2/20/2024

56 Responses to “Compare and Contrast: Trump on Navalny, Haley responds”

1. Hello.

   Dana (8e902f) — 2/20/2024 @ 4:34 pm

   
   

2. What spoiled six-year old doesn’t want to get his way and get way with it?

   nk (ef0832) — 2/20/2024 @ 4:49 pm

   
   

3. Putin’s problem continues to be the voters, which is why he used the justice system for political ends to put his main rival in prison.

   lloyd (211346) — 2/20/2024 @ 4:52 pm

   
   

4. TDS all of you. Prisoners of your own attitude .

   Jake (724caf) — 2/20/2024 @ 5:01 pm

   
   

5. It’s always fun to watch people who like them some DJT imagine someone on Team D say precisely the same things.

   2024 is a reanimated zombie pitted against a person off their medications.

   What are we left with? Trusting their staff members?

   It’s fine to say you don’t like the system and vote for someone who will call the syatem bad names. But most parents have dealt with children using this approach.

   We need adults in office, not children. And voters? I have no idea.

   Maybe we get the government we deserve. Good and hard.

   Huey Long had many admirers.

   Simon Jester (56fdcf) — 2/20/2024 @ 5:20 pm

   
   

6. TDS all of you. Prisoners of your own attitude .

   Jake (724caf) — 2/20/2024 @ 5:01 pm

   Who is more of a prisoner? Somebody who is beholden to Trump, or somebody willing to vote for any of several alternatives to Trump?

   norcal (206486) — 2/20/2024 @ 8:10 pm

   
   

7. One, Trump is the bully always, not the victim.

   Two, I’m still not hearing Trump condemning Putin for murdering Navalny.
   I’m not sure if Trump has ever condemned Putin for anything, and the Russian dictator has thousands of terrorist attacks, tens of thousands of child abductions and the blood of hundreds of thousands of dead human beings on his hands, but not even a tsk-tsk from Trump. Instead, he played the victim card.

   Three, Tim Miller…

   To sum up: RUS/Putin have invaded their neighbor, assassinated the biggest domestic political threat, coopted one of the right’s biggest media stars, and seeded a fabricated story about the US President that was echoed by GOP congressional leadership & rightwing media en masse.

   Meantime, MAGA Mike is holding up military aid to Ukraine, under orders from Trump.

   Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 2/20/2024 @ 8:13 pm

   
   

8. I’m not sure if Trump has ever condemned Putin for anything

   Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 2/20/2024 @ 8:13 pm

   I’m not sure, either. If Trump has ever condemned Putin for invading Ukraine, or told him to get the hell out, I missed it.

   norcal (206486) — 2/20/2024 @ 8:17 pm

   
   

9. Jake, who won in 2020, Trump or Biden?

   Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 2/20/2024 @ 8:17 pm

   
   

10. TDS all of you. Prisoners of your own attitude .

    And with you it is simple derangement.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/20/2024 @ 10:06 pm

    
    

11. What spoiled six-year old doesn’t want to get his way and get way with it?

    And when he gets caught, compares himself to Lincoln or Mandela. Or maybe Jesus.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/20/2024 @ 10:07 pm

    
    

12. Huey Long had many admirers.

    Even Dr Weiss, for a time.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/20/2024 @ 10:08 pm

    
    

13. ?

    Rip Murdock (884e90) — 2/20/2024 @ 10:22 pm

    
    

14. Since this is generally a Russia, Russia, Russia thread…

    The big picture: Alexander Smirnov, 43, admitted that “officials associated with Russian intelligence” were involved in passing a story about Hunter Biden, per the government’s memorandum in support of his detention.

    • Prosecutors alleged in the filing that Smirnov told an FBI handler that the Russian Intelligence Service intercepted several cellphone calls placed at a hotel “by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as ‘kompromat’ in the 2024 election.”
    • They argued against his release, alleging that Smirnov was “actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”

    If true, Russian spies basically fed anti-Biden disinformation to the FBI and ultimately the GOP-led House. Of course, the FoxNews entertainment network ran with it, with Hannity and Ingraham putting a gomer like Comer on the air and running gobs of segments.

