.
Margaret Sullivan, at the Washington Post, “The Intercept failed to shield its confidential source. Now it’s making amends.”:
… It should have been the last place a news source would have to worry about protection and confidentiality. And indeed, the organization, funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, includes some world-class security experts.
But early last month, the site — founded by the crusading journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras — came under fire for inadvertently failing in that core mission. Now, having taken a deep look at what happened, the Intercept has adopted some reforms, and its parent company is helping a young whistleblower who has been charged under the Espionage Act…
“As the news outlet Winner is accused of leaking to, the Intercept has a unique perspective on her case and a passionate desire to see her receive a fair trial — even though we had no idea who our source was and still have no independent knowledge of the source’s identity,” Reed said in a statement Tuesday.
Helping Winner’s case will take two forms, she said.
First Look’s Press Freedom Defense Fund will pay for a law firm to support her current defense lawyers. And it will give $50,000 in matching funds to Stand With Reality, a grass-roots crowdfunding campaign intended to increase public awareness and support legal work for the young whistleblower…
Reed, who declined for legal reasons to go into detail about what happened, told me the entire staff would be retrained in best practices and that new levels of editorial scrutiny would be put in place. No staffers will be fired.
The Intercept’s founding principles are transparency and accountability, and its mission remains important.
So, it’s heartening to see the site and its parent company doing everything in their power to admit and make good on their own mistakes. And it’s important that they’ll help Winner be treated fairly at the hands of an administration that could hardly be more averse to press rights.
More detail at the link. While I’d prefer the Intercept had not fouled up in the first place, better they should do what they can to support Ms. Winner now than default to a squid-cloud of butthurt excuses. Mine is a religious faith that believes in redemption — after all, our Blogmaster used to be a Republican!
**********
What’s on the agenda as we gear up for another day?
Keith P.
Morning shows are fun this morning. Lots of “What in the hell was Don Jr. thinking?” Donald Trump and family truly is the gift that keeps on giving. *Any* other Republican president would be gliding the agenda right through Congress (Congress absolutely would have rolled over for Pres. Cruz), but Trump is suck a colossal fuckup that their entire agenda is paralyzed, and any credibility they will have to govern is ruined for years. AND their national security cred is now in the toilet to boot. AND their family values cred, too.
SFAW
Because GG has so much “pull” at the White House, no doubt — Lying Littledick always takes his calls.
Oh, wait — I meant calls from Putin. My bad.
Baud
From what I hear secondhand on the tubes, GG isn’t redeemable, except maybe for rubles.
Xboxershorts
Glenn Greenwald was a colossal asshole during the entire election season. Poo Poo-ing any and all references people made regarding the DNC/Podesta hack, the use of Russian fake news/misinformation injection and the role that Wikileaks (Now hosted in Moscow, in case y’all didn’t know) played in tilting public opinion towards that idiot asshole Trump.
And I’ve called him out publicly on his denial of Russian hacking. I’ve shown him my Cyber Security credentials and asked for his, and how he can be so goddam certain it never happened. I told him he’s fucking up, but he don’t give a fuck, he’s Glenn Greenwald after all. He knows so much more than Crowdstirke, right?
“The Intercept” for me, will forever be tainted until that arrogant asshole Greenwald apologizes publicly.
Anne Laurie
@SFAW:
Whatever GG’s merits or lack of them, were I Reality Winner, I’d be happy to take the $50K plus the help of a qualified law firm from his employers.
Baud
@Keith P.:
Not as long as they remain the party of white nationalists.
TS
@Keith P.: And the republicans all still saying this is nothing – Cruz managed to blame the current situation on President Obama not being strong on Russia.
But the best of the Morning Joe – reporting on Morning Joe appearing on the Late show. You watched it last night – see it again this morning.
And now – they are attacking Hillary Clinton because she didn’t go to Wisconsin. My brain aches.
NotMax
Besides the couple of stories found of interest and summarized in the late night thread, this also caught the eye (and really needs an Adamnalysis).
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ?? ?
debbie
@TS:
Hopefully you saw Colbert’s monologue about Trump Jr. It was brilliant!
MJS
Toles’ rendering of Trump looks like a barely disguised half pig/half anus creature.
JPL
Well Papa Trump’s attorney said don jr did nothing wrong, and papa didn’t know anything. So case closed.
Luckovich
https://cmgajcluckovich.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/lk071217_color.jpg
rikyrah
The excuses for mediocre White Men is REAL. That curve is so real.
WHAT if…
David Axelrod , David Plouffe and Craig Robinson had attended a meeting with the Russians?
Yeah, I thought so.
TS
@debbie: It’s taken awhile – but Colbert seems to have made the show his own. Maybe some of that is thanks to the Trump administration. They make the monologues.
