Patterico's Pontifications

11/30/2018

There Is No Collusion! OK, Maybe a Bit

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:13 am



This column by Michael Gerson, highlighted by Allahpundit on Twitter, has a nice summary of some of the latest collusion evidence:

In the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, there are at least three offenses that could lead to indictment or impeachment. There is obstruction of justice — which Trump seems to attempt persistently, publicly and shamelessly. There is possible financial corruption concerning Russia on the part of Trump and the imperial family — about which the recent plea deal with Michael Cohen hints. This is likely to be interesting reading in Mueller’s report. And there is the initial matter of collusion with a hostile foreign power to influence a presidential election. This is hardly a fanciful charge, given that Trump, while a candidate, publicly invited Russia to hack into Hillary Clinton’s emails as a way to influence a presidential election.

What else do we know related to this charge? We know that Trump adviser Roger Stone allegedly told associates he was in contact with WikiLeaks, the conduit for emails hacked by Russian intelligence. (Stone denies this.) We know that Stone contacted conservative author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, encouraging him to gather information on hacked Clinton emails. We know that Corsi responded to Stone: “Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps . . . Impact planned to be very damaging.” (The “friend” in this email — amazingly and disgustingly — appears to be the anti-American cybercriminal Julian Assange.) We know that Stone issued the tweet, “Trust me, it will soon the Podesta’s time in the barrel,” six weeks before WikiLeaks began releasing 50,000 emails that Russian agents had reportedly stolen from Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. And we know, from Corsi himself, that he and Stone conspired to lie about the motivation of this tweet.

Trump is left to claim — which he has now apparently done in written testimony — that he never discussed these matters with Stone or Corsi. This would have required candidate Trump to adopt a strategy of plausible deniability — in this case, encouraging Russian hacking in public but carefully avoiding the topic in private conversations with Stone.

Gerson goes on to discuss how unlikely the prospect is that Trump avoided personal involvement in this matter, given how personally involved he was in the Stormy Daniels payoff, and given that he publicly called for Russia to “find” missing Hillary Clinton emails (I never agreed that he invited Russia to “hack” Hillary, but he did invite them to meddle in the election). Why would he stay personally removed from this nasty work, when he personally involved himself in the Stormy Daniels nasty work? Answer: he wouldn’t.

A disinterested observer, initially inclined to dismiss accusations of collusion, increasingly finds them plausible.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

327 Responses to “There Is No Collusion! OK, Maybe a Bit”

  1. but gerson is a dirty nasty neocon and i love donald trump with all my heart and soul

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. mueller’s entire investigation is predicated on a phony urinating hooker dossier bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton

    and all he’s done is to spend tens of millions of dollars having the trashy cowardly men and women of the fbi run around laying perjury traps

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  3. More smoke…

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  4. “given that he publicly called for Russia to “find” missing Hillary Clinton emails”

    Yes, and he was serious!

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  5. why is it bad if Mr. Putin exposed Hillary’s corruption i think it’s fantastic

    he did a great service on America that’s for sure

    and you’ll note that the craven slurps of the Comey FBI were powerless to stop it (impotent FBI trash – all they’re good at is laying perjury traps)

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  6. (H)e publicly called for Russia to “find” missing Hillary Clinton emails (I never agreed that he invited Russia to “hack” Hillary, but he did invite them to meddle in the election).

    This is a joke too.

    AZ Bob (885937)

  7. this is why we need to help President Trump secure the border with meaningful infrastructure cause you can’t count on the dirty men and women of the FBI to do their jobs and keep America safe

    it comes down to what are your priorities

    (use good judgment)

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  8. The amount of money spent on lawyers is as ridiculous as lawyers act. Tar and feathers for the lot of them.

    mg (ef2c8e)

  9. There is much plausible laughability to be found these days.

    The Daze of Whines and Poses.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  10. the Cohen plea is all about getting fake news media trash like Gerson to gin up a pretext that will allow dirty bob to keep his illegitimate and corrupt fbi investigation in play through 2020

    collusion?

    it’s the collusion between dirty bob mueller, corrupt rod rosenstein, elitist trashboi chris wray, the scummy cowardly men and women of the perverted FBI, and the dirty dirty lies of the CNN Jake Tapper fake news

    that’s what should concern us

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  11. Gerson, who went after the tea party, who collaborated with prince talal, hence he supported the ground zero mosque, yes he’s a reputable sort, but I ask what’s the endgame, you really want to go with Russia, in their front yard, which is the Ukraine, in the last century there was only only faction stupid enough to do so, that was the paperhanger with the interests in art and vegetarianism, people he wasn’t too fond of,

    narciso (d1f714)

  12. “The FBI raided the home of a whistleblower who was in possession of documents regarding the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One, according to the whistleblower’s lawyer, Michael Socarras.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/29/fbi-whistleblower-clinton-uranium/

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  13. “A disinterested observer”

    There is no such thing.

    Al S (23bc66)

  14. I am no Trump fan, by far, but count me unimpressed.

    Obstruction of justice — don’t see it. All I see is talk about witch hunts. Uncouth, but not obstruction of justice.

    Financial corruption? Well, let’s see the evidence, not “hints.”

    Collusion? Sorry, all then-candidate Trump said was, release whatever you have on Hillary and the Dems. Again, crude, but hardly criminal.

    This would barely be enough to pass Rule 11 to bring a civil suit. Barely.

    (Which is not to say Trump might not be guilty. But so far, the evidence is tissue thin. And I have the quaint customer of judging things by evidence, not who I root for politically.)

    Bored Lawyer (998177)

  15. “given that he publicly called for Russia to “find” missing Hillary Clinton emails (I never agreed that he invited Russia to “hack” Hillary, but he did invite them to meddle in the election).“

    Because it’s tons more acceptable to do something like that covertly, rather than publicly — like, for example, advancing a Russian-sourced golden showers dossier to obtain FISA warrants.

    Dude, it was a joke.

    Munroe (82bd1b)

  16. yeah hello what about rule 11

    the fbi’s so damn stupid they probably have no idea what rule 11 even is

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  17. perspective, not appreciated around here:

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/11/notes-on-the-cohen-plea.php

    narciso (d1f714)

  18. Onion onion la la la

    mg (ebf6c2)

  19. So obvious – America has a double tiered legal system – Anyone who questions lawyers and the democratic cabal is no longer protected by law.

    mg (ebf6c2)

  20. Hillary had emails that she refused to turn over after scrubbing her server.

    Russians were accused of hacking the Dems.

    Trump suggests in public maybe the Russians (who the press said waded through the Dems’ emails) can find those missing ones.

    The horror.

    Trump does all sorts of stuff I find disgusting, dishonest and deplorable but that wasn’t one of them.

    To me the most remarkable thing about the hacking during the 2016 campaign was that the RNC’s servers were much more secure and that the DNC not only got hacked by the Russians but that one of their own in-house IT crews was hacking the House Of Representatives and ripping them off while overcharging for doing so and being protected by Wasserman-Schultz.

    https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-sues-doj-for-records-of-investigations-into-the-awan-brothers-congressional-democrat-it-scandal/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=press%20release

    harkin (a53154)

  21. I’m sorry, Mr. Gerson, you lost me at “hostile foreign power”. With that I knew the whole thing would be hyperbole.

    nk (dbc370)

  22. “Thanks to the work of Rep. Devin Nunes and his Republican colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee, we know of actual collusion by a presidential campaign with organs of Russian intelligence. I refer to the Clinton campaign’s work with the friends of Vladimir Putin via the Perkins Coie, Glenn Simpson/Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele. It’s on the face of the Steele Dossier.

    • If one seeks false statements to Congress that bear on Russian interference and campaign collusion, look no further than Glenn Simpson’s testimony to the congressional intelligence committees. John and I wrote about Simpson’s testimony in several posts that can be accessed here.

    • Republican counsel questioning Simpson focused mostly on Simpson’s simultaneous work with the BakerHostetler law firm on behalf of the Russian company Prevezon in support of its defense of the money laundering/asset forfeiture case brought by the Untied States (in the case underlying the Magnitsky Act). Recall that Simpson’s work with BakerHostetler brought him into contact with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya immediately before and after she met held the infamous meeting with Donald Trump, Jr. et al. at Trump Tower. In part Simpson’s job was to provide research undermining the credibility of Bill Browder, the proponent of the Magnitsky Act in the United States and similar laws elsewhere.

    • Incidentally, Trump’s Jr.’s meeting all by itself belies the collusion hysteria in the case of the Trump campaign.

    • It is almost unbelievable that at the time Simpson was working on behalf of the Clinton campaign he was also working with the BakerHostetler law firm on behalf of the Russian oligarch Denis Katsyv and Prevezon Holdings in support of their defense in the asset forfeiture/money laundering case brought by the United States. Simpson’s work required him to dog Bill Browder, the well-known proponent of the Magnitsky Act.

    • Indeed, as I understand it, Magnitsky originally uncovered the facts underlying the government’s case against Prevezon. In the interview counsel asked Simpson the obvious question whether he understood his work on the Prevezon case principally to have benefited the Russian government. Suffice it to say that Simpson’s labored answer did not enhance his credibility as a witness. Simpson also claimed not to know anything about Veselnitskaya’s meeting with Trump Jr. A serious prosecutor investigation Russian interference might make something of it all.

    • A serious prosecutor might also make something of the incredible governmental wrongoing at the heart of the investigation that gave rise to the Mueller probe. It is the biggest political scandal in our history and Trump is a victim of it, not a perpetrator. See, e.g., Julie Kelly’s American Greatness column “The incorrigible Mr. Comey.” Touching on a point I make above, Kelly cites Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s press release Complaint: Firm behind Dossier & Former Russian Intel Officer Joined Lobbying Effort to Kill Pro-Whistleblower Sanctions for Kremlin.

    It’s almost enough to make an observant bystander conclude that the Mueller probe is a pretext to support the removal of Trump from office and a diversion from the collusion of the Clinton campaign with Russian interference in the election.”

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  23. I’m not disinterested, but please don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  24. ha! is make funny

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  25. As Axl Rose said, “All we need is just a little patience”….yeah, yeah. Everyone has his own meme running through his head….and it is tempting to jump to conclusions…and create narratives. It’s hard….but all we need is just a little patience….

