(Maskirovka Principles)
Newsweek‘s Kurt Eichenwald has just broken a story pertaining to Russian Intelligence’s hacking, forging, and/or altering documents to influence the US election in collusion with Wikileaks.
I have written some really disturbing stories about Donald Trump. The one that is minutes away is even leaving my mouth agape.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016
Of course, this might be seen as just an opportunity to laugh at the incompetence of the Russian hackers and government press—once they realized their error, Sputniktook the article down. But this is not funny at all. The Russians have been obtaining American emails and now are presenting complete misrepresentations of them—falsifying them—in hopes of setting off a cascade of events that might change the outcome of the presidential election. The big question, of course, is why are the Russians working so hard to damage Clinton and, in the process, aid Donald Trump. That is a topic for another time.
For now, though, Americans should be outraged. This totalitarian regime, engaged in what are arguably war crimes in Syria to protect their government puppet, is working to upend a democracy to the benefit of an American candidate who uttered positive comments just Sunday about the Kremlin’s campaign on behalf of Bashar al-Assad. Trump’s arguments were an incomprehensible explication of the complex Syrian situation, which put him right on the side of the Iranians and Syrians who are fighting to preserve the government that is the primary conduit of weapons used against Israel.
So no, Mr. Putin, I’m not Sidney Blumenthal. And now that you have been exposed once again, get the hell out of our election.
Russian govt put out propaganda w/ bogus email. It ends up in Trumps hands hours later, where he reads it to crowd. https://t.co/1d5qvU01Yi
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 11, 2016
Big R
I had someone seriously ask me today, if the documents are fake, why hasn’t the DNC called them fake?
I elected not to respond. I felt that “how can you be such a useful idiot?” would not accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.
Adam L Silverman
@Big R: Have you considered a head slap?
Dog Dawg Damn
I have never been so discouraged w/r to politics. Woke up today and had a deep digust and anxiety permeate everything. What we saw last night was so repulsive, so threatening, it is downright scary. Throw in the Russia angle, which is 100% verified by our national security apparatus, and I can’t believe elected officials from both sides aren’t calling for him to step-down, in numbers too large to ignore.
This is a dry run for the fall of our Republic, and very few commentators seem to take it seriously.
Gin & Tonic
I wrote this downstairs.
If someone had told me in the mid-1970’s that the party of Richard Nixon would be actively conspiring with the Russians to subvert the US electoral process to elect a Republican Presidential candidate I would have suspected either mental illness or very strong hallucinogenics.
Splitting Image
@Gin & Tonic:
I would probably have thought the same.
In a way it was inevitable though. The cold warriors in the U.S. and the cold warriors in Russia need each other. They are natural allies.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dog Dawg Damn: From the D side, beating the snot out of him at the ballot box is the better option. I think is also the best approach for out democracy. Let the people say no.
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic: Right? “Better dead than Red!”.
Now, it’s Hail Vladmir!
different-church-lady
My “too good to be true” meter is bouncing like crazy on this one.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Splitting Image: Who would be a good writer, to write that fiction back then Ken Follett? Tom Clancy?
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: You? Imagine what Stalin must be thinking in the hereafter (if there is one): all that work and effort and expense and all I had to do was provide some financing for an over leveraged Manhattan real estate developer and I could have taken over the American presidency.
Villago Delenda Est
Eichenwald points out that the words that are the most damaging are his own, and are taken totally out of context. They’re not even Blumenthal’s (gosh, that’s a Jewish sounding name, isn’t it?). The Russians are not very good at this, it seems…it’s ham handed, and of course Donald just jumps right to it without even bothering to gauge how credible it is. Useful idiot, indeed.
Major Major Major Major
@Mr Stagger Lee: Hunter Thompson.
Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck
I’m sorry, Eichenwald – and I really am sorry – but you will be in the distinct minority in considering this a bombshell more important than Trump’s disgustingly crass sexual predator behavior. Yes, this should be an election-exploding story, but it won’t be. Among other things, the press just doesn’t care. Actual real world ramifications? They don’t give a damn. They think wars are cool and exciting. And Republicans have much more pressing enemies at home to worry about Russia except as a lever to fight this anti-liberal war.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
Eichenwald is a pretty reliable reporter and the facts in the story seem solid. Are you suspecting FBI/CIA shenanigans or something like that?
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: And Sid cited the magazine repeatedly. No way of backdooring plagiarism charges to make poor Sid guilty of something.
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: Trump did the alt-right dog whistle with Blumenthal, Gruber, and Soros last night. That was pure Bannon directed material.
Walker
So when are we launching Operation Screaming Fist?
CaseyL
@Gin & Tonic: Remember that Nixon sabotaged the peace talks with North Vietnam – a peace treaty would have gone a long way to electing Humphrey, who lost by very little. And one generation later Reagan’s campaign team conspired with Iran’s government to hang onto the hostages until after the election. (Each time, the lure was that the foreign government would get a better deal from the Republican candidate. Which they did!)
Republicans conniving with foreign governments that the US was officially hostile to, if not actually at war with, to undermine the American electoral process is nothing new.
What is a little bit new is that they don’t much care if they get caught. Indeed, they present their treasonous behavior as a reason to vote for them.
And people buy that. Eagerly.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: I am guessing that it is more “Holy fuck, no one can be that fucking incompetent, right? Right? Dear fucking god!”
amk
from mccarthyism to being the willing stooges of a commie dictator – you have come a long way, gopee.
Chris
@Gin & Tonic:
As I never tire of pointing out, one of the congressmen running what would become HUAC was later found out to be a paid NKVD informant. Manchurian Candidate: true story. Minus the brainwashing.
patroclus
Sadly, despite the fact that Russian infiltration of our democracy is infinitely more important than Trump’s latest sexual outrage, I also suspect that this story will barely create a ripple.
On another topic, Jake Arrieta hits a 3-run HR to give the Cubbies a lead!
Dog Dawg Damn
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m to the point where I think it would be helpful if Democrats registered Republican in early primary states and backed the least awful option (Kasich, Huntsman, etc) as a safeguard against the rise of Fascism. It was all fun and games watching them nominate a buffoon, but seeing him this close to the levers of power is too terrifying to play with in the future.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
Exactly. Winning the presidency, the senate, and (dare we dream?) the house would bring the post Civil Rights Act Republican coalition to an emphatic end. And especially so if Clinton gets to appoint two justices.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: Are they all Jewish? Is that the dog whistle?
ThresherK (GPad)
@Splitting Image: It’s Chess all over again!
Of course, for those of us in the cult, a lot of things remind plus of Chess.
Splitting Image
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Joseph Heller would be my first choice.
Omnes Omnibus
@ThresherK (GPad): “I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine” Chess?
Mnemosyne
@patroclus:
As I said a couple of threads below, I seriously doubt this is going to be the only story along these lines.