OzarkHillbilly
This is just toooooo phuny.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Betty Cracker
The feds might have quickly zeroed in on Winner as the leak without the visual evidence The Intercept provided. But even someone who knows exactly jack and shit about forensics (like me!) should have known better than to hand their source over on a silver platter like that. Good for them for trying to atone, but I think they screwed the pooch in a permanent way.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Quinerly
@Kay:
?
Baud
@rikyrah: The curve is a U-turn at this point.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s not like DWS was involved.
bystander
@MJS: Toles does seem to be depicting a devolutionary character.
Got that one right. Are we not Trump? Yes, we are Devo.
Kay
Donald Trump hires horrible people, # 458.
It’s stunning how bad he is at hiring. They ALL suck.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: You’re right, my bad.
Gin & Tonic
It is to laugh.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MJS: It’s almost like a photograph.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: His reputation was for firing people on his game show, so far he’s not all that good at that either.
OzarkHillbilly
Gee, I wonder why they want to avoid discovery?
Ooooopps. Who said rich people are smart?
TriassicSands
@Kay:
Like everything else about Trump, he’s so much worse than we could have imagined. If I had assumed that Trump was the worst person in the world at everything, which I did, I still would have greatly underestimated his unbelievable incompetence, ineptitude, and all-around badness.
SFAW
@Anne Laurie:
I don’t disagree. But unless they got someone like David Boies (in the raw ability sense, I have no idea how Boies is with security stuff), they’re doing pretty close to the bare minimum.
My attempted point was that saying “they’ll help Winner be treated fairly at the hands of an administration” is sort-of like saying that Ephialtes will help the Spartan widows find new husbands.
Kay
Well, my big hope is Jeff Sessions gets pulled into the Russia mess. That would be good. He’d have to resign.
I also think it’s possible Prince (Betsy DeVos’ brother) will show up eventually:
The Trump people knew the Russian government was backing Trump and Trump himself has indicated over and over that he sees this as some kind of negotiating advantage. I bet they thought they could use the backing to their advantage when he was President. It would be completely in character if they thought they were somehow getting one over on Putin and it’s really true that the mark always thinks he has some special advantage- that’s why he’s vulnerable.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: My guess is that being a flaming asshole limits the talent pool. Speaking of bad hires, I know nothing about this Christopher Wray person who is scheduled to appear for confirmation hearings today, except that Trump nominated him to replace Comey. In my book, that’s reason enough for every Democrat to vote no.
I hope Wray is questioned extensively about whether he swore a loyalty oath. It would also be fascinating if they ask him if he thinks it’s appropriate that Kushner still holds a security clearance when we now know he repeatedly lied about contacts with shady Russians.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: He hasn’t been hired to defend tRump, he’s been hired to attack the people making all these baseless accusations against tRump.
Ryan
Is it me, or is Greenwald a bridge too far regarding the Intercept?
SFAW
@MJS:
Maybe he was trying for the John “Prolapsed Pig Rectum” Sunununununununuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu look, but with weirder “hair”?
debbie
@TriassicSands:
NPR’s Mara Liasson has said, based on his contradicting tweets, that Trump’s not even good at negotiating with himself!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
The Alt-Left (ie the intercept) is not your friend and never will be.
Only a fool would attempt to normalize nihilists (and in Griftwalds’s case a useful idiot or willing agent of Russia)..
Kay
@TriassicSands:
That’s true for me, too. He’s worse than I imagined. I actually thought he would make an effort to be credible- pay special attention to acting “Presidential” since he was so clearly unqualified and unsuited to the job.
They seem to revel in acting like assholes. They do outrageous things that aren’t even necessary, like hiring his daughter and son in law, or fighting with talk show hosts, or lying about Comey even after they fired Comey in such a humiliating and unprofessional way.
Baud
@Kay: He’s exactly what I expected.
rikyrah
@Xboxershorts:
The Intercept should be a non-starter ..
Period.
efgoldman
@Keith P.:
Well, for rational people, sure.
Funny, the same things were being said after Tricksie Dicksie resigned, after the failed Clenis impeachment, after W and Iraq and social security “reform”, after 2006 and Obama’s election in ’08…..
They are the real undead.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I just don’t have any faith in anyone who takes a job with Trump. It’s sort of the height of arrogance to say “I am so uniquely ethical I can work for this man and not be corrupted”. The vast majority of people fall in line- that’s why it’s calling “falling in line”- most people give way- it’s a queue- a long line. Maybe he’s not a mere mortal but odds are he is and he’ll be tainted if he sticks around long enough. That’s how you get systemic and organizational corruption- most people go along.
To imagine yourself as the one of the one in 10,000 who won’t compromise is arrogant. How many people have quit as a result of the corruption? One, right? One.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
So the great “civil libertarian” thinks it’s okay to break an entry and steal files if you’re a Democrat who might enter government.
Keep fucking that chicken.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
The easiest way to not be a criminal is to not hang around with criminals. Then you’re not tempted. People are social. They adopt the norms that surround them- MOST people. The people who don’t are so rare we make them into heroes.
