.@POTUS @realDonaldTrump and President Putin sit down for one on one meeting in Helsinki, Finland. #HELSINKI2018 pic.twitter.com/ov0dSnafYB
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) July 16, 2018
If your goal is to present this ‘summit’ as just another diplomatic meeting, WHY WOULD YOU PICK A PHOTO WHERE PUTIN SEEMS ABOUT TO UNZIP HIS FLY?
.@POTUS says US-Russia relationship is worst it’s ever been: “However – that changed, as of about four hours ago.”
— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) July 16, 2018
Just FYI your Director of National Intelligence very much wants you to focus on the present, in which Russia is poised to interfere in the midterm elections. https://t.co/KM1m0I4AHG
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) July 16, 2018
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia William J. Burns doesn't mince his words on the Trump/Putin summit: "I think that press conference was the single most embarrassing performance by an American president on the world stage that I've ever seen." https://t.co/tQzciloNCn
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) July 16, 2018
Party like it’s July 1914, Mike!…
JUST IN: VP Pence offers a rose-colored view of Trump's Putin summit: "What the world saw, what the American people saw, is that President Donald Trump will always put the prosperity and security of America first."
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) July 16, 2018
Even the ever-supplicant Media Village courtiers Axios…
President Trump’s press conference with Vladimir Putin was a disaster. And that was the assessment of many of his GOP allies…
Over the course of the press conference, Trump:– Sided with Russia over his own law enforcement.
– Turned a question on Russian election interference into a rambling dialogue on Hillary Clinton’s email server and his electoral college votes.
– And stood by, nodding, while Putin repeatedly lied about election interference.
Inside the room: I was sitting maybe 20 feet from Putin, in the second row of press gathered at the palace in Helsinki. Putin was subtly smirking throughout the conference and pumped his chest as he forcefully smacked down U.S. reporters with his lies…
CNN: A US official directly involved with Helsinki summit sums it up like this: “This was not the plan.” @jeffzeleny
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) July 16, 2018
CNN out of headlines at this point pic.twitter.com/Uuulcp5gef
— Michelle Collins (@michcoll) July 16, 2018
“It’s like being on the Titanic and placed in charge of polishing the silverware. Seems a bit pointless” – One State Department official on what its like going back to work tomorrow after that #TrumpPutinSummit
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) July 16, 2018
No one’s going to resign. They’re going to tell their reporter friends on background how appalled and dismayed everyone is, then they will go back to their daily work of eroding civil society and wrecking safeguards for the least safe among us https://t.co/eln1Re6um4
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) July 16, 2018
“There was no sign that any Trump aides would be quitting.” https://t.co/yJ3cJ2bIAX
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) July 16, 2018
debbie
Why is the photo black and white? Russia couldn’t afford color film?
schrodingers_cat
How much did Putin pay Treason Times and their star journalist, MAGA Habs?
She has just flounced off of Twitter.
debbie
And what the fuck was all that twaddle about Clinton’s server? Was it ever missing and didn’t Guccifer or whoever find the missing emails? Didn’t all this die a year or more ago?
If anyone was watching, what was Putin’s facial expression during this rant?
Karen S.
The entire GOP is simply a traitorous mob.
Platonailedit
Yup, that’s my worry. Will the fifth columnist fourth estate give this yet another pass like they did on all the repugnant things the rethugs did and continue to do?
mike in dc
Flake and Corker could announce tomorrow they’re caucusing with the Democrats until the end of their term, in order to hold Trump accountable. They could still vote for Kavanaugh if they want. Because the main thing it would bring is Democratic control of the Senate and committees through the end of the year. I mean, if they actually wanted to do something substantive and not just jerk off in public.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
Didn’t she do the same thing last year?
lamh36
It is both exasperating and funny AF to see all these Conservative/Republican/RWNJ/Pols & Journos twisting themselves into pretzels…to try and defend not just the orange menace, but also the tepid and lukewarm actions from many of the eledted Republican officials. Like this dude from Commentary magazine on MSNBC…doing ALL he can to try to spin what Chump did today…I mean dude basially went with the “it depends on what the meaning of “is”…is…” in regards to calling what Chump did as treason! When given the definititon by Katy Tur of “treason”: Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.…is what Chump did today considered “giving our enemies aid and comfort”…
Dude actually said…”well technically we have to be at war…and we’re not at war with Russia”…THAT was his defense.
Baud
@debbie:
As I mentioned earlier, Trump knows that people will be reluctant to challenge him if that means they have to admit they wronged Hillary. That’s why he keeps her fresh in people’s minds.
Baud
@mike in dc: If the Dems control the Senate, Kavanaugh doesn’t get a vote.
Platonailedit
@schrodingers_cat:
The reason is treason, maggie, you asskisser.
schrodingers_cat
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: No idea, I don’t follow her but people were criticizing her for flouncing off right now.
Archon
When multiple institutions like the media, the Democratic Party, and former intelligence officials are openly questioning the loyalties of the President of the United States, where do we go from here?
This is truly uncharted waters in our history…
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@lamh36:
There’s the very strict definition of treason in the Constitution and then there’s the treason everybody can see with their own eyes. That Atlantic article was right, we are a very legalistic society. To our detriment.
Elizabelle
@Baud: And they’re flogging Nancy Pelosi too, both as an aged (but wicked competent!) woman and Hillary surrogate.
I want to see President Pelosi out of this mess, and to have it known that Hillary DID win her election.
What would it take to have the NY Vichy TImes do a mea culpa? I am so hoping a Sulzberger’s balls get nailed to the wall on this one. Pinch’s would be fine, if they can find them. Whatever is compromising the NY Times, we are better off with it coming out before they can infest the coverage as we try to correct the nation’s course.
geg6
@lamh36:
Senator Blumenthal has been swatting at this argument all day. A war, in this era, doesn’t have to involve guns or bombs. A cyber war is war due to the country’s dependence on the internet. They attacked us and our very form of government. We are at war and our president is standing with the people who attacked us. Treason. Mother fucking treason.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: An indictment from team Mueller would be nice.
