The False Handshake Story Aims To Delegitimize Trump
I dislike Trump and his policies. I dislike Merkel and her policies. Both are my political enemies. But what I dislike even more are lying media which try to deceive for undeclared political aims.
A recent example:
- In awkward exchange, Trump seems to ignore Merkel's handshake request
- Donald Trump Appears to Ignore Angela Merkel's Handshake Request During Awkward Photo Opp
- Angela Merkel Asked President Trump to Shake Hands. He Appeared to Ignore Her
- Trump Straight Up Ignores Request To Shake Hands With Angela Merkel
- WATCH: Awkward moment Donald Trump BLANKS Angela Merkel handshake offer at White House
The pieces linked above go on to speculate about personal animosities between Merkel and Trump and about diverging U.S. and European political directions.
While differences may exist between Trump and Merkel they have nothing to do with a handshake in an Oval Office photo op. Not mentioned in the above reports is that Merkel and Trump shook hands with each other several times and in cordial ways.
Here as Merkel arrives at the White House:
And here at the end of the press conference after their talks:
So why the headlines above?
Trump rejected to shake hands in the Oval Office. This was at a photo opportunity where typically some 20 to 30 photographers have a chance to snap a picture of an event. During such shootings the photographers try to get the persons in front of lenses into a position that makes for salable pictures. When one watches the video of the event one can clearly hear some photographers urging Merkel and Trump to shake hands. Trump ignores the request. But Merkel does not get it and asks Trump if he wants to shake hands. Trump continues to ignore the request.
His faked ignorance was not directed against Merkel though. As one can see above he has no aversion at all to shake hands with here. His behavior was directed against jerky photographers.
Consider the headlines of earlier handshakes Trump exchanged with his guests:
- Watch Trump and Abe’s Awkward 18-Second-Long Handshake
- 'Look at me' - Trump and Abe's awkward handshake
- Donald Trump mocked for 'awkward' handshake with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe
- Trump’s awkward handshake with Trudeau becomes instant meme
- Trump, Trudeau Handshake Marked By Awkward Silence [VIDEO]
- Donald Trump's strange handshake style and how Justin Trudeau beat it – video
This seems like a pattern to me:
- The "awkward" handshake with Abe happened on February 10 during the photo op in the Oval Office after prompting by photographers.
- The "awkward" handshake with Trudeau happened on February 13 during the photo op in the Oval Office after prompting by photographers.
- The "refusal" of a handshake with Merkel happened on March 17 during the photo op in the Oval Office after prompting by photographers.
Had Trump shaken hands with Merkel at the event the media would certainly have found some "awkward" aspect to it. They would have written similar stories as they have written about the handshakes with Abe and Trudeau. Trump tried to avoid that. But the media now write similar stories about the "rejected" handshake request. This time Trump did not fall for the photographer request for an "awkward" handshake. But there was no escape from the trap. The stories about the "ill behaved Trump" and "bad relations" with Merkel had, in all likelihood, already been written.
But why do the media do this?
During the election some 98% of all editorial media endorsements went for Clinton. It is no question on which side they are on. They dislike Trump. I understand that, I dislike him too. But that does not mean that I have to shun objectivity. He is the duly elected president of the United States and any analyzing and anticipating of his policies requires to keep that in mind. Analysis based on the false handshake story will inevitably be false. The media are obviously out to get Trump, if not over false claims of Russian influence on him and the elections then over "awkward" handshakes.
The current media task is, in military termini, to "soften the target". To drive up his disapproval rates as they successfully do. This to -in the end- enable his impeachment:
The intention [.. is ...] to hamstring and delegitimize the new administration coming in, and to bring about the resignation or impeachment of Donald Trump. It is in all intents and purposes a coup, though without military intervention, as it seeks to overturn a completely legal and constitutional election.
The now ongoing hearings in Congress about alleged Russian hacking, influence on the election and collusion with the Trump campaign - zero evidence has been provided for these claims - aims in the same direction.
We previewed this "elite" coup at this site in December 2016. I still do not understand the end aim the Democrats and their masters have in mind. A president Pence would likely be even more devastating to domestic liberal aims than Trump. His foreign policy would be more hawkish.
Is that last point the feature, not the bug, that drives the anti-Trump campaign?
Posted by b on March 20, 2017 at 15:12 UTC | Permalink
"Dully elected" is a very accurate typo--describes the tedious US electoral farce to a T.
Posted by: WorldBLee | Mar 20 2017 15:37 utc | 2
At the photo-op in the Oval Office, Merkel was joking about getting a 'long' handshake with Trump (as what happened with Abe). Trump's glib response was a no response. That's all in that moment of time. Trying to make news of it is total bias, but that's life in the MSM. Throwing steaming piles of s**t hoping something sticks and people watch/click.
Posted by: Robbie D | Mar 20 2017 15:50 utc | 3
Trump refusing to recant about GCHQ spying on him bumped Merkel's visit off the front page. Besides the handshake the other thing that most stories commented on was Trump's "“As far as wiretapping by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps,” referring to Obama having tapped Merkel's cell phone.
Posted by: Mike Maloney | Mar 20 2017 16:22 utc | 4
"I dislike Trump and his policies. I dislike Merkel and her policies. Both are my political enemies. But what I dislike even more are..." The Democrats, any democrats!
Posted by: OSJ | Mar 20 2017 16:31 utc | 6
During that Merkel meet, Trump told German Chancellor Angela Merkel “at least we have something in common” over claims his phones were wiretapped by his predecessor Barack Obama during last year's presidential campaign.
Mr Trump, speaking at a press conference with Ms Merkel apparently referring to reports in 2013 during Mr Obama's presidency that the United States bugged her phone. Congressional leaders from both political parties say they do not believe Mr Trump was wiretapped.
Ms Merkel remained stony-faced despite laughs among the gathered press". I would go further, she looked genuinely puzzled, as if to say I don't know what you are talking about, when in fact Obama personally apologized to Merkel and said it would not happen again.