Baud
@Kay: Now I’m second guessing my presence here.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: GG is the poster boy for uncivil rights.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
If Trump has lost Morning Joe, he’s lost narcissists who are hyper sensitive about their vanity cosmetic surgeries.
efgoldman
@Kay:
In my misspent yout’, they called that “influence peddling”, and people got sentenced to the sneezer for it.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
INOKIYAD
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly:
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: He hasn’t really lost Morning Joe.
Immanentize
@Kay:
We even make heros out of the ones who don’t quit but are fired:
Yates
Bharara
Comey….
SFAW
@Baud:
Don’t worry, I don’t think your presence here will cause any of us to turn to a life of
debaucherycrime.But thanks for your (belated) concern.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: I can see them texting each other: “Why can’t I quit you”.
efgoldman
@Immanentize:
I’ll give you Yates and Preet. But Comey? Hardly a hero.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Notice how none of them were hired by tRump?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Immanentize
@efgoldman: Not here, but he is to many average anti-Trumpers for spilling the beans (and keeping receipts as rikyrah would say) who didn’t register his October surprise as a wrong act.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
And thanks going out to the people who kicked in on my rescue group’s small fundraiser as mentioned here. It’s looking like Gary will be able to get his surgery much sooner than we thought. Huge gratitude to all!
Quinerly
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Thanks for posting this. I had actually forgotten the full quote. Much appreciated.
Bruce K
@efgoldman: Can’t disagree with that assessment of Comey, but he does seem to be self-aware enough to know that he fbeeped up bad with his actions in the run-up to the election. He may not be a hero, but he’s still got a chance at redemption, which is more than I can say for anyone who’s willingly supporting the cheeto junta.
efgoldman
@Immanentize:
There are (were) significant numbers of people who think Sanctus Ronaldus and John Wayne were heroes because they saw them in some WW2 movies, too.
Quinerly
@Kay:
I agree. Got in a bit of dust up yesterday about the attorneys willing to represent anyone connected with Trump. Of course, I believe everyone is entitled to due process but I’m to a point that it says something about character if you hitch yourself to this shitshow.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: That is a good point. Baud upstairs said Trump is exactly what he imagined. If I am surprised by anything in this administration, it is the utter lack of discipline in the White House. We call them a crime family, but no self-respecting Bonanno or Genovese would ever allow such discord in the ranks.
ETA. Baud auto corrects to “Bad”. Hmmmm
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Thank heavens for women’s tennis to distract me from the knuckle-heads.
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
The Intercept has no credibility. And poor Winner will probably need, at minimum, a quarter of a million dollars to deal with this legal mess.
Immanentize
@efgoldman: They weren’t?! Oh crap!
efgoldman
@Quinerly:
It is kind of a comedown for the firm that’s represented four of the five New York crime families, isn’t it?
But oohh, the size of the retainer….
MomSense
@Kay:
Kelly Anne Conway’s husband was also taking trips to Russia during the summer of 2016. At some point it seems a little bizarre that all of these Republicans are only visiting Russia and meeting with Russians.
I’d also really like to get a campaign going to see all of Pence’s missing emails. Russia has made just the kind of progress transforming into Gilead that an asshole like Pence would appreciate.
MomSense
@Quinerly:
They should also get a yuuuge retainer because they will never see payment otherwise.
d58826
Well according to the Trumplet he can’t be held responsible for all the things that hit his inbox. True enough. So I think we all should contribute to buy the Trumplet the ‘HOW TO USE THE DELETE KEY FOR DUMMIES’ BOOK.
Baud
@d58826: Probably too advanced for Jr.
ThresherK
@debbie: When you’ve lost Mara Liasson…
Kay
Speaking of respectful public employees- we have a new magistrate. So yesterday she got behind and the whole afternoon calendar was a mess- not her fault- people go on and on, etc. Anyway. She apologized to my people when I brought them in (an hour behind their scheduled appearance). I was so impressed. There’s so much class sorting in court- lower status people are often treated so disrespectfully that I get angry and the thing is hourly wage people actually get hurt if they’re not at work because they don’t get paid unless they are there. Their time is MORE important than salaried people, looked at that way. I felt like they were shocked, that someone important apologized and said “I know your time is valuable”. Good job!
Gator90
Yesterday I was teasing GG about the utter collapse of his “no evidence of collusion” line, and he responded with Hillary-somethingsomething-Ukraine-BothSides!
I didn’t actually know what he was talking about, but it sounded pretty desperate.
Quinerly
@efgoldman:
We have a commenter here who apparently is friends with Jr’s attorney. Says the guy is a great guy. I’m a 32 year practicing civil atty who for the last 10 years… mostly a paper pusher. Never had an interest in criminal defense and quit trying civil cases years ago. And, yes, I still think it says something about character if you are willing to represent anyone connected with Trump. No one is being forced to take these cases…plus, Jr’s atty also is fresh off representing a Russian hacker. Apparently all the heavy hitters in NY represent Russians from time to time. Seems it’s impossible for an American to hire a top notch NY atty without Russian ties. The stuff I learn daily on BJ.?
rikyrah
Maddow pointed out, and all the MSM should..
the Russians could have used that meeting with Jr., Kushner and Manafort to Blackmail Dolt45.
