Patterico's Pontifications

7/16/2018

Step It Up, America! President Trump Says We’re Also To Blame For Strained Relations With Russia

Filed under: General — Dana @ 2:30 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Before a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump tweeted this:

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During the joint press conference held in Helsinki, President Trump was asked whether he holds Russia responsible for the strained relationship between the two countries. Evidencing a questionable commitment to America, the American people and his own government, President Trump claimed while standing next to President Putin, that “we’re all to blame” for the strained relationship with Russia. Unbelievable:

Here’s a transcript:

REPORTER: Do you hold Russia accountable for anything?

TRUMP: We’re all to blame. Yes I do [hold Russia responsible]. I hold both countries responsible.

I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should’ve had this dialogue a long time ago; a long time, frankly, before I got to office.

And I think we’re all to blame. I think that the United States now has stepped forward along with Russia, and we’re getting together and we have a chance to do some great things, whether it’s nuclear proliferation in terms of stopping — you have to do it, ultimately that’s probably the most important thing that we could be working on.

But I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the — the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart, it’s kept us separated.

There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. And people are being brought out to the fore (ph). So far that I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they’re going to have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign.

That was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily. And, frankly, we beat her — and I’m not even saying from the standpoint — we won that race. And it’s a shame that there could even be a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that, people understand it. But the main thing — and we discussed this also — zero collusion.

And so forth…

Apparently, what defines an “enemy” is up for grabs in this season of Trump. And that unfortunately makes the United States rather vulnerable to Putin and his thugs:

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Watch the entire press conference here, or read the transcript here. There were a number of interesting – and dismaying – exchanges. This for example:

Untitled

–Dana

342 Responses to “Step It Up, America! President Trump Says We’re Also To Blame For Strained Relations With Russia”

  1. I have the honor of being the first to welcome Dana back. She is still on limited duty, so she won’t be able to respond to any discussion points here, and it would be unfair of us to expect heavy posting from her until she heals up a bit further. But it’s great to have her “voice” back on this blog.

    JVW (773988)

  2. And it would appear that the President is back to stepping on his own d***. It’s always such a high-wire act with this guy.

    JVW (773988)

  3. Take Zipitor for zero collusion, eh, Captain, sir.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  4. As long as ‘we’ includes people like John Brennan and Robert Mueller, yes, we are indeed ALL to blame. So is everyone who took Crowdstrike and Fusion GPS seriously.

    These NeverTrumpers have a big ‘whats yours is mine, what’s mine is mine’ attitude to terms like “America” and “treason”, also two words that never seem to come up in the Ctrl-F when they discuss, say, the Mexican immivasion, or China’s open and defiant violations of everything from copyrights to public records. Almost like the vendetta against Russia is *personal* or *opportunistic* rather than *principled* and *consistent*.

    Computer Wizard (e69291)

  5. PUTIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): President Trump and — well, posture of President Trump on Crimea is well known, and he stands firmly by it. He continued to maintain that it was illegal to annex it.

    Our viewpoint is different. We held a referendum in strict compliance with the U.N. charter and the international legislation. For us, this issue — we put paid to this issue.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  6. The important thing to remember is

    The hot and horny men and women of the corrupt fbi have never come up with any actual proof!

    We know now that coward-pig torture-turd John McCain’s urinating hooker dossier is fake fake fake – and that Hillary and the FBI paid a bunch of Russians for a bunch of lies they could use on President Trump.

    So why would we believe them about anything else?

    The FBI has no integrity, you see.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  7. question

    who’s doing more to destabilize America?

    the hot and horny treasonous trash at the FBI?

    or Vladimir Putin?

    It’s not even close!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  8. These NeverTrumpers have a big ‘whats yours is mine, what’s mine is mine’ attitude to terms like “America” and “treason”, also two words that never seem to come up in the Ctrl-F when they discuss, say, the Mexican immivasion, or China’s open and defiant violations of everything from copyrights to public records. Almost like the vendetta against Russia is *personal* or *opportunistic* rather than *principled* and *consistent*.

    I don’t know if all that many “NeverTrumpers” are suggesting that Trump is guilty of treason. But it’s 100% fair to wonder why the guy who is so willing to get tough with Mexico on immigration and wants trade wars with China and the EU suddenly becomes so docile and accommodating when Vladimir Putin enters the room.

    JVW (773988)

  9. The Great Putini, Master of Collusion, eh, Mr. Feet.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  10. “Could you name a single fact that would definitively prove the collusion?”

    I guess he means, “a single fact” *other* than the Trump Tower meeting and associated conspiracy involving Trump’s son, son-in-law, campaign manager and Russian intelligence cut-outs.

    Oh, and *other* than Trump’s televised request to illegally obtain damaging material on his opponent and release it to help him (which we now know the Russians attempted to comply with the very same day!)

    Dave (445e97)

  11. I guess he means, “a single fact” *other* than the Trump Tower meeting and associated conspiracy involving Trump’s son, son-in-law, campaign manager and Russian intelligence cut-outs.

    To be fair, if meeting with people were proof of collusion then Bill and Hillary Clinton would have been tried, convicted, and executed by now.

    JVW (773988)

  12. congratulations, dana

    narciso (d1f714)

  13. OF COURSE we’re to blame, in part. We, as a country, interfere in nearly every election everywhere. That someone did it back should cause reflection, not anger. We’ve interfered in Russia, or with its neighbors a number of times, just this century. Twice we’ve worked to change regimes in Ukraine, we propped up Yeltsin and worked against Putin. If the Russians worked against Hillary, they had good reason for the payback.

    See a cogent argument, here:

    https://pjmedia.com/spengler/once-again-president-trump-is-magnificently-right-this-time-about-russia/

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  14. I like neither Trump nor Putin, but every last thing Trump said in the above quote is accurate and the outrage is that some would dispute it.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  15. who are want to do nuclear war on russia the most?

    a. pedophile Mitt Romney

    b. disgraced coward John McCain

    c. the guy what bungled the crap out of amazon prime day

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  16. well the Ukraine thing is murky, manafort kept trying to get yanukovich to make a deal with the eu, but he was too stubborn to listen, the intervention in favor of yeltsin, with the attendant demolition of the Russian economy is more clear cut,

    narciso (d1f714)

  17. Old and Busted: Reagan is a madman taking us to war in 3…2…1…

    New and Fresh: Why hasn’t Trump started war with Russia yet?

    The 80’s called There’s Something Going On feat Phil Collins

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  18. abba should be categorized as a violation of the Geneva and Vienna convention, maybe you meant genesis ‘land of confusion;

    narciso (d1f714)

  19. Refresh memories… who was in charge when all of this is alleged to have occurred?

    0bama, Clapper, Brennan, Lynch, Comey.

    Colonel Haiku (5fd258)

  20. Gallery of Jackasses…

    Colonel Haiku (5fd258)

  21. An anti-fisk

    We’re all to blame. Yes I do [hold Russia responsible]. I hold both countries responsible.

    I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should’ve had this dialogue a long time ago; a long time, frankly, before I got to office.

    Can you honestly argue that the US and Russia should not attempt to find common ground? That RFing each other’s politics (and we’ve done more) is a bad idea?

    This doesn’t mean we like their system — but it’s THEIR system. Putin may be a killer, but he’s the most reasonable, sober leader since, well, ever, to lead Russia. You’d prefer Brezhnev? Ivan?

    And I think we’re all to blame. I think that the United States now has stepped forward along with Russia, and we’re getting together and we have a chance to do some great things, whether it’s nuclear proliferation in terms of stopping — you have to do it, ultimately that’s probably the most important thing that we could be working on.

    Um, d’oh. Working with Russia is better than working at cross-purposes. Or is Syria a model?

    But I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the — the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart, it’s kept us separated.

    Yes, a bit self-serving, but correct. Of course, if you believe that Trump colluded with Putin then you aren’t going to agree. Not that I care.

    There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. And people are being brought out to the fore (ph). So far that I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they’re going to have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign.

    Again, no one in the US has been charged with conspiring, let alone doing anything related to the election. Some lies, some financial crimes, but all peripheral charges by a desperate special counsel.

    That was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily. And, frankly, we beat her — and I’m not even saying from the standpoint — we won that race. And it’s a shame that there could even be a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that, people understand it. But the main thing — and we discussed this also — zero collusion.

    OK, neither clean nor did he win easily. But there was more crap thrown by Hillary and her partisan press than by Trump. Go read the WaPo for October 2016.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  22. I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that, mr narciso.

    Hey, any of you lawyers around here going to defend Elon Musk from pedo boy in civil court?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  23. I like neither Trump nor Putin, but every last thing Trump said in the above quote is accurate and the outrage is that some would dispute it.

    Maybe, but did he have to say it with Putin standing right next to him? Go on Hannity and say it; call in to Rush and say it; show up at a rally in Boise and say it. But don’t say it with ol’ Vlad standing four feet away looking like the guy that just drew to a full house.

    JVW (773988)

  24. the intervention in favor of yeltsin, with the attendant demolition of the Russian economy is more clear cut,

    To the Russians, Yeltsin was our puppet and his family got richer than Chavez’s.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  25. Hey, did the democrats ever thinking of running The Daisy ad backwards?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  26. “it’s 100% fair to wonder why the guy who is so willing to get tough with Mexico on immigration and wants trade wars with China and the EU suddenly becomes so docile and accommodating when Vladimir Putin enters the room.”

    Russia as a strategic ally versus China specifically would be a great thing to have, also the relative body count and official interference of Mexican/Chinese government on Mexican/Chinese nationals/Americans versus Russian government on Russian nationals/Americans is orders of magnitude greater.

    The fact that Trump is basically the first major politician in any memory to speak loudly and consistently on the open and consistent meddling of these two nations is as good evidence as any that the networks are either ideologically allied or taking massive bribes to keep quiet, much like the Sierra Club did when a deep-pocketed donor paid them $100 million not to mention ‘immigration’ in their environmental impact reports anymore:

    https://www.noozhawk.com/article/021712_joe_guzzardi_sierra_club

    Computer Wizard (197bc6)

  27. Where’s a hot mic when you really need WWIII?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  28. I love it when a CIA chief gets all bent out of shape because a foreign power did things that the CIA does all the time. “Your winnings, sir!”

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  29. Maybe, but did he have to say it with Putin standing right next to him? Go on Hannity and say it; call in to Rush and say it; show up at a rally in Boise and say it. But don’t say it with ol’ Vlad standing four feet away looking like the guy that just drew to a full house.

    Why? He isn’t trying to improve relations with Hannity (not even possible with clothes on). Be glad he didn’t take the whole blame like Obama did.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  30. 16… excellent reminder, narciso! What was perpetrated back then by Clinton, Summers, etc. was criminal and could be interpreted as an act of war, only done because they knew they could take advantage of the situation.

    Colonel Haiku (5fd258)

  31. Read the spengler piece I linked in #13. It’s quite good. I am so TIRED of the froth that passes for political discussion these days.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  32. I guess he means, “a single fact” *other* than the Trump Tower meeting and associated conspiracy involving Trump’s son, son-in-law, campaign manager and Russian intelligence cut-outs.

    A meeting where one thing was promised to get them there, but wasn’t produced, they saw they’d been suckered and ended it. That’s your smoking gun?

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  33. As opposed to President Obama, leaning over to President Medvedev, and remarking (what he thought was conspiratorially) that once the election was over he’d “be more flexible.”

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  34. the hyperventilating gets a bit much, now I suppose two airstrikes against assad aren’t enough, so what five ten twenty, do we want what happened in Libya happen here,

    narciso (d1f714)

  35. I know it’s from the NYT, but c’mon… seriously?

    “Tech for Campaigns has focused on a particularly challenging assignment: dragging Democratic campaigns into the digital age, before it is too late.”

    Colonel Haiku (5fd258)

  36. We held a referendum in strict compliance with the U.N. charter and the international legislation.

    That’s another Putin lie. There is nothing in the UN charter and international law that gave Putin a green light invade and annex the Crimean region of Ukraine. However, there are two agreements that the Russian Federation signed which would forbid Putin from taking the sovereign territory of the Ukrainian state, the Budapest Menorandum and the 1997 Russia-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty, both of which guaranteed that Russian would respect Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up all its nukes.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  37. Yes, the Ukraine was fool enough to give up those weapons, yet another lesson Obama taught,

    narciso (d1f714)

  38. After America’s wholesale slaughter of men women and children in iraq they really don’t have the moral standing to judge Russia almost entirely bloodless annexation of the Crimea.

    Which slutbama watched with passive amusement.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  39. oopers

    *Russia’s* almost entirely bloodless annexation is what that should have said

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  40. Hello, Dana! I’m happy that you’re better.

    nk (dbc370)

  41. Geraghty responds to Trump’s unpatriotic, anti-American tweet that blamed America first:

    Did the United States make Russian intelligence use that Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England?
    Did the U.S. make Russian-aligned separatists use a Russian military anti-aircraft missile to shoot down a Malaysian Airlines jet, full of innocent civilians?
    […]
    Did the U.S. make the Russian military roll into Crimea?
    When Syria’s Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons, after the regime in Tehran, who’s the first to defend him? Why is Russia so eager to end investigations into the use of chemical weapons in Syria, using veto power at the United Nations again and again?

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  42. Lemme ax all y’all sumfin: Has the #FakeNews Media ever before, at a summit between a U.S. President and a Russian leader, axed the President “Do you hold Russia accountable for anything?”

    nk (dbc370)

  43. that’s seriously the best Geraghty can do?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  44. the 1997 Russia-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty, both of which guaranteed that Russian would respect Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving up all its nukes.

