Yesterday, Donald Trump tweeted about the Russian explosion at Nenoksa.
A number of experts hastened to criticize on the grounds that the United States doesn’t have a program like Russia’s Burevestnik [NATO designation Skyfall], or, if we do, it must be highly classified.
But there’s something else worth noting. This may be the first time Trump has criticized Russia in any way.
And of course, it’s a dick-measuring contest. He can’t help himself.
rikyrah
He’s so phucking stupid. And, I do mean stupid.
rikyrah
This thread ???
Wanna hear a crazy story? I’m a new mom & I had protein in my urine during and after pregnancy, which is bad. A doctor told me to “lose weight” & it would go away. Didn’t want me to see me back for months. So I got a second opinion. Turns out I have bone marrow cancer. THREAD: 1/
— Jen Curran (@jencurran) August 12, 2019
https://twitter.com/jencurran/status/1160961368142405632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
MattF
But certainly not criticizing Putin. No, no, no.
daveNYC
Saw you quoted in the NBC article on this story. Noice.
NotMax
Occam’s Razor still says Putin was sold a bill of goods.
One might think the experience of Lysenkoism would have tempered credulity, but no-o-o-o.
rikyrah
Love this :)
2019 ‘Doodle for Google’ competition winner honors mom with illustration
NotMax
Open Thread?
Wag
correction– WAS highly classified
rikyrah
Promoting White Racism: What Green Cards for the Rich is Really About
By Spandan
rikyrah
Michelle Obama Athletic Complex opens at Whitney Young High School
By Meghan Kluth
Monday, August 12, 2019 6:36PM
Gravenstone
I almost look forward to his dick getting publicly cut off by Putin in the upcoming days. I half expect that to be a literal punishment.
rikyrah
Trump guts American dream, Endangered Species Act both in one day
Rachel Maddow reports on the Donald Trump administration announcing its intention to weaken the Endangered Species Act while at the same time announcing new standards for aspiring immigrants to meet that include having private insurance and having a high credit score.
The Moar You Know
Uncle Vlad is just letting him a little off the leash here. Russia will never be criticized on anything substantive under this administration.
Gin & Tonic
Posted this in a dying thread yesterday, but here’s what the esteemed New York Times had to say about this explosion: “officials have said nothing publicly about the blast on Thursday, possibly one of the worst nuclear accidents in Russia since Chernobyl.”
Chernobyl was not and is not in Russia.
Jinchi
@Wag:
Of course, Trump is such a BS artist that he’s probably not a very good intelligence asset for foreign intelligence agencies. Was he leaking a classified project? Was he simply making it up on the spot? Who knows? Can you really leak classified information if nobody believes a word you say?
I’d recommend getting 2 or 3 confirming reports before I’d put a wager on it.
Jeffro
Thank you president* Fox News Alert, as always, glad to see you are ON IT! Jackass.
Meanwhile, my RWNJ dad continues to try and make hay out of Biden’s gaffes and his son’s business whatever over in Ukraine. I asked him if those two were equal to the laundry list of trumpov & Co crimes (and I gave him the full list), then emailed 5 seconds later with “WRONG ANSWER! Dem minutiae is actually, and always, greater than actual GOP crimes, haven’t I taught you anything?” Followed by “IOKIYAR” copied about two hundred times.
I slept like a baby. I hope he went to bed at least a little grumpy from the cognitive dissonance.
I’m going to ask him today: “If Joe Biden’s gaffes were the subject of one of Hillary Clinton’s EMAILZ!, which one of them should be locked up?” And then email him five seconds later with “WRONG ANSWER! The entire Biden and Clinton Death Machine Clans should already be locked up, and the Obamas should be under house arrest. Just because.”
gvg
Supposedly the Russian media has been making fun of Trump fairly recently. I wonder if someone showed that to Trump?
The Dangerman
They have micrometers at the White House?
ETA: Wonder how the shooting in Riverside will play? Once again, the wonders of an assault weapon (there is video out; damn, there is video everywhere). That’s my area (was my area, more correctly) but I visit there fairly frequently (National Cemetary is a pitching wedge away). Scary stuff, a bit of a war zone there last night. Need more coffee.
rikyrah
Epstein death may put alleged co-conspirators in new legal peril
Rachel Maddow looks at questions raised about whether the non-prosecution agreement for Jeffrey Epstein and any co-conspirators he may have had, as well as the non-disclosure agreements Epstein has his employees sign, are still valid after Epstein’s death or whether prosecutors will now have new avenues of inquiry as a result.
Open questions, alleged accomplices keep Epstein case ongoing
Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims reacted to news of his death and how the Epstein investigation is likely to continue as open questions and alleged co-conspirators remain.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Aw, that s so sweet. I hope she enjoyed the block party at her alma mater!
Ruckus
@rikyrah:
It’s quite possible that he has to move up a few spots to be just stupid.
rikyrah
Found out from watching LarryO that the ‘ACTING’ head of the Federal Prisons has, in fact, never worked in a prison. He’s the typical mediocre White man, who has gone from job to job, with little qualifications for them…continuing to Fail Up.