Posted by: harrylawh | Mar 20 2017 16:43 utc | 7
@ Posted by: Heros | Mar 20, 2017 12:09:58 PM | 4
Your link, LOL. Discredited Ostrovsky ? Masonic-Illuminati ? Did you forget to add /snark ?
How about this instead (first from behind the premium paywall):
The liquidator from Washington comes calling on Netanyahu - HaaretzHaaretz Editorial - Israeli Elections Now
To put an end to this government of gloom, it would be best to hold elections, and the sooner the better.On His First Visit to the Middle East, Trump’s Envoy Jason Greenblatt Surprises Everyone - Haaretz
Hm, could these issues have something to do with a recent escalation in openly acknowledged warmongering in Syria, raising Bibi's mythological Strong leader/Iron-man image re 'National Security' within the Israeli terrorists colony project ?
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 20 2017 16:45 utc | 8
@ Posted by: b | Mar 20, 2017 12:27:46 PM | 5
Why ? It worked both ways, no ? ;)
@ Posted by: harrylawh | Mar 20, 2017 12:43:54 PM | 7
Indeed. Was global news at the time, 'Snowden', the German parliament demanded an investigation ? IIRC ;)
Merkel can be sly & quite disingenuous, when it suits ...
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 20 2017 16:52 utc | 9
I am afraid of a triple coop in mid summer.
Trump.
Putin.
Erdogan.
According to the House of Roth. Putin's expiration date is August.
Posted by: kassandra | Mar 20 2017 16:52 utc | 10
I would just like to add.
I dislike Trump and his policies. I dislike Merkel and her policies. I dislike Clinton and her policies.
I think this media has jumped the shark a long time ago. A little propaganda can be effective, but a lot will eventually lead to obvious mistakes that the viewer will catch, thereby discrediting the press.
Posted by: Les | Mar 20 2017 16:59 utc | 11
@11 The media is catering to people with short attention spans....readers who don't get past the headlines.
Posted by: dh | Mar 20 2017 17:11 utc | 12
Trump, or for that matter any other candidate, would be 'duly elected' if so many of us weren't casting our votes unsafe voting machines/scanners, and if tallying our votes was a transparent process....The vestigial, undemocratic Electoral College aside.
Kudos for catching out the degenerate mainstream media propagandizing, again. Alternative media choose not to cover this 'non event'.
Posted by: CDWaller | Mar 20 2017 17:22 utc | 13
Before everyone starts seeing "patterns" and potential coups, do a google search of awkward handshakes and Obama. This is what our media does. The difference though, is that since our president tweets out this crap on a daily basis we all tend to pile it on because we like to give him a taste of his own medicine. As they say, if he wants to run with the big dogs he has to stop pissing like a puppy.
Posted by: Kronos | Mar 20 2017 17:33 utc | 14
@4 Not only do I agree with your post, but I’ll go further. Right now hearings are going on regarding potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. IMO, hearings should be held regarding actual, proven collusion between agents of the Israeli government, who hold dual citizenship, who have repeatedly broken the law financing illegal settlements and who are posing as financiers of political parties when in fact they are foreign agents of influence trying to subvert independent, unbiased policy and force the expenditure of U.S. treasure to finance wars and proxy wars that benefit Israel in every way.
If stronger policy should emanate from this investigation into Russian activities in the U.S. election, then that policy should be applied across the board equally for ALL agents of foreign governments trying to influence both sides equally or unequally and U.S. politicians and government leaders who accept such influence and favorably benefit the country those agents are really representing.
____________________________________
I dislike Trump and his policies. I dislike Merkel and her policies. Both are my political enemies.I understand that, I dislike him too. But that does not mean that I have to shun objectivity.
That would explain why there are numerous articles some with such disclaimers assuring this dislike, others not bothering with such that clearly rush to Trump’s defense often in great detail as opposed to the reason(s) behind the dislike.
Trump wrote in a tweet:
I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
Maybe you should apply for the job of Donald’s advocate, since you have done an outstanding job of defending him while disliking him and his policies. Isn't that the definition of a good or great lawyer?
Here’s the kicker though: Why is it that you apply so much effort and time debunking the media’s lies, half truths, and spin but almost none at all doing same to debunk and expose MULTIPLE, bald-faced lies, deception, opacity and spin by Trump and this White House some of which have been thankfully debunked by others since despite your own silence or meager effort.
When you write that you dislike Trump and his policies and then spend most of the time defending him from the media out to get him and almost no time on what he’s doing that is as bad and worse since he has the power to wreak suffering and destruction on the vulnerable both at home and abroad, aren’t you proving you're as bad as the media? Aren't you drawing a portrait of Trump the poor victim of deception in contrast to the big, bad media out to get him with their lies?
I have read you magnificently exposing the previous administration many, many times for their falsehoods with good cause, which makes me wonder even more why you rarely, if ever, do so with this administration and more specifically with Trump.
It’s all well and nice that you disclaim liking Trump and his policies, but honestly, at this point when you have given Trump’s rampant deception such an obvious pass, I have to rely on actions speaking louder than words and completely dismiss such disclaimers as disingenuous. The questions linger: why do you write you dislike him and his policies and then fail to attack his glaring deception at all or with the same passion you demonstrated against the deception of the previous administration, and most importantly, what is the motive for your failure to do so despite claiming to dislike Trump and his policies?
Posted by: Circe | Mar 20 2017 17:52 utc | 15
Media (as usual)): "Its all about me!! Its all about us!!"
Regards, Shyaku
Posted by: Shyaku | Mar 20 2017 17:57 utc | 16
Screw the MSCM, Mr. Trump does an admirable job of delegitimizing himself every day.
Posted by: ben | Mar 20 2017 18:36 utc | 17
"Pence...even more devastating to domestic liberal aims"
So you mean he would stop the demographic genocide of white people? I don't buy it.
Seriously though, "Liberalism" is a crime against humanity I personally believe "liberals", "progressives", "neocons" and "leftists" should be marched into concentration camps and forcibly worked until physical expiration. There's not a hint of sarcasm here, if anyone is wondering. One of the few ways American can be saved is by eliminating a few 10's of millions of the useless eaters - progressive, liberals, neocons and leftists.
