Even the "we can say the Inspector General is crooked and corrupt" isn't really going to have legs enough to make it worthwhile.
― NEW CHIMP THREAT (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 23:42 (six years ago) link
I get that he can and will do it, but it won't move the needle much. not that this has stopped him before.
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 27 February 2018 23:49 (six years ago) link
I really don't care about public trust in the motherfucking FBI
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 02:08 (six years ago) link
yeah if there was some way Trump and the FBI could resolve this in some sort of conjoined death pact that would rule
― Simon H., Wednesday, 28 February 2018 02:10 (six years ago) link
why don't we just redraw the state lines, make 50 new states
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 02:12 (six years ago) link
except for the 5 mile radius around my house, that's another country
I doubt the fbi is going away, and once he gets the lackies in it he wants, overseen by Prince or whoever, he will ride like a motherfucker for the fbi. So im willing to go with a counter-trump fbi til he’s gone. Time is not our friend.
― Hunt3r, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 04:03 (six years ago) link
man I hope Prince leads the FBI from Heaven, it'll be mad sexy
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 04:45 (six years ago) link
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/02/27/russia-hacking
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 04:52 (six years ago) link
uh I have a question are you guys "down w/ the FBI" meaning this FBI/J Edgar heritage/post-Patriot act FBI or do you actually wish there was no law enforcement at the federal level
I mean nobody likes cops but
― Rhine Jive Click Bait (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 06:43 (six years ago) link
everybody's got a big but, as Special Agent Pee-wee Herman often said
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 06:53 (six years ago) link
i know you are but what am i
― Rhine Jive Click Bait (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 06:56 (six years ago) link
Deep in the heart of Texas!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 13:15 (six years ago) link
deep in the heart of moscow
http://theweek.com/speedreads/758012/mueller-reportedly-interested-trumps-hotel-room-moscow
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 15:09 (six years ago) link
Hmm, I wonder why he's so interested in that hotel room?
Seriously, though, at this point even the pee tape would hardly qualify as kompromat. Trump is a walking embarrassment. But maybe the hookers are a savvy smokescreen, and in fact he was meeting with *Putin* in that hotel room!
And then Putin peed on the bed.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 15:16 (six years ago) link
If everyone’s expectations are low enough and loyalty is purely tribal, they let you do it.
― Hunt3r, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 15:54 (six years ago) link
That would seem to answer the question I posed about Abramson vs. Marshall's reading of the case theory - Mueller's people are at least running down the road Abramson has lain out.
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:08 (six years ago) link
Yeah i think the point made earlier that mueller is the anti trump in terms of systematic thoroughness was correct. which given mueller’s resources and background is kinda “well, duh, hunt3r,” but plodding, thorough care seems so out of style.
― Hunt3r, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:19 (six years ago) link
also in his 70s, mueller has way better hair
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 16:49 (six years ago) link
On the other hand, "'You ask everything even if you don't think it's credible,' one of the sources said, adding, 'the allegations are out there, and it was checking the box.'" Abramson of course is perhaps preemptively patting himself on the back.
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 17:09 (six years ago) link
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, February 28, 2018 8:08 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
sb for abramson
― khat person (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 17:35 (six years ago) link
What does that mean?
― Moo Vaughn, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:51 (six years ago) link
it's a reference to a long obsolete ILX system for Suggesting the Banning of certain posters
DUH!
