Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

This blog will pay for itself.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

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

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

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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

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

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

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

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The willow is too close to the house.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

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

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Happening Now: Trump-Putin Meeting. Or Summit?

Happening Now: Trump-Putin Meeting. Or Summit?

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I’m a little late to this, and the two world leaders are in their meeting.

Don’t forget – This is the man who didn’t know what the nuclear triad was during his campaign. The New START treaty, which limits nuclear warheads on both sides, is coming up for renewal, but I’ll bet he has no idea what it is. Besides, it is one of Obama’s treaties, negotiated by a team that was led by a woman and staffed by a team about equally men and women. But I doubt he knows that last part either. My guess is he’ll go for something like what the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik failed to achieve – a plan for total nuclear disarmament. If he can avoid giving away America’s nuclear arsenal for a promise that he can build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Anyhoo, I’ll post interesting tweets as they come in.

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  1. 1.

    Cheryl Rofer

    An odd feature of this meeting is that the US government, people in high positions who have been appointed by Trump, are taking positions quite different from his on Russia.

  2. 2.

    arrieve

    Sigh. If I make it to my lunch break without learning that we’re now at war with Russia, I guess it will be a good day. The worst part is, if that happens it will be down to Vlad’s sense of decency and restraint and not our putative leader.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    Radical lefty has advice for Trump staffers:

    Oh wait, Ruth MARCUS? Wow.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Trump looks awful in that clip.

    I mean, he always looks awful, but here he looks close to death’s door. I really think he is very ill, medically ill.

  12. 12.

    JGabriel

    The stage is set. The Gothic Hall in the Finnish Presidential Palace is where #Putin, @realDonaldTrump will spend at least 3 hours face-to-face as scheduled.

    Three hours, huh?

    I hope the Finns are serving refreshments … and I hope the servers are all members of Finnish intelligence agencies.

  15. 15.

    JGabriel

    Fox News via Cheryl Rofer:

    @POTUS: “I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship, I hope so.”

    And I just got the visual in my head. Brain Scrub to Aisle 3, please, Brain Scrub to Aisle 3!

  18. 18.

    JGabriel

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I mean, he always looks awful, but here he looks close to death’s door. I really think he is very ill, medically ill.

    Doesn’t he always look medically ill?

    Maybe Putin slipped some Novichok in Trump’s drink.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    His face is puffy and lumpy, his eyes are baggy, and his colour is alarmingly florid (although in fairness some of that may be the tanning spray).

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    @Quinerly: He’s not going to do shit to protect and defend this country. That’s been clear to us since the beginning. We can only hope the obviousness of it knocks the scales off other people’s eyes.

    Here’s another thing I hope: that the people who briefed Trump on the Mueller indictment of the Russians protected their sources / info-gathering techniques very carefully during that briefing. Because if not, Trump will blab it out in the first 30 seconds of his alone time with Putin.

    Another thought: it would be great if the briefers included fake top secret info as a sting so they can prove that Trump improperly shared it with Putin.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @JGabriel: My money’s on the Queen. “Have you enjoyed your tea, Mr. Trump?” Use something with a three-day delay, and everyone will blame Putin.

    Oh, for the good old days when that plot would have been too ridiculous for any publisher to touch.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    @Cheryl Rofer

    As good a moment as any to wish a Happy Prime Day.

    :)

    (well cushioned here against incoming brickbats)

    Actually a reason for mentioning it, as have an OT question. As the sale price is so inviting for it, do y’all think 90-year-old Mom would (a) appreciate and (b) learn to use a Kindle? She’s staunchly in the “I like to hold and feel a book” camp and, although she has used her laptop for years, still frets that she’ll press the wrong button and smoke will come out of it.

    Reason for asking is mostly because she goes to the library a couple of times a week. Which is fine – it’s about 5 blocks away, albeit long blocks, but I worry about her doing that in winter time with the snow and ice. Being able to electronically take out books from the library would seem a plus, if she could readily learn to use it (don’t have one myself so unfamiliar with the learning curve).

  27. 27.

    tobie

    Thank you, Cheryl, for getting up at the crack of dawn in your neck of the woods to report on this!

    Yes to all: The Turd’s skin has noticeably worsened. It’s puffy, wrinkled, splotchy, and uneven. Maybe his diet of burgers, fries, and diet coke is catching up with him??

  29. 29.

