JUST IN: Carter Page coordinated Russia trip with top Trump campaign officials https://t.co/s5CFAajc8x
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) November 7, 2017
The mystery being: Why would any serious person, having spent even fifteen minutes in his company, trust Carter Page with so much as the mid-afternoon Starbucks run?
Former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, who has come under scrutiny in the investigation of Russian election interference, told a House committee that he sought permission for a July 2016 trip to Moscow from senior Trump campaign officials, and reported to other Trump officials about the trip when he returned…
Page, whose sworn testimony was released Monday night, told the House Intelligence Committee last week that he sought permission to make the trip from campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and also notified Hope Hicks, who is now the White House communications director.
Lewandowski told Page he was clear to go on the trip as long as the travel was not associated with his work on the campaign, Page told the committee.
Page also acknowledged that he had been aware that another volunteer campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, had been meeting with a professor with links to the Kremlin, according to the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Both men served on a campaign foreign policy advisory committee under the supervision of Jeff Sessions, who was then a senator and is now the attorney general. Page testified he told Sessions about the July 2016 Moscow trip, it has been previously reported.
Sessions “advised nothing” when Page told him about his plans to travel to Russia, Page said in the transcript…
Page told the committee he wrote to Mueller on Oct. 5, explaining that he intends to plead the Fifth Amendment and keep documents related to his work in Russia to himself…
The Carter Page transcript is out https://t.co/uaMRiCvjBr pic.twitter.com/keuoyrZTWT
— Dusty (@DustinGiebel) November 7, 2017
Steele dossier panning out: Page met w/ both the head of investor relations for Rosneft AND members of Russia’s PA while in Moscow last July pic.twitter.com/k2mCTLIGUP
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 7, 2017
… Page revealed during his testimony that he met with both members of Russia’s presidential administration and with the head of investor relations at the state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft during his trip to Moscow last July.
He also congratulated members of the Trump campaign’s foreign policy team on July 14 for their “excellent work” on the “Ukraine amendment” — a reference to the Trump campaign’s decision to “intervene” to water down a proposed amendment to the GOP’s Ukraine platform.
The original amendment proposed that the GOP commit to sending “lethal weapons” to the Ukrainian army to fend off Russian aggression. But it was ultimately altered to say “provide appropriate assistance” before it was included in the party’s official platform. The dossier alleges that the campaign “agreed to sideline” the issue of Russia’s invasion of Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Hillary Clinton.Page also revealed that Trump campaign adviser Sam Clovis had asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement upon joining the campaign — and that he discussed his July Moscow trip with Clovis both before he went and after he returned…
My jaw just dropped. https://t.co/c3FrZCXKty pic.twitter.com/yHqrvS4HqR
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 7, 2017
Got my mind on my money
And I'm not goin' away
So keep on gettin' your paper, and keep on climbin' pic.twitter.com/CAZStkPERl— Zeddy (@ZeddRebel) November 7, 2017
Carter Page's Congressional testimony compares unfavorably to what I would expect from a South Park character.
— Popehat (@Popehat) November 7, 2017
I feel sorry for him. He's gone bananas. pic.twitter.com/1qtvcFhSuj
— Pwn ¦¦ ¦¦ ¦¦¦ (b)(5) (@pwnallthethings) November 7, 2017
every single page of this testimony needs to be hung up in a museum pic.twitter.com/GlM03kjJH3
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) November 7, 2017
People are going to say this is why you should have a lawyer but honestly the more imp’t point is that this is why you shouldn’t be a moron. https://t.co/AU6oCh0STx
— Josh Chafetz (@joshchafetz) November 7, 2017
clay
Not the dodgy dossier??!?
It’s very hard to know what to think of Carter Page. He’s not acting the way an innocent person would act, but he’s not really acting the way a guilty person would act. He’s simultaneously paranoid, blabbermouthy, defensive, offensive, and dumb. He reminds me of that old Martin Short SNL character:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiSmvuZ2azXAhWBZCYKHa8vAAIQtwIIJjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbc.com%2Fsaturday-night-live%2Fvideo%2Fsaturday-night-news-segment—nathan-thurm%2Fn9367%3Fsnl%3D1&usg=AOvVaw0hrHc31jic7k06ONGPQIw8
Barbara
“This is why you shouldn’t be a moron.” Love it. But really, from everything I know about this, spies are cultivated, coached, enabled, and immersed in deception through baby steps, until it becomes impossible to deny and impossible to undo or reverse course. Which is to say, that there is a good chance Page didn’t even realize the first time he was being used as a spy.