    The Russian response is that after the US engineered regime change in Ukraine and their access to the Baltic was cut off, they had no choice.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  45. Yes, the Ukraine was fool enough to give up those weapons, yet another lesson Obama taught,

    Obama was a community organizer in Chicago when those agreements were signed. It still doesn’t take away from the fact that Putin welshed on those deals.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  46. Why are we doing so much commerce with mass murdering slave labor child aborting China? Because we’ve agreed as to what we are and now have to settle on a price?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  47. the second one is definitive, yet this ridiculous dog’s breath of crowdstrike, is what is put forward, he is also iran’s protector, they are an ally to the castro regime (flake doesn’t want to talk about that) as well as managua and Venezuela,

    narciso (d1f714)

  48. What’s to disagree with?

    The haplessness of U.S. foreign policy in the post-Reagan era has been a disgrace, on both the political and bureaucratic sides (sadly, the latter also turns out to be a political side). On this topic, is there really any serious disagreement? Or, are we in a lather because the comment came from the hate-object?

    Trump has a gift for political theater, both of his own hand and that which he provokes among the dis-loyal opposition. This Europe trip has been a tour de force. Hillary had her Russian “Reset” button. The buttons Trump is pushing seem far more effective.

    And what sort of entertainment have we been treated to back here at home?

    Yesterday’s big indictment: a handful of spear phishing super spies – the same charge that the feds brought against one of my son’s middle school classmates.

    And today’s big bust: a 29 year old grad student? Now that’s a big fish!

    Not exactly John le Carre material, but feel free to clutch your pearls.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  49. If Bill Clinton was president he’d annex Croatia and take its president as a concubine.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  50. good point Mr. nk

    this was all planned out ahead of time, even before they had slutty coward Bob Mueller release his phony indictments

    if they couldn’t use what President Trump said

    the cnn poofterboys would be rending their vaginas about what he *didn’t* say

    all drains lead to the ocean you see

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  51. Obama was a community organizer in Chicago when those agreements were signed. It still doesn’t take away from the fact that Putin welshed on those deals.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad) — 7/16/2018 @ 4:06 pm

    You do realize that the Welsh are people worthy of dignity and making favorable trades with rubes?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  52. More fact checks on Trump in that press conference where he slobbered all over Putin.

    Trump implied that the FBI’s investigation was compromised by the Democratic National Committee’s refusal to turn over its servers. But the former FBI director testified last year that it did not hurt the investigation — a statement since supported by last week’s indictment against 12 Russian military intelligence agents.
    The president also claimed there were “missing” servers associated with a “Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC.” But the Justice Department has charged that man with bank fraud. It said there was “no evidence” to various allegations surrounding the case about stolen congressional equipment or documents.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  53. Obama’s dirty fingerprints are all over the many scandals that plagued his corrupt administration from start to finish. Here are a few from early on:

    Remember payoffs to Solendra or Shovel Ready Jobs or Cash for Clunkers?

    Or, how about murdered Border Patrol agents, remember Fast-n-Furious? Obama and Hillary wanted an excuse to blame gun violence on lax laws so they could push for draconian gun and ammo controls.

    What Barack and Hillary did was conspire with Eric Holder’s DOJ to encourage gun stores near our Southern border to sell hunderds of AR-15s and pistol variants to smugglers who delivered the guns to Mexican drug cartels. Then, all the high level White House gun runners had to do was sit back and wait for the cadavers to pile up.

    That bloodstained scam cost the life of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. His blood is on the hands of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, and their Democrat Party enablers.

    ropelight (9f4736)

  54. Jon Lovett

    Verified account

    @jonlovett
    1h1 hour ago
    More
    Tucker Carlson just said that Mexico is actually doing more to interfere with our elections than Russia because Mexico is trying to “pack our electorate.”

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  55. It said there was “no evidence” to various allegations surrounding the case about stolen congressional equipment or documents.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad) — 7/16/2018 @ 4:11 pm

    Short of swabbing DWS for DNA and nobody volunteered.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  56. the former FBI director is a lying p.o.s. named Jim Comey

    and he never investigated anything

    under his watch the corrupt FBI completely got out of the investigation business

    they simply exonerate their friends and frame their enemies

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  57. You do realize that the Welsh are people worthy of dignity and making favorable trades with rubes?

    I realize that words mean things.

    verb (used without object) Informal: Sometimes Offensive.
    1. to cheat by failing to pay a gambling debt:
    “You aren’t going to welsh on me, are you?”
    2. to go back on one’s word:
    “He welshed on his promise to help in the campaign.”

    Item 2 perfectly fits what Putin did.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  58. The Russian response is that after the US engineered regime change in Ukraine and their access to the Baltic was cut off, they had no choice.

    That is the Putin excuse. Russian territory was not threatened by the revolution that occurred in Ukraine. It was an internal Ukrainian matter, so there was no reason under the UN Charter or international law to invade and annex the territory of a sovereign state not named Russia. Oh, and Russia was cut off from neither the Baltic Sea nor the Black Sea by the Ukrainian revolution. The land lease of Sevastopol (with Russia as lessee and Ukraine as lessor) was unaffected by the change in power.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  59. B-b-b-b-but Gorsuch. And Kavanaugh!
    ______

    Dementia symptoms vary depending on the cause, but common signs and symptoms include:

    Cognitive changes

    •Memory loss, which is usually noticed by a spouse or someone else
    •Difficulty communicating or finding words
    •Difficulty reasoning or problem-solving
    •Difficulty handling complex tasks
    •Difficulty with planning and organizing
    •Difficulty with coordination and motor functions
    •Confusion and disorientation

    Psychological changes

    •Personality changes
    •Depression
    •Anxiety
    •Inappropriate behavior
    •Paranoia
    •Agitation
    •Hallucinations

    – source, mayoclinic.org

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  60. so you dismiss the awan hack that was of a secure data base,

    Putin is a Russian nationalist, that’s largely why at least half the nation despises him, there are a few holdouts like Stephen cohen that support him, he wants to reconstitute the old Russian empire, and the Caucasus, which involved at least four wars, is central to that,

    narciso (d1f714)

  61. After America’s wholesale slaughter of men women and children in iraq they really don’t have the moral standing to judge Russia almost entirely bloodless annexation of the Crimea.

    Putin has the same moral standing for taking the Crimean region of Ukraine as Saddam Hussein did for taking Kuwait.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  62. When English bookies couldn’t pay up they ran away (took it on the lam) to avoid debtor’s prisons. Most often they ran to nearby Wales: they were said to have gone to Wales or Welched on their bets.

    Note the different spelling.

    ropelight (9f4736)

  63. Putin has the same moral standing for taking the Crimean region of Ukraine as Saddam Hussein did for taking Kuwait.

    except when Putin did Crimea nobody in america really gave a lukewarm crap

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  64. I’m not trying to get anyone fired from their job but I will say there are bikini pictures of the Croatian President on the internets.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  65. Another Putin lie.

    “The Russian state has never interfered … into internal American affairs including election process.”

    Trump-appointed DNI Coats disputed that, and Putin’s comment is not much different from Trump’s lie that Putin’s meddling was a “made-up story”. Pants on Fire.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  66. You guys know it’s possible for all of these to be simultaneously true, right:

    * Hillary Clinton would have been a dismally bad President, seeped in Clintonian corruption from the get-go.
    * The Washington establishment, especially the media, hates Trump with a incendiary passion and blows everything out of proportion to make him look bad.
    * Trump’s first 18 months have been largely successful policy-wise, and even those of us who chose not to vote for him have reasons to be pleased.
    * Trump operates on a very clever level that isn’t always apparent to people who don’t see the method to his madness.
    * Trump stuck his fucking foot all the way into his mouth today with an embarrassing performance at the press conference.

    JVW (773988)

  67. Yeah, try telling the Gypsies that Gypped is spelled differently.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  68. this womanish obsession with Russia’s getting kind of creepy

    there’s not only no proof they did anything

    there’s even less proof they did anything effective

    especially when you compare their work to how forcefully the corrupt slimy hot and horny men and women of the fbi interfered with the election

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  69. There’s really no proof that Russia exists, actually. I mean, I’ve never been there.

    JVW (773988)

  70. Well, you guys are right. There’s a handy guide of ethnic slurs but no entry between West Islander and Wetback. But it is wiki

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  71. all of these to be simultaneously true

    * The Trump Admin has taken an exponentially harder line on Russia than idiot bush or slutbama the jew-hater

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  72. A cancer-addled McCain nails it.

    “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory. The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate. But it is clear that the summit in Helsinki was a tragic mistake.
    “President Trump proved not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin. He and Putin seemed to be speaking from the same script as the president made a conscious choice to defend a tyrant against the fair questions of a free press, and to grant Putin an uncontested platform to spew propaganda and lies to the world.
    “It is tempting to describe the press conference as a pathetic rout — as an illustration of the perils of under-preparation and inexperience. But these were not the errant tweets of a novice politician. These were the deliberate choices of a president who seems determined to realize his delusions of a warm relationship with Putin’s regime without any regard for the true nature of his rule, his violent disregard for the sovereignty of his neighbors, his complicity in the slaughter of the Syrian people, his violation of international treaties, and his assault on democratic institutions throughout the world.
    “Coming close on the heels of President Trump’s bombastic and erratic conduct towards our closest friends and allies in Brussels and Britain, today’s press conference marks a recent low point in the history of the American presidency. That the president was attended in Helsinki by a team of competent and patriotic advisers makes his blunders and capitulations all the more painful and inexplicable.
    “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. Not only did President Trump fail to speak the truth about an adversary; but speaking for America to the world, our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are — a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad. American presidents must be the champions of that cause if it is to succeed. Americans are waiting and hoping for President Trump to embrace that sacred responsibility. One can only hope they are not waiting totally in vain.”

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  73. I think the problem is the spoken word versus the written word. Like that guy in Porkies who thought the slur was “kite”.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  74. it’s the insistence on the other points, that is the tell, just like ignoring deeds like the routing of wagner corps at deir er zour, the javelin missiles and trainers to the Ukraine, too much looking backwards and not enough looking forward,

    but seriously what do want to do, you want to go to war with Russia over this kerfluffle, with this raggedy bunch of allies who are overwhelmed with knifings and acid burns, which have to deploy 100,000 troops to little effect, who drill with wooden rifles and only a third of their air support is active, at any one time?

    narciso (d1f714)

  75. There’s really no proof that Russia exists, actually. I mean, I’ve never been there.

    go back and look at the heavy-breathing orgasm CNN’s Jake Tapper fake news poofterboys had about facebook ads

    until he wanted to sabotage the summit that was the biggest feather in candy-ass bobby mueller’s cap

    About $100,000 was spent on Facebook ads, more than half of that after the November 2016 vote. The bulk of the remaining $46,000 in ads ran during the primaries. The majority of the ads did not even reference the election and got little traction.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  76. #TreasonSummit #Munich #Yalta #Versailles

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  77. leave it to a treasonous coward like disgraced navy turd John McCain to put his imprimatur on the idea that it’s ok for the lickspittle DOJ to time the release of phony wholly-political indictments so as to damage a summit

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  78. he’s even more dissipated and morally bankrupt than his drunk-ass abusive navy turd daddy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  79. 68… don’t disagree with that assessment, JVW l.

    Colonel Haiku (5fd258)

  80. Who is the first reporter to ask Chuck Schumer if he’s a Zionist puppet?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  81. I’d like to know more about the $400,000,000 in Russia-sourced money that John Brennan helped funnel to the Clinton campaign.

    That comes a lot closer to my definition of “treason.”

    ThOR (d25d69)

  82. I also think that the NeverTrumpers and their Dem and media operative allies conflating what the Russkies did with the claim that there were people in the Trump campaign who colluded with the Russkies and then behaving like they hadn’t done that over the course of the past 18 months is also at issue.

    Colonel Haiku (5fd258)

  83. Trump is not wrong. Putin may be a thug, but we do business with many thugs. But no others that have nuclear-tipped rockets which may be aimed at American cities. Enlarging NATO after 1989 was stupidity; America is not going to fight for al these new countries. And there are things where the US and Russia can work together.

    About treason-Clinton selling uranium and Obama babbling the Putin’s errand boy about his post-election flexibility; these were of no concern to then CIA boss John Brennan nor then FBI director Robert Mueller.

    Bugg (8aed21)

  84. Bill Browder is Anti-Russian sourced money. With a capital “A”. He is the main force behind the Magnitsky Act. The Russians have an Interpol Red Notice out on him and almost certainly vials of Novichuk and Polonium with his name on them. Putin was talking out his zhopa and not helping his case with people smarter than Don Junior. (Which is a lot.)

    nk (dbc370)

  85. I’d like to know more about the $400,000,000 in Russia-sourced money that John Brennan helped funnel to the Clinton campaign. That comes a lot closer to my definition of “treason.”

    It would be treasonous if true, but it’s not. First, the claim was against Bill Browder, not John Brennan. Bill Browder is a Brit (thus forbidden from making political donations) but his partners at Ziff Brothers are American. Browder gets credit for the passing of the Magnitsky Act, which enables the US to sanction bad-behaving Putineers. The money they gave to Clinton and the DNC was around $400,000, orders of magnitude less than Putin’s assertion. Putin was telling a bald-faced lie.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  86. “The Russian response is that after the US engineered regime change in Ukraine and their access to the Baltic was cut off, they had no choice.

    That is the Putin excuse. Russian territory was not threatened by the revolution that occurred in Ukraine. It was an internal Ukrainian matter, so there was no reason under the UN Charter or international law to invade and annex the territory of a sovereign state not named Russia. Oh, and Russia was cut off from neither the Baltic Sea nor the Black Sea by the Ukrainian revolution. The land lease of Sevastopol (with Russia as lessee and Ukraine as lessor) was unaffected by the change in power.”

    This may all be true. Gary Kasparov says much the same thing. But the citizens of the United State have had it with military adventures. US soldiers are not ever going to fight and die in Ukraine nor Crimea nor the Baltics. The only thing Obama got correct was not going into Syria, because after 2 plus decades of dead soldiers WE HAVE HAD IT.

    Bugg (8aed21)

  87. Maria Butina, Russian gun rights activist linked to NRA, charged as Kremlin agent

    “FBI counter-intelligence agents have arrested a 29-year-old Russian woman on charges she acted as a Kremlin agent while working over the past three years to build relationships in the upper ranks of the National Rifle Association.

