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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#176851: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:35:04 PM

Come on man, that's just being ridiculous.

Oh really when?
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#176852: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:37:33 PM

And why exactly should Trump be murdering Russian ambassadors if the whole purpose of him being 'installed' as the President was to get rid of sanctions?

This makes no goddamn sense. The Russian ambassadors have a vested interest in lifting sanctions. They're part of Putin's government. Why'd he go through all the trouble of having highly visible public officials killed purely for the lulz?

Also, lest we forget, one of those diplomats was shot in Turkey. Do you really think the slimy reach of SCROTUS extends all the way to the other side of the continent to a fringe Turkish terrorist group?

edited 3rd Mar '17 4:39:17 PM by math792d

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#176853: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:38:39 PM

Here's the timeline:

Nov 8:

On the morning of US Election Day, Russian diplomat Sergei Krivov, 63, was found lying unconscious on the floor of the Russian Consulate in New York with a head injury. Initial reports said Mr Krivov fell from the roof and had blunt force injuries, but Russian officials quickly changed their story and said he died from a heart attack.

Buzz Feed reports police said Mr Krivov's death looked natural and quickly closed the case, but three months later medical examiners are still unsure how he died.

Additionally, the news site reports it being extremely difficult to ascertain exactly what Mr Krivov did at the consulate. According to Russian language media he may have been a consular duty commander, which means he would have been in charge of “prevention of sabotage” and suppression of “attempts of secret intrusion” into the consulate. In other words, making sure US intelligence agencies did not have ears in the building.

26 December 2016

Ex-KGB chief Oleg Erovinkin, 61, who is believed to have helped the former MI 6 spy Christopher Steele compile his dossier on Mr Trump, was found dead in the back of his black Lexus car in Moscow on Boxing Day.

Mr Erovinkin was a key aide to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and now head of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company, who is repeatedly named in the dossier, the Telegraph reported.

Media reports soon after his body was found suggested Mr Erovinkin had almost certainly been murder, but it was later claimed he had died of a heart attack.

20 February 2017

Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin died suddenly in New York of suspected heart failure. A medical examiner suggested the need to carry out toxicology tests.

I think some of those deaths are unrelated but I think these ones are related to Trump not that he did it but that the Russians are trying to cover stuff up.

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#176854: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:40:28 PM

And why exactly should Trump be murdering Russian ambassadors if the whole purpose of him being 'installed' as the President was to get rid of sanctions? This makes no goddamn sense. The Russian ambassadors have a vested interest in lifting sanctions. They're part of Putin's government. Why'd he go through all the trouble of having highly visible public officials killed purely for the lulz?

???

Do you guys think I'm saying Trump is doing this? Because no one is saying that at all.

smh

edited 3rd Mar '17 4:42:22 PM by MadSkillz

math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#176855: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:42:26 PM

I'm saying I don't buy the 'it's a Russian coverup something something Trump' story, because it stinks like conspiracy bullshit and I'm not seeing a motive other than 'lol, be evil.'

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#176856: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:43:36 PM

Okay so then you don't think the Trump-Russia dossier is credible then?

[up] The motive is one of them was helping Chris Steele out and the other two were loose ends. The less people know, the better. And perhaps there was more going on then we know.

edited 3rd Mar '17 4:45:30 PM by MadSkillz

math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#176857: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:45:08 PM

I think it's credible, sure, but I'm not seeing the link between 'Trump dossier is credible' and 'purge of diplomatic officials' other than 'let's make it really, really obvious that these events are connected.'

Like, it hasn't even been more than a couple of months since Pissgate took off. Starting to kill those diplomatic officials now, especially in such a highly public way, seems way too stupid for even Russia or SCROTUS.

...Actually, scratch that second one, Lord Dampnut is probably stupid enough.

edited 3rd Mar '17 4:46:30 PM by math792d

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#176858: Mar 3rd 2017 at 4:50:20 PM

The first two died before the dossier was leaked although we don't know how much Russia knew about it beforehand.