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74)

  26. or we need evidence of an actual crime

    collusion’s only a crime in the heads of the sleazy trashy men and women of the fbi, not in any actual court

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  27. 2020 should be a referendum on Trump and the investigation. But, that’s the last thing Mueller and his fans want. A presidential election is way too important to leave up to the electorate.

    Munroe (6c5e52)

  28. I knew that name sounded familiar:

    In an article by Matthew Scully (one of Gerson’s co-speechwriters) published in The Atlantic (September 2007) Gerson is criticized for seeking the limelight, taking the credit for other people’s work and for creating a false image of himself.

    It was always like this, working with Mike. No good deed went unreported, and many things that never happened were reported as fact. For all of our chief speechwriter’s finer qualities, the firm adherence to factual narrative is not a strong point.[23]

    Of particular note is the invention of the phrase “axis of evil.” Scully claims that the phrase “axis of hatred” was coined by David Frum and forwarded to colleagues by email. The word “hatred” was changed to “evil” by someone other than Gerson and was done because “hatred” seemed the more melodramatic word at the time.[24]

    Scully also had this to say about Gerson:

    My most vivid memory of Mike at Starbucks is one I have labored in vain to shake. We were working on a State of the Union address in John’s (McConnell’s) office when suddenly Mike was called away for an unspecified appointment, leaving us to ‘keep going.’ We learned only later, from a chance conversation with his secretary, where he had gone, and it was a piece of Washington self-promotion for the ages: At the precise moment when the State of the Union address was being drafted at the White House by John and me, Mike was off pretending to craft the State of the Union in longhand for the benefit of a reporter.[24]

    nk (dbc370)

  29. #27

    You’ll get your wish. Be careful what you wish for, the old saying goes.

    The only way you don’t get your wish is if Trump resigns. He won’t. He may pout; he may watch even more Fox and read less briefings; but he won’t quit.

    Appalled (c9622b)

  30. Assange anti-American?

    All I know is that he has risked his life to air dirty laundry.

    If that is wrong, then those who dirtied and hid the laundry are far worse.

    If truth weakens American government it is American government that is the problem, not the truth.

    An I missing something?

    Puggle (ce5e51)

  31. 25… we need justice to be as even-handed as is humanly possible and to have trust and confidence in the leadership of the DOJ, the FBI and every law enforcement entity in all 50 states that they will operate under and enforce the Rule of Law.

    And they should do all of this in an apolitical manner.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  32. Why do I see all this as a concerted media effort to encourage (not to say coerce) Mueller to write a report that is as damaging as possible to Trump? I mean, it’s not like the media would ever do anything like that, is it? Run a campaign to let, say, a Special Counsel or a Supreme Court Justice, know that unless he decides in a certain way he’ll be on the wrong side of history and his own personal legacy will suffer?

    nk (dbc370)

  33. 25… and as Axl Rose also said, “I don’t even know my own phone number.”

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  34. He also said “Police and [n-words], that’s right, Get outta my way”. Except he didn’t say “n-word”.

    But I guess in a world with over seven billion people, the odds are that there will be one person who does not think Ax Rose is complete and utter scum.

    nk (dbc370)

  35. I write a comment about Gerson in another thread, and then I see this post. It is becoming clearer that there is a Putin-Wikileaks-Stone/Corsi-Trump axis, and it does raise the possibility of two-degree removed collusion. If he was willing to bribe Putin with a $50 million penthouse, it stands to reason that he would do other immoral, unpatriotic un-American things.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  36. An Axis Of Collusion! We’d better copyright that, Paul, before Gerson steals it.

    nk (dbc370)

  37. What we have, what Mueller and company will find if they understands what he is seeing, is not collusion, but attempted Russian penetration of the Trump campaign and possible future Administration.

    It is not a secret and is nothing new that Paul Manafort was trying to work as a spy for Russia within the Trump campaign, but it is kind of overlooked.

    From the Washington Post, posted online September 20, 2017:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/manafort-offered-to-give-russian-billionaire-private-briefings-on-2016-campaign/2017/09/20/399bba1a-9d48-11e7-8ea1-ed975285475e_story.html

    Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire ‘private briefings’ on 2016 campaign

    Less than two weeks before Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign chairman offered to provide briefings on the race to a Russian billionaire closely aligned with the Kremlin, according to people familiar with the discussions.

    Paul Manafort made the offer in an email to an overseas intermediary, asking that a message be sent to Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate with whom Manafort had done business in the past, these people said.

    “If he needs private briefings we can accommodate,” Manafort wrote in the July 7, 2016, email, portions of which were read to The Washington Post along with other Manafort correspondence from that time.

    Now the people who want to find Trump colluding with Russia will look at that and see Manafort being delegated that job by ZDonald trump and acting on Trump’s instructions.

    I don’t think that’s what went on at all. This was penetration of the Trump campaign.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  38. And also Trump was influenced to take somewhat pro-Russia positions, probably both on (specious) political grounds and on what was put to him as on merits partly because of another probable Russian agent of influence, Mike Flynn.

    Mike Flynn was suspected by people in the Obama Administration of having been recruited by the GRU while he was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (Obama did not extend his term as a result. He later on tried to prevent Trump from hiring him as National Security Adviser.)

    This is not a secret either.

    https://themoscowproject.org/collusion/michael-flynn-meets-g-r-u-moscow/

    In 2013, Flynn took a delegation to Moscow to meet with the G.R.U., despite the C.I.A.’s concerns. Flynn arranged the trip to Moscow “to speak to a group of officers from the G.R.U., Russia’s intelligence agency, about leadership development. His decision to go was a controversial one. Flynn believed that there were opportunities to find common ground with Russia.” Flynn wanted to visit the G.R.U. again and invited G.R.U. officers to come to the U.S., but “permission was denied.”

    …Just a few months before he began advising Donald Trump on his presidential campaign, Flynn was paid “approximately forty thousand dollars” to give a talk at an RT Gala, where he a table with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov. Viktor Vekselberg, who later came under scrutiny for his ties to Wilbur Ross, also attended the event, along with future Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. Julian Assange appeared at the gala via videotape. Flynn reportedly accepted money from other Russian companies as well, including $11,250 for a speaking engagement for Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity company with alleged ties to the Kremlin (the company has denied these ties.)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/18/us/politics/michael-flynn-intel-group-trump.html

    Mr. Flynn believed that Moscow could be cultivated as an ally against Islamist militants. As director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he had even visited the headquarters of the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence service.

    His colleagues in the American intelligence community took a less favorable view, especially when he continued to push for closer ties after Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014. They believed Mr. Flynn was willing to be used by Russia if he could advance his views on forging a united front to battle the Islamic States…

    https://theberkshireedge.com/smoke-signals-from-the-swamp-the-fall-of-flynn/

    …But the report that Trump wanted to bring Flynn back to the government so alarmed former President Obama that, according to NBC News, on November 10, 2016 he “warned President Donald Trump against hiring Mike Flynn as his national security adviser …

    “A senior Trump administration official acknowledged Monday that Obama raised the issue of Flynn, saying the former president made clear he was ‘not a fan of Michael Flynn.’ Another official said Obama’s remark seemed like it was made in jest.”

    Armed with classified information, former President Obama obviously knew something about Flynn’s unacknowledged involvement with Russian and other authoritarian interests. We may never know exactly what the former President told President Trump about how the Russians may have compromised Michael Flynn. But we do know President Trump disregarded the advice. On November 18, 2016, he named Michael Flynn his National Security Advisor, an appointment that did not require Congressional approval.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  39. Puggle (ce5e51) — 11/30/2018 @ 9:12 am

    An I missing something?

    Assange doesn’t show much interest in airing dirty laundry of string dictatorshs, although a few years back he did post things about Syria.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  40. I am no Trump fan, by far, but count me unimpressed.

    Obstruction of justice — don’t see it. All I see is talk about witch hunts. Uncouth, but not obstruction of justice.

    Financial corruption? Well, let’s see the evidence, not “hints.”

    Collusion? Sorry, all then-candidate Trump said was, release whatever you have on Hillary and the Dems. Again, crude, but hardly criminal.

    This would barely be enough to pass Rule 11 to bring a civil suit. Barely.

    (Which is not to say Trump might not be guilty. But so far, the evidence is tissue thin. And I have the quaint customer of judging things by evidence, not who I root for politically.)

    Bored Lawyer (998177) — 11/30/2018 @ 8:02 am

    Yeah… that’s where I’m at.

    I mean, here you have a dude running for President in 2016 where the whole world was convinced that he’d be walloped by HRC, leveraging his “candidate Trump” fame for his business. I’m not even sure that was even illegal by any means. Politically, I *do* think pursuing something like this during your candidacy was stupid, as your opposition would use it against you.

    Additionally, during the campaign the fact that Russia was our “geo-political” adversary was so muted, it warranted many snarky responses from democrats. Its only became a yuuuuuuuge deal when Hillary lost.

    Frankly, its de jour to assuming that politicians will use their standings to enhance their own wealth. Just look at how Congressional critters become wealthy.

    whembly (51f28e)

  41. I think we’re in need of one Axl Rose quote to start each day, and GD it, i’m gonna deliver it.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  42. President Trump isn’t just doing the great policies he’s doing them under the constant unceasing barrage of dirty Mia Love’s hateful invective

    he’s like a force of nature

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  43. 35. Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/30/2018 @ 9:28 am

    If he was willing to bribe Putin with a $50 million penthouse, it stands to reason that he would do other immoral, unpatriotic un-American things.

    Wait a second.

    Isn’t it supposed to be Putin who was trying to bribe Trump?

    This idea of giving Vladimir Putin a $50 million penthouse in the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow was not Trump’s idea, nor did he approve it, nor did he even hear of it.

    It was proposed by someone trying to put the project together, on the grounds that Russian oligarchs would like to live in the same building with Putin, and they could make up the difference by charging all the other buyers more.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  44. As an aside, anyone who gave Michael Avenatti a shred of credibility or cover owes mankind an apology.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  45. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing, I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” Trump said in a July 27, 2016 news conference.

    So Russia heard this invitation and took out ads on Facebook? Seems tenuous. I’m willing to accept the fact that voters in a few swing states just didn’t like Hillary.

