US Politics Thread |OT| SAD TRUMP

[Nola]

On another front:

Current and former American diplomats are expressing disgust and horror over the White House’s willingness to entertain permitting Russian officials to question a prominent former U.S. ambassador.

One serving diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was “at a fucking loss” over comments that can be expected to chill American diplomacy in hostile or authoritarian countries – a comment echoed by former State Department officials as well.

“It’s beyond disgraceful. It’s fundamentally ignorant with regard to how we conduct diplomacy or what that means. It really puts in jeopardy the professional independence of diplomats anywhere in the world, if the consequence of their actions is going to be potentially being turned over to a foreign government,” the U.S. diplomat told The Daily Beast.

“If the U.S. would make a former diplomat avail for questioning by a foreign government without evidence of wrongdoing, then that would be quite horrifying,” said Ron Neumann, a former ambassador to Afghanistan and current president of the American Academy of Diplomacy.

The current U.S. diplomat said the openness to turning over McFaul capped off a shocking week for U.S. geopolitics.

“The president has first and foremost his interests at the top of his mind, as opposed to the government’s. That’s very clear over the past week and a half, between shitting on our NATO allies and kissing Putin’s ass,” the diplomat said. “He cares more about himself than the nation and any of us who serve it.”

The diplomat continued: “Either he’s compromised by Putin or he’s a pussy, in which case he should grab himself.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-officials-at-a-fucking-loss-over-latest-russia-sell-out

...Mostly posting because of the last line though.

[BlueTsunami]

That last line. Goddamn.

[chronovore]

That's what I was thinking, Joe Fucking Lieberman being against her seems like a huge boon to her campaign.

Any Democrat with a lick of sense has known for over a decade, possibly two, that Lieberman's a disingenuous Republican shill.

[agrajag]

lol I wish I could time stamp on the bore, but around 5:30 Anita and gamergate gets destroyed 

[shosta]

Sam Seder 

[agrajag]

 

[kingv]

https://twitter.com/fordm/status/1019757757203927042

oh boy

Poor Q! Poor etoilet!

[Nola]

That Seder conversation comes off about how I would imagine most people that post 20 times a day in the other forum thread would come across talking politics in real life.

[agrajag]

That Seder conversation comes off about how I would imagine most people that post 20 times a day in the other forum thread would come across talking politics in real life.

I love you too, Nola.

[Nola]

To be clear though I only meant the caller. Something tells me that guy probably has spent an unhealthy amount of his days absorbing and whining about video game culture wars somewhere.

[kingv]

I know I mentioned this... but after researching more on Maria Butina, I really can’t reapect anyone that would take sex with her as a bribe.

Like get yourself a couple hundred bucks and an Instagram account. Call that chick from Nintendo or something. Like, we collectively should be embarrassed that Russia Sent HER as the honey pot magic pussy spy. Like we didn’t rate a Russian spy that doesn’t look like a high school valedictorian? Couldn’t we at least get the brunette from pushy riot or something?

The Democrats are not inncocent of this either. I see you Bill Clinton, with dozen long hot list full of questionable pussy.

Actually, I’m putting Weiner in there too. Huma Abedin is legit attractive and he’s out there sending dick pics to c-grade lot lizard looking chicks. We haven’t had a politician that tried to abuse their position to get legitimately hot pussy since JFK.

Edit:

Igor: mr President we have an agent to send tho tge us. A real honey pot.
Putin: ah, thanks Comrade? Is she a real looker? The boom boom that American men desire?
Igor: well....
Putin: speak, man, is she a Russian Beauty.
Igor: is... Angela Merkel hot?
Putin:... (looks puzzled)
Igor: what if she was 40 lbs lighter, and... 29... but looked 40?
Putin:...
Igor: have you seen... Paula Jones?
Putin: this one, the Merkel one, she’ll do.

[agrajag]

To be clear though I only meant the caller. Something tells me that guy probably has spent an unhealthy amount of his days absorbing and whining about video game culture wars somewhere.

