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Good luck with your asparagus.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I personally stopped the public option…

This really is a full service blog.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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Nevertheless, she persisted.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

False Scribes! False Scribes!

Shocking, but not surprising

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This blog is Obama’s Katrina.

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This is a big f—–g deal.

Deploy the moving finger of emphasisity!

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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Trumpery / Russiagate

Russiagate

At least Nero allegedly fiddled…

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As noted in this space before, Biden has an excellent rapid response ad team. I am pleased they so quickly made hay of Trump’s admission Wednesday that he lolls around watching Fox News all day like the common, lazy, loud-mouthed, wingnut retiree that he is:

It’s been obvious for a few years now that Trump eschews official briefings in favor of the blathering of pro-Trump Fox News “personalities.” In this instance, he was citing “the shows” to explain how a fantastical notion — that Obama and Biden committed “the biggest political scandal in the history of our country” by spying on his 2016 campaign — became lodged in his bloated orange gourd, noting that “the crime is very obvious to everybody.”

It’s not, of course. Barr and his man Durham have been squeezing that turnip for months by re-investigating the origins of the Russia probe. So far, all they’ve got to show for it is a plea deal from one unlucky FBI lawyer nobody ever heard of connected with paperwork on a surveillance renewal for a Trump campaign flunky no one outside the cult gives a shit about.

But I digress — it was helpful for Trump to admit he watches so much TV that it amounts to a full-time job. At least Nero allegedly played the fiddle. We’ve got a lazy couch potato (of the yam variety) who sits around on his ass all day. Dude’s gotta go! Open thread.

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GOP Venality Open Thread: Yep, RUSSIAGATE IS REAL

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I’m sure better-informed front pagers will be covering this, but… Looks to me like the Repub-dominated Intel Committee used the cover of the Democratic National Convention to dump their ‘fifth & final’ report on 2016’s GRU/Trump crime cartel fvckery when they hoped it wouldn’t get much notice.

Here’s a whole bunch of news sources agreeing, yep, looks like all those high crimes averred by the Democrats actually happened!

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Repub Venality Open Thread: Lt. Colonel Vindman Is Retiring from the Army

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A sentiment I can only second, from one of Vindman’s fellow Soviet refugees:

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Russiagate Open Thread: ‘Paralysis’ Over Those Bounty Payments

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Alternate headline: How much will the GOP do *not* to publicly discuss this, during an election year? Anything they can get away with, according to Politico:

… Citing disputed intelligence assessments and interagency squabbles, lawmakers emerged from top secret briefings cautious and mostly tight-lipped about the veracity of news reports suggesting that the Russians had American blood on their hands.

Those lawmakers — mostly Republicans — repeatedly stressed that there was no consensus on whether the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence unit, orchestrated the bounties, despite news reports from The New York Times and others that have detailed the alleged scheme with increasing specificity.

“I think there are contradictory pieces of intelligence on this,” Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 4 GOP leader and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after a classified briefing.

The Trump administration also appeared to sow doubt over the issue, with President Donald Trump and his aides either questioning the accuracy of the intelligence or labeling reporting on the bounties an outright hoax. And congressional Republicans recently rejected an amendment to the annual defense policy bill, written by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), that would impose new sanctions on Moscow.

Democrats and Republicans alike have supported stricter sanctions on Russia as punishment for its malign activities, including its interference in the 2016 election and its annexation of Crimea in 2014. But the Trump administration has repeatedly hesitated to fully deploy the sanctions regime Congress authorized in 2017, and Republicans have rarely used their leverage to press the White House on the issue.

“There’s still a whole series of questions about what our policy is vis-à-vis Russia, and why there seems to be this unwillingness to call out Russian bad actions,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee…

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Late Night Point & Mock Open Thread: Russiagate ‘Butina Boyfriend’ Paul Erickson Going to Jail

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And he didn’t even offer Dear Leader a finder’s fee! Per the local Argus Leader:

A Sioux Falls man who used his connections in the conservative movement to help his Russian girlfriend gain political access was sentenced Monday to serve seven years in federal prison.

Paul Erickson was not charged with any wrongdoing involving his efforts to help Maria Butina make inroads with political contacts. Instead, he was accused of defrauding investors in various schemes over the last 20 years.

Butina, a young woman who portrayed herself as a gun rights activist, was deported last fall after serving time for failing to register as a foreign agent. Her role in his downfall did not come up Monday.

Erickson came under the scrutiny of federal investigators who were monitoring Butina. That scrutiny lead to an investigation of his various business enterprises, which existed to defraud investors. For example, Erickson had defrauded conservative investors starting in the late 1990s out of a company called Compass Care, which promised to build Christian-based nursing homes. He also had a venture in the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota that he used to defraud investors, according to his indictment. It was the Bakken incident that lead Erickson to plead guilty…

Erickson, a Yale University graduate who went on to earn a law degree from the University of Virginia, became involved in Republican politics during the Reagan adminitration. He worked briefly for Sen. Jim Abdnor, the Republican who beat George McGovern in the 1980 election. The Vermillion native traveled the world to historic events, including to the Berlin Wall when it was torn down and to Nicaragua, where he met anti-communist fighters there…

The Reagan administration was truly a gold-star opportunity for grifting, treason, and general malfeseance.