Elizabelle
@Archon: Everything has been uncharted since Trump’s ascendancy. It’s just that some days you see the rocks clearer than others.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Or several indictments. And having them clean nest before that rat’s nest starts fucking with Democratic contenders for 2020. Which they’re already trying to do.
lamh36
If nothing else…the continuous smirk on Putin’s face during this entire Helsinki fiasco…EVERYONE should be PISSED..
debbie
@Baud:
I just got home and haven’t had a chance to wade through everything I’ve missed. I don’t see how telling Trump those are settled issues and to move on is an admission of their own wrong-doing, but okay.
rikyrah
@Karen S.:
Traitors ALL ? ?
Tokyokie
@debbie: The black and white photo makes the naffy fucking eejit’s makeup look even worse than in color.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Nancy’s <a href="
“>pushing back bigly.
lamh36
Somone should be running against Rand Paul if/when he’s up for reelction…if they are not already.
Hell someone said, if the dude who beat da fuq outta Paul ran against him, he’d have a darn good chance of winning…
A Ghost To Most
@geg6:
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Gah.
Pelosi’s not at all intimidated by all the big boys’ bullying.
hueyplong
So Maggie H slipped off Twitter, absent breaking news.
Tells you something that she apparently doesn’t think we had any today.
Somebody’s getting her head shaved after Liberation.
[I know, the head shaving thing was pretty misogynistic and often just a bunch of personal score-settling, but Maggie could use a short ‘do.]
debbie
@Tokyokie:
You’re right, it does! Hope SHS’s soundly scolded for that.
different-church-lady
@schrodingers_cat: Whatsamatta, Maggie? Being the mouthpiece for a Neo-Fascist just isn’t giving you the thrill it used to?
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Some of the Twitterati are speculating that her friendship with Roger Stone has put her in Mueller’s sites. I don’t know if there is any concrete evidence of that. My first impression was “I’m sick of the great unwashed who dare to question someone of my status”.
Mary G
@Elizabelle: Yes. President Pelosi is the best justice available. Would like to see President Clinton, but probably not doable.
Some of the FTFNYT reporters who haven’t flounced off like Maggie are being all critical of Trump and letting their past actions disappear down the memory hole. I have to restrain myself from looking up stuff on Twitter and calling them all out. There are better uses of my time, like working to elect Democrats.
ETA: Tweet about our current ambassador to Russia from the chief strategist of his 2012 presidential campaign:
B.B.A.
Somebody wished on a monkey’s paw that the President wouldn’t listen so much to the conventional wisdom of the military-intelligence community and would dismantle the imperialist elements of our foreign policy.
That’s what I once wanted. But not like this.
Jay
@geg6:
Chimpy McStagger’s Regime added “cyber warfare against the US by a Foreign State” to the “acts of war” categories,
Mueller’s Friday indictments bumped the bar from 400lb hacker, through Guccifer 2.0, to the Russian Military Intelligence GRU.
Tokyokie
@debbie: Like she has a better idea of how to do makeup than the hackit lavvy-heided fucknugget does.
lamh36
SMH…All this stemming from some Americans being shook that many had the nerve to elect a Black President…TWICE!
Cause…ya know…that meant the browns and blacks were a’coming for them…so let’s stick it to them first…SMH
jl
@debbie: I think Trump would be doing 80 percent of what he’s doing even if they didn’t have anything on him. That, and Trump’s mind numbing ignorance, sloth and incompetence (edit: and ‘be swindling all the time’ mindset) probably gets us to 90 percent.
From news items I’ve seen, If Putin did have a specific wish list, the Trumpsters messed up or couldn’t push through a lot of that on schedule (end of sanctions, getting Tillerson’s oil deals back on track, explicit back down on Crimea, etc). So, maybe Putin is using whatever they have on him for shits and giggles, watching Trump squirm and grovel.
On substantive terms, for me, result of the Putin non-summit summit, not as alarming as what Trump said and did at NATO conference. But optics are important, and today’s shitshow pushed more people who have an interest, or find it convenient, to ignore what Trump’s presidency actually is, into admitting there is something deeply wrong.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Tokyokie: My bet is that it was shot with a digital cam in color and changed to B/W. Changing color into B/W is an art unto itself.
different-church-lady
@mike in dc:
They wouldn’t even have to do that much. They could just abstain.
But they won’t.
Quinerly
@Tokyokie: such a strange photo for the WH to want to post as official. How many B&W photos has this WH posted in the past? I bet none.
Platonailedit
@Jay:
Exactly. Blumenthal should have told flat out that is the shrub regime that cyber attacks as warfare. Dems suck at soundbites.
Gin & Tonic
@Mary G: NARRATOR: He doesn’t.
Tokyokie
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I haven’t tried doing that, but I’m sure you’re right. I guess SHS thinks that black-and-white makes the photography seem more momentous, sort of like how it made Steven Spielberg more intellectual. But jeez, she can’t see that it makes the mingin’ cock-juggling clawbaw look even worse than he normally does?
Archon
@Elizabelle:
We’ve been in a crisis since Trump’s election but I think we are approaching a national emergency, this press conference makes we wonder how we can even make it to the midterms without something bad and maybe irreversible happening.
Anne Laurie
@Tokyokie: Trump looks like our most submissive little rescue dog, leaning forward bright-eyed in hopes he’ll get a treat if he does his best trick.
mike in dc
@Jay:
Well, I for one would LOVE to see Republican lawmakers forced to comment on actual treason charges against Trump campaign officials.
Yarrow
They are all traitors. Trump, his kids, his cronies, Republican officials, top elected Republicans, many lower level Republicans, Republican affiliated organizations like the NRA and evangelical orgs. All of them. Tick tock, motherfuckers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Per Betsy Woodruff, IIRC, there’s a trump world conspiracy that the ‘missing emails’ hide the proof that the Dems orchestrated the whole DNC hack as a false flag attack conspiracy against trump and Russia. I think the whole “30,000” number is made up too, but I can’t remember anymore
Elizabelle
@different-church-lady: Maybe we should flood their offices (Flake and Corker) asking that they caucus with the Democrats, for the good of the country. Why not? Give their staffs something to do, anyway.
