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I get the sense that Tillerson was going to leave before he went on vacation. But then the rumors started and that's why he came out and said that he was staying on as Secretary of State. So I'm wondering if Kelly being hired as Chief of Staff was a direct result of Tillerson possibly wanting out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Emily Maitlis has given the BBC Newsnight programme the background to her interview with Scaramouche. She was preparing a report from the White House when she realized Sean Spicer's replacement was wandering around the grounds taking selfies. She walked over and ask him if he would give them an interview and he immediately said yes without clearing it with anyone in the white building behind him and not asking in advance what questions she would be asking him. Self confidence, is one way of looking at it. Plain stupid is another. Where do they find these people?
Another day, another revelation -when will the 'whole of the truth' about this one meeting be told? And what else is there to be revealed?
The White House has confirmed Donald Trump played a role in drafting a misleading statement about his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer.
On Tuesday, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, contradicted Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, who said the president had had no involvement.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...uction-justice
https://www.apnews.com/a250d1088af44a3b8b55275dc97de608Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
This ties Flynn to Cambridge analytica. We'll find out more about that. There's been a grand jury investigation into Flynn for some time now and of course the big news is that Mueller impaneled another grand jury.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3...nts-over-break
Some bipartisan agreement here. Are they finally on to him?
This opinion piece by Krauthammer in the Daily News gives some of the other examples of 'democracy' pushing back against Trump- http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/g...icle-1.3381996Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
Just hope this can hold up in what is only the eighth month of a Bizarro World presidency. Hard to imagine a whole term of this presidential buffoonery.
The problem with Cambridge Analytica is that when you look at who is or has been associated with it, you find the President and his team -notably Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort-, Ted Cruz, Robert Mercer, Vincent Tchenguiz, Dmitry Firtash and Stephen Bannon.Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
What they all have in common is the 'first mover advantage' in the latest forms of 'cyber-influence', to give it a name. In the past it was the Clinton administration that was seen to have an 'early mover advantage' when using the internet to get its messages across, particularly to those people who used it a lot, many of them young and first time voters. Communications technology has changed radically since the 1990s in terms of access both ways, and the claim -as stressed by Comey in his Senate hearing- is not that the President's team colluded with but that they co-ordinated their campaign with the Russians, as both wanted the same thing: to defeat Mrs Cliinton.
Kushner's role may emerge as another obstacle to the resolution of the 'Russia Problem' because he was in charge of the 'digital' side of the campaign that recruited Cambridge Analytica and used its methods via the Russians to smear Hillary Clinton by targeting individual voters in key precincts in States like Wisconsin and Illinois-
Kushner’s crew was able to tap into the Republican National Committee’s data machine, and it hired targeting partners like Cambridge Analytica to map voter universes and identify which parts of the Trump platform mattered most: trade, immigration or change. Tools like Deep Root drove the scaled-back TV ad spending by identifying shows popular with specific voter blocks in specific regions–say, NCIS for anti-ObamaCare voters or The Walking Dead for people worried about immigration. Kushner built a custom geo-location tool that plotted the location density of about 20 voter types over a live Google Maps interface.
http://www.newsweek.com/did-russians...rs-help-613612
A lot of this was done in the USA using data mined from the RNC, but the data from the DNC was hacked by the Russian based Guccifer network and is thus the link between the Americans and the Russians which the candidate himself appealed for when twice in one day he begged the Russians to hack the Democrats and help him defeat his American competitor for the White House. The role played by Wikileaks in this also needs more investigation.
Presidents enter the White House in their first time with baggage -usually, it is a political record as Vice-President, Governor, Senator, possibly military (Washington, Grant, Eisenhower come to mind). In this case the baggage consists of an uneven record as a businessman, a reputation for self-promotion shaped by fantasy, and the mentality of the 'win at all costs' which explains why existing links to the Russians were drafted in to help co-ordinate the campaign. It may be that the campaign looked closely at precisely where the margins of legality and illegality were and ensured they never crossed the lines; as for 'accepted' norms, the campaign joyously trashed all of them -previously unacceptable insults, abuse, ridicule, lies -these became part of the tenor of the campaign unlike anything seen or heard since the 19th century.