    Maria Butina, the cofounder of the mysterious Russian gun-rights group called “Right to Bear Arms” who recently graduated with a master’s degree from American University, “took steps to develop relationships with American politicians in order to establish private, or as she called them, ‘back channel’ lines of communication,” according to an affidavit attached to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington on Saturday.

    “These lines could be used by the Russian Federation to penetrate the U.S. national decision-making apparatus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federation,” the affidavit reads, using Russia’s official country name.

    She is being held pending a hearing set for later this week, according to a Department of Justice press release. The case brought against her was not brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team, and it is not known whether it has any connection to the broader investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential campaign.

    Butina denied the charges through an attorney, who called the complaint against her “overblown” and said she “intends to defend her rights vigorously and looks forward to clearing her name.” According to Butina’s attorney, the FBI executed a search warrant at her Washington, D.C., apartment in April, and the affidavit states that agents searched her electronic devices, including her laptop and iPhone.

    “While styled as some sort of conspiracy, in actuality it describes a conspiracy to have a ‘friendship dinner’ … with a group of Americans and Russians to discuss foreign relations between the two countries – hardly a shocking development for a Russian International Relations student living in Washington,” Driscoll said. “There is simply no indication of Butina seeking to influence or undermine any specific policy or law in the United States – only to promote a better relationship between the two nations.”

    In the affidavit, however, the FBI alleges that Butina came to the U.S. under the direction of an unnamed Russian official, who based on the description, appears to be her longtime mentor, Alexander Torshin. A former member of the Russian parliament, Torshin is one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies and is now deputy governor of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

    Torshin is a lifetime member of the NRA and — until this past April, when he was included in a round of U.S. sanctions against Russian oligarchs – a frequent attendee of both NRA events and the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.

    Torshin and Butina accompanied several NRA board members on a December 2015 visit to Moscow, and Torshin sat at a dinner table with Donald Trump Jr. at the the May 2016 National Rifle Association convention. He and Butina also attended the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., where President Donald Trump was the keynote speaker.

    In one early exchange, Butina emailed the U.S. person in 2015 describing what she called the “central place and influence” the NRA enjoys in an unnamed political party as the “largest sponsor of the elections to the US congress, as well as a sponsor of The CPAC conference and other events.” The following year, the U.S. person emailed an acquaintance, saying “I’ve been involved in securing a VERY private line of communication between the Kremlin” and leaders of an unnamed political party through an unnamed gun rights organization. Shortly after, Butina exchanged messages with the Russian official on Twitter, in which they discussed strategy and impressed upon each other the importance of their work.

    “Time will tell,” Butina wrote. “We made our bet. I am following our game.” “No doubt,” the Russian official responded. “Of course we will win … And it is not about winning today’s fight (although we are striving for it) but to win the entire battle. This is the battle for the future, it cannot be lost! Or everyone will lose.”

    Butina actually crossed paths with both President Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., during the 2016 campaign, including a moment at the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas in July 2015 when she asked the Republican candidate directly about his views on U.S. sanctions against Russia.

    In recent months, Butina’s close ties to senior officials with the NRA have prompted criticism of the gun rights organization. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, led an effort to determine whether Russian nationals donated money to any offshoots of the NRA as part of any effort to influence American politics. The National Rifle Association has denied receiving money “from foreign persons or entities in connection with United States elections.” An NRA spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests from ABC News for comment regarding the charges against Butina.

    Critics of the controversial gun-rights group pounced on the fresh allegations.

    “The NRA has avoided explaining its ties to Putin for more than a year now,” John Feinblatt, President of Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News Monday. “That should end now that DOJ has charged a Russian national with deep ties to NRA leadership” with trying to infiltrate organizations to advance the interests of Russia.

    The recent arrest represents a sudden reversal of fortune for Butina. On May 12, Butina she was celebrating, donning a royal blue cap and gown as she accepted her diploma from American University, earning a degree in International Relations. According to her student profile, Butina focused on “Global Security” for the past two years. A webpage on American University’s website offered several details about the program, including developing a student’s ability to “analyze how different understandings of peace and security inform policy choices and ways of thinking about patterns of conflict.” -source ABCnews.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  88. I see the GRU is out in full force today. Not quite as coherently as normal, the vodka and caviar after the celebration must have been a bit early.

    Biff Radukowski (6e7a1c)

  89. And today we learn that the feds have arrested a Putin spy.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  90. How do we know Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t a Russian agent?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  91. I noted the pics you mentioned pin,

    Narciso (b3a3ad)

  92. How does preserving the RTKABA help Russia?

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  93. Comrade Bugg chased by Men In Black.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  94. First, the claim was against Bill Browder, not John Brennan

    Not quite.

    PUTIN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): …But in this case, there is a — there’s another condition. This kind of effort should be a mutual one. Then we would expect that the Americans would reciprocate, and that they would question officials, including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence service of the United States, whom we believe are — who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia, and we have to — to request the presence of our law enforcement.

    For instance, we can bring up the Mr. Browder in this particular case. Business associates of Mr. Browder have earned over $1.5 billion in Russia. They never paid any taxes, neither in Russia nor in the United States, and yet the money escaped the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent huge amount of money, $400 million as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton. Well, that’s the personal case. It might have been legal, the contribution itself, but the way the money was earned was illegal.

    So we have a solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers accompanied and guided these transactions. So we have a — an interest of questioning them. We can all — that — that could be a first step, and we can also extend it. Options abound, and they all can be found in an appropriate legal framework.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  95. The Croatian President could win Miss Universe if she was a tranny, mr narciso.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  96. Yeah, why is that cowardly Trump trying to be Diplomatic?

    Hey, we all the cards. Sure Russia has 10,000 nuclear warheads, and we cant’ stop them militarily marching into any of the USSR’s former Republics, and we need their help in ending the Syrian Civil war, and dealing with Iran and NK.

    But. Who cares about that? We’re the Boss, and Trump should’ve punched Putin the snout.

    What a craven disgrace! If only we’d elected Hillary and her “reset button”.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  97. Is it just me, or does the scale of the alleged Russian meddling seem remarkably small? Between the two rounds of Mueller indictments, I find myself thinking “Is that it?” Not that I am an Obama fan, but his decision to blow off Russian election intrusion makes a lot of sense given the remarkably small scale – as with anything else, you pick your battles.

    My guess is that foreign nationals, foreign governments, foreign corporations and other foreign entities from around the globe all participate in subverting our electoral process. We all know that China funneled money to Bill Clinton’s election machine (Does the name Johnny Chung ring a bell?). And, of course, the Clinton Foundation is nothing more than a portal for foreign bribes. Yet we are supposed to fret over a few Facebook accounts and a fraudulent email message sent to John Podesta that he was foolish enough to open?

    ThOR (d25d69)

  98. Bill Browder’s grandpa was the Head of Communist Party USA and lived in Stalin’s Russia – and loved it.

    What’s his beef with Putin? Too democratic?

    rcocean (1a839e)

  99. I don’t know what the New York Times hates worse, Xenophobia or Russians.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  100. Seriously, why are we STILL talking about the 2016 campaign?

    Time to move on, my friends. And I’m looking at you, Mr. Mueller.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  101. I don’t follow “football” but the impression I got is that America sucked too much at it to even qualify to have boycotted The World Cup in Russia.

    Next time around when the French Women’s team wins they can all pull their burkas off in triumph.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  102. It is an odd world, one in which the CIA has done more than the GRU to undermine our government and our political process.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  103. In today’s press conference, we see the two men who are better aware of this than most anyone watching.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  104. Well, the US didn’t qualify this year, but we were in the world cup 4 years ago, and will host it in 2026.

    The US women have won the title 3 times and are the favorites next year.

    Biff Radukowski (6e7a1c)

  105. None dare call ot treason… except for Paul and a few other excitable types…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  106. 89… that’s a two-fer. Two of their enemies… a Russkie and teh NRA.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  107. I can’t believe Trump is skeptical about our intelligence agencies. Especially after Schumer warned him intel officials ‘have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you’.

    Warned, threatened, whatever.

    That gurgling you hear isn’t Brennan…well, not just Brennan, that’s the sound of a swamp being drained.

    lee (6c3294)

  108. That gurgling you hear isn’t Brennan…well, not just Brennan, that’s the sound of a swamp being drained.

    No. It’s the sound of ‘precious bodily fluids’ from Uncle Sam shot on Fifth Avenue:

    http://www.nydailynews.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  109. Straphangers see it better on the front page of da Daily Nooz: http://www.nydailynews.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  110. I would never think of asking any of you to believe a word Hillary Clinton says. Well, maybe one. Just one word….

    “Puppet”

    noel (96c84f)

  111. An oldy but goody from the Diplomad.

    The most interesting part? (At least to me)

    Is there foreign interference in our elections? You bet.

    The biggest offender? Not Russia, but Mexico. Mexican officials publicly called on Mexicans in the US to oppose Trump; Mexico’s over fifty–yes, fifty–consulates in the US (here) are hot beds of political activity and activism. Millions of illegal and legal aliens largely from Mexico and Central America vote, yes vote. [there’s your win for Hillary in the popular vote-lee] We need to have an in-depth investigation into Mexico’s interference in our elections, an interference that goes well beyond revealing embarrassing DNC texts.

    There. That’s an investigation the GOP should endorse, and the new SecState should take up the issue of Mexican interference in our elections.

    lee (6c3294)

  112. Is this what the Russian agent had in mind?

    The first female president of the National Rifle Association filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against a selection of online harassers who she says crossed a line.

    Marion Hammer, 79, head of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, the state’s NRA affiliate, filed suit against four men in a Tallahassee federal court on Friday, seeking damages stemming from harassment and threats from the men received in the days following the tragic shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The 129-page lawsuit says that among the scores of profane remarks and graphic images Hammer has received over the past several months, urged by groups such as End the NRA, a few rose to the surface.

    Guns.com

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  113. Guns belong in the hands of the government only

    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/07/for-trump-the-political-is-personal.php

    Narciso (b3a3ad)

  114. Putin gave Trump one of his balls for Melania to fondle.

    Not to worry; he still has two left, Captain, sir!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  115. What is this the second show, ASPCA? Joke flopped the first time, you wannabe washed-up comedienne.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  116. A meeting where one thing was promised to get them there, but wasn’t produced, they saw they’d been suckered and ended it. That’s your smoking gun?

    First, we only have the accounts of the parties to the conspiracy about what transpired at the meeting in furtherance of it. Taking their word is like taking Lynch and Bubba’s word for what was discussed on the tarmac.

    Second, the avowed purpose of the meeting was to do precisely the thing that Trump denies ever doing in any way, shape or form (soliciting and receiving election aid from Russian intelligence operatives). The fact is that Trump’s caporegimes leapt at an opportunity to recruit people who were explicitly described as being Russian government officials into the campaign’s service. The very first contact said:

    The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.

    This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump

    Uday’s response?

    if it’s what you say I love it

    So, yes, that’s a smoking gun right there. They are guilty as hell.

    Dave (445e97)

  117. Commie Brennan is a nut.

    mg (0d66b4)

  118. The media Is taking on the stench of occupy Wall Street

    mg (0d66b4)

  119. Hey Dana

    mg (0d66b4)

  120. 114 Hillary had at least one known illegal on her payroll and illegals canvassing for her were interviewed by the news. For some reason foreign meddling in elections is ok when it’s helping Democrats.

    Nate Ogden (223c65)

  121. TrumpWorld is taking on the stench of Walter Duranty.

    Dave (445e97)

  122. Over at anti-military democratic underground the clintonistas are calling for a military coup! since they don’t own guns themselves!

    wendell (884127)

  123. “In a disturbing declaration during Monday’s CNN Newsroom following President Trump’s controversial press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN analyst and former CIA/FBI official Philip Mudd called for a self-appointed “shadow government” to step forward and counter the democratically elected one. He then had the audacity to complain about “Trumpianism” fighting Americanism.”

    My His Name is Mudd

    His name is Mudd
    Not to be confused with Anderson or Jake or Jim
    His name is Mudd and it’s always been
    ‘Cause he’s the most boring sons-a-b*tch you ever heard
    He dress in blue- red white and blue
    From head to toe he’s rather drab except his patent shoes
    He make ’em shine, well most the time
    ‘Cept today his mouth is trod upon by those feets of his
    Clubbed and foul they smell as rude as hell
    He got to get them in the tub before folks wake up their sense of smell
    His name is Mudd
    His name is Mudd,
    But call him Phillip Alowishus NevahTrumpy
    That’s long for Mudd, so he been told
    Told that by this sonsabitch that lies before him stale and cold
    He got his pride, he drinks his wine
    He’d drink the finest except he hasn’t earned a dime in several months
    Or were it years
    The breath on Jim Acosta could bring any man to tears
    They had their words, a common spat
    So he kissed him upside the cranium with an aluminum baseball bat
    His name is Mudd

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  124. ConDave World is taking on teh stench of Philip Mudd.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  125. *yawn*

    “Shadow governments” (which hold no real power, but are intended to present alternative policy choices) are common in many parliamentary systems, including Britain and Canada.

    Dave (445e97)

  126. =Haikuski! Gesundheit!=

    Cacklin’ Colonel Commie; it’s no joke at all.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  127. No pallets of cash.

    mg (0d66b4)

  128. Notorious NeverTrumper Newt Gingrich on today’s surrender summit:

    President Trump must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and Putin. It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected—-immediately.

    It’s nice to see that Newt still has some shred of loyalty to his country.

    Needless to say, Mittens is not pleased:

    President Trump’s decision to side with Putin over American intelligence agencies is disgraceful and detrimental to our democratic principles. Russia remains our number one geopolitical adversary; claiming a moral equivalence between the United States and Russia not only defies reason and history, it undermines our national integrity and impairs our global credibility.

