Like a too-trusting soul who allowed the town wastrel to spend the night in the spare room, only to wake up to an empty fridge, raided liquor cabinet, mysteriously stained sofa, cigarette holes in the carpet, pile of dirty dishes in the sink and hacked bank account, Ecuador has been had.
The Guardian reports that Ecuador spent millions on round-the-clock security for Julian Assange, fretted over how to burnish his image (less rapey? fewer fascists?) and concocted plans to spirit him to safety if the Brits showed up at the door to haul him off to the hoosegow for jumping bail.
And how did the pallid creeper repay Ecuador? By hacking into the embassy’s communication system and accessing official and personal communications, plus pirating Ecuador’s internet on the sly.
Well, Ecuador isn’t the only one who was taken in by Assange. The impulse to stand up for the underdog is admirable, but potential saviors should ensure they’re not caping for rapey sleazebags who pal around with white nationalists and authoritarian kleptocrats while conspiring to overthrow democracies on the side.
Lesson now thoroughly learned, the new president of Ecuador is said to be keen to evict the squatter — ironically, to curry favor with the US. Assange’s erstwhile protector, former Ecuador President Rafael Correa, says Assange’s days of mooching off Ecuador are “numbered.” May he get exactly what he deserves.
TenguPhule
A cup of tea and a jab by a hollow tip umbrella if the authorities don’t get to him first.
geg6
Oh man. LOL! I hope he has a healthy respect for doorknobs. What a tool.
Corner Stone
God dammit. Katy Tur just went “both sides” on the “no respect for either side anymore”.
Roger Moore
What he really deserves is to get kicked out the door and then … nothing. No terrible being whisked off to an American black site or otherwise disappearing. Show all his worries about the terrible things that would happen to him if he lost his protection to be the paranoid delusions they are.
LAO
@Roger Moore: Agreed and the added indignity of no one paying him any more attention.
Bobby Thomson
Matthau and Lemmon (or Klugman and Randall) were funnier than Assange and Snowden.
satby
Totally overdue for eviction, and a richly deserved arrest.
Edit: too bad Ecuador wouldn’t press charges on the internal hacking. They should.
MattF
But… Assange knows all the cool kids! He eats lunch with the specials! And they all vouch for him! Coolest of the cool!
Mary G
I was shocked at just how much money they spent – millions of dollars. Must not have been very good companies they used, because all of his behavior was missed.
TenguPhule
Fuck, Haspel is going to get in. Warner caved.
/Breaking at Wapo
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
No, actually they picked it up and told his hosts what he was doing.
Apparently it was just fine. //
MattF
@TenguPhule: Um, well. Sometimes the CIA has to do… certain things.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: She got sucked in by Chuck Todd’s Eau de Broder!
Corner Stone
I was praying the title of the post was about Trump or at least one of his spawn.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
I think his worries about the Russians are well founded. And couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.
Adam L Silverman
This seems relevant again given what Assange was doing from the embassy:
TenguPhule
@MattF:
She’s not going to buck Trump. She’s going to do exactly what he tells her to.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Tur has been pissing me off for a while now. I don’t get her equivocating after she was on the campaign trail with Trump and had to be escorted by security from events due to threats from his supporters. But yeah…
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: He knows too much.
Percysowner
@Roger Moore: I do think he should face trial on the rape charges in Sweden and if found guilty be incarcerated. He already dodged some of the charges by running out the Statute of Limitations on a couple of the charges, and I don’t want to see him skate on everything just because he managed to run out the clock while mooching off Ecuador. If it makes him look like a martyr, so be it.
LAO
Offered with a small snicker:
Scott
I don’t think that Ecuador spent their own money. To me, the most interesting question is who (or what country) was funding Ecuador to house Assange.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: The answer to the question that Todd posed about how this happened and Tur reminisced about offensive shirts and signs and statements and behaviors by both the President as candidate and his supporters, was that the news media made a decision that rather than call him out, rather than stating “we’re not being penned in and used as a prop and if you don’t like it you won’t get coverage and you can try getting elected with only Fox News, Breitbart, and Dim Jim”. But that’s not what they did. They caved. Because they wanted the access. As I’ve written here repeatedly: eventually one of his supporters is going to seriously hurt, if not murder, a reporter at one of these rallies. They’re working themselves up to it. When that happens I’m pretty sure I know how the news media will cover this, which is not how it should cover it.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: And have you seen what the new regional president believes?
Today feels like the 1930s all over again.