    Meantime, MAGA Mike is under Trump’s control, and he won’t put a Ukraine aid bill on the floor. Both he and Trump are unpatriotic and un-American, and my party is a f-cking cult.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 2/21/2024 @ 4:21 am

    
    

15. #2 There are Calvin and Hobbes comic strips where Calvin says things so similar to what the Loser sometimes says that it would be hard for most people to tell which one said it. For example: Calvin sometimes claimes to be a “genius”.

    Jim Miller (5c2a83) — 2/21/2024 @ 4:33 am

    
    

16. ?

    Dr Carl Weiss, upset with the redrawing of his father-in-law’s judicial district, assassinated Huey Long.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/21/2024 @ 5:20 am

    
    

17. @14 Were you this put out when it was the Steele Dossier?

    lloyd (3bfb52) — 2/21/2024 @ 6:02 am

    
    

18. #17

    So the official reports on what Smirnov said are lies? The Steele Dossier had its origins in Oppo Research and there were reasons to dismiss much of it. This is a specific FBI report. You give it the same skepticism, Lloyd? Why?

    Appalled (d5a804) — 2/21/2024 @ 6:28 am

    
    

19. From what I could tell, the Steele dossier was “raw intelligence”. Which is almost always a mix of the true, the partly true, and the false. The best intelligence analysts are better at sorting out the wheat from the chaff, but even the best sometimes err. (Which is not surprising because our enemies are trying very hard to fool us.)

    The efforts of the Loser’s apologists to completely discredit the dossier have made me think that much of it must be true and, after all, even some in the Loser’s administration wondered — out loud — whether Putin had something on the Loser.

    Jim Miller (d27b9c) — 2/21/2024 @ 6:44 am

    
    

20. It’s been nearly eight years and I can still spell Natalia Veselnitskaya. (Take that Ronny Jackson with your “man, woman, person, camera, TV”!)

    A Putin confidante and gofer who met with Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort at Trump Tower.

    And there was Mike Flynn’s “Dinner With Vladimir” in Moscow. And negotiations for a Trump high rise in Moscow. And Manafort’s little black bag full of laundered East European money. I’ll leave out Sessions’ conversations with Kislyak.

    The kind of little things that seemed to corroborate Steele Dossier.

    nk (b5f79f) — 2/21/2024 @ 8:03 am

    
    

21. Meantime, MAGA Mike is under Trump’s control, and he won’t put a Ukraine aid bill on the floor. Both he and Trump are unpatriotic and un-American, and my party is a f-cking cult.

    Sounds like my former party.

    Oh, hell, wait. I forgot I re-registered as a Republican to case a meaningless vote for Nikki Haley in the primary.

    OK, my party is a f-cking cult.

    Patterico (d623e2) — 2/21/2024 @ 8:17 am

    
    

22. The idea of Putin preferring Biden is laughable. Trump wants to knee-cap NATO and the GOP seems committed to defunding Ukraine. Putin’s whole play is to hang tight until November. Putin just can’t look too enthusiastic about supporting Trump.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:16 am

    
    

23. @17

    @14 Were you this put out when it was the Steele Dossier?

    lloyd (3bfb52) — 2/21/2024 @ 6:02 am

    Nope.

    In fact, he’d likely still believe in it!

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:34 am

    
    

24. Hook, Line & Sinker:

    Republicans deleted a reference to a discredited FBI informant in a letter they sent on Tuesday to a potential witness in their impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.

    Republican interview request letters typically spell out the basis for their investigation, including with a paragraph describing a credible confidential human source’s conversations with a Ukrainian gas company executive about bribing Biden.
    ……….
    On Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) included the paragraph about the informant in an interview request letter to former State Department official Amos Hochstein. An hour later, according to a Democratic House aide, the chairman sent another version of the same letter, but without the paragraph about the informant. HuffPost reviewed both versions of the document.
    ………
    Current and former State Department officials, including Hochstein, have repeatedly debunked the Biden Burisma story, explaining during hours of testimony in 2019 and 2020 that ousting the prosecutor reflected a broad consensus within the State Department, as well as among European allies, that the prosecutor was corrupt.
    ………
    As Republicans put it in their many letters requesting interviews, “According to this confidential human source, who has been described as ‘highly credible,’ Burisma executives hired Hunter Biden to ‘protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.’”
    ………

    An example of the original paragraph in Judiciary Committee letters:

    A now-public Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) record that detailed conversations between an FBI confidential human source and Burisma executives further suggests then-Vice President Biden participated in an apparent bribery scheme. According to this confidential human source, who has been described as “highly credible,” Burisma executives hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” In addition, the confidential human source reported that Burisma’s founder told the source that “it cost 5 (million) to pay one Biden, and 5 (million) to [pay] another Biden.” The confidential human source reported that Burisma “didn’t want to pay the Bidens,” but was “pushed to pay them.” The confidential source also indicated that Burisma’s founder suggested that it would take investigators ten years to find the records of illicit payments to Joe Biden.