Amir Khalid
I swear, at first I thought Trump had got reality mixed up with a James Bond movie. Because that sounds like his kind of confusion.
JPL
@rikyrah: She was just on Today show. What a wonderful story.
Betty Cracker
@gvg: They make fun of Trump a lot, according to a woman on Twitter who represents a Russian media watchdog group that posts clips and translations. I suppose they’re rightly proud that their fourth-rate kleptocrat helped install a buffoon in the highest office of their chief geopolitical foe. It was quite an accomplishment.
Frankensteinbeck
He’s thrown out the occasional ‘Russia did a bad thing and I will be a tough guy and stop them, not like that wimp Obama!’ They’re rare and get lost between his love letters to Putin, but they happen. This sounds more like an expression of sympathy used as an excuse to brag about how awesome Trump’s military technology is. That is a well established obsession of his, and he is also well established to have no idea what he’s talking about when he crows about it.
Cheryl Rofer
@Gravenstone:
Cheryl Rofer
@Gin & Tonic:
I think they posted a correction to that.
I have been thinking about at least tweeting that whatever this is, it is microscopic compared to Chernobyl. The bureaucratic response to it is similar, however.
Cheryl Rofer
@Amir Khalid: Glad to see you! I will be on a radio program, cna938, tomorrow morning! Late afternoon here.
Gin & Tonic
@Cheryl Rofer:
Thanks. I’m not a subscriber, and their paywall is getting more onerous, so I would not have seen that.
Jeffro
Btw looks like Julian Castro bought ad time on “Fox and Friends” to try and directly provoke trumpov about his racism (and elevate Castro’s own profile w/ Dems). See…THAT is smart, new, outside-the-blessed-box thinking, Dems! (And cheap, too – apparently it’s ‘microtargeted’ to Fox audiences just in/around Bedminster, while the president* is there.
It’s a whole new world out there, Democrats. Fire at will, but fire smartly!
The Dangerman
No doubt but isn’t this like saying my cat is smarter than Trump (he is); I mean, water wet, sky blue, etc.
Capri
@rikyrah: If you are overweight you can have no other health problem per our medical establishment. It’s a terrible situation – but have seen this in my own life.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Putin is probably the kind of guy who thinks that Trofim Lysenko didn’t fail Russia with his delusional ag science, it was Russia that failed Lysenko.
trollhattan
When he says “Not good!” he means “It’s great!”
It’s like watching a demented uncle who was never that sharp to begin with. Only he managed to get himself in charge of the family reunion and you HAVE to attend because mom says so. The reunion lasts four years.
Jeffro
Stacey Abrams launching “Fair Fight 2020” to protect voting rights in 20 key states. Awesome! Looking forward to seeing the GOP spin on people being able to actually exercise their franchise and then losing those arguments.
trollhattan
@Jeffro:
They do like money, after all.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: I’d guess that Putin appreciates how Stalin showed those scientists who’s the boss. And… that’s what matters.
ThresherK
Is Skyfall the common idiom name for this explosion thing, or did Trump make it up? I really haven’t been paying attention.
I can imagine Putin selling Trump on the idea that Antifa wants to make all the gold in Fort Knox radioactive.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gvg:
According to my Russian dissident on line friend the Russia media has been openly mocking Trump since the election and “Boneless” is their favorite nickname for Trump. People have commented about the smirks on the Russian’s faces when they talk to Trump.
Also apparently the word is Putin wasn’t over joyed to see Trump elected because the Russians get what kind of a useless idiot Trump is and the Russian press described Putin as the dog who caught the big yellow bus after the 2016 election.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@ThresherK:
9M730 Burevestnik (Russian: Буревестник; “Petrel”, NATO reporting name: SSC-X-9 Skyfall)
Cheryl Rofer
@ThresherK: Skyfall is the NATO designation for what Russians call Burevestnik (translates as storm petrel). I wish they would keep to one name, but English-speakers have trouble with Russian words, even when they’re in Latin letters.
Amir Khalid
@ThresherK:
The US dollar isn’t based on gold anymore, and hasn’t been for many decades. Why is there still a gold stockpile in Fort Knox?
Betty Cracker
Candidates who’ve qualified for next month’s debates:
Major Major Major Major
While the US has worked on some crazy shit, and as Cheryl noted has over the years experimented with nuclear propulsion intended for spacecraft, I dunno, a nuclear-powered missile still seems too stupid for us to actually be working on.
@Betty Cracker: whatshisface rich asshole qualified too, I saw. Steyer?
ThresherK
@Amir Khalid: Oh, I know. But if it was a good enough idea for Goldfinger, it’s good enough for Trump to fall for it.
@Cheryl Rofer: Ahh, thanks.
Amir Khalid
@Betty Cracker:
When I saw that photo of the debate stage, I found myself thinking that what the debate needed was an acerbic Scotswoman as moderator.
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
HOW?
Cause, this was about polls too…and, show me the polls where he had any standing.