Mnemosyne
@ThresherK (GPad):
It was the Hamilton of its day.
Except less successful. ;-p
Omnes Omnibus
@shomi: You do not understand sarcasm. Or any of the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes, and satire.
GregB
@shomi:
Boris, is that you?
ThresherK (GPad)
@Omnes Omnibus: “In a show with everything but Yul Brynner.”
Gin & Tonic
Anyway, Adam, I read your Maidan piece. Please take these comments in the spirit they were intended; I may sound critical, but I am unaware of the knowledeg level or interests of your intended audience.
1. I wish there had been some explication of the reasons for the preponderance of the ethnic-Russian population in south and east Ukraine and in Crimea. This was not happenstance, it was the result of clear and deliberate policies of the Stalin regime. Both the 1932-33 Holodomor and the 1942-43 Sürgünlik were governmental policy, specifically intended to alter the ethnic composition of the areas in question. Maybe your audience already knew this, but a lot of people don’t.
2. While you correctly point to Mustafa Nayyem’s seminal influence in November of 2013, you mention Yanukovych’s breaking of the EU association agreement only much later. Without that, Nayyem would only have gotten a couple of hundred people out. It was Yanukovych dashing the hopes of the Europe-leaning people that (IMO) was really the driver of the November-December movement.
3. I believe you overestimate the influence of the gay population on the protests. Ukraine is still a very largely gay-unfriendly country, and to the extent that gay Ukrainians were involved in the Maidan movement, they were not doing so in any significant, organized manner. If you haven’t yet, I’d urge you to watch Viceland TV’s Gaycation S2E1. Maxim Eristavi, a very brave and outspoken gay Ukrainian journalist toucehs on this topic explicitly.
4. While it’s good that you rely on Timothy Snyder’s perspective, as he is one of a very small number of Western writers who understood the protests and was well-respected enough to have good access, I don’t believe that you highlighted enough the degree to which the December-January-February protests were a mass popular movement. People from all over the country, without any central organizing authority, took every weekend to go to Kyiv in the bitter cold to *do something*. They organized, they cooked, they cleaned up, they enforced community rules about behavior and alcohol, because they *believed.* Today’s college students were born after independence. Their birth certificate doesn’t have a hammer and sickle on it. They have, in many cases, been to Europe, at the very least to Poland. They look at that and say “why not us?” They came to Kyiv in the hundreds of thousands to as that question.
5. A lot of Ukrainians don’t give a shit about Crimea. It’s symbolic, but much more so to the West. The government can’t say so, but normal people can. Fuck it. It’s an economic drain. Thing is, the Crimean Tatars support Kyiv, so you can’t just cast them adrift, but a lot of Ukrainians just don’t care that much.
6. The Yushchenko-Tymoshenko issue was destructive, but it is an unfortunate reflection of the old saw “Два українці, три гетьмани” — two Ukrainians, three het’mans (strongmen.) The natural (maybe Slavic?) tendency toward party divisions is probably exacerbated by outside agents — all Slavs are very, very good at conspiracy theories — but the influence of Soviet/Russian agents throughout history is undeniable. Most people think Yushchenko was over his head; many think Tymoshenko was on somebody’s payroll.
This was just some random thoughts while I down a cocktail or two, so I’ll stop for now. Again, since from what I’ve read you could rip my arms off and beat me to death with them, please take these comments as constructive criticism.
Darkrose
@patroclus: That’s why I just took two anti-anxiety pills and am going to sleep. I figured the Cubs were going to win this series, but I hoped my Giants could win this one for Bum.
JordanRules
McWalnuts v. Kirkpatrick debate (AZ-Sen) on my NPR affiliate sounds oddly sane compared to that bs last night.
different-church-lady
@Mnemosyne: having just read his piece, I think what’s setting off the sensor is that Eichenwald is
not accounting for Trump’s Razor (ascertain the stupidest possible scenario that can be reconciled with the available facts” and that answer is likely correct.)
He asks, “Who in the Trump campaign was feeding him falsehoods straight from the Kremlin?” Well they probably aren’t straight from the Kremlin, it’s that everybody in Trump World will embrace any internet rumour from any source without checking. Some Trumpian nutcase (like Bob in pourtland, for example) was reading the original Sputnik article, passed it to Trump’s people, the showed it to Trump and it came out of his mouth.
I’m perfectly happy to let people believe Trump is a Russian mole, but I worry echenwald might be getting too wrapped up in his own work.
Patricia Kayden
@Gin & Tonic: Agreed. This is wholly unprecedented. The media and Repubs are perfectly ok since Russia is hurting Dems with its hacking and leaks. Unbelievable.
Gin & Tonic
Shit, that was tl;dr. Sorry.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Villago Delenda Est: It’s like information laundering, via Russia.
It’s like when Dick Cheney would feed a story to a newspaper and then go on a talk show and point to the story as corroboration of what he was saying.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: Yes. Please get your dog whistle receiver into the shop for servicing. Its clearly on the fritz.
Also, Blumenthal and Soros have a special standing among American anti-Semites, as well as hard right types. The former as the sinister Clinton whisperer. The latter as the NAZI survived turned American immigrant success story who was really a NAZI collaborator (despite being a child) who is a liberal fascist and using his millions to undercut Liberty and the Constitution in the US and white, Western civilization and values abroad.
Gruber is there as a conjuring word for those that believe that he single handedly created the gigantic fraud known as Obamacare, rather than billing a couple of week’s of consultant hours in the early concept development phase.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: To be fair, I think BiP is Stein voter.
amk
You should know better...
@Walker:
At this point, I think it’d be more apropos to launch Operation Fisting Scream… just sayin’…
? Martin
Here’s a question:
Given that the Trump campaign is almost certainly being investigated by the CIA for ties to Russia, what happens after the election if it’s found that Trump is working, however unwittingly, with Russia?
smintheus
@Villago Delenda Est: Eichenwald’s more important point is that Trump had the Russian propaganda in hand even though its false claim had not been picked up by any non-Russian sites and the Russian article had already been deleted by the time Trump parroted its lies.
So it’s pretty damned obvious that there is a pipeline from Russia to the Trump campaign. That could be even more explosive than the p^$$y tape.
hueyplong
@Darkrose: Hang in there. Posey with the RBI.
Anya
I’ve read lots of Wikileaks excerpts through hyped news articles but they’re so dull. I expected little excitement or some embarrassing revelations. Instead, we got nothing more than the normal workings of a political campaign. If HRC’s campaign is this boring then we’re in good hands. I must say, these Clinton Wikileaks are reassuring to me. Probably because of media conditioning, I was expecting lots of unsavory revelations. W actually get more exciting stuff from articles quoting “anonymous campaign official” or “annonymous DNC official.”
