Whoever could have guessed that this might be a problem?
Rick Gates tells judge he's canceling Boston trip due to threat invoking Russian mafia https://t.co/bcSe0AecYH
— Evan Pérez (@evanperez) March 1, 2018
Washington (CNN)Former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates told a federal court Thursday afternoon that he and his wife believe it’s “not prudent” for them to take their four children on a trip to Boston, after feeling threatened by an online commenter who invoked the Russian mafia.
A Boston Globe report on Gates’ scheduled trip, planned for next week and approved by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, “generated comments on the internet, some of which were of a threatening character,” Gates’ attorney said in a court filing.One Globe reader posted two comments referencing possible violence against Gates in response to an online Boston Globe story published February 26 and titled “Following guilty plea in Mueller probe, Rick Gates plans to visit Boston.” The comments suggested Russians living in Boston could be angry with Gates, if Mueller targeted them in his probe.The Globe late Thursday blocked the two comments.
Stay frosty and don’t drink any tea you don’t personally prepare for yourself!
Open thread.
Corner Stone
Who is in charge of tracking/verifying threats like these to a federal witness?
Corner Stone
And if Gatesy is being threatened then Paulie will never crack because he’d be like turning the volume up to elebenty if he starts cooperating.
Yutsano
I don’t think the Russia mob is gonna be all that interested in a lowly tax agent in a backwater corner of Washington State.
At least not dead anyway.
Now if I GO to Russia…
Annie
This doesn’t make any sense. People can travel from Boston to wherever Gates lives now (which I assume is the DC area). Also, why would it only be Russians in the Boston area who are upset?
Corner Stone
Link to CNN
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: In this case? Most likely a combination of the CI investigation running out of the Special Counsel’s office, the FBI organized crime folks, the Boston Field Office, and possibly the US Marshall’s Service.
Adam L Silverman
@Annie: Far, far easier to deal with a target in transit to a place they don’t reside than it is to deal with the target at the target’s own home.
Humdog
Interesting essay over at current affairs.
it covers how the reaction to being shamed is defensiveness while the response to being guilted can be empathy and change. Shitstain or Republican voters should feel shame, but if I want them to do better, maybe finding a way to make them feel guilt is the better path.
ETA link looks odd, sorry.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: That’s going to keep Zinke and the DOJ attorneys tied up in Federal court through the next presidential election.
No Drought No More
Let’s hope Mueller Inc. has Manafort’s Alamo covered. Of course, they can’t confiscate his shoelaces or razor blades until his bail is revoked.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
I don’t know who Bill Weir is (I assume a CNN reporter), but he is embarrassingly naïve.
Corner Stone
As it looks like we may not get a new indictment today, I maintain my inner glee at the fact that *all* the knives are out for Jar Jar. All of the IC, both foreign and domestic, as well as WH personnel who hate his guts. In a death match between J Kelly and Jared, there can be only one winner. All the rest of us.
Citizen Alan
@Corner Stone:
The naivete of our useless media is almost precious. At this point, I don’t believe anything that any Republican says on any topic, but twits like this will continue to publish obvious lies as truth on into infinity.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
At this point, any reporter who claims they didn’t realize the Trump administration lied to them is themselves lying, IMO. It’s. What. They. Do.
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t know how old the piece is (can’t look at the Twits on the works browser) but by the time of the Bear’s Ears deal it was pretty smacking obvious truth and this administration were mutually exclusive.
eric
@Corner Stone: i see a new FISA warrant in the future……
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Corner Stone: Every picture of Jared looks like he’s wondering whether he just sharted himself.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
I certainly hope so. Gutting Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante may not be the worst thing the Trump Administration has done, but it feels the most personal to me because I’ve spent so much time visiting those places. They richly deserve protection, and yanking it away to please people who are going to ruin them forever is the act of a diseased, immoral mind.
Corner Stone
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: He actually reminds me of a bad parody of Zoolander. That collage where Zoolander makes ALL the emotive faces. Only Jared can accomplish just the one: Baby Bird Out of The Nest.
Corner Stone
I have to admit. I wish I had a govt job so J-Law could pull a Red Sparrow on me.
Gin & Tonic
Killing a reasonably high-profile American in the US is a bridge that has not yet been crossed.
JPL
In whose interest was it to leak Melania’s immigration status? IMO it was Trump’s way of saying he could deport her for lying, if she didn’t straighten up and act like the loving wife. hmmm
eric
@Gin & Tonic: john kennedy to a white courtesy phone :)
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
Just got back from writing at B&N. I expressed sympathy with the café worker selling me coffee over B&N’s financial troubles. She said if CEO didn’t have to be paid so much, there’d be no problem. Yay for her. Power to the people.