Michael G
Let’s not forget the classic Julian Assange: Houseguest video.
https://youtu.be/Le3jrp6LzjI
Yutsano
@Percysowner: He still has a bench warrant in Britain that needs resolved first. Then they’ll send him back to Sweden.
EDIT: Ecuador also has a tradition of ceviche. One would think they would know that house guests are like fish: no good after three days.
Plus stop making the threats. Just throw him out and be done with him. Let everything else fall as it may.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: That’s not actually true. Mr. Lopez was making a rhetorical point by replacing Spaniard with Jew to show that the new regional president’s remarks are outside the acceptable realm.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Some news producer will see it and immediately think to themselves: “Top of the hour news story AND I don’t have to pay that person’s salary and benefits anymore. Sheer Genius! Who can I send next?”
Captain C
@Percysowner:
Perhaps it’s not how the law works in Sweden, but I think that if he knew about the charges and then deliberately went fugitive, the clock should stop on the statute of limitations.
Planetpundit
He can become the White House Communications Director.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
What’s that Mark Twain quote? “I’ve never wished death on anyone but I’ve read many obituaries with great amusement?”
trollhattan
@TenguPhule:
This from last week needs repeating:
Sen. Susan Collins: If the President gave you a direct order to waterboard a terrorism suspect, what would you do?
Gina Haspel: “I do not believe the President would ask me to do that”
She has evidently removed the “I” word from her future job title. Who the fuck do you think your boss is going to be, stupid lady?
Adam L Silverman
@Yutsano: Van Diemen’s Land!
TenguPhule
@LAO: This is my surprised face. : i
Corner Stone
Anybody else want a transcription leaked from the Trump and GOP Senators lunch today?
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”
Actual Quote is ” I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.”
And it wasn’t said or written by Twain.
germy
But his preferred candidate “won” the U.S. election. I don’t understand…
trollhattan
@Scott:
I heard they hired a renowned lawyer, Michael somebody, to come in a fix it.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Not unless they enjoy pain.
LAO
@Corner Stone: Oh, Mr. Trump, you have the biggest hands…. You saved the Republican Party….We love you….
I imagine it went something like that, for a couple of hours.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman:
Like other than… history and context?
TenguPhule
@trollhattan: I know. I know.
trollhattan
@germy:
Assange in Gitmo? I never considered that, now, remind me about the new CIA chief?
Conflicted!
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I give it 24 hours before audio leaks.
germy
@geg6:
What has he done to offend Putin? I don’t understand what he would have to fear.
Aren’t umbrella tips and doorknobs reserved for those who turn? He never turned, did he?
Barry
@Corner Stone: “Tur has been pissing me off for a while now. I don’t get her equivocating after she was on the campaign trail with Trump and had to be escorted by security from events due to threats from his supporters. But yeah…”
So many of these journalists are wh*res, pure and simple. Their job is ‘both sides do it’.
Corner Stone
@LAO: According to reports, Trump did almost all the talking. I am curious how many abrupt non-relevant segues were involved along with how many repetitions of the same story.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Correct, but… The point here was to make a rhetorical point that the remarks are unacceptable and if you can’t see it, let’s change Spaniard to Jew and it should jump right out at you. I did the same thing here after the mosque shooting in Montreal using the President’s statement after the Pulse mass shooting. I switched Muslim for Christian and the names of the shooters for the guy in Canada, the Las Vegas shooter, the guy who shot up the Planned Parenthood in Colorado, etc.
LAO
@Corner Stone: Even worse. I can only imagine the fetid stream of delusion Trump spewed.
TenguPhule
@germy:
He knows too much.
geg6
@Corner Stone:
She’s an idiot. I cannot stand her. Ugh. Of course, she’s Chuckles Todd’s protege, so she is required to be a clueless, awful dimwit.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Didn’t know that. It’s a good quote regardless.
I’m glad Ecuador is coming to its senses finally and kicking Assface out. Sticking it to America isn’t always the best strategy, especially when it leads to protecting rapey pseudo-leftists.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, the setup was pure Chuck Todd. But you gotta know Chuck Todd is gonna Chuck Todd. At one time I had hopes for Ms. Tur but as I said, it’s this kind of denial of reality that gets my Cromwells crossed. But I guess she has books to sell and career aspirations to fulfill, so onward Both Sides Soldier!