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: That was my question? We’re doing Murray Head musicals now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgc_LRjlbTU
Suzanne
@James E Powell: I really, REALLY hope that November 8 is a complete humiliation for them. The kind of existential humiliation that leads Paul Ryan to resign in disgrace and go become a janitor. I look forward to hearing about the sordid Trump divorce and the Cruz sex scandal and McConnell can just die alone, mind sharp but body failing, unloved, with no visitors.
I want a historic victory that salts the earth for decades.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: I am not Christian so I don’t vibrate to or even recognize those frequencies, for that matter.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Suzanne: I want Hillary Clinton to forget about Donald Trump and go after the rest of his party, with every breath. “This is the party of gridlock and backward thinking that brought you Donald Trump, if you want this dysfunction to end, then don’t vote for a Republican. Any Republican.”
When your opponent is drowning, throw the bastard an anvil. Except Trump is already a lost cause, it’s the GOP that’s floundering now, so throw the anvils there.
? Martin
OT: If Clinton wins 52/39, with 9% independents – on increased latino turnout and a shift of women from R->D, then Texas likely flips. Also get IN, MO, SC, GA, AZ, possibly AK.
Clinton needs to do better than the latest NBC/WSJ poll to get there. But if that poll is accurate, she’s close.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: No, I appreciate your take. Since no one else here has read it, perhaps it would make more sense jus to email it to me.
The report was prepared for the 3 Star Commander, 2 Star Deputy Commander, O6 Chief of Plans, and whoever they decided to distribute it to at US Army Europe. As far as I know none of them were Russia, Ukraine specialists. Nor were/are they 48C/E (Eurasian Foreign Area Officers). I was trying to give them enough good/decent info in a digestible format to cut through whatever was coming out of the horrible news media reporting and rooted within some of the socio-cultural context so they had a better understanding of the problem set they were facing. These are all folks that worked, in those assignments, up to 18 hours a day. And this was one, of very many, problem sets they were dealing with.
Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck
@Anya:
Because those are usually figments of the reporter’s imagination. The relentless inaccuracy of these leaks during the Obama years made that clear to me.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
If I were Eichenwald, I’d be worried about Putin sending somebody to kill me. I know it sounds over the top. but didn’t he have somebody killed in London some years back? Or do I have that wrong?
Chris
@Adam L Silverman:
For maximum irony, George Soros has spent a pretty penny financing anticommunist dissidents in Eastern Europe and promoting the transition from communism to capitalist democracy. He’s not only a capitalist, he’s a goddamn missionary for capitalism who specifically targeted his missionarism at “the focus of evil in the modern world.” It’s hard to find any person less appropriate to the right wing conspiracy theories of evil puppetmasters trying to turn our nation Red.
Gin & Tonic
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): You don’t have that wrong. Alexandr Litvinenko was assassinated in London in 2006.
trollhattan
@Splitting Image:
Perfect. Also, too, Graham Greene.
Jack the Second
@Mr Stagger Lee: PK Dick? Radio Free Albermuth? I believe Ferris F Fremont, the President, a mash-up of Nixon & McCarthy, was a secret Commie in that one.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I posted it, as opposed to e-mailing, because Omnes had mentioned he was interested in my views.
? Martin
@Bill E Pilgrim:
She is. The biggest anchor on the downtickets are Trumps base. She needs his base energized, which is why she let a lot of the batshit stuff last night stand. She’s relying on them forcing the downticket republicans into the faustian bargain of siding with Trump’s voters and defending Trump or pissing them off and possibly losing them.
Just look at how today played out. You even had one congressman walk back his repudiation of Trump based on Trump voters calling him out. You had the Trump campaign organize a protest against the RNC. Clinton is wrapping Trump around the neck of every Republican running.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Gin & Tonic: Ah. I thought so. Was it some kind of trick umbrella? Seems like it was, though that, too, seems too far fetched to be true. And yet it sticks in my mind…
durindal
Memory refresher: Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko
different-church-lady
@? Martin: hey, remember, there’s a third debate.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Adam L Silverman: Rupert Giles’ big brother!
lamh36
Oh Good Lord!
The Apocalypse is near!!!
Glenn Beck: Electing Hillary Clinton ‘Is a Moral, Ethical Choice’
Apparently it’s real and on his FB page!
Omnes Omnibus
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Eichenwald has pretty much said, “I am here. Come and get me, assholes.” The dude has big, brass balls.
Anne Laurie
@different-church-lady:
As someone who grew up resisting Nixon, my immediate reaction was to wonder how much the NSA was taking advantage of genuine Russian dirty tricks to provide cover for their own (past & future) “oversteps”.
But that’s conspiracy-swamp thinking. Next thought was the ancient maxim, Never attribute to malignancy that which can be explained by stupidity.
PGE
I think the Clinton campaign needs to ask Trump, every day till the election, to prove he’s only a useful idiot and not actively collaborating with the Russians.I want to see him have to go thru the humiliation of claiming to be an idiot.
Bill E Pilgrim
@? Martin: Interesting take. But I mean do it explicitly, also. I saw clips today and she spent a long time hammering Trump. He’s hammered. Use that time and the pulpit and attention to spell it out, voters, end this insanity, not just by refusing to vote for Trump, but refusing to vote for anyone in his party.
srv
@Dog Dawg Damn:
The choice before us is between an American Spring or war with the Russians.
Be careful what you vote for.
Gin & Tonic
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): The trick umbrella was Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, also assassinated in London, but back in the 1970’s. The tip of the umbrella contained ricin. Litvinenko was assassinated by putting polonium in his tea.
mike
What is the big deal?? The US has been messing with other countries election and governments for years and overthrowing the legitimate governments of other countries for decades – get off the high horse – we are so sanctimonious – when we do it it is OK – someone else does it to us we are so upset – – my oh my – how do you think the 50 or so countries we helped destroy feel??
Also I would not trust our govt. when they blame Russia – they just want a new bigger cold war and need a boogie man to blame –
Adam L Silverman
@Chris: I know that, you know that, but read a comment thread at TTAG or Free Republic or Breitbart or the Blaze or NRO let alone Stormfront or Daily Stormer and you’ll see Soros raised again and again as this bogeyman trying to destroy the US and Western Europe and Christianity.
different-church-lady
So, seriously, I’ve been in a tent in the woods for most of the last six days, with only occasional internet access. Can someone give me the fifty word version of just how this implosion imploded? Like who released what tapes that said what?
Jack the Second
@srv: Eh, by now the Russian oligarchs have gotten New York, London, and Paris taken off the nuclear target lists; they own too much property there.
LA is probably fucked, though, so there’s that.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: ahh, okay – no worries there too.