Posted by: Pareto | Mar 20 2017 18:57 utc | 18
It’s all well and nice any diehard apologist disclaim liking DNC & Hillary's policies earlier, but honestly, at this point when diehard apologist have given DNC & Hillary's rampant deception such an obvious pass, diehard apologist have to rely on actions speaking louder than words and completely dismiss such disclaimers as disingenuous. The questions linger: why do diehard apologist write dislike DNC & Hillary's and their policies and then fail to attack them glaring deception at all or with the same passion you demonstrated against the deception of the DNC & RNC administrations, and most importantly, what is the motive for diehard apologist failure to do so despite claiming to dislike DNC & Hillary's policies?
Posted by: OSJ | Mar 20 2017 19:10 utc | 19
Technically, GCHQ is not wiretapping if they access stored communications in the NSA database. For all intents, it's the same as wiretapping.
Posted by: Les | Mar 20 2017 19:13 utc | 20
Trump has a record of, um, abnormal handshakes. He is a moron, with apologies to anyone diagnosed as one. I am certain Putin regrets any involvement with him.
Posted by: Bardi | Mar 20 2017 19:17 utc | 21
Handshakes, yeah thats what important according to the stupid western MSM apparently,
why hate on Trump btw? No need to considering the hysterical anti-russian crowd would have started ww3 by now with Hillary.
Posted by: Anonymou_s | Mar 20 2017 19:30 utc | 22
Two months in and the media war against Trump hasn't let up. Whatever else Trump is, he is not part of the establishment crowd.
A few months of this, and blocking Trumps moves to where the deplorables wont take up pitchforks and assault rifles then the impeachment. Minor details like evidence not required in the land of the lynch mob and McCarthyism.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 20 2017 19:35 utc | 23
@20
a-Guess you haven't read my posts that do so and are ignorant of my position that finds both sides of the aisle to be thoroughly corrupt including their chosen figureheads.
b-To my knowledge, there is one President at a time, and presently one party holding a majority in BOTH houses.
It is therefore stupid to keep harping on the past, while an equally corrupt and even more deceptive President and party are pushing policy that is disgusting, hypocritical and disgraceful to say the least.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 20 2017 19:38 utc | 24
He seems to be fronting for the establishment, if not part of it. They're happy to have him there in case their health plan and tax plan both fail. The architects live to fight another day even if Trump goes down.
Posted by: Les | Mar 20 2017 19:56 utc | 25
Whatever else Trump is, he is not part of the establishment crowd.
Only in that he's a businessman and not a politician. That of course does not discount or excuse the level of his corruption, greed/self-interest, hypocrisy and deception. Neither does this excuse him for filling his cabinent with oligarchs from Wall Street, big oil, the MIC and Zionist advocates, none of which have the ordinary people's interests in mind or global peace in in their not-so-pure hearts. They in turn are a reflection of who he is and his regressive/degenerate agenda that favors the 1% in his billionaires club and the cabal that lord over everything and everyone.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 20 2017 20:00 utc | 26
@ Posted by: Bardi | Mar 20, 2017 3:17:14 PM | 22
Well he would definitely benefit from some handshake training.
Doesn't WH have a protocol manager or someone similar who can polish his manners a bit?
Posted by: hopehely | Mar 20 2017 20:00 utc | 27
Trump is apparently not very keen. And his coaches did not handle the situ in a good way on his behalf.
If Trump was a quick thinker (he should have been prepared for their stunts), he would have said words to the effect that we've already shaken hands and we are not going to do it again for the photographers. Prime Minister Nato Tool Jerkoff and I will shake hands again when the situation is appropriate.
Trump should have been prepared for the set up photo bullshit. He had gone through it at least twice already.
Posted by: fast freddy | Mar 20 2017 20:06 utc | 28
Some buy into the left/right team sports. Divide the commons into self-destructive warring factions(red team/blue team) whilst preventing them from looking up at their corrupt masters whom are running off with the fixtures.
Were there never a leftist movement, we'd all have burned up in a Gilded Age Triangle Shirt Factory working bell to bell with no weekends off for pauper's wages.
That's where we're headed again, BTW. And both teams are screwing us in concert.
Posted by: fast freddy | Mar 20 2017 20:16 utc | 29
"It is therefore stupid to keep harping on the present elected president, while an more corrupted and more deceptive President and party which were pushing policies that are more disgusting, hypocritical and disgraceful to say the least."
Posted by: OSJ | Mar 20 2017 20:16 utc | 30
@31
Why do you put your words in italics? Are you not proud of what you just wrote? It's not even a cogent sentence...for starters.
LOL.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 20 2017 20:22 utc | 31
@16
typicall Circe, full of nonsense and ad hominems. In case you've forgotten, b has very well adressed Trumps media hype as what it is, a deception tactic. So you expect him to debunk every sceme Trump comes up with? Why don't you stop being a shill and start pointing out flaws in b's arguments? From what I've seen b is quite spot on, Trump is under constant fire by a desperate media establishment, they don't care wether their tactics are actually helping Trump, they're just extremly sore losers. But yeah you're right about one thing, Trump isn't the vitctim, because the media isn't competent enough to actually hurt him, instead they conjure these nonsense issues and scandals, because they seem to think that the meek masses no longer care about actual issues, which Trump just brushes off, further solidifying his outsider status that got him elected in the first place.
Posted by: Backdoor | Mar 20 2017 20:26 utc | 32
"Only in that he's a grassroots organizer a Nobel laureate and a black politician. That of course does not discount or excuse the level of his corruption, greed/self-interest, golfing, hypocrisy and deception. Neither does this excuse him for filling his cabinet and key appointments with fake black, liberal, NeoLiberal, Oligarchs from Wall Street, big conglomerates, the MIC and Zionist advocates, none of which have the ordinary people's interests in mind or global peace in their heartless regime change. They in turn are a reflection of who he is and his regressive/degenerate agenda that favors the 1% in his billionaires club and the cabal that lord over everything and everyone."