Incidentally, I have stopped watching Hallie Jackson all together. I turn the TV off most mornings during her hour and mute her or switch when she’s location “reporting”. I have decided she’s an out and out Republican slanted saboteur.
ETA, I also dislike Kasie Hunt. Why can’t we get some Tamron Hall or Soledad up in this piece?
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: I’m familiar with the exercise, but I find that the urge to hyperbolically go straight for a Jewish comparison often (for lack of a better term) Godwins the sentiment, for me at least. Like, ok, it’s clearly unacceptable but now it feels relatively minor compared to what he could have said. YMMV
(minorly edited for clarity)
Karen marie
@TenguPhule: Of course he did. Her confirmation was entirely predictable, as is the failure of the upcoming vote on net neutrality. I spit in the direction of Republicans and gutless elected Democrats.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: That’s the problem with Twitter in a nutshell. Thanks for the correction.
Colleeniem
@Scott: I had the same thought.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
And yet some still insist that it is the left that is the problem.
LAO
@TenguPhule:
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: It’s actually even better/worse:
SiubhanDuinne
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Not really
(Edited bad formatting.)
geg6
@germy:
Unless he hies himself off to Russia, he’s liable to spill the beans on all his nefarious buddies. But he’s too stupid and arrogant to realize that one of the only reasons he’s alive and not shivering in Moscow with his pal, Snowden, is that Ecuador has been protecting his worthless ass. Both the Russians and the Trumpers have every reason to not want Assange running around free.
Betty Cracker
From Variety — first, the good news:
Yay! Navratilova was a role model to many and deserves more kudos as a gay rights pioneer.
Now, the bad news:
What the fuck? It’s going to be 95% Greenwald, 5% Navratilova with that self-important twit at the helm. I know several women who grew up gay in Reagan-era Florida. If Navratilova’s story has to be told through someone’s “lens,” theirs would be better.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: Who could have seen this coming? Right out of the blue. I’m shocked. You shocked?
catclub
@TenguPhule:
not sure I follow. I thought he and wikileaks were working hand in glove with Russians. Do they need to keep this secret? They already failed at that.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: I am sure Trump will react to this entirely predictable event in a calm rational manner. //s
patrick II
I don’t think the Trump Admin would try to extradite Assange even if he becomes available. He Knows too much. Ecuador may be makimg the wrong more if it is trying to please the u. S. night now.
Corner Stone
@LAO: Does Trump cave? Or is this the escalation point the war hawks always wanted?
catclub
@Adam L Silverman: why not? see if Trump will cave and cancel exercises to keep the summit meeting.
TeezySkeezy (formerly the T S you hate)
@TenguPhule:
Hm.
clay
Paging Dr. Silverman.
Thoughts?
WhatsMyNym
@Yutsano:
I’ll have to remember that!
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: As Vipin Narang just said on Twitter, Let the games begin.
Now the negotiation gets serious.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
Putin has gone to great lengths to obscure and muddle the trail directly tying Russia the state actor to all of the meddling. The IC knows what he’s doing, but presenting crystal clear proof without blowing their sources is difficult.
Having a live witness actually testifying that they were in the pay of Russian Intelligence to subvert Democratic institutions would be a level of public proof that would not be in Russia’s best interest.
There are already a carpet of Russian bodies from the Trump conspiracy and Britain already has Russian agents operating there.
Cheryl Rofer
germy
@Corner Stone:
Bolton’s mustache must be twitching in wild anticipation.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: It is what it is.
Cheryl Rofer
Trump caved to China, so North Korea might as well give it a try.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
We’re gonna get rolled hard by NK.
Adam L Silverman
@patrick II: As soon as he hacked the Ecuadorian embassy’s comms, GCHQ had every phone call, text message, email, tweet, etc he’s sent and/or received. British intel has everything they need to turn that Bench Warrant into a number of serious felony charges.
TenguPhule
@LAO:
Your winnings, sir.
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: I love it even more because of Trump just praising KJU and using all those superlatives. This is fucking gold level trolling right here.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Por Que Los Dos?
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: They won’t be cancelled. This was always going to be an issue when the “thaw” and love fest began a couple of week’s ago. They are planned well in advanced and they bring assets in from Japan, Australia, Hawaii and the continental US. Far too expensive to cancel them now that everyone is on site.
Cheryl Rofer
@Corner Stone: They built him up to be overconfident. Now the real negotiating starts.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
Why evict him? An Ecuadoran prison seems appropriate if he broke Ecuadoran laws, which it sounds like he did. Why give him a cushy northern European prison sentence when a Latin American one is on offer? I mean if they really want to punish the guy, that is.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Sorry, not seeing how this would stop Trump from capitulating. Its not his money, after all.