What else do they have that they can blackmail them with?
rikyrah
Sherrilyn Ifill exposes the absurdity of Trump’s election integrity commission
Jonathan Capehart July 11 at 10:16 AM
“We don’t have a problem of too many people showing up to vote. We have a problem of too few people showing up to vote.”
Leave it to Sherrilyn Ifill to succinctly expose the absurdity of President Trump’s election integrity commission. As president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), Ifill is supposed to protect the right to vote from suppression efforts. Her job became more urgent after the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/07/11/sherrilyn-ifill-exposes-the-absurdity-of-trumps-election-integrity-commission/?utm_term=.c6167969db47
Baud
@Gator90: How Trumpian. When things get tough, bring up Hillary.
Kay
@Gator90:
He kept saying there was no evidence of collusion but no one was saying there was evidence of collusion. People said they wanted an investigation and one could seek an investigation just on what Trump himself said. He literally asked Russia and Wikileaks for help.
It’s weird for a “transparency” org to be saying over and over “no evidence!” before an investigation.
Betty Cracker
@MomSense: Even that nutjob Sheriff Clarke, who ended up being too much of a loon even for the Trump admin, visited Russia and met with Russians. It’s like everyone in Trump’s orbit, no matter how insignificant, had to make a pilgrimage to the Motherland or something.
Kay
@Quinerly:
I would make an exception for Trump’s defense lawyers. He’s entitled to a vigorous defense and that doesn’t have anything to do with his character. I just thought it was funny that his lawyer is an asshole, because of course he is.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Trump Jr collusion admission leaves Kushner exposed
Rachel Maddow points out that Republicans are likely to try to undercut the Trump Russia investigation and the admission to collusion by Donald Trump, Jr., but the risk of how Russia might coerce the Trump administration with what else it could reveal adds urgency to Robert Mueller’s mission.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
NYTimes Trump Jr. reporting ‘not closed by any measure’
Mark Mazzetti, Washington investigations editor for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about the story of Donald Trump, Jr. meeting with Russians and what questions remain to be investigated.
Baud
@Kay: I don’t follow him but my impression is that he wasn’t so meticulous about evidence when it came to alleging Democratic wrongdoings.
d58826
plot thickens
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article160803619.html
and
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/07/11/inside-the-link-between-the-russian-lawyer-who-met-donald-trump-jr-and-the-trump-dossier/?utm_term=.eff3cbf9fcd8
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Trump Jr. scandal puts his father in greater risk on obstruction
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about what laws Donald Trump, Jr. may have broken in colluding with Russia, and what further legal legal jeopardy his father may be in as a result of this meeting’s revelation.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Russia enjoying great success with Trump in White House
Rachel Maddow notes that Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak is stepping down with a tremendous record of success as Russia’s wish list from America is seeing favorable progress under Donald Trump.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Why is it so important to Trump that his son in law work there? It was a terrible idea hiring him but to keep him on when he’s under investigation is insane. He can be jettisoned easily. He never should have been hired.
Get rid of him. There’s no way it gets better. It only gets worse.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/11/17
Trump Jr. scandal hurts White House, US image
Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talks with Rachel Maddow about how Donald Trump, Jr.’s admission of collusion with Russia hurts his father’s image and the United States by proxy.
MomSense
@Betty Cracker:
It’s crazy isn’t it. I remember when Obama made a joke about Fox showing so many photos of shirtless Putin at one of the correspondents association dinners. He then sort of followed it with no really check it out. It’s weird. I think it’s the anti-gay, anti-press, anti environment, pro-Christian, pro oligarchy agenda that lines up perfectly with the Republican agenda here that attracts them and then I’m sure the collection of kompromat is not very challenging for Putin with these types.
rikyrah
I really did enjoy Larry O last night , explaining how Kushner shoulda just stayed his azz in NY. If he had, he wouldn’t be facing jail time for the lies on the Security Clearance Form. You could tell that he was enjoying it too…LOL
Kay
@Baud:
He kept talking about “hysteria”. I object to that. I wasn’t “hysterical”. I wanted an investigation. Jesus Christ there were 15 investigations into Benghazi. Conservatives investigated the “New Black Panther Scandal” for two years.
I’m satisfied with Mueller. That’s a real investigation.
Quinerly
@Kay:
Assholes find each other.