At some point, however, this elaborate plan to win the White House will be exposed for what it was. The sooner the better.
Every week some drama seems to engulf the Presidency, to the extent that there is no speculation -wild speculation?- that this Presidency may not even last the year. In addition to various removals, the dismissal of Stephen Bannon may have been all but inevitable when the full text of his interview revealed a disagreement on North Korea with his own President, but primarily because, as the host of the show in Slumdog Millionaire barks when expressing his annoyance with contestant Jamal Malik -It's my fucking show!- the President is said to have -
fumed privately to confidants that Mr Bannon was getting too much attention. Mr Trump has also been displeased by Mr Bannon's high profile in the media, which has largely credited him as the mastermind of the Trump campaign.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7901121.html
Again, the failure of health care reform, the challenge in the courts to the Muslim ban, the dismissal of FBI Director Comey and the unscripted comments on the riots in Charlottesville have so alienated supporters he needs in Congress it is hard to see what he can do to repair it.
And, now four Presidential advisory committees -on infrastructure, manufacturing, strategic policy and arts and humanities- have either been disbanded or in the case of arts and humanities, abandoned by its members who released a statement on their collective resignation among which it said:
“We cannot sit idly by, the way that your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions,”...“Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions.
“You released a budget which eliminates arts and culture agencies. You have threatened nuclear war while gutting diplomacy funding. The administration pulled out of the Paris agreement, filed an amicus brief undermining the Civil Rights Act and attacked our brave trans service members. You have subverted equal protections, and are committed to banning Muslims and refugee women & children from our great country.
“This does not unify the nation we all love.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...masse-fallout/
I guess the President must now re-group, but while in the past this has been seen as a moment when his closest advisers have attempt to tighten up the White House staff, introduce more discipline and 'joined-up government' the problem that won't go away is the glaring fact that the President is incompetent, and will not be tamed by his staff, so that his freedom to tweet and give unscripted speeches and spontaneous comments is a guarantee that this farce will roll on -until someone decides enough is enough. But when? And who will make the decision? As someone who proclaims his own greatness and never loses, resignation would seem to be the logical conclusion.
Anyone with progressive inclinations should be grateful that Trump is such a lazy, undisciplined, impulsive incompetent. Just imagine what a smarter, more focussed President with the same policy inclinations could achieve with majorities in both houses.
We now know that on Day One of his Presidency, 45 discovered the letter written shortly before by President 44. President 45 has described the letter as 'long. It was complex. It was thoughtful' -and is here in full:
"Dear Mr. President -
Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.
This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful. Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.
First, we’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune. Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.
Second, American leadership in this world really is indispensable. It’s up to us, through action and example, to sustain the international order that’s expanded steadily since the end of the Cold War, and upon which our own wealth and safety depend.
Third, we are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions – like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties – that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.
And finally, take time, in the rush of events and responsibilities, for friends and family. They’ll get you through the inevitable rough patches.
Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.
Good luck and Godspeed,
BO"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ba...-a7927461.html
It's almost as though Barack Obama anticipated the exact ways Trump would fail. Maybe he's not the only one but he listed very specific priorities of the President that Trump has already undermined.
Mueller is currently investigating an original draft of a letter written by Trump prior to firing Comey. I have not seen the draft, but it would be sound evidence of his mental state when he fired Comey. What Mueller comes back with in the obstruction of justice investigation and how Congress responds will determine whether our rule of law has been preserved, or is either temporarily or permanently suspended.
And of course, Trump's statement about the letter's length and complexity only shows that he did not understand that it was implicitly a statement of distrust. It's quite short and easy to summarize. Preserve equality of opportunity, don't undermine the current international order by abdicating our leadership role, and understand that you were elected for a term and have limits to your power and must have fidelity to the constitution, including the hard-won freedoms embedded in our amendments to it.
White House Counsel told him not to publish the letter, portions of it were redacted, and eventually Rosenstein wrote the final draft with fabricated reasons that were not Trump's. When the draft is eventually made public we will see specifically what Trump's tirade was. This news is apparently two days old, but I still don't see why this by itself should not sink him. I'm not going to state arguments again on this bc it's redundant but...Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
Anyway, for those who have not read about it. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/u...ng-letter.html
I don't know a lot about the DACA or 'dreamers' policy on illegal immigrants that was introduced by the Obama administration and flagged for removal by the President yesterday. Neither does he. One wonders what, other than his bank accounts and the tax codes he does know. Maybe that is why the Attorney General announced the change in policy, and his President passed the buck to Congress...