Adam L Silverman
@clay: I had just seen that. The problem they’re facing is that they have compartmented/classified SIGINT showing what he did, who he did it with/who received the info, etc. The challenge is coming up with a way to prove this in court when you’re evidence would give away sources and methods. If they can’t get him to plead, they’ll find some other crime – the child porn stuff – to nail him on. Then there will be a counterintel op to deal with Wikileaks. They’d rather be able to find a way to nail him so they can then move on Wikileaks overtly and bring them to justice in court.
germy
TenguPhule
Naked man tackled on Alaska Airlines flight, ex-lawmaker says
Was it Floriduh man or John Cole?
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: we’ll see if trump falls for this power play that you probably learn in your first class at business school…
TenguPhule
@germy:
Wikileaks is suing.
Excuse me for a moment.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I seem to recall someone here on the front page mentioning that the exercises were going to be an issue. Eez a puzzlement!
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Is Kim going to funnel $500,000 into a Trump Organization project? If not, then unlikely.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@germy:
Oh noes, watch out Guardian, Wikileaks is gonna sue you. That’ll learn’em.
Cheryl Rofer
I hate to leave this party when it’s just starting to get going, but I’ll be back in an hour or two.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: HOOCOODANODE?????
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer:
Well that’s what happens when you don’t employ anybody.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: You ever try to rebook one leg of a flight through the Defense Travel System (DTS) once the tickets have been issued and the official travel has started? If you’re lucky you can do it in about 12 hours. Now imagine doing that for the US Army Pacific headquarters, the US Air Force Pacific headquarters, the US Navy Pacific headquarters, the Special Operations Command Pacific headquarters, the I Corps headquarters, the 25th Infantry Division headquarters, the 3rd Marine Division headquarters, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Pacific headquarters, all the Opposing Force role players from their units and departments, all the observer controllers, all the senior mentors, etc. In one fell swoop you could pretty much shut down all the air carriers flying to and from Seoul.
schrodingers_cat
@Cheryl Rofer: With photos of your grey and white kittehs?
eric
@TenguPhule: Wikileaks cannot sue. Assange has to sue and there is NO WAY he subjects himself to the jurisdiction of any Court in Britain or the US. From the story: “Assange hacked into the communications system within the embassy and had his own satellite internet access, according to a source who wished to remain anonymous. By penetrating the embassy’s firewall, Assange was able to access and intercept the official and personal communications of staff, the source claimed.”
Libel is a personal tort and the plaintiff is Assange, not the entity.
Wake me when it’s over.
Major Major Major Major
@eric:
You’re gonna need a feeding tube, lots of saline, and a catheter.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: And for all the accolades I heard about M Pompeo, IMO he does not seem to be a very bright individual.
bjacques
The world Assange worked so hard to create is *so* eager to embrace him!
We have such sights to show you! May the face you see across the desk in Gitmo be Gina’s.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m dyin’ here…
Eau de Broder: For the Man Who Wants to See Both Sides…Who’s Up For Both Sides…Who’s Strong Enough to Work Both Sides…Who Wants to Smell Like Both Sides…
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
You can tell all the experienced people have long since left.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Is a puzzlement, wrapped in a mystery, stuffed in an enigma. Or something.
Roger Moore
@Cheryl Rofer:
Trump didn’t cave to China; China bribed Trump.
Corner Stone
Goodbye, top admin cyber policy role. We hardly knew ye.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Remember this is Trump we’re talking about. Why would he care about problems that happen to other people?
Aleta
And to thank the Ecuadorians for their trouble and hospitality, Assange et al are likely trying to inspire a deluge of harassing calls and emails.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Watch Trump cave to China’s soybean tariffs.
Tazj
@Corner Stone: She’s been disappointing lately. She also praised Politico’s article stating Cohen’s slush fund was just business as usual in D.C.
Corner Stone
So, looks like we have 4 D Senators ready to vote to confirm Haspel. I always wonder what well of cowardice they look into when doing vote calculations on something like this. Do any of them think they will get a single vote from someone who hears a radio blurb and says to themself, “Well, I may need to deeply consider my vote this Fall now that they approved that Trump pick for CIA!”
