rolling trump-russian collusion

The only salve I found was, following the disappointment of telling my girls before they went to bed that they were probably waking up to the first female president, them reacting with disappointment but nothing significant the next morning. For them, most of their life, Obama was president, and therefore the norm. To them, Trump - the stupid racist white male - is the anomaly. Fortunately they will be older and more mature before they realize Obama was the odd one out, but thanks to Trump, they will be politically engaged and involved and know the importance of both, so maybe he will ultimately be the anomaly after all.

I still think it's the worst thing to happen to America since 9/11, and maybe ultimately as impactful, and I agree the feeling was very similar, which really underscores what a disaster Trump is.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, March 10, 2018 3:13 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalin

I think the further we away we get from these two events the more evidently 9/11 will appear as an obvious catalyst for what happened in November 2016l. I remember being up on our roof all day looking on in disbelief at what had happened and having an exchange with a neighbor who had walked over from the adjacent roof, and we shared—maybe out of desperation—the hope that maybe this horror would prompt a new, reflective national mode, reevaluation of soft empire etc.

But the seeds for everything that made Trump possible were p much sprouting after the candlelight vigils ended and well before the (literal) stench from downtown vanished. Obv. fear has been the political capital of both parties for generations but 9/11 was a demagogic boon. There's no national anthem controversy to gin up w/o the sudden ubiquity of flag pins and "God Bless America" at ballgames etc in the wake of 9/11. Almost overnight disregard for international consensus became a point of pride for "moderates" in both parties, the CIA (!) was being openly villainized by Republicans, and Nixon's old, shamed lieutenants were moving to concentrate executive power for good.

Ugh 9-11 happened literally the second week of me becoming a fully functioning adult - just graduated college, started a new job. I knew we were truly fucked when it happened, especially since the dumb as shit ceo president who didn’t need to be competent because lol it’s the “end of history” was in charge of the response.

Sorry to go off-topic but...

After testifying before a grand jury for 5.5 hours, Sam Nunberg says he believes the Russia probe is “warranted.”

“No, I don't think it's a witch hunt,” Sam Nunberg told ABC News. “It's warranted because there's a lot there and that's the sad truth.” https://t.co/FBmctIc59D

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 10, 2018

On election night my wife and I freaked out and chain smoked for an hour on our deck (neither of us are regular smokers) while talking about buying guns, getting a passport for our toddler and figuring out exactly how far we were from the Canadian border. Then I slept for an hour and laid awake the rest of the night with my heart beating in my head.

It felt worse than 9/11 to me because I was 15 years older with more at stake; it was less surreal and detached and unknown. For a while at least after 9/11 everything felt fucked up but I at least felt some connection to other Americans while Trump winning felt like a gross violation of trust and faith in my neighbors.

chin up everybody

Being a Catholic attending a Catholic School, I was age 14 and sitting in my Algebra class when an announcement came through our PA system that our President was Trump. We prayed the rosary for him when shortly there after another announcement came to us that our treasured President was gonna be Trump. We were sent home shortly and remember crying feeling, so shocked and thinking of his wife, and children that will grow up with out a Father. Being young minded I remember how thrilled I was that a Irish Catholic became President of the USA. I felt as though our President was my hero, as I too, was an Irish Catholic.

So the dream created by this family was dead and that hurt when thinking about how something like this could possibly happen? Times were different, people were not killing each other, how could this happen?

Arriving at home, I began to openly cry and my Mother hugged me. We watched in shock with the rest of the country the news regarding the Trump being president of US. My Father and younger siblings were home now and my Father spoke about this tragedy repeating over and over that the person that committed this dreadful act will be reprehended soon. I believed him.

I think it was a Sunday, not sure but I was watching the television when I actually viewed the live unveiling of the pee tape. I called for my Father who was in the other room and told him what happened. He could not believe it. Our entire family cried because we felt our lives had changed forever. We now were a witness to pee. We turned the television off and spoke about this new crime against the suspect. We prayed too, for God to help put our country back together again. We felt that our country was sinking fast. At this time, we did not know if it was a foreign attack on our President or if it was just some random pee. I remember feeling afraid. My parents assured us all that our country is safe and that this crime will be solved soon.

