Russia Is The Key

According to the dossier, Putin is already pleased with the destabilization of the US that the Kremlin's interference in the US election set in motion. The dossier also mentions a couple of times that Trump is more concerned about his dirty dealings in China than the Russian connection. We are seeing a lot these days, but it is still just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Nice little summary here. 

Gotta love that the US is listening in to the  Russian  calls, and catching Flynn. 

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/magnitude-of-trump-adviser-flyn...

this could get very interesting

Only if the GOP care about it. If the GOP is willing to brush it under the proverbial rug and continue to turn a blind eye to the treason then forget about it.

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/28/1626317/-Russian-spy-linked-to-Don...

they might be afraid if they fire flynn he will spill all the beans

just a thought

that was fast...surprised they didn't wait till Friday ;)

Time for the GOP call for hearings into this matter. Do we hear cries for: Lock Him UP from any of them?

Time for a march. 

What do you want to march about, pool boy?

Called my Republican representative today and expressed the need for a investigation

How about an anti classist asshole march? It could be bipartisan. 

Maaaaan Matt Lauer destroyed Kelly Ann this morning.  24 hours ago she says Flynn had "full support". Asked if she was out of the loop.  No, she says, we know he had full support because he was attending all top secret briefings, making decisions, yadaa.  OK, but we now know that you all have known he lied to Pence and undercut the sitting President for three weeks, so why has he still been doing all that?  "The POTUS is a very loyal person"

LOYAL TO WHOM?

Basically, if this hadn't gotten leaked, Trump would have been fine with this.

>>>>How about an anti classist asshole march?

That's called The March of the Juggaloes.

He would have been fine with it probably because he told him to do it

*an investigation.

>>LOYAL TO WHOM?

Alias, did Layer ask that question?

The only investigation you'll get is into who is leaking this stuff. As far as GOP is concerned, that's the real story.  

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/kfile-roy-blunt-flynn-investigati...

Please tell me again how the Russians don't have something on Trump:

The strongest support for Flynn came from Moscow on Tuesday morning. Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian foreign affairs committee, said he did not deserve to lose his job and lashed out at Trump for allowing Flynn to resign. “Either Trump hasn’t found the necessary independence and he’s been driven into a corner,” he said. “Or Russophobia has permeated the new administration from top to bottom.”

> Trump hasn’t found the necessary independence and he’s been driven into a corner

Trump is suddenly finding that he is accountable to the Courts, to the media and to US citizens. I honestly don't think he anticipated any of those things happening.

Trump was a menace before Flynn resigned, but now that he's been wounded--Flynn was his choice for National Security Adviser after all--I think it's highly likely that he will become even more unstable and dangerous.

Flynn was a total nutjob.  In a best case scenario cooler heads than Bannon's and Trump's prevail and Priebus and Pence convince him to appoint someone who is still acceptably evil but not downright stupid and insane.

He said he had the best people.  :(

Between our POTUS morning tweets & upcoming noon press conference.

POTUS may B protesting more then a bit 2 much.

This is starting 2 B fun

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campa...

On October 31, the FBI denied links between Russia and Trump's campaign.

WTF, Comey?

This Russia shit is pretty fuckin crazeballz.

the Trump regime is crazballz.

“US intelligence is not the problem here,” Schindler added in another tweet. “The President’s collusion with Russian intelligence is. Many details, but the essence is simple.”

Are the rooskies finally coming?

Yes, and it's all Obama's fault. And Flynn did nothing wrong. 

It will be funny when we join forces with Russia and then they reveal that they have been real communists working on making making America part of the worker's paradise all this time. WELCOME COMRADES!

https://twitter.com/FranklinFoer

https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein

http://observer.com/2017/02/donald-trump-administration-kremlingate-russ...

>>Moreover, accepting that the soon-to-be National Security Advisor opened up back-channels of communication with the Kremlin all by himself is as credible as the notion that the Plumbers decided to break into the Watergate without orders from higher up.

American intelligence officials expressed despair at the election of Trump during a recent meeting with their Israeli counterparts, Bergman reported. They said that they believed that Putin had “leverages of pressure” over Trump, though they did not elaborate.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.764711

Our allies are helping to save America from this Traitor

http://www.newsweek.com/allies-intercept-russia-trump-adviser-communicat...

"Everybody to get from street!"

 Russia can get away with anything they want because Putin has the goods on Trump and his advisors. America is Putin's bitch.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-spy-ship-connecticut-viktor-leonov-r...

Funny how Trump was singing the Wikileaks praises and encouraging Russia to hack Hillary's emails, but now he's not so cool with leaks. go figure

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/us/politics/leaks-donald-trump.html?s...

flynn, manafort, tillerson, carter page, trump jr, boris epshteyn all have ties to russia 

ivanka is good friends with putin's girlfriend, murdoch's daughter 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-cyber-idUSKBN15X0OE

Moby and Tom Arnold are more believable than PEETUS.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyer-delivered-michael-flynn-plan...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html

https://twitter.com/20committee/status/833439985680388096

http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2016/10/03/donald-trump-and-the...

Alot of panties are sure in a rattle around the Zone.

We'll just ignore the apriori of recent events: Barry and his more flexibility after the election, Mitt Romney's son to Russia a few years ago, Clinton uranium, not blocking out the conversation of a US citizen like Flynn.......yes let's just skip to the sky is falling. lol

...all good things in all good time...

John Oliver, nails it! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0utzB6oDan0

LOL! Yeah, Putin sends lots of presents.

Too bad is wasn't a bed like Putin sent to Silvio Berlusconi! 

Bunga bunga.........

