Month: July 2017

Taking America to a Dangerous Place

They accuse fake news of dragging America to a dangerous place.

But it turns out the news was not fake and those reports show who has been doing the dragging.

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From The Onion:

NEW YORK—Left aghast and upset after seeing her beloved firstborn son all over the evening news, a distraught Ivana Trump reportedly called her ex-husband at the White House Tuesday night to ask him what he did to her beautiful baby boy.

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From Tommy Christopher:

The Trump administration’s attempt to control the damage from Donald Trump Jr.’s attempted collusion is dissolving faster than an Alka-Seltzer tablet in sulfuric acid.

After everyone involved insisted that then-candidate Donald Trump was unaware of the meeting that took place one floor below his office at Trump Tower, Trump has now admitted it “may have been mentioned” to him.

And Trump’s White House is now clumsily trying to cover up that admission.

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From Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged:

I am a little surprised that there has been a new breakthrough regarding the admission from Donald Trump, Jr. that he met with a Kremlin-associated lawyer and anti-Magnitsky Act lobbyist because she supposedly had “dirt’ on Hillary Clinton. That sounded pretty bad. It let some people pretend that if nothing came of the meeting (allegedly) because she had no good dirt on Hillary Clinton, that was simply that. As if breaking and entering was less of a crime if one didn’t get much from one’s burglaring. That much is basically the grounds for a collusion case: it opens to door to say that the Trump Campaign was ready and willing to take help from any source, and they weren’t going to be picky.

Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort were there, in Trump Tower, under the same roof as the candidate and paterfamilias. And we have to assume he was either in the dark, or gave his blessing–both stories have their attendant horrors of incompetency to contemplate.

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From Infidel753:

Right now most of the US political blogosphere is understandably caught up in the latest revelations on the Trump-Russia issue. But the enemy is active on many fronts, and so must we be.

Today, July 12, has been chosen as a day of action to support net neutrality, which the Trumpified FCC wants to destroy. If the worst-case scenarios pan out, losing net neutrality would strangle the internet as we know it, crippling our ability to spread information rapidly and carry out mass actions (such as the campaigns to stop ACA repeal) on short notice. That is, if we can’t save net neutrality, we could lose much of our ability to save everything else.

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Wondering why a few conservative friends are less than impressed.

 
It is hard to add wisdom to the insights already flowing from all directions as startling new evidence erupts.

So we simply tell the story of Russia, Donald Trump, his administration, and his campaign, mainly in the President’s own recent words and the recent words of those around him. We begin just two weeks ago, on June 29, as the President attacks those who report on Russia’s intrusion into an American election.

Don’t we love that term: fake? What we’ve learned about fake over the last little while!

Fake news! CNN: Fake!

– President Donald Trump, June 29, 2017

Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks for the President on June 27:

I think it’s the constant barrage of fake news directed at this President probably that has garnered a lot of his frustration.

…

I think it’s a disgrace to all of media to all of journalism. I think that we have gone to a place where, if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America.

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We’ve been going on this Russia/Trump hoax for the better part of a year now with no evidence of anything.

– Sarah Huckabee Sanders, June 27, 2017

A few days later, the President issues a challenge as the nation prepares to celebrate its independence.

The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them. Because the people know the truth.

– President Donald Trump, July 1, 2017

MSNBC recently compiled and made publicly available, a series of statements, all in the same vein.

Paul Manafort is questioned by George Stephanopoulos:

Q: Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you, or your campaign and Putin and his regime?

A: No, there are not. It’s absurd and there’s no basis for it.

Kellyanne Conway is questioned by John Dickerson:

Q: Did anyone involved in the Trump campaign have any contact with Russians trying to meddle with the election?

A: Absolutely not.

Vice President Mike Pence is questioned by Chris Wallace:

Q: I’m asking you a direct question. Was there any contact in any way between Trump or his associates and the Kremlin or cutouts they had.

A: I joined this campaign in the summer and I can tell you that all the contact by the Trump campaign and associates was with the American people.

Q: Were there any contacts, sir? I’m just trying to get an answer.

A: Of course not. Why would be there any contacts?

Jeff Sessions testifies before Congress:

I did not have communications with the Russians. And I’m unable to comment on it.