Keith G
@James E Powell:
Not to be a buzz kill, but I doubt it. Remember the talk after the 08 election about how the Republican Party had been decimated for quite some time to come. It turns out the GOP was decimated for just a couple of weeks.
dmsilev
The channel is most likely the alt-right Twittersphere, which (a) seems to like Russian propaganda and (b) we know is read by various people inside the Trump campaign (and indeed, Donald himself has retweeting alt-right deplorables on multiple occasions).
different-church-lady
@Anne Laurie:
I thought the premise behind Trump’s Razor was familiar somehow…
phoebesmother
@shomi: The rest of you were all saying it but shomi IS Bob from Portland isn’t he?
Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck
@different-church-lady:
Moderated by Tweety, yet, who has made no bones that he considers Trump to be God’s gift to debating and would never be so crass as to fact check. It doesn’t matter. If Trump even has the guts to show up, he launched his best at Hillary in the second debate and couldn’t scratch her. He’s got nothing left.
lamh36
@lamh36: is it real? well..
Adam L Silverman
@Comrade Scrutinizer: Sure, okay. If you say so. Who’s Rupert Giles?
different-church-lady
@dmsilev: exactly.
gogol's wife
@Gin & Tonic:
No, very interesting.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: And I appreciate your take. You don’t seem to argue with the totality of the report, but rather dig into some of the details. It is, honestly, more or less, what I was hoping to see. Thank you.
@Adam L Silverman: I asked to see his response. If there is blame for publicizing it, it is on me.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Any idea why they fixate on his name as one of their shibboleths? They’ve been shrieking about Soros for decades.
Gin & Tonic
@phoebesmother: No. Not verbose enough.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: You never watched Buffy?
dmsilev
@different-church-lady:
Oh boy. So, on Friday a tape was sent to the Washington Post in which Trump is basically boasting about his ability to commit sexual assault and get away with it. If you want more details, the phrase to Google on, a direct quote of Trump, is “grab her by the pu$$y”.
different-church-lady
@Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck: no, I meant by the time Trump’s done with the third debate Texas might just be firmly in Hillary’s grasp.
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: Seriously, fuck you. I know that you are a troll for the sake of trolling troll, but this shit is actually dangerous.
gogol's wife
@mike:
A vy otkuda pishete?
FlyingToaster
@ThresherK (GPad): “I’m the Arbiter, I know the score: From square one I’ll be watching all….sixty-four!”
This election is such a symptom of our utterly-fucked-up system.
Nobody’s on nobody’s side, indeed.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Adam L Silverman: Comments on Stormer and Stormfront make it pretty clear that the Trumpkins have two targets: Clinton, and the GOPE. They expend as much vitriol on the Republican Party elites as on Clinton and the liberals. I think that people who talk about the “Republican base” as if it were some monolithic entity are really missing how deep the fractures in that party are. In a sense, Ryan et al are pissing in the wind with their calculations about whether to retract endorsements: the Trumpkins don’t really give a fuck one way or another. Whatever the GOP has been, the dog whistles are going away, and the racists and white supremacists are not going to sit in the corner with the Evangelicals and carry water for the party establishment.
Omnes Omnibus
@phoebesmother: No, he is a different recurring troll. He hates the front pagers and has now transferred his hatred to the commenters. He does not read what people post. Ignore or mock as you choose but do not take seriously.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus:
The totality of the report is, to use a highly unoriginal phrase, close enough for government work. In my view, truly, more correct than otherwise. I am reassured by the fact that you and I employ someone who writes material like that for our top military decision-makers.
sukabi
@? Martin: well, hmmmm, there’s a place drumpf thinks we should “be loading up with bad guys”, perhaps a nice looooooooong staycay there would be in order for him.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: No blame and no worries. I hadn’t seen that request and didn’t want people asking what the heck we were talking about.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Blumenthal or Gruber? I’m not sure which one you’re referring to.
amk
@srv: yeah, those overweight beer bellied gun toting morons are gonna lead the charge. Idiot.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: The wingnuts. They’ve seen Soros lurking in the shadows for decades. I have no idea why – what did he even do to get on their radar?
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Nope. I did watch Angel though.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@redshirt: Gave money to the wrong party.
jl
Ha! Those Soviets are so crafty. How can we ever match them?
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: You seem to know your shit and G&T seems to know his. I was interested in the comparison.
Adam L Silverman
@Comrade Scrutinizer: Same at the rest of those sites too!
Omnes Omnibus
@shomi: Stop trying to pretend that you are an ordinary commenter. Troll.
GregB
@redshirt:
He’s a liberal billionaire.
Speaking of which, Buffett shoved Trump’s tax lie back in Trump’s bloated face today.
Major Major Major Major
@Splitting Image: that would work :)
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Rupert Giles was Buffy’s Watcher; he’s referenced in a phone call in Angel Season 5, when he turns down Angel’s request for help to save Fred.
Angel was such an awesome show. But so was Buffy – if you liked Angel, you’ll like Buffy.
Anya
@Pest Bog Mummy, Frakensteinbeck: I know. I think that’s where the sinister picture wingnuts have of Valerie Jarred originated. The NYT and Politico had several anonymously sourced stories about how she was controlling everything or something.
amk
now glenn fucking beck is with her.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I will take that as the compliment I think it is supposed to be. As I indicated, I’m not a Ukraine or Russia expert. I was providing assistance to those folks on a different problem set, under temporary assignment as their cultural advisor from my regular assignment at army war college, that I had deep subject matter expertise on. While I have regional specialties in multiple regions, Russia/Eastern Europe wasn’t one of them. But I do understand the socio-cultural dynamics that these theater strategic leaders need to understand. So I got read up as quickly as I could as I was trying to help get them ahead of the knowledge curve on a quickly developing situation. I was on site with them in Germany the week after I sent that report to work on my primary assignment for them. I got to watch a lot of this play out from there.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Here you go:
http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Amid-Soros-conspiracies-one-leak-offers-evidence-of-activism-464358
Basically its because he’s Jewish and has a lot of money and funds liberal and Democratic causes in the US. And he’s Jewish.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I have no doubt, that on this stuff, he knows more than I do.
Punchy
@? Martin: which Congressman was that?
jl
@amk: OK, maybe the poor schlub will get through this in one piece. And then find peace and happiness growing artisanal baby lettuces or, I dunno, nuts, way out in the countryside, or some kind of honest work. Let’ s hope for the best.
Edit: I think Beck has serious head problems and needs help. So, that is why i hope he can use this little episode to work through them.
Mnemosyne
@amk:
This turn of events intrigues me, because there’s been a lot of chatter about how Trump is pretty much exactly the kind of candidate most likely to piss off Mormons. Beck is a Mormon convert, IIRC. So does this have implications for what’s going on in states with high Mormon populations like Utah, Arizona, and Nevada?
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: because Angel was awesome!!!
True story i stopped watxhubf the WB when they all of a sudden cancelled Angel and until True Blood i refused to watch another vampire show in silent protest…if anyone noticed ???