I knew exactly what you meant, you were impugning people who post in the garbage thread, of which I am a mainstay. Garbage people have feelings too, you know.

 

[Assimilate]

lol I wish I could time stamp on the bore, but around 5:30 Anita and gamergate gets destroyed 

Sam is a moron. IQ doesn't matter for him, and people that have high IQ just shows they are good at IQ tests. What a fucking moron. He misses the entire point of the IQ test.

Having a high IQ means you have the mental capacity to master practically anything you put your fucking mind to.

Jesus, why are these imbeciles so dense.

[Oblivion]

lol I wish I could time stamp on the bore, but around 5:30 Anita and gamergate gets destroyed 

My favorite part was how he insisted he wasn't part of gamergate after he name dropped her.  

Proves how gg has become toxic even to a mouthbreather like that.

Also, I didn't realize discussing IQ was one of Anita's specialties 

[FStop7]

A high IQ is also essential in order to fully appreciate Rick and Morty.

[BlueTsunami]

[Optimus]

Only gamergate knows of Sarkeesian, Sam Seder knows of Sarkeesian, therefore Sam Seder is gamergate. No wonder he doesn't like IQ tests.

[Phoenix Dark]

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1019932649899474944

[agrajag]

lol Trump shrunk away from Putin like a scared pup.

And now he's talking about handing over US citizens to a hostile dictatorial regime without even any formal charges levied against them. Just because uncle Vova wants them.

[Optimus]

Optimus just lumped himself into being part of gamergate. No wonder he doesn't like IQ tests.

Hmmm, I don't think the logic here checks out. I shall give you another try.

[Great Rumbler]

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1019932649899474944

If we weren't currently inhabiting the darkest timeline, this revelation might have had actual impact!

[agrajag]

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1019932649899474944

the least untruthful answer?

[Joe Molotov]

I do see no reason why it wouldn't not be Russia.

[Nola]

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1019325089899261957

[kingv]

Just thinking of something Why do the northern also think Obama’s real name is Barry Soetero?

Like, that doesn’t sound very African at all.

[Mandark]

Soetero was the last name of his stepfather, and he went by "Barry" for a time in his youth. So there might be some old yearbooks or whatever where he's listed as Barry Soetero, not sure.

I think the general implication is "he's hiding who he really is!" as if the dude didn't write an autobiography in his early 30's.

[benjipwns]

It's the name he used when he was like six and attending school in Indonesia when they lived there with his stepfather.

It shows just how far in advance he was planning out his scam.

[benjipwns]

[Joe Molotov]

Nah, the greatest fraud in world history was definitely the Mechanical Turk. That shit was pretty wild, even Napoleon got dunked on by it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk

[Nintex]

Nah, the greatest fraud in world history was definitely the Mechanical Turk. That shit was pretty wild, even Napoleon got dunked on by it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk

No 29

Number 29 Meaning. The numerology number 29 is a relationships, compassion, and teamwork number. The number 29 is highly relationships oriented

James Street (James Mattis  )

AUTOMATION TRUMPETER
MOSCOW

SECOND CAMPAIGN?!!!

Chess Player / 4D Chess

What are you hiding JOE?

[Mandark]

would you consider putting images and tweets in spoiler tags?

I don't mind your posts all being bad but it's sort of a pain that they take up so much space

[benjipwns]

Nah, the greatest fraud in world history was definitely the Mechanical Turk. That shit was pretty wild, even Napoleon got dunked on by it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk

Barry can't help himself from lying even on his book covers.

[benjipwns]

Getting Joe Lieberman to argue against Ocasio-Cortez is easily the front runner for weakest attempt at "triggering libs" in 2018

I just wanna know Lieberman got that writeup out from his crypt

[BlueTsunami]

Getting Joe Lieberman to argue against Ocasio-Cortez is easily the front runner for weakest attempt at "triggering libs" in 2018

I just wanna know Lieberman got that writeup out from his crypt

I love that he has to reiterate that he is in fact a Democrat

[benjipwns]

then they put up on the chryon "Joe Lieberman (I)"

[zomgee]

(Image removed from quote.)