    Footnotes omitted. Source: See second link above.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:36 am

    
    

25. @22

    The idea of Putin preferring Biden is laughable. Trump wants to knee-cap NATO and the GOP seems committed to defunding Ukraine. Putin’s whole play is to hang tight until November. Putin just can’t look too enthusiastic about supporting Trump.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:16 am

    I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous.

    Putin tried to take Kiev during Biden administration.
    This was after Biden signaled to Putin that he wouldn’t do anything if it was a “minor incursion”.

    When you add the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan ontop of that pile, you can forgive the world, including Putin, thinking that Biden wouldn’t do jack doodoo in the face of these invasions.

    It’s amazing that China hasn’t tried to take Taiwan yet…

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:39 am

    
    

26. Putin tried to take Kiev during Biden administration. This was after Biden signaled to Putin that he wouldn’t do anything if it was a “minor incursion”.

    Source?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:42 am

    
    

27. @26

    Putin tried to take Kiev during Biden administration. This was after Biden signaled to Putin that he wouldn’t do anything if it was a “minor incursion”.

    Source?

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:42 am

    You’re kidding…right?

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

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/russia-ukraine-joe-biden-news-conference/index.html

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:56 am

    
    

28. whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 9:39 am

    
    From your source:

    While Biden vowed withering economic consequences on Russia should Putin send his troops over the frontier, including restricting its financial transitions in US dollars, he suggested Western nations were not in sync on what to do should a lesser violation occur.

    “It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do,” Biden told reporters at an East Room news conference. “But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing with the forces amassed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.”

    Later, asked to clarify what he meant by “minor incursion,” Biden said he drew the line at “Russian forces crossing the border, killing Ukrainian fighters”

    “I think that changes everything,” the President said. “But it depends on what he does, to what extent we’ll get total unity on the NATO front.”

    My emphasis. That’s a hardly a signal that Biden “wouldn’t do anything.” At the time (January 2022), the situation was akin to WW II’s “phony war.” Putin sure misread those signals, however. His invasion did more to unite NATO than anything else.

    At best Trump subconsciously aided Putin with his pressure campaign on Ukraine to open an investigation into the Bidens (his “perfect phone call”); his withholding of Congressionally approved aid; repeating Russian disinformation that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the election (and denied that Russia did); and his threats to withdraw from NATO.

    These actions explain why Putin didn’t attack Ukraine while Trump was President, Trump was doing his dirty work to destabilize the West.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:24 am

    
    

29. Putin would have been better off attacking Ukraine while Trump was President. There is no way Trump would have reacted as Biden did in coming to Ukraine’s defense or forging a common policy with other NATO countries.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:36 am

    
    

30. @29

    Putin would have been better off attacking Ukraine while Trump was President. There is no way Trump would have reacted as Biden did in coming to Ukraine’s defense or forging a common policy with other NATO countries.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:36 am

    That’s even manifestly not true.

    During the Obama years, the Democrats were willing to engage/defer/defend Russia.

    —Hillary Clinton’s “red rest button” press conference
    —Obama’s hot mic with Medeved that after his election, he’d have more “flexibility”.

    It took Trump winning in 2015 that flipped the script where Democrats hated Russia.

    And here’s the distinction: Trump eventually green-lit the lethal aids to Ukraine that the Obama administration refused to sign off of:
    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-agrees-to-provide-ukraine-lethal-aid-including-missiles-report-says

    Russia was ALREADY in Ukraine during Trump years, mainly Donbas and Crimea, yet didn’t expand the war in its current phase until Biden signaled weak responses:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_green_men_(Russo-Ukrainian_War)#:~:text=The%20term%20has%20also%20sometimes,themselves%20as%20pro%2DRussian%20separatists.