The blame-averse president told a confidante over the past few days that he realized that he had gotten himself into a politically untenable position. As late as one hour before the decision was to be announced, administration officials privately expressed concern that Mr. Trump might not fully grasp the details of the steps he was about to take, and when he discovered their full impact, would change his mind, according to a person familiar with their thinking who was not authorized to comment on it and spoke on condition of anonymity
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/u...migration.html
ps Am I right in thinking the Politics & Religion section has been moved down the Table of Contents to second-from-bottom?
Ive honestly never paid attention to that. I think it should be a bit higher as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Meanwhile on DACA, all trump is doing is pandering to his base. The sooner those people realize "the jobs immigrants took away from you" aren't coming back, the better.
The 'Dreamers' are exactly the kind of immigrants the US economy needs - young, well-educated and motivated https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/20...gs®ion=Body
This makes a nonsense of earlier talk about revamping the immigration system on economic lines (like Australia and Canada). It seems the real agenda is lower immigration by whatever means.
"Make America [predominately] white again" because "immigrants are stealing our jobs" (but not the outsourcing and/or mechanization of industry.Quote:
Originally Posted by filghy2
It's time Americans for you to dig deep into your pockets and support your President by buying his Medallions, only $45 a shot.
He needs your cash.
Attachment 1027383
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.3474658
In connection with the release of his latest book ,"Spies Like Us" John le Carre (David Cornwell) has been asked about his views with regard to the 'Russian connection' and Donald Trump. He recommends one should 'follow the money' and consider the time honored Russian tactic of "kompromat"
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/bo...?smid=tw-share
Sorry for my error above, his latest book is "A legacy of Spies"
LOL, going to rush right out and get one , I wonder does it come in lifelike orange ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
I have had a good laugh over the last two days at the expense of the President of the USA. I know one ought not to, but amusement is in short supply this side of the pond where policy-making continues to resemble a train without a driver on a track without a destination.
So, having seen Ann (Do you like my hair?) Coulter in pugnacious form on the BBC defending her Man after Charlottesville, she now has turned on him, as have other Republicans who, in spite of what he said at the first tv debate of Republican candidates, have just woken up to the fact that he is not really their guy after all.
Thus, the New Republic reports:
[Coulter] has a new book out titled In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! In this tome, she says, “There’s nothing Trump can do that won’t be forgiven. Except change his immigration policies.” So what does Trump do? Change his immigration policies, dropping hints that he’ll accept the very type of amnesty that he once denounced when it was advocated by Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/1362...nd-good-reason
In answer to a question from The Daily Beast:
Is Trump's apparent apostasy fixable?“Only if he is willing to begin intensive therapy next week, after his presidency.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/ann-cou...bet-on-a-loser
And now it seems she was suspcious all along. Right.
It took Ronald Reagan six years to betray his disciples, who turned their perception of betrayal into the Project for a New American Century, and the long term plan to create a pro-American region-wide democracy in the Middle East starting with regime change in Iraq...it has taken the latest version of the Republican Party's messiah complex barely six months. And of course the President denies it all and says there is no deal. I think. Even Theresa May can be more convincing when she is covering up her incompetence.
What comes next?
I heard yesterday that Ann Coulter was taken aback by 45's recent twists and turns concerning DACA. She tweeted, "At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached?" I only just learned (thanks to your post Stavros) that her new book is titled: "In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!" OMG! That's hysterical. I'm off to my favorite bookstore right now not to buy it. I urge everyone to do the same.