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: You both were informative.
chopper
@amk:
wait, what??!
redshirt
@lamh36: Right there with you. God I hated the Twilight vampires!
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Tracking.
One aspect that I think warrants more investigation (not throwing the monkey on your back, just saying this generally) is the extent to which the language issue *became* an issue only after Paul Fucking Manafort got involved. In the 1990’s language was *not an issue*. But Yanukovych is as dumb as a bag of hair, so learning Ukrainian was always a real and obvious challenge for him. Enter Paul Fucking Manafort, who’d used the native language issue to divisive ends in the Philippines, and all of a sudden the language issue comes up in the Yanukovych campaign. Fuck Manafort and the horse he rode in on.
srv
@shomi: So truthy. Why don’t you look up your favorite graduate program in physics or mathematics and count the Russians on the faculty. Or you can just make up stuff. USA!
In other news, someone should call Sarah:
jl
@chopper: Beck has been wandering through the ideological wilderness for a while now, falling down and sort of, kind of getting up, only to fall again. He had to land someplace. Better with HRC than Johnson or Stein. He might bring in a few votes.. I guess.. a couple of people still watch him seriously, rather than for train wrecks and sadistic laughs.
trollhattan
Republicans with safe seats don’t share your pussycat grabbing concerns. Real Republicans don’t fear the locker room and aren’t a-skeert of no girl.
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: Troll fight!
redshirt
@efgoldman: Fire Farrell.
srv
What does it take for liberals to admit the realities of Failed States?
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: That makes a lot of sense. I didn’t see anything in the reporting and research I was using as sources that even mentioned that.
Old Dan and Little Anne
Apart from Trump’s implosion this long weekend, watching the sox lose was the highlight.
jl
Bill O’Reilly has uncovered a secret conspiracy by corporate media to DESTROY Donald J Trump. He has.. well, not evidence exactly. He fashions his investigative journalistic scoop thusly: heard stuff through the grapevine and hither and thither that has convinced him. Ace facty based journalist O’Reilly strikes again.
The clip cracked me up.
Billo blowing the roof off the conspiracy. Trump on the case too.
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/785682769342898177
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m getting ice cream, let me know if anything happens while I’m in the kitchen!
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Hey, dude, you have any extra vanilla with some caramel sauce? this is supposed to be a full service blog. I’ll be here for awhile.
Edit: chocolate with caramel sauce is OK too, but a small scoop, please.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Jack the Second:
LA’s OK, there’s quite a bit of Chinese development here. Why piss off the Chinese?
different-church-lady
@shomi: each weighs 400 pounds.
Gin & Tonic
@shomi: Hot troll on troll action.
SFBayAreaGal
Rupert Giles is a character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you liked Angel you will like Buffy. “She saved the world alot”
jl
@Gin & Tonic: i think will be OK, as long as there is no ‘locker room talk’.
Adam L Silverman
@srv: Like Mississippi and Alabama?
Omnes Omnibus
@shomi: Wow.
MCA1
@ Martin: Nothing. He’s laid down his markers with the threats to jail Clinton for nothing criminal. Now he’s inoculated against any federal criminal investigations against him for at least a couple years, now that we have the entire universe of pundits talking about how wrong it would be to vindictively persecute a vanquished political opponent.
Peale
@CaseyL: yep. I doubt it’s more than Trump’s campaign that’s in on it. Has Priebus ever met a wealthy man whom he distrusts? Has Ryan? The Russians theyd be dealing with qualify.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Dulce de Leche and Mint Moose Tracks are what are in the freezer. No chocolate sauce, but I do have to bake dark chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate mousse frosting tomorrow for Wednesday night.
SFBayAreaGal
@efgoldman: He reminds me of another poster that would go off the deep end. I wish I could remember his name.
Peale
@phoebesmother: shomi is the radical moderate Andy Kay, who went off the deep end when he found out that Cole used to be a Republican. He melted down and will never forgive him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SFBayAreaGal: I think he used to go by Spatula and a few other names
Gravenstone
@MCA1: It’s not the Feds that Trump needs to worry about. New York state is likely to be all over his ass for his fake “foundation” at a minimum.
amk
Endorsement: We’re with Hillary Clinton. Frankly, Donald Trump’s dangerous.
from effing alabama. with all the teeth gritting.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
I see loathsome toad O’Keefe claims he’ll be dropping scary bombs this week on HRC. He is such a homely ferret-faced little turd snap. Can’t imagine anyone finding him enticing, engaging, or intelligent.
jl
@CaseyL: Good point on Nixon and Reagan foreign policy BS while candidates.
Not sure what Trump, and maybe some in GOP, are doing is as treacherous as Nixon and Reagan. Worrisome development for US readiness and leadership is that our corrupt GOP and Trumper pols and operatives have become so lazy inept stupid and incompetent the Russians have to do almost all of the psyops and shady dealing for them.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Gin & Tonic:
Is it wrong to root for injuries?
jl
@Adam L Silverman:
” Dulce de Leche and Mint Moose Tracks are what are in the freezer. No chocolate sauce, but I do have to bake dark chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate mousse frosting tomorrow for Wednesday night. ”
Oh man. I asked about CARAMEL sauce. You heading back to the kitchen soon? Some full service blog.
sinnedbackward
@MCA1: I suppose it’s not legal, but I have hoped on Jan. 20 Hillary could pre-pardon him from any jail time, but leave fines and multiple damages acceptable punishments.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: I have many LDS friends and colleagues and acquaintances, and I can count on one hand the number who have said that they’re voting for Trump. Some are even enthusiastically voting for HRC. I think the Deseret News piece and Herbert’s un-endorsement are bigger factors. Trump’s behavior is anathema to them—they have this high cultural value on being cheerful and placid and polite and accommodating, in a way that the evangelicals do not. The Church has also made some official statements about the proposed Muslim ban, which they take offense to because they were an oppressed minority not so long ago, too. So the LDS have a lot of institutional permission to vote for someone else. Lots of them are in love with Evan McMullin, judging by my Facebook page.
They’re cute. Delusional. But cute.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic:
This really is a full service blog.
trollhattan
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
He needs Chelsea to whip his ass in a cage fight.
I love how all the Republican “In case of emergency break glass” secret weapons are proving as worthless as we knew they were a decade ago. “I hate to do this, I really do, but I have no choice but to discuss Bill Clinton’s wang,”
“The question, mister Trump, is about trade.”
And, scene.
jl
@srv: I thought SPaT made them herself from the sweet fat of melted trolls.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Gin & Tonic:
No, I found it very interesting.