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:49 am

    
    

31. I was wondering what whembly would make of the Smirnov connectons with the Russians. You know, stuff like this:

    Smirnov’s contacts with Russian officials who are affiliated with Russian intelligence services are not benign. At his meeting with FBI investigators in September 2023, Smirnov pushed a new story about Public Official 1 and Businessperson 1, as described in the indictment. Indictment at ¶51. Specifically, Smirnov wanted them to look into whether Businessperson 1 was recorded in a hotel in Kiev called the Premier Palace. Id. Smirnov told investigators that the entire Premier Palace Hotel is “wired” and under the control of the Russians. Id. Smirnov claimed that Businessperson 1 went to the hotel many times and that he had seen video footage of Businessperson 1 entering the Premier Palace Hotel. Id. Investigators know that Smirnov’s new story is false because Businessperson 1 has never travelled to Ukraine. Id. at ¶ 54.

    Smirnov suggested that investigators check to see if Businessperson 1 made telephone calls from the Premier Palace Hotel since those calls would have been recorded by the
    Russians. Id. at ¶ 52. Smirnov claimed to have obtained this information a month earlier by calling a high-level official in a foreign country. Id. Smirnov also claimed to have learned this information from four different Russian officials. Id.

    Smirnov told investigators that the four different Russian officials are all top officials and two are the heads of the entities they represent. Id. at ¶ 53. These Russians said that conversations with Ukrainians about ending the war will include the next U.S. election. Smirnov told investigators he is involved in negotiations over ending the war and had been for the previous four months. Id. According to Smirnov, the Russians want Ukraine to assist in influencing the U.S. election, and Smirnov thinks the tapes of Businessperson 1 at the Premier Palace Hotel is all they have. Id. Smirnov told investigators he wants them to ask Businessperson 1 how many times he visited and what he did while at the Premier Palace Hotel. Id.

    Thus, Smirnov’s efforts to spread misinformation about a candidate of one of the two major parties in the United States continues. The Court should consider this conduct as well
    when evaluating his personal history and characteristics. What this shows is that the misinformation he is spreading is not confined to 2020. He is actively peddling new lies that
    could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November. In light of that fact there is a serious risk he will flee in order to avoid accountability for his actions.

    Source: https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/02/smirnov.pdf “Businessman 1” is Hunter Biden

    I’m sure whembly continues to believe the stuff being peddled about Burisma literally bribing the Biden father and son is true or at least meriting impeachment and a Senate trial. Even though it is from a source giving out Russian disinformation.

    Appalled (a47f53) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:53 am

    
    

32. I remember having heated debates online regarding Obama’s (and Biden’s) failure to stop Russia from invading Ukraine.

    Obama/Biden team ignored the Budapest Memorandum because their acquiescence toward Russia:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:54 am

    
    

33. “I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous.”

    Thanks for warning me ahead of your comment.

    Only one candidate is talking about abandoning Ukraine…and drawing moral equivalence between Ukraine and Russia. Biden’s team is far from perfect, but they did successfully bring the world together to level sanctions and provide both munitions and tactical support for Ukraine. I’m sure the U.S. also played no small part in expediting NATO consideration of Sweden and Finland. Trump only expresses contempt for NATO making it sound like a protection racket. It’s pretty much unanimous among Trump national security folks that Trump wanted to pull us out of NATO. What could possibly be a bigger coup for Putin?

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:57 am

    
    

34. @31

    I was wondering what whembly would make of the Smirnov connectons with the Russians.

    If proven, that’s horrible, as it’s election interference.

    I’m sure whembly continues to believe the stuff being peddled about Burisma literally bribing the Biden father and son is true or at least meriting impeachment and a Senate trial.
    Appalled (a47f53) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:53 am

    I absolutely believe there was some influence peddling with regards with Burisma.

    Explain how/why Burisma placed Biden’s son on the board, when Joe Biden is the lead figure of All-Things-Ukraine as the VP.

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:05 am

    
    

35. @33

    “I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous.”

    Thanks for warning me ahead of your comment.

    Only one candidate is talking about abandoning Ukraine…and drawing moral equivalence between Ukraine and Russia. Biden’s team is far from perfect, but they did successfully bring the world together to level sanctions and provide both munitions and tactical support for Ukraine. I’m sure the U.S. also played no small part in expediting NATO consideration of Sweden and Finland. Trump only expresses contempt for NATO making it sound like a protection racket. It’s pretty much unanimous among Trump national security folks that Trump wanted to pull us out of NATO. What could possibly be a bigger coup for Putin?

