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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Why die for Montenegro, Trump asks
@TheWanderer: There’s no realistic way that small states’ legislatures will vote away their political advantages, and there’s no way around said advantages that doesn’t involve amending the constitution or ad-hoc measures after a constitutional crisis.
Edited by CaptainCapsase on Jul 18th 2018 at 8:35:26 AM
Why not just call him by the proper spy lingo, Russian asset.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
This is why the US don't have to officially withdraw from NATO to de facto withdraw from it. Publicly cast doubt on whether the US will come to other members' defense and everyone else will have to start planning as if the US doesn't.
Edited by nightwyrm_zero on Jul 18th 2018 at 8:38:22 AM
Umm...
Would that it were so simple.
Yes, America is so weak that Trump has to prostrate himself to avoid a war.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Jul 18th 2018 at 9:34:34 AM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
The #TrumpAndPutinAMovie Hashtag is hilarious.
- Sex, Lies and Pee Pee Tape
- Honey, I Sold the Country
- Kremlins
- Robert Mueller's Day Off
- Planet of Pee Tapes
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Sex, Lies and Pee Tapes
- You’ve Got But Her Emails [1]
Edited by megaeliz on Jul 18th 2018 at 9:44:46 AM
So Trump says something dumb in the defence of horrible people, walks back on it, and then goes right back to attacking people who oppose said horrible people the very next day? Weren't we in a similar sort of situation with the White Supremacists around this time last year?
Pretty much, though I'm low level surprised that he didn't just double down. The fact that he made at-least a token effort at backtracking is kind of unusual for him.
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Anything that Trump says is worthless. My newsfeed would be a lot less cluttered if people would just figure that out already.
Yes it is worthless, but worthless is not at-all the same thing as unimportant. He's President and thus has access to very real power, thus anything he says or does is worth noting as news.
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Well, it sure is exhausting to keep track of it all because the guy can't walk to the bathroom without saying and/or doing something horrible. And walk it back an hour later. And double back down the next day.
He is the worst kind of person, and I really hate how his existence symbolizes the way democracy is fucking up all over the globe, with terrible people voting terrible people into power over some imagined danger presented by the other.
Maybe this is one of those "it's got to get worse before it can get better" periods of time, where humanity needs to be dragged into a bright new era kicking and screaming before settling down and no longer being irrationally afraid of brown people. Or maybe the bomb drops and we'll be like "thank god that's over with".
Goddamn, my own grandfather who I used to deeply respect as a capable, intelligent and worldly man is all aboard the Trump/Wilders/Putin train, ranting about attacks on Dutch Culture because the announcer at the train station says "dear travellers" instead of "ladies and gentlemen".
Is kinda frustrating, is all. Also mostly irrelevant, I admit.
So essentially, the lawsuit war is a coordinated dance between the victims and the resorts to force the insurance companies to stop screwing around and fucking pay out?
@Septimus Heap: They don't want to pay money when they're required to, durr.
x9 Who said we want war with Russia?
Edited by speedyboris on Jul 18th 2018 at 10:35:01 AM
Saw this in my twitter feed and found it darkly humorous:
So by now, everyone knows that being roasted at the WHCD was Trump's supervillain origin story. But there's this additional detail in a new book called Obama: An Oral History, where David Plouffe comments how there was this really conscious strategy of framing Trump as the physical representation of opposition to Obama, with Plouffe commenting, "Let's really lean into Trump here. That'll be good for us."
Edited by Hodor2 on Jul 18th 2018 at 10:47:35 AM
Screw anyone who supported Trump with the intention of knocking him down, a la "Hillary will easily be able to defeat him, so let's support him for the lulz". You guys were part of the problem.
Speaking of people who were part of the problem, Comey is now openly calling for people to vote Democrat in the coming election.
I have very mixed feelings about Comey but he's on the money in this particular instance. We need everybody who is able to vote to do it, and vote Democrat.
EDIT: Trump, When Asked if Russia is Still Targeting America: ‘No’ One hashtag that immediately disproves that: #Walk Away
Edited by speedyboris on Jul 18th 2018 at 12:13:53 PM
I have very straightforward feelings on Comey: Fuck that guy. Doesn't make him wrong.
But seriously. Fuck him.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Asgore Adopts Noelle
x2 Didn't you know? Democrats aren't American. Hell, them leaving the Democrat Party to join the Republican Party actually makes them American, thus it's a good thing that Russians are doing this.
Edited by DingoWalley1 on Jul 18th 2018 at 1:19:37 PM
Preach it. Just because he got sacrificed by a worse bastard doesn't make him any less of a bastard. He is directly responsible for Trump and completely deserved his firing.
Asgore Adopts Noelle
x5 from the ASD Hamilton 68 Dashboard.
Edited by megaeliz on Jul 18th 2018 at 1:40:34 PM
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/07/18/day-545/
Day 545: Big results.