    AZ Bob (885937)

  46. All I know is that he has risked his life to air dirty laundry.

    He didn’t risk his life. He fled to a backwater embassy to escape prison for rape. He has a long history of helping Putin and working against American interests. His publishing what Hesheit Manning stole, without editing, put peoples lives in danger.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  47. Here’s the real collusion that the media is choosing to ignore.

    https://pjmedia.com/trending/shock-fbi-raids-recognized-whistleblowers-home-for-clinton-foundation-docs/

    NJRob (4d595c)

  48. This idea of giving Vladimir Putin a $50 million penthouse in the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow was not Trump’s idea, nor did he approve it, nor did he even hear of it.

    You don’t know that, Sammy. What I do know is that Trump follows his business closely, like he did with the payoff of two skanky women to hide his extramarital affairs.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  49. #43 —

    TRUMP(enters): O woe is my heart, for I am insulted again by the Princess of the Desert. Verily, she wounds my pride with the sharpest saber, and she who wounds my pride wounds all. But, there is this country, America, the Great Again, for which I tweet my soul and heart. I must, though sore in heart and soul, continue. Is there anyone who knows my torment?

    (He takes his phone from pocket. Stares)

    TRUMP: Who is this great one who posts so nobly at the Site Patterico? He reminds me of my great small romance, that soul filling moment with He I once called Rocket Man. I shall find him — I shall give the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He does for me what once only Elvis could do…I shall call that cowering knave I see ahead of me….HEY KELLY!!!!

    (Exit, as always, Stage Right)

    Appalled (c9622b)

  50. Colonel Haiku (d6175a) — 11/30/2018 @ 8:48 am

    I refer to the Clinton campaign’s work with the friends of Vladimir Putin via the Perkins Coie, Glenn Simpson/Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele. It’s on the face of the Steele Dossier.

    But Trump doesn’t like to see things that way, although maybe he will come around to it. trump has bene more sympathetic to the idea that Christopher Steele or teh Democrats made the whole thing up, rather than that Vladimir Putin and his minions made the whole thing up.

    Taht seems to be the case.

    But now you have to ask the question, why, if Putin wanted to see Trump elected (and he thought Trump had good chances until mid-October, when he gave up hope) did he invent derogatory information about Trump.

    It’s Elementary really:

    1. Putin had no idea that Christopher Steele was working for American Democrats, but most likely thought he was working for MI5 or British conservatives, who would not pass on the disinformation, and certainly not make it public. And therefore telling these lies about Trump would not be at crosspurposes with trying to help get Trump elected.

    2. Putin did not want Steele to lose confidence in his sources and the information they had provided to MI5 in years back. So they had to answer, and be just as forthcoming as before..

    3. Putin did not want MI5 and/or Steele to know the real reason he favored Trump (which was more than hating Hillary, whom he blamed for the Euromaidan Revolution (Revolution of Dignity; Ukrainian: Революція гідності, Revoliutsiia hidnost) in February, 2014, because he thought Victoria Nuland was one of Hillary’s women – that is when the break betwene the Clintons and Putin took place, not 2011.

    The real reason Vladimir Putin favred Donald Trump above all other candidates was that he thought he might be able to penetrate an American Presidential Administration.

    So he had to supply Steele with other FALSE reasons as to why he favored Trump. (everybdy thought Putin favored Trump. That he did is taken for granted in the email chain relased by Donald trump Jr. prior to the meeting between some Russians and Donald Trump Jr., paul MAnafort and Jared Kushner.)

    The disinformation consisted of two somewhat contradictory ideas:

    A) Putin had “compromat” on Trump, like the prostitute bed urine shower incident. (Trump supposedly so hated Obama he wanted to defile a bed Obama had slept on)

    B) Trump had a longstanding relationship with Russia – maybe was even being subsidized and rescued by Russia through Deusche Bank.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  51. Mr. Assange made it to where we know a lot of stuff about the sleazy NSA and the dirty unamerican trash at the CIA that we simply had no way of knowing before

    he leaked his wiki and we were all taken aback, but we’re sadder and wiser for his deeds today

    plus he outed weirdo tranner bradley manning and our skeevy military’s predilection for putting weirdo tranners in sensitive positions (idiot military)

    so that’s another thing we learned

    so i raise my glass to you Mr. Assange

    thank you sir thank you

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  52. 46/ Russia didn’t have Hillary’s deleted emails, and of course they were not still available on Internet and in fact they were almost certainly never hacked at all, and the FBI was talking nonsense about it being vulnerable.

    Her email had numerous security features not available anywhere else:

    1) No backdoor password reset.

    2) Password picked professionally, and probably not even known to Hillary anyway, and therefore not vulnerable to a dictionary attack.

    3) It was unknown to hackers what software it was running.

    4) Limited thruput.

    5) Not vulnerable to a phishing attack because no phishing email would be plausible since the email address was mostly secret. Not that Hillary could reset the password anyway.

    6) Any probem was personally taken care of by the SYSOP.

    7) Server physically guarded by the Secret Service.

    It was also not vulnerable to subpoenas, FOIA requests, and possible future commissions of inquiry.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  53. 46/ Russia didn’t have Hillary’s deleted emails, and of course they were not still available on Internet and in fact they were almost certainly never hacked at all, and the FBI was talking nonsense about it being vulnerable.

    Her email had numerous security features not available anywhere else:

    1) No backdoor password reset.

    2) Password picked professionally, and probably not even known to Hillary anyway, and therefore not vulnerable to a dictionary attack.

    3) It was unknown to hackers what software it was running.

    4) Limited thruput.

    5) Not vulnerable to a phishing attack because no phishing email would be plausible since the email address was mostly secret. Not that Hillary could reset the password anyway.

    6) Any probem was personally taken care of by the SYSOP.

    7) Server physically guarded by the Secret Service.

    It was also not vulnerable to subpoenas, FOIA requests, and possible future commissions of inquiry.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 11/30/2018 @ 10:11 am

    Where are you getting this?

    I know I’m just a guy on the ‘Net… but, when this exploded in the public sphere during the Benghazi Committee hearings, I was able to get HRC’s outlook web login page.

    That should never happen in IT security.

    My bet, is that whomever set this up simply followed standard “black box” outlook configurations. Which is ridiculously weak against foreign power’s hacking prowess.

    HRC as Sec. of State is the #3 MOST desired intelligence during her tenure.

    whembly (51f28e)

  54. When Assange was burning all sorts of government resources, all 5he papers couldn’t get enough. Now he goes after one entitled candidate, all he’ll breaks loose.

    Narciso (040f5d)

  55. 20. 11/30/2018 @ 8:42 am from Judicial Watch

    .Hillary had emails that she refused to turn over after scrubbing her server.

    Well, it happened like this:

    The John Kerry State Departnment discovereed, after getting subpeoansd and complaints from the House Benghazi committee which had emails other people got from HRC but nothing she sent, that they had no emails from her time at the Satte Department.

    Hilary turned over some. She got some pusback. Eventuallly, Kerry’s State Department indicated it was satisfied it had everything that was work related. Then she scriubbed her server.

    All this was in secret with John Kerry’s State Department completely unbeknownst to the House Committee on Benghazi that had subpoenaed certain emails, which didn’t get ahint of the problem.)

    I think everything that was turned over was turned over only in the form of unsearchable printouts on paper.

    Hillary Clinton, then later, after this was made public, requested all of her surviving emails (she claimed she had left everything that was work related plus some more)b be made public, in order to show “openness” (a move that would probably not fool a 7-year child who understood what had happened)

    She turned over to the State Department everything she claimed was work related (but only in the form of unsearchable printouts on paper. But this was 2015 – it was possible, to scan them.)

    Her request to release “everything” caused a (routine) examaination of her emails prior to their release during which some were found to excluded from release because they contained classified information. Except by accident and habit, none had been marked classified in any way. It ususally happens with anything that anyone wants made public.

    To me the most remarkable thing about the hacking during the 2016 campaign was that the RNC’s servers were much more secure and that the DNC not only got hacked by the Russians but that one of their own in-house IT crews was hacking the House Of Representatives and ripping them off while overcharging for doing so and being protected by Wasserman-Schultz.

    IT was a patronage position for the Dems, and Hillary knew no real secrets were held by the DNC.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  56. Attention ATAS: for your consideration–it’s honorary Emmy time.

    What.
    A.
    Show.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  57. WhataBurger

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  58. whembly (51f28e) — 11/30/2018 @ 10:22 am

    I know I’m just a guy on the ‘Net… but, when this exploded in the public sphere during the Benghazi Committee hearings, I was able to get HRC’s outlook web login page.

    The log-in page maybe, but not the password. You can do that with almost any bank.

    My bet, is that whomever set this up simply followed standard “black box” outlook configurations. Which is ridiculously weak against foreign power’s hacking prowess.

    It (oe her account) was attacked at times by a dictionary attack. The response by the SysOp was to shut down the server until it went away.

    The Russians had her email address because they hacked Sidney Blumenthal. That didn’t give any entry into her emails.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  59. “It is becoming clearer that there is a Putin-Wikileaks-Stone/Corsi-Trump axis, and it does raise the possibility of two-degree removed collusion.“

    Axis: Bold As F*ck

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  60. @57. “Where’s the beef?” or ‘Hamburger Helper,’ eh, Haiku?!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  61. The big question is how did Manafort and Flynn (mainly) get their jobs?

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  62. Stone and Corsi are accusing eac other of lying. Corsi is probably telling the truth in that respect

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  63. and all he’s done is to spend tens of millions of dollars having the trashy cowardly men and women of the fbi run around laying perjury traps

    footsies, Lieutenant Mueller has more than paid for the money spent on his investigation, and collected millions of additional dollars in unpaid taxes that Trump’s corrupt crony tried to steal.

    He has actually reduced the budget deficit, while President Trump continues to increase it.

    (Mueller will probably need to collect Trump’s back taxes to eliminate the national debt completely, but I’m sure he’s working on it!)

    Dave (1bb933)

  64. there’s no way to know whether these were unpaid taxes or just gangster style DOJ theft

    these trashy DOJ losers are every bit as corrupt as Vladimir Putin and that’s according to the empirical data we’ve been able to collect using observations

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  65. Isn’t it supposed to be Putin who was trying to bribe Trump?