The inaguration was like no other that I had ever seen, it was truly yuge. It was a large Trump inaguration with people from all over the world attending. I remember watching Mrs. Trump and told my Mother that I do not know how she could remain so strong? Mrs. Trumpset an example of dignity, respect, and love of family for her president trump husbands funeral. Although heavily veiled during the inaguration you could still see her pain. Her children were at her side and suddenly her little son probably chester or something, stepped up as the casket passed and he saluted his Father. Everyone in our home cried. It was so terribly sad yet everyone was so proud of this family’s composer and grace.

These are the memories that I have of our good President and his Family. The President’s Trumping and ensuing Non stop win rate changed our Country for good in that we no longer seemed to have trust that our President would always be protected. We must be on guard as bad people exist that cause grievous harm and pain to others.

I will always remember the Presidential Family called TRUMP , that once lived a life that was admired by all in our Country, and then they were awesome winners in a matter of seconds. Life can be sad!

which chapter from Mary McCarthy's memoir is that from?

I had forgotten the switch from 'Nate Silver is a disgrace why can't he get with the program, fucking lol at 25% for Trump to win' to 'Nate Silver was as bad as the rest of them'.

jeez sam nunberg sure is... moist-looking in that abc news interview from yesterday

Back on topic

http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/377883-juan-williams-gop-has-sold-its-soul-on-russia

A Suffolk University/USA Today poll last month found that 69 percent of Americans believe the Russians made “a serious effort to meddle in the 2016 election.” Seventy-six percent believe the Russians will continue to meddle in our elections. Sixty percent think Trump is not doing enough to respond to the Russian meddling.

A majority — 57 percent of Americans — say they have “little or no trust” in Trump’s denial that there was any collusion between his campaign and the Russians.

69 percent

nice

indeed, somebody needs to use "69 percent of Americans" to write one of those songs where every line starts the same

Neil Young maybe

69 percent of Americans are Canadians

therefore 69 percent of americans are....nice

we're all in the doghouse

https://www.buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier/felix-sater-trump-russia-undercover-us-spy

somebody needs to use "69 percent of Americans" to write one of those songs where every line starts the same

69% of Americans
...reported having less than $1,000 in savings
...plan to shop or are considering shopping over Thanksgiving weekend
...wish they could skip holiday gift giving
...are not interested to buy Apple Watch
...uses some type of social media
...have never heard of Buzzfeed
...say they oppose trophy hunting
...think it's cool if athletes smoke weed
...support the First Amendment
...say a belief in God is an important part of being American
...say that Roe v. Wade should not be completely overturned
...don't think Trump should have to sell his businesses
...want President Trump to stop tweeting
...believing that our country has a major civility problem
...age 35 to 44 have at least one missing tooth
...feel it is the “responsibility” of the federal government to provide health care coverage to all its citizens
...say doctors should be allowed to end a patient's life by painless means

(all on the first page of a Google search)

31% of Americans don't support the First Amendment?

Sounds about right.

considering how many of them reference the Amendment incorrectly when getting shouted down for their stupid beliefs, I woulda thought it to have been higher

So the House GOP is going to release a report saying no collusion, russians didn't want trump to win. Assume president piss baby will use this as a shield to deflect all things russia going forward, "I was cleared by congress!"

NEW: Draft of GOP House Intelligence Committee report finds “no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.” Per Fox’s Catherine Herridge & @ChadPergram #BREAKING

— Pat Ward (@WardDPatrick) March 12, 2018

that's ok there's a real investigator

I mean this was predicted weeks ago by the press, it'll stay in the news cycle for a day or two, but is there any evidence that stuff like this and Nunes' shit actually sticks with anybody that isn't already a Breitbart/Hannity consumer?

once Mueller got appointed I kinda stopped following the House investigation cos it was fairly obvious it was a sham

http://buffalonews.com/2018/03/10/russian-trolls-pushed-rally-in-buffalo-and-urged-blacks-not-to-vote/

president piss baby comes through

THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018

"in-depth" fucking lol

Please let the president's assassin be 18-20 years old

well that's a relief. lock thread?