― i remember the corned beef of my childhood (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:53 (six years ago) link
(and almost always referenced tongue-in-cheek)
― i remember the corned beef of my childhood (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:54 (six years ago) link
sb giving away company secrets
― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:57 (six years ago) link
it's the collusion thread, i can't help it
― i remember the corned beef of my childhood (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:07 (six years ago) link
too insidery
― ian, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:14 (six years ago) link
lmao
Retract every single news article that cited Hamilton68 to claim Russian bots are doing x. Here are its creators admitting it's all bullshit.https://t.co/sTkHQXsLmq pic.twitter.com/VYkzErIP7E— Sam Sacks (bot) 🤖 (@SamSacks) February 28, 2018
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:54 (six years ago) link
I found the interview with Masha Gessen and NYTimes' Adrian Chen on NPR this morning really annoying. The premise was that Russian interference, while real, was overblown. Gessen took the stance that it's ridiculous that "sub-literate" Russia trolls would have such a decisive effect on the American public (which ignores the fact that much of America is equally sub-literate, which the internet makes clear, and also voluntarily propagates the same sort of shit the Russians pushed) and that we should focus on bigger things (which is probably true but doesn't negate the effect of Russian interference). Chen, likewise, was skeptical, for similar if more neutral reasons, and yet, in describing his reluctance to wade into this debate, essentially conceded the effectiveness of information warfare. And both sort of elide over the prima facia evidence that *Russia was trying to influence Americans*, so clearly they believed, even if it wasn't absolutely effective, it was certainly worth a shot. Otherwise they wouldn't have bothered, though as a couple of those interviews with indicted players shows, the Russians didn't try very hard and were as amused by their possible success.
Just so annoying. There is a lot going on right now, on numerous fronts, big and small, and they are not mutually exclusive. Trump Inc., Wikileaks, Russia - these can all be independent actors whose Venn diagrams occasionally overlapped and potentiated their somewhat aligned goals: Trump Inc. was desperate for a leg up in the election, Wikileaks was vindictive, Russia wanted to make trouble. Everything together likely magnified the effect of all of these things independently.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 1 March 2018 13:42 (six years ago) link
The banality of effective disruptive social media
― Hunt3r, Thursday, 1 March 2018 14:15 (six years ago) link
it's not necessarily that it's *russia* that bothers me (though oh my god it's *russia*!) but that candidate trump and his team cooperated with them in exchange for sanctions relief, and while president trump hasn't been able to deliver yet, he refuses to impose further bipartisan sanctions, and he's obstructed the investigation into election interference from the jump. the GOP going along with this farce is every bit as horrible as watergate, reagan's various pre- and post-election iranian shenanigans, the brooks brothers riot (in the state candidate bush's brother was governor!), the bullshit bush v. gore supreme court decision, the deceit campaign that led us into iraq part ii, the birth certificate, and BENGHAZI. "conservative" politics is a giant zit on the face of lady liberty; if this russia probe can lance it, bravo. i'm not holding my breath of course because all this propaganda is in smoke screen service to cover up for the neo-feudalist voodoo economics revolution that's been in full effect since at least the powell memo was circulated, and the dark money lords (via ALEC, Fox, the NRA and their ilk) have brainwashed legions of bigots into their voting base, who'd eat glass before admitting they've ever been wrong about anything political
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 1 March 2018 14:43 (six years ago) link
I'm not sure Gessen is wrong, but while it's probably giving into prejudice, my propaganda detector is always on low hum with any prominent Russian-American public intellectual/commenter like Gessen
― Moo Vaughn, Thursday, 1 March 2018 15:33 (six years ago) link
That Sam Sacks idiot is on his timeline desperately spamming every reporter about “Hamilton68”, as though those innocuous quotes vindicates him for being wrong for months about the entire Russia story being a “hoax”. He’s another one of those guys that if you only got his version of the story you wouldn’t be aware that there have been indictments etc.
― Nerdstrom Poindexter, Thursday, 1 March 2018 18:26 (six years ago) link
my propaganda detector is always on low hum with any prominent Russian-American public intellectual/commenter like Gessen
yes, this is giving into prejudice.
― Simon H., Thursday, 1 March 2018 18:32 (six years ago) link
Gessen has been pretty reasonable compared to other skeptics on this. If you followed her reactions over the months she’s acknowledged the reporting, increasing evidence and adjusts accordingly. Like she use to question that Russia was behind the hacks and now sees it differently. Understandable concern about it being overblown maybe serves some faulty conclusions.
Chen’s recent piece about it was really interesting because he makes the point about not wanting to be used in either side of the debate. He seemed just as annoyed by how he was retweeted by Aaron Mate as what MSNBC expected him to say about the troll farms.