Yes, Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid U.S. Russian Uranium Deal

"The Clinton Foundation did accept millions of dollars from Uranium One during the sale, approved under Obama’s administration, while the Podesta Group lobbied on behalf of company owned by Russia. In addition, the Panama Papers reveal Clinton’s ties to the Kremlin. Therefore, it’s a fact Clinton and President Obama presided over the sale of 20% of U.S. uranium capacity to Russia. If the fact Uranium One officials donated millions amid the deal doesn’t bother you, then there’s a job waiting for you at Vox."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yes-cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundatio...

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/14/heres-the-public-evidence-russia-hac...

Clinton lost.

Meanwhile, https://twitter.com/th3j35t3r/status/833884116877717505

https://www.dailysabah.com/europe/2016/12/26/former-russian-fsb-agent-ro...

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Alleg...

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-02-21/trump-can-t-seem-to-s...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/opinion/trumps-russia-motives.html?_r=0

The mystery at the core of the Trump-Russia story is motive.

President Trump certainly seems to have a strange case of Russophilia. He has surrounded himself with aides who have Russian ties. Those aides were talking to Russian agents during the campaign, and some are now pushing a dubious peace deal in Ukraine. Trump recently went so far as to equate the United States and Vladimir Putin’s murderous regime.

But why?

It’s not a simple question. In their Russia-related inquiries, the F.B.I. and the Senate Intelligence Committee will need to focus first on what happened — whether Trump’s team broke any laws and whether the president has lied about it. Yet the investigators, as well as the journalists doing such good work reporting this story, should also keep in mind the why of the matter. It will help explain the rest of the story.

The United States has never had a situation quite like this. Other countries have tried to intervene in our affairs before, sometimes with modest success. Britain and Nazi Germany, for example, tried to influence the 1940 presidential election, financing bogus polls and efforts to sway the nominating conventions. But never has a president had such murky ties to a foreign government as hostile as Putin’s.

I count five possible explanations for Trump’s Russophilia, and they’re not mutually exclusive.

The first is the justification that Trump himself gives, and you shouldn’t dismiss it simply because he has an open relationship with reality. He says that fewer tensions with Russia would benefit the United States, which is a reasonable position. It’s not so different from the position of John Kerry, President Barack Obama’s secretary of state.

Kerry saw Russia, the key ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war, as necessary to ending Assad’s slaughter. Many other Obama administration officials believed that seeking Putin’s help was a fool’s errand. But remember that Obama never came up with an effective approach to Syria. Any successor would be wise to see if Russia could help moderate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Of course, Syria can’t explain all of Trump’s Russia ties. There are too many, and they’re too ominous. Together, they point to the next three explanations — the conspiracies.

The second explanation is the business conspiracy. Because many American banks wouldn’t lend money to Trump’s debt-soaked company, he had to look elsewhere, like Russia. “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets,” Donald Trump Jr. said in 2008, specifically mentioning projects in SoHo and Dubai.

Trump could clear upthis issue by releasing his tax returns. That he has not, unlike every other modern presidential candidate, means that he deserves no benefit of the doubt. The fairest assumption is that he has Russian business ties he wants to keep hidden.

The third explanation is a political conspiracy, and it’s at the center of the legal inquiries. The facts are certainly worrisome. Trump campaign advisers had close links to Putin’s circle, and some of them spoke with Russian officials during the campaign. Meanwhile, Putin’s government was directing pro-Trump cyberattacks. If there was coordination — and there has not been any evidence to date — it would indeed be a worse scandal than Watergate.

The fourth explanation is the flimsiest: the idea, contained in a dossier compiled by private investigators, that Russia has compromising material on Trump. Unless real evidence emerges, I’d encourage you to ignore this theory.

The final possible motive — an ideological alliance — is in some ways the most alarming. Putin isn’t only a leader with “very strong control over his country,” as Trump has enthused; Putin also traffics in a white, Christian-infused nationalism that casts Islam and “global elites” as the enemies.

He does not go as far pursuing these themes as hard-core Russian nationalists, much as Trump merely flirts with the alt-right. Either way, the themes are undeniable. As Michael McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia, says, “The inauguration speech sounded like things I’ve heard from Russian nationalists many times.”

Stephen Bannon, who has emerged as the White House’s most influential adviser, clearly believes in ideological alliances, and Trump seems open to them. After winning the election, he met with Britain’s leading nationalist, Nigel Farage, before Britain’s prime minister.

In recent days, Trump has tempered his pro-Russia comments and even criticized its actions in Ukraine. So it would be a mistake to imagine that we know the full story of Trump and Russia. But based on what we do know, it represents a shocking risk to American interests.

The Republicans who run the Senate and the F.B.I. need to pursue their investigations without the friendly deferencethey have generally shown to Trump so far. If they don’t, it will be left for patriotic leakers, and journalists, to make sure the truth comes out.

flynnghazi

http://www.newsweek.com/why-flynn-russia-affair-troubling-trump-559132

This.  So much this.

"Stephen Bannon, who has emerged as the White House’s most influential adviser, clearly believes in ideological alliances, and Trump seems open to them. After winning the election, he met with Britain’s leading nationalist, Nigel Farage, before Britain’s prime minister."

So Anglospherical.  Or, in common language, white supremacy. 

Thread title always makes me think of The Wizard's Son.

I dunno.

Something like:

"Here comes The Shitgibbon

Doin' worse than Daddy done . . .

 . . . Russia is the keeeeeeeeey!"

[Apologies to David Nelson]

New York Times and other journalists banned

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/us/politics/white-house-sean-spicer-b...

