Husband-and-wife duo busted in high-end Russian hooker ring https://t.co/3fa4q1pifJ pic.twitter.com/CMGIojxWUU
— New York Post (@nypost) July 19, 2018
From The New York Post (emphasis mine):
A flamboyant husband-and-wife pimp team orchestrated a high-end prostitution ring through a website called Russian Dolls, Manhattan authorities said Wednesday.
Yevgen Rizanov and Ksenia Khodukina, both 29, flew women from Russia to New York as part of a “sophisticated long-term operation promoting prostitution,” said Assistant District Attorney James Lynch.
The couple and a third defendant, Arkadiy Bashkatov, housed the sex workers in Brooklyn and dispatched them on jobs throughout New York, booking their hotels and hiring drivers, from June 2015 to June 2018, according to Manhattan prosecutors.
“The defendants split the money with the women but dictated the percentage they could keep,” the ADA said.
The Russian nationals were picked up last week in Miami at their tony beachfront pad inside the Trump Towers III*, where they allegedly ran their illicit enterprise remotely.
They moved from Brighton Beach to Florida a few months earlier, according to their attorney.
I don’t know who thought this script was going to fly, but they need to have their head examined and it needs to be sent back to rewrite.
Never before have the Balloon Juice categories of domestic affairs and foreign affairs been so literally applicable to a post. Yeah us!!!!
Open thread!
* You can find excellent reporting on all of the Russian criminal activities being run out of the President’s properties, both owned and branded, here and here. Surely a series of coincidences…
Cheryl Rofer
Just…please…stop…
David Anderson
Giggity Giggity
John PM
I think DIck Wolf is focusing too much on Russia in this season of Law and Order:SVU.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I am merely the messenger…
dmsilev
Russian Dolls? Please tell me that the specialty of the house is a hooker inside a hooker inside a hooker.
Corner Stone
With all this Russian swag being thrown around I am left to wonder how high up of a job does someone need to have to get “honeypotted”? Asking for that guy over there. No, the other one.
Cheryl Rofer
For a little variety on an open thread –
Tad Devine showed up a couple of weeks ago in a photo with Manafort’s Russian friend Konstantin Kilimnik.
piratedan
well since this following the script of The Equalizer reboot, when can we send Denzel Washington abroad to smoke Putin’s ass in a tragic electrocution event that involves a bathtub?
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: What did you do?
feebog
Russians buying condos in Trump properties. Where have I heard about that before?
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
Well, well, well…
MJS
@Cheryl Rofer: See, both sides.
LAO
@Cheryl Rofer: If I were the publisher, I send this draft back to the author. The plot is too unbelievable at this point.
hitchhiker
And the deplorable Kristin Neilsen just said that she has seen no evidence that Putin’s goal was to help Donald Trump.
Seriously.
MJS
@Adam L Silverman: Obviously extra virgin.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: I’m sure it’s above the pay grade for the “other guy over there”.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: Hookerception!
oatler.
@MJS: first cold press or GTFO
trollhattan
The Yelp reviews are in:
“Trump Tower Natasha 3 is a spectacular companion who also plays chess. Four stars.”
“Trump Tower Natasha 5, the redhead, can recite Pushkin and is very bendy. Five stars.”
“Trump Tower Natasha 2 is surly and refused to call Reagan a personal hero. Two stars.”
The Thin Black Duke
@Cheryl Rofer: This brought a smile to my face that I’ll probably wear for the rest of the day. Maybe longer.
Corner Stone
Breaking News: CEO of horrible media behemoth is horrible person. Film at 11.
/Zuckerberg
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: My guesstimate is that Devine has been cooperating for a very long time with the Special Counsel’s Office. Which is why his name is almost never officially mentioned.
Origuy
@Corner Stone: A long time ago, I worked for a company that had defense contracts and also sold to the Soviet Union. I wasn’t working on either, but I still had to get the training on how to avoid a honeytrap. As a single guy, I wondered how blackmail would work if no one cared if I got some Russian tail. Unfortunately, I never got to find out.
p.a.
Trump is such filth it wouldn’t surprise me if he allows his properties to be used for everything from treason down to auto repos.
trollhattan
@hitchhiker:
Three-year-old Guatemalans–a threat to our democracy.