    Dave (445e97)

  129. This is what happened to R. R.
    The media hated R. R. as much as they hate Trump

    mg (0d66b4)

  130. I’d hate to be a puppy around mittens at this point in time

    mg (0d66b4)

  131. Mostly mg, disco is still running the same 8 track tape re the gipper, the day after threads testament all came out when i was in middle school

    Narciso (b3a3ad)

  132. Wonder how much nuke stuff Putin could sell to the highest bidder?

    mg (0d66b4)

  133. Most Americans know that whatever some people think of Trump, with all the work he’s done the first 18 months of his term, he loves this country.

    The Derp State and NeverTrump has a lot invested in “teh Russkies control Trump” and they desperately need to continue that line of horseschiff. I wonder what other countries think when they read and hear allegedly intelligent people talk of coups and a shadow government takeover? Scummy sonsab*tches.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  134. I’m sure Brennan and the rest of these questionable schiffheels would like nothing better than to distract attention away from their incompetence and malfeasance.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  135. Very well crafted, as always, Dana. Thank you.

    This is a genuinely sad day. This is the DJT whom Pat and others have warned about. I have never seen him have so little energy as when he approached the podium for the presser. He looked like he had been worked over. I felt as if he came to a difficult realization as to VP that all the charm in the world would grease the skids. VP is going to be an ongoing and intractable problem. Truly tough choices will be necessary. There will be no accepting/swallowing Russian crap and declaring it delicious.

    His interviews with Hannity and Carlson similarly betrayed a defeatist DJT. His relatively weak poker hand was called by a master holding good cards. In poker terms, DJT is on tilt. Ruh roh.

    DJT has never played well when he has been cornered as he now is. That makes him dangerous.

    Side observation: Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is remarking why Germany (and France) are in such an energy pickle that they are now utterly helpless before the Russian bear. They moronically gave in to the greens and eliminated nuclear power, which provided a yoooooge portion of electricity. Any chance they beg for American coal to help make up their deficit? 🙂 Anyway, the West has handed Putin a massive tool to wield against it. Evil never can rise of its own. It always requires good folks to assist.

    Ed from SFV (6d42fa)

  136. I wonder when London bookmakers will have odds on how long until Trump is assasinated? And by what body of government.

    mg (0d66b4)

  137. 133.I’d hate to be a puppy around mittens at this point in time

    But love to be a puppet around Putin at this point in time.

    He’s recruiting.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  138. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is remarking why Germany (and France) are in such an energy pickle that they are now utterly helpless before the Russian bear. They moronically gave in to the greens and eliminated nuclear power, which provided a yoooooge portion of electricity

    One person did:

    Trump, NATO Summit Exposed Germany’s Natural Gas Problem

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/judeclemente/2018/07/15/trump-nato-summit-exposed-germanys-natural-gas-problem/

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  139. TrumpWorld’s ability to unquestioningly believe two completely incompatible things at the same time is an unceasing source of entertainment. Pavlovian stimulus/response conditioning has by now completely eliminated whatever facility for independent, rational thought they might have once possessed.

    For instance:

    1) “There was no Russian attack!”

    2) “It’s Obama’s fault for not stopping it!”

    Dave (445e97)

  140. There are real issues with the alliances putin has with thecastro bro with ortega with the bumblebee jacket wearing loon, in caracas, with the Syrians and their threats to Israel, how many reporters know about any of this or even care?

    narciso (d1f714)

  141. Funny there was no outrage, talk of treason, and calls for impeachment back when:

    Obama on Putin meddling in our election: “He denies it. So the idea that somehow public shaming is gonna be effective, I think doesn’t read the thought process in Russia very well.”

    lee (6c3294)

  142. Just google “trump clinton puppet debate”. Or look on youtube. Spot on. And, after today…. chilling.

    noel (96c84f)

  143. Go get your blankie, noel.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  144. “He denies it. So the idea that somehow public shaming is gonna be effective, I think doesn’t read the thought process in Russia very well.”

    Quote dishonestly taken out of context.

    Obama didn’t deny that the Russian attack took place. Trump (the beneficiary) did.

    Obama also wasn’t saying that nothing should be done in response. He was saying that the Russians would have simply denied what they were doing, if high profile accusations had been made during the election campaign.

    The full quote:

    “And I know that there have been folks out there who suggest somehow that if we went out there and made big announcements and thumped our chests about a bunch of stuff, that somehow that would potentially spook the Russians,” he said. “And I should point out by the way, part of why the Russians have been effective on this is because they don’t go around announcing what they’re doing. It’s not like Putin’s gone around the world publicly saying, ‘Look what we did. Wasn’t that clever?’ He denies it. So the idea that somehow public shaming is gonna be effective, I think doesn’t read the — the thought process in Russia very well.”

    Dave (445e97)

  145. Sure Dave.

    lee (6c3294)

  146. I understand Obama’s decision to exercise caution, but I strongly disagree with it.

    I think he should have counter-attacked the installation(s) in Moscow from which the attacks were launched, or otherwise rendered a significant number of the attackers KIA.

    This was a Rhineland type situation. Putin was gambling from a position of unimaginable weakness. We hold all the cards (or did, before Trump alienated our allies), and escalation would have only made things worse for Russia.

    (I am assuming we had sufficient information at the time to make a surgical counter-attack; if we did not, then of course that would strengthen the argument for restraint)

    Dave (445e97)

  147. Lee, according to Donald Trump, there was no Russian attack.

    How was Obama supposed to stop something that didn’t occur?

    Dave (445e97)

  148. 136.Most Americans know that whatever some people think of Trump, with all the work he’s done the first 18 months of his term, he loves this country.

    =Haikuskimov! Gesundheit!=

    Most Americans know that whatever some people think of Trump, with all the work he’s done after every 18 holes so far of his term, he loves Trump.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  149. @138. This is a genuinely sad day. This is the DJT whom Pat and others have warned about.

    B-b-b-but Gorsich. And Kavanaugh.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  150. Peter Strzok: I’m no security expert but I did stay in a Marriott last night:

    Two security experts from the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory drove to San Antonio, Texas, in March 2017 with a sensitive mission: to retrieve dangerous nuclear materials from a nonprofit research lab there.

    Their task was to ensure that the radioactive materials did not fall into the wrong hands on the way back to Idaho, where the government maintains a stockpile of nuclear explosive materials for the military and others.

    To ensure they got the right items, the specialists from Idaho brought radiation detectors and small samples of dangerous materials to calibrate them: specifically, a plastic-covered disk of plutonium, a material that can be used to fuel nuclear weapons, and another of cesium, a highly radioactive isotope that could potentially be used in a so-called “dirty” radioactive bomb.

    But when they stopped at a Marriott hotel just off Highway 410, in a high-crime neighborhood filled with temp agencies and ranch homes, they left those sensors on the back seat of their rented Ford Expedition. When they awoke the next morning, the window had been smashed and the special valises holding these sensors and nuclear materials had vanished.

    Idaho Statesman

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  151. This is what happened to R. R.
    The media hated R. R. as much as they hate Trump

    mg (0d66b4) — 7/16/2018 @ 7:18 pm

    They forgot how much they loved to hate Reagan when there was no internet.

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  152. Taking their word is like taking Lynch and Bubba’s word for what was discussed on the tarmac.

    So, you call the one version you prefer “evidence” and the other version “lies” and expect to be taken seriously?

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  153. …called for a self-appointed “shadow government” to step forward…

    But that Deep State you hear about is all lies. Lies, I tell you!

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  154. This is what happened to R. R.
    The media hated R. R. as much as they hate Trump

    But Reagan knew how to make it stick anyway. The press instantly called Reykjavik a failure, yet a year later the Soviets are agreeing to dismantle nukes. He won the Cold War, cut tax rates from 70% to 28%, stabilized the dollar and opened up the world for capitalism, all with an opposition Congress.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  155. We’ll have to wait to see what Trump does vs. what he said. If I was a sharp elbowed competitor of Trump’s I’d be more interested in why he was being so flattering… it’d be easier if he was full of snarling bluff and bluster… whats his angle?

    Trump isn’t an idiot. He’s moved through some pretty complex real estate fights with competitors, judges, cities, unions, mobs, nations, corruption. Sharks all. Lesser persons have been fleeced.

    Not saying Trump is reading this right, but I think his instincts are telling Trump that he’ll get further with Putin via flattery than by acting like a hard ass. Trump has a few very big sticks at his disposal. He can put people to work to hurt Russia’s economy, he can embarrass its supposed high tech military equipment on the world stage (Syria), and he can do all that by proxy. Trump can bait them into a modern “Star Wars”/Space Force arms race that they can’t win (our private space capabilities exceed that of Putins entire operation) The whole time this is going on Trump can flip flop between being totally magnanimous or gruff.

    Whatever way it goes, Russia won’t win. Right now they are fighting to stay relevant, so treat them as irrelevant and somewhat annoying, but ultimately inconsequential

    steveg (a9dcab)

  156. So we have a solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers accompanied and guided these transactions.

    Then Putin should actually produce some evidence, and he won’t because he’s trying convey that there’s some sort of equivalence between US and Kremlin intelligence. And the $400 million from Browder to Clinton is still a bald-faced lie.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  157. “Trump-appointed DNI Coats disputed that, and Putin’s comment is not much different from Trump’s lie that Putin’s meddling was a “made-up story”. Pants on Fire.”

    Intel agencies who want to maintain cooperative relationships with other intel agencies will take the party line on public intel. They are not ‘operating independently’ or ‘replicating results’ or even ‘examining server and router logs’. They’re giving corporate attaboys from one corporation to another, and you all know how useful those are.

    “This was a Rhineland type situation. Putin was gambling from a position of unimaginable weakness. We hold all the cards (or did, before Trump alienated our allies), and escalation would have only made things worse for Russia.”

    Amazing…somehow you’ve synthesized the talking points of both the dumbest liberals denouncing George W. Bush for being an ally alienator and the dumbest neocons painting everything as STOPPING HITLER AT CZECHOSLOVAKIA. Well, I’m afraid we can’t let your ambitions to dominate the world rule the discourse, Dave.

    “I am assuming we had sufficient information at the time to make a surgical counter-attack; if we did not, then of course that would strengthen the argument for restraint”

    Maybe also step back and ask why we were still in Eastern Europe greater than 20 years after the fall of Communism and why first of all, and ‘PROTECTING ARE HOLY IDEAL, DEMOCRACY’ doesn’t cut it.

    Computer Wizard (18535a)

  158. “Then Putin should actually produce some evidence”

    ‘Putin must PROVE A NEGATIVE before we give up our bloodthirsty ambitions’ yeah no, I’m perfectly content to hold him to DOJ standards (we talked to all our dudes and didn’t look at any computers and it’s perfectly fine, dude.)

    I mean it’s nice that you pay lil’ Vlad the respect of holding him to evidentiary standards that you wouldn’t dream of for, say, Pakistani House IT directors and DNC servers but he’s not actually that powerful.

    Computer Wizard (5ddea6)

  159. Look at how Trump handles our other competitor Xi of China, “great relationship” oh and by the way here’s a nice tariff or sanctioned materials on a piece of your country that’s now out of work. China is vulnerable because of how they consolidate labor forces and industries. Take the plants that manufacture electronic products with 100,000 workers rotating through “hot cot” dorms as an example. Grind those to a halt and you’ve got a instant 100,000 unemployed and the 200,000 or so who depend on them also without jobs. Multiply that through out a business “district” and in some areas way smaller than LA you could get a million unemployed almost overnight. Even the Chinese will start throwing rocks.

    Trump can be mr nice guy and say” hey we need to save the jobs at ZTE my bad, ooopsie on those sanctions, shame what nearly happened to a nice industry”

    steveg (a9dcab)

  160. None dare call ot treason… except for Paul and a few other excitable types…

    Except I didn’t call it treason, Colonel. Pretty sloppy on your part.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  161. Actually it is muellers,brief to prove:

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/989809/brexit-news-theresa-may-ERG-amendments-vote-parliament-summer-recess

    Now just so You, neocons didn’t always believe military intervention was a first resort, in case you are using this as a stand in for jews

    Narciso (b3a3ad)

  162. Um there’s actually a police report in the as an case, like in any real breakin,

    Narciso (b3a3ad)

  163. “TrumpWorld’s ability to unquestioningly believe two completely incompatible things at the same time is an unceasing source of entertainment. Pavlovian stimulus/response conditioning has by now completely eliminated whatever facility for independent, rational thought they might have once possessed.

    For instance:

    1) “There was no Russian attack!”

    2) “It’s Obama’s fault for not stopping it!””

    TRUMP SUPPORTERS CAN’T EVEN INTO BASIC LOGIC, HOW COULD THESE TWO STRAWMAN POSITIONS I JUST CONVENIENTLY MISQUOTED FOR YOU LIKE A NORMAL PERSON BOTH BE TRUE, WELL THEY AREN’T BECAUSE THEY CAN’T, NOW BELIEVE ANYTHING I TELL YOU ABOUT A COUNTRY MOST OF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT!!!

    Back in Normal People Land “Why didn’t Obama stop it” can also be answered with “he did nothing because there was nothing verifiable happening, and all this Russia hysteria now is a terribly constructed bad-faith argument shouted from the media rooftops by terribly faithless people who are very likely guilty of something like it themselves and are activating all of their sympathetic media contacts to push this mendacious lie while they try to regain power.”

    A ‘witch hunt’, if you will.

    Computer Wizard (22505b)

  164. Intel agencies who want to maintain cooperative relationships with other intel agencies will take the party line on public intel. They are not ‘operating independently’ or ‘replicating results’ or even ‘examining server and router logs’. They’re giving corporate attaboys from one corporation to another, and you all know how useful those are.

    Three times I read that paragraph and it still doesn’t make a lick of sense. Intel agencies between hostile powers at least operate by some rules, and they may cooperate at times, but what Putin did in 2016 was UNPRECEDENTED, and Coats couldn’t be communicating more clearly that this cyber warfare is not abating.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  165. ‘Putin must PROVE A NEGATIVE before we give up our bloodthirsty ambitions’ yeah no, I’m perfectly content to hold him to DOJ standards (we talked to all our dudes and didn’t look at any computers and it’s perfectly fine, dude.)