Barbara
@clay: Per what I said above, he may still be in a state of denial that he has been working as a traitor in service to the Russian state.
mad citizen
Given how flat/shallow the campaign team was, there is no way in hell that Trump didn’t know this stuff was happening. Traitors all!
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
Gin & Tonic
He may be crazy, or a moron, or a spy, I don’t care, but I just hope to $DEITY that he keeps on flapping his mouth without the advice of counsel.
Redshift
The answer is that there were no serious people on the Trump campaign team.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
tfw when your lawyers either hate your guts or at least as dumb as you are
Redshift
OT: Strong turnout at my Northern Virginia precinct, and I’m getting similar reports from lots of others. Go, team!
Gin & Tonic
And for the other Russiagate junkies (you know who you are) here’s a good backgrounder on Serhiy Leshchenko, the former journalist and current Ukrainian MP who’s been working the Manafort issue for a long time now. Article is in English.
Dave
@clay: Honestly he’s a moron. Probably a guilty moron but still a moron. There may well be more going on than that, some genuine physiological/physiological issue, but barring the tiny chance that he is some sort of Keyser Some (he’s not) at the end of the day he’s nature’s perfect patsy. Also known as a moron.
Yarrow
@Dave: If he’s Keyser Soze he should win all the Oscars.
JMG
@Redshift: Close elections drive up turnout. For both sides, of course. People like to feel they’re having an effect.
sharl
Welp, Carter Page has broken lawyer Popehat, who has stopped twitter-shouting about Page and is now writing comedy along the same lines as Ashley Feinberg.
Dave
@Yarrow: Generally I discount that idea, people don’t work that way even truly brilliant people can be dumb as stumps from time to time, but given the nonsensical nature of reality we’ve experienced recently I have to at least keep the option open.
rikyrah
I told you…I believe everything in the dossier.
rikyrah
@mad citizen:
TRAITORS!!!!
Barbara
@Redshift: I voted at 6:00 am in Arlington and there was a steady stream of people. That’s really early. Fingers crossed. Hoping to get out early and do last minute canvassing because I am a nervous wreck.
Quinerly
@Barbara: This is why you shouldn’t allow morons from nowhere volunteer for your campaign.
Old Dan and Little Anne
After I scanned my ballot this morning I said to the volunteer, “I hope today is not as depressing as the last time I was here.” He chuckled. Straight D down the line. A few choices only had republicans so I left those blank. Bastards.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: unrelated but I just have to tell someone…just ordered Pete Souza’s book. I need pretty pictures this week.?
Gelfling 545
Election day greetings: Campaign Song. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aHqvWeH9S9o
rikyrah
Theodore Dortch,37, is a former felon who had his voting rights in Virginia restored this year. Today he voted for the first time pic.twitter.com/WNFlkwOyrc
— Sam Levine (@srl) November 7, 2017
LaVaughn Williams is a former felon who voted for the first time in Virginia today. Listen to her talk about the power of the ballot pic.twitter.com/wQWjTXeSn4
— Sam Levine (@srl) November 7, 2017
Boatboy_srq
@clay: This is the behavior of the amoral. We should expect more of it as we dig deeper into the tRumpery.
clay
Does anyone know what actual credentials Carter Page has? Like, he claims he gives lectures at universities across the world, which I guess is verifiable enough, but what does he actually know? Is he a PhD? Did he go to a top university?
What was his deal before the 2016 campaign?
rikyrah
Found this over at TOD about the happenings in Saudi Arabia:
arapaho415
November 7, 2017 at 9:59 am
Most of the tweets from this user are in Arabic (which is Greek to me — unfortunately, English is the only language I know), but interesting speculation — which says a yacht transferred tons of cash to the grotesque evil occupying the WH during May visit to Saudi Arabia:
tweets of @mujtahidd about scandal involving President @realDonaldTrump and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman pic.twitter.com/N8QpYvixfR
— نورة الحربي (@n_alharbi12) November 7, 2017
And there is no American ambassador to Saudi. Westphal left in Jan 2017 and no replacement appointed.