    No, the story is that Putin was trying to get Trump elected or ensure Hillary was not elected, but not to get a $50M bribe from Trump, although even for Putin, $50M in real estate isn’t nothing, it’s close though. Putin wanted/wants power, period.

    Of course Donnie would try to bribe Putin for his tower. The bribe would come out of the actual developers pocket (Trump doesn’t actually own those, he rents his name), Donnie would get a continuous windfall of millions on “management” fees for the tower. That’s just business, for Trump. For Putin, it was probably mostly for sport, he hates Clinton, and shading the chaos campaign, that the SVR was already undertaking, towards Trump was probably hilarious, plus it promotes Russia as not the mouse turd they are, yes with a nuclear arsenal. If Jeb was the GOP candidate, he’d probably done even more to ensure the red/blue angst was notched up. As it happened, they could throw their support behind Trump, and they won the chaos lottery. Donnie has been funding the brand for 20 years on shady money, the last 10 with shady Russian money, so it probably felt like a no lose to Putin.

    Donnie is not a smart man, he’s a dupe, a useful idiot at best. If you’re Russia, you got your money’s worth, although at some point they may feel like the dog that caught the car. Donnie’s too dumb to be an actual valuable asset, who knows what he’ll do. They may, or may not, have influenced an election, they definitely have gotten a large amount of credit/blame for the outcome regardless of their actual impact, but what now? Sanctions aren’t lifted, Trump’s unsophistication in his regard for Russia has not helped with that, Congress is even more anti-Russia, and the next President will focus on them as an adversary to a much greater degree than they possibly demand.

    For the Russians, the same game plan on Brexit has been much more successful. The EU is too internally focused on refugee’s (SVR is also funding neo-fascist groups across Europe fanning the flames of an already burning fire, La Penn etc.) and Brexit; and not focusing on expanding NATO to Ukraine, or Russian gas, etc.

    But to answer your question again. No, Putin wasn’t trying to bribe Trump.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (744849)

  66. >Assange doesn’t show much interest in airing dirty laundry of string dictatorshs, although a few years back he did post things about Syria.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

    Hmm, thank you. I thought he was just a sort of clearinghouse though. If no-one gives him stuff he can’t show it. Does he have dictator dirt he won’t show?

    He didn’t risk his life. He fled to a backwater embassy to escape prison for rape. He has a long history of helping Putin and working against American interests. His publishing what Hesheit Manning stole, without editing, put peoples lives in danger.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

    I need to do more Arrange research, but still — if I aired dirt on the behavior of a global hegemon my life would be in danger. I consider the rape stuff separate, if it was really rape. I will research.

    Yeah he should have edited.

    I don’t see why whistleblowers and friends should be held to a vastly higher standard than the people they report on.

    Puggle (ce5e51)

  67. 60… hamburger midnight, disco… https://youtu.be/tu4lSYe5BE8

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  68. i’ve had it up to here with all these people doing the most ridiculous criticize on President Trump as if he’d done something wrong

    it’s crazy

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  69. there’s no way to know whether these were unpaid taxes or just gangster style DOJ theft

    but the beauty is, it pays for Secret Service room and board in a Trump hotel all the same!

    Dave (1bb933)

  70. “Well baby you must be loony to trust a lower-than-low two-timer like me.”

    Beldar (fa637a)

  71. Mr. Assange made it to where we know a lot of stuff about the sleazy NSA…

    No, he didn’t, that was Snowden who leaked documents, and he actually did it responsibly by turning the materials over to reputable media outlets, where those outlets blacked out identities that would have been put in peril. Assange never did anything that. He’s an irresponsible, anti-American asswipe, and people like Hannity should be ashamed of themselves for unpatriotically praising this guy.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  72. where is the evidence that trump colluded with russia to change a single vote? if trying to influence an election was a crime john boner and bibi netenhayu would be in jail cells. trained seals on msdnc had to admit derschewitz was right that cohen guilty plee didn’t indict trump but whined mueller must have other evidence we don’t know about. good luck trying to indict a politician for giving a speech. if your looking for vote fixing fraud try the 9th congressional district in north carolina.

    lany (5d3ef3)

  73. the important thing is we know how dirty the NSA and the CIA are, and how threatening they are to freedom and human rights

    Mr. Assange helped and so did Mr. Snowden and i say thank you, cause freedom, it’s just so important

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  74. Peter Schweizer
    @peterschweizer

    Shouldn’t we be discussing the Moscow Trump Tower deal–which never happened–AND the Biden family’s consummated $1.5 billion deal with the PRC gov. while he was Veep AND the Clintons taking Russia speaking fees and Foundation donations while Hillary was SoS? If no its just politics

    harkin (a53154)

  75. Don’t forget that Russian oligarchs have been bailing out and using Trump to launder their money since the collapse of the USSR. When he says “”I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” It’s a flat lie. Fat one, too. He’s been their pawn for a long time.

    JRH (f51cae)

  76. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-16/behind-trump-s-russia-romance-there-s-a-tower-full-of-oligarchs

    ““a third of units sold [in Trump World Tower] on floors 76 through 83 by 2004 involved people or limited liability companies connected to Russia and neighboring states.”

    JRH (f51cae)

  77. but sure, nothing to do with Russia. If the sun is shining, he’s lying.

    JRH (f51cae)

  78. people keep making Russia out to be bad and actually it’s not as bad as (for example) Nazi Europe or leggy meggy’s burgeoningly fascist “United Kingdom”

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  79. where is the evidence that trump colluded with russia to change a single vote? if trying to influence an election was a crime john boner and bibi netenhayu would be in jail cells
    That’s the point of the Special Counsel, and it is illegal for a candidate to work with the leader of a hostile foreign power to effect the outcome of an election, and I don’t see how it would be less illegal if there were a conduit or two between the principals.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  80. BTW, there was just a massive 7.0 earthquake near Anchorage, the largest in 55 years (link).

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  81. anybody what helped stop hillary from becoming our second disgusting herpes president was part of God’s Plan for America that’s 100% obvious

    that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re good people but they helped make the world a better place and that’s not nothing

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  82. fox news is all up into anchorage and it’s boring af

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  83. anybody what helped stop hillary from becoming our second disgusting herpes president was part of God’s Plan for America that’s 100% obvious

    Ah, so the ends justify the means, rule of law be damned. Noted.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  84. Meanwhile, the allegations concerning DT Jr’s involvement in this are, like most of these allegations, thinly sourced and based on EXTREMELY poor reading that fall apart literally the day after they get made, just like the MANAFORT VISITED ASSANGE Guardian story:

    “Sean Davis

    Verified account

    @seanmdav
    2h2 hours ago
    More Sean Davis Retweeted NPR Politics
    This entire story is a lie. Trump, Jr. was explicitly asked whether the Trump Organization was pursuing a plan to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow in 2016. His answer: “Yes.” He even offered to give the 2015 LOI signed by Trump to Judiciary investigators.”

    As usual, we have a mountain of innuendo and misreading piled on top of a molehill of evidence from already-compromised sources, you should NEVER take a media claim that TRUMP LIED!!! or RUSSIA LIED!!! at face value until you check the entire statements, questions, and context in triplicate.

    Also the reason to hate neocons is not even so much that they lie, but that they always seem to time these lies and hit pieces right before major international negotiations, like they’re really just extortion tactics for their preferred international deals. You could even use the word ‘collusion’ to describe their proactive networking with Democrats and foreign sources to push their lines everywhere, not to mention obstruction of justice!

    Izzet (b8eb7f)

  85. “Ah, so the ends justify the means, rule of law be damned. Noted.”

    The saying you’re looking for is ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’, O shill for the Party of Lawyers.

    Izzet (00e23d)

  86. If Cohen pled quilty for lying to Congress, then DJTJ was just as guilty.

    Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that although there had been negotiations surrounding a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow, they concluded without result “at the end” of 2014.
    “But not in 2015 or 2016?” Trump Jr. was asked.
    “Certainly not ’16,” he said. “There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.”

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  87. The saying you’re looking for is ‘what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’…

    Nope, not looking for any sayings. Who knew that supporting the rule of law would be controversial.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  88. A shout out to/cutting to teh chase for Montagu, Dave, JRH and a few others:

    “Donald Trump is a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, white supremacist, evil horrible racist Nazi person racist, homophobic, xenophobic, hates gay people, grabs women by the front hole, hates everyone who’s not a straight white male, Drumpf. #BlueWave“

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  89. “Who knew that supporting the rule of law would be controversial.”

    Who knew that the nation’s premier law enforcement agencies would find operating within the parameters of the Rule of Law and evenhanded applications of same to be so problematic?

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  90. Every day President Trump’s in our White House doing president stuff is another day of healing for America, and they’re gonna end up making a movie about it (obviously) and it’s gonna be one of those ones where everybody leaves the theater feeling fantastic

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  91. LOVE the rule of law btw

    huge fan

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  92. Simply put, they didn’t like the results of the last presidential election and they have not and will not get over it.

    Fvck every GD one of them in their menducious pieholes.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  93. Germany is so weak Russia could take them in an afternoon, but they don’t bother instead they supply them gas, I imagine Putin has contempt for Hillary, under her they took eastern Ukraine in ours and then Obama papered it over, the response to shooting down a civilian airliner puny sanctions.

    Narciso (e1024d)

  94. Furthermore if there was anyone who is abeyance of the rule of law, is that twit governor of yours, when you plan to get rid of him montagu, I know his big plan went by by.

    Narciso (e1024d)

  95. Rule of law. Lmmfao.

    mg (ef2c8e)

  96. 89: Montagu’s refusal to read, research, or follow up on tweet chains and persist in the happy ignorance of the Party Line Atta-boyer is noted:

    “Sean Davis
    ‏Verified account @seanmdav
    3h3 hours ago

    But it gets even worse for @nprpolitics here. They lied about the question which @DonaldJTrumpJr was responding to when he said “Certainly not ’16.” The actual question was if he knew whether the Emin and Aras Agalarov were trying to build a Trump Tower at that time.”