    That’s a weird answer. Putin accused our intelligence agencies of…something, so it’s on him to make his case. It’s that basic.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  166. You should sit down and write that damn Putin a letter, Paul. Give him a piece of your mind.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  167. The always astute Andrew McCarthy has the clearest view of who has empowered the Ruskies and harmed American interests in the past few days and it isn’t President Trump:

    “If Mueller indicts every one of them(all 144 million Russian citizens), his stats will look really impressive . . . and there will still be no Trump conspiracy against the election. . . . What there will be, though, is a new international order in which nation-states are encouraged to file criminal charges against each other’s officials for actions deemed to be provocative (or, more accurately, actions that can be exploited for domestic political purposes). Of all government officials in the world, American officials are the most active on the global stage — and that includes meddling in other countries’ elections. I doubt our diplomats, intelligence operatives, elected officials, and citizens will much like living in the world Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein have given us. If the idea was to give Vladimir Putin and his thug regime a new way to sabotage the United States, nice work.”

    These are the wages of anti-Trump hysteria. Thank you all.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  168. “Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is remarking why Germany (and France) are in such an energy pickle that they are now utterly helpless before the Russian bear. They moronically gave in to the greens and eliminated nuclear power, which provided a yoooooge portion of electricity.”

    They gave in because America has very unwisely kept them as dependents long past the end-of-Cold-War sell-by date, and they thus have little to no experience standing up to either domestic leftists or Russians pulling an Enron. But they will have to learn sometime, and Trump time is as good as any to stop sniffing NATO glue.

    “Russia remains our number one geopolitical adversary”

    Absolute bollocks in a world where China exists and I’m extremely glad in retrospect that Mitt Romney wasn’t there to cement the reputation of a Republican party as a wholly-owned subsidiary of permanent Cold Warriors before Trump came to power. The strong man can weigh threats and see that China is easily the global threat, the weak manager barks loudly only at easy, ‘achievable’ targets like Russia to avoid having to confront the harsh truths of who actually runs the world (and probably pays his salary.)

    Computer Wizard (18535a)

  169. “Three times I read that paragraph and it still doesn’t make a lick of sense. Intel agencies between hostile powers at least operate by some rules, and they may cooperate at times, but what Putin did in 2016 was UNPRECEDENTED, and Coats couldn’t be communicating more clearly that this cyber warfare is not abating.”

    All of the intel agencies I was talking about are in the US (CIA, NSA, State, etc.) And careerism is a far more formidable force in these public declaration than any desire to PROTECT AMERICA.

    “I doubt our diplomats, intelligence operatives, elected officials, and citizens will much like living in the world Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein have given us. If the idea was to give Vladimir Putin and his thug regime a new way to sabotage the United States, nice work.”

    The woman they arrested was literally guilty of trying to create a diplomatic back channel, which would be a really handy thing to have in case of, say, nuclear emergency. The butt-hurt mid-level career bureaucrats doing things like leaking private phone conversations between world leaders and burning our established contacts (to follow on from journalists taking the privacy of their sources and wiping their rear ends with it) is the only truly unprecedented thing in the Trump era. Though I suppose the #NeverTrumpers would immediately declaim with something like ‘CAN YOU BELIEVE THESE PATRIOTIC PUBLIC SERVANTS FELT IT *NECESSARY* TO LEAK THESE THINGS’ like the career goalpost-shifters and insubordinate excuse-makers they are.

    Computer Wizard (db4093)

  170. You should sit down and write that damn Putin a letter, Paul. Give him a piece of your mind.

    If that’s your odd way of acknowledging that I never used the word “treason”, well, okay, I guess.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  171. In the press conference Trump drove a Russian tank over his Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats: “My people came to me, [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it’s Russia,” Trump said. “I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

    Donald Trump has become the “blame America First President.” Leading Republicans (and many of the above) sound like the left-wing moral relativists of the 1980s. Ronald Reagan and Jeane J. Kirkpatrick are turning in their graves:

    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who chairs the Europe subcommittee on Foreign Relations, said after returning from a July Fourth visit to Moscow that Congress overreacted to Russia’s interference in our elections. “I’ve been pretty upfront that the election interference — as serious as that was and unacceptable — is not the greatest threat to our democracy,” he told the conservative Washington Examiner. “We’ve blown it way out of proportion — [as if it’s] the greatest threat to democracy . . . We need to really honestly assess what actually happened, what effect did it have, and what effect are our sanctions actually having, positively and negatively.”

    ….

    “Most countries would meddle and play in our domestic elections if they could, and some of them have,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said recently. “We have to be realistic [that] nations are going to do what is in their [national] interest. We’ve done a lot of things, too.”

    Shelby, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, made that comment to the Examiner as he prepared to lead a delegation of Senate Republicans on a CODEL to Russia. The group was in Moscow when the Senate Intelligence Committee published a bipartisan report that validated the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in 2016 election on the personal orders of Putin.

    It’s hard to be surprised anymore, but it is nonetheless surreal to read quotes from Republican senators that sound like they might have been uttered instead by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn or Chalmers Johnson. Conservatives like Jeane Kirkpatrick hammered peacenik liberals for this sort of relativism during the Cold War. Republicans used to be the ones who not only espoused American exceptionalism but accused Democrats of acting like the United States was just another name on the United Nations roster, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe.

    As Ronald Reagan told the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983, “I urge you to beware the temptation of … blithely declaring yourselves above it all and to label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire.”

    Trump, who took out full-page newspaper ads to attack Reagan’s foreign policy during the 1980s (even as it was winning the Cold War), has remade the Republican Party in his image over the past three years. The president has shown a consistent impulse to blame “both sides.”

    (Senator Rand) Paul’s comments on the Sunday shows were deeply revealing. The senator was adamant that he was not engaging in moral equivalency, but he suggested multiple times that the Kremlin was reacting to U.S. policy. Among the supposed provocations: Hillary Clinton calling for free and fair elections in Russia when she was secretary of state. “One of the reasons they really didn’t like Hillary Clinton,” he told Tapper on CNN, “is they found her responsible for some of the activity by the U.S. in their elections under the Obama administration.”

    RipMurdock (cd2398)

  172. Can’t put it any better than this:

    “By meeting to talk to Putin and lay ground for peace Trump BETRAYED the Real America (i.e., the 80% of the USA govt beholden to China, Saudi Arabia, various petty ethnic resentments, oligarchs, spooks and NGO’s who stand to lose status, power, influence, deals)”

    Anyone who doesn’t analyze USGov (or indeed just about any gov today) in this manner is a neophyte who probably believes that newspapers are written to sell news instead of ads:

    http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

    Computer Wizard (891693)

  173. The image on the July 17 front page of Donald Trump’s hometown paper says it all; George Pal’s Puppetoons couldn’t have depicted it better:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/new-york-daily-news-front-pages-2018-gallery-1.37328996

    It’s one thing for our Captain to routinely sh!t on his own reputation. But on the world stage today our Captain choked and puked on us all; he disgraced what the United States stands for and befouled what generations of our citizens have fought and died for.

    Sad.

    “‘Despicable!’ That the first time in my life anybody’s ever applied that word to me…” – Gen. George S. Patton [George C. Scott] ‘Patton’ 1970

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  174. ‘Open Treason’: Daily News Front Page Shows Trump Shooting Uncle Sam

    http://www.heavy.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  175. “As Ronald Reagan told the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983”

    “Conservatives like Jeane Kirkpatrick hammered peacenik liberals for this sort of relativism during the Cold War.”

    SPOILER: That war ended decisively in 1989, much to the chagrin of the ‘Oceania must always be at war with Eurasia, our JOBS depend on it!!!” camp.

    Also:

    “Trump, who took out full-page newspaper ads to attack Reagan’s foreign policy during the 1980s (even as it was winning the Cold War)”

    TRUMP *TREASONOUSLY* CRITICIZED THE HIGH COST OF A TRADE POLICY AND ASKED FOR MORE MONEY FROM THE PEOPLE WE WERE PROTECTING, THIS IS AN *ATTACK* ON REAGAN’S FOREIGN POLICY EVEN THOUGH HE WAS ONE OF REAGAN’S GREATEST BACKERS AND MUST BE MET WITH A FULL RETROACTIVE MILITARY STRIKE ON TRUMP TOWER yeah how about you delete this source from your page history and never reference anything from it again, in face, don’t reference anything but primary sources for a week.

    “If that’s your odd way of acknowledging that I never used the word “treason”, well, okay, I guess.”

    I would strongly advise against it, as it’s heard almost exclusively on the lips of Republicans who lost national elections and influence and are still mad they don’t get to make the rules anymore. Declaring your alliance with them is akin to declaring your alliance with the Ba’ath party post-2003. Hope the process of clearing them out won’t be nearly as expensive or bloody!

    Computer Wizard (1b566d)

  176. Step It Up, America! President Trump Says We’re Also To Blame For Strained Relations With Russia

    And to think he’s been preparing his whole life for this.

    Thank you, Wharton.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  177. Even Trump’s own people are embarrassed by his embarrassing Eurotrip.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  178. “Even Trump’s own people are embarrassed”

    “The president, former advisers say”

    “a senior Trump political appointee who works on issues surrounding Russian disinformation efforts” (LOL okay so his job depends on hyping it up)

    “one former senior White House official”

    Resignations of non-Democrat-connected individuals or it didn’t happen.

    Computer Wizard (158371)

  179. Michael Anton’s cancellation ‘because HE COULDN’T DEFEND TRUMP’ was of course, fake news:

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DiRfbOAV4AAdVZM.jpg

    Computer Wizard (e6ec7d)

  180. Turnpike Troubadours – “Before The Devil Knows We’re Dead” – HearYa Live Session 7/19/13

    Pinandpuller (006ace)

  181. Less popular then trump. media. congress, neo-cons intelligence establishment fbi/mueller and never trumpers. this will be forgotten in a week. I haven’t read anyone demanding a military coup in hours.

    wendell (572489)

  182. I think it’s treasonous to want a President, any President, to fail in foreign relations, and to do your best to sabotage him so that he does fail, and I’m talking about Mueller and the #FakeNews Democrat Media.

    The gleeful chortlers, here, probably let the air out of their own cars’ tires before they set off on a road trip, too.

    nk (dbc370)

  183. Except no good was going to come out of Obama:

    narciso (d1f714)

  184. From Poland to the streets of Tehran, to the villages in Honduras to the bleeding deserts in libya

    https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/17/diplomacy-101-vs-politics-writ-small/

    narciso (d1f714)

  185. No, even when the dipstick in Ukraine let the Russians tape her saying “F*ck the EU” and then published it, I wanted Obama to succeed in ousting Yanukovych and installing a pro-Western government. I was upset at the consequent chaos, not gleeful about it because it made Obama look bad. Sh!t like that was how we got Trump.

    nk (dbc370)

  186. As it turns out, he did little because he needed Russia on board fir the Rhodes road show. C rations and hashtags

    narciso (d1f714)

  187. Those “gleeful chortlers” can chortle my ballz

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  188. nk:

    What is you believe that Trump’s success in getting his foreign policy accomplished is a failure for the United States, and will harm its interests? Or that playing cutie footsie with WikiLeaks is only going to hurt America, and yet some super-Trumpers certainly were willing to do that. I do want those people to fail, and do so in a way that will make it difficult for them to try it again, and will do so in a way that others will NOT be wanting to follow in their footsteps. In other words — there are times when I want to see people mocked, and made fun of. If you are going to compare and contrast the work of our security agencies with Vlad’s firm denials — well, please look stupid doing so, and bring disgrace and scorn upon yourself. Because I really don’t want your kind to ever rise again.

    This isn’t the same thing as running stupid speculative garbage in Vox about how the world would have been better off without a United States, or football players taking an ignorant knee at a football game. It isn’t even Mueller being a little too transparent in his motives in indicting a bunch of people who will never stand trial at an extremely convenient moment.

    We have a President who is bad for our country. Our country has got to find a legal way to deal with it. Mockery and chortling at his failures is going to be part of the package.

    Appalled (96665e)

  189. President Trump’s revealing all the people what are eager to ally with treasonous corrupt CIA FBI sluts

    trash like pedophile Mitt Romney and coward-lick John McCain and the increasingly-diminutive Marco Rubio

    and look look! trashy-ass arnold the maid-screwer wants to play too!

    thank you President Trump thank you for all you do

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  190. The politicized leadership of our “security agencies” have worked hard to earn that scorn. If you can’t understand that, you haven’t been paying attention.

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  191. You mean like when Mark Warner was using Adam Wildman as a go between with assuage,

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  192. But he was also using him as a go between with steele.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  193. Haiku:

    Did you catch this story?

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/nunes-mueller-indictment-tracks-house-intel-report

    Essentially, it’s Nunes claiming they had come to the same conclusions about Russian interference that Mueller announced in his indictment. This is what Putin firmly denied and Trump basically denied as well.

    Appalled (96665e)

  194. It’s one thing to want a President to speak clearly and coherently and another to knock out his teeth and then kick him in the stomach for mumbling.

    nk (dbc370)

  195. The politicized leadership of our “security agencies” have worked hard to earn that scorn.

    yes! and now the whole whirl understands that everyone knows how corrupt useless and unreliable America’s intelligence trash are

    this is healthy!

    there’s no way even lil Marco can deny that the sum-suck FBI/CIA etc intel poofters haven’t shat their own bed six ways to sunday

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  196. oopers *scum*-suck FBI/CIA etc intel poofters is what that should have said

    i missed a letter on accident

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  197. Just curious. What foreign policy goals of Trump should I oppose? G-o-a-l-s, not methods.