Mike in NC
Just look at that top photo. Every picture out there shows how Trump always strikes the same sitting pose: perched on the edge of a chair, torso leaning forward, with his tiny fingertips touching. In other words, just like a guy on a toilet taking a dump. Sad!
Elizabelle
@Anne Laurie: Please. Trump will never be that appealing. He is not a rescue dog.
But he did look physically sick today, even less “attractive” than usual. From what little I have seen.
Roger Moore
@mike in dc:
I don’t think they could, because I don’t think a Democratic committee chair would give him a hearing, and there’s no way he’d get a floor vote.
nymofnyms
@Jay:
Is there a link for that? It sure would be good fodder going forward. Thanks!
Doh! Answered my own question:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/pentagon-cyber-attacks-act-war/351239/
lamh36
Oh…I refuse to watch or hear anything from Fox news…did Wallace finds his father’s balls to use?
ruemara
@Archon: How many are dead in PR? Christ on a cracker, even allies are sitting here thinking “something bad & irreversible may happen”, meanwhile several thousand and growing are dead from genocide by neglect in less than 2 years of this presidency. Something irreversible has already happened. Ask their families & loved ones.
lamh36
lamh36
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Roger Moore: all these scenarios– Majority Leader Angus King, anybody?– would require pretty much every Dem agreeing to whatever conditions Flake and Corker ( and maybe Collins and maybe Murkowski) laid down, which would almost certainly be a poison pill to any Dem with higher ambitions.
Mnemosyne
@Platonailedit:
We’ll see. I’m hoping that this will be Trump’s Katrina. People tend to forget that the real difference with Katrina was that it was when the MSM stopped reflexively defending Bush from those nasty liberals and realized that his administration was a huge goat rodeo.
I think that may have finally happened today, because I’ve seen a whole lot of MSMers essentially saying, Holy fucking shit, the liberals were right all along!!!
Once you’ve lost Anderson Cooper …
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Summit noir. It’s all the rage.
westyny
@ruemara: Hella yes. Preach. The disaster was under way even before the election, but lives have been lost already!
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
Sadly, it’s not a problem until Anderson Cooper has a sad. Now he may finally have one.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Anderson Cooper looked like he was going to be sick when they finished the press conference and he had to start talking to introduce the panel. Like actually throw up. The panel did too. Jim Acosta as well. They all looked completely in shock and like they were on the verge of being ill.
I think the media is finally starting to figure out that Trump isn’t like other presidents.
lamh36
Putin said “Yes I Did” when asked if he wanted Trump to win the election.
So I guess this means we never have to hear the Republican stooges claim that oh no…Russia wanted HRC to win cause she was “weaker” on Russia?
jl
@Mnemosyne: In some respects, goat rodeo > flea circus, unfortunately for us.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Majority Leader Bernie Sanders sounds good. //
Roger Moore
@jl:
Of course that doesn’t mean anything important. It doesn’t matter whether Putin wanted Trump because he had blackmail material or because he knew Trump’s natural inclination was to help him or both. What matters is that Putin decided he wanted Trump, and Trump willingly and knowingly accepted his assistance in stealing the election. Everything else is petty details.
tobie
@Elizabelle:
I share your dream. Nothing would make me happier ;-)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Well, goats are bigger than fleas; silly jl.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: It wasn’t missing. The FBI did a full imaging of it and had access to everything they needed. The President saw the reporting, most likely via Fox, that the FBI didn’t take physical possession of the DNC server because they didn’t need to. But Fox was spinning that as a sign that the FBI was being scammed by the DNC and Clinton. In the case of the President, because he has no idea how any of this works, he bought it hook, line, and sinker.
patroclus
Well, I agree with the general tenor of the comments – Trump’s a traitor and the Republicans are a bunch of do-nothing sycophants to the treason. But, I’m going to push against the grain a little here. In my view, he didn’t do anything “today” that was all that egregious. He’s said worse things and he’s played the nonsensical conspiracy about Hillary’s e-mails game many many times. And, he’s slavered all over Putin before too. What’s surprising to me is that today has generated so much outrage when it didn’t before. Even Anderson Cooper and some Republicans are saying it’s outrageous (not that they’re going to do anything about it). I guess it was the combination of the indictment, the NATO fiasco, the protests in the U.K. and the fact that it’s summer and everyone just seems tired of Trump right now. It’s a good development. Hopefully it will last.
But I think the family separation policy, the prospective end of Roe, the effort to demolish the health insurance program, the idiotic trade wars and much much more are far more important than Trump embarrassing the nation in a press conference will ever be.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Do any Judiciary Committee Dems have the brass to ask Kavanaugh how he feels about being Puitn’s justice?
“As a patriot, as a student and guardian of the Constitution, does it give you pause to know that your nomination is the result of a hostile foreign power interfering in the democratic process?”
jl
@debbie: I think some GOPers have truly been drive crazy by the idea that there are, someplace, somewhere, over the rainbow, secret missing HRC servers, or a server farm, or 30,000 or 30 million emails that reveal some double back flip triple false flag double reverse someting or other, and when revealed the Democrats will be obliterated forever.
I think some of those toxic goofs really believe that nonsense.
From reading the news items, the Russians just had to dangle the possibility that they had them or could get them, it worked like a powerful drug on GOPer operatives.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
All to make it look more sinister!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
He should have asked Baron, he’s good with the cyber.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: Goat rodeo may be a thing, but goats are really curious useful little animals.
different-church-lady
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Llamas are larger than frogs.
Seanly
Been busy at work (seriously, very busy). Seems that the press conference was a shitshow. Do we still own Alaska? Did Trump drop his pants & take a steamy dump on the carpet?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@patroclus:
It was a bigger stage, everybody was watching Trump kiss Putin’s ass.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
@jl:
Yes to the missing emails, but I don’t remember hearing anything about a server disappearing. Only that it was unsecured (just like theirs).
lamh36
Putin laughing at Chris Wallace… Chris better make sure he doesn’t eat or drink nothing while over there.