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtRR59FU0AAB483.jpg

    You’re an NPC, Montagu, a partisan without a thought in your head mindlessly repeating lies and misquotes pushed from HiveMind Command. Consider at least spending the time in your hidey-hole reading your enemy’s positions thoroughly if you want to be useful as anything other than immediate expendable cannon fodder once you poke your head up guns start blazing.

    Izzet (3c6a01)

  97. Good catch by Hemingway at the Federalist. NPR has issued a correction.

    JRH (f51cae)

  98. Game of Love Rule of Law (Wayne Fontana and teh Mindbenders)

    The purpose of a law is to catch a bad man
    And the purpose of a bad man is to break the law
    So come on, Mueller
    Let’s stop the ruse
    Come on, Mueller
    Let’s use

    The Rule of Law (Law) Law (Law)
    La, la, la, la, la Law

    It started long ago in the ‘16 election
    When Clinton said to Trump
    Trump you can’t beat me

    So come on, Mueller
    Let’s stop the ruse
    Come on, Mueller
    Let’s use

    The Rule of Law (Law) Law (Law)
    La, la, la, la, la Law

    Come on, Mueller
    ‘Cause the time is right
    Use that melon with all your might
    You can do it, Mueller
    No need to fight
    Use teh Rule of Law

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  99. Here’s a correction, Haiku.
    Donald Trump is a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, white supremacist, evil horrible racist Nazi person racist, homophobic, xenophobic, hates gay people, grabs women by the front hole, hates everyone who’s not a straight white male, Drumpf. #BlueWave“
    I crossed out your “racist” repeats. I won’t say that Trump is homophobic because he has such a big mancrush on Putin. I would add some insults that you left out, but just not feelin’ it.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  100. Just keep your “Democrat” registration current, Montagu, don’t go changin’ on us…

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  101. You’re an NPC, Montagu, a partisan without a thought in your head mindlessly repeating lies and misquotes pushed from HiveMind Command.

    That’s a personal attack, Izzet. I suggest you read the rules and comment accordingly.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  102. Just keep your “Democrat” registration current, Montagu, don’t go changin’ on us…

    That’s funny, Haiku, because I re-joined the GOP a few weeks back after a 5-year hiatus. Like it or not, I share the same political party with you.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  103. You must be in teh Kristol Wing…

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  104. Or mebbe Max Boot Wing

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  105. BTW, NPR stands corrected, and so do I.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  106. You must be in teh Kristol Wing…

    Let’s not play this childish labels game, Haiku. I trust you can do better than habitual ad hominems.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  107. you can’t trust NPR

    they lie a lot and they hate jews (jewish people)

    not unlike the CIA really

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  108. 104: The point of the insult is to inspire you to do better at things like fact checking, sourcing, and counterposting. If you resemble the remark, own up to it so that you don’t in the future!

    Izzet (9323e7)

  109. So NPR included a lie in a report to the American people (later corrected). House Republicans included Cohen’s lies in their report to the American people (not yet corrected). but yeah let’s all get fired up about NPR.

    JRH (f51cae)

  110. that makes no sense

    everybody knows NPR lies a lot and does fake news

    they’re like CNN Jake Tapper fake news except funded by welfare money from the taxpayers

    they have an agenda, you see

    they’re constantly pushing the climate change hoax *plus* whatever marching orders they get for the day

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  111. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2017 that although there had been negotiations surrounding a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow, they concluded without result “at the end” of 2014.
    “But not in 2015 or 2016?” Trump Jr. was asked.
    “Certainly not ’16,” he said. “There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.”

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/30/2018 @ 12:39 pm

    Since they quoted the wrong deal and ran with it just like you are that means they were a hack and were wrong.

    You could’ve spent 5 minutes fact checking this, but it was anti-Trump, so why bother, right?

    NJRob (ef9082)

  112. BTW, NPR stands corrected, and so do I.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/30/2018 @ 1:45 pm

    NPR will not apologize for their hack work and running with a lie. Will you?

    NJRob (ef9082)

  113. @68. Helsinki. Putin’on the Ritz, Mr. Feet.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  114. you can’t trust NPR

    I don’t disagree about being skeptical of them, feet, but they fixed their mistake 5 hours later and owned up to it. That’s a plus in their column. But from what I’ve seen, the president whom you worship has not acknowledged his thousands of factual deficiencies while in office, let alone made any corrections.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  115. no they still have a very misleading piece of taxpayer-financed propaganda up

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  116. NPR will not apologize for their hack work and running with a lie. Will you?

    No, I won’t apologize. Mine was an honest mistake. But if you want to play the juvenile game of Who Should Apologize, why won’t Trump apologize for his thousands of fact-starved statements, and why aren’t you imploring him stop with the “hack work” and running with lies?

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  117. the president whom you worship has not acknowledged his thousands of factual deficiencies while in office

    i love him in part precisely because he knows how to pick his battles

    that’s how you move the ball down the field! (metaphorical ball)

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  118. You said it right there. An object of worship can do no wrong, make no mistakes. If he does it it’s by virtue praiseworthy — part of an inscrutable plan. Standards which apply to mortals do not apply to pbjects of worship.

    JRH (f51cae)

  119. he’s pretty awesome

    happyfeet (d13f58)

  120. well played, I laughed out loud.

    JRH (f51cae)

  121. i’ve had it up to here with all these people doing the most ridiculous criticize on President Trump as if he’d done something wrong

    it’s crazy
    happyfee

    There’s a wide internet for you to find like-minded people. Criticizing a president for his lack of character, or his mental handicap, isn’t a problem.

    Does he lie more than any 12 year old because he’s evil? I honestly don’t think so anymore, he is a 12 year old. He knows little more, he doesn’t know enough to know when to shut his trap, he can’t be corrected, he hates people smarter than himself, he has zero loyalty. He is a 12 year old boy. In the 80’s he was not as dumb, he could string sentences together, still made terrible business decisions, but was all around more likely to not act out the inner dialogue.

    Is it twitter, it’s mind-numbingly stupid, is it that he’s a feebleminded old man? I really don’t care, a 12 year old is the President of the United States, it happened, now we have 2 more years to deal with it. Pence is a beige footstool, but I’d take him a million times over, and no, Donnie’s not getting impeached, even if there’s video of him and Putie splashing around the hotel suite, eww!

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (744849)

  122. “Why would he stay personally removed from this nasty work, when he personally involved himself in the Stormy Daniels nasty work? Answer: he wouldn’t.”

    Why would someone be personally removed from gang rape, when he personally involved himself with sexual assault?

    Blasey Ford logic is catching on.

    Munroe (be98e5)

  123. just like the Russian connected Ukrainian board membership for the son with the substance abuse problem, and the Ashley Madison account,

    https://twitter.com/peterschweizer/status/1068515207230758912

    this was happening when he was vice president

    narciso (d1f714)

  124. Always so eager and hey, it’s too good to check anyway.

    Colonel Haiku (d6175a)

  125. because the original account will remain when they check this account, the correction rarely catches up, the lie is deliberate,

    narciso (d1f714)

  126. Is it twitter, it’s mind-numbingly stupid, is it that he’s a feebleminded old man?

    Stage 3 syphilis

    Dave (b420d1)

  127. so deripaska manaforts one time partner, who probably lent his people to the fusion inquiry, lost something like 2 billion dollars, another oligarch lost twice that, prigozhin, had a company of his best mercenaries, waxed on the plains of deir er zour, it’s an odd way to understand collusion, it’s like the black knight saying ‘its just a flesh wound’

    narciso (d1f714)

  128. this is the leading economy on the continent, we’ve been told,

    https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1068549859303727104

    narciso (d1f714)

  129. I think this meeting of the minds is a little more dangerous don’t you think

    https://twitter.com/SeanDurns/status/1068577239552483328

    narciso (d1f714)

  130. So much spam

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (68437d)

  131. yet he continues embracing the Iranian lion,

    https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/30/french-president-scorning-saudi-prince/

    narciso (d1f714)

  132. Colonel Haiku @95

    I second that emotion

    https://youtu.be/mv9cWgkpIZ4

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  133. Remember the advertising slogan “I’d walk a mile for a camel”? It’s an actual thing Middle East men say. Women like Linda Sarsour are the reason.

    I still say she’s the spitting image of Ted Cruz.

    nk (dbc370)

  134. I know better than to make demands but I’m anticipating a post about the FBI raid on a Clnton Foundation whistleblower and the chilling effect it might have on uprooting corruption.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  135. Whistleblower equals snitch, and most snitches are criminals. Ask any cop. A lot of them do get “chilled”, on the street or in prison, that’s true.

    nk (dbc370)

  136. So it’s not remarkable for the FBI to raid a rat.

    nk (dbc370)

  137. mr nk

    How about a ME ride share app called Humper? I give you half for the idea, my friend.

    Also shokran for the response. Follow up: duty to inform?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  138. So you think it makes more sense to raid a guy than CC the Justice Department?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  139. Prediction: This “pleasure revolution” will have the staying power of a premature ejaculator, and that’s about it. Actually, I’d like to take one of those ladies and BDSM her to the point of begging for a National Review subscription.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  140. Having been on the raided end (as the attorney for the owner of the premises raided) of an FBI raid just this past month, I have once more only good things to say about the way the FBI conducts searches pursuant to a warrant. Very professional.

    nk (dbc370)

  141. Colonel Haiku (d6175a) — 11/30/2018 @ 1:26 pm

    That was great, thanks.

    felipe (023cc9)

  142. “I know better than to make demands but I’m anticipating a post about the FBI raid on a Clnton Foundation whistleblower”

    I’m skeptical that this even occurred. The only source is the daily caller (and a million wingnut sites rebroadcasting it). I also can’t find any mention of the lawyer who is the source of the story, or the whistleblower outside of the article.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  143. If the FBI went looking thru Karen Silkwood’s shower it would be a good premise for The Grudge Three.

    I’m glad you made it thru alright. Just keep your receipts.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  144. mr nk

    Do you think they took the opportunity to plant listening devices?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  145. The fact that the whistleblower is a free weight enthusiast who likes to walk home from bars alone at 3AM looks really suspicious.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  146. I can’t say, Pinandpuller. They know how to pick locks and disable alarms if they want to enter a place surreptitiously and plant bugs.

    nk (dbc370)

  147. I’m skeptical that this even occurred. The only source is the daily caller (and a million wingnut sites rebroadcasting it). I also can’t find any mention of the lawyer who is the source of the story, or the whistleblower outside of the article.