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: This should work out as well for them as the Pruitt and Devos nominations did.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I think the calculus here is that that if they vote Haspel down, they get Cotton as the nominee, not the Deputy Director of National Intelligence who should’ve been nominated to begin with. And while almost everyone in the Senate, in both parties, would be glad to get rid of Cotton, having him as DCI, with Pompeo as SecState and Bolton as AP-NSA, would be a disaster.
clay
@germy: Wikileaks is now complaining about “anonymous libel”? That’s rich.
But what do you expect from a secretive organization dedicated to radical transparancy. (Errr… for them, not us.)
JPL
@Adam L Silverman: Xi has a say in this, and even Kim know that.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: While I agree that Cotton is a disaster, what are we saying if we now affirm a torturer to CIA Director? This was the poison that everyone who vocally backed the “look forward, not backward” mentality allowed to seep in. Now we are sending the message that it’s ok. This isn’t just about a person.
We are in some stage of the path to war with Iran directly because no one who was responsible for Iraq ever faced a single day of punishment.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
In some ways I hope he doesn’t. Supporters in those areas would be hurt and hopefully Republican pols in those same areas would also get hurt
HeleninEire
“less rapey” “fewer fascists” is why I live here.
Thank you, Betty.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: The irony is that by the time Trump does cave it will be too late, the Chinese will have locked in contracts with Brazil and the American farmers will be SOL when it comes to the biggest markets.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I’m not endorsing her. I don’t think she’s a good pick. I’m just stating what I think the calculus is.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
So we’ll see him as the next nominee in another Friedman unit then.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
So he’s fucked either way? Good! Couldn’t happen to a more evil, stupid asshole
MisterForkbeard
@Corner Stone: The thing is, I don’t have a lot of respect for the other side either. Though there IS the whole thing about continuing to support an avowed sex offender who’s also blatantly racist and corrupt.
I guess they don’t respect US because we “hate America” or something.
Corner Stone
I am sure he’s the perfect guy for this position.
Bloomberg.com
Trump Nominates McConnell and Chao’s Brother-In-Law to Lead Pension Agency
“Hartogensis helps govern his family’s trust and is the CEO of Auric Technology, a closely held software company, according to his LinkedIn page. In making the announcement, the White House did not provide biographical information about him or answer questions about his relationship to Chao and McConnell, who are married. Hartogensis is married to one of Chao’s sisters, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Syphlis or Chlamydia?
Jeffro
Ah, I do loves me some Jennifer Rubin teeing off on Trumpov: The Worst Deal-Maker Ever
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: They’re all fucked. China will probably get more of what they asked for and deliver nothing of value to Trump in return.
Its poetic irony at its worst.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Are you fucking kidding me? This live action remake of Goodfellas is fucking terrible I tell you!
Amir Khalid
@TenguPhule:
It’s ¿Por qué no los dos? , ya maroon.
J R in WV
@germy:
Je has a wife??!!! Where has she been living while the MR has been living rent free in the embassy? Does he support her at all?
Strange, she ins’t mentioned in the news stories about him…
ET
oooo the irony. or is it schadenfreude…… Assange and his crew help elect tRump and in return the Ecuadoran government is try to curry favor with tRump boots Assange.
I guess no “good” deed goes unpunished – said with a hefty dose of sarcasm…..
Corner Stone
@MisterForkbeard: That’s not the point of contention, IMO. We don’t go around demanding respect and pouting like babies when our positions or beliefs are challenged. But that is all the other side does – act like full on hatemongering assholes who profess the worst possible attitudes, beliefs and policies. And *then* demand they get their respect no matter how fucked and fucking evil their viewpoints are.
There is no basis for comparison saying, “neither side respects the other”. Well, sure, I guess. They want to enact policies that kill people and destroy families, and then demand respect for it. We look for ways to strengthen situations and policies that are more pro-equal rights and don’t give a damn if they respect us personally or not. Or should I say, respect is due for all the hard work but we don’t cry about it in a fetal ball when it’s not forthcoming.
Obvious Russian Troll
@J R in WV: I think that’s his mother.
catclub
@Adam L Silverman: Luckily the government buys refundable/returnable tickets.
Captain C
@TenguPhule: I can’t wait for the discovery on this (I’m assuming they have such a process in the UK).
MisterForkbeard
@TenguPhule: Bonus points: If Putin has Assange murdered, he and The Left will blame it on the United States and make him a martyr. Good times.
Vhh
@Scott: Easy. Ex res Correa was a Putin pal.