Russian autocrat with vast hegemonic intentions and murderous methods–our new best friend.
Eljai
@MJS: Of course!
noncarborundum
@dmsilev: I think the technical term is “whorducken”.
Corner Stone
@?BillinGlendaleCA: A man has to have ambitions. Would you deny a man his dream of being ensnared in a scheme involving hostile foreign intelligence operations in exchange for a little rough stuff?
trollhattan
@p.a.:
Not just repos, chop shops. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump doesn’t have a side gig shipping stolen luxury cars and SUVs to Russia in containers. It’s a thing, and a lucrative one.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: Hookerducken.
danielx
Once again…you can’t make this shit up.
Adam L Silverman
@hitchhiker: She also did the both sides thing in regard to a question about Charlottesville.
Miss Bianca
Did you mean “screwing with us” literally or figuratively? I know, I know…por que no los dos? ; )
Adam L Silverman
@MJS: First, cold press! Right now Rachel Ray is preparing to go on pilgrimage to Las Cruces.
trollhattan
@Cheryl Rofer:
Well now, am sure that’s just a co-ink-ee-dink.
Major Major Major Major
Ah jeez. Lol.
@Cheryl Rofer: @Adam L Silverman: ah jeez.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: That would be amusing. Wonder what Bernie thinks of all this.
Kelly
@Corner Stone: If you have to ask you’re not upper crust enough.
Death Panel Truck
And if you think this is as tawdry as it gets, well – the child pornography shoe will be the next to drop. In a scandal of this magnitude, child porn is always in the mix somewhere.
Corner Stone
@LAO: If I were the publisher I would demand they stop being lazy gits and get ahead of the game. Russian high end hookers being run out of a property owned by the president is just the first few pages. Where are the South American drug lords supplying the coke? The Israelis with the illicit firearm distribution? C’mon, you gotta amp this up a little if you want to stay ahead of the real world!
I’d probably also throw in a Secret Service agent that has WH duty and is also embroiled up to her naughty bits.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: Do you think he’s one of the five people with immunity? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: perhaps Devine is one of the recipients of the immunity orders the government requested.
Leto
@noncarborundum: Solid LOL! Glad no-one was in the office; ty!
Mike in NC
Trump properties must be run like “Westworld”. Any of your fantasies can be indulged for the right price. Roll in the hay with a Russian hooker (or two), gamble to your heart’s content, and snort nose candy with a $1000 bill.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: OK, I feel like I really, really, shouldn’t be laughing at this as hard as I am right now…
I think that #RussianhookerYelpreviews should totally be a thing on that Twitter thing, btw…
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: I understand this is related to the election of a new papa john.
ETA: election not sitting. no excuses. just tired.
MisterForkbeard
@hitchhiker: Maybe a member of our Press Corpse could ask her if she was aware Donald Trump had been shown texts, emails and other communications two weeks before the inauguration that… you know what? Nevermind. She’s awful and the entire administration is awful.
The fact that reporting on this stuff isn’t immediately prefaced with “In a blatant lie, Secretary X said….” is an indictment of our entire media establishment.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Death Panel Truck: George Nader already filled in that part, and if the media has forgotten about him, I suspect the final Mueller report will remind people
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So the Russians “screwed the election” isn’t just a metaphor.
John PM
@hitchhiker:
“And the deplorable Kristin Neilsen just said that she has seen no evidence that Putin’s goal was to help Donald Trump.”
It’s hard to see anything when you are wearing blinders.
Leto
@Corner Stone: Listen they’re writing about the news, not the script for True Lies 2. /s
James E Powell
What are the chances that Manafort’s trial doesn’t go forward?
For whatever reasons, continuance, plea, anything else.
Kristine
@Cheryl Rofer: It’s been my understanding that Devine was the one who pushed BS to label HRC as corrupt. After hearing he had been an associate of Manafort, I was wondering if his name would show up.
In other news. phoned Senators and Rep this morning to voice my horror over the Ambassador McFaul matter. Young woman who answered my call to Rep told me that they had been receiving many calls about it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@LAO: Tad’s not stupid, I’m sure he got in early.
LAO
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: My understanding of what Devine did in Ukraine makes him small fry compared to Manafort. But he would also, likely, have a very good understanding of what went down and who was connected to who. And given that I don’t think Devine is interested in actually doing serious and/or significant damages to the US, him quietly coming in from the cold and providing everything he had would make sense.
