a quick poll about Russia and Donald Trump

Taibbi is now just straight up lying about when other media wrote what:

I’m really mad about this.

Media people being self-righteous about alleged media failures on the Russia issue are *making things up* about other media outlets in order to create an exaggerated sense of their own righteousness goodness. https://t.co/fUMepTYxwP

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 26, 2019

both taibii and greenwald favor the approach where they sort of conjure these obviously idiotic ideological opponents so as to make themselves seem like they are daringly speaking truth to (ignorant) power. if they actually engaged with the more nuanced and wider spectrum of opinion and approach they couldn't maintain the pose (and perhaps their self-image). i find that taibbi still has smart things to say (or at least i can enjoy his writing) while greenwald has been useless for years. but these days they both mostly take the route of easy, snarky righteousness rather than being serious observers of the situation.

the whole "I told you so" victory lap is nauseating because A) Mueller still indicted 37 people (including the guy running Trump's campaign), B) we still have no clue what's in the report and just have to take the word of Trump's hand-picked stooge, C) it *explicitly* says he is "not exonerated", D) his entire business empire was exposed as fraudulent in the meantime, and E) the entire time Trump was investigated he did everything he could to make himself look as guilty as possible. Like, his hand's in the jar, there's cookie all over his face, and the investigation just says "well we can't know he ate *that* particular cookie, no you can't see how I came to that conclusion". Republicans are simultaneously claiming that the report completely exonerates him of all crime and also that it can't be released to the public, and no one's calling them out on this. It's sickening.

one more thing - when Hillary Clinton was cleared of email crimes by the FBI the response was NOTHING like this

NYT front page deep-dive today suggests future presidents (if any) will now see fed law enforcement as their personal tool, and will never be in danger of "obstructing justice"

thx Mueller

presidents can still be charged with obstruction if they committed the underlying crime of the inquiry, i guess.

i think it's a weird argument. he was obstructing an inquiry into anything to do with his campaign and possible bribes and improper lobbying and whatever because he likely had NO IDEA what was legal and what wasn't. the fact that he wasn't guilty of conspiracy doesn't mean he was "innocent" of the "underlying charges" *he* was trying to obstruct. he is only innocent of the charge mueller was mandated to prove. but the spinoffs that his investigation yielded--that is also stuff he was trying to block.

so he did obstruct justice into things for which he may still be guilty. mueller should have asked me for advice on this one before submitting to barr.

i still agree with the emerging consensus that mainstream center-right and center-left journalism embarrassed themselves badly by falling in love with the spy narrative. with the exception of people like schiff, though, i don't think leaders in the democratic party ever became quite so enamored.

Being reported that grand jury is still active? That plus other open doors is ... curious.

The story, as Mueller uncovered it, is still a ‘spy narrative’. It’s a story about Russias intelligence service hacking the Democrats and giving it to WikiLeaks. And what's most infuriating about Taibbi and Greenwald is that they denied all along that Russian intelligence was behind the whole thing, and now play 'I TOLD YOU SO' anyway. They are just shameless liars, that's just all there is to it.

tell me a story

maybe we could wait to see the full report before deciding who "embarrassed themselves" on this issue

Xpost Is it the one about General Lee's heart condition again

ilx centrists:

Hang in there, patriots. Let the process play out. :-)

— Counterchekist (@counterchekist) March 27, 2019

ffs

jfc

Imo everybody should be mandated yo shut up for a week

now that nerdstrom's gone i don't think there are any ilx centrists (idk what fred is other than european)

greenwald has shown himself to be a huge piece of shit and an idiot multiple times, why any of you give a shit about anything he says is beyond me (i know morbs is incapable of relinquishing his faves)

I'm guessing I have the most consistent far-left voting record of anyone on this thread. But I do hate American leftists.

I'm guessing I have the most consistent far-left voting record of anyone on this thread

lmao never change

LOL Fred.

sorry, that was a trolly post.

but I'm glad it provoked that classic fred

I still don't know why I should be expecting the full report to be significantly more interesting or damming than the summary suggests

because that's all there is to hold on to?

and barr is a republican baddy (but mueller is not)

Yes Fred show us yr US votimg history

xp. n.b. i am not calling barr a "baddy" in the parlance of our times

Again, the "baddie" is an old friend of Mueller's.

Also, Mueller is a registered Republican iirc

But..you don't have to be a baddie to move faster to 'tip' the scale slightly into the direction he and Rosenstein landed on.

If they had charged him with obstruction Trump would have fired both and made it easy for us.

Mueller i think did a good job

i know morbs is incapable of relinquishing his faves

i will not litigate yr 5-star review of Jacob's fucking Ladder

The summary suggests the report to be plenty damning and embarrassing? It explicitly says it's not exonerating. It's just not incriminating either, which might be surprising to some, but ok.

i will not litigate yr 5-star review of Jacob's fucking Ladder

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 27, 2019 10:36 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's a fucking politics thread morbs, i continue to not give a shit what you think about my taste in movies

https://thenib.imgix.net/usq/4ca76840-4ade-48a7-a96f-1d43944a59d7/the-collusion-delusion-2-0c6.png

me itt

oh lol i forgot the nib treats their comic panels as separate pngs, anyway that's not me

Lol

I still don't know why I should be expecting the full report to be significantly more interesting or damming than the summary suggests

― Simon H.,

This is what I don't get. Mueller writes a report, then Barr misrepresents the contents, and Mueller just goes sure dog whatever?

There surely can't be people who still think there is anything of consequence in that report or that anything is going to result from it idgi

how big is Maddow's cult?

i don't give a shit what you think my poli-pundit "faves" are, Braddykins

Is Mueller even allowed to publicly dispute that

Hang in there, patriots. Let the process play out. :-)

The process is a lengthy frustrating mess, constantly manipulated or delayed, with no guarantee the results will resemble anything like truth or justice. But the only alterative to the current process** that I can see is rioting in the streets and I am too old for that.

**nb: the current process includes vigorously browbeating a reluctant Congress into activity and working to dominate the next election cycle.

Re: "Maddow's cult", viewership supposedly plunged half a mil this week

Like the point isn't that Mueller's report was "lol perpwalk these motherbitches" and Barr put whiteout all over it. But that perhaps the body of data was more like "some very concerning things were found but it is impossible to prove intentional collusion" or "there could have been obstruction but it's difficult to prove intent" vs "nothing to see here"

i don't give a shit what you think my poli-pundit "faves" are, Braddykins

― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 27, 2019 10:48 AM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool, maybe next time don't bring up my letterboxd reviews here bc you're incapable of having a discussion where you're not convinced of your own superiority

Is Mueller even allowed to publicly dispute that

― Buttigieg comes right from the source (Neanderthal), Wednesday, March 27, 2019 1:48 PM (three minutes ago)

congress can call on him to testify, can't they?

Yeah absolutely...and probably will be called. I just don't think right now he can call NYT and say "about that report...."

But idk for sure

Re: "Maddow's cult", viewership supposedly plunged half a mil this week

― Simon H.,

Damn! Ok fair enough so there have been some consequences