The Moar You Know
I would bet good money that Assange is still stinking up the broom closet at the embassy on this date next year. The ineptitude of the Ecuadorian government must be experienced to be believed.
Captain C
@Corner Stone:
We are living in a bad Bond film, or knockoff.
Corner Stone
@Tazj: Yes. Looks like Cult of The Savvy has lived on to a new generation.
Amir Khalid
@TenguPhule:
Watch this scene carefully, and try to understand it so that you don’t misuse that quote ever again.
Doug R
@TenguPhule: insert joke here about seeing the bush too early
burnspbesq
@germy:
Bwahahahaha. Wikileaks can’t sue; they aren’t the victim of the alleged libel. And even in the UK, truth is an absolute defense.
cwmoss
@Adam L Silverman: They want Trump either to beg or to start RocketMan insults again. NK wins either way.
Marc McKenzie
@Corner Stone: Oh for fucks sake, why? Why do the media keep going back to this fetid waterhole? It is not true!
Marc McKenzie
@Jeffro: Well, yeah. And Hillary pointed that out to us.
But you know, emails.
catclub
@Corner Stone:
as in Auric ….. Goldfinger??
Corner Stone
@catclub: With a name like Hartogensis…doesn’t he have to be an evil villain?
The Moar You Know
@germy: Mrs. Christine Assange is his wretched mother. Good going, mom. Hell of a kid you raised there.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
Let me respond with a very wise quote.
He doesn’t give a fuck about whether his voters suffer. He might cave because the media is telling him he looks like a dumbass thanks to that trade war.
Mary G
Assange is pretty much a prisoner now, isn’t he?
retr2327
@LAO: Wait, does this mean tRump made room on his shelf for his Nobel peace prize too soon?
ruemara
I don’t give a fuck about Assange and I’m fairly sure he’ll be retired in the appropriate fashion. Sadly, I also don’t really care about Haspel. I may not want her to have the job, but did anyone seriously think Trump was going to offer it to a decent human? There was another extremist judge appointed without fanfare today. Far more concerned about that.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mary G:
Yes, because he skipped bail in Britain. He has a habit of taking other people’s money, not providing, and then running away from his bills.
germy
germy
@Frankensteinbeck:
Trump.
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: Yes, but to reschedule travel for everyone at the exercise because we stop it prematurely is going to eat up a ton of money and personnel hours.
germy
@ruemara:
Yes, and those judges are young (at least in judge years). They’ll be wreaking havoc decades and decades from now.
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
From what I’ve read, they are very similar assholes, yes.
J R in WV
@Obvious Russian Troll:
OK, I’ll buy that.
Just one more canuck
@catclub: the assumption is that Putin doesn’t like loose ends
Betty Cracker
@germy: Damn, someone hit the Douche Trifecta right there!
rikyrah
Phuck outta here, Warner.
My statement on the nomination of Gina Haspel to be CIA Director: pic.twitter.com/eEgyBXC1tW
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) May 15, 2018
germy
@Betty Cracker:
Some headlines… there’s just no need to read the article. The headline says it all.
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
As I keep trying to explain to people about the whole Roman Polanski thing, as a rule judges and courts do not find it amusing when someone jumps bail, and they are never willing to let bygones be bygones, regardless of the underlying crime.
Polanski is not being refused entry to the US over the rape charges. He’s being refused entry because he skipped bail, and the LA DA’s office is unwilling to send a message that it’s okay to jump bail as long as you’re rich and famous.
The Moar You Know
@germy: There is a theory that this world – the one we all live in – is actually hell. This tweet goes a long way towards confirming that.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
Yeah, I have to agree that that won’t be a deterrent to Trump. He doesn’t care — it’s not his money. In fact, it could make him feel more powerful to screw all those people over and make them scramble based on his whim.
Gelfling 545
@TenguPhule: Even if not experienced they should have eexpected something. I certainly did. Kim was always going make some demand for Trump to prove his subservience. And now that Trump has visions of a Nobel Prize in his brain, who knows what could happen?
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
So very true.
Which is why I hope someone snatches his azz up, and shoves him onto a plane for Mueller.
ruemara
@germy: I’m not usually reactionary or violent, but I think anyone who has benefited from this admin should be removed and investigated for treason. Thiiiiiis close to thinking summary execution is fair.
trollhattan
@germy:
Rodman would be my go-to guy for this mission. ETA Has Pamela Anderson confused herself with Jenny McCarthy?
JPL
Trump is gonna be upset.. First NK and now this
https://twitter.com/mattzap/status/996493036325625861
chopper
@Corner Stone:
damn, there goes that nobel prize.
MisterForkbeard
@JPL: Awww. And here I thought the sky was falling.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
You’ve been reading The Odyssey again, haven’t you?
Leto
@Adam L Silverman:
If ever there was proof that hell is real, it’s DTS.
germy
@ruemara:
I’ve been told it’s impossible. But it it is revealed he took office illegally, how can his appointments be considered legal? Up to and including Gorsuch.
@trollhattan:
A job for Dr. Jill Stein. “You’re welcome, America!”
sdhays
@Mnemosyne: Yep, Trump will “give away the store” because it’s not his store. He’s selling it. What makes him a shitty deal-maker is that he has no idea how much the store is worth, so he will definitely sell it for pennies.
SiubhanDuinne
@J R in WV:
Well, I suppose she could be his mother….
ETA: Obvious Russian Troll got there an hour ago, @136
ruemara
@germy: Trump has been doing the impossible, aided & abetted by the GOP. It’s time we took advantage that this shit hasn’t been codified into legal consequences and do some impossible & permanently punitive things.
JPL
@MisterForkbeard: The VA court has not decided yet, but even if the judge decides to drop charges, Manafort will still be tried for crimes against the U.S.
Cheryl Rofer
@Roger Moore: This article argues that Trump caved to China, but yeah that China investment in Indonesia.
sdhays
@JPL: Not the same judge who was stupid-curious earlier. I believe we’re still waiting on his ruling. But the better prognosticators seem to think that that guy likes to huff and puff, but doesn’t have a lot of leeway to rule against the Special Council. If he does, he’ll be at great risk of being overturned on appeal, and this ruling should add some pressure on him to do the right thing.
Mart
i am so old I remember arguing with those R’s and D’s who realized the Iraq war casus belli was a con job; that Assange was a good guy. I now blame the Russian bots.
JPL
@sdhays: That is what I think, also.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne: Guilty as charged.
hrumpole
@LAO: That is, after a polite conversation with one of the Special Counsel’s team in front of a grand jury.
rikyrah
Sound the alarm!
https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/996065251178242049?s=19
MisterForkbeard
@rikyrah: I do really like Kamala. Glad she’s my Senator.
RedDirtGirl
@TenguPhule: Man, that’s dark! And all too possible!
Barbara
@sdhays: Judge Ellis likes to talk through every last issue that occurs to him. Takes a long time to get through even simple pleas. This is according to a friend.
Corner Stone
@sdhays:
Trump, is that you?
Corner Stone
Mary G
Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, and Joe Donnelly could take some lessons on how to Democrat in a red state:
Tell the truth, because offering these little concessions will just make the right demand more and bigger ones. Doug Jones is also a “no” on Haspel.
Baud
According to LGM, in the name of intellectual diversity, the NYT has hired a pro-Trump columnist.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/05/smug-liberals-force-james-bennet-hire-pro-trump-columnist#disqus_thread
Have I mentioned what garbage they are?
Baud
@Corner Stone: I thought we healed the nation by holding Hillary accountable for all of Bush’s sins.
Kay
“Strange as it sounds”.
Not strange at all. Bullies are cowards. As any 6th grader with anything on the ball could tell you.
They have to stop falling for fake tough guys. I don’t know- counseling? Some kind of retreat? They get into these bad relationships over and over again.
Baud
@Kay: It’s not a bad relationship. It’s a very lucrative relationship for both sides.
Corner Stone
@Mary G: Doug Jones is going to get turfed in AL in a couple years. He may as well stand for something in the interim.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Snooze Hour had that dude on to yell at Charlie Sykes how the Orange One’s acolytes are not racist. Garbage Times has gone full Nazi.
Kay
@Mary G:
I think about it with the chokeholds. I can’t be the only one. Lotta unnecessary strangling going on. Makes me wonder. Where did that come from?
Corner Stone
This fucking Cryptkeeper lawyer who used to work for Trump on Ari’s show right now. That dude needs a mental health worker to assist him off stage.
Peale
@Gelfling 545: his head will explode. At one hand he wants to believe that North Korea is begging for mercy. In the other hand, he probably wanted to start charging South Korea for the expense of those exercises and pocket the money. He can’t cancel them.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: Charlie Sykes is fucking garbage.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
No, tell us.
japa21
@germy: This came up during the whole birther thing. It was pretty much determined that even if it was found Obama did not meet the qualifications to be President and was forced to leave office, it would not change anything that was done while he was in office.