Ann should've known that Donald never made a deal he didn't renege on. Everyone in the White House knows it. Every contractor whoever worked for him knows it. Every New York banker knows it. Every House Republican knows it. Pelosi and Schummer should keep it in mind too. At this point nobody knows what's going to happen with DACA. I can't imagine the thick cloud of anxiety hovering over the dreamers until this thing is settled; I hope in their favor. Godspeed.
coulter is a bad calibration of the situation. i actually don't mind her- mainly because she's such an extreme (alleged) right winger as opposed to the real right winger (the guy from some widwestern town that owns 4 guns and will shoot you or me on site because we're on his property). she's like pepe on speed (i'm talking 90s speed that was about $400 a pop). coulter also has an agent who (interestingly enough) manages a lot of actors. is she an actor? no. coulter is a celebrity. a media person who needs to maintain a certain amount of media attention to retain (not only) her credibility as a bitch, but her "i can say whatever i want and not really have the same consequences you other asswipes get" status: read as YOU
i've been to a party where ann was pretty "normal" if you can call it that. she still touted the whole right winger "kick them all out" crap, but besides that, i'd say she was cool. i'd have put on a white hood and burnt a cross with her- but then again, that's not me. i'm not into cross burning and white hoodies never go with my style :D
keep it trill
https://twitter.com/Pandas4Trump/sta...13050327621632
Trump was ecstatic about the press coverage of three month extension on the debt ceiling. He called Pelosi and Schumer to sing about how FOX praised them and MSNBC praised him. He never knew bi-partisanship could be so rewarding! But it wasn’t the progress that impressed Donald. It was the perception that the ‘liberal’ press praised him.
DACA is going to be different. It’s already different. The flak Donald is going to take (and is already getting) from his base and their right-wing radio stations, and their propaganda/conspiracy-weaving engines will be intolerable for someone like Trump to bear. I predict this brief flirtation with partisanship will go sour and die. Here's hoping I'm wrong.:cheers:
whatever. i'm just glad it's giving some trump supporters (bwahahaha) something to think about. most are up an arms. it's great to witness this- coupled with the "current" protests in st.louis. i'm sure melania ain't sleeping in some sexy red lingerie- although then again- she might be. and i'm just overthinking all this.
where were we? weekend. money. booze. and our country. one of these are going down- and fast.
http://www.businessinsider.com/muell...witter-2017-10
On Friday we heard that Mueller had filed charges against someone. Tomorrow we should find out who. The usual right wing nuts, Gorka, Hannity, and Stone have been spreading all sorts of malicious nonsense trying to de-legitimize Mueller and distract from the Russia investigation. The supposed scandals of Hillary Clinton are not scandals at all but the usual type of innuendo directed at her.
The charges against Paul Manafort and Robert Gates can be found in full in this Guardian link:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...robert-mueller
Basically, Manafort and Gates lobbied in the US on behalf of the Government of the Ukraine and the Party of the Regions without registering as paid lobbyists, which is illegal; they laundered money they acquired in the Ukraine and as a result defrauded the US tax authorities and banks from whom they acquired loans on property purchased with laundered money, these amounting to a conspiracy against the USA that obstructed the work of the Department of Justice and the Treasury. Note that the charge says
Paul J. Manafort Jr, and Richard W. Gates III, together with others.. (those others not named).
One question that will arise is -did the Republican Candidate who appointed Manafort to lead his campaign team know that Manafort had close political and financial links to the former government of the Ukraine and its President Viktor Yanukovich, that he did not declare these links and their financial character to the relevant authorities in the USA, and was there any conduit of money and/or intelligence between Manafort, his disgraced associates who in 2014 absconded from justice to live in Russia, and the government of Russia?
This is a very good summary and question. I think George Papadopoulos' plea agreement, which is much less reported right now, is also a very good lead for two reasons. He lied to the FBI about communications with a Russian agent regarding emails and he looks to be a cooperating witness. Maybe this looks better than it is. But here's the stipulation of his offense...I haven't read the agreement part of it yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
https://www.lawfareblog.com/george-p...plea-agreement
Edit: the agreement does not specify the nature of his cooperation if any, only that he agrees to plead guilty. The most interesting information is in the stipulation laying out what he lied to investigators about.
