US Politics January 2018: "You All Just Got A Lot Richer"

***tough questions

never gonna happen for a whole lot of reasons but it'd be nice if leftists would start infiltrating law enforcement the way white nationalists have, if for no other reason than to monkeywrench it.

"Hey! You there! What are you doing with that side-screen TV?"

"Uh, liberating it from the oppression of the ruling classes and redistributing it to the proletariat?"

"Just so. Carry on, mate!"

*wide-screen

Trump also renominated GOP Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to be the ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

whew I worried Trump wouldn't have anything worthy of Brownback's talents

has mr. trump announced yet whom he's appointing to oversee the russian sanctions?

Hmmm

NEWS: Dianne Feinstein unilaterally releases Fusion GPS co-founder's full testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. https://t.co/dP4LPTRoKt

— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) January 9, 2018

Congrats to the WH reporters who had a chance today to ask Trump anything at all and went with "Can you beat Oprah?"

— Gary Legum (@GaryLegum) January 9, 2018

Trump also renominated GOP Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to be the ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

whew I worried Trump wouldn't have anything worthy of Brownback's talents

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, January 9, 2018 1:06 PM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

should've made brownback the ambassador to The Sun

the astronomical body, not the rag

Read that as "trump also reanimated GOP" and i was, no the GOP is still undead, which is unfair for the other undead, really.

Seriously. The GOP has no interest in brains.

https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/3/9/3974a291-ddbe-4525-9ed1-22bab43c05ae/934A3562824CACA7BB4D915E97709D2F.simpson-transcript-redacted.pdf

Fusion GPS testimony

(As I linked earlier.)

My bad I didn't notice

Matt Yglesias points out this on p 175:

"Essentially what he told me was they had other intelligence about this matter from an internal Trump campaign source and that -- that they -- my understanding was that they believed Chris at this point -- that they believed Chris's information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization."

and p 175-176:

"We had been really careful -- I was really careful throughout this process to not ask a lot of specific sourcing questions. There are some things I know that I just don't feel comfortable sharing because obviously it's been in the news a lot lately that people who get in the way of the Russian tend to get hurt"

seth abramson has started a pretty comprehensive liveblog thread of his read from here

(THREAD) BREAKING: In an extraordinary move, Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) has *unilaterally* released the transcript of Fusion GPS's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

What follows is a live-read of the transcript by a former criminal defense attorney. Hope you'll share. pic.twitter.com/6R40eHmYqM

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 9, 2018

not relevant to that thread but

Seth Abramson = (Eric Garland + Louise Mensch) - cocaine psychosis

— maple cocaine (@historyinflicks) January 8, 2018

one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization

BZZZZZT! Obviously FAKE NEWS.

No one who can be described as "human" would work for the Trump organization.

re: abrahamson: the transcript is 312 pages long - how about he finishes reading the whole thing and then writes some kind of summary of the important parts?

because then he wouldn't get to create a triple-digit thread

An addendum

A source close to Fusion GPS tells me there was no walk-in source -- that was a mischaracterization by Simpson of the Australian diplomat tip about Papadopoulis.

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) January 9, 2018

lmao this thing is 312 pages long there's no way he's keeping it to triple-digit tweets

This is awesome. Portland's city officials - police, judges, mayor - insisted they have the right to search people's trash with no warrants. So local alt-weekly (@wweek) went through their trash and published the contents (via @bartongellman) https://t.co/32GXF0v9uV pic.twitter.com/RIv5HKSWcL

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 9, 2018

Thanks, Glenn, 12 years later.

"...an email prepping the mayor about his job application to be police chief of Los Angeles..."

whoa! that is amazing.

why is the “original publish” date on this story from 2002

it's never too late to chuckle at Portlandia

it's never too late to chuckle at Portlandia

"Are you now - or have you ever been - a devotee of organic seitan?"

"You present yourself as a champion of local microbrews; care to explain this Miller Genuine Draft Can?"

"This jar of fair-trade tahini expired fifteen months ago. So, sir, why is it in your recycling bin only this week?"

"According to this receipt, you purchased your beloved puppy, Mr. SnuggleMittens, from a corporate pet shop, rather than adopting him from a reputable nonprofit shelter, as you claimed in your campaign. Also, his poops are kind of runny what exactly are you feeding him?"

.@realDonaldTrump hands are seen as he listens to members of congress discuss Immigration reform in the Cabinet Room of the White House. #45POTUS pic.twitter.com/WdutrbFah9

— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) January 9, 2018

Dolt 45

^ please be next month's politics title

Mr Levy: Somebody's already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier.

o_O

Yeah I'd love to know more about that.

Anyway finished my skim-read. I guess most of the key details are out there -- extra comment I've seen is that when Simpson talks about how Steele was getting cold-shouldered by the FBI towards the end of October 2016, a distinction might have to be made between 'the FBI' and a particular field office, scuttlebutt saying that would be the NY one.

Confusion!

During the talks in the Cabinet Room, Trump appeared at one point to agree with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who said Democrats are seeking a "clean" DACA bill without additional border security provisions. House Majority Leaders Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) then interjected to insist that Republicans want security included.

"Mr. President, you need to be clear, though," McCarthy said. When we talk about just DACA, we don't want to be back here two years later. We have to have security."

Trump responded: "I think that's what she's saying."

Further confusing matters, Trump also said he hoped to pursue a "comprehensive" immigration bill after lawmakers strike a deal on the dreamers. Comprehensive bills, which would deal with work visas and other elements of the immigration system, failed on Capitol Hill during the tenures of both Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Confusion!

You just can't believe him!

Mmmm, I don't know, I'm pretty sure Donald Trump invented the word 'comprehensive' while he was speaking it and that it means something other than what you think it means.

maybe he meant 'comprehensible', which in his case would be a bulleted list with three items on it.

He reminds me of people I've worked with/for who are terrified of ever appearing ignorant and so they boldly say things and make decisions in ignorance and, well, what's that 'better to remain silent' proverb again?

Also, allegedly this is the death in question:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/27/mystery-death-ex-kgb-chief-linked-mi6-spys-dossier-donald-trump/

fwiw Steele has denied having anything to do with Erovinkin - though you might say he would say that.

Mmmm, I don't know, I'm pretty sure Donald Trump invented the word 'comprehensive' while he was speaking it and that it means something other than what you think it means.

― the smartest persin in the room (Old Lunch), Tuesday, January 9, 2018 3:20 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

maybe he meant 'comprehensible', which in his case would be a bulleted list with three items on it.

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, January 9, 2018

maybe he meant "contemptible"

Occam would suggest he thought it was lunchtime and was struggling through an attempt at ordering a quesadilla.

http://starcasm.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Donald_Trump_taco_bowl_Trump_Tower.jpg

Xpost not only did Greenwald link an article from 16 years ago but he’s unaware that he’s mad about something that’s been legal for longer then that.

he's running

Steve Bannon is stepping down from his post as executive chairman of Breitbart News, the company will announce on Tuesday https://t.co/RLxbbiYQkt pic.twitter.com/n43vvuUU62

— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) January 9, 2018

o please please please