj8S pic.twitter.com/hRckGpNnAB— Florida Man (@_FloridaMan) March 19, 2018

  145. 145.

    ? Martin

    March 23, 2018 at 12:01 am

    @randy khan: From one tax free pocket to another.

  146. 146.

    patroclus

    March 23, 2018 at 12:04 am

    McConnell’s invoking cloture and no one objected (Corker almost did but didn’t). It looks like Rand Paul played chicken for awhile and then folded because all post-cloture time is waived in the motion and they’ll move right to a vote right after this passes. So no shutdown (apparently).

  147. 147.

    Fair Economist

    March 23, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @randy khan:

    Isn’t money from Bolton’s superPAC to CA just money out of one Mercer pocket into another?

    It’s money laundering. The Mercers could use this sequence to buy things they couldn’t buy directly – like Russian operative work. Putting money into an owned company directly looks odd, and there may be ownership details that interfere.

  148. 148.

    MoCA Ace

    March 23, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @GregB:

    The Trump Train has begun exiting the rails.

    Begun? It feels like the train is in a twisted burning heap at the bottom of the gorge! But yet it always seems there is room for it to get worse!

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @patroclus: It looks like Rand Paul played chicken for awhile and then folded

    say, what? that doesn’t sound like the Rand Paul I know!

  150. 150.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:05 am

    @Martin

    Think Adam is implying that Bolton is a dime store Rasputin.

  151. 151.

    Mary G

    March 23, 2018 at 12:05 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    the number of Democratic Senators walking amongst themselves chuckling about the nature preserve issue has been noticeable on the floor…— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) March 23, 2018

  152. 152.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:06 am

    @Mary G: I did a post on this last night.

  153. 153.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2018 at 12:07 am

    @Adam L Silverman: What have you done for us lately?

  154. 154.

    Jay

    March 23, 2018 at 12:08 am

    @? Martin:

    Nobody’s gonna follow Bolton anywhere, not South Korea, not Britain, not Canada, not Australia, not France or Germany, not Georgia, not even the members of Bush’s Coelition of the Willing.

    He’s Internationally Recognized as a bugnutz crazy nutjob.

    With Bolton in as NSC, Treason Tribble’s Administration probably couldn’t even get transit agreements from former allies.

  155. 155.

    Mary G

    March 23, 2018 at 12:09 am

    @Mary G: I’m sorry, I thought I had read all the threads. I need a brain transplant.

  156. 156.

    patroclus

    March 23, 2018 at 12:09 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Corker said that everyone’s got flights tomorrow morning to go home – Rand Paul probably does too. It’s not completely over though, so I’m still watching. Late night entertainment!

    Cloture passes.

  157. 157.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:10 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Perhaps he’s quietly laboring in the background on a Passover recipes post.

    Stranger things have happened.

    ;)

  158. 158.

    Jay

    March 23, 2018 at 12:11 am

    @Fair Economist:

    It’s also “pooling” and “grifting” other donors money.

  159. 159.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:11 am

    @NotMax: Beyond that. He is a horrible supervisor and manager. The non agency detailees on the National Security Staff, as in the people that McMaster hired directly and work for the Executive Office of the President, will begin to leave quickly. The actual detailees from the various agencies to the National Security Staff will ask for their assignments to be ended early and there won’t be volunteers to replace them. So the National Security Staff will atrophy, which will negatively impact the ability of the President’s national security and foreign policy initiatives. Ans since Bolton thinks everyone else is stupid and wrong, he will ignore, if not actively piss off, Secretary Mattis, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the Joint Chiefs themselves, all of their deputies, the Secretary of State, etc. It is very difficult to conduct national security and foreign policy without a functioning process, which is why the process we have now was created.

    If you're wondering how Bolton will handle other NSC staff, this doesn't bode well for competent people currently working there. pic.twitter.com/igOf5nvINM

    — Nada Bakos (@nadabakos) March 23, 2018

  160. 160.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:12 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: This post and a number of comments containing typos.