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:57 am

    I mean, NATO is legit a protection racket that is enforced by a treaty. (it’s a racket in the sense that many NATO nations, not all, relies on US taxpayers to provide their defense…allowing their own countries to use the otherwise earmarked defense spending to lavish social programs instead).

    Furthermore, NATO expanded under Trump admin too, so how do you square with “It’s pretty much unanimous among Trump national security folks that Trump wanted to pull us out of NATO” and yet NATO expanded and Trump didn’t do… much of anything else to NATO?

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:10 am

    
    

36. Hey whembly (#34),

    The sins of the son are visited on the father?

    I was talking about the literal bribery charges that Comer made when instituing the impeachment inquiry. That was sourced to this guy — who seems to be in the business of disinformation on behalf of the Russians.

    Appalled (a47f53) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:12 am

    
    

37. @36

    Hey whembly (#34),

    The sins of the son are visited on the father?

    When *the* business is Joe Biden’s name, as supported by those in Hunter’s inner-circle.

    Yes.

    I was talking about the literal bribery charges that Comer made when instituing the impeachment inquiry. That was sourced to this guy — who seems to be in the business of disinformation on behalf of the Russians.

    Appalled (a47f53) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:12 am

    Right. Okay, let me just say that if Weiss’ charges were true, then yes that’s horrible and legit election interference.

    But, the timing of this is suspect… don’t you think?

    It took an impeachment hearing, seemingly, for Wiess to charge this CI.

    If I were cynical, I would think that Weiss did this to lock out any evidence gathered from this CI from the House’s impeachment process, as they cant use it or get any new information due to ongoing investigation/prosecution.

    But that would be too cynical… no?

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:17 am

    
    

38. It would be too cynical. The likiliest answers is that the CI saw an opportunity to make some bucks and sow some chaos.

    However, it doesn’t make Weiss look good either:
    https://thefederalist.com/2024/02/21/david-weisss-latest-motion-shows-by-protecting-the-bidens-he-compromised-national-security/

    …
    Recall also that until recently, the FBI considered Smirnov a highly credible source and one even authorized to engage in criminal conduct. What information might our FBI have entrusted Smirnov with during those three years?

    In short, while the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office’s goal may have been protecting Hunter Biden, by failing to investigate the FD-1023, they harmed our national security.

    This all assumes the indictment and the memorandum represent reality. Smirnov has yet to have his day in court, and there may be much more to the story. But one thing is certain, even if Smirnov is guilty, that does not exonerate Weiss.

    whembly (5f7596) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:28 am

    
    

39. whembly:

    Other explanation — FBI and Weiss knew this guy was peddling nonsense, but, for whatever reason, it was useful to allow him to continue to peddle nonsense in order to avoid blowing up a source. When he started peddling the latest Kremlin lies, they no longer had to worry about the source.

    Appalled (a47f53) — 2/21/2024 @ 11:42 am

    
    

40. Recall also that until recently, the FBI considered Smirnov a highly credible source and one even authorized to engage in criminal conduct.

    As recently as three months ago.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/us/politics/fbi-informant-hunter-biden.html

    “The misinformation he is spreading is not confined” to his false claims about the Bidens, wrote prosecutors working for David C. Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges.

    “He is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November,” they added.

    That appeared to refer to Mr. Smirnov’s claim, made in late 2023 to the F.B.I., that he had spoken to the head of a Russian intelligence unit who said he had intercepted phone calls made by guests at a hotel overseas. Those included “several calls placed by prominent U.S. persons the Russian government may use as ‘kompromat’ in the 2024 election,” according to prosecutors.

    Mr. Smirnov also told his F.B.I. handler that he was involved in meetings to help resolve the war in Ukraine, and that he had knowledge of assassination squads operating in “a third-party country.”

    I have to believe that Joe Biden, or somebody close to him, had something to do with the decision to publicly burn a confidential informant – which is very unusual (although they should do it mire often)

    Mr. Smirnov was taken into custody last week as he walked off an international flight from what prosecutors described as “a monthslong, multicountry foreign trip.” During that trip, he claimed to have had contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies and had planned to embark on a similar trip days later, according to the memo.

