I don't think she has to worry about the Russian Government so long as she did something that will further embarrass Trump and the GOP, and she had at least a couple years of under cover work to do that. Once people took the bait it was really a win win for Russia. Either they get a possible back door into the republican party and/or they get to destabilize the US and its world position as others find out the administration was dumb enough to fall for it. The more destabilized the US is, the more Russia can kick around its neighbors and America doesn't notice or have enough focus to care.
That the people questioning her want to know more about our criminals in power than the russian criminals in power probably bods well for her as well.
Yeah, that. As far as James Bond villains go, Putin isn't the guy executing officers with aircraft cannons just to see the big kablooie. He seems quite long game oriented and not prone to fits of random pique.
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Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
Even Chris Fucking Christie, who tried desperately to toady his way into a Trump administration jerb, said "Thanks, but no thanks."
I also saw today that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who replaced Melissa McCarthy impersonator Sean Spicer as White House Press Secretary, is moving on at the end of the month. She wants her legacy to be that she was "transparent and honest."
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
Well, her lies were entirely transparent, at least.
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"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Editors’ Note: The editors have become aware of unusual aspects to the ‘Extract fecal DNA’ illustration in figure 1. We are investigating, and appropriate editorial action will be taken once the matter is resolved.
Not visible in the online figure; visible in the figure in the PDF which is still unaltered.
The culprit is probably the graphic designer.
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The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.
-- Official Bunny Hero
Editors’ Note: The editors have become aware of unusual aspects to the ‘Extract fecal DNA’ illustration in figure 1. We are investigating, and appropriate editorial action will be taken once the matter is resolved.
Not visible in the online figure; visible in the figure in the PDF which is still unaltered.
The culprit is probably the graphic designer.
I saw that a few days ago. While it's amusing, I'm a bit worried about what the consequences may be. You just know that sooner or later the Faux "News" people will hear about this and trumpet this as "proof" that scientists are all a bunch of Lefties who hate Trump -- and thus "the truth."
They'll use this a leverage to deny climate science, to justify slashing funding to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, NOAA, etc. And the Sociopath in Chief will be more than happy to take this as "proof" that all science he doesn't like is "fake."
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
Re: Butina: I see a certain amount of credibility to the thesis that she is acting on the Russian government’s orders by starting to talk. It does seem that the Russian government itself has helped keep some aspects of the story about the Trump Tower meeting alive, for instance. Helping to highlight the instability in the United States might be a strategy to keep eyes off Russia’s own problems.
I don’t think that makes Butina any safer, though. Butina, from the perspective of Vladimir Putin, is a loose end. Vladimir Putin doesn’t like loose ends. It is worth noting that no one has seen hide nor hair of her apparent erstwhile handler, Aleksandr Torshin, for months (at least as of a few days ago). Someone is tweeting from his account, but who knows if that’s even him.
Talking Points Memo also has apparently pointed out (note: article is behind a paywall; the graf I’m quoting was excerpted in a blog comment section) that two people that seem to flipped in Butina’s fashion have wound up dead:
Quote:
would join a category of Russians prepared to reveal information about their home country’s intelligence services — a category of people whose lifespans appear to be shortening. In March, Nikolai Glushkov was found strangled with a dog leash in London before he was to testify in a court case about how Aeroflot Russian Airlines was being used as a front for Russian intelligence. Mikhail Lesin, former top Kremlin official, was found dead and covered in bruises before he was reportedly set to meet with the Justice Department.
My point is the Russian government may well have told her that it’s safe to cooperate with the U.S. government and then come home, but I wouldn’t believe that for a second. People who flip, or are perceived to flip, on Putin have a strange correlation with victims of defenestrations.
Anyway, Adam Silverman is (as always) worth reading for added context here.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Seems McThinskin Individual 1 is confusing satire with newscasts.
A REAL scandal is the one sided coverage, hour by hour, of networks like NBC & Democrat spin machines like Saturday Night Live. It is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can’t be legal? Only defame & belittle! Collusion?