  161. 161.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 23, 2018 at 12:14 am

    @Jay:

    Nobody’s gonna follow Bolton anywhere, not South Korea, not Britain, not Canada, not Australia, not France or Germany, not Georgia

    I hope not—we’ve got enough problems as it is with Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina as border states!

  162. 162.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:15 am

    Very stable genius!

    Trump introduces Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin, as Marillyn Lockheed. Tells her of the F-35: “It’s stealth. You cannot see it. Is that correct? It better be correct.”

    — Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) March 22, 2018

  163. 163.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:15 am

    @Adam L. Silverman

    IIRC (and may be off base about this), Treasury and State are also a part of the NSC. Can’t see either Mnuchin or Pompeo (for different reasons) at anything but constant loggerheads with Bolton.

  164. 164.

    MoCA Ace

    March 23, 2018 at 12:17 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    An atrophied NSC and a gutted State Department. What could go wrong?

    Edit: Don’t answer that

  165. 165.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:17 am

    @Adam L. Silverman

    “Yes, sir. In fact, there are 4 of them in the room with us right now!”

  166. 166.

    MomSense

    March 23, 2018 at 12:18 am

    @Mary G:

    I saw that!! As soon as I get home I’m going to start production. Bluegal is amazing.

    I went on a gorgeous walk through the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and saw so many beautiful creatures. After dinner I crashed for four hours and then woke up to all of this wild news. The scope of this is overwhelming. If it is mind blowing for those of us who have been following it obsessively, how are the people who’ve been stuck in the ? hole going to take it when all is revealed?

    This is going to be a wild ride for our country.

  167. 167.

    ? Martin

    March 23, 2018 at 12:19 am

    California is out here trying to save y’all.

    San Francisco and Oakland (joined by some other cities including Richmond) are suing the oil companies over climate change. That’s notable when Chevron’s headquarters is just outside of Oakland and Richmond is home to major refineries.

    The oil companies are now in the ‘climate change is real’ phase and relying on the ‘we didn’t know’ defense. That doesn’t bode well for them, but it also means that the only people that reject climate change are the policy makers. The suit is an alternate path to the right outcome. The courts could rule that these companies have a financial responsibility to the result, even if there was no regulatory policy that they needed to adhere to. That would put the oil companies in support of regulation since it’d ensure they’re all on the same economic playing field if they have exposure to liability. That’s why companies like Toyota and Honda backed California emissions standards – it was a market opportunity for them with the Prius and Honda’s ZEVs that they knew their competitors would struggle to meet.

  168. 168.

    Barbara

    March 23, 2018 at 12:19 am

    @GregB: My husband is positive that Trump told Dowd to say that and then got mad at him when it generated blowback from more than the usual suspects. Still, it’s kind of not cool for Dowd to say that as Trump’s personal attorney.

  169. 169.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:20 am

    @NotMax: Correct. I just didn’t feel like listing every department, office, and bureau within the NSC/Interagency.

  170. 170.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:20 am

    @MoCA Ace: I have no idea…//

  171. 171.

    Steve in the ATL

    March 23, 2018 at 12:21 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    “Could care less” vs. “Couldn’t care less” has been an issue for some time. Some of us could, and actually do, care about it. Most people couldn’t care less.

    Next up: “flammable” versus “inflammable”

  172. 172.

    Washburn

    March 23, 2018 at 12:22 am

    The RWNJ blogs are already spinning this as, “So what, no evidence that Trump [himself] colluded.”

  173. 173.

    ? Martin

    March 23, 2018 at 12:22 am

    Interesting turn tonight. The Sacramento Kings cancelled their game tonight when protestors shut down the stadium entrances over the police shooting there. Police violence is not something California has made progress on, and this is quite an effective and quickly organized response.