    What makes the Smirnov case so unusual, aside from its political significance, is the willingness of the F.B.I. to publicly burn a confidential informant who had been on the bureau’s payroll as recently as last year. The filing contained excerpts from his source reporting documents, raw notes from interviews between handlers and informants that are considered some of the most sensitive federal law enforcement documents.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/21/2024 @ 1:19 pm

    
    

41. Oh, Smirnov lied. He claimed that he met with Burisma while Joe Biden was vice president but the government says he never met them until 2017.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/21/2024 @ 1:21 pm

    
    

42. Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:24 am

    ” Putin sure misread those signals, however.

    Putin thought it would work like the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and it would be over before President Biden could do anything.

    And he would not seek to reverse it any more than President Eisenhower did with Hungary in 1956 and President Johnson with Czechoslovakia in 1968 or President Reagan in 1981 when Poland’s Communist government, to avoid outright invasion by the Soviet Union, declared martial law.

    Putin didn’t completely misread Biden. Biden offered Zelensky a ride out of Kiev.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/21/2024 @ 1:28 pm

    
    

43. Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 2/20/2024 @ 8:13 pm

    the Russian dictator has thousands of terrorist attacks, tens of thousands of child abductions and the blood of hundreds of thousands of dead human beings on his hands, but not even a tsk-tsk from Trump. Instead, he played the victim card.

    Putin just now murdered a Russian military defector in Spain (who had been encouraged to stay in Ukraine. He was givenafalse identity, but the Russians found him

    https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russian-helicopter-pilot-who-defected-to-ukraine-is-found-dead-in-spain-068bca39

    Russian pilot Maksim Kuzminov, 28 years old, flew his Mi-8 helicopter to an airfield in the eastern region of Kharkiv last August—then abandoned it, as part of a plot with Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence service. Afterward, he spoke publicly about his experience, denouncing a war that he said offended his conscience and encouraging his countrymen to reap the freedoms, financial security and guarantees of safety that he said defectors would enjoy.

    On the afternoon of Feb. 13, he was walking through his apartment’s parking deck in the Spanish Mediterranean town of Villajoyosa when shots rang out, followed by the sound of a car speeding away, said a witness, who had been working as a janitor in the building, sweeping the garage floor. Kuzminov’s body, trampled by the fleeing vehicle, lay on the ramp leaving the deck, pierced with five shots that appeared to be accurately aimed, including one to the heart, said the witness, who had known Kuzminov and identified him as the victim after calling the police.

    A spokesman for Spain’s Civil Guard, part of its national police force, said that a man bearing Ukrainian identity documents giving his age as 33 had been killed in Villajoyosa. He was likely living under an assumed identity, said Spanish police and Spanish Interior Ministry officials.

    His family had been extracted before his defection, but his crew were killed by the Ukrainians for fear they would take off.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/world/europe/russian-pilot-maksim-kuzminov-spain.html

    …The operation to seize Mr. Kuzminov’s aircraft did not go completely smoothly. When his Russian crew mates saw Ukrainian commandos surrounding the helicopter, they tried to force Mr. Kuzminov to take off, and opened fire. Ukrainian fighters returned fire and killed the crew members, the Ukrainian official said.

    “Otherwise, they could have killed Kuzminov and escaped in the aircraft,” he said. Mr. Kuzminov was also injured during the operation…

    …Ukrainian authorities said the pilot’s family had been extracted from Russia to Ukraine before his defection. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the intelligence services, told Ukrainian television that Mr. Kuzminov would receive a $500,000 reward for his services.

    Since the invasion of Ukraine, Spain has become a haven for disenchanted Russians, many of whom have moved to the warmer coastal areas, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. About 20 percent live in the province of Alicante where Mr. Kuzminov’s body was believed to have been found.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 2/21/2024 @ 1:40 pm

    
    

44. @14 Were you this put out when it was the Steele Dossier?

    No, because too much of it was unverified, and it was oppo research.

    Paul Montagu (d4d407) — 2/21/2024 @ 2:04 pm

    
    

45. Putin would have been better off attacking Ukraine while Trump was President. There is no way Trump would have reacted as Biden did in coming to Ukraine’s defense or forging a common policy with other NATO countries.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 10:36 am

    That’s even manifestly not true.