— Ramsey Cooper (@Ramsey_Cooper76) November 5, 2017
Next tweet: “This isn’t the same prince who died in helicopter crash. So now we have 2 dead princes within 24 hrs.”https://t.co/kExDQNu2q0
— Arapaho415 (@arapaho415) November 6, 2017
CONFIRMED: Prince Abdul Aziz, youngest son of late King Fahd, has died. He was arrested recently and may have suffered injuries in gunfight. pic.twitter.com/2VRk4X2sIy
— F. Jeffery (@Natsecjeff) November 6, 2017
Ignatius says Kushner and MBS stayed up until 4 a.m. plotting strategy when Jared was in Riyadh https://t.co/GjX8xZV7ca
— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) November 5, 2017
clay
@Boatboy_srq: I dunno. The amoral can usually lie like they breathe. Look at Trump. He lies all the time, but he does it so forcefully and convincingly that he probably convinces himself that it’s the truth. Carter Page, on the other hand, seems like he’s lying, even when saying ‘hello’. He’s definitely shady, but he’s not a sociopath like Trump.
Yarrow
@Dave: You’re not the only one. He’s just so dumb it does make you wonder.
rikyrah
Bernie Sanders GOTTA go man. https://t.co/1T7TmiGEPm
— Rylo Ken (@Kennymack1971) November 7, 2017
Bernie Sanders wants Independents to decide the Democratic Party primary. NOPE.
— Matt Murphy (@MattMurph24) November 6, 2017
Gin & Tonic
@clay: He went to USNA, reportedly not an idiot there. Allegedly he got a PhD from University of London in 2012. It would be interesting to look at (for?) his dissertation, given how amusing Seb Gorka’s is.
Calouste
@rikyrah: I wouldn’t be surprised if certain elements in Saudi society construe that last bit as the Crown Prince taking orders from a Jew. He better really carefully vet his bodyguards. Decades of state propaganda about Israel does funny things to people.
bemused
Page is lala land loopy and doesn’t seem to grasp the situation he is in. As off the wall as Page is, trump and cohorts are pretty damn loopy too, just a little more aware they have needed to cover their tracks even though they haven’t been very good at it. Greed, arrogance, stupidity and enormous senses of entitlement fueled their fantasies they could everything they want without getting caught, without any repercussions.
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: Ooh, great idea. Off to amazon!
Quinerly
@clay: pretty extensive Wiki page. Investment banker, foreign policy analyst, oil industry consultant. USNA, NYU, Georgetown for degrees….and PHd from University of London.
Barbara
@rikyrah: You know, when I heard about the princes who had been rounded up or who had died, I kept thinking how shocking it is that this seems very much like the reputed Topkapi Palace intrigues, where the only way to ensure your right of succession in the Ottoman Empire was to make sure all the other contenders were killed. And speaking of perfidy, otherwise off topic, The New Yorker published another Weinstein related story by Ronan Farrow, this time about the investigation conducted by various outfits on behalf of Weinstein to try to prevent publication of TNY and NYT articles. The highlight comes from statements by David Boies, whose law firm nominally supervised one of the companies (run by former Mossad agents) at the same time he was representing NYT in a libel case. Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/harvey-weinsteins-army-of-spies/amp
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
I have one similar from the Bill Clinton years. Still pull it out and page through it from time to time. Souza will be on “Fresh Air” today.
sharl
There is actually a fairly substantial Wikipedia page on him. Though I should note that the ‘Talk’ page for that entry – accessible by clicking on the ‘Talk’ tab at upper left – is rather long. That is often an indication of serious disputes among Wiki editors over the Main Page content, and a quick perusal suggests that is the case here. So caveat lector and all that…
That Wikipedia page says he got a Ph.D. at the University of London SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), and there are a couple links to news articles backing that up. The link to the description of his doctoral thesis didn’t provide much beyond title, and his name is weirdly formatted, though maybe that’s a British academia thing I’m just not familiar with. No advisor name listed either, though again, maybe that’s normal for the University of London SOAS,
ETA: Quinerly at 33 done beat me to it.
ETA2: and G&T at 29.