    Gvg

    @Spanky: That’s exactly what I have been thinking for the last few days. Wonder is Putin has thought of it?
    It’s one thing to order a killing, and get a reputation. It’s another to be blamed when you didn’t do it, but nobody believes you. I think if Trump does die in office at any times, the nutter theories about it will spin out of control in unpredictable ways for decades. I’d really prefer impeachment.

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    @NotMax: I find that most people who are in the “I like to hold and feel a book” camp cannot be converted to Kindle, iPad, etc., even if technologically capable. Maybe a book delivery service?

  33. 33.

    A Ghost To Most

    @NotMax: My wife is not tech savvy, but she loves her Kindle. They are not difficult to learn.

    P.S. I hope Shitler hangs for his crimes.

  34. 34.

    Platonailedit

    I start my day and see #TreasonSummit is the top trend.

    Why?

    Perhaps it's because Trump and his GOP enablers are supplicant to dictators and scornful of allies…

    They attack US law enforcement to cover for #Russia…

    They ignore our intel community to push the Kremlin line.

    — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) July 16, 2018

  35. 35.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @NotMax: She can take books out of the library on her laptop. I do that, but I find the software clumsy to use. Someone at the library would probably sit with her there and teach her to do it. Then it would depend on how motivated she is. One advantage is that she can adjust the font size with control-plus.

  36. 36.

    sherparick

    @Betty Cracker: But they won’t Ruth. They, like McConnell and Ryan, see Trump, and for that matter the Russian interference, see as the heaven sent opportunity to turn the U.S. into “Galt’s Gulch,” but with an Evangelical and Conservative Roman Catholic justification for the social order of selfishness and assholery. They and the Republican Business Elite envision, with Kavanaugh on the bench the “end of the 40 hour week and the return of the 12 hour day,” no more social security and medicare, and just oodles of more money and power for the lucky 100,000 at the top of American society, just as God intended, they claim, while the rest keep their noses to grind stone until they drop.. So they will put up with the destruction of the international order and Trump’s naked corruption to achieve the Conservative Movement’s Nirvana.

  37. 37.

    Quinerly

    @NotMax: not sure about a Kindle (I have one, love it but I know it would have been a disaster for my own mom at 90…she was in excellent shape but she would have never taken to it). Have you thought about an Echo? I love mine… I use it mostly like a portable jukebox, telling Alexa what songs/artists I want to hear. I was late to the Alexa game… pretty cool and convenient. My mom would have loved it.

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:

    Another thought: it would be great if the briefers included fake top secret info as a sting so they can prove that Trump improperly shared it with Putin.

    Sadly, as President it is entirely legal for him to share anything he wants with Putin, just as he did in the infamous Oval Office meetup with Lavrov and Kislyak.

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Darn. Yet another circumstance in which we used to rely on even terrible presidents’ patriotism and discretion to enforce customs that will now have to be codified into law. So many!

    Still, stone-cold proof that Trump blabbed US secrets would be damaging politically (outside the MAGAsphere) if not legally.

  41. 41.

    Haroldo

    @NotMax: My 91 year old mom has had a Kindle for some years now (it’s one of the older models) and she adores it. Gets ebooks from the library and is a happy, happy girl. Initially, she was pretty sceptical, somewhat like your mom. Mom’s pretty tech savvy, however: desktop, tablet, and Kindle.

    In summation: maybe? How game is your mom to try new things?

  42. 42.

    Quinerly

    @NotMax: and I realize I changed the actual subject but the price is really down. I wish my mom was around so I could send her one. Personally, I’m a book person. I’m a complete failure when it comes to trying to read one on a tablet/Kindle.

  44. 44.

    TS (the original)

    @NotMax: I’m some years younger than your Mom & was also in the “Hold a book” class – but I now adore my kindle. Not having to go out to get a new book, having any number of books with me when I go out and being able to change the font size – big plus. But what I like best are the previews. Instead of standing in the book shop or library & scrolling through the pages, I can get the first few chapters – read them & then decide to buy/or not.

    Maybe you can buy a kindle, download a few books or previews and see if she will start reading them or not. Can always give the kindle to someone else if she really doesn’t like it.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    In case y’all missed this from last night:

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Re Kindle for mom:

    It’s hard to say. The Kindle (and the Barnes & Noble Nook) is pretty easy to use for reading, but there are some ancillary skills that Mom may not have or find easy to acquire, such as browsing Amazon to look for and order books, or browsing her library’s selection. Does you mom have a computer?