Posted by: OSJ | Mar 20 2017 20:28 utc | 33
@34
Good I'm glad you agree that this President and Administration and the past one are both equally corrupt, hence your substitution of my words for the past one. Again, there is only one President in power at a time. So now the buck stops with Trump and I will ensure he doesn't get away with all the shit he's pulling and gets NO PASS AT ALL even with whatever distraction is the flavor of the day that makes him appear like the poor-poor victim of some vast conspiracy.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 20 2017 20:40 utc | 34
I sincerely believe b is an honorable German doing his utmost - fair and evenhanded. I don't agree 100% b expresses every time, but I like his analysis. No one are perfect even gods and angles disagree so why keep attacking b and Trump is beyond me?
Posted by: OSJ | Mar 20 2017 20:41 utc | 35
They (the media) have all become National Inquirers. Here are some headlines they could use for the next few weeks.
TRUMP KICKS WHITE HOUSE DOG
TRUMP AND MELANIA IN DRUNKEN WHITE HOUSE BRAWL
KELLYANNE REVEALS ALL - SECRET STEAMY TRUMP-PELOSI AFFAIR
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS - TRUMP CAUGHT WITH RUSSIAN WHORES IN MOSCOW
Posted by: gdpbull | Mar 20 2017 21:00 utc | 36
Sputnik website..
The democrats, apologists and sympertizers still living in the past trying to gain points in Congressional hearing....
1.The Democrats still believe that the rebuked and discredited “Golden Shower” dossier is a thing.
In his opening remarks, ranking member of the intelligence committee Adam Schiff repeatedly cited the infamous report as it hadn’t long been proved false.
“According to Steele’s Russian sources, the Trump campaign is offered documents damaging to Hillary Clinton, which the Russians would publish through an outlet that gives them deniability, like Wikileaks. The hacked documents would be in exchange for a Trump Administration policy that de-emphasizes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and instead focuses on criticizing NATO countries for not paying their fair share – policies which, even as recently as the president’s meeting last week with Angela
Posted by: OSJ | Mar 20 2017 21:47 utc | 38
Circe, it's the job of the media to properly criticise what Donald Trump is or is not doing as President. The criticism has to be based on actual evidence of what Trump is doing or has done. That is not the same as trying to get him impeached simply because he won the Presidency instead of the corporate media's preferred candidate who would have called for (among other things) a no-fly zone over Syria and an increased build-up of NATO soldiers and artillery along eastern Europe's borders with Russia.
B is simply asking for the media to report objectively on Trump's performance as President including his failings and where he might have conflicts of interest. You cannot ask B to report on what Trump might be doing or on his potential to bring ruin and suffering; every world leader has that potential because of the powers invested in the position s/he holds.
You can only ask B to report on what Trump has actually done and is doing that reveals what agenda he may be holding. You cannot ask B to report on what you personally believe Trump is doing or will be doing. While we all read our own interpretations and narratives into the Trump government's actions, we cannot expect B to take our narratives on board, accept them uncritically and use them to predict what the Trump administration will do next. That really would make MoA no better than the corporate media.
If you want to advocate for your position regarding Trump or any other US President whose agenda displeases you, these MoA comments forums are not the place.
Posted by: Jen | Mar 20 2017 22:03 utc | 39
Today is the day when the USA embarked on the path to its eventual dissolution. Impeachment of Trump - an almost inevitability now - is set to unleash forces that will remove any cloak of legitimacy from the totally rotten US political system and will eventually tore America apart. The country is simply ungovernable in its present form. The greatest irony of all this is that although the Russians did exactly zero of their alleged misdeeds, the resulting mess is bound to exceed their wildest dreams.
Posted by: telescope | Mar 20 2017 23:16 utc | 41
@ Posted by: dh | Mar 20, 2017 1:11:39 PM | 13
@ Posted by: gdpbull | Mar 20, 2017 5:00:08 PM | 37
It is, all, just headlines ...
6 in 10 of you will share this link without reading it, a new, depressing ...Jun 16, 2016 - On June 4, the satirical news site the 'Science Post' published a block of “lorem ipsum” text under a frightening headline: “Study: 70% of ...
or
You Won’t Finish This Article
Or, Why people online don’t read to the end.
@ Posted by: Les | Mar 20, 2017 3:13:54 PM | 21
@ Posted by: Jen | Mar 20, 2017 6:03:05 PM | 40
Indeed.
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 20 2017 23:55 utc | 42
Given that Harvard, that paragon of enlightenment, that distiller of refined spirits,
has informed us that Moon of Alabama has been identified as a noteworthy "purveyor of fake news", in company with other infamous truthtellers like Wikileaks and rogue powerhouse intellectuals like Paul Craig Roberts, it boggles the mind that anyone other than an easily fooled fool like me would continue to imbibe with gusto b's insightfully-tainted brew.
John Rappoport offered that the media attacking Trump and Trump attacking the media is the CIA attacking Trump and Trump attacking the CIA: https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/trump-is-challenging-the-whole-cia-media-nexus/
The brave dead German journalist Udo Ulfkotte made clear that the CIA is not merely directing mass media spin on this side of the Atlantic.
This hand to handshake surrogate combat, at Trump's choice, between Trump and the CIA, 'murder incorporated', is worthy of a Marvel comic book series, and admiration.
Posted by: canuck | Mar 21 2017 1:11 utc | 43
I am sick and tired when Americans, vast majority of them, born and raised surrounded by a totalitarian culture (Chomsky) pretending to be an open society are hopelessly trapped in their fake binary world imposed by the abhorrent US imperial regime.
Those morons, even here on this site, should understand that there are NEVER EVER only two choices for solution to anything. There are NEVER EVER only two choices for mitigation or simply describing or addressing any real problems in the real world.
And if they perceive only two choices to anything at all, they are hopelessly ignorant about true issues they think they know something about, exhibiting what shrink calls a sense of false knowledge.
And hence supporting any one side in any disputations is NEVER EVER evidence of opposing any other particular side or opinion in the discourse unless openly and directly stated.