Kay
@Baud:
I just think differently than he does. When this started he made the accusation of “hypocrisy” because the US intervenes in elections. People in other countries get mad when the US intervenes in elections and they should get an investigation, I get mad when other countries intervene in ours and I should get an investigation. I’m not sure what the hypocrisy scolding has to do with either group of people. I somehow lost the right to find out what happened because I didn’t protest US intervention in Central America? That sounds like a new rule to me. My relative moral purity is a condition of getting an investigation?
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
I guess you saw that the New Black Panthers conspiracy guy has been named to the panel.
rikyrah
Some Dare Call It Treason
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 11, 2017 2:42 PM
A little more than a month ago, Mike Lofgren wondered why so many in the press were reluctant to use the “t” word when it comes to the Trump campaign’s relationship with Russia. With the release of the email chain between Donald Trump, Jr. and Rob Goldstone setting up a meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, there are those who are using the word “treason,” and it’s not just reporters.
Given that Senator Tim Kaine has a reputation as a scrupulously honest politician and is the opposite of a bomb-throwing extremist, this is something to take seriously.
…………………………….
What we now know is that since early June, at least these three members of the Trump campaign not only agreed to meet with someone representing the Russian government who was prepared to share “very high level and sensitive information” about Hillary Clinton, they also knew that Moscow was prepared to “support” Trump in the election. That makes almost everything they’ve said about the Russian investigation over the last few months a lie. For example, here’s Don Jr. about two weeks after the meeting with Veselnitskaya occurred.
………………………..
Kay
@Quinerly:
I think Trump has a bad effect on people. I watched this documentary on Syria and Michael Flynn was a commenter in it. He sounds like a normal person (if also a person who hates Obama). Trump makes people worse.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
The Russian lawyer who met with Don Trump Jr. had tangled with Preet Bharara before he was fired https://t.co/vFzL9p0tGh pic.twitter.com/2kIQYpJvux
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 12, 2017
“That’s not being transparent. That’s trying to appear as if you’re transparent when you’re backed into a corner.” pic.twitter.com/VLNvgdiRAx
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 12, 2017
MomSense
@Kay:
Flynn was pretty terrible before Trump.
different-church-lady
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Wikipedia:
Who would have pegged Hoover as the only firewall against surveillance?
Quinerly
Walter Shapiro piece at The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/12/fox-news-sean-hannity-donald-trump-jrs-republicans-russia
Kay
That’s what I mean about arrogance. They went into this thinking they could manage and control events no matter the underlying truth of the problems with Trump. They think they are so smart that reality doesn’t matter, they can continue to say he’s an honorable person no matter what he does and that will work.
That’s HUGELY arrogant. This thing they built? They built it on lies. They can’t “fix” it because it has no foundation.
rikyrah
YES YES YES!!!!
The Whole Trump Team Has Been Subject to Blackmail
by Martin Longman
July 11, 2017 3:48 PM
The official story is that Michael Flynn had to resign as President Trump’s national security advisor because he lied to Vice President Pence about what he discussed with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In truth, however, the FBI all but insisted on his removal because they assessed that he was subject to Russian blackmail.
I’ve written repeatedly that Flynn was subject to blackmail for a lot more than what he might have told Mike Pence. He had taken tens of thousands of dollars from the Kremlin and not disclosed it, for example, and he’d done work as an agent of a foreign power (Turkey) without disclosing it. Russia knew these things and could have let the world know about them at any time.
Flynn was compromised at a minimum and perhaps actively working for the Kremlin either voluntarily or in more of a coerced manner.
But how is any of this different from the situation we have with Jared Kushner?
How many foreign contacts does someone have to omit from their SF-86 forms to lose their security clearance immediately? Because Jared Kushner managed to forget more foreign contacts than he listed, since he listed exactly zero. Who could’ve known that meeting with Russian Ambassador Surgey Kislyak about setting up a secret back channel with Moscow or scrounging for dirt on Hillary Clinton from a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer were noteworthy? Or how about that meeting with the head of a U.S.-sanctioned Russian state-run bank?
As far as I am concerned, it’s not even debatable that Kushner’s security clearance should be yanked. The question is why he hasn’t been fired. The Russians could have, at any time, revealed or threatened to reveal Kushner’s contacts with them.
As for the president, the Russians could have revealed or threatened to reveal at any time that his son, his son-in-law, and his campaign manager met with one of their agents and colluded on how to damage Hillary Clinton. Knowing this, perhaps the president has been scared to say or do anything that is upsetting to Vladimir Putin.
It sure looks that way, doesn’t it.
Quinerly
@Kay:
Yes, everything he touches…including Ivanka.?
Kay
@MomSense:
He was quite critical of Russia in Syria. Said the idea they were there to fight ISIS was silly.
Tenar Arha
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Ugh, yeah.
(The comparisons that always make me furious lately are who’s called a kid. Tamir Rice was 12, DJTJr is 39 but guess who gets called a kid?)
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ridiculous, isn’t it? “Transparency and accountability.” Sure.
rikyrah
Meet the Vote Suppressors and Conspiracy Theorists on Trump’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission
Forty-eight states have refused to fully comply with the commission’s request for voter data, but the order has already sown chaos at state election offices.