    One solution would be for you to set up the Kindle on your account and order the books for her (from Amazon or the library). Then they would either show up automatically on her Kindle (assigned to your account) or she would only have to say, “I want to start reading this.” (Can’t remember exactly how it works.)

    One thing I learned at B&N is that e-readers are great for older readers—if you can get them to use them—because they can increase a book’s font size to make books more readable. I used to get geezers complaining all the time about the slim pickings in the “large print” section—valid complaint, but it’s an industry trend, not just B&N—and a surprising number of them seemed open to the idea of an e-reader when they saw how they could fiddle with the font and formatting.

    But a lot of old people have the attitude that “I missed the boat on technology and I’m not starting now.” You can identify them by their ancient flip phones with two buttons. Which they never have turned on, anyway.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    The people who benefitted from this are pouring money into his re-elect. Some of the most powerful private sector people in the country are endorsing all of this. The whole Trump Administration could quit en masse and it wouldn’t even cause a ripple in Trump’s institutional support among the (large) business sector.

    When this as all said and done that needs to be talked about- how huge private sector actors supported all of this because they got personal tax cuts and the eradication of any regulation. They’re certainly part of our “institutions”, hugely respected and listened to, and they support him. They’re validating and approving all of this.

  50. 50.

    Platonailedit

    Putin appears ready to take notes in one-on-one with Trump. Ahead of meeting there were concerns among analysts that no official record would exist of the encounter. Trump didn’t appear to have a similar notepad. pic.twitter.com/fbeFXMdc9a— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) July 16, 2018

  53. 53.

    CarolDuhart2

    @NotMax: Kindle seems to me very easy to use. Make sure it’s bright with large type. Also, I don’t know about your library, but ours has a service that mails books to people who because of various issues have difficulty getting to the library. Books are also returned by mail as well.

    Putin is going to do whatever Putin wants, regardless of what Trump says. Even if Trump said nothing and just sat around, Putin has already decided what to do and how.

  56. 56.

    CarolDuhart2

    @tobie: How much blow and pills did Orange Cheeto inhale during his “Vietnam” days? That stuff catches up with you, which is why more than a few 70’s rockers have bought it earlier than you might think. A side effect is heart damage. Putin probably knows about this and knows that a sick Trump is no match, and that he needs to hurry things up before it’s too late.

    Pence has no such relationship with Putin.

  57. 57.

    bookdragon

    @TS (the original): The option to enlarge the font as what sold my 76 yr old mom on it. She still loves paper books (as do I), but I got her the kindle fire, so she can also watch video, look at pictures of the kids that I post in shared albums, listen to music, and/or play sudoku and crossword puzzles on the device. Well worth the sale price from last Christmas.

  58. 58.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Now that breakfast is over, the cats are demanding their morning walks. Will be back and forth for the next hour or so. Probably not gonna hear much anyway.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: True, but that could change. Trump is so flailing and incompetent, I wonder if he’ll screw the pooch on the economy so badly that his corporate patrons abandon him. Hard to predict. Corporations have done a cost-benefit analysis and determined that an admin that guts regulations, signs giant tax cuts, appoints corporate-owned judges, etc., balances out the possibility of economic instability caused by half-assed trade wars, etc. That calculation may change with the circumstances.

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steeplejack:

    I wish we could go back to using “the Argentine.”

    Somehow I don’t think you’re old enough to have used it the first time. But you get reminded of the British influence there if you take the subway in Buenos Aires – it comes from the wrong side, because the Brits built the system.

  62. 62.

    Spanky

    Found at CNN and not, surprisingly, The Onion:

    During an event hosted by the Economic Club in Washington, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said his Chevy Suburban was eaten by a family of woodchucks

    There’s video at the CNN site, but I ain’t gonna.

  63. 63.

    Cheryl Rofer

    This is just silly. Putin is making a point about note-taking. Of course he won’t be taking notes. Nobody serious about a conversation like this would. He’s trolling, and the journos are eating it up. Not a good sign for the 2018 elections.

  65. 65.