Ex-KGB chief Oleg Erovinkin, 61, who is believed to have helped the former MI 6 spy Christopher Steele compile his dossier on Mr Trump, was found dead in the back of his black Lexus car in Moscow on Boxing Day. Mr Erovinkin was a key aide to Igor Sechin, a former deputy prime minister and now head of Rosneft, the state-owned oil company, who is repeatedly named in the dossier, the Telegraph reported. Media reports soon after his body was found suggested Mr Erovinkin had almost certainly been murder, but it was later claimed he had died of a heart attack.

Not sure how you don't see this link.

The other two are suspicious to me because both are Russian ambassadors that died at NYC(Trump's hometown) and one died on Election Day of the same supposed causes.

edited 3rd Mar '17 4:50:47 PM by MadSkillz

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#176859: Mar 3rd 2017 at 5:02:45 PM

...Actually, scratch that second one, Lord Dampnut is probably stupid enough.
Yay! It's catching on!

Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#176860: Mar 3rd 2017 at 5:13:34 PM

Posting this for the record that gives a rundown to the various deceased ambassadors and pushes a conspiracy theory aspect.

Obviously the guy in Turkey did not die of natural causes, although personally I'd more likely suspect that Erdogan had a hand in that one rather than Putin.

I think Churkin probably died of natural causes and that his death wouldn't be suspicious were he not the nth ambasador to die in a short period. They guy was fairly old and more importantly, although Samantha Power considered him a great guy and suspected that he personally may have had distaste for some of Putin's policies, he was an ardent spokesman for Putin's Russia as well as a big believer in the two countries having a good relationship- which technically is what Trump wants.

Oleg Erovinkin was totally murdered at Putin's orders.

Can't speak for the others, but my reasoning is pretty much that it's quite unlikely Putin would have a hand in the death of one of his supporters/allies.

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#176861: Mar 3rd 2017 at 5:24:17 PM

Do you all remember how Trump was mocking Arnold because of the viewership in the Apprentice apparently being lower than when he was headlining it?

Well according to Arnold part of that is because Trump's name is connected to it and people think he's scum so they're boycotting and refusing to support it.

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#176862: Mar 3rd 2017 at 5:33:01 PM

Speaking of Russia and Trump, I'd recommend you guys watch Rachel Maddow's recent segment on Trump and Russia.

Wilbur Ross, our new Commerce Secretary, is at the Nexus of the Russia and Trump deal.

Watch it but here's a partial summary of it:

Russian oligarch called the King of Fertilizer wanted to spread assets to offset losing money in divorce settlement. So he started buying a multitude of overpriced properties to keep it from his wife.

Same Russian oligarch is a vice chairman in Bank of Cyprus

Other vice chairman (and single largest shareholder) of that bank is Wilbur Ross (just confirmed as Secretary of Commerce).

Trump sells a property to the King of Fertilizer for $100 million (a clean profit of $60 million).

Trump and Russian oligarch deny having direct contact with one another.

Maddow lines the dots that Ross may have been the intermediary (a long time, close friend of Trump)

Trump was in financial straits at the time, Maddow suggests this 'mysterious windfall' for Trump was a part of a bigger story in which Trump was blackmailed (remember the 35 page dossier?) for his financial ties with Russian oligarchs who were stashing money abroad (Trump was helping them hide their money, for a profit, and Putin knew about it).

edited 3rd Mar '17 5:33:48 PM by MadSkillz

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#176863: Mar 3rd 2017 at 5:37:37 PM

Despite still serving as executive producer, Trump has more than once mocked the drop in viewership.
Uh, wtf? Right, forgot. Trump's so good that POTUS is just his part time job...
I only wonder what kind of precedent this sets if the celebrity to presidency pipeline becomes a thing. 2024: Big Brother in the Oval Office or The Real Housewives of Pennsylvania Avenue seem like disturbingly probable headlines now...

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#176864: Mar 3rd 2017 at 5:51:00 PM

Executive producer is basically an honorary title. It's a fancy term the show gives you when they're obligated to mention your name. Executive producers are often financial donors, people who wrote the source material an adaptation is based on, people who were more directly involved in previous installments, etc. They have no actual creative control nor any real responsibilities to the production.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#176865: Mar 3rd 2017 at 6:13:50 PM

Wonder what would happen if they rebranded it as Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Apprentice or similar

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#176866: Mar 3rd 2017 at 6:40:46 PM

Trump would probably threaten to sue. Which would fail, as there are a bunch of Apprentice shows around the world that have nothing to do with Trump, and NBC owns the copyright to the show anyway. The next most famous one is the British version starring Lord Alan Sugar. A man who genuinely built his fortune from nothing.

edited 3rd Mar '17 6:41:23 PM by Zendervai

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#176867: Mar 3rd 2017 at 6:42:00 PM

Colbert to Sessions: "You don't have to recuse yourself, because you've already fucked yourself."