    Even if this was true, the headlines say “FBI Investigating Clinton Foundation and Uranium One”, when the actual story is FBI investigating the man who stole classified documents. So he’s the new MrMs. Manning.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (84cd09)

  148. I’m skeptical that this even occurred.

    Me, too. For one, The Daily Caller doesn’t fix their mistakes 5 hours later, and they have a history of employing racists to write for them. For another, this was single-sourced reporting, with the only source being the guy’s lawyer, which should be journalistic malpractice. For another, if he was a “whistleblower”, there is no news of this whistleblowing prior to our learning of the FBI raid.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  149. You mean like Sarah jeong or Charles blow (hes merely a fool) or Nate McCall, how long did it take to correct the record on Sanford or Ferguson or Baltimore, miss Robles was promoted for the former, two weeks after the riots in the second inatance.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  150. @152 mr nk

    But if they run into a cleaning lady they have to kill her. It’s the law.

    Reminds me of a Jude Law/Juliette Binoche movie. mr narciso?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  151. In other news, Gov Scott in his usual graceless fashion has fired Brenda Snipes and replaced her with one of his own minions
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna942491
    It’s graceless because had Scott not done anything, incoming Gov DeSantis would have been the one to pick a replacement. So Scott has stepped on the toes of the guy from his own party to install his own henchman.

    Kishnevi (5b662e)

  152. Considering circulation Mr Patterico debunking The Daily Caller today would be ike him debunking the LA Times years ago. That’s sometimes called inflation.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  153. 154… more Max Bootisms???

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  154. Minion for a different department, kish he should have done it last year, when the egg had become an omelet,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  155. As for the famed gru, of they can’t even hit the right target, well its spionem (what ever the cognate for ‘like us’ is?

    Narciso (d1f714)

  156. “Stage 3 syphilis”

    Dave (b420d1)

    Betcha he can discern 4 from 5 though…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  157. But enough about bill clinton,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  158. Id like to see Mueller investigate the 2009 Honduran election. I mean coup, perpetrated by Obama/Clinton.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  159. I think that Kevin Costner and amber heard (she wasnt in the same part of the film)

    Narciso (d1f714)

  160. Yes I could go back to gabriel Byrne and bridget Fonda, but that might be a step too far.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  161. 138… an oldie and a damned goodie, P&P!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  162. I gnu you when
    You were so deer to me
    We anteloped

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  163. So when did Scott piss in your flower pot, kishnevi?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  164. 147… my pleasure, felipe!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  165. All the time and money we spent. Iran Contra. OBL.

    Reagan is dead and Daniel Ortega is president of Nicaragua. WTF are we doing here?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  166. Yes they don’t make them like that anymore,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  167. Yes the successor regimes fumbled the ball, Ortega came in on a white burro, with a chest full of Venezuelan cash.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  168. I grew up in the Casablanca of the Caribbean, pin.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  169. Is Trump at Mar-a-Lago or some other place far from the White House?

    nk (dbc370)

  170. We need to stop being interventionist hypocrites starting with the 2016 Election Fairy Tale.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  171. No hes in Buenos Aires,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  172. 172 and 174… I’ll never forget that ‘79 footage of the news reporter getting shot dead… thought right there, “well,that seals that”.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  173. Are you rooting for the bugs or crying for Johnny Rico, mr nk?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  174. Ah! That explains it!

    nk (dbc370)

  175. Idiot millennials. As Ygritte said to Jon Snow: You know nothing. Mr. Lowry explains.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  176. Yes it took the third one! to be half way serious with the subject

    Narciso (d1f714)

  177. Starship Troopers impressed me when I read it as kid, Pinandpuller, but when I got older I realized what a twisted, pompous a$$hole Heinlein really was.

    nk (dbc370)

  178. Do you even READ the WaPo?

    Any given day, out of the 6 columnists listed on the main page, 4 or 5 could be titled “Orange Man Bad”. EVERY DAY. The Paper That Cried Wolf A Million Times.

    It’s a culture there. No one, not even the supposed conservatives, defends the man in any way, nodding at or repeating even the most baseless charges.

    It’s like reading the Daily Worker on capitalism.

    So, yeah, there is a good chance that anything they publish will be terribly critical. Show me where the WSJ calls for impeachment on these lightly sourced charges and I’ll take notice. But right now this is the Democrat (and/or Hillary voter) echo chamber reverberating here.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  179. You have to consider the context, he wrote it as a rejoinder to einstein’s foolish pacifism during the cold war, it’s a volunteer army, something unheard in that eram

    Narciso (d1f714)

  180. In contrast, Isaac As-In-Color-A-Shade-Of-Purple-Gray was a mensch even if he was not half as good as he told people he was. 😉

    nk (dbc370)

  181. You’re an NPC, Montagu, a partisan without a thought in your head mindlessly repeating lies and misquotes pushed from HiveMind Command.

    Bye bye, Izzet. You’re gone until and unless I get an apology. You violated the rules, you were given a link to the rules, and you still don’t care.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  182. Aloha Pinandpuller

    mg (ebf6c2)

  183. I realized what a twisted, pompous a$$hole Heinlein really was.

    I just re-read “Moon” again and it held up well. But I have never ever gotten through the unedited version of “Stranger” (and its long and stultifying passages of Jubal’s resentments) even though I read and enjoyed the Hugo-winning version several times.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  184. Just keep your “Democrat” registration current, Montagu, don’t go changin’ on us…

    This is about the third warning I have given you, Haiku. I like you, which is why I keep giving warnings, but at some point the warnings become a ticket.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  185. Isaac As-In-Color-A-Shade-Of-Purple-Gray

    The Flying Sorcerers

    Kevin M (a57144)

  186. Most polyamory types are, mr nk.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  187. Couldn’t get into stranger, the heinlein estate should sue Atwood for badly plagiarizing ‘if this goes on’

    Narciso (d1f714)

  188. Since they quoted the wrong deal and ran with it just like you are that means they were a hack and were wrong.

    You could’ve spent 5 minutes fact checking this, but it was anti-Trump, so why bother, right?

    Settle down with the personal attacks, please, NJRob. I know they’re tempting when someone gets something wrong, but they are still against the rules.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  189. A disinterested observer, initially inclined to dismiss accusations of collusion, increasingly finds them plausible.

    Why would the Russians collude with Trump? They cannot want a random administration? It’s like playing poker with a fool. You cannot predict what they might do. Hillary might have been incompetent, but Putin (and everyone else) understood she was just a venal assh0le, and could be managed in obvious ways. The Saudis had that right.

    But here’s the $64 dollar question: would anyone with prosecutorial experience take this case to trial? Use the Hillary email case as your benchmark.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  190. I dawned on me, the other day about that, did dd harriman inspire Elon musk. Harriman had a smaller ego.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  191. n an article by Matthew Scully (one of Gerson’s co-speechwriters) published in The Atlantic (September 2007) Gerson is criticized for seeking the limelight, taking the credit for other people’s work and for creating a false image of himself.

    It was always like this, working with Mike. No good deed went unreported, and many things that never happened were reported as fact. For all of our chief speechwriter’s finer qualities, the firm adherence to factual narrative is not a strong point.[23]

    Of particular note is the invention of the phrase “axis of evil.” Scully claims that the phrase “axis of hatred” was coined by David Frum and forwarded to colleagues by email. The word “hatred” was changed to “evil” by someone other than Gerson and was done because “hatred” seemed the more melodramatic word at the time.[24]

    Scully also had this to say about Gerson:

    My most vivid memory of Mike at Starbucks is one I have labored in vain to shake. We were working on a State of the Union address in John’s (McConnell’s) office when suddenly Mike was called away for an unspecified appointment, leaving us to ‘keep going.’ We learned only later, from a chance conversation with his secretary, where he had gone, and it was a piece of Washington self-promotion for the ages: At the precise moment when the State of the Union address was being drafted at the White House by John and me, Mike was off pretending to craft the State of the Union in longhand for the benefit of a reporter.

    Great stuff, nk. Matt Scully is a friend of the blog; I have shared a beverage with him a couple of times and greatly enjoyed his company. When he says this stuff about Gerson, I believe him. Gerson sounds like a jerk.

    That said, his factual claims in the quote in the post are supported (with the exception that I cited about Trump encouraging Russia to hack Hillary), and his being a jerk does not undercut the force of what he said.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  192. Frum has subsequently revealed he didn’t have enough insight to write that speech, occassiinally he had a v 8 moment as with the caravan, then he knocks himself out.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  193. No, the story is that Putin was trying to get Trump elected or ensure Hillary was not elected,

    Why? Please explain. If Trump is the blundering fool everyone says he is, why would Putin want a blundering fool holding the reins of the biggest military power on earth. He might blunder the wrong way.

    If he wanted someone he could bribe, why wouldn’t he be in favor of Hillary with her track record and her piggy-bank Foundation? You do realize that all the Clintons live off of “expenses” paid by the Foundation, don’t you? It’s like L Ron Hubbard and Scientology.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  194. Haloooo mr mg.

    I didn’t get an accounting of your summer sojourn in WY. I’m headed back myself Monday for a memorial.

    On the way back I plan to turn left real subtle like to end up in WI. I guess mr ulb isn’t interested in meeting up in a dark and dangerous Trinityesque Cho-co-late Ci-TAY. You should have a talk with him.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  195. Why? Please explain. If Trump is the blundering fool everyone says he is, why would Putin want a blundering fool holding the reins of the biggest military power on earth. He might blunder the wrong way.

    Addressed, hence the rest of the post.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (ffba1f)

  196. I take any opinion and most “facts” regarding Trump and printed in the WaPo as I would the same about capitalism printed in the Daily Worker. They have lost all semblance of objectivity.

    Now, it may well be that Gerson has some actual facts to relate, but he published his piece in the “We Hate Trump” newspaper, so it starts with -8 credibility points (cursed).