Kelly
@noncarborundum:
Cleaning coffee off my screen
Corner Stone
@Origuy:
“Now, my dahlink, we have you on tape making the naughty with a Russian spy! You will tell us about the supply chain or this will find its way to the authorities!”
ME: “Hey! Can I get a couple copies of that? Or maybe you can just post it to my Instagram feed? It’s under 30 seconds so it should work. Thanks, comrade!”
p.a.
OT but LG&M cuts Fred Hiatt a new one- from the nape of his neck to his perineum:
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/07/fred-hiatt-commissions-white-nationalist-write-egregiously-dishonest-article-advocating-ethnic-cleansing
A Ghost To Most
@The Thin Black Duke: Seconded. Tying Devine into this is a cherry on top.
Death Panel Truck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nader’s conviction was in 2003. I’m talking about something more recent, something involving Russia, something so large and involved that it will dwarf Nader’s crimes.
LAO
I found myself mildly disappointed by this. I was certain it would unleash some sort of plague or whatnot.
ChrisS
@Origuy: Dumb white guys, virile manly man, love them some T & A. Just look at where the advertising budget is spent with regards to cheap beer, sports, and cars.
I follow some hunting related companies on instagram and it seems like suddenly all these women hunters started becoming insta-famous for posting pictures of themselves in yoga pants or short shorts shooting bows in their backyard. “Giggle, my new [$1k] bow from manufacturer X just arrived and I’m so excited to shoot it, kisses, giggle”
trollhattan
@Origuy:@Corner Stone:
Serious high-five material on the golf course.
“So then they showed me a stack of 8x10s and I thought to myself ‘Man, I’m overdue for a haircut.’ Then I asked for her phone number; I’m telling you, she was haw to the T.”
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone:
Trump Panama.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-panama/
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-drugs-corruption-panama-hotel-money-laundering-714891
Black Cube.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/07/israel-intel-firm-black-cube-trump-obama-iran-nuclear-deal
Any other questions?
Corner Stone
@Leto: Yeah but no one wants to read a Ken Burns documentary right now. We gotta Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer this MF’er!
Steve in the STL
@ChrisS: it’s all fun and games until the Amazons take over the country
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: @LAO: No. Those all have a very specific type of limited immunity, which LAO or one of our other legal fleagles can explain. My guess is that Devine has been cooperating from the get go and was either fully immunized from the start or was never in any jeopardy and is just doing the right thing.
Steve in the STL
@Adam L Silverman: @Corner Stone: need an evil Iran angle too. It’s de rigeur with the right wingers these days.
Roger Moore
@Origuy:
There’s more to sex as a tool for spies than blackmail. They’re worried you’re going to get so excited by the sex you let the wrong head do the thinking. Guys have been known to do that and they wind up doing all kinds of stupid shit to make sure the girl keeps wanting to sleep with them.
Leto
@LAO: That already happened when Universal released the rebooted “Mummy” with Tom Cruise.
Steve in the STL
@Origuy: @Corner Stone: chick who cuts my hair is Russian and smokin’. Shit, I may have been compromised….
Steve in the STL
@Roger Moore: just ask David Petraeus
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: Maybe. But the feds only, ever offer derivative use immunity (not transactional immunity). I’m assuming (which isn’t a great thing to do) that the government has agreed to DPs (Decline to Prosecute) with a number of witnesses — but that isn’t the same as immunity — whose criminal exposure is minor. If Devine is cooperating, the feds will make his plead guilty to some criminal conduct, if he hasn’t already under seal.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I give up on trying to process all the Russian news. I feel flattened by the stampede of it .
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
I’m still shocked the House GOP voted to zero out election security funding. I mean, how do they even begin to justify this in light of recent events? It makes them look guilty and power-mad.
Wait, forget the Russia stuff. What sane nation would ever cut funding for election security? It boggles my mind.
I hope this won’t impede the active measures campaign the NSA seems to be starting.