But of course it was a leftist plant that was handing out the flags in order to create a "story":

Leftist Protester Tossed from CPAC For Handing Out Russian Flags With ‘Trump’ Written On Them

A man named Ryan Clayton was thrown out of CPAC for handing out Russian flags with ‘Trump’ written on them. Ryan Clayton is a leftist who is a part of Bob Creamer’s group ‘Americans Taking Action’. Bob Creamer is a provocateur who was busted by Project Veritas in a series of undercover videos. Creamer used ‘bird dogging’ to incite violence at Donald Trump’s rallies.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/02/leftist-protester-thrown-cpac-ha...

And Mr. Creamer has a history of this sort of thing.  It's what the left considers "clever":

Democratic Party Operative Robert Creamer Used Terror to Wage War on Honesty

Let’s be blunt: Democratic Party operative Robert Creamer used terror to wage war on honesty. Until forced to resign his post as a “consultant” with a Democratic Party-aligned organization named Americans United for Change, Creamer ran what amounts to a domestic U.S. political terror and propaganda operation dedicated to undermining the 2016 U.S. presidential election—“rigging the election,” to use the current term.

http://observer.com/2016/10/democratic-party-operative-robert-creamer-us...

For people who decry fake news you folks sure are fans of it when it suits your prejudices. 

So Thom, the white house banned major media from a "gaggle" today. 

That's fucked up. Care to comment?

No? I didn't think so. 

And it's a good thing that the Obama administration never dissed Fox News.  Wouldn't want to set a precedent or anything:

Speaking privately at the White House on Monday with a group of mostly liberal columnists and commentators, including Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Bob Herbert of The New York Times, Mr. Obama himself gave vent to sentiments about the network, according to people briefed on the conversation. Then, in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, the president went public. “What our advisers have simply said is that we are going to take media as it comes,” he said. “And if media is operating, basically, as a talk radio format, then that’s one thing. And if it’s operating as a news outlet, then that’s another.”

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner

And I'm sure that those geographically literate ObamaPods would never have waved a flag with his name on it.  Much to intelligent for that.

They certainly did Thom2, but as you can see and hear directly from Chris Wallace during his interview with Prince Reibus, he did so respectfully and never, ever called them an enemy of the people. Of course, since no one ever in our over 200 year history has ever banned the press, obviously Obama never did that to the state run media that is called Fox News. Hell, even Bret Baier just slammed 45's administration for this.

Just keep looking away, nothing to see here.

>>> obviously Obama never did that to the state run media that is called Fox New

fox was being banned from the press pool under obama, but the rest of the media boycotted or protested or something until they were let back in, respectfully or not.

So rather than comment on the actions of the current administration, you try to deflect to the relationship between Obama and Fox News? That's weak. 

i was specifically commenting on Markd's remark as the quotes indicate. Obama tried to do the exact same thing to fox news, but it was ok when he did it, right?

as for the current admin, i'm no trump fan & a president shouldn't be quoting stalin using the "enemy of the people" line wrt "news organizations". but the face of news dissemination has changed drastically, even over the last 10 years. "unnamed sources" can be crucial to important stories, especially political ones. i won't go so far to call it nazi-like, but i would like to think that 70+ years after the holocaust, a politician should be sensible enough to not go down that road again. memories are short, however, and you can never tell. at this point i think the trump admin is just trying to bully it's way past the news orgs that run questionable articles about them. there are obviously news orgs that are very hostile to the trump admin, and they are not above making shit up to  "control exactly what the people think" (see brzezinski's exact words over the last couple of days).

the news is not supposed to "control exactly what people think", it is to report the news factually and let the people make their own decisions. as long as it's truthful, the reporting should stand on its own. there should be no banning of media, period.

The deplorables were waving them.<<

Ding!

Then again, y'know, free stuff!

Hillman - Sorry for the post confusion. We posted at the same time and I didn't see yours when I hit post. I was responding to Thom.

I agree with your post. Every administration has to have some push back to the media in order to get their message out. Fox vs Dems, sane people vs Repubs 

This was just extreme. 

FBI once planned to pay former British spy who authored controversial Trump dossier

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fbi-once-planned-to-pay-former-b...

http://www.theamericanmirror.com/cnn-host-pushes-trump-treason-conspirac...

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics...

http://theweek.com/articles/677922/5-new-brain-disorders-that-born-digit...

brennan & clapper both say no evidence of any illegal contact with russians.

you fucking lost, deal with it.

Oh, we're dealing with it. And yes, America definitely lost, bigly. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-tw...

By Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller March 1 at 9:35 PM 

Then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) spoke twice last year with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Justice Department officials said, encounters he did not disclose when asked about possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow during Sessions’s confirmation hearing to become attorney general.

One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that took place in September in the senator’s office, at the height of what U.S. intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the U.S. presidential race.

The previously undisclosed discussions could fuel new congressional calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russia’s alleged role in the 2016 presidential election. As attorney general, Sessions oversees the Justice Department and the FBI, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump’s associates. He has so far resisted calls to recuse himself.

Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/politics/obama-trump-russia-electi...

I like that the WH effort to stop leaks was leaked.

The huge racist is liar what a surprise.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/schiff-doj-235615

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday accused FBI Director James Comey of withholding crucial information about its probe into Russian interference in the election and raised the prospect of subpoenaing the agency.

“I would say at this point we know less than a fraction of what the FBI knows,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told reporters after a briefing with Comey.

“I appreciate we had a long briefing and testimony from the director today, but in order for us to do our investigation in a thorough and credible way, we’re gonna need the FBI to fully cooperate, to be willing to tell us the length and breadth of any counterintelligence investigations they are conducting,” Schiff said. “At this point, the director was not willing to do that.”