    Kevin M (a57144)

  197. Well he had been dealing with Obama, who reminded him of the slow kiss at Patrice lumumba who actually believed this rot got stupidity. Hillary probably reminded him of some junior stasi operative he dealt with in dresden

    Narciso (d1f714)

  198. The full headline is what they call a dog whistle:

    http://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tiffany-trump-reportedly-boyfriend-hes-211645181.html

    Collusion et al kitchen sink, even Tiffany having a Nigerian (though not black) boyfriend is not meant to lead to impeachment or incarceration, it’s meant to cause an extreme overload of stress resulting in a calamitous event only DCSCA has the temerity to speculate on.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  199. Putin lives in rublyoka think of the Malibu, before the fires, to seriously think he would be impressed with a penthouse unit, please.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  200. Addressed? Where? That post is pretty hard to track, meandering all over the place. Best I got out of it was “Trump is a dupe” but what convinces Putin that Trump will be HIS dupe?

    If I were someone like Putin, I’d want the other side to have someone I could PREDICT and whose interests I could manipulate. With most leaders it’s either national interest, political stature, or sometimes money. With Trump it depends on the day of the week and which side of bed he got out of. Who would want that? (Hint: I did not vote for Trump) Why would Putin when Hillary was an obvious bribe?

    Kevin M (a57144)

  201. Furthermore if there was anyone who is abeyance of the rule of law, is that twit governor of yours, when you plan to get rid of him montagu, I know his big plan went by by.

    Man, when you’re talking to me, narciso, I feel like I’m watching Star Trek Next Generation Season 5 Episode 2. Perhaps you can tell me what Inslee did and what his Big Plan was. From the perspective of a conservative captive in an all-blue state, he hasn’t sucked in his job, much.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  202. Hes Lebanese, grew up in Nigeria motorbikes and such.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  203. People like the Trumps date people who already have money. The reasons are obvious.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  204. Thank you, Patterico. Mr. Gerson is a professional speech writer and indisputably very good at his craft. It is his job to persuade. (One might even call him a propagandist.) And now, his talents are in the service of The Washington Post, whose goal seems to be to reprise All The President’s Men with Trump in the place of Nixon.

    nk (dbc370)

  205. Can we all agree on this: the election of 2016 was so terrible that the worst possible Republican beat the its-my-turn Democrat, and the Democrat got more votes. It was like a photo-finish in a three-legged race.

    It made Dole versus Clinton look like a battle of titans.

    Why can’t we have presidents like they write them in fiction? Jack Ryan versus Jed Bartlett. Now THAT would be a solid choice.

    Kevin M (a57144)

  206. Well it’s a very weak bench, at Bezos, entous has moved on to writing bad fiction at the new Yorker, Devlin barrett hasn’t stopped being a tool for mueller.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  207. Man,I sure had this one figured wrong…” ‘Optimal mating distance’ really does lead to super fit offspring.”

    https://www.futurity.org/optimal-mating-distance-1916772/?fbclid=IwAR2x0D8BU_E2AlE6_1K5sryxLMI3ls3flnP43YSrjEDDuRqhc9gu04LBG3U

    I always figured knocking the bottom out of it was optimum, but that wasn’t what this was about at all

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  208. Ricardo (who looks mah-vellous) Montalbán, Betty Garrett, Esther Williams & Red Skelton performing Baby, It’s Cold Outside in Neptune’s Daughter (from MGM in 1949).

    Beldar (fa637a)

  209. I would have bet on Sorkin dying before Clancy IRL.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  210. “Crack is Wack” Sorkin?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  211. Social network captured just what kind of dweeb Zuckerberg really is ‘danger will ribinson’

    Narciso (d1f714)

  212. Pindandpuller- Floated the snake and checked into the “Rip Lip Lodge” for a few days.
    Fly fishing the west is always paradise.

    mg (ebf6c2)

  213. It’s like playing poker with a fool.

    You wouldn’t want to play high-stakes poker with a filthy rich fool who’s unshakably convinced that he’s the greatest poker player in history?

    Dave (1bb933)

  214. Deal me in.

    mg (ebf6c2)

  215. Re Sorkin and crack being wack, I saw this movie on afternoon TV under its alternative title “Angel Dust: The Whack Attack

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  216. What was the newspaper in Gotham city:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/EsotericCD/status/1068663517803421697

    Narciso (d1f714)

  217. Now tomasky came from the village voice, as dis bastone of smoking gun, and the late Wayne barrett.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  218. “But here’s the $64 dollar question: would anyone with prosecutorial experience take this case to trial? Use the Hillary email case as your benchmark.”

    Not yet.

    JRH (f51cae)

  219. 226… fool be trippin’ ! Say… wasn’t that Tubbs?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  220. Yes it is phillip Michael Thomas, man he fell down a wormhole.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  221. Holy bleep, Batman…Mia Love’s gonna Cape for the motherlands most famous hip hop trio.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  222. I don’t even know what that means.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  223. You yourself had the tendency of “caping” for conservative women i.e. the Huntress and the witch.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  224. Heh! Me neither. Will I need to get a decoder ring for you too, urbanleftbehind? Convertible tops don’t grow on trees, you know?

    nk (dbc370)

  225. Mia Love is Haitian-American. So are the Fugees. Therefore it is expected she will defend them against accusation.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  226. “Caping” is black slang for someone defending someone against detractors, usually a subordinate defending a boss or a teammate defending the quarterback.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  227. I looked it up. Caping is hep-cat talk for blindedly defending someone no matter how wrong they are.
    nk: Why you always defending Trump when you know he turned me into a newt?
    narciso: Because you got better.

    nk (dbc370)

  228. The point is they were a venue for a Malaysia investment scam, so was leonardo de caprio.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  229. Eisenberg also fell down the wormhole, starlets like Emma Stone and Kristen Stewart (back then) outgrew the dorky mack schtick.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  230. Ok, I messed that up. It should be “Why you always defending caping for Trump ….”

    nk (dbc370)

  231. Well he ended up in justice league I guess that’s the same thing, the stone/Garfield shipping didn’t seem real,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  232. It sounds like Cain needed a lawyer friend to leak the docs to the WaPo and trigger a special council.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  233. Short answer because 3/4th of the time, the charges are a) false b) exaggerated or c) nongermane.

    Half of that time, Rooney is jumping up like a spastic seal, take the Roy Moore episode, (forged documentation ticks me off)and his dipping his foot into the cavanaugh matter, they won’t respect you anymore for doing so, mitt, in fact they have contempt for you.

    narciso (d1f714)

  234. I thought Caping was the job of the guy who stood behind James Brown.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  235. Beldar (fa637a) — 11/30/2018 @ 7:05 pm

    Oh my goodness! Red Skelton! Of guzzler’s tonic fame.

    felipe (023cc9)

  236. Narciso (d1f714) — 11/30/2018 @ 7:32 pm

    Nice ref.

    felipe (023cc9)

  237. Deutsche bank is like the one at the opening of the dark knight, which the joker is part of a crew that doesn’t know they have diminzhing career prospects.

    narciso (d1f714)

  238. urbanleftbehind (5e7f00) — 11/30/2018 @ 7:30 pm
    DT* or flashback?

    *DT

    felipe (023cc9)

  239. Tomorrow 1:45 p.m. ET. THE PRESIDENT hosts a Press Conference

    JRH (f51cae)

  240. Helsinki Redux.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPKo8S2vZ0c

    But where’s Waldo?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  241. It’s very comic book, either Gotham or central city,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  242. Man, the way they destroyed that franchise! I was able to stomach Marvel for two months but I could only handle one six-issue series of the new Batman. It helped make me sick of comics, like a kind of antabuse.

    nk (dbc370)

  243. narciso (d1f714) — 11/30/2018 @ 8:27 pm

    narciso is on…

    felipe (023cc9)

  244. People – including some here – need to realize, somehow made to understand – that there is a Beltway power structure of long standing that were gobsmacked when Trump won the 2016 election. They cannot accept it. They will not accept it. And they will do everything in their power… whether dishonest, illegal, unethical, or immoral, to see him removed from office.

    If you doubt that… well… let’s just leave it at you have not been paying attention.

    And ain’t it a hoot that the leaker Comey says he doesn’t want to testify in a closed door session because he’s afraid of leaks.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  245. They couldn’t stomach w either 15 years apart you have the same players holding on to a different chair,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  246. nk (dbc370) — 11/30/2018 @ 8:34 pm

    Now that we lost Stanley Martin Lieber (Stan Lee), you can count me out.

    felipe (023cc9)

  247. The animated series of the early 90s, a little noir for the kids is better than the dumpster fire of malignant sociopathy that’s is on display nowadays.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  248. He probably was caught in the snap, probably made it to spiderman far from home,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  249. Narciso (d1f714) — 11/30/2018 @ 8:42 pm

    That was not about the “kids”, but the kids grown.

    felipe (023cc9)

  250. Growing up I didn’t find the way they drew iron man particularly appealing, the hulk and captain America were done better, that version of thor thankfully didn’t translate

    Narciso (d1f714)

  251. People – including some here – need to realize, somehow made to understand – that there is a Beltway power structure of long standing that were gobsmacked when Trump won the 2016 election.

    I reject that completely. Trump is the top 1% of the top 1%, so he is The Establishment and The Elite by default. This is really about replacing one power structure for another, so I call bulls**t, because Trump isn’t a conservative, he’s a shallow narcissist who spouts Pat Buchanan’s jargon and really doesn’t know WTF he’s doing.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  252. Anyone here have a favorite car or a memory centered around a car? I saw a car today when I was on my walk, that took me right to the wayback machine… a 1968 Ford Falcon…

    I bought a 6 cylinder ‘68 Falcon to replace my first car, a ‘64 GTO… bought it from a young father of 3 little kids and when I was cleaning that filthy 3 year old car up, I extracted what must have been 5 or 6 pounds of broken cookies out of the back seat and surrounding area.

    My lasting memory of that car was as follows: I was the service manager of a small billiard table manufacturer when I was going to college in Southern California. I was working long days after attending classes in the morning and one Friday, I decided to drive with 2 friends up to June Lake in the Sierra Nevada for a fishing and camping weekend. I worked until 8pm and after getting my gear together, I headed over to one of the guys apartment, where the other friend was to meet us. First friend’s roommate was having a party, so needless to say, with all the pretty ladies, music and controlled substances, we didn’t get any sleep before hitting the road at 2:30am. The Falcon ran great, could not hear the described engine droning over the LED Zep IV and Stones Exile on Main Street 8 track tapes blasting. As we arrived in the mountains, the last thing I remember was driving up a road to Devil’s Postpile, before being violently shaken awake, as I’d fallen asleep behind the steering wheel. After all the yelling and alarmed chaos finished, much hilarity ensued. Few trout, but good memories.