Baud
@Corner Stone: Makes sense. Sets himself up nicely for a potential spot in the next Dem administration.
@schrodingers_cat: I believe the preferred term is Deplorable (and technically, that describes only half of them.)
Baud
@TenguPhule: How many right-wingers have they hired now in exchange for hiring Michelle Goldberg?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G: Marc Maron (stand-up comic/podcaster-interviewer) described his visit to the memorial on his show on Monday, he sounded audibly moved, even shaken, several days later.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Corner Stone: he certainly sounds feeble, but I think he was strong enough to throw Rudi and Cohen under a bus. If he was speaking with trump’s knowledge as he seemed to indicate.
Of course, trump is both mercurial and a coward, so Rudi would have to accept dismissal. Unless Ivanka makes a call.
Elizabelle
I’d be good with the door hitting Julian’s ass on the way out. Please make it happen, Ecuador.
Bought the Pete Souza book of Obama photographs today; saw it on a table at Costco. Paging through a bit, but it made me so sad. Like coming back to your beloved city, but it’s been bombed; it’s not recognizable.
Anyway, I will enjoy looking at some elegance and class.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Did you happen to see that Fuck the Fucking Vichy NY Times went with “Liberals, you’re not as smart as you think you are” this weekend? Some idjit professor from, I am embarrassed to say, the University of Virginia. I didn’t read it, but come on NY Times. You are just trolling us at this point.
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Just the physical design of the memorial breaks my heart. There’s no mistaking what it’s about.
Baud
@Elizabelle: No, I try to ignore them and only hear about stuff they do when it comes from other sources. I get that it’s valuable to pay attention and document the atrocities, but it’s not my thing. The NYT really does disrespect its readers.
Jeffro
@germy:
Wait…am I high? I must be high. Totally like stratospheric high.
Next thing, you’ll tell me that John Bolton and Larry Kudlow have White House jobs, or something…
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne: Caught between a rock and a sore place?
japa21
OT: Just received a call from my oldest son. His wife’s father passed away during his sleep last night. He was a Vietnam vet and when I first met him I was wondering what this guy was all about. Long scraggly beard, riding a souped up Harley. Big stocky guy. IOW, I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side. Turns out he was a gentle giant. Worked for Caterpillar in Peoria for years, life long union man. He also, although being WWC and over 60, could not stand Trump or just about anything Republican. Always enjoyed when we got together. We had almost nothing in common but our humanity. He will be missed.
Corner Stone
@Jeffro: You may…uhmm…need to have a seat.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay:
Remember, the press has a big problem with men abusing women; more bullies and cowards.
chris
@Baud: GAH! I thought you were kidding. JFC, that’s awful.
Villago Delenda Est
Here’s Assmunch’s song
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
They lose their tv gigs if they don’t do enough bothsiderism.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Elizabelle: Jamelle Bouie found that prof had written pretty much the same column for the WaPo in 2010
Media Matters was on it back then, too
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: What a dick. Lazy one, too.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@trollhattan:
I read an article that Pamela Anderson absolutely loves Putin’s Russia for whatever reason. I think she even tried lobbying him for animal rights. Like he would give a shit about that. He doesn’t even care about human rights.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
My kids gave it to me for Christmas. They waited in line to get it autographed. It’s so bittersweet.
I still can’t believe we went from hero to zero.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: I got mine at Costco a couple of weeks ago.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
The NYT’s approach to op-ed “diversity” led them to hire smug, ignorant right-winger Bill Kristol, and when they had to fire Kristol for incompetence it led them to hire smug, ignorant right-winger Ross Douthat.
Uncle Cosmo
@TenguPhule: Moron Homer’s two great works, The Idiot and The Oddity…
Kathleen
@Adam L Silverman: The story line will be “The mean libruls made him/her do it”, and the Mainslime Media will procreate that poultry.
Kathleen
@Barry: Subtext being “The Democrats are Satanic but we have to assume a false pretense of balance.”
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: Yes, but Buskirk is like toxic radioactive waste with a half life of million years.
jonas
@Corner Stone: I think in cases like this, they’re not thinking about (as if they ever do) individual voters, but of certain org endorsements and/or big donors who could be turned off by this or that vote.
Corner Stone
@jonas: That’s fine. But what big donor could they woo or offend by the vote to deny Haspel this job?