John Barron's Amazon review was scathing.

[benjipwns]

http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-director-says-china-is-the-broadest-most-significant-threat-to-the-us-2018-7

Wray's comments come after a week of controversy surrounding President Donald Trump's response to Russian election meddling.

...

Amid rampant discussion about Russian election interference and espionage, FBI Director Christopher Wray has deemed China the largest, most concerning threat to the US.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday, Wray was asked whether he saw China as an adversary and, if so, to what level.

"I think China, from a counterintelligence perspective, in many ways represents the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat we face as a country," Wray answered.

"And I say that because for them it is a whole of state effort. It is economic espionage as well as traditional espionage; it is nontraditional collectors as well as traditional intelligence operatives; it's human sources as well as cyber means.

"We have economic-espionage investigations in every state, all 50 states, that trace back to China. It covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between. So the volume of it, the pervasiveness of it, the significance of it, is something I think this country cannot underestimate."

...

It seems a far more strategic and wide-ranging effort than Russia's ongoing interference efforts, which dominated headlines in the US this week amid President Donald Trump's widely panned summit with President Vladimir Putin.

Wray said Russia needed to be dealt with "aggressively," but he seemed far more concerned with what he called China's efforts to position itself as "the sole dominant superpower, the sole dominant economic power."

OFF SCRIPT

[benjipwns]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/19/if-this-is-not-treason-then-what-is-it/

If this is not treason, then what is it?

We should have a debate over whether treason is being committed by the White House. Yes, I just typed those words.

...

Based on the actions of the Trump administration this week, reasonable people can disagree over whether treason is being committed. Let me repeat that: Reasonable people can disagree over whether treason is being committed by this White House.

I do not want to be writing those words. Much as I may have disagreed with previous administrations in my lifetime, I never doubted that the people in those administrations were trying to advance the national interest the best way they thought possible. After this past week, can that case be made with Trump and his national security team?

At some point, Trump will no longer be president. It will be tempting for whomever succeeds him to turn the page on history, declare bygones and move forward. Not me. The behavior of the Trump administration this week has been suspect. It demands a reckoning. A former CIA chief of Russian operations tweeted, “From a counterintelligence perspective, something is going on behind the scenes. Before Helsinki I was less sure; post Helsinki, I feel sick.”

I feel sick typing these words. But the words and actions of this president, his administration, and his loyalists sickens me even more.

shosta annihilated

[kingv]

It's the name he used when he was like six and attending school in Indonesia when they lived there with his stepfather.

It shows just how far in advance he was planning out his scam.

Fuck, hope my kid never Runs for President.

Barron Trump will start an investigation into whether or not her “real” name is Moo Bear.

Edit: I’m going to make a doom wad where you gun down libtards, and the final boss will be Barack obamas Head as drawn by John Naighton that spawns libtards and a clip will play that when you reverse it says “to win the game you must defeat me, Barry Soetoro”. The libtards will throw flaming aborted fetuses at you. And the pink demons will be redrawn to look like Hillary. And doom marine will have trumps face.

[Nintex]

It's the name he used when he was like six and attending school in Indonesia when they lived there with his stepfather.

It shows just how far in advance he was planning out his scam.

Fuck, hope my kid never Runs for President.

Barron Trump will start an investigation into whether or not her “real” name is Moo Bear.

Edit: I’m going to make a doom wad where you gun down libtards, and the final boss will be Barack obamas Head as drawn by John Naighton that spawns libtards and a clip will play that when you reverse it says “to win the game you must defeat me, Barry Soetoro”. The libtards will throw flaming aborted fetuses at you. And the pink demons will be redrawn to look like Hillary. And doom marine will have trumps face.

When will this version of Doom be ready? 

https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1020043812025110528

 

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/JenaFriedman/status/1019982073325424641

https://twitter.com/JenKirkman/status/1018505068520333313

spoiler (click to show/hide)

https://twitter.com/page88/status/1019064350114484224

https://twitter.com/quinncy/status/1019979316686286848

[close]

Does the mainstream media regret using all those emails allegedly stolen by Russians? 