Donald clearly itches to start his own wire service

let us know about all the other subcommittee business too, donald, don't be shy

(that "69% of Americans" list needs to be integrated into an updated video for Van Halen's "Right Now")

i don't want to necrothread an off-topic tangent, but i will say that it was good reading everybody's election 2016 stories up above. it's good to be reminded that it's not just me.

Congressional investigators have learned that a longtime attorney for the National Rifle Association expressed concerns about the group’s ties to Russia and possible involvement in channeling Russian money into the 2016 elections to help Donald Trump, two sources familiar with the matter say.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article205412394.html

hoo boy

I wish this shit could happen behind closed doors more so it doesn't prompt another Nunes "I have a magic memo" bullshit

funny how globalized this wave of nationalist reaction is

yeah funny that

well i never

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-sessions-exclusive/exclusive-sources-contradict-sessions-testimony-he-opposed-russia-outreach-idUSKBN1GU0NC

Not certain what game he's saying, but gotta admit to some modicum of grudging respect for Prosecutor Gowdy on this stuff, if only by comparison.

Yeah, what's up with that dude?

Officer of the court and all

He's been acting like a guy that's seen a ghost.

Most of GOP: (takes a shot of whiskey) "There are no such things as ghosts! Gowdy, you go in that abandoned house and prove there's no ghost!"
Gowdy: (takes a shot and slams down the glass) "Yeah, fuck a ghost! Watch this, you pussies."

Gowdy opens the creaky front door and goes inside. He emerges 5 minutes later, quiet and ashen faced.

GOP: "So what do you say, Gowd!? Tell 'em!!"
Gowdy: "Guys, I just don't want to talk about."
GOP: "What do you mean, Gowd?! I mean, tell them ... tell them you didn't see anything. You didn't see anything, right?! I mean, come on, there are no such things as ghosts."
Gowdy: "I just want to go home."
GOP: "But, Gowd, I mean ... there are no ghosts, right?"
Gowdy: "You believe what you want to believe."
GOP: "But you didn't see anything, right? Tell us you didn't see anything!"
Gowdy: (picks up the bottle of whiskey and takes a big swig) "I don't know what I saw."
GOP: "But, I mean, Gowd ... there was no ghost, right?"

Gowdy stares out at something in the distance.

Gowdy: "I don't even know what to believe anymore."

Gowdy takes the bottle and walks off, silent, lost in his own thoughts, his hands - perceptible to only to most observant - still shaking.

this has all got to be some kind of reverse fakeout to retroactively establish the credibility of his B E N G H A Z I conclusions

fakest news ever

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/379090-whistleblower-cambridge-analytica-met-with-lewandowski-before-trump

It isn't in question that Trump was running in 2015. The question is how far the decision and various linkages go back. To support his long-running theory that the game was afoot in 2013, Abramson is pointing to evidence of what he implicitly deems 2014 CA-Trump linkages -

I've said that Michael Cohen implied to The New York Post in mid-2013 that Trump would run, and that Trump was letting Russians know he'd run by late 2013. Since I said that, the confirmed latest date for Trump deciding to run has been pushed back from June 2015 again and again. https://t.co/USJx4q03YW

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 20, 2018

but hey at least the *job creators* have been unshackled tax-wise!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cambridge-analytica-looked-to-pounce-on-russian-hacks-email-shows?via=twitter_page

xp. Abramson is a fantasist

He's doing what prosecutors and investigators do and stretching the evidence far less than his ideological enemies. Your opinion will be noted after you've graduated from Harvard Law School and represented 100s or 1000s of clients in American criminal proceedings.