By Ari Berman
……………………..
The latest addition to the commission is J. Christian Adams, who served alongside von Spakovsky in the Bush Justice Department. Their boss, Bradley Schlozman, said he wanted to “ “gerrymander all of those crazy libs right out of the [voting] section.” Adams was “exhibit A” for the improper hiring and rampant politicization that occurred during the Bush years, according to former voting-section chief Joe Rich.
Today Adams is best known as the leading figure behind the New Black Panther Party conspiracy theory. He accused the Obama administration of “a hostility in the voting section and in the Civil Rights Division to bringing cases on behalf of white victims for the benefit of national racial minorities.” Since he left DOJ, Adams has been suing states and counties to force them to purge their voting rolls, as Mother Jones reported—a preview of the types of suppressive tactics the Trump DOJ is prepping and the commission will no doubt recommend in its report.
Quinerly
OT? Can I brag on my sweet Poco? He has been doing so well in school (coupled with doggie daycare to work on his doggie socialization skills)It’s like I have another dog that is just such as loving as Poco but happier and better behaved. A big shout out to the herbal supplement L-Theanine (for anxiety) and a pinch collar. Yes, I know many are probably opposed to the latter. I’m a convert myself. Owner must be trained properly on how to use it and to make sure the size is right. Poco is packing his banana collection…road trip next week. He’s going to proudly strut his ex street dog stuff on the beach at Bogue Banks (NC)!
rikyrah
Who Dished the Dirt on Donald Trump Jr?
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 12, 2017 8:00 AM
While we’ve all been focused on the collusion story, Kevin Drum has been wondering who it was that dished the dirt on Donald Jr. That is an interesting question.
The New York Times has now run four stories on this topic for four consecutive days. Let’s take a look at how they described their sources.
July 8th — “according to confidential government records described to The New York Times” and “according to interviews and the documents, which were outlined by people familiar with them.”
July 9th — “according to three advisers to the White House briefed on the meeting and two others with knowledge of it.”
July 10th — “according to three people with knowledge of the email.”
July 11th — no reference to sources
The only one that gives us any clues is the July 9th story that came from White House advisors. It could be that those advisors are responsible for all four stories or that different people leaked on different days. But even if people inside Trump’s White House are only responsible for one of these stories, that is huge.
Quinerly
Site ate my Poco post. On the smarty pants phone and was trying to edit it. Damn you, tiny keyboard.
rikyrah
The Trump-Russia Conspiracy Is Now Very Simple
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/the-trump-russia-conspiracy-is-now-very-simple/
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
Knew you would catch it. I posted it a couple of times yesterday but no replies. The crap that is happening in full view that is still slipping through the cracks. We are in a never ending nightmare.
MomSense
@Kay:
Right but that is evident to anyone with even the most cursory understanding of the situation. He was terrible at his job, arrogant, and couldn’t accept his firing. He has a problematic way of filtering information to suit his biases and doesn’t work well with others. He’s also apparently very disorganized. He was going to be terrible even if he hadn’t gotten hooked up with trump.
Feathers
@Kay: John Rogers, creator/show runner of the sorely missed LEVERAGE, has been pointing out that It is very common for people with dementia to need their adult children around both to cover for them and to simply remember what happened.
Highly recommend his twitter feed.
d58826
With the exception of McMAster, Mattis, and Fiona Hill, I think you have to assume that no one in the administration is clean. And that includes cabinet positions, CIA director, VP (whose selection was pushed by Manafort) etc.
How long Mattis, McMaster and Hill can remain w/o the stain rubbing off is anyone’s guess but I would think it might already be to late. History may judge that they were fighting a rear guard action and sacrificed their reputations of the good of the country but at the moment ……..
rikyrah
Donald Trump’s mission of destruction on this earth not complete until he coverts all GOP into the party of collusion https://t.co/gpR7YExqBn
— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 11, 2017
rikyrah
Amtrak conductor calls Acela “high speed train.” Can hit 150 mph on short stretches. Train in China, closer to 300, in Europe well over 200.
— John Bussey (@johncbussey) July 11, 2017
Tenar Arha
@Betty Cracker: Yes, seems as if they’re trying to do the right thing. But it’s to their benefit. The lawyer is the minimum they can do to try to build back their reputation. They don’t have a track record on source protection like WaPo or NYT, and they’ve sold themselves on their computer expertise, and then they made a glaring neophyte mistake! Considering that, this was a massive self-own.
(I’m also going to guess their anonymous drop box probably dried up a bit since Winner was arrested).
ETA don’t know why I find this fascinating, but I do.
rikyrah
Fox News spent a whole day claiming James Comey leaked secret info. It wasn’t true, so they issued a 5 second apology (@MattBinder for CAFE) pic.twitter.com/arVrN9Qo01
— CAFE (@cafedotcom) July 11, 2017
Major Major Major Major
An op-ed today in The (execrable) Hill: “Forget Don Jr.’s email — it’s Hillary Clinton who ‘colluded’ with Russia.”