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#176868: Mar 3rd 2017 at 7:09:18 PM

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9c0ffe1a1785469a84fc4fede5cb4a4b/paul-ryan-set-visit-democratic-leaning-rhode-island

Hundreds chant 'Coward!' amid Paul Ryan's Rhode Island visit

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Around 200 people chanted "Coward!" and booed as Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan attended an event in the heavily Democratic state.

A strong police presence kept the crowd across the street from a Providence office building, where Ryan was meeting Thursday with Year Up, a nonprofit career training organization.

Ryan was not seen entering the building, but a motorcade carrying him pulled into an alley, where there's a back entrance, away from protesters.

"We want him to hear loud and clear that his values are Wall Street values, they're not Rhode Island values," said Georgia Hollister Isman, the state director of Rhode Island Working Families. "We're also here in solidarity with our friends in Wisconsin who've been trying for months to get a town hall meeting with him."

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#176869: Mar 3rd 2017 at 11:40:57 PM

Trump has been requesting for donations for the 2018 midterms. Just in case if anyone here thought he wasn't being completely complacent.

Enter Presterity, a project intended to accurately record the Trump adminstration, or more accurately how awful it's being.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#176870: Mar 4th 2017 at 4:57:43 AM

I'm not going to link to it, but Trump's now tweeting about how Obama supposedly wiretapped Trump Tower right before the election.

Hey, Trump? Wiretapping you is useless. Do you know why? BECAUSE YOU TWEET EVERY IDIOTIC IDEA THAT ENTERS YOUR PEABRAINED HEAD!

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#176871: Mar 4th 2017 at 5:04:01 AM

[up] I can't believe so many people in my country still think this is Presidential material.

edited 4th Mar '17 5:04:13 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#176872: Mar 4th 2017 at 5:09:21 AM

"How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"

I really really shouldn't be surprised or disappointed by this. I really shouldn't. But Jesus Christ.

What the fuck do "bad" and "sick" even mean to him anyways? Because apparently there's an important difference! And why not both? Maybe there should be a new, stronger word for that...

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#176873: Mar 4th 2017 at 5:48:32 AM

Trumpnis probably paranoid enough now to be afraid of his own shadow because it's black.

New Survey coming this weekend!
Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#176874: Mar 4th 2017 at 6:25:55 AM

EPA budget proposal to cut 70% of funding aimed at reducing emissions.

Other points from the article:

- The proposal, sent to the EPA this week, would cut into grants that support American Indian tribes and energy efficiency initiatives, according to the source, who read the document to Reuters.

State grants for lead cleanup, for example, would be cut 30 percent to $9.8 million. Grants to help native tribes combat pollution would be cut 30 percent to $45.8 million.

- All staff at a research program, called Global Change Research, as well as 37 other programs would be cut under the plan.

- Scott Pruitt, the new head of the EPA, told U.S. mayors on Thursday he would make a priority of cleanups of industrial and hazardous waste sites and improving water infrastructure, even as the White House proposed severe proposed cuts to those programs.

- A state air pollution expert said the program cuts, if enacted, would harm some of the people most at risk from particulate and lead contamination.

"Any of these programs where they've cut air pollution or water pollution is going to have a direct effect on inner cities," said Bill Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.

This is all to increase the budget for defense spending, for the record. Reuters also suggests that not all of these cuts are going to pass even a Republican controlled congress, but plenty of climate research will probably be gone. And we are almost going to see more cities like Flint. But hey! At least the most powerful military in the world will get more tanks. They so desperately need them, right?

edited 4th Mar '17 6:26:59 AM by Pseudopartition

tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#176875: Mar 4th 2017 at 6:33:16 AM

@sgamer 82: Pointless because Arnold just quit the show.

Trump delenda est

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