...

Kushner and Flynn Met With Russian Envoy in December, White House Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-sessions-ru...

You forgot Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen, who is mentioned in the dossier, and of course, Donald Jr., who noted in 2008 "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." Today it came out that Trump Jr. likely received a $50,000 speaking fee from a group with ties to Russia:

http://www.salon.com/2017/03/02/donald-trump-jr-received-50000-in-speaki...

Two other Trump advisers [J.D. Gordon and Carter Page] also spoke with Russian envoy during GOP convention

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/02/exclusive-two-other-trump-...

"This is gonna make Watergate seem like a simple Burglary"

This is making Watergate look like a well-executed burglary.

it's deliciously ironic how freaked everyone is over the russians when 5 years ago the russians were a laughing matter and obama campaign fodder

" and the1980"s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back."

Freaked? I don't see any evidence of that on display here, but I do think freaking out would be an appropriate response for Trump supporters who are witnessing the record-setting unraveling of their twisted little vision of the world.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/01/its-now-politi...

"Where there's smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke and smoke, most reasonable people will assume there is fire — or that there should be an independent investigation to determine whether there is fire. Arguing that “there's nothing to see here” is simply not a tenable position for Republicans at this point."

If it's true that  Obama has proof of the Trump regime's collusion with Russia and is just waiting for each traitor to fall on their swords for Trump before going in for the kill, it could explain the enormous grin he's got on his face in every photo. 

Hope and Change is back!

>>>>I miss Hunter Thompson.

This is always a valid point!!!

then you'll have Pence, that'll teach you to get what you wish for. then of course, he'll have his vp pick. if you get Pence, then his vp, then the vp's pick for vp, and his pick for vp, and his pick for vp, you may eventually end up with Ryan as president. and the bloodthirstiness the dems will demonstrate over this period of time will definitely leave the public sick of the partisanship (which should have happened with this election), but the crooked dems cheated sanders out of what would most likely have been his election).

i miss HST too. he would have had another bestseller with this shit.

>>>  but the crooked dems cheated sanders out of what would most likely have been his election

That is exactly what the Russian hacks tried to suggest.

Congrats, hill...you and Julian Assange and Putin are on the same page.

BWAAAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAA!!!!!!!  Pence used personal email for State business and was Hacked:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pence-used-personal-email-for-sta...

>>>>you and Julian Assange and Putin are on the same page

thought it was pretty well covered

http://nypost.com/2016/07/22/leaked-emails-show-how-democrats-screwed-sa...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wikileaks-emails-show-dnc-favored-hi...

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/04/did_bernie_sanders_get_cheated.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clinton-may-take-the-nomination-...

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/comm...

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ap-hacked-emails-show-democratic-party-hosti...

now i didn't follow it at the time because i didn't care, and this was the info i heard near the end of nomination process. i just picked these links at random. seems like the dems are using the same zeal they had for bernie turned towards trying to get trump out of office, no matter how desperately they try.

The Pence AOL email story was the perfect capper to this very big news day. lol.

Analysis of metadata and timing of emails involved in DNC hack indicates Guccifer 2.0 was likely a  DNC contractor.

http://g-2.space/rev1.html

Warren Flood has some explaining to do, it seems.

and it looks like the DNI faked it's sources.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/01/crowdstrikes-russian-hacking-stor...

O'Reilly's take on the current state of the Democratic party.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/bill-oreilly-ive-never-seen-ideo...

Seems like Warren Flood does have some explaining to do.

https://medium.com/@nyetnyetnyet/russia-and-wikileaks-the-case-of-the-gi...

Moscow blames anti-Russian hysteria for Sessions’s plight

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/moscow-blames-anti-russian-h...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/03/russia-trump-watergate-k...

>>...Despite the conclusions of US intelligence agencies, Sessions refused to say whether Putin favoured Trump over Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. “I have never been told that,” he told the host, Tucker Carlson. “I don’t have any idea, Tucker – you’d have to ask them.”

Trump has consistently denied business or political ties with Russia but has also been conspicuously reluctant to criticise Putin and raised the prospect of reviewing sanctions against the country. Opponents argue there is circumstantial evidence that Trump colluded with Moscow to help his campaign but definitive proof has remained elusive.

Last month Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign amid controversy over his discussions with Kislyak in late December.

On Thursday, it emerged that Kushner joined Flynn at a private meeting with the ambassador at Trump Tower in New York. Another campaign aide, Carter Page, did not deny meeting Kislyak during the Republican national convention. And the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s son, Donald Jr, was probably paid at least $50,000 for an appearance late last year at a French thinktank whose founder and wife have strong ties to Russia.

Trump, meanwhile, said that Sessions was the target of a “witch-hunt” and declared his “total” confidence in him.

He tweeted: “This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-truth_politics

So, to recap....the info coming from the actual data surrounding the attack indicates Guccifer and the DNC "hack" were, most likely, coming from  a DNC contractor.

http://g-2.space/rev1.html

Warren Flood has some explaining to do.

https://medium.com/@nyetnyetnyet/russia-and-wikileaks-the-case-of-the-gi...

Your last link leads to a 404 error - or that was intentional?

not my intention. Thanks for the heads up.

heres the link to that 404 error.

https://medium.com/@nyetnyetnyet/russia-and-wikileaks-the-case-of-the-gi...

Morning, Six.

From that Medium piece...

So I think we can say for certain that the author wanted the Russian elements to be found. Like, really desperately by the looks of things.

Good article on the Russia hysteria.

