“Russian attempts to interfere in the election were disclosed by Congress on Sep 22, 2016, confirmed by US intel agencies on Oct 7, and detailed by the Dir of National Intelligence office in Jan 2017. According to US intel, the operation was ordered directly by Putin.”??♀️ pic.twitter.com/0b93NKvBXg
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) December 21, 2019
Every single time I think, "Naw, Trump wouldn't be *that* brazen, would he?" he does something even more brazen than I could have imagined. Here's the president of the United States, telling us that his impeachment is unfair because… Vladimir Putin says so. https://t.co/9sgJ13jGMi
— Rosa Brooks (@brooks_rosa) December 22, 2019
Who needs the Washington Post and anonymous administration sourcesX when you can get the information straight from President’s mouth: Putin told me! pic.twitter.com/H3ZdAHpaT9
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) December 21, 2019
Furthermore…
And here is your bureaucracy version of a literally smoking gun:
Newly released #UkraineDocs show that a mere 90 minutes after Trump's phone call, the White House ordered the military aid to be put on hold, but to be "closely held" infohttps://t.co/IqT70JkWBH
HT @Zeddary pic.twitter.com/H9eeHuOlo4— Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) December 21, 2019
?This is breaking news and it’s important. New documents show:
1. Ukraine aid was held just hours after the Trump/Zelensky “do us a favor” call
2. Internal notes show Trump’s direct involvement
3. Staff knew it was wrong, kept it secrethttps://t.co/KHhS99oP0h
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 21, 2019
This is how it always goes. He's always lying, it's always Russia, it's always worse than it first appears. It takes a long time for evidence to come out, which is a sign that he's been getting away with a lot we don't know about at all. https://t.co/nYxvaq12xv
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) December 22, 2019
ThresherK
Proud of my Senator, Chris Murphy.
All the CT delegation have been doing themselves proud during this morass. Hoping that all seven get on Trump’s tantrum Twitter list.
debbie
That Trump would post Putin’s tweet as vindication says it all.
Derelict
On this side, there’s a mountain of evidence that keeps growing. All of it shows directly and indisputably the guilt of the president.
However, the media MUST continue its mission of fairness and balanceness, so we will report stories as “Evidence shows president guilty, but Republicans note that garden gnomes are part of the Deep State which is causing the entire process to be biased. [follows 2.5 pages examining garden gnome theory with extensive quotes from Republicans repeating garden gnome theory] CONCLUSION: “It is impossible to know whether garden gnomes had any influence on creating the growing mountain of evidence showing the president may be guilty.”
Van Buren
Does anybody think this will sway even 1 GOP Senator or 1% of the populace? He could snarl at us like Colonel Jessup that he ordered the hold and they will still vote to acquit.
WASF
MattF
I recollect that really recently, someone pointed out that all roads lead to Putin.
Baud
The Republican Party and the media remind me of those families that choose to pretend they don’t know that Uncle Donald shouldn’t be left alone with the children. Because to admit the truth would be scandalous.
kindness
I wonder how the right wing talking heads justify their bloviations in their own heads. They have to know the truth. I figure they all think they are great Freedom Fighters for The Cause and they are doing their loyal duty by reshaping American’s minds in the image their masters would prefer. I think that when I am giving them more credit than they deserve. Most times I think they’ve swilled the KoolAide and are worthless treasonous scum. If the Senate ends up allowing witness’ we’ll be lucky if Trump (with the help of the bloviators) doesn’t drum up a civil war here. Trump’s nuts enough. God knows Putin would tell him he needs to do it. But the rest. The Media folk…. I think they are all in. How do we treat these people when we win?
feebog
I’m wondering what it will take for some fence sitters to fall off. If it is revealed Saudi Arabia laundered 20 million into Trump’s campaign with his knowledge and encouragement, would that do it?
khead
15 minutes of Meet the Press and I want to go Elvis on the TV.
FelonyGovt
I got into an ill-advised argument on Facebook last night with an evangelical Republican who claimed that Trump is “our Churchill” (!) – “coarse but effective”.
When I pushed back, I got the usual “what about Clinton and Biden they were corrupt too” and “where’s the due process” and similar crap. Reading further comments on, they’re contorting themselves into pretzels to rationalize his behavior because of the judges and the aborted bay-beez. Ugh.