  174. 174.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:22 am

    @NotMax: There was a comedian, I cannot recall which one, who used to do a joke like that about the stealth bomber. That we should have just held a press conference in front of nothing with a set of rolling stairs and some pilots and air crew standing around and announce our new completely invisible stealth bomber. And that it only cost $4 to build, so we built a million of them.

  175. 175.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 23, 2018 at 12:23 am

    @Barbara: I heard a lawyer on MSNBC today (i was in the car so I don’t know who it was) say that Dowd could be in trouble with the bar for his flippity-floppity on saying he was speaking for trump, his client, when he called for Meuller to be shut down. Also, that problematic (obstucion-y) tweet he claimed authorship for a couple months back. I’ll defer to his fellow members on that.

    (wordpress spell check accepts floppily, but not flippity)

  176. 176.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:23 am

    @Steve in the ATL: Enflamable or don’t bother lighting it on fire!//

  177. 177.

    GregB

    March 23, 2018 at 12:24 am

    Get your Trump Treason Bingo cards ready for the 10:00 am presser by Rosenstein.

  178. 178.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:25 am

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Wonder Woman did it first.

    :)

    /gratuitous comic book reference

  179. 179.

    MomSense

    March 23, 2018 at 12:27 am

    Hold up, didn’t Guccifer 2.0 at some point mention that He hacked the DNC through NGP VAN like Josh Uretsky and say something cryptic about “as it was agreed”.

    Anyone else remember this?

  180. 180.

    Jager

    March 23, 2018 at 12:27 am

    I bought some incredible Ventura County grown strawberries today at a farm stand. After the Guccifer 2.0 news they are going to taste even better!

  181. 181.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 12:30 am

    @? Martin:

    I still can’t quite tell from the news reports if the guy who was shot was actually the guy who was seen breaking into cars, or if he was just some poor bastard standing in his backyard at the wrong time.

    Even if it was the former, it freaks me out that street theft has gone back to being a capital crime. I thought we left that behind a hundred years ago.

  182. 182.

    MoCA Ace

    March 23, 2018 at 12:30 am

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Next up: “flammable” versus “inflammable”

    “Thaw” versus “Unthaw”

  183. 183.

    patroclus

    March 23, 2018 at 12:32 am

    And the budget passes. It’s 6 months late and only lasts until 9/30 and the Budget Act requires that next year’s budget be passed in just a few weeks (which won’t happen). But we’re finally back to regular order. The bill itself at least funds the government and includes a bunch of good things and not a lot of bad stuff, which speaks well for the Dem negotiators (Patty Murray). But no DACA fix (we’re relying on the courts for that). And no wall! And no fiscal discipline. I would have voted for it, but hopefully, when they miss the deadlines for next year, we’ll have a new Dem Congress next year and a better overall bill.

  184. 184.

    Yutsano

    March 23, 2018 at 12:41 am

    @patroclus: The IRS FINALLY got a small budget increase. It will be good to maybe stop the massive attrition that’s happened.

  185. 185.

    El Caganer

    March 23, 2018 at 12:42 am

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s invisible ’cause it uses….The Cyber!

  186. 186.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:43 am

    @Yutsano

    New dining room tables for all senior executives!

    :)

  187. 187.

    Amir Khalid

    March 23, 2018 at 12:47 am

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Trump thinks that stealth technology makes a plane invisible to the naked eye? I think Q once showed James Bond an invisible Aston Martin, but to my knowledge you Americans don’t have that technology.

  188. 188.

    Yutsano

    March 23, 2018 at 12:47 am

    @NotMax: Oh Gawd. If the stupid idiot Dolt45 wants for the new commissioner gets in that’s a guarantee. A fucking Beverly Hills tax lawyer? Seriously?

  189. 189.

    ? Martin

    March 23, 2018 at 12:47 am

    @Mnemosyne: They haven’t named him as a suspect. My guess is that they were going from a description and this guy fit it and hopping his back fence was enough to convince them he was a criminal, and owning a cell phone was enough to convince them he needed to die.

