a quick poll about Russia and Donald Trump

And make polar bears pay for it.

The Trump Russia scandal is a pretty distinct thing from the "U.S. relationship with Russia" issue though in people's minds I believe. It does garner a lot of interest (hence the coverage) but that interest is really more "dislike of Trump" specific. Also unlikely Dems run on the scandal exclusively, they've actually been talking a lot about healthcare the last few months.

the most russia-friendly congressperson speaks

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/07/congressman-asks-scientists-if-theyve-found-ancient-civilizations-on-mars/

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Dana_Rohrabacher.jpg

Congressman Hoskins

collusion meeting at trump tower was to talk about martian adoption, no joke

trump is trolling us. next time he gives a speech he will walk onstage to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxTbfeYdO0

i still tend to think this is being overblown, but if it hurts his presidency i guess it's justified. as lenin would say.

Dana Rohrabacher is relatively pro-weed, maybe he was high for the hearing.

a sitting congressperson -- dana rohrabacher (R-CA) -- was working with the russians to scuttle a sanctions bill and was using russian propaganda to justify it around the time two-scoops supposedly didn't "meet with" his namesake son, his daughter's husband, his campaign manager, the crown jewel of moscow prosecution, and the head of the russian money laundering a-team about adopting russian orphans. i'm glad chris kobach (R-KS) is reviewing america's voter rolls in the wake of the 2016 election. taxes are theft :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96yWsrMXREI

one for the "shocking!" file

U.S. investigators examining money laundering accusations against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort hope to push him to cooperate with their probe into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-manafort-idUSKBN1A70F8

https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate

There are dozens of things about this that will annoy some here - conflating Uzbeks with Russians, jumping all over the timeline, and so forth - but a decent rundown of how Trump since the 90s has been a willing silent partner in multiple money laundering activities by ruthless gangsters from the former SSRs, and eventually just started pursuing them as a fundamental demographic in his business model

i thought this was sensible https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trump-and-congress-are-probably-on-a-collision-course-over-russia/

damn

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rnc-employees-asked-save-all-2016-campaign-documents

old news : )

http://www.npr.org/2017/07/28/539802914/businessman-paints-a-terrifying-and-complex-picture-of-putins-russia

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/opinion/donald-trump-russia-collusion-cia.html?_r=0

At the end of all of this, in a few months or a few years, several people in the Trump circle will be found guilty, or indicted, or otherwise be branded as complicit turncoats and disposed of/fired. Everyone short of Trump himself, tainted and still suspicious but too isolated and stupid to be a major player in this kerfuffle. And once those other half a dozen or a dozen or more people are out of the picture, his most die-hard loyalists, hacks and hypocrites will say, okay, let's put this behind us, time to move on, give Trump a chance.

the aspens will already be turning

Ok lol

the alleged financial shenanigans that pre-date last November's election

the slow-dancing with Russian oligarchs

the infusions of cash from the banks of the Volga that kept the Trump Organization in business

the overpayment by Russians for condos owned by the Trump Organization

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a56839/mueller-trump-finances-russia/

i believe over-payment on condos is how they got Benedict Arnold

i believe russian jets have always buzzed DC

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/09/us/russian-air-force-tu154-overflight-dc/index.html

Dan Gaffney, spokesman for the DTRA, declined to confirm the surveilled targets

not gonna lie, my heart skipped a beat there

lol

putin is playing comrade combover like a fiddle

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/world/asia/north-korea-missiles-ukraine-factory.html

but her emails

8/ will be discussed. During all of the interviews, a FBI agent will be present, which makes it a crime to knowingly and willfully make a

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 12, 2017

More direct link to start of thread:

THREAD: What does the news that Mueller is interviewing White House officials mean for the investigation? https://t.co/N5x95qhHcU

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 12, 2017

fingers crossed this guy is the next MOOCH

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/14/politics/george-papadopoulos-russia-trump/index.html

Webster's dad?

THREAD: Why does it matter that a Ukrainian hacker is cooperating with Mueller's investigation? https://t.co/mhZVbXg9lo

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) August 16, 2017

According to people briefed on the developments, Steele has met with the FBI and provided agents with the names of his sources for the allegations in the dossier

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/glenn-simpson-key-figure-million-dollar-dossier-face/story?id=49348102

"look up pee tape," steele is reported to have told investigators

man what a great week it would be for *this* to come back

i may regret saying this, but for now, the email prankster owns

More: Breitbart editor suggests he could have Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump ousted from White House "by end of year" https://t.co/LciboyiRTZ pic.twitter.com/A8K365k5iq

— CNN (@CNN) August 22, 2017

Yeah, Steele is probably all http://lmgtfy.com/?q=trump+pee+tape

I wonder if the 8 votes for "nothing" would shift to something if we re-polled the question.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-dearborn-emails-trump-campaign-putin-meeting

Grabbing lunch tomorrow with my former Federal prosecutor friend turned legal talking head. Any questions? He's an expert on white collar crime and, well, a lot of the stuff Trump has been accused of.

How is babby formed

Done. Wait, Russian babby? Trump babby?

Same difference

http://i3.cpcache.com/product/423928021/stork_baby_russia_usa_tshirt.jpg?width=300&height=300&Filters=%5B%7B%22name%22%3A%22crop%22%2C%22value%22%3A%7B%22x%22%3A25.0%2C%22y%22%3A0.0%2C%22w%22%3A250%2C%22h%22%3A300.0%7D%2C%22sequence%22%3A1%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22background%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22F2F2F2%22%2C%22sequence%22%3A2%7D%5D

How do I shot marriage, why is Dave Matthews so bad & hated, can I run bass through a guitar amp

Done, done and done.

Is it reasonable to hope that Congress can way instain

I think my major questions be answered until Mueller spits out a report. So, just getting his general impressions based on news leaks to date would be intriguing enough.

OK, here is what I learned:

1) Mueller and his crew recognize the importance of this investigation to a huge degree - several of his people (my friend had applied to be one of them) left very big and/or lucrative jobs to join his team - so anything regarding the investigation that gets leaked or revealed absolutely is not coming from them.

2) White collar crimes are exceptionally hard to prove, since so many require knowing what was in the accused's mind, why they did what they did. So short of a dramatic smoking gun, he thinks Trump himself is very unlikely to be charged with anything. If he is, my friend thinks from what we know so far that obstruction would be the most likely charge. No way to know how Congress would handle that or any other charge.

3) Of the satellites, he says Manafort seems to be in the most trouble, not least because of the foreign agent stuff but also because there is a high bar for approving an FBI raid of his house. He says the Kush has good lawyers, Don Jr., has bad legal counsel, but from their relative silence lately Kush, Flynn, DJTJ, even Manafort seem to be taking this very seriously. He says there is no way Trump's lawyers have not told him how serious this all is, so has no idea why Trump continues to make things worse for himself.

4) When a man and a woman love each other very much, that is how a babby is made. Except for Trump, who can fuck himself.

My friend, btw, told me both of his parents are Trump voters/supporters, but while his dad is a lost cause (a prosperity evangelical who literally believes Trump was chosen by god), his mom seems to be responding to facts and reporting the right way. Generally, my friend thinks the damaging of the press/free press might be the worst thing to come out of this whole mess.

was there any speculation about why bannon hasn't (or doesn't seem to have) lawyered up? if there's dirt, did he get involved too late in the campaign to get smeared?

thx for the summary