Corner Stone
@ChrisS:
This pertains to almost all men, not just the kind who like to play at manly status. Vendors at a conference I attend every year finally figured this out right before the Recession of 2008. Then the budget drain struck hard and vendors had to go back to having boring people who knew actual details about their product again.
kd bart
“All they got from Trump was protection from other guys looking to rip them off. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what the FBI can never understand – that what Trump and the organization offer is protection for the kinds of guys who can’t go to the cops. They’re like the police department for wiseguys”
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the STL: And the problem with that is?
https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/wonder-woman-justice-league-costumes.png?w=800
https://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20171014/rs_1024x600-171114112842-1024-amazonians-wonder-woman-justice-league.jpg?fit=inside|900:auto&output-quality=90
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the STL:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-iran-business-ties-trump-didnt-disclose
Anything else?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the STL:
Yes, but the prices are great.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: You’re the defense attorney, you’ll know better than I.
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: is it eternally virgin olive oil?
Gelfling 545
@hitchhiker: Yeah. She shuts her eyes every time they put it in front of her.
Teddys Person
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
They are guilty and power-mad, and it seems they think they can get away with it. Or at least hang in there until the stack the courts, gut regulations, give tax dollars to the rich, and relagate non-white, female, and LBGTQ Americans to second-class citizenship.
edit: not meant to a complete list of their shitty policies.
Roger Moore
@LAO:
Clearly, Trump was using “incredible” in the sense of “not credible; hard to believe; unbelievable” to mean that he can’t believe Putin would expect us to countenance such a thing. That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it… at least until Trump changes his mind again.
Leto
@Corner Stone: “You see Michael, the reason why my explosions are bettah is that they go to 11. Your previous guy, his only went to 10. I mean, that’s all well and good for Transformers, but we’re doing a propah shoot here. This is Trump! This is bigly! You’re going to want the biggest evah! You’re going to want that 11.”
@Roger Moore: From the way back machine, 1987:
Marine Sgt. Clayton Lonetree was convicted of espionage and 12 other charges Friday for slipping secrets to the KGB while guarding the U.S. embassies in Moscow and Vienna, and could be sentenced to life in prison.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Peale: Yes. of course.
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: They’re counting on it 1) being under reported, 2) where it is reported, that it is buried by other issues that will overwhelm it in the coverage, 3) most Americans never actually hearing about it.
GeoGuy
@Adam L Silverman: Devine doing the right thing? That will be a first!
Kay
The 33% :)
Honestly I bet he lost some Republicans not because they give a shit about Russian interference but because he looked weak. He looked subservient. Justin Amash, the fake-hipster libertarian R from western Michigan used the word “subservient”
I have never seen anything like it. Even if there weren’t collusion with Putin (and there is) Trump is cowed and impressed by Putin. It was like baby brother and big brother. I don’t think they can gloss that over.
That must just kill the manly-men of the Right. Clinton wouldn’t have been subservient. Not a chance.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Teddys Person:
I don’t think they will. Their plans hinge on people obeying the Courts. If they hand down shitty decision after shitty decision that flies in the face of what the majority wants and makes people’s lives materially worse, they’ll quickly find out what happens when the rule of law breaks down
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Well, I’ve been doing my best to spread awareness about it in *my* little circle of influence…
hueyplong
Four months from now, cut to Tad Devine, getting his morning paper in a faceless, cardboard cutout housing development in Arizona:
“I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I’m an average nobody.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Maybe the Democrats should turn the volume up on this and get it on the local news.
germy
I wonder what that’s about?
Just One More Canuck
@James E Powell: Frank Pentangeli in Godfather II?
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Yup indeedy. (audio only clip)
rikyrah
UH HUH
UH HUH
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
Anyone betting on Tad Devine cooperating because he wanted to do the right thing deserves to lose every cent they own.
MomSense
Is this real life?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
It shows how little confidence they have in both the American people and their own political platform. That democracy is only a means to an end and can be discarded when inconvenient. It’s absolutely disgusting and I’m upset that the media isn’t treating the GOP as the authoritarian and un-American party they have become. I mean, maybe it’s just beginning, but I haven’t seen that much to show that they have realized that American democracy is at risk.
pat
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
I think they just refused to appropriate more, because there supposedly is still a few million left in the budget that hasn’t been used. But yeah it sucks.
Repubs know they can’t win a totally free and honest election.
Brachiator
Mommy, what’s an aesthetician?
Teddys Person
@MomSense: Well a minority of the American public wanted a reality show president.