WereBear
@SiubhanDuinne: Right? How old is he?
cosima
@Adam L Silverman: Not that you would know that from personal experience…
Gin & Tonic
@eric: Not yet been crossed by Putin.
MattF
I’ll have a cuppa, hold the Polonium.
Jeffro
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
But…the CEO’s a “Job Creator” (trumpet sound)…doesn’t that mean he deserves all of the cake, and everyone else should be grateful for the crumbs?
Origuy
@Corner Stone: I used to work for a computer company that did a lot of top secret stuff. I wasn’t in that division, but one area of our building was wrapped in wire to make it a Faraday cage. We would get memos advising us about honey traps and such. I didn’t see how I could be blackmailed, since I was single and no one would care if I were seduced by a Russian agent. Sounded like a good idea to me.
kindness
With this administration we need a Dead Pool (yea that is a gruesome point of ‘humor’) where we pick who gets offed and when & by what group. At first I would have thought some wack job liberal would do it. Now I’m thinking it’d be an NRA wack job (anyone contemplating assassination is by definition a nut).
I know who I’d like it to be (no not Trump, having him there will only help us in November) but I really don’t want to have an appointment with the Secret Service. No thanks.
rikyrah
I got nothing.
Read this twice and still don’t understand.
………………………….
Donations of deer semen make up majority of contributions in Texas candidate’s race: report
A candidate in the race for a South Texas state House seat has reportedly received $87,500 in campaign donations, more than half of which is made up of deer semen donations
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/376483-donations-of-deer-semen-make-up-majority-of-donations-in-texas-state?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: Who do you think is more dangerous to the country? Jared or Kelly? At this point, I am thrilled to (maybe) have Jared out, but Kelly scares the hell out of me.
Hoodie
I was a bit surprised they were going to allow him to make that trip. Maybe part of his plea deal, or they didn’t want to spook him?
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
GOOD…NAIL THOSE MUTHAPHUCKAS.
M. Bouffant
@Gin & Tonic: Indeed. And all the Trumpazoids will pass it off as false-flag/Deep State/Fake News.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
KELLY VS JARED
root for lots of injuries.
Raoul
In the “whomever could have guessed that this might be a problem?” category, I am enjoying that Mike Huckabee’s racism and extreme partisanship made him have to resign within 24 hours of being appointed to the Country Music Association Foundation board.
When country music can’t handle Huck, times are — in some ways — changing. Our Trumpian nightmare notwithstanding.
rikyrah
Silverman:
Was McMaster on his way out anyway, before he became attached to the ‘ Jared is a National Security Threat’ story?
Roger Moore
@Origuy:
Even if you aren’t easily blackmailed, you might start thinking with the wrong head and do something you shouldn’t to impress the girl. It’s been known to happen, and once you’ve done something wrong, it becomes possible to blackmail you with that.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: My hopeful scenario is that Kelly forces Jar Jar and Ivana Jr out of the WH, then Trump flies off in a fit of rage and fires Kelly.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: Everyone of these changes, including a lot of the stuff Pruitt is doing at EPA, is going to get challenged in the courts.
FlipYrWhig
@rikyrah: Maybe someone misunderstood “The price of support may be a little dear.”
MattF
@Corner Stone: I’d be wary of what might happen next. Who dares to say “That’s a bad idea”?
Corner Stone
@Raoul:
Who in the everlovin’ world of Fuck thought that appointment was going to be a good thing? Those are the people that should be forced to resign.
Adam L Silverman
@cosima: Know what from personal experience?
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman:
Merde—I better watch my back!
sheila in nc
@Roger Moore:
You mean like the episode on Big Bang Theory when the engineer takes his date to the lab so she can drive the Mars Rover and they drive it into a ditch?
Raoul
@Corner Stone: Agree!
Corner Stone
@Roger Moore:
“Wait a second…are you saying it was *wrong* to give her that TS/SCI data set? I wish someone had told me.”
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
My first thought was that this was machine translated from another language where deer semen was a rebus for something more sensible, the way you see bizarre translations of things on Chinese menus. But no, it sounds as if there’s an established practice of deer breeders making in-kind donations of frozen semen. Bizarre, but not ludicrous.
Corner Stone
@MattF:
No one is doing it now. I don’t believe for a second the self-serving leaks about Don McGahn or Priebus re: Sessions resignation.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: That would work for me.