Amir Khalid
@ThresherK:
I believe you’re almost the first person in this thread to mention the James Bond canon.
Major Major Major Major
@Jeffro:
Surely the people who yelled at Sanders and Buttigieg for going on the network will also yell at Castro for directly giving the network cash money.
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah:
ETA ah, he needs one more poll. With a random walk on margins of error he just might get one with near-0 support.
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Nuclear at both ends! It’s a genius idea, I tells ya.
randy khan
Personally, I think it was a successful missile explosion. It exploded, didn’t it?
Jeffro
@Major Major Major Major: They can try, but the WaPo article about it says he spent under $3k. Not bad. Shoot, I might cut an ad myself for that amount. Just me pointing at a picture of his slovenly orange self and laughing for 30 seconds.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: I remember a morning after some bad chiles rellenos when “nuclear at both ends” would have been an apt description. Didn’t seem like a genius idea at the time.
rikyrah
@Capri:
I know it in my own life too…You might be overweight, but you KNOW your body…you KNOW when something isn’t as it’s always been.
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
Might be the first to mention it, but it crossed my mind too, but then, I thought it was a bit obscure to mention..glad to know other Bond fans here.
J R in WV
@Gin & Tonic:
I once got an order of bad fried clams up in new england, for lunch, tasted fine, BUT…
By mid-afternoon I was disturbed, and by dark I was nuclear at both ends and dreaming that I saw tiny clams dancing on my toes. Food poisoning is a hell of a drug!! Recovered by the next day, but moving very slow.
Gravenstone
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Putin may not have been thrilled to have Trump actually win, but I imagine he’s been overjoyed by the damage Trump and his cronies have been inflicting on our country and government since taking office.
Mainmata
Well, as you well know, the US did have a Skyfall program in the 1950s (maybe up to the early ’60s?) , which was a costly failure but we certainly have not had anything comparable for more than 50 years AFAIK.
Mainmata
@Gin & Tonic: You’re absolutely right though Trump does not know that, as evidenced by his statement the other day that the Soviet Union changed its name to Russia when the Communist era ended. The NYT should know better but they’ve gotten sloppy at copy-editing.
patrick II
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Not just the Russian media have mocked Trump. A member of thier Parliament mocked him on the floor of the Parliament. He called him “our man”. The members laughed.
Trump hates to be laughed at, it’s too bad we can’t make him see that.
VOR
@NotMax: I recently talked to a colleague from Russia who mentioned the Velikovsky theory of altered historical timeline as if it was just settled fact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Velikovsky#Revised_chronology
Citizen Alan
@ThresherK:
Fat Bastard wishes he could be as cool (and as rich) as Auric Goldfinger. There are no Bond villains lame enough to be parallels to Fat Bastard.
Quicksand
@NotMax:
I, for one, welcome our new autistic cat overlords.
PST
@rikyrah: Michelle Obama Athletic Complex is just a mile from where I live. I’m working from home today, so when I saw rikyrah’s post I thought I should wander over at lunchtime and see it. Then I realized that I see it every time I walk the dog over to Skinner Park. I just didn’t know it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV:
‘Cold Turkey’ was written after John and Yoko had some bad turkey sandwiches.
chris
@VOR: Now I feel old! As a teen I got Velikovsky’s Worlds in Collision from the library. It was my first O-god-the-end-is-nigh book. Spent several weeks waiting for the world to do a somersault :-)
ET
While I am sure dick measuring is pure tRump, I am curious about who wrote/conceived the rest because there is no way in Hell tRump knew what Skyfall was/is.
Brachiator
@Cheryl Rofer:
The good news is that Trump is paying some attention to his advisors.
The bad news is that I am not sure that Trump is drawing the right conclusions from the information he is given.
Bill Arnold
This is disconcertingly like an Idiocracy[0] variation on Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals (1987 paper by Carol Cohn. Linked by Cheryl previously.)
[0] ” At the time, Judge also compared Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump—who later won and became President of the United States—to the movie’s dim-witted wrestler-turned-president[1], Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho. When asked about predicting the future, he remarked, “I’m no prophet, I was off by 490 years.” ”
[1] Donald Trump bodyslams, beats and shaves Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania XXIII
Tehanu
@randy khan:
Exactly, I noticed that too. Dump is sooooo stupid.
@Mainmata:
You’re too kind. “Gotten sloppy” is a polite way of saying that they’re too damn cheap to pay copy editors (and have been for years). Orwell wept.
sm*t cl*de
I think you are missing the underlying theme of the tweet: “Putin is right to develop new warhead-delivery systems; Russia has a legitimate grievance; any radioactive contamination is all the fault of the US for starting this new arms race”.
sm*t cl*de
@Mainmata:
IIRC (checking Whackyweedia is for wimps!), people managed to keep Project Rover going until after Apollo 11.
Ryan
Failed missile explosion means Failed Putin right?
Barney
Cheryl giving live commentary on the Russian radioactive explosion on BBC Radio 4. Congratulations!
(But note she’s introduced as blogging at Nuclear Diner – Balloon Juice doesn’t have the kudos. :(