Haroldo
Hi, Adam. I am primarily a lurker (of long standing!) and realize my question is somewhat (tho’ not completely) off topic.:
What is the relationship of LaRouche, et al, to the Putin / Trump nexus? Or is LaRouche just too nuts to be of consequence?
Thanks.
Kay
I felt like I knew there would be a Democrat (or more than one) tied to Manafort but I wouldn’t have picked the Bernie Sanders campaign.
This is the most amazing political story of my lifetime and they ALL missed it while it was happening :)
A billion dollar political coverage industry and they missed it. It doesn’t count if they report it after the election! Timing is everything :)
Adam L Silverman
And now a word from the Home Office!
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Like I said, houses on Block Island are very expensive. I suspect Tad wants to keep his.
Wyatt Derp
@MJS:
Today you own the internet!
NotMax
“You have the wrong place. The Slovenian hookers are on the fourth floor. Have a nice day, dahlink.”
Teddys Person
@Adam L Silverman: The talking points have been delivered. Let the games begin!
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: Wait, what?
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: You’ll have to ask Mother Superior Rachel Ray of Our Lady of EVOO.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Death Panel Truck: Like say “Trump Modeling Agency” staffed mostly by 14 year olds?
Kay
Can we please get rid of this person? FIRE HER. It isn’t fair to voters that we have such a ridiculous hack in charge of election interference mitigation. She’ll fuck it up. That’s a guarantee. There’s no excuse for forcing us to have such a low quality hire in such a crucial job. I don’t want to pay her anymore.
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
Unfortunately, mass spectrometer vendors don’t seem interested in booth babes. I’m not sure if it’s because there are too many women mass spectrometrists for it to sell, or if the buyers are too interested in technical specs to be suckered by good looks alone. Booze and swag, however, are still considered viable sales tactics.
NotMax
There’s ample room for a joke about a high rise sex club, am too logy to refine the details at the moment.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Adam L Silverman:
This is rich coming from the guy who apprently doesn’t care what happens to his country after he croaks, just that his pockets get filled with rubles.
And fuck Putin for claiming that the GOP is doing this for the greater good.
Oh, you mean real American patriots and not puppets, right?
Retr2327
@Adam L Silverman: he’s also a likely candidate for the guy who went to the feds over Manafort’s witness tampering efforts. . .
rikyrah
@Kay:
Nope.
And, we have the picture of 44 all up in Vlad’s face, not backing down one little bit.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: @LAO: @Baud:
I was wrong, Devine has a problem!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: I came for an argument.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yes they should.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I said before..
when it’s all said and done, HILLARY will be the CLEAN ONE.
and, yes, the overwhelming majority missed this story.
Or, rather, they refused to connect the dots that they had in front of them.
Professional malpractice. Period.
Captain C
@Corner Stone: Apparently that actually happened with President Sukarno of Indonesia. He went on a diplomatic trip to Russia, and was sent some lovely young women to play with. When he was about to leave, the Soviets showed him the films, expecting that he would be suitably compliant. Instead, he smiled, and asked for copies to show his friends and associates back in Indonesia.
NotMax
Must chime in, Adam, that am mightily impressed at your restraint in not saying full penetration.
;)
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: The Russians also released a video, mostly animation, of their deadly tsunami-creating nuclear underwater drone! I’ll see if I can find it.
Also, breaking: This is why you have note-takers at a meeting like this.
That said, I think that VVP is overdoing it a little. But let’s see how Trump responds.
John Revolta
@Kay: Clinton would’ve been shrill. Way worse.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah:
…but…but….her emails.
Cheryl Rofer
So SINCERE, that Vladimir!
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
No you didn’t.
Barbara
@James E Powell: Chance of a Manafort plea is still as high as 50/50 IMO. There are lots of people for whom the fog lifts only at the last moment, after all the procedural tricks and games have been exhausted. For a professional used to being on top of the world, it can take a lot of shaking up to realize that yes, you might really be convicted of a crime.
Adam L Silverman
@Haroldo: Good question, there are some visible links, but I honestly don’t know enough details to do anything else but post them.