Mike Pence is interviewed by John Dickerson:

Q: Did any adviser or anybody in the Trump campaign have any contact with the Russians who were trying to meddle in the election?

A: Of course not.

President Donald Trump holds a Press Conference:

Q: Can you say whether you are aware that anyone who advised your campaign had contacts with Russia during the course of the election?

A: Well, I told you, General Flynn obviously was dealing, so that’s one person, but he was dealing as he should have been.

Q: During the election?

A: No. Nobody that I know of.

Kellyanne Conway is interviewed by John Dickerson:

These conversations never happened. I hear people saying it like it’s a fact on television. That is just not only inaccurate and false, but it’s dangerous. And it does undermine our democracy.

Then, on July 10, the New York Times publishes a story that, during the previous year’s campaign, Donald Trump, Jr. led a small, three member contingent of Trump campaign officials to a meeting with a Russian lawyer to discuss secret information stolen from the Clinton campaign by operatives working for the Russian government. The Times claims that email evidence is in their possession that all three participants knew the purpose of the meeting was to obtain information stolen by a hostile foreign intelligence service.

That evening, Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks on behalf of the White House. The President and the White House deny the story. It is fake news.

I would certainly say Don Junior did not collude with anybody to influence the election. Our position is that no one in the Trump campaign colluded in order to influence the election.

– Sarah Huckabee Sanders, July 10, 2017

The next day, the New York Times produces the actual email conversation between Donald Trump, Jr. and others.

June 3, 2016, from Rob Goldstone to Donald Junior:

Good morning

Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting.

The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.
This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump – helped along by Aras and Emin.

What do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to Emin about it directly?

I can also send this info to your father via Rhona, but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first.

Best
Rob Goldstone

Within minutes, Donald gives the go-ahead:

On Jun 3, 2016, at 10:53

Thanks Rob I appreciate that. I am on the road at the moment but perhaps I just speak to Emin first. Seems we have some time and if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer. Could we do a call first thing next week when I am back?
Best,
Don

It’s hard to get around the I love it especially later in the summer.

Rob Goldstone gets more specific with Donald, Junior four days later:

Jun 7, 2016

Don
Hope all is well

Emin asked that I schedule a meeting with you and The Russian government attorney who is flying over from Moscow for this Thursday.

I believe you are aware of the meeting – and so wondered if 3pm or later on Thursday works for you?

I assume it would be at your office.

Best
Rob Goldstone

Donald Junior answers that same day:

Jun 7, 2016, at 5:16 PM

How about 3 at our offices? Thanks rob appreciate you helping set it up.

D

And an hour later, Donald Junior spells out who else will be there to receive the pirated documents:

Jun 7, 2016, at 18:14

Great. It will likely be Paul Manafort (campaign boss) my brother in law and me, 725 Fifth Ave 25th floor.

On July 11, Donald Trump, Jr. confirms the authenticity of the emails, that the meeting occurred, and that then candidate Donald Trump’s son-in-law and campaign manager were there.

Comment posted by Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter on July 11, 2017

To everyone, in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails with Rob Goldstone about the meeting on June 9, 2016.

He later appears with Sean Hannity to insist that, even though the meeting happened, even though it was to receive stolen documents, even though it was with the expectation those prospective documents had been spirited from the Clinton campaign by the Russian government, it was all very innocent.

Walter Shapiro of the Guardian has one of the better reactions:

The best that they can now muster – and it was the underlying theme of Hannity’s fawning interview – is to shout, “Fake Interpretation.”

Somehow that doesn’t have the same ring.

Walter Shapiro, the Guardian, July 12, 2017

Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary for President Bush, feels the entire matter is routine campaign activity.

Is it collusion or is it opposition research? And it certainly seems to me to be opposition research.

Ari Fleischer on Fox News, July 11, 2017

Mr. Fleischer had adopted a different approach in 2000, when campaign materials from then candidate for President, Governor George W. Bush, were secretly copied. The copies had been sent to the Gore campaign.

Ari Fleischer did not seem to think that instance was innocent at all.

We are pleased the FBI is digging, and digging deep.