JPL
@feebog: nope. Remember it was already decided that junior didn’t knowingly commit a crime.
Lapassionara
My question is this: how did Public Integrity get documents that the US Congress were unable to obtain? I know they sent a FOIA request, but why was that request honored, when House subpoenas were not honored? Any theories?
mrmoshpotato
“My daddy Vladdy said this impeachment sham is Unfair and a TOTAL loser! Sad!
My daddy Vladdy also says I’m not Putin’s bitch! No collision!”
jeffreyw
@feebog: No, just smart business.
OzarkHillbilly
@Lapassionara: These aren’t very smart people in the White House. That and the Deep State, otherwise known as civil servants following the law.
Betty Cracker
As a very wise lady once said, as she stood up to leave an unproductive meeting, “All roads lead to Putin.”
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: That someone was Nancy SMASH.
jeffreyw
@Lapassionara: There was a court ruling that was honored, not sure why they didn’t appeal but it may be that the WH lawyers are just overwhelmed.
Just One More Canuck
Putin says Trump’s impeachment is far-fetched? Well I’m convinced
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not smart and sloppy is a very perilous combination. //
OzarkHillbilly
mrmoshpotato
@kindness:
Really easily when they don’t give a damn about government.
“It makes liberals sad/mad? We must be doing something right! Our audience is starting to support impeachment? Quick! The black guy asked for spicy mustard!”
germy
One of my local TV news stations was bought by sinclair a few years ago. They’re rather predictable in their coverage of #45 and his administration.
Lately, they’ve been advertising an exclusive interview with Rudy. I imagine it came from sinclair and has been sent to all the affiliates nationwide. But here’s the thing: my local station will be playing it 11:35 Sunday night.
I wonder if they want to bury poor Rudy. Fulfill their contractual obligation to air sinclair’s propaganda, but do it at a time when many of their viewers will be asleep. Because they’re embarrassed by him, and what he does to their cause.
mrmoshpotato
@khead: Any day ending in -day is too early for Chuckles Todd.
Lapassionara
@OzarkHillbilly: That was one of my theories. Given that I have seen FOIA successfully used this way more than once recently, I think I’ll start donating to public interest groups, for their FOIA fund.
Lapassionara
@jeffreyw: thanks, I was not paying close attention.
chris
Trump: I did crimes!
Lapassionara
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m sure she’ll have a “gofundme” account soon, for her legal bills.
mrmoshpotato
@FelonyGovt: Saturday night’s alright for fighting but not with RWNJ Trump trash.
germy
mrmoshpotato
@Lapassionara: Because the Democratic House is a total loser! Neener neener!
(I’m probably not too far off.)
Baud
@FelonyGovt:
True. If Hitler owned Churchill.
SFAW
@feebog:
Nothing.
I guess MAYBE if the Traitor-in-Chief had Moscow Mitch killed, and then bragged about it, Suzy Collins would furrow her brow, and tease that she “had concerns.” But in the end, they’ll all still vote for him.
mrmoshpotato
@Just One More Canuck: Shut it down boys! The Dumps are now Precident for life!
germy
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: LOL So true!
Citizen Alan
@FelonyGovt:
I just accuse them of being satan worshipers and traitors and then move on. Saves a lot of time period
HinTN
@debbie:
That may be the understatement of the century.
Villago Delenda Est
I do believe this clip from Casablanca <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME”>sums it all up</a>
WHY THE HELL CAN’T I USE HTML MARKUP IN COMMENTS?
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Franklin, the driver and self-confessed attempted murderer, is obviously a massively stupid piece of excrement. I hope and expect Ms Franklin to spend a long time in jail for her crimes, and trust she will learn valuable life skills while in stir. Hate-filled Bitch!
Good that most of these rancid monsters are so stupid they brag about their crimes, which makes it easy to convict them of their hate crimes! Then they all seem so shocked that the police are taking the crime very seriously, and fully intend to put them in prison for a very long time! ! !
Mike in NC
NYT and the other media lapdogs will dispatch an army of reporters to diners throughout the Rust Belt on New Year’s Eve to tell us that impeachment has sent Fat Bastard’s poll numbers skyrocketing.
tobie
I read the story in the Post yesterday about Trump ordering a hold on Ukrainian aid an hour after his phone call with Zelensky. I expected it to be the lead story on cable all day. Nada. Zippo. Instead I saw endless analysis of Buttigieg’s and Warren’s run-in during the debate and spots on devoted Trump voters in places like Blair County, PA. What the phuck is wrong with our media? This story should be the headline all day. It’s a smoking gun.
mrmoshpotato
@Mike in NC: “Our God emperor is luxurious at the impeachment, you libtards!”
“Umm…he took away your grandkids’ food stamps.”
“Nu uh!”
ThresherK
@Villago Delenda Est: <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME”>Let’s see if it works.</a>
ETA: Wow. It no longer lets me hand-code.
This is with the buttons.
Cheryl Rofer
@Villago Delenda Est: @ThresherK: Look to the right top of the comment box. You should see a “Text” tab. Click on that and then use markup.
Cheryl Rofer
About two weeks ago, I had mentally worked out the shape of a post on why it was difficult to talk about Trump’s Russia connections. I now don’t need to do that one.
I am still cautious about talking about those connections. We don’t know that Putin is directing Trump. We do know that Trump admires Putin greatly and sees nothing wrong with saying that publicly.
OzarkHillbilly
From the announcement of the Golden Duke Awards at TPM: In the Meritorious Achievement in the Crazy category:
The horror….
The Best Scandal Local Venue had this doozy that I’d missed:
Yarrow
@Villago Delenda Est: In the comment box did you click over to the Text tab (above the link and blockquote buttons and all that on the right side)? If you do that you should be able to do HTML markup. It’s an annoying extra step and I forget it half the time.
Yarrow
@Villago Delenda Est:
Reposting your commetn in Text tab and it works:
I do believe this clip from Casablanca sums it all up
Yarrow
@ThresherK: Use the Text tab (upper right side of comment box) and you can use HTML markup. Annoying extra step. Also, an explanation of what those tabs are that’s somewhere near the comment box would help. “Visual” and “Text” don’t mean much if you don’t already know what they mean.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cheryl Rofer: Thank you! I do see the text tab!
trnc
Yet I suspect he has no answer as to why neither Clinton nor Biden have been indicted or even appear to be targets of an investigation by the DOJ.
Yarrow
@Villago Delenda Est: Just FYI, the site still has some bugs and half the time only the Text option is available. For me when that happens no tabs (Visual/Text) appear and you just get the Text box. I’ve told WaterGirl that’s my preferred style but it’s not going to stay that way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: And if Churchill were incoherent.
Jay
@tobie:
there’s no such thing as a smocking gun,…..
look, it’s pretty simple, other than a few good names, quite simply, Broadcast Journalism, is not serious anymore, it’s infotainment to keep people dumb and buying crap, they don’t need and can’t afford.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Filler in between ads for drugs we should all be asking our doctors about.
‘Ask your doctor if Lugaboogachooga is right for you.” (How is this shit even legal? Yes, I know…)
tobie
@Jay: Good point. Cable news is there to keep us watching for the commercials.
Jay
@FelonyGovt:
when they go “whattabout??????”,
I go Soviet Propaganda.
”What abboutism” is a Soviet Propaganda technique. It was designed during the 1930’s to deflect attention from Stalin’s mass murders by pointing out the past and current events in the US and the West.
So why are you using Soviet propaganda and disinformation techniques to avoid and deflect from talking about Doltus’s crimes?
Are you a Communist?
Are you KGB?
Are you a Russian?
Yarrow
@mrmoshpotato:
It really is crazy. I mean, you don’t even know what the drug is for half the time. Why should you ask for it? Something is so wrong with our society that these ads are allowed.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
StringOnAStick
@Yarrow: It is really refreshing to go to other countries and notice that there are NO ads for prescription drugs on TV.
FelonyGovt
@Jay: Good idea.
I was going to ask what she would have thought if Obama (who she characterized as a “sociopath”) had done or said some of the things Trump did. But I realized that was also a form of what-aboutism.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Villago Delenda Est:
You can do manual HTML only in Text mode.
Jay
Why we can’t have nice things #284,563
https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/biggest-fake-news-of-2017/
zhena gogolia
@Cheryl Rofer:
We don’t know because unlike any other president in modern times, he has kept his communications with a major adversary secret from the public and from apparently everyone else. That’s enough evidence for me that their conversations are not innocent.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack (phone): I find the words “Visual” and “Text” not very intuitive. If you don’t know what they are/do you have no idea what to do what to do with them or how to do what you want with HTML. I mentioned to WaterGirl in the latest Site Issues thread that maybe there should be a line about what they’re for somewhere near the comment box. And/or naming them so they are more easily understood for newer visitors.
Jay
@FelonyGovt:
keep ‘em pinned on the specific subject, and call them commies and traitors when they try to deflect, distract and r-u-n-n-o-f-t,
they either have to defend the indefensible, admit it, or bail.
99.9% of the time, they throw over the table and r-u-n-n-o-f-t.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Yarrow:
You don’t have to convince me. The comment editor is all too often a pain in the ass.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Cheryl Rofer:
Michael McFaul was on I think the Hayes program the other night, and pointed out the weird specificity of some of the things trump says that reflect the Putin party-line. The one that stands out to me is his (occasional) fixation with Montenegro. I doubt that if you told trump right now that he should hold his next Sixty Minute Hate in Montenegro, WI, he’s be all for it. But at one point he knew enough about Montenegro to say it could be the birthplace of WW-3, and it’s not so clear now that the moment when he shoved the Montenegrin (?) PM wasn’t just random rudeness.
(My god, Alex Witt is awful. How does she have a job at MSNBC?)
joel hanes
@Villago Delenda Est:
redacted; multiple others got there first.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack (phone): Yep. If you go back to the most recent Site Issues thread you can see my questions and WaterGirl’s answers. I don’t get the Pop Up box at all. It’s only available when someone clicks Reply to a comment. Otherwise we use the regular comment box. And if we want to reply to more than one person we have to use that box. And once the comment pop up is closed we can’t re-open it that I can find.
All that means to me that the comment box at the bottom of the page is the real, actual way to comment and the pop up comment box is some kludge added on top that’s only available for one subset of commenting actions. I’m not a fan of it but at least you can close it make it go away.
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow: Movie previews are the same way. I saw two commercials during SNL last night that gave no plot outline or actors in the movies.
But seeing a movie won’t have serious side effects – unless they’re the movies in Demons or Cigarette Burns.
Jay
Yarrow
@mrmoshpotato: Well that’s better than movie previews that give away the entire plot or show the best jokes or action sequences. Why bother seeing the movie after that?
Yarrow
They’re already trying this tactic. Up is down. Black is white.
Jay
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow: True, but why bother seeing a movie you know nothing about?
You wouldn’t rent a DVD whose case didn’t say a damn thing about the plot or actors.
Seven – wtf is that about from the title?
ETA – plotless, no actors mentioned Siskel and Ebert would’ve been something to see
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow: Oh ffs! Exhibit 183847574848484 that one major political party rejects reality completely.
Jay
@Yarrow:
Ilsa, She Wolf of the Nazis, trial ballooned that idea,
The the White Supremacy House adopted it as a tactic, tells you everything you need to know, about how dumb and compromised their supporters are,……
Yarrow
@mrmoshpotato: Yeah, there’s definitely a balance to strike. Reviews can help too, so long as they’re not too spoiler-filled. I know I’ve clicked off some previews halfway through because I felt like I was getting the whole plot, so that’s no good.
@mrmoshpotato:
Yep. 1984 is here, at least for Republicans. Sadly, for half the media too.
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
from the title “Seven”, the plot is pretty simple to deduce,
it’s either the movie where the pitch of Elmo’s voice finally causes The Count to snap, going on a muder spree down the street,…….
or it’s the porn movie the Dwarves did to make ends meet, after Walt cancelled any follow on roles after Snow White, because Walt was a Dwarfist.
ola azul
@Baud:
Yes, would be scandalous, but think that ain’t really the point. The point, imo, is if the truth were ever admitted openly and directly, that’d mean sumpin fucking well hadda be done about it. Never admit the truth, you get to keep both-sidesing the living fuck outta treason and yer church of the savvy horse-race-tout cred remains intact. And assholes won’t target you n say mean shit about how shrill you is.
Jay
Big news Friday, memory holed by Saturday, so I’m just gonna mention it again,….
VOR
@tobie: Because everybody (in the media) knows. They know Trump is a liar. They know his administration is full of liars. They know Trump is The Seven Deadly Sins incarnate. Yawn.
Even during the campaign, things were reported which should have killed a normal candidate. Admitted in court he cheated people, paid a $25M fine. “Grab them by the pussy”. On and on.
In many ways, Trump is the Gish Gallop of scandals. Hillary had ONE scandal, emails, so the media could focus on it. Trump had a new scandal practically every day. Still does. No time to dig into scandal #586, here comes scandals #587-590 and we have to clear time to cover them. And to be even-handed, we’ll spend the same amount of time on Hillary’s emails that we do on all of Trump’s scandals.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Trump will throw this country under the bus at a second’s notice if he feels it will help his standing with Putin. Wasn’t it a couple weeks ago when Soviet athletes were banned for four years for doping, and Trump’s response was to say it wasn’t fair and that “we” (American athletes) were probably doing it too.
I’m no expert, but I find it entirely creditable that Putin is directing Trump. Whether or not he has damaging information, Putin is directing Trump. It’s not admiration; it’s subjugation.
jimmiraybob
Right wing talking heads with a loyalty to the Constitution and a conscience can now be found on MSNBC & CNN bloviating against Comrade Putin’s Pet Puppet.
Jay
Jay
jimmiraybob
He has been throwing the country under the bus since January 20, 2017.
Jay
Yarrow
@VOR:
The thing is, most of these scandals are related. Russia, Russian mob, etc. It’s not like laundering Russian money through real estate in south Florida is separate from cutting off aid to Ukraine or trafficking underage girls from eastern Europe. They’re part of the same thing. It’s global organized crime and Trump is a useful asset for the head guy.
I feel like our media has chosen to be the blind people trying to describe the elephant. One describes the tail and claims the elephant is all tail. One describes the leg and claims the elephant is like a tree trunk. Etc. They’re not wrong individually but they aren’t correct about describing the elephant as a whole. We need our media to look at and explain the whole elephant (Russian organized crime has infiltrated our government and other institutions like media, etc.) Also, I’d like a pony.
Jay
Jay
@Yarrow:
the “Media’s job”, aside from getting you to buy stuff, is to hide the elephant in the room.
Epstein, Trump, Prince Andrew, MIT Labs, Dershowitz, Yale, Harvard, the Supreme Court,
There is a 7 degrees of Kevin Baconry going on, in which all major criminality and scandals, are all connected, through the same social, economic and celebrity circles,
that was created and enabled by ignoring White Collar crime,……
the New Meritocracy running the US is as crooked AF,…..
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Exactly, Jay. Exactly.
Jay
JoeyJoeJoe
@mrmoshpotato: And of course In the Mouth of Madness, good Sam Neil movie
Jay
Doltus’s impact goes far beyond the US,…..
Jay
Jay
Jay
So, there is a “Conservatives in Disarray” story the MSM is ignoring as best as they can, or when they have to cover it, they play dumb.
It’s the Groyper Wars. The various flavours of Nazi have dug themselves in deeply into the Youth Wing of the GrOPers, some of the “Intellectual” groups or brain trusts, the “activists” and media,…..
And they are attacking other GrOPers for not being Nazi enough,
painedumonde
Everyone, I mean everyone, stay off of Fifth Avenue. Pass the word.
West of the Rockies
I’m feeling politically cynical today. I know that, like, new shit has come to light, man, but… It. Won’t. Matter.
His cult followers will be unmoved. We Dems will say, “See, we told you!”
Maybe the remaining 19 undecideds will join our side.
Trump could feast on a newborn, and his supporters would request the wishbone and take a selfie.
Warblewarble
Here coincidence is a subset of conspiracy.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
@Cheryl Rofer: check out ‘The Asset’ podcast.
bucachon
If the docs just released via FOIA that shows there was no reason legally to withhold them from Congress and thus is evidence of the second act of impeachment-obstruction.
bucachon
Chris T.
@Lapassionara: This thread may be dead, but, my theory is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_compliance. Trump ordered staff “don’t cooperate with House Democrats”, so they’re doing as ordered.