Adam L Silverman
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Apparently the Charles Johnson that isn’t the LGF guy claims he paid for Kathy Shelton to fly to St. Louis for the pre debate presser with Trump and then attend the town hall. He and O’Keefe are, supposedly, tight. And they’re all, ultimately, tied back to Breitbart – the actual one, not the website.
trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Just be sure not to download anything to your local drive. The legality of troll-on-troll pr0n has yet to be determined.
jl
@trollhattan: They are chanting half forgotten worship words at this point. Eplebinista!
Edit: calling it cargo cult is insulting to cargo cults. At least they could explain to people what the hell they were trying to do. Just had wrong causal theory about how stuff works. Which can happen to anybody.
hovercraft
@Anya:
You would think the media would be all over this, but the only place I saw it was on Chris Hayes.
Via Quartz
GregB
@srv:
Well, surely we can peel those statistics down to a state by state level to reveal places like Pence run Indiana and blood red Texas are bending the American curve in the direction of Pakistan.
Soylent Green
John Dingell is a very clever 90-year-old.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: sorry, not only no caramel sauce, but nothing to make it from. Unless I melt the dulce de leche ice cream.
I once had a creme anglais problem that I solved by melting vanilla ice cream and stirring a bit of vanilla extract into it and using it in place of the actual creme anglais.
Lizzy L
@Adam L Silverman: Mmm,Dulce de Leche.
@MCA1:
Yup. OTOH, Paul Manafort is still available to go after, and Manafort would give anyone up to save his own skin.
jl
@Adam L Silverman:Doesn’t the non LGF Johnson go by Chuck Johnson? Is that the one you mean?
Gravenstone
@jl: Would expect troll fat to be quite rancid.
Peale
@Gravenstone: personally, and I know they won’t do it, because it would hurt their rich constituents…but I’d like to take down anyone who donated to that charity to lower their taxes. And I’d like to know why such a charity was able to operate so long without anyone noticing. And I’d like an open incpvedtigation into all foundations run by billionaires in the state, because I’m pretty certain Trump isn’t the only one doing it. It robs the treasury of tax funds. So go after them.
Oh wait. Andy is in charge. I’m sure he’ll get to the bottom of it.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: We need more quick cooking tip posts from you.
jl
@Gravenstone: SPaT knows the all the dark blog secrets of how to process trolls.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: You can just say Charles Johnson the floor shitter, or Rage Furby.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Troll fights are the best fights.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: Had Eichenwald not reported out his story, my plan was to post that tonight. There’s just too much stuff to cover.
Calouste
@srv: I don’t think that in either Algeria or Kazakhstan there is a major political party arguing that grabbing women by their privates is not sexual assault.
Calouste
@Gravenstone: It’s what KMart uses in their cheap candles.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: That’s him. He does it because the LGF one is the better known Charles Johnson and because he already had Charles Johnson on twitter (if I’m recalling correctly). Regardless, the younger, nutso one is a piece of work and appears to be tight with every creepy guy on the fringe: O’Keefe, Zimmerman, Daleidan, etc.
Peale
@Calouste: while simultaneously trying to scare women that Transexuals are going to sexually assault them in bathrooms unless they pass laws against them. Freeeeeeedom!
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: Andy is not in charge for this. Eric Schneiderman is. And Andy is now in a world of trouble thanks to the testimony going on in the Bridgegate case in NJ. Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY, now has enough, just based on the uncontested parts of the testimony so far, to do what he’s been waiting to do: go after Cuomo and Christie. He’s waited for his counterpart in NJ to do it, watched while he hasn’t, and, I would think, is lining up his ducks into nice little rows.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply that Beck is somehow influential with Mormons. More like, he’s a Mormon in the public eye, so what he says may reflect what other Mormons are currently thinking.
(Edited to clarify)
I’m still annoyed at the LDS for interfering in California’s election in 2008 and getting their people to vote for Prop 8 (aka Prop Hate), the anti-gay marriage ballot proposition, but some stories claimed that the backlash from that taught them that getting that directly involved in politics was bad for business.
Oh, and Book of Mormon is coming back to LA in 2017, right before Hamilton. Season tickets, bitchez!
Adam L Silverman
@Soylent Green: I post pics of Count Orlok last week and ask if Guiliani is devolving into him looks wise and everyone tells me I’m nuts. Congressman Dingell does it and he’s a genius. I see how things are…
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Sorry to steal your thunder.
Adam L Silverman
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ll keep that in mind for the future.
Adam L Silverman
@srv: I was at Walt Disney World the day it opened. And EPCOT the day it opened. You sir or ma’am are no Walt Disney!
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: just keep it up till you’re 90.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: No need to apologize, I’m glad somebody put it up. I’m a big fan of living on information overload, but the campaign has tested even my high tolerances.
Lizzy L
@efgoldman: It’s not clear how much money he has now, and his brand is tanking. Trump TV may be a fading dream.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Adam L Silverman:
My guess is that it’ll be something that gets the Trumplings worked up, makes the MSM natter a bit, but not much else.
Mnemosyne
@srv:
What, again? That thing’s had more farewell tours than Kiss.
ETA: Also, the title of the ride is “it’s a small world.” In quotes, with lowercase. Journalists always get it wrong.
RaflW
@srv: Disney probably wanted to re-do the parade with LEDs and conservatives flipped out about Disney being all commie lefty pinko renewable, so they just scrapped the parade to avoid another shitty confrontation with you people.
So, sure, OK, fuck you srv for ruining the parade.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
This would make my year to get those two assholes in one fell swoop. Port Authority needs to be reformed, it’s independent slush fund is the source of way too much corruption.
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: I’m not sure how to take that. Aren’t I supposed to call a doctor after four hours, let alone 45 years?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@efgoldman:
Whatever happened to good, old Ted and Helen?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: But is he Disney’s disembodied head*?
*This is an urban legend, Walt Disney(all of him) is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.
jl
@Adam L Silverman:
” I post pics of Count Orlok last week and ask if Guiliani is devolving into him looks wise and everyone tells me I’m nuts. Congressman Dingell does it and he’s a genius. I see how things are…”
Dingell might be 90 but he is a happening hipster who knows hot social media. You post your Rudy/Orlok jape on some industrial age fogey ‘blog’ that only oldsters read? That is one step down in hipness form facebook.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: No argument here. I would be very surprised if Bharara doesn’t move on this. He’s been very aggressive on public corruption issues in NY state and I get the impression he was unhappy with how his colleague in NJ proceeded on the bridge closing thing.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: okay.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: As long as they never get rid of the Enchanted Tiki Room. I took both Spawns to that, and they were both like, “WTF are you making us watch this is laaaaaaaaame lets go ride RIDESSSSSSS”. Then it began and they were both in love and thought I was an awesome mom. Disney needs to embrace its kitsch factor more. Those toucans are the shit.
amk
cruz, the coward.
mike in dc
What are our options for cybernetic counterstrikes at Russia? Are their systems vulnerable to similar hacking for leaks? Is is possible to hack damaging leaks and have an effective way to diffuse them to the Russian public?