Also too, maybe not leave the house for a while and wear some armor so as not to get stuck by a poisooned needle while walking.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sen. Franken would have, sigh…
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Mnemosyne:
When will the MSM wake up and realize the liberals have been right about everything since forever and stop falling for the GOP schick time and time again?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@different-church-lady:
True, and there’s a deal on them over at Amazon, it’s Prime Day don’t ya know.
jl
@Roger Moore: I agree. My point was that trying to divine stuff we can’t know right now, like is there a pee tape, was there an explicit deal, not important right now to making the case against Trump. What we see is more than enough.
@patroclus: I agree with that. As I commented above or in previous thread, Trump’s lies, BS and stunts at NATO summit far more dangerous and actionable than anything we say today.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Pretty much this. It’s hard to predict what the final straw that broke the camel’s back will look like or when it will occur
Gelfling 545
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think that someone should explain to Trump that the internet is “a series of tubes” and he’ll have to go into the tube to see the server. (He won’t know any different.)Then lead him to the opening of the nearest sanitary sewer and push.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: The Bush 43 administration put state sponsored cyber attacks under the acts of war category back in the mid 00s. The indictment of 12 GRU officers, who are all Russian military officers as the GRU is Russian military intelligence, indicates this was a military operation. And therefore an act of war.
jl
@debbie: ALS gave the history. The mystery missing servers and emails is a kind of GOP mythology that has no basis in fact whatever. Even if everything every Clinton ever touched, and the Clintons themselves were physically, swept up and put under lock and key, there would be still be doubts.
nymofnyms
@lamh36:
Yeah, but didn’t have announce in the late 80s or early 90s? I thought he had a very short-lived, vanity run way back then.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Ds on that committee
Some discussion of DiFi on an earlier thread. She may be all out of fucks. I could see Harris doing it, too. I don’t think she’s afraid of the wagging, scolding fingers of the good Village of Broderton. At least I hope not. Whitehouse, maybe? Mazie Hirono? “Yeah, fuck it, I stared down cancer, so let’s dance….”
schrodingers_cat
@?BillinGlendaleCA: P here is always criticizing Mueller and minimizing the Russian attack on our democracy. You can draw your own conclusions as to why he/she/it does that.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gelfling 545:
Where’s Ted Stevens when you need him?
Yarrow
Oh.
Mnemosyne
Also, if anyone needs a “goat rodeo” GIF, I found a pretty awesome one my first try:
https://giphy.com/gifs/lovVJz3aQuDS
debbie
@jl:
Thanks. I’ll file this in the Pizzagate file.
The Dangerman
@Mike in NC:
Well, he could have loading up his Depends while meeting Putin.
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
When their paycheck starts depending on it?
@lamh36: I read some of the back-and-forth with Wallace. Putin sounded just like Greenwald. I didn’t do it, but even if I did, are you really telling me it influenced the votes of millions of Americans?
Miss Bianca
@Yarrow: Wow, and it’s only taken them *two years!*
Is our media learning?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My bet would be Harris as well, DiFi’s up for election this year. OTOH, her engaging in that line of questioning my help her with CA Dems.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat: I know, but “silly jl” was going down the same road.
MisterForkbeard
@lamh36: I love that particular defense. “We’re not at war, ipso facto it can’t be treason.” I get the argument and in some cases I’ve even made it, but…
All that takes is “Well, Russia committed an act of war. And continues to commit those acts of war. Therefore… we’re at war, even if not declared by Congress. So it’s treason, legally.”
Mnemosyne
@patroclus:
Wow, this press conference was even more damaging than I thought if they’re already sending you Russian trolls out to downplay it.
We’ll know it’s really bad if NR or ARGB shows up to try and distract us.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: Heh, any evidence for that fact free comment Tucker*?
Jon Stewart was right about Tucker back in the 00’s.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
I love goats. ? They’re awesome and hilarious, but that’s what makes them completely unsuited for rodeo participation.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think they all may be at this point. The absurdities at Strzok’s hearing may have freed Dems up to be more aggressive and visibly non-believing.
schrodingers_cat
@MisterForkbeard: Other defense, we do it, everyone does it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: Have you departed for Denver? If you’re still in town, it’s pronounced “goat ro-day-yo”.
Adam L Silverman
@Platonailedit: You got the citation for that, I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
ETA: I’m not challenging the factual accuracy, I remember it being done too, I just can’t find a citation.
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
It took them six years with Bush, so I guess they’re learning slightly faster? ?♀️
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Only if you’re in Beverly Hills. ?
I leave tomorrow morning. Very excited. Will try and take pictures. Apparently there’s a killer horse sculpture at the airport — literally. It fell over after its initial installation and killed its creator.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne:
At DIA? I’m leaving for my flight up north* in the morning.
*Yes, jl, I’ll bring back your precious water.
Viva BrisVegas
@lamh36:
Under the Espionage Act with which Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed, the Soviet Union was defined as an enemy without a state of war existing between them and the US.
patroclus
@Mnemosyne: What on earth are you talking about? You’ve made this mistake several times now. Why do you think I’m a “Russian troll?” We’ve conversed many times about many many subjects – I live in Chicago and am originally from Texas. Is this just a “thing” with you? Are you going to make that comment every time I contribute here? Should I come up with some clever imbecilic counter-putdown to deal with it?
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think someone mentioned this in an earlier thread but what misgivings I had about Feinstein went out the window as soon as she released Glenn Simpson’s testimony over Grassley’s objections. That took guts and a kind of institutional know-how that I think we need in the Senate right now, especially if Dems retake the Senate. The Republic’s in an existential crisis and some steady hands in Congress — like Pelosi’s and Feinstein’s — will likely be needed in the next two years to right the nation’s course.
Mike in DC
It feels like this summit happened because Putin was demanding deliverables from his American asset.
Zach
https://youtu.be/4Fp1TioaLcg — Just about exactly 3 years ago today, here’s Maria Butina asking Trump asking Trump whether he’d be nicer to Russia. Weirdly no one’s really picked up on this on Twitter yet as far as I can tell.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
It’s interesting that even in b/w, it’s evident how terrible Trump’s colour is. Speaking strictly physically, this is not a healthy man.