I’m just so shocked. I didn’t see any of this coming.
trump's answer will be 'crooked hilary is to blame. bigly mad. bigly sad'.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
or 'fake news.bad'
What strikes me about what we know so far, going back to the beginning around the time the campaign began officially in 2016, is the number of people in the presidential campaign and then after the inauguration, who have lied, not just to each other or the press, but to law enforcement agencies. If you add in the clear links between people in the campaign and foreign governments -Ukraine and Russia-, you could say this reveals the amateurish nature of their campaign, their lack of experience in politics -except that Manafort as a lobbyist would surely know what is legal and what is not. This suggests contempt, that these people had decided the FBI, the Department of Justice, the CIA were all part of a 'corrupt' 'broken system' and could be disregarded as if lying to them was of no consequence. Flynn lied, Sessions lied, the President's family members lied, Manafort lied, Gates lied, Papadopoulos lied and yet we have denials from the White House who ought not to even be saying anything right now. Where in all this was the Republican Party establishment, eg Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell? And we have only just started.
As for Manafort's lawyer barking outside the court that all his client wanted to do was to develop democracy in the Ukraine -you have to marvel at the guy's brazen cheek. By the time Yanukovich ran away to Moscow after the Maidan Revolution in 2014, he and his cronies are estimated to have robbed the Ukraine of two-thirds of its wealth. Democracy had nothing to do with it. We await the next indictments with interest.
It seems they just want to change the subject and go back to their main priority of passing tax cuts for the wealthy. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...lican-reactionQuote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
I have read various reports that more indictments are likely to be coming soon, that Papadopoulos likely wore a wire between July and October 5, and that the high level official mentioned in the stipulation of facts for Papadopoulos' plea is really Manafort. These are things being whispered by mostly credible journalists on twitter but may not be certain enough to print. For instance, Papadopoulos' cooperation has been called "proactive" which according to federal prosecutors is a euphemism for wearing a wire. This much is likely to be true.
But if Manafort was the source that Papadopoulos told about his meeting with a Russian government official regarding incriminating emails then the head of Trump's campaign knew about Russian hacking as of April 2016. This also means Trump is virtually certain to have known. Which means at the best, he lied to the public about an espionage campaign against the United States and never notified the FBI about a vital matter of national security concern. He stood up in debates and dissembled about China and a 400 pound hacker. Even when he was showed intelligence data proving the link he continued to subvert and undermine these agencies.
For those interested, Seth Abramson was one of the first to identify Papadopoulos as a potential source on the Russian links, he even goes as far as to claim he was, 'in effect' a Kremlin agent. His twitter feed is here-
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson
Great find Stavros. Let's just say there are a lot of people on twitter you can follow who will feed you bs, but Abramson seems one of the most responsible in his process and his deductions. Also recommend. He tells you when he's speculating, which given what's public is necessary, and he makes sensible deductions.
Actually shouldn't say also recommend since you're not necessarily recommending it. I've found his tweet storms to be very good. For instance, this one about the lies Sarah Huckabee Sanders told in her press conference are very good, especially for his clarification about Hillary's purported involvement with Fusion GPS.
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/sta...64821137199104
All good points. The crunch may come if Mueller begins to look at any links between Russia and the Campaign that pass through Felix Sater and Manhattan real estate, as the President has said he will not allow Mueller to investigate his family business. The problem is that while 'collusion' in the sense of an agreed plan between the campaign and the Russians to work together to smear Hillary Clinton directly through planted Facebook/social media may not be proven, that kind of Russian interference was part of the Russian plan and welcomed by the campaign team who, it may transpire knew of it but did nothing to stop it. The meeting in New York attended by Manafort, Kushner and members of the family may turn out to be axis on which this turns, for if it leads to an indictment of Eric or Donald junior, Mueller will either be sacked, or the President issue an official pardon. Question is, where is Michael Flynn in all this? What becomes clear is the insatiable venom Republicans have had for the Clinton family ever since Bill was elected President. I think they hate them more than they hate Obama. Their genuine fear that Hillary was a winner led them to view any attack on her as an advance for them, yet seem not have cared if it came from a foreign source, such was their hostility to their fellow American. A campaign and a Presidency based on resentment, revenge and arrogance. Not a sound base on which to govern a country.Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
Unfortunately, over 80% of Republican voters still seem to think it is a sound basis for governing. Unless that changes Trump will probably stay safe, at least until after the mid-terms.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Meanwhile, here's the view from the lunatic fringe https://www.salon.com/2017/11/01/ale...ng-of-america/