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: Thanks for the heads-up about Souza’s Fresh Air interview. I’ve got meetings today, so will check out the podcast. Looking forward to your January (?) visit!
rikyrah
The Case of Wilbur Ross’ Phantom $2 Billion
Dan Alexander , FORBES STAFF
…………………………………………….
bemused
@rikyrah:
I have no problem believing trump and family did this and probably more the same we have not yet heard about.They are all amoral mobsters. Time will tell how this shakes out.
kindness
@Barbara: Not a traitor in his mind. In his perspective he thinks he was furthering the TrumpCo cause. In his mind he’s a patriot. The explanation of which is the moron aspect covered above.
Yarrow
@Barbara: That latest Ronan Farrow article about how Weinstein hired former Mossad agents to stalk an investigate women to prevent articles from being published is crazy. Farrow said researching this story the most afraid for his life he’s ever been.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
did you get the book with Forever FLOTUS too? :)
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Just reading the excerpts creeped me out.
Corner Stone
@Yarrow: HOW DUMB IS HE?
germy
Yarrow
@rikyrah: The rot is so deep.
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa: playing around with dates a bit for the Bernalillo rental. Looks like arrival there 1/26. Departure 2/25. Want to coordinate with commenter dexwood on a Chaco Canyon excursion towards the end of my stay. You interested in joining us? Think on it.
germy
@Yarrow: C’mon, nobody’d have the balls to kill Frank’s son!
I have no doubt they’d harm or otherwise ruin anyone less famous.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: no. Somehow missed that one. Will check again. Thanks.
Yarrow
@germy: It may be why was able to research and write the story–he bridges several worlds.
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: Chaco Canyon with jackals, yes!
sam
As a democrat, I keep laughing at this guy. As a lawyer, I keep reading stuff like this and shouting (in my head) “shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up”
you can’t spend the entire day testifying about everything, and THEN plead the fifth. THAT’S NOT HOW THIS WORKS.
That’s also why you get a damn lawyer.
rikyrah
Ross aide served on Navigator’s board while working at Commerce
Wendy Teramoto served as a part-time adviser to Ross while maintaining her board seat at the energy shipping company with a Kremlin-linked client.
By LORRAINE WOELLERT, NANCY COOK and ANDREW RESTUCCIA
11/06/2017 06:20 PM EST Updated 11/06/2017 09:21 PM EST
rikyrah
LDF will be on the ground in #Virginia today helping to ensure no one has trouble at the polls. Follow @NAACP_LDF for updates! pic.twitter.com/dhDKR6DCOB
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) November 7, 2017
rikyrah
If you live in VA and get a call saying your polling location has changed today, call @866OURVOTE. Confirm your location and VOTE!
— Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) November 7, 2017
We will continue fighting #votersuppression wherever we encounter it. Call our @866OURVOTE hotline with voting questions or complaints. pic.twitter.com/Wmd0OS25HB
— Election Protection (@866OURVOTE) November 6, 2017
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
Pete’s going to be the guest on Fresh Air today. Should be a fun conversation!
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa: You will adore dexwood’s spousal unit. Maybe satby can coordinate too! I’m going to line up doggie daycare for Poco.
trollhattan
Wait, Trey Gowdy and Carter Page were in the same room, conversing, and the universe didn’t collapse into a singularity of stupid? Shit, I passed that course too.
rikyrah
new Tax Policy Center analysis shows two-thirds of GOP tax cut go to top 5% of earners, almost half to top 1% https://t.co/6LFUd2Uwr2
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 6, 2017
Barbara
@germy: Weinstein must be a sociopath. That’s all I can say about him. But one of the very real problems with people like Weinstein — engaging and successful and seemingly a good pal to so many — is that the people who are around him often think that they and he have a common understanding of things like “rape” or “abuse” or “sexual harrassment” or “unwanted touching.” One reason why women are not believed so often is that the friends of these guys have trouble comprehending just how different their friend is from them because it doesn’t appear that way in their own interactions and relationship. This happens all the time in the context of assaults in fraternities — the tendency of non-rapist men to think that rapist men are operating according to the same playbook.
Wapiti
@Quinerly:
My nephew graduated from USNA a few years back. They have a program with Georgetown where the smart cadets can cross-enroll at Georgetown during their senior year, then finish the masters before heading to the fleet. iirc, nephew had gone to Gtown for at least the spring of his senior year, graduated, then moved to Gtown for summer and fall before getting his MA.