TS (the original)
Why does trump wear orange makeup? Does it hold his hair down? I would like to avoid looking at him but at the minute he is all over the intertubes. He must have watched Willy Wonka – version 1 – only other orange people on this planet. Nothing redeeming about this imbecile – nothing.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: That horse is freaky. But nothing is freakier than the Illuminati murals in the main terminal.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@tobie: Tend to agree, I didn’t vote for her in the primary, but I’m leaning towards voting for her in the general.
Jay
@schrodingers_cat:
The trolls name gives the act away.
Mnemosyne
@patroclus:
Wait, crap — did I mistake you for Procopius again?
Shit. That’s my bad. I apologize. That’s what I get for commenting from my phone.
I will try not to do it again, but please make sure to tell me if I do.
ellie
@Major Major Major Major: I love that crazy demon horse!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TS (the original):
There’s the former Speaker.
Mnemosyne
@Major Major Major Major:
I may have to see if I can find those, too. But mostly I want to see if I can track down and take a photo with one of their service dogs that roam the airport so passengers can pet them.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Turns out that the airport code is really DEN. DIA is the local nickname, like how we always call Bob Hope Airport the Burbank airport.
different-church-lady
@patroclus:
Why not? It’s what we all do, no matter what the situation.
Zach
Caught Rand Paul on CNN. I dunno about the pee tape and Trump, but someone DEFINITELY has something on Paul. He’s the only one CNN could convince to go on TV and defend Trump; 180 from where he was on Trump in 2015 when he called him a crass, corrupt, liar – https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/rand-paul-impersonates-donald-trump-504075843622
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@tobie: and since I brought up DiFi’s questionable choices during the Bush years, I should say: Releasing that transcript was a badass move. She’s been a stalwart for the last couple of years
lamh36
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
A five-letter word beginning with SMIRK.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this guy is from Politico, and I think their sense of humor is removed as part of their hiring process, so this probably happened. I think he’s an old fool, but people in Iowa seem to like Grassley. He could run out the clock rocking on the finest front porch that fine state has to offer. Why degrade yourself like this for trump?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: They transferred the airport code from Stapleton after DIA opened. It’s Denver International Airport(DIA), Bob Hope used to be called Hollywood Burbank Airport(and before that United Field, back in the days when the most used airport in the region was Glendale’s Grand Central Air Terminal*).
*After it closed, the area became in infested with mice(aka, the GEC).
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Nope, I looked it up. It’s DEN.
lamh36
Hmmmm
Steeplejack
@Viva BrisVegas:
The Rosenbergs were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. You don’t even need a foreign state to be declared an “enemy” for that. Jonathan Pollard was convicted of violations of the Espionage Act in 1986 without Israel being declared an enemy state.
Mnemosyne
@patroclus:
Just remind me that you’re the Protestant whore and I’ll remember. ?
patroclus
@different-church-lady: LOL – I’ll consider it. I have visited Russia twice – once as part of a jazz band in the Soviet era and once on “Law Day” in the Yeltsin era. Fun times. But after reading Bill Browder’s book “Red Notice” (highly recommended) and learning about the details of how the Magnitsky Act came to be, I’m not currently a fan of that thugocracy. In my view, the current Russia is far worse than its late Soviet-era historical counterpart.
The Midnight Lurker
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Dead.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: That’s the Airport Code, it’s name is Denver International Airport, like LAX is the code for Los Angeles International Airport(but folk here refer to it as LAX). It’s like Bob Hope Airport’s code is BUR.
TS (the original)
@patroclus:
On the world stage trump attacked an argued with the US nato aliies and then fell all over Putin – his bff. trump is helping Putin to break up Europe – for the benefit of Putin. In world politics – that is a massive issue – everything else you mention can be reversed by a new administration, world opinion and trust in the US will take a multitude of administrations to recover.
lamh36
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Midnight Lurker: Alot of good he’ll do in that state.
frosty
@Elizabelle: @Mnemosyne:
Ahem. If you haven’t before, might I suggest you look up goat rodeo in the Urban Dictionary. Nothing to do with goats, near as I can tell.
Mnemosyne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Dude, I have links. People think that DIA is the airport code, like LAX, but it is not. That’s the point I’m making. I realize that the airport’s nickname is DIA just like the nickname of Chicago’s airport is O’Hare.
Aimai
@schrodingers_cat: you are shitting me!
patroclus
@lamh36: It’s WAY easier than even that. All Flake and McCain have to do is send a message to Trump’s COS and say that they will oppose Kavanaugh until he releases a statement refuting his idiotic blather about Putin. No need for a party switch – a simple message would do it. With a 51-49 split, individual Senators have a LOT of power. They just have refused to use it (so far).
Mnemosyne
@Mnemosyne:
I hate not having an edit button on mobile. ??
lamh36
Ted Cruz punk azz..
SMH…don’t know who’s more of a punk azzz…Rubio or Cruz…
A Ghost To Most
@Mnemosyne:
May Blucifer treat you better than it did its creator.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: I went to high school with the guy who started that website. “Fun” fact.
The Midnight Lurker
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Actually, I like him just the way he is.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I was not under that mis-impression; I knew the airport code, since I’ve flown there. LAX is the exception, not the rule.
ETA: I was up in Seattle when they briefly changed the name of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport(Sea-Tac, airport code SEA) to Henry M. Jackson International Airport. It was not a popular move.
TS (the original)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Compared to trump he is pale yellow
Davebo
Anyone surprised by Trumps antics in Helsinki just hasn’t been paying attention.
At all…
Jay
@TS (the original):
It’s not going to recover. The ROW has realized that the US is one questionable election from once again, having the inmates running the asylum.
The Iran Deal shows that all “Agreements” with the US have to be in the form of Senate ratified Treaties, with “ironclad” clauses preventing the US from acting “cray-cray”,
And of course, the undemocratic nature of the Senate show that such Treaties will never be signed or ratified.