    Au contraire, it is laid bare by Trump’s own statements about Putin, Ukraine, and NATO over the past several years. Do you really think Trump would have sent the billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine if Putin had invaded Ukraine during his administration and work to unify NATO towards a common purpose? While the Trump Administration did send anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. But the Trump Administration subsequently broke the law by withholding $214M in aid.

    Trump refused to release the funds to Ukraine at the same time he was pressuring that country’s new president to announce investigations of former Vice President Joe Biden and of Biden’s son Hunter, who had served on the board of a Ukraine gas company. Joe Biden is the current front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

    The funds were only released after the block on the aid became publicly known, sparking the congressional probe which led to the Republican president’s impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House.

    The GAO report said that the Office of Management and Budget cited “a policy reason” for withholding $214 million in funds appropriated by Congress to the Defense Department for security assistance to Ukraine.

    But a policy reason “is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act” to withhold funds appropriated by Congress, GAO said.

    “The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the (Impoundment Control Act).”

    “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” the report said.
    ……….
    The agency noted that the Constitution “specifically vests Congress with the power of the purse.”

    And the report said that Trump, like all other presidents, “is not vested with the power to ignore or amend any such duly enacted law.”

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 2:17 pm

    
    

46. @44 “No, because too much of it was unverified, and it was oppo research.”

    That it was used to support a FISA warrant, and the person who passed it to the FBI was given confidential informant status, doesn’t amount to a fly in your ceviche?

    lloyd (d63067) — 2/21/2024 @ 5:16 pm

    
    

47. I was wondering what whembly would make of the Smirnov connectons with the Russians. You know, stuff like this:

    Whistleblowers! Whistleblowers!

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 5:41 pm

    
    

48. OK, my party is a f-cking cult.

    No, it has been hijacked by a f-ing cult. Some might say it has been abandoned to a f-ing cult. The Reps are just accepting the wind comes from Vichy.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/21/2024 @ 5:51 pm

    
    

49. It’s amazing that China hasn’t tried to take Taiwan yet…

    Or even Quemoy (aka Kinmen Island), which is Taiwanese territory a few miles off the coast of Xiamen.

    Take a look at that map and tell me what is holding it up? It is absolutely indefensible. China could take it with rowboats.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/21/2024 @ 5:56 pm

    
    

50. FIFY:

    The Reps are just accepting the wind comes from Vichy Mar-A-Lago.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/21/2024 @ 5:57 pm

    
    

51. There are a few ways to make sure I do not read a comment. Words like Burisma, the Steele Dossier, or Russian Collusion. I know that some people still feel like these embers need stirring, but life is too short and far more important things (e.g. Trump’s insurrection) are at hand.

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/21/2024 @ 6:00 pm

    
    

52. The Reps are just accepting the wind comes from Vichy Mar-A-Lago.

    Po-tay-to, po-tah-to

    Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/21/2024 @ 6:01 pm

    
    

53. That it was used to support a FISA warrant, and the person who passed it to the FBI was given confidential informant status, doesn’t amount to a fly in your ceviche?

    Ah, so your complaint isn’t about the dossier, it’s about FBI counter-intelligence. FTR, I agreed with the IG Horowitz report.

    Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 2/21/2024 @ 7:22 pm

    
    

54. In all fairness to Trump, he would’ve had much less opportunity to commit the crimes he’s been charged with if he hadn’t been President and it’s possible that fewer people would’ve noticed he was committing white-collar crimes if he hadn’t been standing directly under a spotlight. I think the lesson really is that if you are committing crimes, it might be better to try to fly under the radar than to endlessly draw undue attention to yourself.

    Nic (896fdf) — 2/22/2024 @ 1:57 am

    
    

55. One time, our front lawn started dying in large patches. It was grubs. They hatch underground and eat the roots. It is easy to tell because the dead grass above ground easily pulls up in tufts without any roots attached.

    To confirm, I turned over up a couple of shallow spadefuls. It was fat white grubs. As soon as they were exposed to the open air (and sunlight), they started to shrivel. Within a few minutes, they were withered brown husks.

    Some creatures, from lawn grubs to New York gangsters, cannot survive the open light of day. They need to stay under their rocks, or in the shade. Meantime, they do a lot of harm as they fatten themselves on the nation’s roots.

    nk (758881) — 2/22/2024 @ 6:29 am

    
    

56. Well done, nk. Nobody skewers Trump as elegantly as you do.

    norcal (6bf786) — 2/22/2024 @ 1:35 pm