Please get this your brains otherwise no rational conversation can even be conducted.
In this particular case b protecting Trump right to be treated fairly in no shape, way or form implied his support for Trump, with and without his stated opinion as Trump non-supporter.
Sadly, what Americans suck from the mothers' milk is nothing but complete confusion.
They confuse free choice from broadest spectrum of choices, determined by individual knowledge, with a razor thin slice of unreality founded on a binary world of fear and extortion as a foundation of American political thought.
"Proud" Americans often say:
Are with me or against me? My way or highway? A totalitarian talk embedded in American brains like a parasitic worm of celebrated anti-intellectualism.
Posted by: Kalen | Mar 21 2017 1:21 utc | 44
"In this particular case b protecting Trump right to be treated fairly in no shape, way or form implied his support for Trump, with and without his stated opinion as Trump non-supporter."
Excellent and I'm all for it. :-)
Posted by: OJS | Mar 21 2017 1:28 utc | 45
Today, why today? If "impeachments of Trump". Lets be clear, there will be bloodbaths - Republicans, Democrats, Progressive, NeoCon, Neoliberal, blah, blah, blah, even families, siblings, black, white, brown, yellow.. blah, blah..... not sit idly by and watch but at each other throats.
Get over it apologists, democrats, lesser of two evils Trump won. Regardless anyone had or had not voted Trump.
While we are at each other throats, that freaking Obomo, now vacationing in Hawaii - golfing surfing drinking with his billionaire friends....eight freakng years? Heckuva job!
Posted by: OJS | Mar 21 2017 1:30 utc | 46
The Bush/Clinton/Obama admin/faction have always projected onto others what they are doing themselves.
Russia meddled in US election? No.. this seething mass of fellow globalist travelers colluded to stop Trump winning the election.
Five eyes - GHCQ monitoring Trumps communications - verbal, under the table - in the run up to the election. Many skeletons to hide, everyone shitting when Trump won.
Obama still sneaking around in the shadows.. leading from behind..
I don't like some of what I see Trump doing, but the longer he can hang in there, the closer the globalist fellow travellers will bring the US to implosion.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 1:53 utc | 47
Outraged @26: All headlines
It's actually more than that. Usually, the lead paragraph restates the headline. The real information that contradicts or mitigates it is limited to one paragraph.
"A photograph taken when Merkel first met with Trump earlier in the day outside the White House shows the two leaders shaking hands."
It's done in a way that's very deceptive. I've seen it with other stories, such as the Sessions story and the Russian hack. There are effectively disclaimers buried within the story, but only comprise a few sentences.
Posted by: Les | Mar 21 2017 2:07 utc | 48
i hadn't read this tnc msm set piece. i don't read anything with trump in the headline. or clinton or obama for that matter. i just read about the things they do/have done. clinton (either one)/bush/obama/trump are claymation figures. the media put them in position and photograph them to tell their story. literally this time, usually verbally. b has it exactly right. tee-rump throws it right back at them. it's all a sideshow. the real action is as always in what the nation states 'headed' by these claymation figures do, not what 'positions' the claymation figures are 'discovered' in at any particular time. the tnc media is 'fact free' at this point, in 100% manipulative mode, and deserves 0% of our attention, at least when it comes to their claymation arrangements.
Posted by: jfl | Mar 21 2017 2:16 utc | 49
Posted by: Circe | Mar 20, 2017 4:40:32 PM | 35 etc etc
There's something you're missing, Circe. Your repetitive, long-winded and convoluted diatribes would go right over the heads of the Deplorables.
Trump's messages are simple and direct. But don't let that stop you.
Everyone's gotta do what they do best, right?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 21 2017 2:22 utc | 50
jfl 50
Always information to be gained if you can stomach wading through the garbage in the MSM.
Get an idea where the fellow traveller globalists are headed ect. Also MSM has a large number of reporters, information can be gained reading between the lines.
I can only stomach reading one...
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 2:28 utc | 51
@ Posted by: Les | Mar 20, 2017 10:07:04 PM | 49
Well aware of how deliberate, planned & co-ordinated Psychological Operations (Psyops) works, Les. Post on it often. Needs to be said, for casual visitors, all the same. :)
What the current administration, since they have Exec & both Houses, needs to do promptly is direct DOJ to launch an Anti-Trust case against the 5 Mega-Media-Corpses, ultimately tools of both the Deep-State and the 0.01% (bankers/war profiteers) that own them. Huge shit-fight, lots of political pain & burnt capital.
But given ProPornOT, whats happening globally (See ie France) not just Stateside with Facebook, Google, Twitter, & the controlled co-ordinated western MSM, etc, if it's not done there will be a new 'ism' to demonize & dis-empower the non-sheeple with, 'Fake-ism ?'.
Can easily foresee a reversion to self-censorship through intimidation, passive-aggressive censorship, interference with or site bannings/takedowns by tech companies, people being fired or hindered in employment utilizing such as 'online-tracking/cookies scans', whilst sustaining & maintaining indoctrination and information & perception management of the sheeple ... Shit you not, I do!
They've created Lists, browser plugins, feed 'filters', ludicrous non-transparent biased utterly unaccountable faux 'fact-checking' sites and staff sections, tweaking algorithms behind the scenes, whilst running the Primary and sub-narratives for well over 15 months, relentlessly now.
It'll only get worse & worse, unless the Anti-Trust laws, existing statutes on the books, are used to break 'em up, just like the Standard Oils & Railway barons of 1890-1915, IMV.
Rant over, 2c is up ...
Peace. Salaam. Shalom.
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 21 2017 2:41 utc | 53
@52 @53 p au
if it's got 'trump', 'clinton', 'obama', 'putin' ... in the headline it's best to give it a skip. look at this thread ... even bringing it up degenerates into pro-figurehead con-figurehead 'discussions'. just what the tnc msm spin doctors ordered.
no reason to be a partner to your manipulation. the POTUS is a claymation figurehead. some of them know it, some of them learn it. don't know or care which trump is. it's 'his' administration that is doing the damage. and it's leaking from every pore of the us bureaucratic/political machine, still on the military-financial world-domination track. financiers, fusiliers, fossil-fuelers. auto pilot.
we can make the effort to do something about it, longterm, grassroots, or ... as so many of us are fond of saying ... continue to eat popcorn on the couch. watching tv. same thing on every channel.
Posted by: jfl | Mar 21 2017 2:44 utc | 54
With total population surveillance in the US west, I can't see the grassroots thing happening jfl.
Grassroots leaders will be taken out, jailed, whatever before any movement gets going. Leaders are always required to pull disparate forces together.
Happened here, happens everywhere.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 2:54 utc | 55
@ Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 20, 2017 10:28:36 PM | 52
Very true indeed, one must know oneself & ones enemy, though should be taken in small doses only, to retain objective perspective ;)
Fore-knowledge is fore-armed.
Anyway, it is not just Harvard, Yale is in on the act too ... here's a nauseous load of manure from one of their 'History' professors, couldn't make it past more than a few paragraphs myself:
We lost a war: Russia’s interference in our election was much more than simple mischief-makingand
Tyranny in Twenty Lessons: Timothy Snyder on the Rise of Trump
“I think [history] is both the science of trying to understand and the art of trying to convey,” Snyder said.
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 21 2017 2:57 utc | 56
@ JFL
Any grassroots leader to challenge the establishment, will need to have similar qualities as Trump. A quiet considerate thoughtful person just won't cut it.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 2:59 utc | 57
@ Circe | 16
It's silly to conflate, as you do, (a) criticism of the self-proclaimed saviors of the political establishment with (b) an endorsement for Trump.
I bet you know that. So, why did you write it? Are you tired of other readers ganging up on you and, out of anger, now seek to annoy, with a comment like that? If so, consider finding a blog you prefer, a blog that brings out the best in you. That or take a break and just lurk.
Other thoughts:
- There's no challenge in reaching for the low-hanging fruit of criticizing Trump. Gosh, that's so boring.
- There's no benefit from assisting the "coup". Indeed, only more ill can come of it because the only powerful political faction -- the one trying to unseat Trump -- is the same criminal conspiracy that's always in power.
Posted by: dumbass | Mar 21 2017 3:02 utc | 58
I for one found endless humor in the image of Trump appearing to be taking a crap while Merkel maintained the perfect euro-elite aloof-yet-incredulous facade.
IMO what we see today is the astroturfing of the 90s evolving into full-blown terraforming.
The US and UK intel apparatti have both been thouroughly penetrated by the Soviets and probably the Russos, too, over the years, so with mass media disinformation and special interest-driven policy at the helm, Kalen @45 nailed it, Sadly, what Americans suck from the mothers' milk is nothing but complete confusion.
Posted by: stumpy | Mar 21 2017 3:05 utc | 59
'Talking heads are losing it'...the emperor has no clothes no not trump but chaos Inc.
Posted by: Nur Adlina | Mar 21 2017 3:41 utc | 60
So the media gins up a hysteria to get Fat Donny impeached and flies into a sputtering frenzy whenever he acts in a way that runs against their Sorkin-esque fantasy about what a president should be. I wonder if they care at all about the major damage it would do to the already fragile social fabric of the United States. When Bill Clinton was being impeached, a lot of Americans saw through it as a politically-motivated witch hunt, and I have no doubt that people would see the same thing if they tried to oust Donald Trump. Of course IF any real evidence existed that showed he had some untoward relationship with Russian pols/oligarchs, what makes it different than the relationships between other American politicans and our own domestic oligarchs, Mercer, Koches, Soros, Rockefellers, Wall Streeters, etc. To say nothing of Israelis, Saudis, or anyone else. Almost every one participating in this farce has put their hand into the cookie jar at some point.
Posted by: Almand | Mar 21 2017 4:48 utc | 61
Pareto @ 19:"Sieg Heil"
Gee folks, if some aren't discerning enough to evaluate our latest President, and his current behavior, nothing Circe says should matter.
Read a book people. Mr. Trump does have a history. A long one.
Judging character, obviously, isn't a gene everyone has.
I guess a sucker is born every second. We've ALL been taken in, at one time or another, by someone, or some thing.
Just ask any Obama supporter, or should I say, any ex-supporter?
Posted by: ben | Mar 21 2017 4:54 utc | 62
ben @ 63
You can fool some people some of the time, and as long as you change up the demographic being fooled every few years, the con will run forever!
Posted by: Almand | Mar 21 2017 4:57 utc | 63
@ Posted by: Almand | Mar 21, 2017 12:48:12 AM | 62
Of course IF any real evidence existed that showed he had some untoward relationship with Russian pols/oligarchs, what makes it different than the relationships between other American politicans and our own domestic oligarchs, Mercer, Koches, Soros, Rockefellers, Wall Streeters, etc. To say nothing of Israelis, Saudis, or anyone else.
To paraphrase words of the great American political thinker Miss Lindsey Graham, the difference is that Israel and KSA are our friends and Russia and Iran are our enemies.
Simple, short & sweet.
Posted by: hopehely | Mar 21 2017 5:10 utc | 64
hopehely 65
Not only friends, US is locked into defence agreements with them. A couple of relatively new nations that could not stand on their own feet without US support vs two much older nations that do not have a recent history of aggressiveness.
It seems Russia and Iran are designated enemies because they will defend themselves from US aggression.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 5:39 utc | 65
@ Outraged
From your second link.
“Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism,” he began..
He is absolutely correct in that sentence. Americans not only yielded to, but worship extreme capitalism.
Some time down the track, history books will record fascism, Nazism, communism, US capitalism as extreme ideologies.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 5:51 utc | 66
Nowruz.. Persian new year..
https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nowruz?src=hash
Never heard about it till today. Growing up in the anglosphere doesn't help much with general knowledge.
Happy new year to Persians.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 6:34 utc | 67
@58 p au 'Any grassroots leader to challenge the establishment ...'
i'd say that's the point ... strong people don't need strong leaders.
Posted by: jfl | Mar 21 2017 12:16 utc | 68
The US is preparing to run a maidan in Belarus.
On 17 Feb, there was protest "Outraged Belarusians’ March" organised by the usual suspects with 3 demands, given with a 1 month deadline:
i) to abolish the most disgraceful Decree #3 dated April 2, 2015 “On Prevention of Social Dependency”;
ii) to stop the decline of the real income (as if any country could do that)
iii) to return free, fair elections to the people (it would be nice for the US too).
The protest was live streamed by Radio Liberty, the well-known US/CIA front. Other streamed videos appear to show the cliche of women banging pots and pans together (cf the early stages of the maidan in Ukraine).
One month later, the demand changes to "Lukashenko must leave. There is no other option" (ie the earlier demands have gone).
USAID is now looking a private contractor to run the so-called "Community Connections (CC)" program in Belarus.
"CC is a comprehensive exchange program that support U.S. government priorities in the provision of aid to foreign countries by familiarizing the civil society of Belarus, individuals and representatives of the public sector with democratic practices and values of free market and encouraging them to implement economic and social reforms in Belarus,"
By some strange coincidence, armed Ukraine Neo-Nazis have tried to infiltrate the country. They were detained at the border by the Belarussian border guards.
Meanwhile in the US, Fiona Hill has been appointed senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council. Earlier, she held an operational post at the Eurasia Foundation - a State Department contractor for regime change operations in the former states of the Soviet Union. She says:
“I think we are in a hot war with Russia, not a cold war. But we have to be careful about the analogy. It’s a more complex world. There is no set-piece confrontation. This is no holds barred. The Cold War was a more disciplined competition, aside from the near blowups in Berlin and Cuba, where we walked back from the brink. The Kremlin now is willing to jump over the abyss. They want to play for the asymmetry. They see themselves in a period of hot kinetic war. Also, this is not just two-way superpower. There is China, the rising powers. I almost see it as like the great power competition from the time before the Second World War.”
Relations with Russia have been tense and Belarus is looking to the IMF for a loan. This does not bode well. The IMF will impose austerity measures as a pre-condition for the loan which will further raise tensions between the government and the people. It looks like the Belarussians are going to be thrown under the bus. I hope they have the sense to see they are being used in the same way the Ukrainians were used.
Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 21 2017 13:39 utc | 69
It’s long been known that, under the ECHELON system, member countries of the Five Eyes alliance have been using the surveillance agency of another member country to do spying on their own citizens. Thus, GCHQ surveilled Strom Thurmond and Jane Fonda. NSA surveilled Princess Diana. This stuff has been going on for years.
It would be surprising if GCHQ had not been used to do surveillance on Trump and his campaign. And the sudden and mysterious resignation of the chief of GCHQ (allegedly to spend more time with his family) on Jan. 23, three days after Trump’s inauguration, calls out for an explanation.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 21 2017 13:57 utc | 70
Judge Andrew Napolitano, the legal adviser to Fox News who reported that GCHQ had been surveilling the Trump campaign, has just been suspended by Fox News. I guess the powers that be don't want that sort of stuff reported.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 21 2017 14:03 utc | 71
Media Consolidation (requiring anti-trust monopoly regs to break them up)
was part and parcel of a general and sweeping deregulation (under the guise of obtrusive big gubmint for Joe Sixpack to buy into the scheme).
It favored billionaires and it was of course detrimental to the public.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Mar 21 2017 14:21 utc | 72
A book that I am currently reading, Shadow Wars: The Secret Struggle for the Middle East by Christopher Davidson, goes on at length about the history of association between the U.S. and Al Nusra in Syria.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 21 2017 14:22 utc | 73
Media consolidation was greatly promoted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which Bill Clinton signed and had done a lot to promote.
He even signed it despite the fact that, as he pointed out in his signing statement, he considered a major part of it unconstitutional.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 21 2017 14:24 utc | 74
Like Obama, Clinton was a "New Democrat". This was/is a "business-friendly" Republican Lite section. It has since taken over the entire Party. Congressional Democrats welcomed deregulation with their votes. They always made sure they had the votes. Those Demorats in congress whom had to vote against any corporate interest to save face at home, vied for turns at the nay vote.
It was pure theater.
Clinton also gave us the repeal of the post-depression era Glass Steagal Act. This was another important antitrust measure.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Mar 21 2017 15:07 utc | 75
Trump has shown that he is perfectly capable of delegitimizing himself, thank you.
Posted by: Bardi | Mar 21 2017 15:58 utc | 76
The MSM covered the Happy Countries index. They couldn't ignore it like they can the Corruption Perception Index. The US has dropped in rankings. Some in the media point to the lack of "social support" and claim the US is going about it wrong by pushing economic growth since most goes to the 1%. However, they must not have read Chapter 7 of the report on the US and how corruption has greatly increased in the US. That is the issue. We cannot trust our government, our politicians, our rich, and in the end ... each other.
Chapter 7 - Restoring American Happiness
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sdsn-whr2017/HR17-Ch7_lr.pdf
As to the Trump handshake, it's the media pushing an agenda and distracting us from more important issues that if they ever cover are superficially covered at best.
(I may not agree 100% with the author but he hits several nails on the head.)
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 21 2017 16:02 utc | 77
rg the lg, lysias
Amrika is on our side
yes it is
they give us TOW missiles
to blow up Assad ...
(sung to the Rolling Stones song Time Is On My Side)
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 21 2017 16:17 utc | 78
re. b’s question. The Dems don’t actually have any domestic liberal aims worth considering, though many Dems and others may believe they do.
Trump is the enemy -> easy for the Dems, awkward for the Reps - the ugly, frightening, disruptive outsider, who has endless dirt on both lots. And has threatened to use it.
The Dems top o’ the list is to get rid of Trump and embrace Pence (whose policies they can then legitimately ‘moan’ about while opposing in a ‘fake good fight’ but achieving nothing much.)