Steve in the ATL
@Corner Stone: I read the book (and its sequel) that the movie is based on. Was really good except for (spoiler alert!) the part where it’s a Democratic Congressperson who is selling secrets to the Russians. Author is former CIA so he knew better.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Here you go:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/03/01/talk-big-bucks-deer-semen-donations-fueling-south-texas-campaign
More at the link.
Wear protection!
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL:
“I’m sorry, Red. I just don’t have access to anything like you may be hinting at.”
RED: *shows flashes of underboob* “Oh, really?”
“Now that you mention it…uh,…here’s my codeword PIN and 2FA. Now what were we talking about again?”
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
There are plenty of other illegal things people do in their private lives that could be used as blackmail fodder, e.g. illegal drug use.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s gotta be made up.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: I’ve seen rumors since late last summer. At that point they were the President wanted to send him to Afghanistan to replace GEN Nichols. That didn’t happen. My understanding is that the issue they’ve got now is that there aren’t any 3 star billets either open for him to get a lateral move or a promotion in grade, as in become a Corps or Army Service Component Commander (this is the Army component of a Geographic Combatant Command like CENTCOM) or that don’t have someone already lined up against them for their next career move. Same thing for 4 star billets. So in order for them to move him out and keep him on active duty they either have to so something really creative or hose one of his peers. The unofficial motto of the US Army is “200 years of history unimpeded by progress”. So creative is unlikely. Hosing one of his peers would get really ugly, really fast. I honestly don’t know what they’re going to do. I’m not sure they have any real idea either.
Aimai
@Corner Stone: really? Just now realizing? holy crap when did they stop telling cub reporters “if your mother tells you she loves you: check it out!”
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I really don’t want to know.
cosima
@Adam L Silverman: about easy targets when in transit… Shhh….
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: What kind of idiot takes a gig like this without knowing whether there is a way back for him? Unless the military wanted him out? (Since they aren’t going to promote him… well that doesn’t seem like a vote of confidence.)
What I want to know is this. It sounds like McMaster knew Jared was having secret meetings with foreign governments and he never told anyone until it leaked recently. How fucked up is that?
Raoul
In other random political tidbits:
The EU is coming out swinging on counterpunch tariffs. Motorcycles and hootch, both no doubt aimed at high profile Republican states (WI & KY [TN too]). Orange juice, to go after Rick Scott’s Florida.
But on the expanded list an item I noticed: Cranberries. Guess who is top producer? Not Maine. Not even close. 62% are grown in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin. I knew from too many drives across WI on I-90/94 that WI was one of the bog states, but not the biggest in production.
Seems the EU has a particular chip on their shoulder about Scotty boy. Shame, really!
Corner Stone
MIT study shows how much driving for Uber or Lyft sucks
Link to TechCrunch
tl;dr version:
It sucks. They make less than min wage in most locales and under $4 per hour in a number of places.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I would’ve guessed Michigan. I must’ve read something somewhere.
@rikyrah: One story I saw said Mattis thinks HRMcM is a loose cannon wrt to North Korea. Also Condi Rice, having gifted us the remarkable Mr Tillerson, to say nothing of her illustrious self, has introduced Mattis to one of her proteges.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: He had been told to prepare for retirement from the Army at 3 stars before he was asked to become the National Security Advisor. His assignment as Deputy Commanding General of TRADOC and Director of Army Capabilities Integration Center was supposed to be his last. When he accepted the National Security Advisor assignment he was continued on active duty past what had been his previously scheduled retirement.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Secretary Rice may have been the worst National Security Advisor in the past 30 years. And that includes LTG Flynn.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: So then there should be no obligation for the Army to find a place for him, right:? He leaves his current post and he is retired. No?
Mike in NC
@Adam L Silverman: We used to joke that the Navy’s unofficial motto was, “Sailing Full Speed Astern Into The 21st Century.”
Annie
@Corner Stone:
And who replaces Kelly? Probably someone else equally disastrous.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
The tweet is from roughly noon EST today — hardly archival. And I guess that’s part of my point (and yours, and Corner Stone’s): how can anyone covering any part of this maladministration act surprised, let alone shockedshocked, that they’re being lied to? As I said, I have no idea who Bill Weir is (I’ve looked him up on Google, but am quite certain I’ve never seen him on the Tee and Vee) but if he’s tweeting that he had NO IDEA those folks at Interior were lying to him, he’s way too innocent to be allowed to cross the street by himself.