Because I’m a pissed-off Scots-German Scorpio Democrat, and I want payback.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: I hear you brother. Getting old and out of it hard, it is hard. And then some 90 year dude breezes through and gets groupies and stuff. Very hard to watch our lives slip away.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I have a Walt story that I heard directly from the source that I love to tell people:
So, all of the costumes for “it’s a small world” were designed by a wonderful lady named Alice Davis, who was married to animator Marc Davis, but also an artist in her own right. Walt wanted the French can-can dancers in the ride to be wearing panties, but after several tests with the dolls, Alice was forced to lengthen the pantaloons on the costumes to below knee-length because the rubber on the dolls’ knees kept cracking under the strain.
After the ride went into operation at the World’s Fair, Alice was on a walkway above the ride making sure everything was working okay and Walt was on a boat going under the walkway with a couple of VIPs — Alice remembers them as the head of GE and a general of some kind.
Walt called up to her, “Alice, I thought you were going to have the can-can girls wearing panties?”
And she called back, “But, Walt, I thought this was supposed to be a family ride!”
Then she ran in the opposite direction before he could get off the boat at the end of the ride and yell at her. He thought it was funny once he cooled down.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Interesting trivia, former Congressman Dingell’s district(it’s changed numbers over the years) has only been represented by a Dingell(his father, him, and now his wife). It was a new district when John Dingell Sr. was elected in 1932.
joel hanes
@Omnes Omnibus:
Eichenwald has .. big, brass
What’s most astounding to me is that Newsweek has decided to commit journalism.
And The Washington Post, with Farenthold.
I had given up completely.
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
When I’m feeling mischievous, I sometimes tell people that the Disney Archives has Walt’s head in their vaults.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Adam L Silverman:
Don’t forget New alt-right heartthrob Milo Yippodipolas.
hovercraft
@amk:
Since he only got on board because he was being threatened by his money people, especially the Mercer’s, and the base was was threatening to primary him, and he only just came on board, he’s stuck. He has to stick it out at least until the vast majority have jumped ship. His timing sucks. His only bit of luck is that being a Texan, he will probably not be punished for staying on till the bitter end.
BillinGlendaleCA
@srv: Vegas uses neon, not LED’s.
Mike J
@Mnemosyne: Don’t lie. The freezer is under Space Mountain.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Hey grandpa; I’ll sell you my walker, cheep!
jl
@BillinGlendaleCA: Dingell has his own personal district? That’s where he gets his swagger.
@BillinGlendaleCA: You got a twitter account. How happening are you?
Major Major Major Major
@jl: Sure sounds like he does.
JR in WV
I read a few comments, and decided to go ahead and make my comment now.
The Republicans are often not loyal to America, nor are they a democratic group. They think nothing culturally of betraying the interests of America if they can enrich their wealth or power by so doing. Nixon and the North Viet-Nam negotiators in Paris, Reagan and the Iranian hostage takers were both more interested in power than the American way.
But at the same time, Democrats have managed to work to improve the works of America since FDR, without needing to betray national interests to the enemies of the nation. There is proof that Nixon and Reagan committed treason in the true Constitutional meaning of that accusation, by aiding the enemies of the nation.
There were Russian operatives working in North America for most of the 20th century, as remarked above a member of the first House UnAmerican Activities Committee was an agent of the Russian NKVD, later the KGB.
So there is no surprise that a power-mad Republican billionaire (maybe) would be a target of Russian intervention. In this case, I suspect he is too stupid and naive to know what’s going on, which is perhaps also true of Reagan, who may have been duped by his aides. But it is obvious that Putin fears and distrusts strong American leadership, like Obama and Clinton have provided.
I feel sure that rather than supporting Trump, Putin is opposing Clinton, whom he probably knows pretty well from her work on the Iran treaty. I knew that worked out well for us when I read of the concrete being poured into the Iranian heavy-water reactor – unless there is another such installation hidden in a mountain range, they can’t undo that act.
Clinton is obviously as strong as Obama, after seeing her deal with a violent irrational bigot Sunday night without flinching as he loomed over her repeatedly. She had nerves of steel, and a will of iron! and all directed to improve our nation. It baffles me how anyone could watch that display of hate on Trump’s part, and the bravery Clinton displayed and still support a cheap, violent thug who gropes women who despise him.
Trump is a Russian stooge, not capable, really, of understanding that what he’s doing is a repeat of the treason of Nixon and Reagan. Stooge describes him perfectly. Trump is incapable of providing strong leadership against the Russian kleptocracy combined with the despots supported by Russia. Bullies like Trump aren’t strong, they’re cowards who use violence against those they fear, which won’t work with Russia.
Bragging about being willing to use special weapons isn’t the act of a strong man, it’s an act of ignorance. I’ve seen training film of the USN fleet that destroyed the Japanese Imperial Navy being destroyed in turn by hydrogen tests in the Pacific, of the Tsar Bomba explosion the Soviets set off, 50 MTons of force. Trump either has never seen these or doesn’t understand the effect of thousands of such weapons used against civilian and military targets around the world.
Between Trump’s fascist power fantasies and bigotry, his geopolitical ignorance, and his emotional instability, he is the most terrifying man to approach the presidency in the history of the nation.
Looking forward to more about this during the week.
jl
@BillinGlendaleCA: you probably some young whippersnapper hanging around to make fun of us old folk, with our books, and candles, and charms, and blogs and antique crap like that. I bet you snicker at us, dang kids these days.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
I almost hate to say it for fear I’m going to jinx it, but it’s looking about 90 percent that the Devil Woman is going to let me take my two Florida nieces to Disneyworld next spring all by myself. I’m hoping my luck will hold and that asshole won’t decide to change her mind after I buy the plane tickets, but so far her only condition was that my California SIL (who she hates) can’t come with for complicated reasons.
Adam L Silverman
@srv: Spinning D Cups. Takes a lot of E tickets!
WaterGirl
@JR in WV: Heading for bed, just wanted to say that I always appreciate your comments.
MCA1
@Gravenstone: Maybe. His feral supporters might create enough ruckus about that that the NYSAG would find it unpalatable, too, and political expediency drives enforcement decisions. “The President’s Democrat friends in the New York State government are persecuting him!” we would hear endlessly.
Might not matter, of course. He may go the way of Litvinenko soon enough after the election, I suppose. Comrade Vlad’s not real psyched about his R.O.I. right now.
Suzanne
@amk: Considering that I may hate Cruz even more than I hate Trump, I am just rolling around in Lyin’ Ted’s humiliation like Scrooge McDuck does in his money. God. I may need a cigarette after this election.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Given how uptight he was, she’s lucky she made it out alive.
jl
@BillinGlendaleCA: You got no twitter I can see. ‘Billin’ is available. I’d get that handle. or ‘Bill_OG’. And show Dingell how to be a twitter rock star.