    Steeplejack

    @bookdragon:

    Good point on the other, non-reading apps. Maybe NotMax’s mom would like those. On the other hand, if she is a hard-core “paper books” person, she will like a black-and-white Kindle model with the E Ink technology. Very readable.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: In truth, patriotism and discretion hasn’t been all that reliable either. Remember Valerie Plame? Scooter Libby didn’t get convicted for leaking top secret information (the identity of a CIA undercover agent) because Bush had declassified it so it could be used in the smear campaign against her husband. Libby was convicted for lying to the FBI about it.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @Haroldo

    Don’t think she’s necessarily scared of trying new stuff, but electronic things are kind of hit and miss. Tried to give her an electric hot pot thingie and she refused entirely (it’s now in my own kitchen). Was worried about her using her teakettle on the gas range and forgetting about it. On the other hand, last year I installed a rear view camera and viewer in her car and she took to it like a duck to water.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor

    Good idea, except in her case she’d be tied to that one room and that one chair. The laptop may as well be bolted down for all the movement it has ever seen, and once she unplugged the modem, printer, external speakers, etc. I know in my heart of hearts she’d never get everything plugged back in properly again.

  70. 70.

    Gin & Tonic

    Tomorrow will be four years since Russian-backed paramilitaries using Russian-supplied equipment and supervised by active-duty Russian military officers shot down a civilian airliner. What are the odds Trump mentions that?

  72. 72.

    tobie

    @Baud: Both things you say are true. And the new punching bag for the left and the right is Nancy Pelosi. It’s funny how women of a certain age are vilified, but men of a certain age (Trump, Sanders) get a pass. Actually, it’s not funny; it’s infuriating.

  74. 74.

    p.a.

    @Cheryl Rofer: I’m gonna go get some breakfast while they are deciding exactly where to draw their Molotov-Ribbentrop line.

    At the Mason-Dixon line. Trump gets south- his base.

  77. 77.

    Spanky

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Tomorrow will be four years since Russian-backed paramilitaries using Russian-supplied equipment and supervised by active-duty Russian military officers shot down a civilian airliner. What are the odds Trump mentions
    remembers that?

    FTFY. I’m sure no one in the WH is aware of the anniversary.

    (Edited for strike fail)

  78. 78.

    JGabriel

    Will Saletan via Cheryl Rofer:

    The last time a note taker was present, the notes revealed that Trump had told Russia’s foreign minister that by firing Comey he had taken the pressure off.

    So this time, he wanted no note taker.

    That lines up with the theory that Trump wants to meet Putin alone so he can discuss Russian aid to the GOP for the 2018 mid-terms.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    There’s a good thought – keying it to my account. When I’m there later this month could maybe go with her to the library. They must have someone on staff who could walk her through the basic how tos of accessing their selections.

  80. 80.

    tobie

    @Cheryl Rofer: This is so perverse. Trump is more afraid of the US government than he is of the Russian state. He wants to hide info from his own country, so he can share electoral strategy, banter, and concessions with an adversary. If the press doesn’t point out just how perverse this is, then they are guilty of malpractice. How many other signs do you need to know that he is a Manchurian candidate, now President?

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @Cheryl Rofer: Let’s hope that America’s…is it SIGINT?…listening capabilities are stretched to the limit, both while they are talking and afterwards as Putin’s relaying the instructions orders he gave to The Puppet.

  82. 82.

    rikyrah

    The case for treason

    Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution details the legal definition for treason against the United States.

    Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

    On Friday, July 13, 2018, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein released indictments against twelve Russian military intelligence officers. The indictments accused them of being behind the cyber attacks on the DNC, DCCC, and Clinton campaign. The indictments also detailed that voter rolls were hacked. Furthermore, and important for this discussion, the indictments state that Americans were involved with these officers as being beneficiaries of their actions. One can surmise that their indictments will be arriving anon. In indicting the Russians first, Mueller is laying the legal groundwork for charging American co-conspirators.

    The fact that this was a GRU (Russian military intelligence) operation is the key to determining whether or not this is treason.

    An arm of a foreign nation’s military attacked the United States. It didn’t attack it with bombs, or guns, or ships. It attacked the United States with bits and bytes, with malware, with phishing expeditions. But it was an attack, nevertheless.

    In his bid to restore Russian prestige, Vladimir Putin has been involved in an undeclared war against the West. It’s an asymmetric war. Putin isn’t suicidal; he doesn’t want to test the West’s military might. What he does instead is use the tools the West created against it. He uses the West’s openness and liberal democracy to undermine it. And as the West’s leader, the United States is his prime target.

    …………………………………

    But those who actively conspired with Putin are not idiots. They did so with full awareness of what they were doing. They sided with a foreign power against their own country. Politically and morally they are traitors. And as we are in an undeclared, ghost war against Russia, then they should be held legally accountable for treason.

    Russia’s American co-conspirators are levying war against the United States. They are giving aid and comfort to an enemy. And the indictments are the testimony.