So whatever bridges Treason Tribble Трамп manages to burn down before jail, won’t be rebuilt.
frosty
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Then there’s another exception, Baltimore-Washington International, BWI. When they renamed Friendship Airport they managed to get British West Indies to drop their code, then Baltimore’s airport switched from BAL (I think) to BWI. Pronounced BeeWee of course.
Mnemosyne
@frosty:
Oh, I know it’s not really about goats. A goat rodeo means something is FUBAR, with many cloven hooves contributing to the chaos.
We’re just having another friendly debate along the lines of deciding if we’re being unfair to pond scum when we compare it to Republicans.
But I still think that an actual goat rodeo would be frickin’ hilarious to watch.
Davebo
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I know it’s a hell of a long ride to Denver from DIA!
Then again, at the rate Denver is growing it won’t be for long.
Kathleen
Here’s a series of tweets from Trump late yesterday that had some of the Twitterati on edge. There were concerns that someone had hijacked his Twitter account and was sending some kind of code. I don’t know about all of that, but the Tweets are very strange.
…over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition! Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people and all the Dems…
.
ETA messed up the second block quote. Sheesh.
lamh36
Mandalay
Using-a-coupon-in-CVS-while-black:
lamh36
Meh…it won’t last
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Jay:
Unless we destroy the GOP electorally in it’s current form.
frosty
@Mnemosyne: It would be at that. I haven’t seen a goat rodeo, but I once saw Mutton Busters at a real rodeo. Toddlers holding on to baby (?) sheep by the wool and trying to stay on as long as they can. Everyone having gangs of fun.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TS (the original): True, but as President Obama pointed out at the WHCD, “the Speaker is also a person of color, just one not naturally found in nature”.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Davebo: There wasn’t all that much out by LAX when it first opened as Mines Field.
@frosty: True, there’s another exception.
TS (the original)
I don’t know how the democrats are going to get back into the media under the current regime. Wapo – which in theory is the best option at the minute – has this headline (partway down the page)
Trump’s defense of Russia prompts outrage from some Republicans
NOTHING anywhere in the headlines about democrats reaction to trump’s love in with Putin. For the past 3 years, the media has buried democrats – they did it during the campaign with their negative news and continue to do it with no news. This is why trump was elected.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@TS (the original):
No, Trump was elected with the help of a hostile foreign power and voter suppression.
dmsilev
@?BillinGlendaleCA: What, citrus trees don’t count?
patroclus
@TS (the original): I disagree. Truman (we’re gonna nuke the DPRK), Ike (ah, it’s the federal…), LBJ (Vietnam), Nixon (I am not a crook), Reagan (just about every one) and many Presidents have given nonsensical idiotic blithering press conferences and our alliances have survived. Trump is just honoring that long-term presidential tradition of press conference nonsense. Only if Trump actually does something will there be long-term damage. And he’s pretty incompetent. (Of course, with HST, Atlee over-reacted and immediately flew to D.C., with Ike, Churchill and the French were “shocked”; with LBJ, Wilson studiously backed away from SEATO, there was a LOT of world worry about Nixon and Reagan regularly stupefied world leaders…). But we survived.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: The President was referring to people, not plants.
lamh36
pah…if they were willing to do this, they would have done this before…they don’t even curr.
Mnemosyne
@Mandalay:
There were people on Twitter saying that she MUST have done something bad, because the guy calling 911 was visibly shaking as she filmed him and he wouldn’t be doing that over a frickin’ coupon.
Too few people pointed out that OF COURSE HE WOULD BE. The reason he’s calling the police in the first place is that he’s irrationally frightened of an angry Black woman who just wants to use a manufacturer’s coupon. He’s a racist, so he’s afraid of her. I honestly don’t get why people are so frickin’ stupid about this.
All she had to do to frighten him was argue while Black. That’s it. That’s, you know, the entire point that activists have been making about these incidents.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@patroclus: Truman wanted to nuke DPRK? No, that was MacArthur, and Truman fired his ass.
dmsilev
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Given John Boehner’s typical energy levels, I question the distinction.
Mnemosyne
@TS (the original):
Is that in the print edition or on the website?
Wait for tomorrow’s print edition and see if they still downplay it. They only print a morning edition, so this press conference shitstorm happened long before today’s paper was printed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Good point, but Boehner’s got some chemical help with that.
dmsilev
@patroclus: Um, Harry Truman famously fired Dugout Doug MacArthur over the whole “let’s nuke North Korea and maybe China too” thing. Got the Republicans of the day in a real lather over it.
Mnemosyne
@Mnemosyne:
Argh again. Long AFTER this morning’s paper was printed.
I should probably stop typing now.
Jay
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Yes, and no. The Rethug’s would have to be destroyed right down to the County level, and what ever took it’s place would have to look like Truman era Republicans on everything other than race and social justice issues, where they would have look like the majority of 21st Century Canadians.
Burning the Rethug’s down to ash will have minimal impact as long as the red welfare states voters central issue is “White Genocide”,
Mandalay
@lamh36: Cruz, Rubio, Ryan, McConnell….they are all hedging their bets.
They want to be able to claim they were critical if things get worse, but they carefully avoid mentioning Trump by name in case he head stomps them for being disloyal.
Cowards all.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks. I figured Mr. Stoneface might not be able to contain himself, what with Trump’s capitulation.
Viva BrisVegas
@frosty:
Except the sheep.
schrodingers_cat
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Must have skipped that era in the crash course on American history.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: The Post’s website doesn’t seem too bad to me.
Main headline: Trump offers little pushback to Putin’s denial of interference
Subheads: * Trump casts doubt on U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in 2016 election
* Trump repudiates U.S. intelligence community by according equal weight to Putin
* ‘Disgraceful,’ ‘shameful’: Trump’s defense of Putin finds few supporters in Congress
That third subhead has the capsule summary of “Republicans — including some who usually avoid criticizing the president — joined with Democrats to upbraid him.”