[Nola]

Pretty sure his days are numbered:

https://twitter.com/mitchellreports/status/1017907599608631297
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1020043060510507008

[shosta]

shosta annihilated

Dmitriy Dmitrievich Shostakovich, pronounced [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ ʂəstɐˈkovʲɪtɕ]; 25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.[1]

Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962)[citation needed] and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).

How deep does this go? Undistort the signal. Look past the image projected on to the hologram. Are you ready?

[VomKriege]

But who knows, maybe a fringe Jewish socialist captivated the masses on his own

 

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1020027823216648194

How many of those pee tapes does Putin have? 

[kingv]

Is that Mr. Claire Danes?!

I’m trying to have the version of the Doom ready for the Storm, so you can cleanse the swamp yourself at home.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/alaynatreene/status/1020053661404336128

Wow, what will the Republicans in Congress do if Trump goes through with this.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Absolutely nothing 

[close]

[benjipwns]

But who knows, maybe a fringe Jewish socialist captivated the masses on his own

 

What's more likely, that unorthodox candidates (Trump, Bernie, Obama) somehow suddenly and out of nowhere start getting support despite running against the most qualified human being to ever exist for any reason, or that opposition to Hillary Clinton is manufactured, funded and manipulated by Vladimir Putin to establish a global white supremacist state?

All I know is that I didn't vote for any of them, yet all of them won Michigan anyway. Makes you start to question the lamestream media's narrative.

[Kara]

shosta annihilated

Dmitriy Dmitrievich Shostakovich, pronounced [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ ʂəstɐˈkovʲɪtɕ]; 25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer and pianist. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.[1]

Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962)[citation needed] and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).

How deep does this go? Undistort the signal. Look past the image projected on to the hologram. Are you ready?

There was a chintzy Heineken mersh a few years ago that had 2 old timey boxers duking it out to Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2. In Altered Carbon there's a chintzy fight scene between a husband and wife who battle each other to the death for the entertainment of the ruling class as a day job also set to Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2. I refuse to believe this is a coincidence.

[VomKriege]

I was skeptical for long but man, Trump is really in Putin's pocket something fierce, for whatever reason. If voters don't oust him in 2020 you've got a major issue in your hands (before that if he fucks up NATO or the Iran deal come to bite everybody in the ass).

Imagine that all the shitty stuff out in the open already is the tip of the iceberg of the corruption going on with this clown car of mediocre politicians and plutocrats he brought in tow.

[benjipwns]

Trump won't run in 2020, Putin will have just assumed the Presidency by then and his term is not up until 2024.

[benjipwns]

OlisASMR
45 minutes ago
I love Meghan's "oh my gosh" at 2:43. 😂 She knew exactly what's going to happen. 💥

https://pagesix.com/2018/07/19/whoopi-goldberg-and-jeanine-pirro-get-into-explosive-argument-at-the-view/

Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro got into an explosive argument backstage at “The View” on Thursday — after an intense on-the-air exchange got even more heated behind-the-scenes, sources exclusively tell Page Six.

The confrontation ended with liberal Goldberg allegedly shouting, “F–k you, get the f–k out!” at President Trump supporter and Fox News host Pirro.

During the screaming match, Pirro told Goldberg, “I’ve done more for abused women than you will ever do,” we hear.

...

Goldberg left the stage, but the fireworks went off again with the cameras off: Backstage when the two crossed paths, a source told us, “Jeanine tried telling her she’s fought for victims her whole life.” That’s when “Whoopi got in her face and said that they’ve known each other a long time, but still, ‘F–k you, get the f–k out of this building.’ Jeanine looked stunned.”

Another source told us, “Jeanine could have walked by her. There was one more segment to do. She could have walked by her easily, she put her finger in her face and said, ‘I’ve done more for abused women than you will ever do’ and that’s when Whoopi said, ‘You and I have never had a problem,’ before everything else was said.”

We hear the ABC show’s producers and Goldberg have reached out to Pirro to have a conversation about what happened.