This article lays out a lot of connections, but the overall argument of the author is, as we now know, wrong:
https://thinkprogress.org/how-russia-wooed-american-white-supremacists-and-how-it-fell-apart-8a8cf6e3b814/
Here’s some more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-russia-ties-michael-flynn-dossier-2017-2
http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.com/2015/06/sergey-glazyev-and-american-fascist-cult.html
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Maximum Penetration achieved with minimal effort.
raven
Eat, Drink and see Mary in Conyers Ga 1990
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s the Poiseidon video.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
Sadly yes.
/Seriously considering getting and staying drunk for the rest of the week
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer:
Vladdy, bubby! You’re killing me here! I just went for the full out rope a dope walk in, walk back, walk in routine to distract these mindless press idiots. You can’t be dropping new agreements on me like this, it’s too early in the flim flam cycle!”
VVP: “Crimea a river you little (insert Russian term for insignificant shit weasel)”
Barbara
@LAO: Well, it was an incredible offer, but probably not the way Trump meant.
germy
Was Kilimnik sending Devine talking points, or was Devine sending Kilimnik talking points?
The “re” has me unsure.
Either way, I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation //
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: First I’ve heard, but Putin already did that shortly after he scarfed up Crimea. The rigged results ratified Putin’s invasion.
Leto
@rikyrah: You mean the hundreds of thousands of hours spent on investigating HER EMAILZ!?!?!/the Clinton Foundation/Beghanzi was a total waste, and that just about everyone around her during the campaign (and before) were the problem? This is my shocked face. Totally shocked. =I
The blind hatred of all things Clenis/Hitlary continues to be a mighty force. I’m about 99% certain that zombie Hilary stories are going to be a thing. Hillary’s control of the Dems from beyond the grave! People 20 years from now will be like, who? But Talibangicals will still be frothing at the mouth about the 4 killed, while LTT will still be shouting, “Superpredator!”
Haroldo
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you.
Doug R
@James E Powell:
That’s why he’s not singing yet-a few years in the can vs death by poison or falling off his balcony.
Jeffro
@trollhattan: “very bendy”
LOLing all over the place here
TenguPhule
@Doug R:
Are you implying that Manafort would not commit suicide of his own free will?
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Yep.
Calouste
@Kay: The Ukrainian connection between Manafort and Devine has been extensively mentioned on this blog.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer: Russians aren’t big on subtlety.
Brachiator
@Origuy:
@Roger Moore:
Yep. The East Germans, in particular, used to focus efforts on lonely and romantic people, especially women who had access to intelligence information.
And sometimes an attempt at basic blackmail backfires:
Fair Economist
@Adam L Silverman: Script rejected for implausibility, part the 1000.
TenguPhule
@Leto:
Hillary has abducted Elvis and now lives with him in Las Vegas, where she forces him to perform cheap weddings to pay for her crack addiction! //
Kelly
@rikyrah: If I recall correctly Obama is all DOWN in Vlad’s face. Kinda towered over him.
Boris, Rasputin's Evil Twin
@Adam L Silverman: This is a slight variation on the “weeping icon” scam that’s been around since Peter the Great exposed some holy grifters.
Has anyone else noticed all this Trump/Russia madness has taken place around the 100th anniversary of the Imperial Russian Family’s assassination? “Anastasia still screams in vain.”
TenguPhule
Writers union went on strike so the producers have decided that unscripted live action is the next big thing.
rikyrah
This is what you call Twitter Truth:
rikyrah
Ya think?
Ex-DOJ official reveals hidden meaning of bombshell NYT report: US intel agencies fear Trump is a double agent https://t.co/hWx2SVFP8H
— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 19, 2018
Teddys Person
@Brachiator: Who knew The Americans was a documentary.
Wapiti
So is engaging in prostitution a violation of a tourist visa? How about pandering? Asking for a network of friends.
Adam L Silverman
@raven: I was at Oxford College when this happened during my sophomore year. Just down the road. My housemate, the Polynesian Pentecostal (his dad moved to the mainland when he got out of the Army, his mom 15th generation Georgia cracker, they met when he was assigned to Benning), went to see this.
Leto
@Brachiator:
That’s how they got Marine Sgt. Clayton Lonetree, my comment at 87.
TenguPhule
Also the FTFNYT has an article about a Trump appointee in waiting trying to screw unions even further by attempting to get a case up to the SC that would retractively force unions to refund non-member dues going back a decade or more. Per the analysis in the article, the hostility against unions by 5 corrupt traitors could result in yet another accepted norm of “good faith compliance with the law at the time” being tossed into the flaming dumpster.