Lorinda Pike
@Walker: Damn sure going to be some folks flying blind.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
He was uptight in public, which is why it was a bit of a risk (he had two VIPs with him). In private, or back at the Studio? Not so much. And she had been working for the Studio on and off since Cinderella, so she knew him pretty well by then.
Davis X. Machina
@JR in WV: The GOP are Leninists. Party before state. The Party, and not the organs of the state, are the Vanguard of the Revolution.
Expedient alliances with foreign enemies are acceptable provided they advance the leading role of the Party.
Adam L Silverman
@West of the Rockies (been a while): That dude is just very, very strange. Apparently a lot of the alt-right, white supremacist, and/or neo-NAZI folks have found out one of his parents is Jewish and have started to turn on him. He will be very, very lucky to make it out of his piss poor performance art act alive. These guys do not like being made fun of and some of them are tethered loosely enough to do something really stupid.
http://www.salon.com/2016/09/29/alt-right-catfight-daily-stormer-wages-holy-crusade-on-breitbart-because-milo-yiannopoulos-is-part-jewish/
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: No Twitter, I ain’t no twit. But, here’s a sunset for your enjoyment.
Suzanne
@JR in WV: I agree with your thoughts in Putin opposing Clinton rather than supporting Trump. I can’t imagine that Putin gives even half of a turd about having an American leader who “likes” him. He’s looking for someone controllable and weak. Clinton isn’t intimidated by him and isn’t impressed by him, whereas Trump, the child who confuses bluster for strength, will do whatever he wants.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@efgoldman:
Man, I had completely forgotten mc***en. Weird, since it was such a presence for so long. Not missed—let’s get that straight.
Adam L Silverman
Giants just scored two on a triple. That sucks!
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Bwahhhahhhahhhha! Once they get in the playoffs, they never go away. Ha ha ha.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: Ah, but this is different. They got beat by a blah man that time. They could rally from that.
But a civil war? No, very different scenario.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
From what I’ve read about the guy, he seems to really get off on being hated, so having everyone on the entire political spectrum hate him would be his dream come true.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: That seems to be the case. Of course its unclear how much of this is schtick and how much is legit as long as he’s making money hand over fist for being a professional ass. Just boggles the mind what people will pay money for.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: Fun! I’m sure you will have a blast spoiling them rotten with theme park merchandise.
jl
Thought this is interesting comment on the state of bothsidesdoitism, on the off chance it’s not a hoax.
‘ Pundit on CNN just called for Hillary to denounce Beyoncé for singing “when he fuck me good I take his ass to red lobster” ‘
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/785691282727395328
Or do I misunderstand the lyrics? Beyonce cuts his ass off and takes to Red Lobster where they cook it?
Suzanne
@Steeplejack (tablet): What about matoko_chan? And Tommy and his parents?
The Golux
@Adam L Silverman:
The killer combination is coffee ice cream with caramel sauce.
Peale
@jl: um, no. Have you had the cheese biscuits? She’s clearly rewarding her lover for a job well done
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Suzanne:
We’ve had so many, er, singular personalities here.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Peale:
They’re almost as good as sex.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
I’ve already made a reservation for the Lilo & Stitch Best Friends Character Breakfast at the Polynesian Resort because the 16-year-old and I both love that movie. Other plans (including the airline tickets) are pending their mom’s final texted approval.
trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA:
The balls on those Dingells!
Lizzy L
And the Cubs tie it!
SFBayAreaGal
@efgoldman: Yes that is the poster’s name
Suzanne
@Steeplejack (tablet): We may also have had some multiple personalities, too. Nothing would surprise me.
Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enough to Be Andy K Again)
@Adam L Silverman:
And Bryant and the Cubs seem to answer, “Not again. Not this year.”
trollhattan
@The Golux:
Fond of espresso poured over vanilla bean gelato.
JR in WV
@trollhattan:
Republican Pigs, not able to tell the difference between consensual sex between adults and sexual assault, even with a score card. I saw idiocy uttered by Jefferson Sessions, who couldn’t imagine how one could “just grab a pu$$y” somehow.
Now this Republican guy you speak of…McClintock, his firefighter isn’t talking roughly, he’s confessing to being a sexual predator, like it’s a great thing he does for fun, grab girls by their sexual parts, their most delicate and fragile body parts, just grab them.
He has learned that he could get away with that because he’s a rich bully! Wow, what a president we could have, serial rapist!
Someone needs to grab him by his parts, and squeeze really hard. Some with strong hands, like a pianist, or a blacksmith with a daughter.
JR in WV
I bean moderated, halps@@@#@! First time in months. i didn’t know that little fuzzy felines were banned… so sudden!
JR in WV
@srv:
That reality is the Republican reality provided by the funding and restrictions set by the Legislative branch of government. The president proposes and executes the will of the legislative branch. And the Republicans want education to fail, because people who haven’t been taught critical thinking have a hard time telling when a sharp political operator is spewing Right-Wing fantasies.
Schools with bigger overhead, a lower budget, more requirements from management, which is also bigger. They can’t even teach just the bear minimum reading and writing and arithmetic. Hell locally the schools got flooded out, some aren’t open yet, some are being replaced by instant buildings, which still take months to get set up.
Brachiator
@Adam L Silverman: What does not make sense to me in this speculation about a possible Trump Russian connection is the fact that Jared Kushner appears to be strongly involved in the Trump campaign, and was also influential in getting Bannon to come aboard. That Kushner would passively allow American or Russian antisemites a free pass at tilting the election towards Trump is implausible.
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman: Andy Kaufman wearing the neck brace on Letterman, but for real?
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: “Hey Jerry, when I say frozen decapitated slugger, what number comes to mind?”
Uncle Cosmo
@Adam L Silverman: Goddamnit, Silverman, spell the name right. It’s GHOULIANI.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Well, it has had the effect of making me want to read it…moving on in my quest for FP education from the Levant to the former USSR!
Greg Alkema
@trollhattan: As a constituent of Tom McClintock, I have often disagreed with him; but, I am so thankful he stood up for “the truth” and supports Donald Trump. What I especially noted was the “back to Reagan” policies because my studies show George H.W. Bush put a huge blot on Reagan’s presidency with his CIA Iran/Contra ploy and, when he pardoned Casper Weinberger, it expanded the Bush Crime Family into the Bush/Clinton Crime family and today, with Obama as their “doorman” for the last eight years, a continuation of the Bush/Clinton Crime Family with Hillary Clinton will finish our country off and most likely lead to the nuclear WW3 with Russia Hillary’s Ziocon war monger backers want.
So thank you Tom McClintock .. you have EARNED my vote this year.