    What Bob Mueller did today was begin to lay out the case for treason. Not for obstruction of justice, not for mere conspiracy. The Russian military conducted a cyber attack against this country. Our cities aren’t in ruin. But something equally as precious is under threat: the idea of who we are as Americans. That can be just as destructive.

  85. 85.

    rp

    Has anyone been reading Michael Tracey’s twitter feed? It’s quite amazing. He’s either the stupidest man on the planet or, like Greenwald, is getting paid to defend Trump and Russia (or both).

  86. 86.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @Betty Cracker: I’m not convinced that most companies or their management actually do cost-benefit analysis of this stuff–or look at it if they do. They see that their guy supports lower taxes and that’s all they need to see. If they need to, they can always apply a little pressure, right?

    A lot of companies are also run by geniuses like John Schnatter. He’s a billionaire (or at least in that range), yet do you think he does any more of an analysis than looking at the R after a candidate’s name?

  89. 89.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Gin & Tonic: And the Russians too. Trump thinks by not having a note-taker his words aren’t recorded. The “MAOA” (Make America Old Again) guy has no grasp of the fact that electronic recording is so good that it’s more accurate than note-taking anyway. These days paper pads are just for show and personal observations alone. Putin is willing to go along with the charade because he has Trump by the balls anyway, and it costs him nothing to agree.

  90. 90.

    rp

    @Elizabelle: He’s a “progressive” “journalist” who claimed he was assaulted by Maxine Waters last year when she brushed his mike aside. He and Greenwald are constantly retweeting each other.

    I read him and Greenwald occasionally to get a sense of what the Berniebros are saying and what talking points are being pushed.

  91. 91.

    tobie

    @rikyrah: Irony of ironies: the so-called DOE “specialists from Idaho” were actually tasked with securing nuclear material from a non-profit lab in Texas and bringing it back to the DOE facility in Idaho:

    Their task, according to documents and interviews, was to ensure that the radioactive materials did not fall into the wrong hands on the way back to Idaho, where the government maintains a stockpile of nuclear explosive materials for the military and others.

    What kind of non-profit keeps trace amounts of weapons-grade plutonium and cesium on hand?

  93. 93.

    Jeffro

    @Gin & Tonic: Jesus let’s hope so.

    Btw folks Charles Blow is pulling no punches and good on him for doing so: Trumpov, Treasonous Traitor (yes that really is the headline of his op-ed in today’s NYT)

    KA-POW!

    …none of this is fine. None of it! Trump should be directing all resources at his disposal to punish Russia for the attacks and prevent future ones. But he is not.
    America’s commander wants to be chummy with the enemy who committed the crime. Trump is more concerned with protecting his presidency and validating his election than he is in protecting this country.

    This is an incredible, unprecedented moment. America is being betrayed by its own president. America is under attack and its president absolutely refuses to defend it.

    Simply put, Trump is a traitor and may well be treasonous.

  94. 94.

    CarolDuhart2

    I have been asking myself, is there a dead body underneath it all? The pee-pee tape has been out for months, making Trump the butt of jokes, but it hasn’t really made much of a body blow. True, nobody has seen it (seeing is believing), but if it did come out, it would be merely humiliating and embarassing, not a matter of legal jeopardy. But a dead body is blackmail material. especially if Putin has proof of the murder.

  95. 95.

    Betty Cracker

    @Obvious Russian Troll: I don’t think people like Schnatter are all that bright or that fat cats like, say, Sheldon Adelson look beyond their one issue when making donations. But I do think the shift from a stakeholder to shareholder business model and the multinationalization of corporations untethered large companies from their allegiance to a particular country and refocused it on distributing sovereign piles of cash.

    I’m just an old English major, so I don’t claim a deep understanding of the business world. But I did think it was funny when Trump was upbraiding the Harley Davidson c-suite for moving some operations offshore, appealing to their patriotism. I literally laughed out loud when I read that. What patriotism? They don’t give a fuck. Bean counting is all that matters.

    That’s why I believe if Trump really fucks up the economy — and that is entirely possible since he’s done nothing but coast on President Obama’s eight-year project and is full of ill-informed, belligerent opinions and misplaced confidence in his own sagacity — that business leaders could decide it’s time to cut him lose. Pence would enact the same pro-corporate policies and take orders better. We’ll see.

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    Definitions in advance for the terms which are likeliest to be rolled out about the meeting.

    wide-ranging: We couldn’t reach agreement so kept changing the subject.

    promising: No one physically struck anybody, nor outright said “this means war.”

    robust: The coffee was extra strong.