Is it five o clock somewhere yet?
Adam L Silverman
@Boris, Rasputin’s Evil Twin: Yep and yep.
raven
Oh [email protected]Adam L Silverman: Oh yea!!!
Leto
@rikyrah: And in other news, water is still wet! More at 11.
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer: I knew it! Devine is in it up to his neck too. Whassup, Bernie? We see you!
trollhattan
@Kay:
That’s not her only whopper.
Yes you piece of human garbage, one side is wrong. Where and whenever there are nazis and klan, they are wrong. This is not rocket surgery and you are ill-suited to have any national security role whatsoever because you clearly do not understand this.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
Amazing how originalists can find all kinds of constitutional principles that never existed before when it serves their political interests.
Brachiator
@Leto:
Hillary Clinton is the only person that John Wick fears.
rikyrah
@Kelly:
You are correct. There was no fawning over Vlad from 44 :)
Adam L Silverman
@raven: He was a hoot. His Mom would send us home made cookies every week. The week in 89 or 90 where that evangelical preacher had predicted that the rapture was going to happen, the night before the prophesied date, she called to tell my house mate she’d see him in heaven the next day. Wished me a pleasant stay in limbo. The next day nothing happened. The next week the cookie shipments restarted.
rikyrah
@trollhattan:
simply loathe her.
Baud
@Brachiator: I heard John Wick 3 is coming out. That would be an awesome ending to the series.
Leto
@Brachiator: You mean, Mama Yaga?
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
There’s a morbid fascination watching them reduce rule of law to nature red in tooth and claw.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yowza! A proud descendant of a transportee? edited
ETA: and what I came to say…. I heard Rand Paul ranting about “trump derangement syndrome” about the vote to tell Putin to fuck off in re McFaul. I know he’s always been somewhat tentatively isolationist, especially compared to his old man, but he’s really off the rails, or as one of his fellow GOP Senators liked to say, off in cloud cuckooland. McCain must really be in bad shape if he hasn’t gotten a plane to bitch about trump, Putin and Rand Paul on the floor.
The Thin Black Duke
@Adam L Silverman: How long before Bernie says that Devine was nobody special, “just the guy who went out for coffee”?
raven
@Adam L Silverman: Not a mormon huh?
Mike in DC
@Cheryl Rofer: I think a stealth drone that can accurately fire a sniper rifle would scare Putin more than the doomsday torpedo will intimidate us.
Nicole
@Kay: Bernie was the other candidate who refused to release his tax returns.
trollhattan
@Mike in DC:
A Dalek. “Take me to Vlad. I need to see Vlad. Bring me Vlad.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hey look! A Republican Senator figured they actually own their votes and can do things!
In all fairness, good for Scott. Or at least partial credit, because apparently he was okay with this guy
I didn’t know about Collins Watch. I hope she knows about it and hates it.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Good trick.
Figuring a generation is twenty years, 15 of them would be 300 years.
George III’s charter designating the colony was issued in 1732, first British settlers arrived in 1733, so the 300-year anniversary of its existence as Georgia hasn’t happened yet.
/history pedant
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The remarks must have been pretty bad if Scott couldn’t vote for him.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Georgia’s minimum legal age is 16.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Listening to MSNBC: trump called Obama a “patsy” today? Specifically wrt to Russia?
Yarrow
@Nicole:
Yep. What’s he hiding?
Origuy
@Corner Stone:
Thirty seconds? Give me some credit! Although, which this was happening, I was a lot younger.
TenguPhule
Trump just attacked the Federal Reserve. I’m sure Wall Street is thrilled.
Nicole
@Yarrow: Rubles? Lots of rubles?
The Dangerman
@Death Panel Truck:
It’s parallel was hinted at yesterday when it was thought that Donald’s weakness was an underage Ivanka look alike.
ETA: And if that was it, nobody would care except for Ivanka and maybe Jared.
ETA2: Maybe it was a Jared look alike (yes, say it, he came to…)
Barbara
@TenguPhule: Are you talking about this guy?
NotMax
@NotMax
Land disputes with the Spanish about who held claim to what between what we know know as Florida and South Carolina eventually led to one of the more memorably named hostilities in the history books, the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
To be fair, it doesn’t specify which Georgia.