Fair Economist
@Corner Stone:
And what was the reason for the steel tariffs? Insider trading by Carl Icahn. And I’ll bet by Trump, too. There will be a lot of corruption exposed when his taxes finally get subpoenaed.
mozzerb
@Steve in the ATL: I thought it was a rather odd book in some ways — it gave the impression of having been written during the Cold War, put aside until the author retired, and then incompletely updated to take account of subsequent developments.
grammypat
@rikyrah: There are many “canned hunt” ranches in Texas. The land owner surrounds the acreage with 8-10ft fences, stocks it with exotic animals, and charges “hunters” according to the type of animal(s) that they slaughter. The semen could be from prized bucks that’s gathered and sold in order to improve inventories. Sick, but fairly common.
SiubhanDuinne
Adam@UpTop:
Adam, I love you, man, but please please PLEASE don’t do this to me and my fellow delicate-snowflake-grammar-pedants. In that sentence, it’s “whoever.” Use “whom(ever)” as the object of a preposition. You’re using it as the subject.
Corner Stone
@Fair Economist: I think we’re going to find proof that Trump’s family made a lot of money front running his tweets and/or blurted out policy announcements. If you took a 3X ETF that shorted the auto industry or just the DJIA within a few days of his announcement of tariffs you made a literal fortune.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman: yes, but in fairness, when she was promoted from that job the disaster she and everyone around her had created during the first Bush term made her tenure as SoS mostly unremarkable.
grammypat
@Raoul: KY and WI … I wonder what they have in common? Ya think maybe that the Senate majority leader and Speaker of the House being from those states may have anything to do with it?
Gelfling 545
Good grief. I’m watching Ragnorak with my grandson. The Grand Master could be Trump – although not so loathesome to look at.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
I drove cab one summer while in college. Never was so much time spent making so little hanging out with so many weirdos. Can only imagine how much worse when it’s even your car and not an ex cop car painted yellow, which BTW you were obligated to pay for the quarts of oil burned during your shift, along with the gas.
Yeah, great bidnez model.
trollhattan
@grammypat:
Cheney blasted his lawyer at one of those. “Here Dick, go shoot this stupefied pen-raised pheasant and we’ll get you some more. Wait, that’s not a pheasant!”
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, that’s straight out of either Dickens or Kubrick. Or, obligatory, ¿porqué no los dos?
Matt McIrvin
@Gelfling 545: Someone get the melt stick away from him!
Steve in the ATL
@mozzerb:
That is spot on
Pluky
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, Cosima was not the only one to read your ever so casual (far, far indeed) assessment of the relative ease of offing someone in transit relative to at their usual abode, and then feel a bit chill. But then, perhaps your experience is only “theoretical”.
grammypat
@trollhattan: There are too many of those places to count and birds are just a small portion. The giveaway that a particular ranch is one of those death-traps is the height of the fencing along the roads.
Shana
@Fair Economist: I saw something earlier today speculating that it’s designed to help the R candidate in PA running against Lamb.
Corner Stone
@Pluky: Shit happens.
Bill Arnold
@WaterGirl:
(Not sure if this has been discussed yet; busy workweek kept me from reading. Sorry about any duplicates.)
McMaster lost a lot of his shine for me when it came out that he was on the prepare-for-war-with-the-DPRK side vs Mattis and Tillerson. I don’t particularly care about circumstances; if e.g. he was simply taking the other position in the argument to fill out the debate, it was still the wrong thing to do, even in any plausible utilitarian calculation. Assuming truth of the report of course.
e.g. Report: H.R. McMaster to Be Fired – at Kelly and Mattis’s Behest which links to White House Wants Pentagon to Offer More Options on North Korea (2018/02/01 for this last – month ago)
Oh, and does anyone know of a good profile of Stephen E. Biegun ?
Corner Stone
@Shana: I find this to be wildly beyond Nooners-level of irresponsible speculation. I would be very interested to see polling before/after in PA-18 if these tariffs ever actually happen.
WaterGirl
@Bill Arnold: These guys are playing with fire every single day and they have no fucking idea what they are doing. So scary.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I saw the same reporting yesterday, though I don’t know where.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Shana: In other PA-18 news, it’s almost as if Social Security is an issue people care about that is good for Democrats
Fair Economist
@Shana:
I’ve seen speculations on that too, but think about it. What does Trump care about more, his bank account or the Republican party?
SiubhanDuinne
Tech question for the BJ hive mind:
Over the past couple of weeks, the glass touch screen on my iPhone became detached and started pushing up. Took the device in on Wednesday and the nice folks at UBreakItWeFixIt determined that the (factory original) battery was bulging and forcing the glass up and away from its seating. I touched the old battery, and indeed it was soft and swollen and clearly unhealthy. Several hours and $50 later, I had my iPhone back with a brand-new battery.