  97. 97.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @tobie:

    To ensure they got the right items, the specialists from Idaho brought radiation detectors and small samples of dangerous materials to calibrate them: specifically, a plastic-covered disk of plutonium, a material that can be used to fuel nuclear weapons, and another of cesium, a highly radioactive isotope that could potentially be used in a so-called “dirty” radioactive bomb.

  98. 98.

    Yarrow

    @Jeffro:

    Simply put, Trump is a traitor and may well be treasonous.

    Glad to see people finally recognizing this. It’s been obvious since before the 2016 election and certainly his actions since have only solidified it.

  99. 99.

    satby

    @NotMax: Kindles have dropped so much in price it’s worth a try, especially if you have a prime membership to download books for her. Keep it simple and just get a reader only, not a Fire with the browser, and it’s an easier learning curve. My anti-tech sister with MS learned to use her Kindle, a benefit is that the print can be zoomed for those with vision problems. She wasn’t able to read without a magnifying glass but on the Kindle with print at about 200% she can.

  100. 100.

    Mike in NC

    Observe Trump’s awful body language: he’s always perched on the end of a chair, leaning forward, touching his fingertips. Looks exactly like a guy taking a shit (in this case on America).

  101. 101.

    Baud

    @Yarrow:

    BJ is generally ahead of the curve. Plus, we didn’t dismiss truth simply because it came from Hillary Clinton’s mouth.

  102. 102.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Betty Cracker:

    What patriotism? They don’t give a fuck. Bean counting is all that matters.

    In a public company that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Management’s duty is to maximize shareholder value.

  104. 104.

    Yarrow

    @Baud: It’s been so obvious for so long. That many in our media are also complicit must be one of the explanations for why they refused to investigate and report on it.

  106. 106.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Management’s duty is to maximize shareholder value.

    And in a nutshell that is the entirety what is wrong with corporate structure.

  107. 107.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Betty Cracker: “Our relationship has never been worse since you caught us stabbing you in the back.”

    It’s sad that Trump doesn’t see that and only sees Russia agreeing with the “obvious” statement that Democrats are awful people and ruin everyone.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    @NotMax:

    Between now and Winter, you will have plenty of time to get her acclimated to the Kindle Fire. You can also do audiobooks on the KindleFire. Tell her it’s a Winter backup plan, and explain how concerned you are about her safety during the winter.

    Does your local library have the app that will check out books electronically?

  109. 109.

    Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride

    @Steeplejack:
    Didn’t that country conspicuously stop cooperating with Mueller? Maybe they’ll reconsider that decision now.

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s just wrong, though.

    It’s why the FIRE segment (finance, insurance, real estate) underpins our economy. It’s mostly paper, and pricing things out of reach for the middle class and below. We’ve undermined ourselves, with offshoring, “rightsizing” — because who wants those pesky employees, making enough to afford a middle class life. What used to be called “the good life.”

    A nation of MBA Adolph Eichmanns. It’s wrong. Morally, and in the long term too.

    Needs reform, or bring out the guillotines.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    I was staunchly in the ‘ I love the hold and feel of a book’ camp, and I have gotten used to reading books on the Kindle Fire. There are certain books that I buy today that I want in hardcover, so I will buy them that way. But, I have gotten used to it.

  115. 115.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Awwwwww, Pobrecito:

    Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson on Monday penned an angry editorial for Fox News in which he bitterly complained that his parents, who are two lifelong Democrats, are refusing to endorse his campaign.

    Nicholson, who is running against incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) this fall, wrote that his parents’ decision to support Baldwin over their own son was emblematic of liberals’ supposed “intolerance” for dissenting viewpoints.

    The candidate seemed particularly upset that his parents not only endorsed Baldwin, but sent the maximum allowable donation to her campaign.

    “They decided to make the maximum contribution to my Democrat opponent in my campaign for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin, an intentional personal blow that made headlines across the country,” he complained. “It was deliberate — and it is a true representation of the intolerance of a political philosophy that stands on the false platform of tolerance.”

    Nicholson went on to claim that he does not “enjoy talking about this highly personal experience,” despite the fact that he wrote an entire op-ed for Fox News about it. He says that he decided to talk about what has happened to him as a way to let other supposedly wary Democrats know that it’s OK for them to leave the party.