    (And don’t even bring up the tariffs. I’m more neutral on those than distilled water.)

    nk (dbc370)

  198. A tip unsolicited, if everybody is saying the same thing in the same way it’s usually astroturft

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  199. good tip Mr. narciso, and timely

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  200. Oh, this whole kerfuffle is definitely contrived. The indictments, the baby balloon in London, and the gotcha question at the presser, all three are the same thing as far as I’m concerned.

    nk (dbc370)

  201. Of course, so why do some fall for it, now it was the joint chiefs that chose playa giron, where Fidel would go to relax rather than trinidad which was the vendee of the resistance, yet they wanted to be in charge of covert ops, their answer was northwoods. You saw what a fustercluck that was on paper. The fellow who drew it up should have bern sent to pick up penguin scat in antartica.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  202. It was Brennan and I assume morells keen idea to spend 500 million on a passel of Syrian rebels that would either defect to Islamic state, or just get lost, I think there was some heavy duty skim there.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  203. nk & narc:

    It would take a high level of naivete to believe that the media wasn’t waiting to pounce on Trump. So, yeah, if Trump didn’t do anything but smile blandly and show exquisite good manners, the media would have cooked up something. But Trump’s the guy who called the EU a foe; he’s the guy who chose to lecture NATO in full hearing of the microphones; he’s the guy who decided to give a great visual sucking up to Putin, and he’s the guy sabotaging the UK PM on Brexit. That’s not a plot. That’s Trump acting out.

    Appalled (96665e)

  204. So when David danger, who vekakte published the east bound war plan for Iraq, in 2002, gets up on his high horse.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  205. So the politico contributor who urged war on russia, Molly McKew was a lobbyist for the Ukraine, for the podesta group.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  206. The press asking Trump to insult Putin to his face while Putin is in the room is… undiplomatic to say the least. And of course now they attack him for it.

    I suppose there are more comedic ways Trump could have gone about it, but oh well.
    “Your question is inappropriate for the time and place,” is a good answer, but then he’d have had to answer that to all the press’s questions.

    Ingot9455 (5b1fd9)

  207. nk:

    Trump believes the US has got a raw deal from the international order it helped set up after WWII, and now wants to bring it ll down, and establish bilateral relationships that depend on his dealmaking skills. Tariffs are part of that — as I think he has the WTO in his sights.

    If you are generally OK with that, maybe you support Trump. I think the concept is blinkered, myself, and requires a lot more preparation that Trump is sometimes willing to do.

    Appalled (96665e)

  208. You mean like values like free speech and religion, that’s not really extant in the eu.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  209. I support the general concepts that politics ends at the border; and that in foreign affairs the country should speak with one voice, the President’s. We can tell him what to say (or what he should have said) while he’s here, but when he goes abroad we should have his back and not be looking to stick a knife in it.

    nk (dbc370)

  210. Narc –

    Our 1st amendment is unusual — much more expansive than other nations. France, for example, could have done the original Trumpian Muslim ban, and probably not violated any of their constitutional provisions.

    I question Trump’s devotion to true free speech. His enemies of the people rhetoric he uses against the media is the rhetoric one usually hears just before the TV network gets shut down. Fortunately, the press is protected from whatever Trump wants.

    Appalled (96665e)

  211. And like I’ve said before, the farther Trump is from the White House the more I like him. But that’s just my personal peculiarity. 😉

    nk (dbc370)

  212. nk (214):

    That ship sailed long ago. Maybe around 1967 or so.

    Appalled (96665e)

  213. nk@216
    From the opening scene of Fiddler on the Roof
    Rabbi: There’s a blessing for everything!
    Villager: Is there a blessing for the Czar?
    Rabbi: Of course! May God bless and keep the Czar…far away from us!

    kishnevi (bb03e6)

  214. I think it’s treasonous to want a President, any President, to fail in foreign relations, and to do your best to sabotage him so that he does fail, and I’m talking about Mueller and the #FakeNews Democrat Media.
    The gleeful chortlers, here, probably let the air out of their own cars’ tires before they set off on a road trip, too.

    When the President’s goals in foreign relations total up to destroying America’s position in the world, enabling its enemies, and weakening those who should be our allies–and that’s what Trump’s foreign policy amounts to–it’s treasonous (in the broad sense of the word, albeit not the legal) to want him to succeed.

    kishnevi (bb03e6)

  215. How can rosey and Sessions still be employed?

    mg (0d66b4)

  216. Commie president Roosevelt gave Europe to Stalin so he could kill millions.

    mg (0d66b4)

  217. Or on most American campi every variety of commie transgendered vegan get a say but traditional values, bah humbug.

    Narciso (fd3a35)

  218. if you want to look at someone weakening our position in the whirl look at ladyboy jim mattis and his incompetent useless tranny-trash military

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  219. Yeah, it’s tricky to support the president out of patriotism when his foreign policy is to go bash how “stupid” america is when he’s overseas defending a Russian dictator / actual human rights monster.

    If you’re going to be hard on your friends, you better be harder on your enemies, or it will look like you’re switching sides. Was that not covered in Art of the Deal?

    Trump is simply doing whatever Putin wants him to. That must be a hell of a video Putin’s got! Note that Putin refused to deny he had dirt on Trump. He’s leaving open the possibility of releasing this dirt, maybe as a message to Trump, but probably because he just plans to do it when Trump’s no longer useful. The more chaos and damage to our great country and democracy, the better to the autocrats. When that happens, do not expect the Hannitys of the world to own up to a mistake.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  220. now you’re just regurgletating msnbc Mr. Dustin

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  221. You mean like values like free speech and religion, that’s not really extant in the eu.

    Freedom of speech and the freedom to practice one’s religion actually is pervasive in the EU, PutinLand not.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  222. @225. City Morgue calling, Mr. Feet; they wanna know where you want the body sent:

    https://heavy.com/news/2018/07/open-treason-daily-news-front-page-shows-trump-shooting-uncle-sam/

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  223. all this violent ideation is very revealing about the nature of the CNN Jake Tapper fake news propaganda sluts and what their goals are

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  224. The press asking Trump to insult Putin to his face while Putin is in the room is… undiplomatic to say the least.

    Well, yes, Trump should care more about Putin’s feelings than about what his American intelligence agencies have concluded. The audacity that a reporter would ask this question:

    My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is would you now with the whole world watching tell President Putin — would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again?

    Not only did Trump publicly claim that he believed Putin over the intelligence professionals he appointed, he point-blank refused to hold Putin accountable. This was an abdication of his job as commander-in-chief. It was unpatriotic and anti-American.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  225. Manic Depression Behavior

    Manic behavior has captured their souls
    They know what they want but they just don’t know
    How to… go about gettin’ it
    Acid, rank acid
    Drops from their pieholes, pieholes
    Manic behavior has captured their souls

    Vitriol so weary, the Derp cause in vain
    They rave on, they rave on
    It’s all the same
    When it’s, when it’s over, people
    Crazy, real crazy
    I wish I could correct, correct, correct
    Manic behavior is some frustrating dreck

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  226. Here’s how a real president dealt with an aggressive dictatorship with a huge arsenal of atomic bombs.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0NXs_uWPgg

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  227. “The 1970s have called and they want their Cold War back.”

    When did the media’s relationship with Russia go bad? Was it in 2014 when they discovered that there was no gay scene in Sochi, or was it earlier?

    nk (dbc370)

  228. there’s no proof Putin had anything to do with John Podesta giving his password away Mr. Montagu

    the hot and horny men and women of the corrupt and perverted fbi never even looked at his computer

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  229. John Podesta got a line
    Teh Russkies had a pole
    So he led them to teh
    Phishin’ hole

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  230. now you’re just regurgletating msnbc Mr. Dustin

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 7/17/2018 @ 9:23 am

    I haven’t watched cable news in years, but this really is the only answer Trump fans have these days. Any legitimate criticism of Trump will be offered by the biased media, therefore just because MSNBC says something doesn’t mean it’s not a legitimate issue.

    My basis for my remark was Trump’s own tweet calling America stupid while defending Russia’s dictatorship, so the ‘fake news’ angle just doesn’t work.

    If America really is stupid and foolish, I guess Trump’s promise to make America great was not kept.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  231. Wow, that Reagan speech spent a looooong time referencing the CS Lewis quote about how evil is generally carried out by clean-cut bureaucrats rather than the ‘sordid dens of crime’ that make such good Russian television, wonder if it applies to any of the American bureaucracies, especially those currently staffed by ‘former’ Communists and even former Russians who ran the the US immediately rather than face retribution in their home countries?

    Anybody who constantly conflates the Soviet Union and international Communism with the Russian federation is either a fool or a tool.

    Computer Wizard (0283fe)

  232. chortling mslsd ballz

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  233. President Trump’s a fantastic head of state and he’s done good work setting the stage for more better international relating on people

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  234. there’s no proof Putin had anything to do with John Podesta giving his password away Mr. Montagu

    It’s as if a 29-page indictment never happened. Personally I’d rather not regurgitate Putin’s talking points.

    the hot and horny men and women of the corrupt and perverted fbi never even looked at his computer

    That’s been fact-checked, and it’s a big, fat smelly red herring.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  235. @176. Anyone who doesn’t analyze USGov (or indeed just about any gov today) in this manner is a neophyte who probably believes that newspapers are written to sell news instead of ads…

    @236. Anybody who constantly conflates the Soviet Union and international Communism with the Russian federation is either a fool or a tool…

    And anybody who lives by a binary code and sees everything as black or white is either myopic or a racist.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  236. Maybe if the US doesn’t like outsiders interfering in its elections, it might reflect on that when the US goes and screws with other people’s elections.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  237. Anybody who constantly conflates the Soviet Union and international Communism with the Russian federation is either a fool or a tool.

    As long as the Russian Federation is an authoritarian state ruled by a KGB agent and his cronies, emphasizing the continuity with the old USSR is very rational.
    Especially when the foreign policy goals of the Russian Federation are close to those of the old regime, and indeed are (allowing for the changes between the 19th and 20th century) not much different from those of the Czarist Empire.

    kishnevi (bb03e6)

  238. President Trump’s a fantastic head of state and he’s done good work setting the stage for more better international relating on people

    happyfeet

    You were just saying something about regurgitating talking points? This is what Putin is saying and something the Trump faction is repeating. It’s hilarious to watch.

    Anybody who constantly conflates the Soviet Union and international Communism with the Russian federation is either a fool or

    Another regurgitated talking point. Putin is a dictator. Russia lacks civil rights. The hope for the Soviet Union to become a democracy has been wasted and it is indeed completely legitimate to conflate the old Soviet regime with the new KBG dictator. They are the same entity, indeed the same people, using the same tactics.

    You guys gotta stop reading Ace of Spades and grow your own brains.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  239. No there were reasons to support anticommunist forces in south America in western europe, in south Asia, now the same people who have bern mostly opposed to this, not exclusively, now are saying the opposite in this case.

    Narciso (2e8f38)

  240. Trump is his own good cop/bad cop…

    Good Cop with what he says
    Bad Cop with what he actually does

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  241. 238.President Trump’s a fantastic head of state and he’s done good work setting the stage for more better international relating on people

    Apparently he gave fantastic head to state, Mr. Feet; Vlad was smiling for two hours.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  242. Maybe if the US doesn’t like outsiders interfering in its elections

    there’s not even any proof that Russia had any impact on the election even a little

    you have to remember the hot and horny men and women of the corrupt perverted FBI haven’t done any actual investigating

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  243. The former Communist Brennan speaks of treason…

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  244. Yes and as a general rule, except for navalny liberal forces discredited themselves in the 90s by their endorsement of Yeltsin, but liberals haven’t been fully behind navalny because he is too blunt.

    Narciso (2e8f38)

  245. Apparently he gave fantastic head to state, Mr. Feet; Vlad was smiling for two hours.

    all this means is Angela Merkel was hiding under the table

    giving Putin the sweet sweet pleasure only she can give

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  246. there is no evidence that Brennan is a former communist

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  247. It’s truly remarkable to watch these Trump guys go from freaking out about Obama being born in Kenya to freaking out to defend Russia from being compared to the Soviet Union. If Hannity tells them to jump, they ask how high.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  248. he’s done good work setting the stage for more better international relating on people

    As much as I deplore what Mr. Feet has to say, I love the way he says it. He bends words the way a jazz soloist bends notes.

    Appalled (96665e)

  249. Anybody who constantly conflates the Soviet Union and international Communism with the Russian federation is either a fool or a tool.

    The ex-KGB agent called the collapse of his Soviet Union “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” Greater, apparently, than the 20 million Hitler killed, the 20 million Stalin killed and the 50 million Mao killed. And let’s not forget that, at its heart, the Soviet Union was an imperialist Russian dictatorship that used propaganda and a police state apparatus to manipulate and control.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  250. you’re not opposed to encourage me Mr. Appalled

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  251. Good Lord. if even Mr. Feets says something is too Trumpy….

    kishnevi (bb03e6)

  252. Putin’s undermining alliances isn’t limited to the US and our purported foe, the EU.

    The sleepy Aegean port of Alexandroupolis in northern Greece has become a new focus for Russian efforts to extend its influence in south-eastern Europe and thwart the enlargement of Nato and the EU.
    The town is home to a small community of Russian citizens with Greek connections. Two Russian diplomats, expelled this week for activities that allegedly violated Greek law, were well known in the port, according to two people with knowledge of their activities.
    The diplomats were accused of working with businesspeople to bribe local government officials, Orthodox clergymen, and members of cultural associations and far-right groups across the north of the country in order to fan a popular backlash against the naming agreement signed last month between the leaders of Greece and Macedonia.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  253. @254. he’s done good work setting the stage for more better international relating on people

    Yes, he related on all Americans just last night. And flushed with pride, he departed on Airwick One while his ‘sweet smell of success’ lingers.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  254. @250. Sweet Angela knows how to make a mean knockwurst sizzle, Mr. Feet.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  255. Higher levels of the American Intelligence apparatus conspired with the Obama administration, the Democrat Party, Hillary’s campaign, and the national media to subvert a presidental election to put Hillary in the White House.

    Trump knows it. We know it. Every American with a pulse knows it (although some rabid Yellow Dogs pretend otherwise).