  190. 190.

    Jay

    March 23, 2018 at 12:48 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    It was a guy just standing in his Grandmother’s back yard,

  191. 191.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2018 at 12:51 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    “It’s stealth. You cannot see it. Is that correct? It better be correct.”

    No Trump, that would not be correct: here’s a picture of two of them.

  192. 192.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:52 am

    @Amir Khalid

    Elon Musk is working on it.

    :)

  193. 193.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:52 am

    @Amir Khalid: He’s like very smart.

  194. 194.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2018 at 12:56 am

    @? Martin: I said after the inauguration that rather than shutting down freeways, protesters should have shutdown Trump’s golf course in P.V.

  195. 195.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 12:57 am

    @Amir Khalid: You need to understand that pretty much everyone in this administration was home schooled by Betsy Devos.

  196. 196.

    Citizen Alan

    March 23, 2018 at 12:57 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I keep saying this. The pee tape is a misdirection. What they have is a tape of Shitgibbon having sex with a blond underage Russian prostitute who he loudly refers to as Ivanka.

  197. 197.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 12:58 am

    In reference to some of the above, Wikipedia page on flying wings is a pretty good primer. Caveat clicktor: Many rabbit holes to proceed down there.

  198. 198.

    Yutsano

    March 23, 2018 at 12:59 am

    @Amir Khalid: @Adam L Silverman: Didn’t we almost go to war with the Klingons over this?

  199. 199.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 1:00 am

    @Adam L.Silverman

    As have said before, the Dimluminati.

  200. 200.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:01 am

    @Fair Economist:
    I think Putin will be remembered as a selfish, evil man who put his own power and wealth over the interests of his own country as well as those of the rest of humanity.

    He probably doesn’t think on the scale I do and would probably laugh at me and call me a fool for thinking so. But make no mistake, he will not be remembered fondly.

  201. 201.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2018 at 1:01 am

    @Amir Khalid: It was the Lucas lights that caused the issue. Look up: Lucas. Prince of Darkness.

  202. 202.

    Citizen Alan

    March 23, 2018 at 1:01 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    None of those fuckwits is a Machiavelli. I doubt any of them are even smart enough to be a Borgia.

  203. 203.

    Amir Khalid

    March 23, 2018 at 1:02 am

    @Yutsano:
    Yes, but not yet; wait a few more centuries.

  204. 204.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 1:02 am

    @Yutsano: Romulans. Treaty of Algeron.

  205. 205.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 1:02 am

    @Yutsano

    Romulans.

    /way too pedantic

  206. 206.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 1:02 am

    @NotMax: I was thinking of opening a Chinese restaurant and calling it Dimsuminati.

  207. 207.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 1:03 am

    @? Martin:
    @Jay:

    Thanks. The trolls on Facebook keep claiming he was the robbery suspect the cops were looking for, but the footage didn’t seem to back that up.

  208. 208.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 23, 2018 at 1:03 am

    @Adam L Silverman: Very smart in the Homer Simpson SMRT sense.

  209. 209.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 23, 2018 at 1:05 am

    @Mnemosyne: Why is your FB open to trolls?

  210. 210.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 1:05 am

    @Mnemosyne: He wasn’t.

  211. 211.

    Yutsano

    March 23, 2018 at 1:05 am

    @Adam L Silverman: …
    Dammit. Now I want dim sum!

  212. 212.

    MisterForkbeard

    March 23, 2018 at 1:06 am

    @GregB:

    The Trump Train has begun exiting the rails.

    Begun? It fell off the rails a year ago. It’s been sliding and crashing into buildings and trees for months now, destroying infrastructure, jobs, and lives. But now it’s screeching towards a giant garbage fire, so we’ll see how that goes.

  213. 213.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:07 am

    @Mnemosyne:
    You should ask the trolls why they’re trying so hard to argue the guy was the one breaking into cars when the footage doesn’t show that.