– Ari Fleischer, October 1, 2000

There exists another contrast between those election years. The materials copied from the Bush campaign were not retrieved through a secret deal between Democrats and a hostile foreign government.

Still, the reaction of the Democratic campaign in 2000 to receiving those secret documents was very different from that of the Republican campaign a decade and a half later.

Both sides were not the same.

In September 2000, an important advisor to the Gore campaign, Tom Downey, opened a mysterious envelope that had just arrived by mail. As he began to look over the contents, he realized it was a point-by-point document preparing Governor Bush for an upcoming debate with Al Gore.

It had to have been stolen.

Tom Downey put the materials back in the envelope and called the FBI. Since he had thumbed through the materials before realizing what they were, he and the Gore campaign decided he should no longer have any part, not even any contact, with the Gore campaign until after the election.

Let’s compare.

In June 2016, 3 important members of the Trump campaign, including the campaign manager himself, the candidate’s son, and the candidate’s son-in-law, shared a message promising to them materials stolen by the Russian government from the Clinton campaign. The three eagerly participated in the meeting. They were disappointed that the stolen materials were not produced.

As it turned out, they were not produced until the following month.

There is now some debate over whether laws were broken. To those of us who rely on cover-ups and efforts to stop investigations as consciousness of guilt, we who must look to the apparent progress of criminal investigations and congressional inquiries, it certainly appears that an entire matrix of laws had to have been broken, and that obstruction clearly followed.

Even if that was not the case, every patriot, anyone with even the slightest love of country, ought to agree that a deliberate effort to engage with a hostile foreign government to subvert an election for United States President is, at very least, UnAmerican.

Anytime you’re in a campaign and you get an offer from a foreign government to help your campaign, the answer is no.

– Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), July 11, 2017

We are left with this summary:

…we have gone to a place where, if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America.

That is just not only inaccurate and false, but it’s dangerous. And it does undermine our democracy.

History may find it easy to judge who has undermined our democracy, and who has taken America to a dangerous place.

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From the Bjork Report:

Big surprise that Donny Jr. got caught coordinating with the Russians? No, not really; not at all actually.

Intercepts between the Trumpsky gang and Russian spies was duly recorded by European intelligence during the presidential campaign. All the tweet-bluster and various other diversions by TeamTrump cannot stop those recordings from surfacing.

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From Max’s Dad:

Well there we are, America. All alone, ignored by the world, isolated, no friends, other bullies licking their chops at the opportunity, and all because of that lonely loser “elected” last by a substantial minority of greedheads, hillbillies, racists, and dopes.

Donald F Trump took the United States on a lonely path of obsolescence this last week when attended the G19 G20 conference over there in Socialism Land and made a mockery of the all of us. Who has to apologize to anyone not from here for the “election” of this trashy buffoon? Who face palms on a daily basis at this circus clown’s antics, his big mouth or his toilet inspired tweets?

Trump began his week in Poland in front of a crowd of so called dignitaries and a group of hired, or rather coerced, group of non English speaking charlatans who chanted “Don-alt Trump” whenever directed to by a Polish thumb breaker. Trump spoke eloquently on how being crushed in two directions by Russians and Nazis must have been “tough”. Wonder if he got permission from his Russian and Nazi “advisors”? It was during this scripted by Stephen Miller (Goose Stepper-NC) that the Whitey in Chief uttered the 14 words that give Trumpers a gigantic stiffy. “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” Well he didnt really say that verbatim , Miller and Bannon arent that dumb, but thats what Trumpers all over the world heard. Bark Bark whistle whistle! Trump then got lost on a stage. Somebody get the nurse, Gramps is wandering again..

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From Vincent at A Wayfarer’s Notes:

Perfection certainly doesn’t exist in the seen world. I conclude it must lie in the beholder’s eye. To see only perfection is surely a knack worth having.

How we use words is our own business, for such is language; and how they help us understand one another is a great wonder. For some, perfection is meeting our expectation 100%, that is to say, 0 flies in the ointment, 0 spanners in the works. For others, perfection is an abstract quality dwelling in Heaven, as proposed by Plato. His seductive philosophy still traps the unwary, well into its third millennium.

For simpler folk, which is most of us most of the time, perfection is the image of something desired.

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