Timurid
@Mnemosyne:
That Patroclus guy has a history of being mistaken for someone else with disastrous results…
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Sorry, but this will forever be the record-holder for cute and hilarious.
lamh36
Chump is being interviews by KKKlannity tonight. Is it LIVE or recorded?
patroclus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Well, Truman didn’t really want to nuke the DPRK, but he gave a press conference where he “implied” that he did and the world went apeshit for a few days about it. Like I said, the British PM – Atlee – immediately flew over to get him to change his mind, which he didn’t need to do. And he arrived at Dulles and then proceeded to be raced doen the GW Parkway with sirens blaring and he arrived at the WH where HST assured him that he didn’t really mean it. And the whole thing went away. But it’s in all the HST and CA biographies…
patroclus
@dmsilev: Indeed, and he also gave the press conference referenced above.
hueyplong
So whose point do you think you’re making with that explanation?
Pretty sure Trump meant what he said.
Nicole
@Mnemosyne: Props for the Nell Gywnn reference.
Viva BrisVegas
@lamh36:
Beto O’Rourke’s campaign posters are writing themselves:
“Ted Cruz: He won’t stand up for his family, he won’t stand up for his country, he won’t stand up for you.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@patroclus: Truman just said that all options were open, I don’t see the implication from that.
Eljai
@Kathleen: Sarah Kendzior linked to this interesting Twitter thread regarding that language. Yonatan Zunger says that it is reminiscent of the language used by an apocalyptic sect.
JR
Trump is seriously in Charles I territory here
Roger Moore
@Kathleen:
This was not written by Trump or any of his usual ghosts. I would guess it wasn’t written by a native English speaker. Any native would say “too”, especially in a medium like Twitter where concision is important.
zanamu
I don’t want to be unkind, but it looks more as if Putin is zipping UP his fly.
Omnes Omnibus
Apparently there is a corner of the internet that watches jewelry very carefully, and QEII impressed the hell out of them during the Trump visit.
Jake the antisoshul soshulist
@lamh36:
Boucher and Paul ate suing each other and the DOJ is suing to appeal the sentence.
They think it is too short.
Just One More Canuck
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: How can we miss her if she wont go away?
patroclus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Neither did Truman. But Atlee and the world did (as well as much of the media of the day). A better press conference response would have avoided the whole contretemps.
Similarly, if Trump had just pushed back a little (like his advisers wanted) or given a temporizing response, he could have avoided today’s outrage.
Mary G
At least one person thought Twitler did a good job:
They may be murdering thugs, but at least they’re white murdering thugs! And not Jewish!
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Jay:
That’s why playing poltical hardball, as the GOP has done, is important. We need to expand the number of House seats so that we can be better represented. It needs to increase anyway.
TS (the original)
@Mnemosyne: I was looking on the website – they had many headings criticizing trump – my point was there was nothing giving democrats views of the meeting. It only matters to the press if Republicans think it is bad.
Baud
@Mary G: Refreshingly honest.
Jay
@Eljai:
Yup, not creepy af,
Steve in the STL
@Mary G: I thought that was parody until I saw the name at the end
TS (the original)
@dmsilev:
This was NOT on the online version that I saw. My point was not that wapo wasn’t critical of the president* – it was that democrats NEVER get a look in. They publish every last word of republicans – but never credit democrats with telling the truth about the moron.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Mary G:
It reads almost like sarcasm.
The Midnight Lurker
@Mnemosyne: I seen a goat rodeo once. It was pretty lame.
lamh36
Someone said, these are the EXACT talking points Rand Paul was spewing on CNN earlier w/Wolf Blitzer
TS (the original)
@JR:
I can only hope.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@patroclus: The Horse, it be dead.
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
It was the well-timed 1-2 punch of Mueller dropping the detailed indictments on those 12 Russian officers, followed up by Trumpov’s inevitable kissing of Putin’s ass. The Special Counsel’s team knows him (Trumpov) so very, very well. And they know everything that went on, obviously.
Shoes are dropping, and the sound they’re making is quite well orchestrated.
lamh36
I love that even his African dancing comes off like dad dancing!
LOL..
Oh and can we call this Obama’s “I tolda ya’ll dumb azzes dude was a bad idea” dance
SiubhanDuinne
@Tokyokie:
You’re still playing with that Scottish Insult Generator thingie, aren’t you?
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s almost as if an attack by a hostile foreign power put the current president* into office…in a sane world, one would think 65 million Americans would have standing to ask SCOTUS for a new election, or to seat the true winner of the presidency immediately.
Jeffro
@Yarrow: I’m confused…Tucker, could you come over here and explain that comment to my special Translating Bat, so that I can understand your message (and you understand mine) a little more clearly? Thanks! Won’t take but a minute…
Baud
Hillary Clinton
@HillaryClinton
3h
Well, now we know.
Mandalay
@TS (the original):
You make me feel dirty for defending our media, but Democrats attacking Trump is a dog-bites-man story. Republicans attacking Trump is a man-bites-dog story.
It’s entirely predictable that every Democrat is going to be appalled and outraged over what Trump did in Helsinki, so it’s not really news. The reactions of Republicans are much more interesting: Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan go into hiding, Rubio and Cruz hate the sin but not the sinner, and a few like McCain and Flake go for Trump’s throat.
magurakurin
@Timurid: now, now….no need to hector her about it.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@lamh36:
My favorite part of those talking points was this gem:
“Even at the height of the Cold War, dialogue between the United States and Russia was still maintained.”
What morons! Russia (as in the Russian Federation) didn’t exist until after the breakup in 1991. It was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that we maintained a diplomatic dialogue with.
Also, the boldfaced lies about Trump believing our intelligence agencies when he has repeatedly publically doubted.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro: That sounds…uncivil.
(Faints…clutches pearls on the fainting couch.)
Jeffro
@Mike in DC:
And/or perhaps Trumpov wanted to make a plea for additional “assistance” in the midterms?
And maybe Trumpov wanted to see about the possibility of crashing on Putin’s couch, like, for the rest of his life?
Who knows? But this seems to have been even more at Trumpov’s insistence than Putin’s…
Mandalay
@magurakurin: Time for a new thread because you just won this one.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: At least Putin threw a ball in the deal.