Quinerly
@SiubhanDuinne: The morning ad for Fresh Air prompted to go to Amazon for the book. I had started an Amazon order over the weekend, so this was like adding dessert to my order.?
Barbara
@rikyrah: Also, you can go to Iwillvote.com, which will let you link to your actual registration information on the Virginia election website, which will confirm your registration and your polling location.
chris
@rikyrah: Interesting. What is TOD? Google is no help.
Gin & Tonic
@sharl: Sarah Kendzior is on the case.
StringOnAStick
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks for that link, very informative.
schrodingers_cat
Mass Deportation Update:
TPS revoked for Nicaragua, from Jan 25th.
Jury Duty Update: I was able to postpone it from January to June, since I did not want to drive north in snow and ice.
germy
This has been informative: Stephanie Carvin breaks Carter’s testimony into chunks and provides witty analysis.
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin
Cheryl Rofer
Emptywheel has a good post on Page’s testimony.
sharl
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks! I originally followed her on Twitter based on her Central Asia expertise, so it’s good to see her be able to put that background to good use here.
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: I think the problem is going to be proving Trump knows or ever knew anything about anything given his complete indifference to reality. Any person with an IQ above room temperature would have known. With Trump, it’s hard to say. His blatant stupidity may work in his favor.
germy
catclub
@rikyrah: You beat me to that. I was going to mention it. Who knew that Trump would attract fake billionaires?
Mark Cuban wins again.
Fair Economist
@Barbara:
A transition from the “collaborative monarchy” of Saudi Arabia to a patriarchal one is frightening enough, but when you realize there are literally THOUSANDS of Saudi princes with a claim as good as the one that put George I on the throne of England, you see this could go very far south in a hurry.
r€nato
what, it’s illegal to go visit Russia now?
/wingnutdouchebag
NotMax
Idiot savant.
Except for the savant part.
Miss Bianca
@sharl: You know, I’m not a Twitterer, or Tweeter, or whatever the technical term may be, but I’m seriously tempted to follow Popehat these days.
Boatboy_srq
@rikyrah: Bernie Madoff was not the only arsehole taking his clients for a ride, just the biggest one caught to date.
germy
@Miss Bianca: I don’t have a twitter account, but I enjoy reading various tweets.
Kay
I hear a lot of testimony and (frankly) a lot of liars – although lying under oath is less common than you might think- and I have to say I was finding some of the Trumpsters persuasive on the Russia denials just because they were so unequivocal.
Wrong again! They’re just REALLY ballsy liars. In the top 10% of liars, even! Unusually practiced liars.
Yarrow
@Miss Bianca: Just open up a tab for the Popehat twitter account. You can follow along that way.
Miss Bianca
@Yarrow:Thanks! I love the comments on this tweet – they all seem to be along the lines of “Wait, *is* this parody?”
ruemara
I’m sitting here reading comments from the client my last videos were for. Turns out my Coms Director & Aide hadn’t actually gotten script & board approvals before giving me the greenlight to shoot. Oh, yes, somehow, I’m to blame despite me not being involved in client contact. On the one hand, I know I gave them a good product and this was not supposed to be on my plate with less than 3 weeks to give them a final, no more budget and talent & crew all currently booked on different projects. On the other hand, it’s nice to have an eyeball melting problem that isn’t about DJT.
Also, anyone still questioning Russian collusion, interference, etc., is not a serious person. Coup d’twits
PST
@Quinerly:
Or as we say in Chicago, “We don’t want nobody nobody sent.”
Kay
As anyone who read the piece she wrote already knows….. :)
It’s not just that there was no evidence. There was no charge either. It was like..some words that sounded kinda bad.
eclare
@Kay: John Oliver had a twitter fight a while back with POS, where POS said his show was boring and had bad ratings, but they were desperate to have him on, and POS said “No”! Oliver said even though his show does not have guests, POS was so adamant that he was invited on, John called a staff meeting just to confirm no one had invited him. John said it was weird, he thought, well, maybe someone did? Otherwise why would he say this?