  214. 214.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 1:09 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I have cops in my family, and they know some trolls.

    @Adam L Silverman:

    CNN still has the story as claiming the man who was shot was also the guy who was robbing cars.

    Right now, it sounds like the cops lost track of the guy they were chasing and shot a different guy in his backyard, but of course the PD is going to obfuscate to make people think they didn’t fuck up royally.

  215. 215.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 1:11 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    They still give cops the benefit of the doubt in all situations. Because they’re morons.

  216. 216.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 1:12 am

    @Adam L.Silverman

    The day the pandaren expansion went live on World of Warcraft had previously planned to name my first pandaren Dimsum. Name was was already taken within the few minutes it took to create a character.

  217. 217.

    Amir Khalid

    March 23, 2018 at 1:12 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    CNN still has the story as claiming the man who was shot was also the guy who was robbing cars.

    “Objectivity.”

  218. 218.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:15 am

    @Mnemosyne:
    Have tried asking them if they think cops are capable of making mistakes/being corrupt? They’re as human as you and me and just as fallible.

  219. 219.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 1:16 am

    @Yutsano: Sorry…

  220. 220.

    Adam L Silverman

    March 23, 2018 at 1:18 am

    @Mnemosyne: They fucked up royally:
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/cops-killed-unarmed-stephon-clark-then-cut-their-audio-thats-unusual-expert-says/?via=twitter_page

    After Sacramento police officers shot and killed unarmed man Stephon Clark, they shut off the audio on their body cameras. And it doesn’t look good for the cops, experts and activists say.

    Clark, a 22-year-old black man, was in his own backyard Sunday night when two police officers shot at him 20 times, believing him to be holding a gun. He was only holding a phone.

    The shooting, which was filmed on two officers’ body cameras and a helicopter camera, is one of the first after a series of Sacramento police reforms requiring the department to release footage of deadly incidents. But it’s not clear whether the transparency will mean justice in Clark’s case.

    Sacramento police began pursuing Clark Sunday night, after receiving a 911 call about a man breaking into cars, The Sacramento Bee first reported. Clark has not been confirmed as the subject of the 911 call. In a statement, police said the 911 caller described the suspect as more than six feet tall, but Clark’s grandmother told the Bee her grandson was short. But two police officers starting following Clark, with backup from a police helicopter overhead.

    Footage from a heat-detecting camera in the helicopter showed Clark crossing between two backyards. Officers in the helicopter stated he broke a window in the first yard, although the alleged incident is not included in the footage. Then the officers in the helicopter suggested Clark might break into a vehicle.

    “He’s running toward the front yard,” an officer in the helicopter said of Clark, who was walking at the time. Then the officer implied Clark might break into a vehicle. “He’s looking into another car,” the officer said.

    The officer didn’t know Clark was in his own yard, looking at a car parked there. Clark was staying with his grandparents at the time, and his entrance through the backyard was normal, his grandmother told the Bee. The family home was large, and the doorbell was broken, prompting family members to knock on a back window to be let in, she said.

    More at the link.

  221. 221.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2018 at 1:22 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I have a friend who’s son is a cop, the police are always right.

  222. 222.

    Brachiator

    March 23, 2018 at 1:24 am

    @Yutsano:

    @Amir Khalid: @Adam L Silverman: Didn’t we almost go to war with the Klingons over this?

    We have always been at war with the Klingons.

  223. 223.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:25 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    But that’s crazy. They can’t literally believe that. You must mean they make justifications and excuses for the police, right?

  224. 224.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2018 at 1:26 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Nope. They think the police are always right.

  225. 225.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2018 at 1:28 am

    @Fair Economist:

    Trump will be thought of more like Caligula’s horse, perhaps viewed from the rear.

    Perhaps?