The Basic Formula For Every Shocking Russia/Trump Revelation

https://medium.com/theyoungturks/the-basic-formula-for-every-shocking-ru...

I particularly like a few of the points.

3. Aggrieved former Clinton apparatchiks *connect the dots* in a manner eerily reminiscent of right-wing Glenn Beck-esque prognostication circa 2009.

4. Self-proclaimed legal experts rashly opine as to whether the new revelation entails some kind of criminally actionable offense. (Recall the now-laughable certitude that felled National Security Advisor Mike Flynnviolated the 200+ year old Logan Act.) This latest version is the certitude that Jeff Sessions committed perjury, when that at the very least is highly questionable.

6. Pointing out these glaring flaws in the latest anti-Russia frenzy is immediately construed by cynics as “defending Trump” or “defending Sessions” when it most assuredly is not. At least in my own case, it’s a defense of not getting enraptured by irrational hysterics to further short-term political aims.

7. People who’d spent the past 12 hours frothing at the mouth gradually come to realize that their initial furor was probably overblown, and that a more sober look at the actual facts at hand reveal that the anti-Trump chorus probably got ahead of itself…again.

the impeachment hearing and trial will be fun

Russia and Trump. Russia and Trump. Did I mention Russia or Trump? How bout Trump and Russia?

Russia and Trump folks.

This narrative is chock-full of multiple sources of unresolved tension. It's a real page-turner.

He really has fucked himself silly.

If it doesn't involve pedophiles and Clinton, agent 73 just isn't buying this Trump/Russian conspiracy

If it doesn't involve pedophiles and Clinton, agent 73 just isn't buying this Trump/Russian conspiracy

Gonna be hard to impeach the guy without showing some evidence. A declassified report ain't gonna be enough in court.

Russia.

Trump.

> He really has fucked himself silly.

The Der Spiegel cover translated reads How Much Putin is in Trump? I'm going to guess about 5.7888 inches.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/6/1639878/-Cartoon-The-return-of-...

LoL.

Like clockwork Nancy attacks me rather than the information I've provided.

Classic Nancy.  Ad hominem attacks when she has nothing. .....marginalize and demonize without addressing the subject.

Care to comment on the analysis of the actual data (the only analysis ive seen this far, btw) surrounding this Russian "hack"? 

The evidence has been  presented repeatedly, agent 73. See the links posted above to reputable news sources. you refuse to believe it an have mocked the Trump/Russia connection while clinging to the fake stories planted by Russia - shit  like Pizzagate -  so yeah when you continue with the delusional postings it will be mentioned. Maybe we need to take this to the cone of silence?

So "no comment" on the only real analysis of the actual data involved.

https://twitter.com/20committee/status/838550671339192321

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/839113302391341056

73, you're claiming the DNC hacked the DNC and then released Podesta's emails. What's the motive for doing this? What would be gained?

Self-hatred.

It's the same reason the CIA hacked itself and then released damaging info on wikileaks today.

Nothing at all to do with Russians helping Trump.

Meanwhile, http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/06/trump-knows-the-feds-are-closing-in-...

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/03/what-we-know-about-the-prob...

In December, President Obama ordered a review of Russia’s alleged effort to hack the U.S. election. A month later, the FBI, CIA, and NSA said they had concluded with “high confidence” that “Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election” — with the goal of helping Donald Trump.

Months later, we still don’t have many answers about Russia’s operation, or regarding the explosive allegations about the Trump campaign. That’s not due to lack of trying; U.S. intelligence agencies have reportedly been investigating for more than a year, and at least four congressional committees have discussed conducting their own probes. But each step of the process has been complicated by leaks and political accusations — and to make matters worse, the president keep blasting out dubious allegationson Twitter.

Here’s what we know about the efforts to get to the bottom of Russia’s efforts to influence the U.S. election — and why many say they aren’t going far enough.

The FBI

The FBI doesn’t usually comment on the existence or nonexistence of investigations (though we’ve seen some notable exceptions in the last year). Shortly before Trump’s inauguration, FBI director James Comey angered senators by refusing to comment on whether the bureau was investigating Trump’s ties to Russia, or even on his criteria for acknowledging an investigation.

Thanks to a number of leaks, however, we have an idea of what the Russia probe entails. According to McClatchy, last spring the FBI, CIA, Justice Department, NSA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Treasury Department began investigating Russian attempts to influence the election, and the possibility that Kremlin money had secretly made its way to the Trump campaign.

The BBC reported that this coordinated investigation, which is being led by the FBI, was launched after the director of the CIA saw a recording about Russia’s attempt to influence the U.S. election:

Last April, the CIA director was shown intelligence that worried him. It was — allegedly — a tape recording of a conversation about money from the Kremlin going into the U.S. presidential campaign.

It was passed to the U.S. by an intelligence agency of one of the Baltic States. The CIA cannot act domestically against American citizens so a joint counterintelligence taskforce was created.

The current scope and status of the investigations are unclear. In February, Reuters reported that the FBI was pursuing at least three separate probes. The FBI’s Pittsburgh office, which often handles cybersecurity investigations, is working to identify who was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer systems. The San Francisco office is trying to identify “Guccifer 2,” the person or group who hacked Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s emails. FBI counterintelligence agents in D.C. are looking into leads from informants and foreign communication intercepts, including financial transactions by Russians believed to have links to Trump associates.

President Trump shakes hands with James Comey during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception at the White House on January 22, 2017. Photo: Pool/Getty Images

The New York Times reported in January that the counterintelligence agencies are looking at intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of its investigation into possible ties between Russian officials and Trump associates. The FBI was said to be examining former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, as well as former Trump advisers Carter Page and Roger Stone.