Fifteen years ago, when Serbia’s non-violent pro-democracy movement, Otpor, was just a tiny group of 20 students with $50, we decided to play a prank. We took an oil barrel, taped a picture of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic to it, and set it up in the middle of Belgrade’s largest shopping district. Next to it we placed a baseball bat. Then we went for coffee, sat down, and watched the fun unfold. Before long, dozens of shoppers lined the street, each waiting for a chance to take a swing at “Milosevic” — the man so many despised, but whom most were too afraid to criticize. About 30 minutes in, the police arrived. That’s when we held our breath, waiting for what would happen next. What would the Milosevic’s police do? They couldn’t arrest shoppers — on what grounds? And they couldn’t arrest the culprits — since we were nowhere to be seen. So what did Milosevic’s police do? The only thing they could: They arrested the barrel.
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Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
Re: Butina: I see a certain amount of credibility to the thesis that she is acting on the Russian government’s orders by starting to talk. It does seem that the Russian government itself has helped keep some aspects of the story about the Trump Tower meeting alive, for instance. Helping to highlight the instability in the United States might be a strategy to keep eyes off Russia’s own problems.
I don’t think that makes Butina any safer, though. Butina, from the perspective of Vladimir Putin, is a loose end. Vladimir Putin doesn’t like loose ends. It is worth noting that no one has seen hide nor hair of her apparent erstwhile handler, Aleksandr Torshin, for months (at least as of a few days ago). Someone is tweeting from his account, but who knows if that’s even him.
Talking Points Memo also has apparently pointed out (note: article is behind a paywall; the graf I’m quoting was excerpted in a blog comment section) that two people that seem to flipped in Butina’s fashion have wound up dead:
Quote:
would join a category of Russians prepared to reveal information about their home country’s intelligence services — a category of people whose lifespans appear to be shortening. In March, Nikolai Glushkov was found strangled with a dog leash in London before he was to testify in a court case about how Aeroflot Russian Airlines was being used as a front for Russian intelligence. Mikhail Lesin, former top Kremlin official, was found dead and covered in bruises before he was reportedly set to meet with the Justice Department.
My point is the Russian government may well have told her that it’s safe to cooperate with the U.S. government and then come home, but I wouldn’t believe that for a second. People who flip, or are perceived to flip, on Putin have a strange correlation with victims of defenestrations.
Anyway, Adam Silverman is (as always) worth reading for added context here.
Seems not much has changed in the security apparatus of Russia.
Shevchenko often wrestled with how he would broach the idea of upcoming defection with his wife Leongina.[3] He knew that she would probably react angrily and refuse to accede. He ended up never telling her until leaving a note for her right before rushing out the door while she slept.[3] His plan, at least consciously, was that she could read the note and catch up with him soon if she chose to, which he hoped she would. However, when he called her the next day, a KGB man answered the phone. He surmised that as soon as she read the note she called the KGB.[3] She was immediately whisked back to Moscow, where she died mysteriously, supposedly a suicide, less than two months later. Shevchenko surmised that in trying to gain leverage in her predicament she may have threatened senior Party people with exposure of their corruption, which made killing her the easiest solution.[3] He also admitted to himself later that the reason he never told her in advance about his defection is because he knew she would probably get angry and expose his plan to the KGB. In the Soviet Union Shevchenko was tried in absentia and sentenced to death.[3]
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
Trump Foundation to be dissolved, because investigators were shocked (shocked!) to discover it was not really charitable.
Trump spokesdrone says they were trying to dissolve it in 2016 - if true, all this means is the authorities kept it frozen long enough to uncover the crimes.
First 2020 ad? This Trump ad, featuring his campaign manager @parscale, just aired on CNN. It’s a minute long and asks viewers to call an 800 number to leave a thank you message for POTUS. I called the number and it leads to a fundraising appeal (not unusual for pres campaigns) pic.twitter.com/yB3Rb1pJKe
Trump Foundation to be dissolved, because investigators were shocked (shocked!) to discover it was not really charitable.
Trump spokesdrone says they were trying to dissolve it in 2016 - if true, all this means is the authorities kept it frozen long enough to uncover the crimes.
Yeah, they wanted to dissolve it right into their pockets two years ago.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
Come the next Congress, Rep. Elijah Cummings will be chairing the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Rep. Cummings is already fixin' to kick every last square millimeter of the Trump administration's ass.
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
I asked him about that, and he said to me "We bought Russia from Alaska many many years ago, Rudy". You see,
it was just a simple mix up. No collusion.
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Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
Re: Good King Trump
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Linear Mode