    “Many others who have decided to leave the Democrat Party have also likely paid a personal price for their decision,” he wrote. “And others are not yet ready to leave because of the judgement and ridicule they will undoubtedly receive from other Democrats — whether family, friends, or co-workers. Unfortunately, their fear is founded.”

    We are tolerant of many things but abject stupidity and outright assholery are not among them. And with that laugh, I bid you all adieu.

  117. 117.

    germy

    @rp:

    I read him and Greenwald occasionally to get a sense of what the Berniebros are saying and what talking points are being pushed.

    I love how GG, on the one hand, tweets about NY governor Cuomo: “All his cronies have been indicted! Indicted!!!” And then in the same paragraph brushes off the recent indictments of the Russians: “Indictments don’t mean anything. An indictment doesn’t mean the person is guilty…”

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah: I love a physical book, and own too many, but notice all the kindle readers when I travel. Because it’s a library on a smallish device, and many don’t have to worry about their reading glasses. Just remember your charger …

    Have bought a few ebooks for my iPad, but still don’t enjoy reading them as much as paper ….

  119. 119.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    He says that he decided to talk about what has happened to him as a way to let other supposedly wary Democrats know that it’s OK for them to leave the party.

    Ah, yes. Hashtag Walkaway, which is totally a real grassroots thing, and not complete nonsense.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    When this as all said and done that needs to be talked about- how huge private sector actors supported all of this because they got personal tax cuts and the eradication of any regulation. They’re certainly part of our “institutions”, hugely respected and listened to, and they support him. They’re validating and approving all of this.

    So true, Kay.

    So true.

  121. 121.

    Jeffro

    @Yarrow:

    [Trumpov’s treason] been so obvious for so long

    Hard to believe it has been over two years now since most of us were openly discussing Trumpov being in Putin’s pocket. Two years.

  122. 122.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Elizabelle: I enjoy paper (and own way too much of it) too, but when traveling, something like Robert Caro’s The Passage of Power is, how shall I say, not an ideal companion. And the Paperwhite, at least, is eminently readable and will hold its charge for a very long time.

  123. 123.

    Shana

    @NotMax: I haven’t read through so I don’t know if others have weighed in, but my MIL uses a Paperwhite Kindle and really likes it. There aren’t a lot of buttons, it’s really complicated to delete anything, it automatically syncs to your last reading position, you can change the size of the font (my MIL is practically blind and has it on the biggest size which works for her. I recommend getting one of the covers with a magnetic closure where the Kindle automatically turns on when you open it.

    ETA: she’s 90

  125. 125.

    germy

    @rikyrah: Recently another young wingnut tried that. She ambushed Ms. Waters in a hallway with a camera, started aggressively questioning and insulting her.

    Ms. Waters waved some papers in front of her camera, and the young lady immediately went online with the footage and called it assault. She said she was calling the police and would press charges.

    Oddly enough, it went nowhere.

  126. 126.

    MagdainBlack

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    His parents dont like his politics and policy positions so he went whining to Fox?
    Theyre not allowed to vote for or support anyone but him because theyre his MOM and DAD?
    WTF?

  127. 127.

    TS (the original)

    @Steeplejack:

    One solution would be for you to set up the Kindle on your account and order the books for her

    Alternatively just load down the previews for her. One click at the end of the preview will buy the book (or not if it isn’t liked). Only had one book that I liked the preview and hated the book. The RW religious racism started in the next chapter after the preview. First time I got around to leaving a review on amazon.

    So many thanks to @notmax for his off topic book discussion. Much better than reading about what trump is doing to the US & the world

  128. 128.

    scav

    I haven’t had my coffee yet, but I half have the impression that the entire poor relationship history between destined BFFs Russia & Mecka (the whole world wants it!) is somehow the fault of that baseless Deep State Witch Hunt! out to hurt the more popular than Lincoln entirely not a blimp Trump majesty? The entire cold war is proof of time travel?

  130. 130.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I think I get what Putin’s up to, just look the picture of the two of them; Trump is ill, defensive and nervous, while Putin is rexaled, attentive and confident. As for international political theater that’s a master stroke. Basically a message to the Ukraine “Who do you want to bet your future on?”

  133. 133.

    danielx

    @Betty Cracker:

    Another thought: it would be great if the briefers included fake top secret info as a sting so they can prove that Trump improperly shared it with Putin.

    It would be except that 1) Trump doesn’t care about briefings and 2) as far as he’s concerned, if he shares it it’s not improper.

    I’m not convinced he even recognizes ‘improper’ as a concept.

  134. 134.