  226. 226.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:30 am

    @Brachiator:
    There’s a fanfic somewhere in that, with Oceania as a Federation stand-in. Too bad they were progressively getting less advanced as time went on, not to mention drastically wasting tons of non-renewable resources.

  227. 227.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:31 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    What if the police wronged them or someone else they knew?

  228. 228.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 1:32 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    No, they literally believe that. They genuinely believe that the police can do no wrong, and if they seem to have done something wrong, there’s a good explanation that exonerates them.

  229. 229.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2018 at 1:32 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Won’t ever happen, that’s what they think.

    @Mnemosyne: Yup.

  230. 230.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    March 23, 2018 at 1:36 am

    OT: Looks like one more wave of rain tonight and then no more until November.

  231. 231.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:36 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    And if and when it does?

  232. 232.

    Emerald

    March 23, 2018 at 1:38 am

    @Citizen Alan: That indeed would be funsies, but I doubt what they have on him has anything to do with sexual misbehavior. He’s proud of that stuff.

    No. They’ve got him with money. Putin and his oligarchs have been basically financing his whole operation for years.

    That’s why he defers to Putin as though he were in hock to his bookie. It’s why he’s so scared of him.

    My $.02

  233. 233.

    Brachiator

    March 23, 2018 at 1:38 am

    @Mnemosyne:

    They genuinely believe that the police can do no wrong, and if they seem to have done something wrong, there’s a good explanation that exonerates them.

    Maybe they were just trying to get out of jury service, but I heard someone say that during jury selection in a case involving police officers.

  234. 234.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 1:43 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Then it’s like a Catholic whose kid got molested by a priest. Some of them get pissed off and drop their “religion” saying that all cops are good. Others will say that the one bad cop just proves that all of the other cops are still good.

    If you think of it as a religious belief that’s not based in actual facts, it makes more sense, or at least as much sense as any other infalliable religious belief.

  235. 235.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2018 at 1:43 am

    @MoCA Ace:
    The drumpf train has left the rails and is hanging in the air like a road runner cartoon. It hasn’t realized that gravity and reality may take a bit of time to catch up, but they always do. That’s when you see that puff of dust as it lands miles down at the bottom. Don’t forget that surprised look as the realization that gross stupidity and arrogance don’t actually work as well as was imagined.

  236. 236.

    Mnemosyne

    March 23, 2018 at 1:45 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    One of my co-workers lives up in the Burbank hills. They were waiting to see if the burn areas were going to start to slide.

  237. 237.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2018 at 1:50 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He’s like very smart.

    I saw that smirk and heard the giggle as you typed that.

  238. 238.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:55 am

    @Mnemosyne:
    That makes sense, unfortunately.

  239. 239.

    NotMax

    March 23, 2018 at 1:56 am

    @Ruckus

    Obligatory

    :)

  240. 240.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    March 23, 2018 at 1:58 am

    @Ruckus:
    The Trump Train: a well-oiled machine!

  241. 241.

    Lurkerish

    March 23, 2018 at 2:14 am

    @Mike J: Holy shit.

  242. 242.

    Ruckus

    March 23, 2018 at 2:20 am

    @NotMax:
    xactly.
    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
    Close enough.

  243. 243.

    J R in WV

    March 23, 2018 at 10:18 am

    @Mike J:

    Wow, that was a lot of work, creating that script. And it won’t work, you left off the semi-colon on the end!!

  244. 244.

    Dog Mom

    March 23, 2018 at 12:23 pm

    @MomSense: Please add an edging of Im-Peach! I think it would really be the finishing touch.

  245. 245.

    Annie

    March 23, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    From your keyboard to the FSM’s ear. And soon please.

  246. 246.

    Annie

    March 23, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    This assumes that Dolt45 has the money to pay her. I think that among the many things he wants to hide is the fact that he’s nowhere near as wealthy as he pretends.

  247. 247.

    No One You Know

    March 23, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    @Mike J: OMG, this made me smile, against my will. I needed that. SQL was a while ago…

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