1/ Trump said he does not believe that Russia is still targeting the U.S. with efforts to undermine American democracy, contradicting his director of national intelligence. Last week, Dan Coats said that "the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack." And, in particular, Russia is the "most aggressive foreign actor, no question. And they continue their efforts to undermine our democracy." Coats described Russia as one of the "worst offenders." Intelligence officials in the U.S. and U.K. also believe Russia is planning to ramp up digital operations targeting western countries now that the World Cup and the Trump-Putin Helsinki summit have ended. Trump added: "No president has been as tough as I have been on Russia. I think President Putin knows that better than anyone. Better than the media." (Reuters / CNN)
2/ Trump defended his summit with Putin, tweeting that "people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki." The claim comes less than 24 hours after Trump attempted to backtrack spin his statements that he had misspoken and meant to say "I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia" that interfered in the election. Trump promised: "big results" and "many positive things." (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump crossed out a line about bringing those responsible for election hacking to justice in his statement correcting his remarks during his press conference with Putin. Trump prepared four pages of handwritten notes for his meeting with congressional leaders yesterday, part of which read, "I have on numerous occasions noted our intelligence findings that Russians attempted to interfere in our elections. A̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶o̶l̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶d̶d̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶i̶c̶e̶." Trump used a black marker to cross out the part about bringing the hackers to justice. (Washington Post)
3/ Democrats are calling for Trump's translator during his private meeting with Putin to testify before Congress. "I'm calling for a hearing with the U.S. interpreter who was present during President Trump's meeting with Putin to uncover what they discussed privately," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen tweeted. Rep. Joe Kennedy echoed Shaheen's calls: "And that was only what we saw on live TV. @realDonaldTrump's translator should come before Congress and testify as to what was said privately immediately." (CNN / Huff Post)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/politics/trump-interpreter-testify-congress/index.html
4/ Trump questioned why NATO should come to the defense of smaller alliance members like Montenegro if it came under attack. "Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people," Trump said when asked whether the U.S. would come to the country's defense. "They're very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations you're in World War III." The only time NATO invoked Article Five – an "armed attack" on one member "shall be considered an attack against them all" – was after the U.S. was attacked on 9/11. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/politics/trump-nato-fox/index.html
5/ The Justice Department added a second charge against Russian national Maria Butina, who was charged on Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. A federal grand jury indicted Butina on Tuesday on new charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Kremlin since at least 2015. Butina was arrested on Sunday because she appeared to have plans to flee the U.S. (Politico / Washington Post)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/17/russia-nra-foreign-agent-728305
poll/ 68% of Americans consider Russia either unfriendly or an enemy of the United States, a 9% increase from last year (59%). (NBC News / Survey Monkey)
Notables.
The Democratic National Committee has been trying and failing for months to serve Jared Kushner with a lawsuit for alleged collusion with the Russians to alter the 2016 election. The Secret Service has turned away DNC lawyers. (Bloomberg / Talking Points Memo)
Cambridge Analytica's Facebook data set was accessed from Russia. Cambridge Analytic had gathered data on tens of millions of Americans. (CNN Money)
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/17/technology/cambridge-analytica-data-facebook-russia/index.html
The "daily" White House press briefing has been held three on-camera briefings in the past 30 days. The most recent briefing was on July 2, more than two weeks ago. (CNN Money)
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/18/media/white-house-press-briefing-drought/index.html
Remember how Eric Prince (of Darkness) met with Kirill Dmitriev, and the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates in Seychelles, and lied to congress about it?
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is examining a series of meetings that took place in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, as part of a broader investigation into Russian meddling. The inquiry into the meetings suggests there is growing interest by the Mueller team into whether foreign financing, specifically from Gulf states, has influenced President Donald Trump and his administration.
Much speculation has centered on one particular meeting between Erik Prince, founder of the security company Blackwater; Kirill Dmitriev, the director of one of Russia's sovereign wealth funds; and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the effective ruler of the United Arab Emirates, also known as "MBZ."
Participants of other meetings that week in January, which focused generally on Syria, energy and sanctions, hailed from Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the U.S., according to three people with knowledge of the meetings and flight manifests obtained by NJ Advance Media. All three requested to remain anonymous because they feared retribution from their respective governments.
Sources say several Russians participated in meetings on the need for the lifting of U.S. sanctions to facilitate trade. Dmitriev's wife Natalia Popova was also present in several conversations with foreign representatives while staying on the island, the sources said.
It's unclear how many representatives from each country attended the meetings, some of which were informal conversations over dinner. But new information points to more than 10 Russians, some linked to the Kremlin, participating in discussions.
NJ Advance Media reported in May that an aircraft linked to the Russian government landed in the Seychelles the day before Prince allegedly met with Dmitriev, which raised questions about the scope of the meetings and whether sanctions were a topic of conversation.
The Russian plane in question departed from Moscow, stopped in Dubai, and landed in the Seychelles at 4:21 p.m. Jan. 10, 2017, according to the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority — one day before Prince arrived on the island. The plane carried six passengers, including flight crew.
The passengers stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel — the scene for the meetings that week in January.
Two individuals familiar with the aircraft's purchasing history said the aircraft is owned by Andrei Skoch, a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in the mining business and is now a deputy in the Russian State Duma, the country's legislative body. Skoch is currently under U.S. sanctions.
That same plane flew to Dubai later in the day on Jan. 10. It returned to the island days later and departed Jan. 19 with a total of 16 passengers. The World Economic Forum began Jan. 20 in Switzerland.
Two individuals with knowledge of the meetings in the Seychelles said several of the individuals who flew out on Jan. 19 participated directly in meetings that focused on international trade and sanctions.
The plane that carried the Russians to the island in January returned in March around the same time as George Nader — the Lebanese-American businessman cooperating with Mueller who helped broker the meeting between Prince and Dmitriev in the Seychelles.
The Russian plane left the island in March with 20 passengers and flew back to Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow.
Other individuals on the island the same week as Prince in January 2017 included Alexander Mashkevitch, an alleged financier of Bayrock, an investment vehicle linked to Trump; and Sheikh Abdulrahman Khalid Bin Mahfouz, according to flight records. Bin Mahfouz's father, before his death, was a billionaire and the former chairman of Saudi Arabia's first private bank.
Ugh. The hell is up with the health insurance companies?!
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman