rolling trump-russian collusion

(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

stoopid libs are like
https://i.imgflip.com/25kdf6.jpg

Masha Gessen is good and trustworthy and reasonable.

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.

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?

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.

Line breaks man wtf, have u heard of them?

*shriek*

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 :)

(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)

A slightly edited version of her (?) recent talk at NYPL - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/02/08/to-be-or-not-to-be/

this is no big deal, right? potato potahto, marijuana mar-a-lago?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/01/europe/putin-nuclear-missile-video-florida/index.html

How/why does that relate to the Russia investigation?

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/03/devin-nunes-just-sent-jeff-sessions-letter-accusing-fbi-breaking-law/

what a shitbeak

god he’s the worst

"i'm, heh heh, ...DOUBLING DOWN"
"dude you got no chips"
"THEN I'M TRIPLING, NO I'M FOURPLE-ING DOWN, THEN!"

what does Ryan even have to lose by defrocking him now.

wait so moo vaughn is gabbneb?

How/why does that relate to the Russia investigation?

russia (!!!) releasing a video showing off fancy new nukes (!!!) raining down on -- of all 50 states -- florida (mar-a-lago!!!) seems rather pointed, but who knows, could be totally unrelated / coincidental, or maybe like a joke in poor taste about the stoneman douglas high school shooting. meanwhile comrade kompromat says boo

another ethics complaint filed against Nunes

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/christopher-steele-the-man-behind-the-trump-dossier

wow that steele piece. at least there’s a lol bit

"His free time is devoted largely to his family, which includes three cats, one of whom not long ago replicated the most infamous allegation in the Steele dossier by peeing on a family member’s bed."

jane mayer is a hero

indeed

moo vaughn is gabbneb?

Moo's political positions are somewhat reminiscent of gabbneb, but their writing styles differ markedly. I say no; Moo is Moo.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/05/im-sorry-for-creating-the-gerasimov-doctrine

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/03/07/what-we-believe-mueller-is-investigating/

The scale, the scope ...

that "gerasimov doctrine" piece is great, thanks Simon

"His free time is devoted largely to his family, which includes three cats, one of whom not long ago replicated the most infamous allegation in the Steele dossier by peeing on a family member’s bed."

― maura, Monday, March 5, 2018 3:32 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this stood out to me too, great article otherwise

https://medium.com/@ScottMStedman/deripaskas-private-jet-newark-moscow-molde-for-secret-yacht-meeting-280494a6cb48

Holy shit at the way that is all coming into focus. I wonder if Mueller, privy to all this shit and more, ever sits back and smiles as civilians slowly piece together what he's known for months.

Alternative: I wonder how often Mueller is surprised by these scoops then suddenly swoops into action to catch up.

moo vaughn is gabbneb?

Moo's political positions are somewhat reminiscent of gabbneb, but their writing styles differ markedly. I say no; Moo is Moo.

― A is for (Aimless), Monday, March 5, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzNsOGt3bHk

xpost — he is surprised by none of it.

a series of completely random events

May 7, 2000 (Vladimir Putin takes office)

December, 2004 (Paul Manafort begins working for Viktor Yanukovych)

2005 (Paul Manafort signs a $10 million per year contract with Oleg Deripaska)

August 7, 2008 (Russia invades Georgia)

February 25, 2010 (Viktor Yanukovych wins the Ukrainian presidency)

October 11, 2011 (Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovych's opponent, is locked up)

November 9, 2013 ((Trump) Miss Universe (Moscow))

February 20, 2014 (Russia begins 'annexing' Crimea)

March, 2014 (first round of sanctions against Russia)

August 26, 2014 (Russia invades Ukraine)

June 16, 2015 (2scoops announces candidacy)

March 28, 2016 (Manafort volunteers for Trump campaign, to deal with GOP convention delegates)

April 11, 2016 (Manafort emails Konstantin Kilimnik: "How do we use to get whole? Has Deripaska's operation seen?)

May 19, 2016 (Manafort promoted to Trump campaign chairman (still not taking any pay))

June 9, 2016 (Manafort, 1/2 scoop, Jar Jar, and Bannon meet with Russians in Trump about "adoptions")

July 18, 2016 (the only change the Trump campaign requests at the RNC convention is for weakening support of Ukrainian opposition to Putin)

August 19, 2016 (Manafort resigns his (unpaid) position with the campaign)

August 20, 2016 (Frank Ocean releases Blonde)

1985 - Falco records...

you skipped Kid A

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-a-personal-letter-trump-invited-putin-to-the-2013-miss-universe-pageant/2018/03/09/a3404358-23d2-11e8-a589-763893265565_story.html?utm_term=.d8d5301467e0

Donald Trump was so eager to have Vladi­mir Putin attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow that he wrote a personal letter to the Russian president inviting him to the event, according to multiple people familiar with the document.

At the bottom of the typed letter, Trump scrawled a postscript adding that he looked forward to seeing “beautiful” women during his trip.

Trump’s letter to Putin, which was described by people with knowledge of its contents, shows how interested he was in attracting the personal attention of the Russian president. The real estate magnate, who owned the Miss Universe pageant, wrote the note at a time when he was looking to expand his brand to Russia.

The letter, the first known attempt at direct outreach by Trump to Putin, has been turned over to investigators probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 campaign. It is unclear whether Trump’s missive was ever delivered to the Russian president — and if so, whether Putin responded.

The nation may survive, but the wound to hope and order will never fully heal - US elections 2016: the october surprises

"I will keep you in suspense" - US Elections 2016: the Final Thread

Wow. Whoa. That is some group of people. Thousands. - US Election Day 2016

not sure what you're getting at with those links!

but i will say that skimming through the election day thread is like watching the kind of horror movie where the friends are all cheerful and happy as they pick up supplies on the way to the cabin in the woods, and everyone keeps making fun of the person in the backseat who expresses fear about the forest

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cwwei-KUoAAhyuT.jpg

i can reread just about any ilx thread but yeah those ones running up to the 2016 election genuinely give me little anxiety pangs and chest tightness even looking at the thread titles

ugh

oh man, just came across the part where i drunkenly yelled at ILX at 1 in the morning for being so confident that clinton would win. god, that was a terrible night. i like mookie's comment earlier that evening, after it became clear that something was deeply wrong:

gonna start a game of civ 2; see you on the other side

― mookieproof, Tuesday, November 8, 2016 10:17 PM

xpost same

i took a cold shower at 11 pm election night

I had serious trauma after 2004, so when i started seeing bad signs i catastrophized a surely dire outcome right away and fled most media and internet.

Reading through the thread the morning after, watching everyone realise the shit was hitting the fan was fucking heartbreaking.

I just remember ending up on the mta bus toward my work building the next morning, sitting near a coworker, a product manager about twenty years younger than me. Nodded to each other grimly. Got off at the stop and started walking together. I tried to say something and just started crying instead. Her: ‘yeah’.

San Francisco felt very silent, walking to work that morning.