    What can I say… it was a different time…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  253. R.I.P. George H.W. Bush

    A good egg. Now you’re with Barb.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  254. GHWB just passed RIP

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  255. “I reject that completely”

    Of course you do. No surprise there.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  256. R.I.P.

    JRH (f51cae)

  257. Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/30/2018 @ 8:52 pm

    I completely agree with your points, sir. But you would be better served by reversing your position. Think of it as acknowledging reality.

    felipe (023cc9)

  258. George Herbert Walker Bush: The last truly honorable president of the United States. God bless.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  259. The person most responsible for the downfall of Donald J. Trump will be Donald J. Trump. No discipline, no self control, no regard for the truth, no principles.No ability not to lie. No ability to not need to hear himself yammer on about himself. Except in the company of Putin, in which case he’s transformed into a submissive. He’s a fraud, always has been a fraud, can’t help defrauding easy marks. Possibly collaborated with Russia to that end. That remains to be seen of course. If he is innocent he could take Trey Gowdy’s advice and act like it. But if he falls he has one person to blame.

    JRH (f51cae)

  260. Paul Montagu (8afb2a) — 11/30/2018 @ 9:09 pm

    Translation: “Uncle”.

    felipe (023cc9)

  261. JRH (f51cae) — 11/30/2018 @ 9:10 pm

    Yes, I find myself persuaded.

    felipe (023cc9)

  262. I completely agree with your points, sir. But you would be better served by reversing your position. Think of it as acknowledging reality.

    So, uh, if you “completely agree” with my points, you wouldn’t be asking me to reverse my position, but thanks for the input. All you have to do is notice that this swamp that needs draining is being replaced by just more muck.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  263. You didn’t understand my comment. I asked for nothing – and that is what I have received.

    felipe (023cc9)

  264. Does every death notification now just come by SMS?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  265. every famous death? of course it does.

    aphrael (3f0569)

  266. So is there another flag and memorial service controversy a brewing?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  267. I asked for nothing – and that is what I have received.

    That’s a coquettish reply, felipe, because you clearly suggested something. So why don’t you try to employ actual persuasion instead of this oblique nonsense.
    Oh, and please explain…

    Translation: “Uncle”

    …I’d like to hear it.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  268. 85% of media can be replaced with robots mr aphrael.

    And how are you what with atypical fires and typical dirty needles and poo? You know what I mean.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  269. the rain put the fire out, we can breathe again. i had a great thanksgiving in dallas, visiting family, and am about to go to ny to visit friends. so: right now, all is well :), although worry always creeps in around the edges. :{

    thanks for asking! 🙂

    aphrael (3f0569)

  270. Ok, I take it back, Trump can thank Stormy Daniels too if he falls. If not for her, Cohen’s office wouldn’t have been raided and he might not have cooperated. Note to Trump and his followers, just because you *can* grab someone by the p***y doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. “‘Everything is permissible,’ but not everything is beneficial.” — That’s in One Corinthians somewhere.

    JRH (f51cae)

  271. The trouble is JRH, is nowadays you don’t know if you are grabbing XX, XY or All Skate.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  272. Mueller was going to go after Cohen, because of the fusion GPS report, the one they recycle every six months

    Narciso (d1f714)

  273. I was noticing some of gawd official adaptations like fantastic 4 in the 90s, the hasselhoff nick fury vehicle (don’t ask) and other stylings of that nature.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  274. I don’t know the definition of ‘is’ but I do know in retrospect I could have left one off.

    So who wants to start taking guesses about how David French types are going to use the death of 41 to bash 45?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  275. What is the meaning of is is, a little perspective is in order, in a dozen years trump will be considered the sensible compared to whi they have deemed the newest apocalypse.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  276. Another reason for Trump Comrades to dislike science:

    How Donald Trump appeals to men secretly insecure about their manhood

    We found that support for Trump in the 2016 election was higher in areas that had more searches for topics such as “erectile dysfunction.”

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  277. Has Google entered the realm of ‘Science’ now?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  278. Sounds more like sorcery like dr.Strange,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  279. Hey Mr Tillman, have you seen the map that overlays crime statistics with voting districts?

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  280. George Herbert Walker Bush should have been a two-term president and, in my opinion, the nation would have been better off had it happened. I blame myself. I voted for Perot because of the $300 billion deficit and because he broke his pledge about “read my lips, no new taxes”. My bad.
    Bush’s biggest mistake was breaking that pledge, but he was still honorable because he cared about fiscal conservatism and keeping the deficit under control. I was listening to Rush Limbaugh when he ridiculed Bush’s “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge after GHWB compromised on raising taxes, and Rush was right, but Bush always had his nation’s best interests at heart. Sadly, his breaking that pledge opened the door to an honest-to-goodness charlatan like Bill Clinton taking the White House. This nation would have been better off had GHWB served a second term, which would have given the Dems a better a better candidate (read not Clinton) in 1996.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  281. Hey Mr Tillman, I’d love for you to lay out the case that one internet search data point in a Trump voting district is more reliable than my horoscope.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  282. One of these days a guy who thinks he’s hailing his Uber is going to get shot by a guy who thinks he is getting carjacked.

    Pinandpuller (4e41e9)

  283. 297, again back to 1992 vintage Merrio Kuwomo…him killing a guy like a capo in Queens would have been catnip to the electorate of today, but scared supporters of a Perez run away. Alas an easy Bush v. Cuomo win never happened.

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  284. *presidential run (not Perez)

    urbanleftbehind (5e7f00)

  285. Well he thought the democrats were honorable, yes they lie even in their tributes back then they were trying to go after jeb for some dodgy associates you had to swim with as a Miami developer,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  286. Jeff Morley who most recently has been going after the national anthem, because racist was tracing all the bankers conmen that accrue to men of influence, they didn’t have fusion GPS then,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  287. Now mind you the Senate majority leader looked like my high school civics teacher not ebenezer scrooge and the speaker like John Mahoney but they had no good intentions.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  288. Pinandpuller (4e41e9) — 11/30/2018 @ 10:39 pm

    Actually, to criticize that story, you’re kind of on the right track. The research methods they’re using may be a little sketchy (I have an M.S. degree and had to take a few rigorous classes on research methods.) First off, including only those using the internet affects their sample pool, and those using Google as their search tool further restricts it. Secondly, did they factor for age? I don’t know if they did. Anyway, if you want to criticize it, that’s how you’d do it.

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  289. No one is going to care about the methodology, it’s meant to be derogatory.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  290. I imagine if Google wanted to, it could find that

    Support for Democrats in any election is higher in areas that have more searches for topics such as “Vaseline, KY Jelly, Anusol, hepatitis, and HIV”.

    nk (dbc370)

  291. Not to mention “rechargeable C batteries”.

    nk (dbc370)

  292. Your logic is flawed.

    People that look up “erectile disfunction” are very pro-science.

    kaf (0ff60d)

  293. “I’m not God but if I were God, ¾ of you would be girls, and the rest would be pizza and beer.”
    — Axl Rose

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  294. “Nearly identical articles from the New York Times and Washington Post this week lamented the idea that auto workers blamed General Motors for its factory closures rather than President Donald Trump. . . . Both outlets spoke with members of the Ohio community hurt by the news of G.M.’s decision to close its Lordstown factory, and the findings were similar: People think G.M. would have moved operations out of the region no matter what Trump did and largely credit him for putting up a fight for their community. They appreciate his efforts to help their industry and see G.M. as the culprit. The sentiment appears to have shocked the reporters, who traveled to Ohio because the plant closure had the potential to be a ‘political challenge for Trump.’ The Post expressed frustration that Trump ‘seems able to promise the world yet suffers little damage from supporters when he fails to deliver.’”

    https://freebeacon.com/politics/wapo-nyt-lament-auto-workers-blaming-gm-not-trump-for-layoffs/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  295. How about that, coronello.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  296. For crying out loud, Haiku, let them stay in their bubble!

    nk (dbc370)

  297. “Anyway, if you want to criticize it, that’s how you’d do it.”

    Nobody ever called Pablo Picasso an asshole…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  298. I see the K,C, Chiefs cut running back Kareem Hunt for kicking a women. How long until Nike comes up with a shoe contract for him?

    mg (ebf6c2)

  299. Nobody ever called Pablo Picasso an a[]hole…

    Then let me be the first. Pablo Picasso was an a$$hole. But I imagine lots of people called him that while he was still alive.

    nk (dbc370)

  300. He wasnt that great an artist either.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  301. Well … that might be going too far. But he did prank Old Boss Mayor Richard J. Daley who commissioned him to do a sculpture for Chicago’s new Civic Center (now the Daley Center). If it does not a look like an abstract of a baboon, I don’t know what does.

    nk (dbc370)

  302. An artist should capture reality, but not in the quotidian way that Warhol did it (he did it for men in black of course) the impressionists could give a certain perspective

    Narciso (d1f714)

  303. Angel Adams was an artist.

    mg (ebf6c2)

  304. Ansel Adams. Sorry.

    mg (ebf6c2)

  305. because you clearly suggested something.

    Very good. You understand. It should not be a mystery, what that something – is.

    So why don’t you try to employ actual persuasion

    Thank you for your request, but I am not interested in that endeavor.

    Translation: “Uncle”

    Refers to Bush giving in to the Grim Reaper.

    It is obvious that our minds are very different.

    felipe (023cc9)

  306. Thank you for your request, but I am not interested in that endeavor.

    Thank you for informing me of your bad faith intentions. It clarifies things.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)

  307. Really montagu, Felipe is one of the most tactful on This board

    https://mobile.twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/1068887384144707585

    narciso (d1f714)

  308. Really montagu, Felipe is one of the most tactful on This board

    I agree, which is why I’m disappointed in his responses to me. I don’t do well with cryptic and coy.

    Paul Montagu (8afb2a)


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