But here’s the thing: with this new battery, the charge drains almost before my eyes. Just this evening, I’ve tracked it:
5:15 pm 100%
5:30 pm 80%
5:45 pm 65%
6:05 pm 50%
6:15 pm 45%
6:30 pm 40%
In the past 75 minutes it’s lost 60% of battery power. I haven’t drained it with graphic- or media-heavy apps; have merely been reading Facebook and a couple of blogs, and typed a few comments. No games, no videos or anything like that.
This seems wrong to me. I’ll take it back tomorrow or Monday to the store that replaced the old battery, but any suggestions in the meantime?
(Yes, Bluetooth is turned off. Yes, screen backlight is minimal. Yes, I routinely close all the windows I’m not using.)
Thanks! I know there’s some good advice out there!
Gelfling 545
@FlipYrWhig: Grandson wants to know why I’m snorting out coffee. What to say, hmmm.
Juju
@SiubhanDuinne: which number is your iPhone? I have a 6 and I’m waiting for the $28 battery fix. My phone battery does the same thing. Sometimes it will read almost dead and when I go to charge it, it will charge up to 75% from 5% in seconds. iPhones have been having battery issues, and my phone is one of many. That’s all I know.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Origuy: Hopefully if you had any clearance, you got some counter intelligence training and were told other things to watch out for besides honey traps.
Like a sympathetic ear for disgruntled employees. Low level worker bees can do a lot of damage. IIRC, the real life spy behind the “Falcon and Snowman” story was a gofer. He sneaked the secrets out in the bag that he used when he was sent out for booze.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Roger Moore: Why are there deer breeders? Are there places where people want MORE deer in their neighborhoods? In my opinion deer have got the breeding thing well in hand. Or hoof.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Yes and no. In one respect he’s on extended service time. In another there may have been an assurance made that a promotion would be forthcoming at completion of the assignment as National Security Advisor. I have no further actual information for you on this. I’ve not been in touch with LTG McMaster since before he became National Security Advisor.
Corner Stone
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: It’s the same concept as culling cows or horses. Weed out inferior specimens and breed magnificent 12 point bucks that rich people can have mounted on their trophy wall.
Adam L Silverman
@Fair Economist: Mueller has had his tax returns for months.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: I fixed it. Happy now?
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: She was fine as Secretary of State. Her problem as NSA was that she was supposed to be the firm gatekeeper and honest broker for the Interagency. Instead she prioritized her relationship with President Bush, let VP Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld and their deputies walk all over her, Secretary Powell, and the entire process.
danielx
Nobody could have predicted…
Adam L Silverman
@Pluky: I was never here.
Ken
@Roger Moore:
I’m a little surprised to see there’s over 100 comments and no one has mentioned Petraeus.
Ken
@Gin & Tonic:
There are no recorded incidents of dolphins attacking a human. This either means they don’t attack us, or they only do it when they know there won’t be any witnesses.
ukko
@SiubhanDuinne:
Definitely take it back and get a new battery, that phone repair place should stand by their work. I always tell people to take a bulging battery back to the apple store even if it is an older phone, the store people get scared and might cut you a deal on it since exploding iphones are bad press. Once it has a non-apple battery in it they will never touch it again.
I was at the store when a gentleman who was in your position was literally so-loud-someone-should-call-security shouting at the poor girl telling him that she would have replaced it for free had he come there first, but since it had a knockoff battery there was nothing they could do.
After he stormed out many of us customers congratulated her on her ability to stand up to that asshole.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne:
1) Go to settings and then battery. It’ll provide you with some diagnostics. If everything looks okay there, then
2) Take it to the Apple store. I was at the one in my area last night. Took the Mom to get her a new iPad as we were trading in my old one for store $ towards the purchase. While there I asked them to check my iPhone 6’s battery to make sure I didn’t have one of the early obsolescence ones. They ran the diagnostics, took about five minutes total. Turns out I have a very, very good battery. But they’ll be able to handle it for you.
Corner Stone
@Ken: Well, you gotta hand it to those dolphins. They just wanted it more.
matt
boy, our government sure is corrupt.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Ah, the possible double-secret agreement.
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: I have trouble with who and whom myself. I’m mostly okay with the pedantry, but sometimes I think it goes a bit too far.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@WaterGirl: The rule I remember from grade school is to use “whom” where you’d use “him”. IIRC this is rarely if ever inaccurate.
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: Most likely not that. General officer/flag officer promotions, especially above 2 stars, is strange and fraught with politics.
afanasia
@rikyrah: Well, it does seem to have resale value. Favorite quote: “Semen is a very common way for us to donate,” Romance is dead.
Corner Stone
@afanasia: What’s the matter? You don’t find the question, “May I exchange my semen with you?” to be romantic?