― Nerdstrom Poindexter, Thursday, 1 March 2018 18:48 (six years ago) link
gessen is a v prominent putin critic, i don't think we should assume that every single russian person is somehow secretly plotting to spread pro-russian "propaganda"
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 1 March 2018 19:33 (six years ago) link
― Moo Vaughn, Thursday, March 1, 2018 7:33 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
you're a clown
― khat person (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 1 March 2018 20:00 (six years ago) link
he's gonna get caught, just you wait and see
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 1 March 2018 21:07 (six years ago) link
my propaganda detector squeals like a pig when moogabbneb posts
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 March 2018 21:09 (six years ago) link
you know who else squeals like a pig
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Thursday, 1 March 2018 21:12 (six years ago) link
(with the usual provisos that you should run down shit you see on twitter yourself) it sure does look like the set of dem mercenary fake-woke lunkheads i've grown to detest over the past 24 months have benefited greatly from message-amplifying bots
Dear confused journalists: I found the bots you have been looking for. They amplify trolls. They impersonate. They spam. They are funded by oligarchs. What more could you want in a story?And unlike @SecureDemocracy, I have actually shown my work. Gather round.— liking online (@likingonline) March 1, 2018
who could have guessed
― goole, Thursday, 1 March 2018 21:24 (six years ago) link
stoopid libs are likehttps://i.imgflip.com/25kdf6.jpg
― Hunt3r, Thursday, 1 March 2018 21:45 (six years ago) link
Masha Gessen is good and trustworthy and reasonable.
― bamcquern, Thursday, 1 March 2018 21:56 (six years ago) link
gessen is a v prominent putin critic
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, March 1, 2018 7:33 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I'm aware. Not a superfan like my partner, but have read her, seen her speak, etc.
― Moo Vaughn, Thursday, 1 March 2018 22:12 (six years ago) link
so her open Putin criticism, her being the most prominent international voice regarding LGBT issues in Russia - not to mention one of the few openly queer people in Russian public life - isn't enough to make you think she might not be in the bag for Putin anyway?
― khat person (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 1 March 2018 22:14 (six years ago) link
Perhaps foregoing a slightly fuller explanation in withdrawal from the earlier ad hominem, I'll say for ow that while my impression of her is largely that of a thoughtful, highly reasoned, highly authentic, and brave intellectual who happens to engage in some of the same questioning of her own 'side' that I do (recently drawing fire from progressives over some of her comments on #metoo), and probably more careful questioning of her own positions than I do, I nevertheless don't regard her (or most people) completely unquestioningly, nor do I regard discussion of LGBT issues in Russia as always inconsistent with the interests of a Putin/FSB regime that like some domestic actors props up anti-LGBT Islamists as bogeymen justifying repressive internal measures and foreign adventurism. Open criticism of Putin, as you say, is perhaps-much harder to square with the notion that the critic is actually acting in his/their interest, but it's hardly impossible to do so, as should be understood by anyone familiar with the concept of concern trolling or who may have charged someone nominally left of center with actually acting on behalf of what are not truly progressive interests; expressing such sentiment could provoke buy-in from Putin critics who would not otherwise listen to a message intended to shape understanding of and response to his/their regime. This low-level lack of trust is admittedly expressive of a certain paranoia regarding another nation-state that may be anti-intellectual in nature and a byproduct of larger personality typology/history, but one directed towards what is itself a paranoid state whose government is expressly in conflict with our national interest as per its leader's statement this morning. Gessen herself acknowledges that this sort of suspicion is in fact shared by some Russians - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/30/why-did-boston-marathon-bombers-do-it-interview-masha-gessen.
― Moo Vaughn, Thursday, 1 March 2018 23:04 (six years ago) link
Line breaks man wtf, have u heard of them?
― Google Atheist (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 1 March 2018 23:35 (six years ago) link
*shriek*
― NEW CHIMP THREAT (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 1 March 2018 23:36 (six years ago) link
who cares if a sanctioned historic adversary interfered in the 2016 american election for quid pro quo with one of the candidates? tax cuts! there's goalposts to move :)
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 2 March 2018 00:34 (six years ago) link
(i generally like her and her book about russia was very good, but her "sex panic" piece last november was more than a bit misguided, as later events proved)
― maura, Friday, 2 March 2018 00:46 (six years ago) link