Clint Sargent, Erickson’s lawyer, argued Monday for Erickson to be confined at home. While unusual, Sargent said that Erickson had recently undergone a heart valve replacement, putting him at greater risk if he contracts coronavirus.

Jeff Clapper, an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, resisted the motion, saying the Bureau of Prisons could take appropriate action to screen and protect inmates.

Schreier sided with the government. She said she arrived at the courthouse Monday morning at the same time Erickson did.

“He walked in without a mask,” Schreier said, noting that if Erickson were so concerned with coronavirus, he would have taken the precaution of wearing one…

Butina’s gone back to Russia, but here’s hoping her boyfriend will be bitter enough to give up some dirt on his NRA contacts.

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Proud to Be A Democrat Open Thread: Good for Senator Duckworth

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Make the Squatter-in-Chief own his crimes:

… Duckworth is a Purple Heart recipient and a former Army helicopter pilot who lost both her legs in the Iraq War.

Vindman, who received a Purple Heart for his actions in Iraq and later served as a White House aide on European affairs, is among hundreds of officers selected to be promoted to full colonel this year.

In February, the White House ousted Vindman from his post on the National Security Council. He had testified to Congress in November that he was disturbed by Trump’s call for Ukraine to investigate the president’s political rivals.

“Our military is supposed to be the ultimate meritocracy,” Duckworth said in a statement. “It is simply unprecedented and wrong for any Commander in Chief to meddle in routine military matters at all, whether or not he has a personal vendetta against a Soldier who did his patriotic duty and told the truth — a Soldier who has been recommended for promotion by his superiors because of his performance. . . . This goes far beyond any single military officer, it is about protecting a merit-based system from political corruption and unlawful retaliation.”…

Whether or not she’s Joe Biden’s VP choice, it’s clear she’ll be an important part of his team.

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The Susan Rice Email: There Is No There There, There Never Was, and There Never Will Be

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The President, Republican members of the House and the Senate, Fox News personalities and talking heads, the President’s surrogates on other broadcast and cable news shows, the conservative social, digital, and news media, and the President’s campaign officials and surrogates have been calling for the release of the email that former Assistant to the President-National Security Advisor (AP-NSA) Susan Rice sent to herself in January 2017 as a memorialization of the meeting about what the FBI’s counterintelligence officials had been discovering about LTG (ret) Flynn and his activities before he joined the President’s 2016 campaign, during the campaign, and during the transition.

This was purposefully conflated with unmasking by Congressman Nunes as part of his agitprop that President  Obama and his senior officials spied on the President’s campaign, including seeking to unmask LTG (ret) Flynn in signals intelligence collected on foreign targets. When the Trump administration declassified and released Rice’s email to herself, they only declassified and released part of it. Which, of course, led to screaming and yelling about coverups and conspiracies. Dr. Rice has long requested they declassify the whole email, as well as the transcripts of LTG (ret) Flynn’s calls with Ambassador Kislyak, as well as other Russian officials, and officials from other countries. Earlier today the Trump administration declassified and released the remainder of Dr. Rice’s email and no surprises at all, there’s nothing untoward at all in it.

The Susan Rice Email: There Is No There There, There Never Was, and There Never Will Be

As can be clearly seen from reading the email, no one involved did anything untoward, unethical, and/or illegal. As was the case with the unmasking conspiracy theory, there is no there there.

Here is Dr. Rice’s statement from this afternoon:

The Susan Rice Email: There Is No There There, There Never Was, and There Never Will Be 1 The Susan Rice Email: There Is No There There, There Never Was, and There Never Will Be 2

And while Republican elected officials* and their surrogates are trying to spin this as evidence of illegality, it isn’t. And the most amusing part of today is that Senator Graham hung his tuchas way, way, way, way out over the edge this morning expecting to turn this into a scandal that he could weaponize on behalf of the President’s, as well as his own, reelection chances.

Ooopsie!!!!!

To quickly summarize:

  1. Dr. Rice’s email to herself memorializing the 5 JAN 2017 meeting with President Obama, VP Biden, FBI Director Comey, herself, and several others clearly indicates that nothing untoward, unethical, and/or illegal took place. Rather, President Obama made it very clear that everything was to be done by the book.
  2. The release of the entire email further undercuts the Congressman Devin Nunes created agitprop and conspiracy theory that President Obama ordered the FBI to spy on the President’s 2016 campaign and he knows this because the evidence is being covered up in Dr. Rice’s email to herself, which is classified.
  3. That email is now declassified and released and once again Congressman Nunes is unmasked as a none too bright, conspiracy mongering fabulist.
  4. The declassification and release of Dr. Rice’s entire email memorializing the 5 JAN 2017 meeting undercuts Senator Graham’s plans for a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation to get to the bottom of these allegations, because the declassified email shows those allegations to be complete bullshit.

Open thread

* Obligatory:

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