You can read it if you want, I guess. First one of its ilk I’ve seen so far.
rikyrah
Book of Michelle Obama photographs coming in October https://t.co/W0amGHL749 via @stltoday
— Dudette (@Dudette9t9) July 11, 2017
rikyrah
Double flip. Two Oklahoma State legislative seats flipped red to blue tonight. State senate district 44 and House 75. Congrats @OkDemocrats!
— flippable (@flippable_org) July 12, 2017
rikyrah
As Russia scandal grows, Team Trump faces a crisis of credibility
07/12/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 07/12/17 08:31 AM
By Steve Benen
Yesterday’s developments in the Trump-Russia scandal caught much of the political world off-guard. Even those who’ve come to expect the worst seemed at least a little surprised to read emails, released by Donald Trump Jr., showing the Trump campaign’s eagerness to collude with the Russian government during its attack on the American election.
The president’s son is nevertheless under the impression that he can explain this mess away. In fact, he turned to Trump World’s friendliest media ally in the hopes of doing exactly that.
While it’s true that much of Team Trump is new to politics and public service, for the record, it’s not “pretty common” for an American campaign to welcome assistance from a foreign adversary.
Kay
@MomSense:
I love how he’s mad Obama fired him. Has he seen how Trump fires? First he attacks the person on Twitter, then he fires them in the most humiliating manner possible,then he continues to attack their character and sends a team of lying douchebags out to smear the person.
Obama’s a model of good management compared to Trump.
rikyrah
Meryl Streep carrying a President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama purse?
*nods in approval*https://t.co/7uRp7Z08PS pic.twitter.com/jvEVaHBNc4
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) July 11, 2017
rikyrah
America, where black ppl can commit a traffic offense and lose their life, but the first fam can commit treason and not even lose their job.
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 12, 2017
rikyrah
‘Pathetic’: Fox’s Krauthammer shreds conservatives for pretending Trump Jr wasn’t colluding with Russians https://t.co/vdbtwEavx8 pic.twitter.com/NJC5C3TWq0
— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 12, 2017
Gator90
@Kay: In the legal sense, relevant evidence simply means a fact having a tendency to make another fact more (or less) likely to have occurred. In that sense there has long been plenty of evidence of collusion. For example the various undisclosed and lied-about secret meetings between Trump campaign people and Russian officials are relevant evidence of collusion because the occurrence of such meetings makes collusion appear more probable. GG as a former litigator is presumably well aware of this, but in the context of Trump/Russia he always treats “evidence” as being synonymous with “conclusive proof.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
guess who just saw somebody on TV say that his White House is a chaotic mess while he spends all his time watching TV and shouting at what my parents called the idiot box
different-church-lady
@rikyrah:
Like I said last night:
WINTER: “We had NO CONTACT with any Russians.”
SPRING: “OK, we had a LITTLE contact with some Russians. Here and there. I mean, who doesn’t?”
LAST WEEK: “Fine, so we had a lot of contact with the Russians. But we didn’t want it and it was all TOTALLY INNOCENT!”
TODAY: OK. FINE, we WANTED to have contact with the Russians. But they refused to give us the dirt we asked for, so NO FOUL!!!
TOMORROW: ?
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah: There was a photo going around the Twitter yesterday of (former) Amb McFaul testifying at some Congressional hearing a couple of years ago. He’s sitting at a table, just like you see all the time, with notes in front of him and an open Macbook. Sitting *directly* behind him, like a foot back, in the first audience row, holding a smartphone, is Natalia Veselnitskaya.
rikyrah
A closer look at Ted Cruz’s interest in Russian ‘appeasement’
07/12/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
There were some fascinating exchanges yesterday between reporters and congressional Republicans on the Trump-Russia scandal, but for my money, it’s tough to top the interview NBC News’ Kasie Hunt had with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in a Capitol Hill hallway.
The Texas Republican, reluctant to answer the question directly, kept trying to complain about Obama – because some habits evidently die hard. Hunt ultimately reminded Cruz that Trump is trying to water down a bill on Russian sanctions that Cruz (and 96 other senators) voted for.
The GOP lawmaker responded, “The policies of the Obama administration were constant weakness and appeasement….”
Sure, this was unpleasant to watch. It was also rather predictable: despite Trump targeting Cruz’s wife and father during their race for the Republican presidential nomination, the Texas senator votes with the White House’s position more than 95% of the time and is eager to carry Trump’s water.