Last month, the Times said phone records and calls intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies show that Trump campaign officials and associates had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. The Trump camp denies this.

The Senate Intelligence Committee

The most robust congressional investigation is taking place in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — though, like all of the congressional probes, it relies on information collected by the intelligence community.

The committee announced it would conduct an “independent review” after the intelligence agencies said in January that they believed Russia had tried to influence the election on behalf of Trump — though the senators stressed that they had “no reason to doubt the findings.” Chairman Richard Burr and ranking Democrat Mark Warner said this would include “any intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns.”

FBI director Comey briefed the committee behind closed doors on February 17. “I have a high level of confidence that we’ll get what we need,” Senator Warner said after the meeting.

Also, the CIA gave Jeff Sessions, Carter page, Roger Stone, and Michael Flynn  mind-control drugs to force them to lie about meetings with Russians.

lol. Guess Nancy didn't read the greenwald link.

Classic agent 73

>> So "no comment" on the only real analysis of the actual data involved. <<

Oh, the irony!

This thread needs some tunes.

Where the dreamy Volga flows
There's a lonely Russian Rose
Gazing tenderly
Down upon her knee
Where a baby's brown eyes glisten
Listen

Every night you'll hear her croon
A Russian lullaby

https://youtu.be/xgQXhUmVMrQ

The Kremlin has been defending Assange for a very long time.

In 2010, an anonymous Russian official suggested that Assange be given the Nobel Peace Prize; on the very next day, Putin himself came forward to claim that the rape charges against Assange in Sweden were politically motivated. This happened after it was alleged that Israel Shamir, a former WikiLeaks employee, was discovered to have shared sensitive documents with Belarus (a nation aligned with Putin) that allowed them to repress pro-democracy dissidents. Assange denounced Shamir

Assange hosted his own talk show on RT.

While Flynn can at the very least claim he has only made appearances on RT, Assange actually started hosting his own show on the network. RT is not some Russian equivalent to NPR or PBS, but a Kremlin-financed news network that exists for the primary purpose of advancing a pro-Putin agenda. It is impossible to sincerely believe that Putin would allow Assange to have a show on his network if he didn’t believe the WikiLeaks founder was an ally

Assange specifically requested protection from Russian security once he started living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

As Focus Ecuador reported in August 2015:

“In some instances, the ‘guest’ requested that he be able to chose his own Security Service inside the embassy, suggesting the use of Russians. For the SENAIN agents, such choice would have meant, among other problems, the loss of control of the Embassy itself leaving the ‘guest’ free access to control and manage the flow of information. The report even asserts that it would have been the equivalent of ‘a coup in the embassy.'”

Assange claims to have convinced Edward Snowden to flee to Russia.

“I thought, and in fact advised Edward Snowden, that he would be safest in Moscow,” Assange told Democracy Now. In another interview with the Times, Assange elaborated:

“Snowden was well aware of the spin that would be put on it if he took asylum in Russia. He preferred Latin America, but my advice was that he should take asylum in Russia despite the negative PR consequences, because my assessment is that he had a significant risk he could be kidnapped from Latin America on CIA orders. Kidnapped or possibly killed.

Assange hypocritically denounced the Panama Papers because they made Russia look bad.

One of the most common defenses of Assange is that his goal is to undermine all repressive governments, causing him to view no distinction between a member of the American political establishment like Hillary Clinton and other state establishments elsewhere. This would be believable if he didn’t attempt to discredit the Panama Papers, which alleged corruption among many of Russia’s political and financial elites (including a $2 billion overseas account owned by Putin), as an American plot — without the slightest shred of evidence.

Putin started using this same argument to discredit the Panama Papers shortly after Assange

Assange has tried to defend not leaking on Russia by saying that the nation has many “vibrant publications"

In an interview with La Repubblica last month, Assange tried to defend the fact that WikiLeaks hasn’t published damaging documents about Russia by arguing the following:

“In Russia, there are many vibrant publications, online blogs, and Kremlin critics such as [Alexey] Navalny are part of that spectrum. There are also newspapers like Novaya Gazeta, in which different parts of society in Moscow are permitted to critique each other and it is tolerated, generally, because it isn’t a big TV channel that might have a mass popular effect, its audience is educated people in Moscow. So my interpretation is that in Russia there are competitors to WikiLeaks, and no WikiLeaks staff speak Russian, so for a strong culture which has its own language, you have to be seen as a local player.”

The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald has argued that this and other aspects of Assange’s interview were taken out of context. He has claimed that Assange was merely trying to explain “that any Russian whistleblower who wanted to leak information would have many better options than WikiLeaks given that Assange’s organization does not speak Russian, is composed of English-speaking Westerners, and focuses on the West.While it is true that this was Assange’s larger point, one of the arguments he made to advance it was the strong implication that criticism of the government is already possible in Russia. The 34 journalists who have been murdered there since Putin took control, as well as the countless others who have suffered in the nation that Freedom House ranked 180 out of 199 in terms of press freedom (behind Sudan and Iraq), might disagree

http://www.salon.com/2017/01/07/donald-trump-julian-assange-and-russia-h...

So what are the Feds waiting for? 

So what are the Feds waiting for? 

<<<Oh, the irony

Since you feel this way, you must have a link to some analysis of the actual metadata involved in the "hacking" that indicates it was Russia or you have some other interpretation of the actual data that reads differently.

Great, that's all I've been looking for this whole time. Happy to read it and jump on the train with you guys!

I've always maintained its likely, but still unproven.  I think that's the case still. 

So no answer on the motive for the DNC hacking the DNC, 73?

I can't find it now, Mike, but I've seen an email between two DNCers talking about how best to play up the "too close to Putin, too cozy with Russia idea"....from last April as they started to worry about Trump winning.  It's been a strategy.  This hack plays into that narrative when he already has questions surrounding Russia and seals it in the minds of many.  Designed for the election and helps to discredit him now.  As I've said, not impossible, but show me the proof.  As much as I'm enjoying the schadenfreude of Trump's downfall and am happy to give him the rope to hang himself, I find the lack of proof disturbing.  

In defense of your claims, I might suggest that there really wasn't very much meat in Podesta's emails, much like one of those McDonald's hamburgers from the Vault7 thread.

>>so what are the Feds waiting for? 

A new attorney general or special prosecutors to charge the Trump regime with treason, a Congress willing to call for hearings into the matter, do their jobs instead of playing politics. Perhaps get intel from intelligence agencies instead of Breitbart?

CIA Providing Raw Intelligence to Senators for Trump-Russia Probe

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-russia-investigation-cia-int...

The former British spy who went into hiding over the Trump dossier goes back to work

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/07/the-former-...

<<<In defense of your claims, I might suggest that there really wasn't very much meat in Podesta's emails, much like one of those McDonald's hamburgers from the Vault7 thread

Actually, the Vault7 thread speaks directly to these claims, as we are now finding out that the CIA collects these "Zero Day" exploits into systems so they can mimic Russian hacks and produce false "fingerprints"....

"UMBRAGE

The CIA's hand crafted hacking techniques pose a problem for the agency. Each technique it has created forms a "fingerprint" that can be used by forensic investigators to attribute multiple different attacks to the same entity.

This is analogous to finding the same distinctive knife wound on multiple separate murder victims. The unique wounding style creates suspicion that a single murderer is responsible. As soon one murder in the set is solved then the other murders also find likely attribution.

The CIA's Remote Devices Branch's UMBRAGE groupcollects and maintains a substantial library of attack techniques 'stolen' from malware produced in other states including the Russian Federation.

With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the "fingerprints" of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from."

As far as the Podesta emails, I think that's still to be determined.  I think some of us here will be surprised what comes out of the Weiner Laptop....the one with 650,000 Clinton emails marked " Life Insurance".  There was a Judicial Watch hearing scheduled yesterday on that subject that was delayed at the last minute.  It's possible that came about because they wanted to see what wikileaks was dropping and if it was related.  The coded language in the Podesta emails is what is driving much of the push to look further at the Pedocracy.

There's plenty of meat to that burger. It just that cognitive dissonance made a vegetarian of many people quickly on that one.

Leading Putin Critic Warns of Xenophobic Conspiracy Theories Drowning US Discourse and Helping Trump

Glenn GreenWald continues to be on the right side of this thing.

https://theintercept.com/2017/03/07/leading-putin-critic-warns-of-xenoph...

"The crux of her article is the point that has been driving everything I’ve been writing and saying about this topic for months: that this obsession with Russia conspiracy tales is poisoning all aspects of U.S. political discourse and weakening any chance for resisting Trump’s actual abuses and excesses. Those who wake up every day to hype the latest episode of this Russia/Trump spy drama tell themselves that they’re bravely undermining and subverting Trump, but they’re doing exactly the opposite.

This crazed conspiracy mongering is further discrediting U.S. media outlets, making Washington seem even more distant from and irrelevant to the lives of millions of Americans, degrading discourse to the lowliest Trumpian circus level on which he thrives, and is misdirecting huge portions of opposition energy and thought into an exciting but fictitious spy novel – all of which directly redounds to Trump’s benefit"

"The dream fueling the Russia frenzy is that it will eventually create a dark enough cloud of suspicion around Trump that Congress will find the will and the grounds to impeach him. If that happens, it will have resulted largely from a media campaign orchestrated by members of the intelligence community—setting a dangerous political precedent that will have corrupted the public sphere and promoted paranoia. And that is the best-case outcome. . . . More likely, the Russia allegations will not bring down Trump."

Lol 

trump is the conspiracy president 

put the internet down hahaha

Agent 73 works for Putin.

>the one with 650,000 Clinton emails marked

How did he find the time to solicit underage girls over the internet?   

>>>>>>"The dream fueling the Russia frenzy is that it will eventually create a dark enough cloud of suspicion around Trump 

Nice of Trump to help cast that cloud of suspicion.

President Donald Trump met last April with the Russian ambassador at the center of a pair of controversies over engagement between Trump allies and the Kremlin, despite claims by his spokeswoman that he had "zero" involvement with Russian officials during the campaign.

Attention to Trump’s encounter with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak resurfaced after revelations last week that at least five members of Trump’s campaign team - including Attorney General Jeff Sessions - had contact with Kislyak before Trump took office.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-08/trump-met-russian...

But Podesta Hillary and Pizzagate!!!!

Sounds like he will make it through four years before they can figure out how to prosecute him.

Agreed, Tim. 

Trump isn't doing himself any favors with regard to this issue.

Thanks for addressing the issue rather than attacking me.

As far as Pedogate......it looks like rogue elements of the NYPD who have seen the contents of Weiner's laptop have had enough and are threatening releasing the contents if Comey isn't fired.

https://twitter.com/Thomas1774Paine/status/838897100784033793

"If Comey is not fired within a week, #TruePundit NYPD sources say they will begin telling America what the #FBI is hiding on Weiner's laptop"

Nancy, I'm flattered by your continued attention and I actually like the new nickname, but, sadly, I don't think it's sticking.  Since you seem so bent on Nicknames, why don't we discuss the ones we've earned from our fellow posters after roughly 15 years each on the black screen. I'm willing to talk about mine, are you?

That's is some fucked up "policy" right there.

What does Weiner's laptop have to do with Podesta, Pizzagate and Clinton?

Weiner is a lone wolf. A creepy, losing, lone wolf.

<<<What does Weiner's laptop have to do with Podesta, Pizzagate and Clinton

His wife, Human Abedin is Hillary's right hand man.

These are 650,000 emails Hillary thought were deleted that were being kept in a file Labelled "Life Insurance" on Weiner's laptop.  Probably nothing incriminating there, right?  As far as it's specific relation to the Pedocracy, we will have to see, but I think quite a few around here are going to "owe me a cookie" as Nancy says. 

And Weiner isn't a creepy lone wolf, he's the protégé of massively powerful Chuck Schumer.

Did you see Biden's reaction on camera to hearing that they got Weiner's laptop?  He looked pretty concerned and was visibly thrown off.  

I know who his ex-wife is. He's left the reservation, even more, since getting the boot.

He's all on his own now, HL73....a political Pariah.

But, you keep on reading all of those wiki leak-mails.

>>> Did you see Biden's reaction on camera to hearing that they got Weiner's laptop?  He looked pretty concerned and was visibly thrown off.  <<<

This comment is very revealing. You see his reaction as some sort of con-conspirator having the curtain pulled back exposing their diabolical plan.

I see his reaction as an experienced Washington politician who knows a creepy dude when he sees one, bracing for the inevitable fall.

>>>>>Thanks for addressing the issue rather than attacking me.

Well, full disclosure.  I have a little bit of a man crush on you.

I like Nancy too though.

<<<know who his ex-wife is. He's left the reservation, even more, since getting the boot

right, but he was on the reservation when he acquired the emails...all up in the reservation in fact.  Makes those emails extremely important, enough apparently to motivate some NYPD to feel it needs to get out one way or another.

Your reaction to the clip could be viewed the same way, but I get your point re: confirmation bias.  I've just seen a lot of credible rumors from different sources that have been right about things that have come to pass and when you look at the Biden clip in that context, it seems very telling.

What is it telling, HL73?

Keep in mind, Biden and the Clintons are not in the same camp. If not for his son dying, he would have run against Hillary for the Dem nomination.

Google "creepy joe biden" and let me know if you'd let him babysit your kids, Ned.

(I'm expecting an answer like "the people I'd let babysit are a very small circle anyway and he wouldn't make the list on a good day")

I don't need to Google him, HL.

His long time chief of staff is one of my dad's best friends. Joe is a good guy.

Maybe I should Google "HL73" and see what comes up?

even better.  unwilling to look because he knows better.

classic.

shit, I'll email you my real full name and you can Google until your hearts content, Ned.

Just so I can clear this up --- are you saying that Weiner sent 650,000 emails to Clinton or that Weiner mentioned Clinton in 650,000 emails?  What kind of time frame are we talking about?

First hand knowledge isn't better than Googling someone's name with "creepy" in front of it?

I was kidding about Googling you, HL. I see plenty here.

>"the people I'd let babysit are a very small circle anyway and he wouldn't make the list on a good day"

I'd expect any good parent would say that in relation to your question.  My babysitter lists goes 4 deep; all family, and no politicians.

Jonas, in the process of cleaning up her email accounts, Hillary believed she deleted 650,000 emails.  Abedin/ Weiner held on to those as some sort of leverage apparently in a file marked "Life Insurance" on Weiners laptop. 

Judicial Watch was scheduled to have a hearing yesterday (postponed now) on the laptop, which was confiscated by the NYPD in Weiners most recent pedo scandal and they have been trying to get its contents out since before the election. It's contents apparently horrified and disgusted seasoned investigators.  

I'm not saying anything of this, btw, it's happening.

>Judicial Watch

The website?

73, judicial watch was scheduled to hold a hearing?

This judicial watch?

Judicial Watch is an American conservative, non-partisan[dubious ] watchdog group[1] that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to expose alleged misconduct by government officials.[2] Founded in 1994, it has sued the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Most of its lawsuits have been dismissed.[2] As of October 2016 it was the plaintiff in more than 20 ongoing lawsuits involving Hillary Clinton.[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watch

Jonas, it's a conservative watchdog group that deals with FOIA lawsuits, I believe.

I'd assume they have a website, it being 2017 and all.

Gotcha.   Carry on. 

Here's some downright scary shit, and I'm sure equal blame can be attributed to both political parties & the Greed of the business community in general over the years (altho if Trump lifts the sanctions the door is open):

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rosneft-russian-oil-could-claim-us-oil-trump...

I said years ago to NEVER buy Citgo gas.  This is gonna make the Teapot Dome scandal seem like filling up the gas tank @ the corner station:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome_scandal

Tea Leaves 

Two year bump. 

Where are the flippers? Didn't people flip? 

Are the kids or pops ever going to jail? 

Lets help elect a " Mentally Unstable trump " , we'll get whatever we want and throw the US into turmoil.

Check + Check

Compromising material - the pee tape exists. What say you repubs ?

Reported Kremlin Leak Appears to Confirm Existence of Trump ‘Kompromat’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-leak-appears-to-confirm-existence-...

Some interesting reading in this ancient bump, Ras. Apparently 73 has had a change of heart about the whole Russia thing.

When is Trump going to be charged?

And Slacker has remained remarkably consistent.

Prescient

That too.

Is this one of those finer points?

By smiley (73guy) on Sunday, March 5, 2017 – 07:27 pm

Good article on the Russia hysteria.

double