    Patricia Kayden

    @OzarkHillbilly: His parents sound like wonderful people. This is a case of the apple falling very far from the tree and turning into a different fruit.

  135. 135.

    A Ghost To Most

    “It doesn’t make sense”
    “It doesn’t add up”
    “I don’t understand”

    Hey media, stop dancing around. You understand full well; you just won’t admit it yet.

  138. 138.

    Gvg

    @NotMax: I prefer real books but use the kindle app on my iPad a lot. First sometimes I can’t find a book when I get the late night urge to retread a certain book or find a new one. My nearest branch is really close but they aren’t open all the time and don’t have every book I get the urge to read. I can download a book in minutes at 1am. I buy some too because there have been times when I was on the road and wanted it fast.
    I don’t like Amazon sending me ads for certain books though and haven’t figured out how to unsubscribe from that. That is from buying not library borrowing though.
    I got my nephew one because he is dyslexic and a lot of books have audible options where it can read aloud and show the printed word being said, highlighted. It helped get him past the learning curve though trained therapists did more. It has occurred to me with my eyesight issues, that I might want this feature in the future. My aunt likes hers to read aloud to her when on long drives. People think of their own uses. Does she know anyone who uses them and talks about it?

  139. 139.

    EBT

    @rikyrah: You can clearly see that Congresswoman Waters jumped on him from on top of the cage then slammed his head into the unpadded turnbuckle all while the ref was looking at the crowd.

  141. 141.

    scav

    @Gvg: Emphacising that it’s not a replacement for physical books, but an addition to physical books — with its own set of capabilities, including being an emergency I need a new book now! and don’t want to leave my chair! platform — might help with the mental resistence.

  143. 143.

    David Evans

    I love the fact that with a Kindle I don’t have to allocate one thumb to just keeping the pages of a fat book far enough apart to read. I can even put it down without losing my place. Also, flipping between text and endnotes is pretty cool once you get used to it.

  145. 145.

    lollipopguild

    @Betty Cracker: I spent 25 years working in southern Indiana and met a lot of people who knew Schnatter, almost every single one including relatives of his told me that he was a prick and an asshole.

  147. 147.

    NotMax

    @Gvg

    Does she know anyone who uses them and talks about it?

    Possess no info about that one way or the other.

  150. 150.

    Felony Govt

    Another thing I like about reading books on a device (although I still prefer paper) is being able to search back for a name or phrase.

  151. 151.

    BlueGirlFromWyo

    @MagdainBlack: Yeah, Mr. True Tolerant could have started with tolerating his parents’ opinions but he had to go whine on Faux News. The gall of these people.

  152. 152.

    Tenar Arha

    @NotMax:
    Lots of people go to the library as a place & for human interaction, not just to borrow books. But I completely understand about winter & icy sidewalks. Falls are no joke for anyone, but in the sick or elderly…both my parents towards their ends had falls. Anyway, your idea for a tablet for books would be ideal. Here’s some things to consider.

    Aesthetically people who like real books prefer an eInk display. But there’s advantages to having the multi-purpose tablet.

    Most libraries have ePub & audio books & even music & movies that you can borrow through an app: Overdrive, Hoopla, & Libby seem to be commonly used in Massachusetts. The process of browsing, borrowing & downloading the books is semi-streamlined through these apps. It’s much much easier to do this if you have a Kindle Fire or a nook tablet or an iPad which allows you to download apps, rather than an eInk reader w/o those apps.

    You Mom could still borrow books from the library with an eInk reader though. Anyone can crossload an ebook onto an eInk tablet from their local library.

    First you have to borrow & download the book from their online website, then plug your reader into your computer, then you usually either drag & drop the file onto the tablet or a folder on your computer which syncs with your tablet. This isn’t something particularly hard for some, but it’s not a widespread skill anymore since everything transitioned mostly wireless & app to app syncing. I recently tried to walk both my little cousins & their mom how to crossload kindle format books onto the kid’s kindle, & ended up having to do it myself.

    TL;DR If your Mom has previously used a USB cable to transfer files to another device via her computer, an eInk tablet would probably work great. Otherwise, a multipurpose tablet might be easier for her. I hope this helps.

  154. 154.

    john b

    @Tenar Arha: you can also link those accounts on the e-ink kindle, and it will show up in her library and download over wifi. I can’t remember, but it may require an Amazon account.

  157. 157.

    Neldob

    @NotMax: Can you get somebody to go with her? Going to the library is such a nice outing, and the exercise is good too.

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