[agrajag]

https://amp.thedailybeast.com/jill-steins-recount-cash-pays-for-her-russia-legal-defense

 

[benjipwns]

http://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/397902-opinion-one-fbi-text-message-in-russia-probe-should-alarm-every-american

For any American who wants an answer sooner, there are just five words, among the thousands of suggestive texts Page and Strzok exchanged, that you should read.

That passage was transmitted on May 19, 2017. “There’s no big there there,” Strzok texted.

The date of the text long has intrigued investigators: It is two days after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein named special counsel Robert Mueller to oversee an investigation into alleged collusion between Trump and the Russia campaign.

Since the text was turned over to Congress, investigators wondered whether it referred to the evidence against the Trump campaign.

This month, they finally got the chance to ask. Strzok declined to say — but Page, during a closed-door interview with lawmakers, confirmed in the most pained and contorted way that the message in fact referred to the quality of the Russia case, according to multiple eyewitnesses.

The admission is deeply consequential. It means Rosenstein unleashed the most awesome powers of a special counsel to investigate an allegation that the key FBI officials, driving the investigation for 10 months beforehand, did not think was “there.”

wrap it up, trump vindicated, hillary destroyed again #lockherup

[shosta]

John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work over the years has exposed U.S. and FBI intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal scientists’ misuse of foster children and veterans in drug experiments, and numerous cases of political corruption. He is The Hill’s executive vice president for video.

[kingv]

Strzok texted that 3 months before anybody knew about the Trump Tower meeting. IIRC the senate intel committee learned about it from the times in July, not a huge leap to think that the non-existent special counsel didn’t know about it yet in March.

It’s kind of remarkable, if Trump hadn’t fired Comey a lot of this stuff might never have come out or been discovered.

[benjipwns]

I don't know if you can say definitively that nobody knew, the FBI might have known during their investigation, the CIA probably keeps tabs on Veselnitskaya and/or Akhmetshin. Kushner reported he met with her for his security clearance, although not where I assume. It just may not have been in the hands of someone willing to leak it yet or the Times might have sat on it for a while too.

[Madrun Badrun]

5+6 is 11

11 × 2 is 22

22 + 22 + 22 + 22 is 88

4 Washington Avenue! The next clue is at the White House!

[Nola]

Strzok texted that 3 months before anybody knew about the Trump Tower meeting. IIRC the senate intel committee learned about it from the times in July, not a huge leap to think that the non-existent special counsel didn’t know about it yet in March.

It’s kind of remarkable, if Trump hadn’t fired Comey a lot of this stuff might never have come out or been discovered.

Setting aside that Solomon is a partisan hack that regularly bends, if not breaks, the truth and like here denies important context to his partisan narratives, that comment is I guess still kind of interesting. Though a bit less so in it's total context:

"You and I both know the odds are nothing," Strzok said in a text to Page on May 19, 2017. "If I thought it was likely, I'd be there, no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there's no big there there."

From what I can recall about Strzok is that he primarily worked on the Hillary email investigation(the right's second favorite conspiracy about the guy pertains to his successful lobbying to change the wording of Comey's stupid fucking statement about Hillary's emails) but that he was involved in some of the early Trump/Russia stuff, including the initial Papadopoulos drunken bar tip off. So we do know he likely had at least a decent level of knowledge about the case. But like you said, some of the major developments seemingly hadn't occurred or been broken within the investigation at that time. The focus did seem to be with low level players and maybe Manafort/Flynn. Which is echoed by Comey's testimony up until his firing.

Personally though, I think the "nothing-burger" narrative is a hard one to swallow at this point and you have to ignore a fuck ton of public information, behavior, and tea leaves to think this isn't going to touch at a minimum, very close to the president, regardless of what Strzok thought at the time. Including indictments to members of his inner circle and family. The Don Jr. call to the blocked number alone is almost certainly going to be a connection that at least puts Trump's knowledge of the meeting into play. Don Jr's solicitation and Roger Stone's behavior with Guccifer, based on what is teased in the indictment, at a minimum will definitely lead to some charges for Stone, for Don Jr., highly likely.