But if Cruz sincerely wants to talk about Russian appeasement, he may not like where the conversation ends up.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fucking guy had *zero* public events on his calendar Monday and Tuesday of this week. Zero.
rikyrah
This is the message of the #GOP to minorities: we really do love you & please join our party. But first we need to deport your children. https://t.co/zhjREp7J6t
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 30, 2017
BREAKING: Texas AG Paxton is joined by 9 other state AGs & 1 gov in urging Trump administration to end #DACA. If not, they say they’ll sue. pic.twitter.com/wUGTjAdhjk
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) June 29, 2017
rikyrah
@Kay:
You and me both about Attorney General White Citizens Council
Absolutely
rikyrah
@Kay:
No faith at all, Kay.
NONE.
Librarian
@different-church-lady: Nixon’s lawlessness shocked even Hoover.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
thanks for the reminder.
rikyrah
@d58826:
I keep on telling you..anything with the data leads to the MERCERS.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Their arrogance, Kay.
Plus, I think Kushner was the point man on how to get their hands on piles of Government Money.
You didn’t comment on them cancelling the order for the New FBI Building, something that had been in the works -FOR YEARS.
As I pointed out yesterday,
FYI – the story was that the contract (in the ballpark of $2.5 BILLION) was to be given to one of Kushner’s business partners. I can only think that someone got back to them and told them, nope, it couldn’t happen. A building that sensitive, the contractor would be chosen from a group of long trusted and proven contractors. There’s no way that anyone remotely attached to Kushner would pass that smell test.
So, once again, out of spite, in order to ‘bring the FBI to heel’, here goes Kushner., doing to the FBI, what he did to Qatar (reminder, Qatar wouldn’t do business with Kushner, so thus, they have been isolated)
Muthaphucka, they are THE F.B.I…..and, you think that they’re NOT gonna retaliate?
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
bravo Poco!!!!
glory b
@TS:”And now – they are attacking Hillary Clinton because she didn’t go to Wisconsin. My brain aches.”
No one has ever mentioned why Russ Feingold lost by an even larger margin than Clinton, if being there was soooo critical.
Joe may have left the Repub party, but its assholeness still lingers on him.
Uncle Cosmo
@rikyrah: The Acela is in fact a high-speed train but not an especially high-speed service – because the maximum safe speed of a train depends on the condition of the railbed where it runs. There is not a train in the universe that could go faster on the twisting, turning, antiquated & maintenance-starved railbeds northeast of DC.
Uncle Cosmo
@rikyrah: Nothing new under the sun. Wild accusation in front-page story with banner headlines; complete retraction 2 days later in small type on page 24 just above a mattress ad.
Uncle Cosmo
@rikyrah: When you’ve lost the KrapKampfer…oy.
NCSteve
No one will ever convince me that Greenwald didn’t burn Winner for the unspeakable crime of proving he was wrong about something. I don’t know if it was conscious malice disguised as carelessness or carelessness driven by repressed malice, but nobody contradicts, gainsays or criticizes a person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and gets away with it.
How many times have we seen Greenwald go after someone, even someone as minor as a commenter, with all the withering, personal vitriolic invective at his command, for having dared to engage in a minor disagreement? Remind you of anyone? Trump is what a person with NPD with no brains and a lot of money looks and acts like. Greenwald is what a person with NPD with a lot of brains and no money looks and acts like.
People with NPD emotionally experience a minor check, correction or criticism the way normal people would experience walking in on their SO frakking their BFF.
It’s no coincidence they both ended up in Russia’s pocket. They’ve got he same buttons, the same emotional problems, the same and frailties and exploitable weaknesses.
FlipYrWhig
@rikyrah: Trump thinks he needs Kushner because _even he_ knows Donald Jr. and Eric are extremely stupid. Kushner is the son he never had. Kushner is the guy who reminds him of himself when he was younger–and he sleeps with the daughter who reminds him of his first wife when she was younger. I think the relationship between Trump Sr. and Kushner is one of the more sketchy, creepy aspects of the Trump Crime Family, rivaled only by the potentially even skeevier Trump Sr.-Michael Flynn relationship, where Trump clearly thinks Flynn is the manly man that Trump regrets he never quite turned out to be.
d58826
And it’s just a co-incidence
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/world/europe/natalia-veselnitskaya-donald-trump-jr-russian-lawyer.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20170712
Aleta
Helping her is what Intercept and Greenwald should do. I’d prefer they took out the bits in their announcement that suggest anything heroic about themselves. Not the place for even a little self-promotion.
Aleta
@FlipYrWhig: There are going to be so. many. bad TV movies about them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Baud: Corruption and depravity was what brough the clan down in the 1920s.
Gelfling 545
Thinking of all the things a female in combat might see, a naked male is probably one f the least shocking.
TenguPhule
Have you already forgotten that GG and other people at the Intercept are apparently Russian assets?
SgrAstar
@d58826: Imho, McMaster is already toast. He lied to the public about the trump meeting with Lavrov and Kislyak. Kiss your reputation for integrity good bye, General.
Xboxershorts
@rikyrah:
No, the problem here is entirely Greenwald. Just a useful fucking idiot.