Because he is a lying POS.
randy khan
@Redshift:
Fingers crossed. There was a steady stream at my precinct, which is heavily Democratic, and the Republicans appeared to have just left sample ballots sitting on a chair, weighed down by a rock. The Democrats handing out sample ballots said the Republicans were on a break, sort of implying it was a very loooong break.
rikyrah
@chris:
TOD=The Obama Diary
TenguPhule
Any day now I expect to see a signed and dated contract detailing exactly what Trump’s duties to the Kremlin were in exchange for his payments the way things are going.
How the flying fuck did the media miss this other then intentionally?
I mean FFS, they didn’t even TRY to hide this shit.
different-church-lady
@Kay:
MEDIA: “Donna, why are you doing this to us?”
GregB
What is going on is a massive global conspiracy of the worst elements of the assembled plutocrats. The coal, gas and oil interests, military and a gun industries.
The Saudi Prince also wants to corner the media information distribution systems.
The fuse is lit for a regional conflagration. One Saudi minister was reported to hsve told the people of Lebanon that they are as guilty as Hezbollah and thus legitimare targets.
The deep evil of these people is about to be displayed.
rikyrah
@Miss Bianca:
I don’t have a Twitter account either. I depend upon others to give me names of folks to search and read their tweets.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I never believed them, Kay. ALWAYS believed that they were lying.
Why do people dance around the Russian thing?
It is phucking TREASON against this country!
They are so used to lying and nobody challenging them. Following up on what they’ve said. let alone, there being consequences for what they say.
rikyrah
@GregB:
didn’t he just arrest Princes with media investments?
different-church-lady
@Kay: Kay, it’s a fuckin’ Reality Distortion Field. SNAP OUT OF IT!!!
GregB
While I think we are about to quicken into dark times, my fear is tempered by the inevitability of failure with all of these crumb bums.
They are evil but also arrogant, sloppy, hubristic and dumb as rocks.
Nothing will go as planned, they lead their troops into bluffs, will invite rebellion and disloyalty and it will end badly for them and those near their vortex of malignance and greed.
rikyrah
Trump not invited to global climate change summit: http://hill.cm/DPKUzyV
– – -President Trump is reportedly not invited to the climate change summit that will be held later this year in France.
An official in French President Emmanuel Macron’s Cabinet said Trump is “for the time being” not invited to the event in Paris, Reuters reported.
GregB
@rikyrah:
Yes. Used to be largest Fox shareholder.
tobie
@randy khan: Is it raining in NoVa? It’s pouring cats and dogs in Baltimore right now.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: They lie about the most picayune things–it’s a fractal structure of lies, more lies than you could fact-check if you spent all day doing it, and the easiest ones to debunk are so petty that you sound like a crazy nitpicker if you even go after them.
Classic gaslighting, in other words, and the point of that is of course to drive others into outright mental instability. It’s much easier to just assume that they’re always lying, and will almost certainly be correct.
randy khan
@GregB:
The stuff going on in Saudi Arabia is very strange. From what I can see, it appears to be a repudiation of a longstanding arrangement to ensure that nobody has enough power to, well, do what’s being done right now.
One of the stranger things about it is that the Crown Prince appears to want to liberalized things somewhat. He’s the guy who announced that women will be allowed to drive, which is a big deal there, and definitely something that the religious conservatives didn’t like. So maybe the thought is that they need to consolidate power to pull the country into the 20th century.
And on top of this, ARAMCO is looking at an IPO, and you’d think they wouldn’t want there to be concerns about stability of the government before that happens.
randy khan
@tobie:
It’s raining in DC where I work. The forecast was for rain much of the day.
Mike in Pasadena
@Barbara: Repeated speaking invitations are part of that pattern, they play to his inflated self regard. “I am so brilliant! The university wants me to speak again.” When the spy agency asks the organizer of the forumn to invite Patsy Page back, the organizer shrugs his shoulders and thinks it’s no skin off my nose, I’ll invite the airhead to speak. Carter Page is the perfect doofus for a smart recruiter.
scav
@GregB: The gathering of influential moops and cocksplats going offroad and playing at international relations seems omnipresent. There’s the local inane lot and then there’s the UK’s Boris Johnson and Priti Patel.
MCA1
@rikyrah: That’s tremendous. I like how Macron knows how to pull the Twittiot’s strings (evidently better than any Americans can). He’ll take it as a personal affront and to rectify that will either (a) further abdicate America’s former position of leadership on all matters relating to climate, which will allow the rest of the world to confidently move forward without us, or (b) unilaterally revise the U.S. stance on the Paris Accords or whatever else in order to get the invite.