    Trump also knows those same unindicted co-conspirators are behind the unprincipled assaults on him personally and behind the illegitimate Mueller investigation for which there never has been any verifiable evidence.

    Stonewalling Congressional inquiries, withholding documents till forced to comply then more foot-dragging and finally so many redactions no coherent theme can be discerned, blatently intimidating tactics, a nightime no-knock arrest, indictments of peripheral figures and foreigners, and charges of treasonous conduct by the former CIA Director all demonstrate the depth of the corruption of the American Intelligence community.

    Obviously, there is absolutely no reason for Trump to accept at face value anything American Intelligence produces, and every reason to regard their information as contrived, self-serving, likely deceitful, wrongheaded, and possibly treacherous.

    My suggestion to President Trump is to consider decapitating the DOJ, CIA and FBI tomorrow morning. Padlock the doors and post Marines to guard the facilities, sieze files, records, cell phones, and computers. Then take all senior officers and their staff members into custody for therough debriefing.

    ropelight (03346d)

  256. opentable is down

    that would be an aws client

    coincidence you think or?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  257. ok bam i just got in

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  258. My suggestion to President Trump is to consider decapitating the DOJ, CIA and FBI tomorrow morning. Padlock the doors and post Marines to guard the facilities, sieze files, records, cell phones, and computers. Then take all senior officers and their staff members into custody for therough debriefing.

    I hope Trump does that very thing, i.e., launching a military takeover of the CIA and law enforcement, because Congress would then have the grounds it needs for impeachment and removal from office.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  259. ugh but it’s still not working

    i hate prime day so much

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  260. paris jackson is bisexual which means she likes making sexy with girls OR boys she can just flip a coin or do a raffle or whatever

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  261. Higher levels of the American Intelligence apparatus conspired with the Obama administration, the Democrat Party, Hillary’s campaign, and the national media to subvert a presidental election to put Hillary in the White House.

    This is propaganda from Russia. Really. It’s a deliberate effort to destabilize America by inflaming the left and right fringe to take over their movements.

    Think about it. If all of the people in power were conspiring to fix an election, why did they lose? Why was most of the information leaked harmful to Hillary, and information harmful to Trump not released until after the election? Of course bias is a real thing, but this enormous paranoid conspiracy theory is crafted to destablize our country.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  262. “(T)here is absolutely no reason for Trump to accept at face value anything American Intelligence produces, and every reason to regard their information as contrived, self-serving, likely deceitful, wrongheaded, and possibly treacherous.”

    – ropelight

    Absolutely right. Indeed, it is anything but a secret. And there is no reason President Trump should pretend otherwise under any circumstance, including a presser with Putin. As former KGB, who would understand better than Putin how a country’s own security apparatus can be used to undermine a legitimate government?

    All of yesterday’s hysterics tells us one thing: President Trump’s criticisms are, once again, right over the target.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  263. There is no do-over. There is no second chance to make a first impression. He cannot talk his way out of this one.

    Donald Trump strode on to the global stage in Helsinki, dropped his pants, sh!t on every American citizen in front of a worldwide audience, then wiped his azz w/t U.S. flag.

    And what would his supposed ‘hero’ say?!?!…

    “‘Despicable!’ That the first time in my life anybody’s ever applied that word to me…” – Gen. George S. Patton [George C. Scott] ‘Patton’ 1970

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  264. “This is propaganda from Russia. Really. It’s a deliberate effort to destabilize America by inflaming the left and right fringe to take over their movements.”

    Really“?

    LOL

    ThOR (d25d69)

  265. No, he shat on a treasonous cabal operating from inside our security apparatus. A cabal that shat on every American citizen (at least those who actually support our government of the people) as it conspired to overthrow a duly elected government.

    John Brennan et al do not, in any way shape or for, represent mainstream Americans, though he probably represents you.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  266. U.S. to Make More Drugs Easily Available, Cutting Role Docs Play

    i love you President Trump!

    you make my heart sing 🙂

    you make EVERYTHING

    groovy

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  267. Here’s a question for you, Dustin:

    If Hillary had won, would the Clinton Foundation still be raking in large cash ‘contributions’ from individuals and from nations with serious business pending approval from US government agencies?

    Sort of like Hillary ran the State Department, but shut down the Foundation after she lost the election and ‘contributions’ suddenly dried up.

    ropelight (03346d)

  268. @271. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

    You don’t sh!t on America or Americans on the world stage overseas.

    “When I left, everyone was thrilled.” — Donald Trump 7/17/18

    You bet your sweet azz they were.

    Now his excuse is… DEMENTIA:

    Cognitive changes

    •Memory loss, which is usually noticed by a spouse or someone else
    •Difficulty communicating or finding words
    •Difficulty reasoning or problem-solving
    •Difficulty handling complex tasks
    •Difficulty with planning and organizing
    •Difficulty with coordination and motor functions
    •Confusion and disorientation

    Psychological changes

    •Personality changes
    •Depression
    •Anxiety
    •Inappropriate behavior
    •Paranoia
    •Agitation
    •Hallucinations

    – source, mayoclinic.org

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  269. “Scott Adams

    Verified account

    @ScottAdamsSays
    3h3 hours ago
    More
    Reminder: Nothing is more American than bluntly criticizing your own team when they have it coming.”

    #NeverTrumpers of all people should understand this, they were always willing to be AMERICA HAS FAILED ITS MISSION AND BEEN DERELICT IN ITS SACRED DUTY OF SPREADING DEMOCRACY, DOING GOOD, AND PERMANENTLY EMPLOYING PEOPLE WITH INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DEGREES AROUND THE WORLD but get *extremely* mad when you include *their* failures on Russia, Iraq, and the EU in it, in a way precisely analagous to race hustlers who yell YOU PERSECUTING ME CUZ I’M BLACK/HISPANIC /GAY when caught balls deep in an underage intern.

    Careerist identity politics, when will these oppressive Trumpsta crackas stop oppressing these innocent bureaucrat bodies workin’ hard tryna make it in dis world?

    Computer Wizard (515247)

  270. It’s nauseating to watch Trumpists defend this after *decades* of decrying the left as the “blame America first” party. It’s become impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Trumpist wing of the party — and a lot of conservatives who are swallowing this rather than denouncing it — are hypocritical assholes who put tribe and party above country.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  271. @275. Reminder: “Nothing is more American than bluntly criticizing your own team when they have it coming.”

    Reminder: And nothing is more stupid than doing it in public in front of cameras; you do that in the locker room, NOT on the 50 yard line at the Super Bowl with hundreds of millions of people watching.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  272. You know that a Trump press conference was a complete trainwreck when the folks at Fox & Friends feel compelled to address Trump directly and explain the difference between meddling and collusion. A less shallow president might’ve felt a bit patronized by that display. Actually, Abby Huntsman is so gorgeous that she could say anything to me and I would just nod my head and try to keep my tongue in my mouth.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  273. Schwarzenegger nailed it.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  274. “Reminder: And nothing is more stupid than doing it in public in front of cameras; you do that in the locker room, NOT on the 50 yard line at the Super Bowl with hundreds of millions of people watching.”

    Are you assuming that the people who tried to derail the Helsinki meeting with unprecedented publicized indictments and show trials for minor Russian functionaries are ‘on Trump’s team’? Or even on America’s team?

    Computer Wizard (1231f6)

  275. Looks like Trump took the cue from Fox & Friends.

    “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.”

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  276. #276, no disrespect aphrael, but keep in mind that it’s your party which has a documented history of accusing opponents of exactly the same sins and crimes they’re guilty of.

    It’s a major tenet of the leftist catechism. It ranks right up there along side the Journolisters’ credo: Just call them racists!

    ropelight (03346d)

  277. @280. Sober up and shower; you don’t sh!t on American citizens on the global stage with the world watching standing next to the Russian president.

    Trump did.

    End of story.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  278. It’s nauseating to watch Trumpists defend this after *decades* of decrying the left as the “blame America first” party.

    there’s no “this” to defend

    this is manufactured outrage just like what mayor titty tee did in Puerto Rico

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  279. @281. Not really. A day later he claims he ‘misspoke,’ so he either choked before a live audience or now cling to dementia symptoms. Life’s a bitch when your show can’t be edited before broadcast.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  280. It’s nauseating to watch Trumpists defend this after *decades* of decrying the left as the “blame America first” party. It’s become impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Trumpist wing of the party — and a lot of conservatives who are swallowing this rather than denouncing it — are hypocritical assholes who put tribe and party above country.

    That’s certainly true. Another thing that’s nauseating is how the Democrats hate Putin more than they ever hated the Communists running the USSR in the cold war.

    Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71)

  281. the Democrats don’t actually hate Putin Mr. Bartowski

    Hillary traded all our uraniums for putin’s sweet sweet rubles remember

    it’s all make-pretendsies

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  282. Fox News fibs again; stating that Trump said he had a successful NATO meeting and that ‘everyone was thrilled.’

    In fact, what Trump said was: “When I left, everyone was thrilled.”

    No kidding, Traitor Trump.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  283. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2018/07/17/mueller_all_but_ignores_the_other_russian_hack_target_the_gop.html

    “If Hillary had won and the GOP was blaming Russian hackers, the general press treatment — to the extent it was covered at all — would be a mixture of general derision for “conspiracy theory,” and laughing at the GOP for being dumb enough to be hacked by the Russians. You know it’s true.“

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/302360/

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  284. At this point, invoking the 25th Amendment is only humane thing to do.

    Dave (445e97)

  285. “Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his Justice Department/FBI team deserve congratulations for doing their job of figuring out in concrete detail what the Russians did in the 2016 election campaign and telling the American people about it—now in an indictment and perhaps later, and in more detail, in a report. Last week’s indictment might also portend, as the Lawfare crew implied, a tightening of the criminal-conspiracy noose to include Americans, perhaps some with connections to the Trump campaign.

    The indictment also represents an extraordinary assertion of Justice Department power and independence. President Trump never stops complaining about the DOJ “witch hunt,” but his subordinates in the Potemkin unitary executive branch keep proving him wrong. The president didn’t even have the de facto authority to delay Rod Rosenstein’s announcement from the maximum embarrassment it caused him on the dawn of his summit with Vladimir Putin. With each new concrete revelation contrary to the president’s wishes and representations, Rosenstein’s and Mueller’s effective power grows vis-a-vis the president.

    But behind the indictment, and the congratulatory reaction to it, lie some uncomfortable unanswered questions about blowback toward U.S. officials, reciprocal interference by the United States in other nations’ political affairs, the lack of preparation for renewed electoral interference in this country, and U.S. journalists’ publication of stolen U.S. government information. These questions have heightened significance and more difficult answers in light of President Trump’s astounding performance Monday in Helsinki.

    1. Blowback

    I have been critical of the Justice Department’s “indict and shame” strategy in the past, and I noted the downsides of Mueller’s first indictment. I agree that indictments can serve useful goals, as David Kris noted in the best account of law enforcement as a counterintelligence tool. And Mueller’s “speaking indictment” certainly serves the very important goal of telling the American people what happened in 2016. I continue to think, however, that as a substitute for other responses to serious cyberintrusions, indictments on balance signal weakness.

    What I want to focus on here is how this highest-profile-yet indictment of foreign officials for breaking into computers in the United States raises questions about reciprocity and blowback. As the Snowden documents and David Sanger’s great new book and other books make plain, and as U.S. officials are wont to brag, the U.S. intelligence services break into computers and computer networks abroad at an astounding rate, certainly on a greater scale than any other intelligence service in the world. Every one of these intrusions in another country violates that country’s criminal laws prohibiting unauthorized computer access and damage, no less than the Russian violations of U.S. laws outlined in Mueller’s indictment. This is not a claim about the relative moral merits of the two countries’ cyber intrusions; it is simply a claim that each side unequivocally breaks the laws of the other in its cyber-espionage activities.

    How will the United States respond when Russia and China and Iran start naming and indicting U.S. officials? Maybe the United States thinks its concealment techniques are so good that the type of detailed attribution it made against the Russians is infeasible. (The Shadow Brokers revealed the identities of specific NSA operators, so even if the National Security Agency is great at concealment as a matter of tradecraft that is no protection against an insider threat.) Maybe Russia and China and Iran won’t bother indicting U.S. officials unless and until the indictments actually materialize into a trial, which they likely never will. But what is the answer in principle? And what is the U.S. policy (if any) that is being communicated to military and civilian operators who face this threat? What is the U.S. government response to former NSA official Jake Williams, who worked in Tailored Access Operations and who presumably spoke for many others at NSA when he said that “charging military/gov hackers is dumb and WILL eventually hurt the US”?

    Read it all: https://www.lawfareblog.com/uncomfortable-questions-wake-russia-indictment-20-and-trumps-press-conference-putin

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  286. Trump met w/Shine boy Hannity immediately after the presser and neither Fox azz kissers even asked or gave Traitor Trump the opening to address his now dementia-driven, supposed misspeak. Christ, Chris Wallace has bigger balls than the one Putin passed to Trump for Melania to fondle in public.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  287. BOFA, ASPCA…

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  288. Those Trump fans who haven’t changed their names name times since the Obama administration all complained about every Obama apology. Can you imagine if Obama tweeted that America was stupid or foolish? Can you imagine if he did it from foreign soil while giving Putin a foot massage?

    Aphrael is right.

    But why is this happening? Trump generally cannot be scandalized. What’s Putin got?

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  289. #276, no disrespect aphrael, but keep in mind that it’s your party which has a documented history of accusing opponents of exactly the same sins and crimes they’re guilty of.

    It’s a major tenet of the leftist catechism. It ranks right up there along side the Journolisters’ credo: Just call them racists!

    ropelight

    The fringes on both sides do this, Aphrael. it’s bizarre to assert this is something only democrats do.

    Remember the GOP just screamed at that one FBI agent for cheating on his wife… they did this to defend Trump, who has bragged repeatedly about cheating on his wives. The idea that this projection is just something the left does is indeed itself an extreme viewpoint. It would be the same level of extremism to say only the right does it.