Amir Khalid
Over here it’s the morning of my birthday. I spent a solid day yesterday reading thread after BJ thread full of (admittedly well-justified) horror and disgust at Trump’s latest betrayal of his country and his planet to a hostile foreign leader who is determined to blow up the world order and profit personally from the ensuing chaos.
Is there any chance of some happier content today? Something with pet pictures, maybe, or food, or music, or anything at all that doesn’t mention a certain orange shitgibbon. I’d like to see something to gladden the heart on my 57th.
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The rapid swinging of the Translating Bat->Tucker should create a nice cool breeze for you while you’re on that couch. You’ll be unclutching those pearls in no time.
Tucker, however, is going to need an aspirin or eighty.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: Happy birthday!
MagdaInBlack
A friend and I were just talking : Isnt it stunning how much damage can be done to a country without dropping a single bomb.
Adam L Silverman
@frosty: I think that, officially, BWI is Thurgood Marshall International Airport.
https://www.bwiairport.com/flying-with-us/about-bwi/thurgood-marshall
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: Happy Birthday, Amir!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: Happy b-day, in your honor, I’m going “On the Road”.
Mary G
@Amir Khalid: Happy birthday, Amir!
Adam L Silverman
@frosty: Except the sheep. And most likely the toddlers.
Honus
@patroclus: I don’t think Atlee arrived st Dulles to see Truman. Dulles opened in 1962.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
That was some pretty amazing shade. Especially the fuck you, I’ve fought Nazis before brooch she wore to the actual meeting.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
My favorite part was when he turned to the auntie next to him and got her to dance. ?
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Most likely everything flew over the cuckoo’s nest that sits atop Orange Glow.
smintheus
Sarah Sanders didn’t post a single picture of Trump meeting with any leaders of our closest allies at the NATO meeting. Not one picture. She had more pictures of Trump’s helicopter in the UK than of the NATO meeting. It was as if NATO counted for nothing on Trump’s trip.
Jay
@Mandalay:
Even if the subject isn’t Treason Tribble Трамп or his policies, Democratic Party voices are hard to find in the US MSM.
It makes bothsiderism, Dem’s in Disarray, and other non-narratives easier to sell.
Matt McIrvin
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: The main problem is that they’re trying to blur the distinction between “dialogue” and the fulsome display Trump provided, just to paint the opposition as war-mad Jack T. Rippers.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: But so subtle. She can’t express an opinion, constitutionally. So it’s just jewelry. Right?
Matt McIrvin
@Jay: “Why don’t they have anything to offer except ‘Trump is bad’?” Well, maybe you’re not reporting any of it.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: It is–the logos in the airport all identify it as such. But Marshall’s name seems to be rarely used to refer to it, unfortunately.
Matt McIrvin
@Mandalay:
Dying and retiring, respectively. Of course.
Denali
Happy Birthday, Amir!
Chris Johnson
This is not a Trump sentence. It’s extended and grammatical and uses the subjunctive clause and names Russian cities that could serve as codes. It’s certainly not written by Trump, whose manner of speaking is a lot more fragmented and incoherent.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Matt McIrvin: and both stopping short of calling on their colleagues to bring the Senate to a halt until trump, his large adult children (and Jared), top campaign aides and twenty years of tax returns are brought before the Intel Cmtee, in full public view
Matt McIrvin
@Kathleen: They’re utterly bizarre in that they’re completely insane, but they’re not insane in Trump’s characteristic style. They were written by some other guy who was insane in a somewhat different way from Donald Trump. And it makes you wonder how far down the insanity goes.
Platonailedit
@Mandalay:
If you are pinning your hopes on these enablers and flakes bringing down the traitorous thug, then your political reading is poor.
Matt McIrvin
@Yarrow: Tucker Carlson just accused my wife’s young cousins of being attacks on the US by the Mexican government.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh my, I had fun reading that!
Matt McIrvin
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Treason was defined narrowly for a good reason: because the monarchies of Europe had a habit of executing everyone and their dog for treason (and you know Trump would if he could).
But when someone is reduced to splitting hairs over precisely what kind of hostile nation constitutes an “enemy” in order to get someone off for treason, it seems to me that one could easily just point out that “conspiracy to commit espionage” requires no such niceties.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: I had you in mind when I posted.
Jay
@Matt McIrvin:
Yup
Platonailedit
@Matt McIrvin:
How about “bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” ? The thugs were threatening Obama with that almost on daily basis.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Amir Khalid:
Happy birthday! Many happy returns.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Much obliged! Glad to know about the site — I’ve saved it for future reference.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Many happy returns, Amir! Have a wonderful birthday!
Matt McIrvin
@Platonailedit: That’s left deliberately broad. Any Congress that has the votes to impeach the President can do it, and it’s clear from the Federalist Papers and such that the people who wrote that didn’t intend the criteria to be too minutely legalistic.
Platonailedit
@Matt McIrvin:
So, a lower bar then? God knows the traitorous thug qualifies for all of ’em.
Omnes Omnibus
@Platonailedit: Not a lower bar, a different bar.
Manxome Bromide
It looks like the WaPo has improved their headline, at least, though it is still treating the Republicans as the ones taking the action:
I’m still going to grumble a little about that but I do admit that the aside is the part that is man-bites-dog here.
J R in WV
@nymofnyms:
I don’t know when they stopped teaching people logic and critical reading, but there is NO DENIAL in Putin’s statement. It is non-responsive to the question of whether Russia has Kompromat on Trump.
“He was of no interest for us” neither confirms nor denies the existence of Kompromat on Trump, nor on other Republicans. Just because one is of no interest today means nothing, the Russians sweep everyone up in their activity in Moscow, or St. Petersburg, or, or, or… Even people just taking their honeymoon in Mother Russia.
Like Sanders, who at the time was of no interest to anyone, but someday came and now he is.
J R in WV
@Mnemosyne:
“We’ll know it’s really bad if NR or ARGB shows up to try and distract us.”
Or Bob from Portlalnd, well known union organizer and worker’s leader . . . . ;-)
SWMBO
@Amir Khalid: Happy Birthday! Dead thread but I wanted to say it.
SWMBO
@Omnes Omnibus: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/madeleine-albright-on-her-life-in-pins-149191/