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
I told my photographer coworker and she assured me that she pre-ordered it months ago.
GregB
@scav:
I can’t picture Johnson without seeing him stuck on that zipline waving flags. Buffoon-tastic.
He’s also sucked up in the Russian information war along with the odious Farage.
Need to read up on Patel some more.
SatanicPanic
@Cheryl Rofer: It’s not the biggest revelation, but that Trey Gowdy quote is awesome:
It’s karma that Trey Gowdy has to be annoyed by a serial obfuscator
chris
@rikyrah: Thanks, all i could think of was The Oil Drum of days gone by.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: Now whip out the stun baton and kick his lightsaber wielding ass.
cursorial
IANAL, but reading clips of Page’s testimony I keep thinking “Dr. Page, it’s true that remaining silent can make you look guilty. But you shouldn’t discount the possibility that confessing to many, many criminal acts can also make you look guilty.”
gocart mozart
@clay:
Carter Page is my new favorite cartoon character. Sorry Bugs.
Villago Delenda Est
He’d fuck it up and bring me a cappuccino instead of a mocha.
The Moar You Know
@scav: Boris kills me. He is religiously convinced he is the smartest man in the room and, with very few exceptions, is always the dumbest.
TenguPhule
@Fair Economist:
What do you mean, could?
Uncle Cosmo
@cursorial: “Better to be silent & be thought an idiot, than to open one’s mouth & remove all doubt,” (Lincoln, Twain, Prroverbs, whoever.)
different-church-lady
@Villago Delenda Est:
You’re giving him too much credit.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: It’ll be really interesting to see what happens if/when global leaders just sort of…disinvite….or simply neglect to invite…Trump to global summits and events from here on out. I keep wondering if that will wake up a certain sort of conservative – not the mouth-breathing xenophobes of the base, but the ones to whom American prestige and influence in the world actually still matter.
Miss Bianca
@different-church-lady: LOL! Thanks!
Mnemosyne
@Villago Delenda Est:
True story: I once asked a coworker to bring me a medium Coke from the fountain at the cafeteria and he came back with a can of Diet Pepsi. Nice guy, but …
Villago Delenda Est
@different-church-lady: Point taken!
DesertFriar
@Quinerly:
I will get you a list of Las Cruces sites/restaurants soon.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: Trump hires only the BEST people. At lying.
Except that most of them are still pretty bad at it. Huckabee Sanders makes me wince whenever she tries to wave off Trump’s latest embarrassment/lie/treason.
MisterForkbeard
@different-church-lady: Yeah. No goddamned shit, this is exactly what we’ve been saying since the primaries started getting rancorous. People who believed it was “rigged” were idiots.
Would have been fantastic if Brazile hadn’t, you know, said they were rigged last week. And damaged a lot of democratic enthusiasm before the Virginia elections.
mike in dc
With regard to Carter Page, my money’s on “psychotic break”. Imagine being a pivotal figure in one of the biggest scandals of all time–the stress must have reached an inflection point, and he just…broke. At some point prior to all this, he had to be coherent enough to function and get through college, perform jobs, etc.
TenguPhule
The paranoid Carter Page transcript: What in God’s name did I just read?
I am at a loss for words. Carter Page obviously wasn’t.
Its comedy or insanity at its finest. I’m just not sure which at the moment.
HeleninEire
@sharl: Oh holy hell. Thank you for this. I am late here cuzza the time difference. But OH HOLY HELL. Popehat has been broken.
J R in WV
@clay:
Carter Page allegedly graduated from Annapolis in the top 10% of his class… must have been the year they admitted those bright sheepdogs from England? Can’t explain it. I’ve met some really sharp guys that graduated from service academies, known smart kids who didn’t get in, too. But there’s always the other side of the curve, right?
NMgal
@Quinerly: Hey, saw your plans — dunno if we’ve ever had a back and forth, but I’m a daily lurker/occasional commenter in Taos. I’ve got to burn some leave in the first couple of months of the year and Chaco is a favorite — was just there for equinox, amazing trip. If you’re putting a party together I might be able to contribute some Chaco-head lore and some Coleman stove skills. Good call to board the doggie — some of the hikes are not dog-friendly.