MCA1
@Mike in NC: Knock twice, rap with your cane.
Feels nice, you’re out of the rain.
We’ve got your Russian whore,
Here at the Trump Tower.
Steely Dan songs seem like the most easy to apply to any scenario in the Trump era. Donald Fagan somehow had his pulse on the all-out moral depravity growing in America 40 years before it came to full flower. Same song nails the Dotard, too: “In the night you hide from the madman you’re longing to be. But it all comes out on the inside, eventually.”
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
Trump just attacked the Federal Reserve for wanting to raise interest rates. Wall Street may indeed be thrilled; they love cheap money.
tybee
@TenguPhule:
well, now it is.
TenguPhule
@Barbara: No. This guy.
Jonathan F. Mitchell.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Nobody ever accused them of being long term thinkers.
Gelfling 545
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
“What sane nation would ever cut funding for election security? “
What does that have to do with the US these days?
Dan B
Once you’ve run hookers you’ll never go back. Or if grandad did. Reminder Granpa Drumpf ran hotels in Vancouver and Seattle that featured women of the night. It earned him eniugh to return to Bavaria but didn’t impress the Bavarians who booted his tax and military evading (is this an echo or a choice?) a$$ out of the country.
Aleta
Remember the stories before the election about a short-lived modeling organization T had with someone else, based in NYC, and maybe LA too. They offered young women in Eastern Europe modeling jobs in the US. The legal problems that ended the company were over visas. The stories hinted at prostitution and possible trafficking.
Before T I had never thought about how perfect the giant ‘luxury’ hotel biz could be as a place to trade arms, layover with drugs, launder money, and pimp people. Owning the franchise but not the turf would be safer too.
retr2327
@Teddys Person: I don’t know if you caught Maddow’s show the other night, but Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who testified in front of Congress, was the agent who tracked the real-life Russian agent couple that inspired the Americans. True story!
retr2327
@NotMax: in Georgia, a generation can be only 15 years . . .
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: I’m sure he is but I doubt he realuzes it.
Gelfling 545
@raven: Had a cousin who used to go around to see these things. Even went to a couple of out of the way places in eastern Europe. Made many scrapbooks with extensive notations maintaining the veracity of these “appearances”. Fortunately, she seems to have gotten over it.
Yarrow
@Nicole: Yes. Laundered rubles.
trollhattan
@retr2327:
Cool! So Strzok’s real name is Beeman.
D58826
So Der Fuhrer has invited Putin to DC to turn over the keys to the WH and AF1.
Captain C
@Yarrow: Probably that he’s one of those million-aihs that he keeps deriding.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: And like I said – and you’ve said – those of us who supported Hillary from the first…
…are those of us who are the only ones who won’t be shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, when it comes out that those emails between Devine and Manafort include high-fives to each other for doing what their Russian paymasters wanted…GET HILLARY CLINTON.
And we will still be pissed as hell. And we will be carrying RECEIPTS, motherfuckers.
Kathleen
@John PM: L&O SVU has featured many episodes about Russian mobs and prostitution throughout the years. L&O episodes also used Russian in their plot lines. While watching those reruns I marvel at how prescient the writers were.The subject of Russians is not new to the L&O franchises.
Kathleen
@Adam L Silverman: I think both he and Bernie are rodent copulators extraordinaire Slanders’ voting record, refusal to release tax returns, hacking of the DNC , his behavior after he was eliminated and his tacit support of the hecklers at the Dem convention, his constant attempts to undermine Democratic candidates. He is a menace and I think his hands are dirty.
Uncle Cosmo
@Kelly: Co-sign. “Hookerducken” sounds like an exit on the Garden State Parkway.
wjs
How many reporters from the New York Times were assigned to this story after the NY Post got wind of it? Seven or eight?
If this had happened “somewhere near” the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, the boost to the local hotel and bar economy in that fine American city would be enough to get everyone through the Christmas holidays.
Amir Khalid
@Captain C:
Yep, that definitely sounds like Bung Karno. He was married to nine women over his life, including one from whom he did not get divorced even after he had married a subsequent wife. (He was Muslim, so he could do that without scandal.) He took considerable pride in being a ladies’ man. (If anyone’s curious, Bung was/is Indonesian for “bro”.)