    Both fringes are being constantly inflamed in order to destabilize our country. Let’s not help the bad guys.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  290. Not sure why I addressed my 1:20 pm to Aphrael. Obviously a typo.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  291. @293. =Haikumarov= Gesundheit!

    Red Colonel, white Russians, blue balls; now you’re a genuine patriotsky, comrade!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  292. The litany of Obama’s apologies was from the first few months of his presidency. He was a prince.

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  293. the hot and horny men and women of the slippy-slutty FBI like to make themselves out to be morally superior Mr. Dustin

    but we’ve seen how trashy they are

    and how they lie

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  294. Just 5 years ago Obama was belittling candidate Mitt Romney for inflating the threat posed by Russia.

    We are all Romneys now!

    ThOR (d25d69)

  295. U.S. officials say Russian efforts went far beyond attacks on party officials. All told, they say, Russia’s cyber espionage operation targeted more than 4,000 other American victims during the 2016 election cycle using the same technique.

    One of them  was  former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who fell for the same “Google” email phishing scam that tricked Podesta and  whose  subsequently leaked emails  contained negative characterizations of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. 

    we can note here that this is the kind of inept douchebag what the tranny-trash US military regularly promotes to the tippy tippy top

    This does not build confidence.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  296. And then Trump stepped right back in it when he said “could be other people also,” directly contradicting “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.” The IC is saying Putin did it, not that it could be other people. Good grief. He f**ked up his press conference yesterday and he f**ked up his walkback today.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  297. Yesterday was a delight.

    The witch-hunters had their ox gored.

    How un-American of President to belittle the cabal participants on a global stage!

    ThOR (d25d69)

  298. Just 5 years ago Obama was belittling candidate Mitt Romney for inflating the threat posed by Russia.

    We are all Romneys now!

    Well, except for Trump.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  299. While focusing on Russian efforts against Democrats, Muller’s latest indictment does not support the notion promulgated by the Obama administration that Putin sought “to help Trump win.” Rather, Mueller simply found that “the object of the conspiracy was to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

    Officials close to the investigation say that is because Mueller’s office has found no solid evidence to support the notion that Moscow meddled in the election to aid Trump. They note that as in past U.S. elections where Russia ran influence operations — dating back to the 1990s — its aim primarily has been to sow discord and create chaos in the American political system, and not necessarily to favor one candidate over another.

    if there were evidence disgraced coward John McCain wouldn’t have needed to bandy about that phony dossier

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  300. @290.At this point, invoking the 25th Amendment is only humane thing to do.

    B-b-b-b-ut Gorsich! And Kavanaugh?!?!

    No way. He’s not going to get off that easy. First things, first; a good House cleaning, then a Senate spruce up; next haul staid conservative deadwood out to the curb, next Mueller drops the new script, ‘Full Metal Karma’‘ and all the supporting cast flips. Rather than face losing face, he’ll either resign or, given his bulk and diet, we’ll wake up some morning to hear he’s found face down in a slice of strawberry pie between two melting scoops of Dolly Madison French Vanilla.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  301. 304.Yesterday was a delight.

    Follow your party, Comrade ThOR, the Kremlin line is ‘better than super.’

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  302. Christ, the cablers have photos of Traitor Trump’s text today on a table showing he added, ‘there was no collusion’ w/his Sharpie and ad-libed again from the prepared text adding ‘and maybe others’ to his messy clean-up comments on election meddling. The dope’s a dope.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  303. i trust President Trump way more than those fbi weirdos that’s for sure

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  304. @310. Slightly stinky, Mr. Feet; our Captain sh!t on every American yesterday. Apparently you haven’t showered yet.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  305. I would be a lot more worried about neo-McCarthism if it weren’t so transparently disingenuous.

    You ain’t foolin’ nobody.

    I love the smell of napalm stench of desperation in the morning.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  306. BOFA, ASPCA…

    Does this mean that DCSCA was called a literal tea-bagger?

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  307. @310. So do most Americans, happy.

    The real damage being done here is to the credibility of justice/ law enforcement, not that the hysterical anti-Trumpers care. Anything to get Trump. Anything.

    ThOR (d25d69)

  308. @313. It means the Red Colonel is at a loss for words.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  309. I would be a lot more worried about neo-McCarthism if it weren’t so transparently disingenuous.
    Seen on Twitter today
    A photo of a man wearing one of those pink knitted caps, holding a sign saying “Joe McCarthy, where are you now that we need you.”

    kishnevi (6b8fa6)

  310. 313… yes, he was invited to chortle deez ballz…

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  311. 314… that’s what appears to be most important to the NTs, Thor.

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  312. You say Earl Grey and ASPCA breaks out (bump bump bump bump)
    Inna cold sweat (bump bump bump)

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  313. “No way. He’s not going to get off that easy. First things, first; a good House cleaning, then a Senate spruce up; next haul staid conservative deadwood out to the curb, next Mueller drops the new script, ‘Full Metal Karma’‘ and all the supporting cast flips. Rather than face losing face, he’ll either resign or, given his bulk and diet, we’ll wake up some morning to hear he’s found face down in a slice of strawberry pie between two melting scoops of Dolly Madison French Vanilla.”

    I AM YELLING ABOUT RUSSIA BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT ARE COUNTRY AND DEFINITELY NOT BECAUSE I WANT MY PARTY BACK IN POWER WITHOUT HAVING TO APPEAL TO THOSE ICKY PROLE VOTERS

    Computer Wizard (6ad7b7)

  314. @317.=Haikuski= Gesundheit!

    In Russia, Red Colonels aren’t invited, they’re ordered to play ball; pitching or catching.

    “Not so fast, it’s difficult for me to follow in Russian.” – Tom Farrell (Yuri) [Kevin Costner] ‘No Way Out’ 1987

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  315. @319. =Haikustikov= Gesundheit!

    Red Colonel, white Russians, still blue balled; and still a genuine patriotsky, comrade!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  316. @320. More either/or. Anybody who lives by a binary code and sees everything as black or white is either myopic or a racist. Step up your game; step down you text.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  317. These are very silly people, coronello, of course labor couldn’t prove that the zinoviev telegraph was fake.

    narciso (d1f714)

  318. “More either/or. Anybody who lives by a binary code and sees everything as black or white is either myopic or a racist. Step up your game; step down you text”

    Would you have *just admitted* to ‘a little from column A, a little from column B’ if I hadn’t thrown Column B into sharp capital relief? As Ronald Reagan quoted, murderous deceit hides most ably among those who don’t raise their voices.

    While you’re blithely repeating fatuous violent fantasies, here’s Michael Scheuer’s precise converse of your attitude and the attitude of the #TREASONTRUMP lobby, just for purposes of equal time:

    http://non-intervention.com/3238/a-republican-citizenrys-greatest-last-resort-duty-is-to-kill-those-seeking-to-impose-tyranny/

    “As this week’s end, it seems likely that it is quite near time for killing those involved in the multiple and clearly delineated attempts to stage a coup d’état against the legitimately elected Trump government and thereby kill our republic.”

    “Finally, this week saw a significant and quickening advance toward the moment when those millions of well-armed citizens who voted for Trump, and who have been abused or wounded by Democrats, their Antifa-thugs, and their thug-civil servants for exercising their franchise to elect Trump, cannot be, in good conscience, patient for much longer.

    Fortunately, they have in hand a long and very precise list of the names and photographs of those who hate and threaten them, their families, their way-of-life, their liberty, their livelihoods and their republic. No self-respecting and determined-to-remain-independent citizenry can let themselves forever be held hostage by thug-civil-servants like Strzok, Comey, McCabe, Page, and Rosenstein; worshipers of tyranny, like the Democratic members of Congress, the Clintons, the FBI, and the Obamas; apparent traitors like Brennan, Hayden, and Clapper; all of the mainstream media; and the tens of thousands of government-admitted-and-protected, violent, criminal, and illegal immigrants.

    American patriots have so far, praise God, been remarkably disciplined in not responding to tyranny and violence with violence. For now they must remain so, armed but steady. But the time for such patience is fast slipping away; indeed, that patience is quickly becoming an obviously rank and self-destructive foolishness. If Trump does not act soon to erase the above noted tyranny and tyrants, the armed citizenry must step in and eliminate them.”

    Now, is Scheuer’s analysis any less over-the-top? Any less unrealistic? Is it any more justifiable? Is it any less deserving of mockery and derision? Any less worthy of respect than sitting Congressmen asking WHERE IS THE MILITARY??? when the President does something they or some highly sinecured public servants don’t like?

    Or are you just waving your rhetorical guns around with your finger on the trigger because you thought the other side had already disarmed themselves?

    Computer Wizard (901d36)

  319. It’s truly remarkable to watch these Trump guys go from freaking out about Obama being born in Kenya to freaking out to defend Russia from being compared to the Soviet Union. If Hannity tells them to jump, they ask how high.

    It’s truly amazing how those anti-Trump liberals go from 9/11 Trutherism and supporting the Soviet Union’s “nuclear freeze” to attacking the government for being Russian dupes, if not card-carrying Russian agents. If Anderson Cooper tells them to jump, they ask how high.

    (I’ve tried to pack in as many lies and mischaracterizations as Dustin did. How well did I do?)

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  320. Things I beleive:

    1. Putin despises Obama and the Clintons and views them as unreliable liars.
    2. Putin, for a variety of reasons, wanted to harm Clinton’s chances.
    3. Putin made sure that all the crap he had on Hillary (that did not implicate him) found its way out to the media.
    4. It was not necessary to “hack” anything. Hillary’s server was protected by almost nothing and Podesta fell for the oldest trick in to book (in chess, it would be Fool’s Mate). Most 15-year-olds in the US 1) would be able to accomplish this “hack” and 2) would never fall for it.
    5. Letting people like Hillary and Podesta have access to computers is like giving drunk aborigines the keys to a car.

    Kevin M (5d3e49)

  321. #295, Dustin, blaming others for your own sins is one of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, check it out. It’s common knowledge.

    Additionally, no cabal of Republican writers ever convened secretly and conspired to smear Democrats as racists. But that’s exactly what some of the Journolisters did.

    Now, you make excuses for their partisan transgressions by asserting that both sides do it. That’s just not so, they create secret organizations to deceive American voters and they got caught red handed. Honorable individuals don’t stoop to such levels, despicable people do.

    As for your bizarre claim that “…the GOP screamed at that one FBI agent for cheating on his wife…they did this to defend Trump”

    Wrong on both counts. You paint with a brush too broad. it was one GOP committee member who attacked Strozk’s veracity by pointing out his long string of lies to his wife. One GOP Congressman, not the GOP. And it was done to impeach Strozk’s arrogant claims of faithful service and strict adherence to FBI standards, not to defend Trump, but to impeach Strozk.

    You don’t grock the difference because you’ve become so blinded by hatred for Trump and those of us who voted for him that you’re incapable of rational thought.

    ropelight (d89b9d)

  322. “Schwarzenegger nailed it”
    Said no one sane ever…. unless it was about this extravaganza

    steveg (a9dcab)

  323. It’s useless to try to *shame* him, ropelight, Dustin is a bare-faced liar who’ll repeat talking points he never believed in precisely because he’s part of the party that’s been too cowardly to fight. Lies and unrealistic public emoting about how much you BELIEVE those lies are precisely what you use to cover for the fact that you were too cowardly to ever risk gaining real-life experience!

    They tend to do this a lot from what I gather: they show up for the big fight decades too late & pretend they’re courageous. Nazis 75 years in the rear view? Time to punch a Nazi, we wuz D day soldiers. Cold War over? Forget we abetted USSR the whole time, we hate Russia now guys!

    You can’t reason people out of positions they hold for fundamentally immoral reasons-if they could admit to themselves that they’re reasoning this way because they’re too afraid to gain firsthand experience (or, like DCSA, because it’s all part and parcel of gaining partisan advantage, which is at least an HONESTLY immoral position,) then they could learn. But they deflect, repeat, and restate the approved talking points like some Microsoft online support team drone giving people non-answers while racking up large numbers of CUSTOMER ISSUES ADDRESSED in their personal CV because that’s what they’ve been taught and none have the personal fortitude to even SAY the right thing.

    Computer Wizard (3ac045)

  324. Dysphoria Sam, you have a lot of nerve calling anybody a liar.

    nk (dbc370)

  325. I see James Comey is being as FROM TRUMP’S OWN PARTY as they come:

    “James Comey

    Verified account

    @Comey
    Follow Follow @Comey
    More
    This Republican Congress has proven incapable of fulfilling the Founders’ design that “Ambition must … counteract ambition.” All who believe in this country’s values must vote for Democrats this fall. Policy differences don’t matter right now. History has its eyes on us.”

    Nice to see he’s secured his retirement paycheck.

    Computer Wizard (040a1b)

  326. Dustin, blaming others for your own sins is one of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, check it out.

    I checked it out. It’s not part of Alinsky’s 13 rules, but blame-shifting is a basic politic tactic common to both parties, even Trump, like when he blamed America first for poor US-Putin relations.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  327. That’s a nice non-sequitur, narciso.

    Paul Montagu (91b6ad)

  328. it’s kind of a parody of red scare:

    https://twitter.com/ThePeoplesCube/status/1019446538404319232

    narciso (d1f714)

  329. It’s Wednesday – Hump Day – and we need moar illiterate histrionic analogies… c’mon, people!

    Colonel Haiku (d52d85)

  330. yes, it was the Obama administration, that cemented the notion they could get away with anything, in Poland, Ukraine, Syria, yemen, but it’s just narrative, right simon,

    narciso (d1f714)

  331. At this point Dave has proven himself cray cray. He wants an international incident. A nuclear one.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  332. Trump didn’t hold Putin accountable AT A PRESS CONFERENCE. What? Summary execution? Pistols at dawn? How the f*** would you have handled the press conference, heroes?

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  333. when I’m the preesy I’m cancelling the press conference.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)


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