All the moves - the Fake News guff, Trump as Putin agent, Trump as Rude Disgusting Boor, Trump as Racist, etc. are to discredit him in an ongoing campaign to prepare the terrain for some future action, or just to solidify a super-negative ‘view’..
The attacks are v. weak, personal, have little to do with policy, domestic or foreign, which is exactly what Top Elite Dems feel - they fear, hate, him personally and even had trouble making a big deal about the ‘muslim travel ban.’ A power struggle, nobody cares about some Muslims immigrants, etc., > symbolic twigs.
Dems, other elites, don’t attack him boldly as, a) he will counter-attack if pushed to the wall, b) maintaining the status quo, stability, the duopoly, Wash. social-pecking order, all the arrangements, Big Corps, lobbies, is in their interests, plus they fear blood in the streets.
Chickenshit about handshakes is part of Huxley-ian entertainment, to provide superficial talking- points to sheeples, who no doubt, in their personal lives, might be aghast at Uncle Jake refused to grasp the lovely slim fingers of Cousin Melissa, and talk about it for 5 years, etc. (Note how the prop. always reverts to the very lowest personal level of experience, e.g. family of 5..) All righty. Enough.
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 21 2017 17:10 utc | 79
This handshake business didn't start with Abe, Trudeau and Merkel. There's lots of video clips of Trump almost pulling people off their feet. i hope he's more gentle when he's grabbing pussy.
I guess I'm in that minority that concludes Trump's his own worst enemy. That damn deep state doesn't have to do too much to make him look like a tool. Just give him his PDA and let his fingers do the talking.
it was interesting yesterday when Comey divulged that an FBI investigation of Trump and his crew's Russia ties had been ongoing since July of 2016. This is the first acknowledgement of that. Yet during the campaign last fall Comey provided updates about Hillary's server problem. He crucially sent a letter stating that her investigation had been reopened just days before the election with regards to the emails found on Weiner's server only to say a little later that it was closed once again. This sure as hell didn't do her campaign any good. Who was the deep state helping or hindering by laying one candidate's problems out for the public while saying zero, nada, zilch about the other?
I'm not saying Hillary should have won. Lack of public trust was arguably the single most important reason for her failure. That and the fact that she obviously felt entitled, a toxic mix that turned many off. But now Trump has his own trust issues. His infamous tweets of a couple of Saturdays ago accusing Obama of a crime and calling him sick set a new low for presidential behavior. His doubling and redoubling down after it was apparent that it didn't happen shows a tempermental deficiency for taking one's licks when one has been caught talking out of one's ass.
I know there's no convincing the faithful that this guy can't walk on fucking water given half a chance. Maybe when there's no more healthcare or medicaid and they can't breathe the air anymore they'll have another look but I somehow doubt it. When the unions are all busted their former members can get jobs picking the strawberries that are left growing in the fields by Trump's enlightened policies. Have at it, it's what you wanted.
Posted by: peter | Mar 21 2017 17:12 utc | 80
Good post, Peter @81. We're totally screwed in this country no matter who our Kabuki democratic institutions install as figurehead.
Posted by: Bruno Marz | Mar 21 2017 17:21 utc | 81
...
But now Trump has his own trust issues. His infamous tweets of a couple of Saturdays ago accusing Obama of a crime and calling him sick set a new low for presidential behavior. His doubling and redoubling down after it was apparent that it didn't happen shows a tempermental deficiency for taking one's licks when one has been caught talking out of one's ass.
...
Posted by: peter | Mar 21, 2017 1:12:19 PM | 81
It's a bit premature to think in terms of anyone taking their licks. The most generous reading of the current standoff is that there are two competing sets of unsubstantiated accusations and Trump's set is simpler and more credible.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 21 2017 19:26 utc | 82
The Deep State's media arm is very angry that Americans didn't act like good Chinese and just vote as we were instructed to. Now we have to be punished. They don't really worry about Trump at all. We are the enemy now.
Posted by: blues | Mar 21 2017 19:48 utc | 83
@ Lysias & Les & Hoarsewhisperer
From the very creation of the the 'No Such Agency' by EO in '47 by Truman, and the subsequent inter-agency agreements and procedures of the 5-Eyes & wider 9 & 14-Eyes, the Supra-National & Supra-Legal collection capabilities in contempt of Allied governments, citizens, & nation State laws, have been an intentional unacknowledgable, feature.
Well known throughout the Intel Community. The capability was created just like NSA in order to sustain, maintain and extend over time the then significant yet limited capabilities that were partially global that grew out of the collection & interception and decryption efforts re such as Enigma, Purple, etc. The Eyes exist to service the MICC and sustain the Empires control & dominance throughout the 'International Community', quaint little concepts such as domestic Laws & sovereignty be damned. The Eyes are the glue, and its reach the uncountable myriad fibers that enable & hold the MICC Empire together, from blackmail, to economic collection for the benefit of corporations, to unfair advantages in Treaty negotiations, foreign & domestic political/governmental collection, etc, let alone traditional Intelligence collection.
Before and especially since the accident of the Church Committee hearings in the '70's, much like the Trump-factions unforeseen ascendance, the appointees to the House & Senate Intelligence Committees are effectively 'pre-screened' for subornation to the MICC.
Having watched the farce of the House Intel hearing re Comey and Rogers in full, trying not to smash my screen in frustration, is that none of the correct questions were asked nor any relevant ones followed-through, and what specifics that were raised were intentionally opaque and done for mis-direction purposes re 'lawful authorities' and 'Not legally', etc ... it was pure theater for the sheeple, not unusual.
What this demonstrates for any 'Deplorables' out there is key senior members of the GOP will not support Trump against the MICC, FULL STOP. In a choice between the two, the decision has already been made, his faction has been deemed expendable. There will be no 'Draining of the Swamp' and the Trump is without doubt on borrowed time as are his loyal supporters. Expect removal by fair or fowl means sooner or later.
Oh, and not just Napolitano, the UK's foreign Minister, that idiot muppet Boris Johnson, has been dispatched to meet with Trump and senior advisers/appointments to 'smooth things over' re the 'baseless' GCHQ claims. Regardless of the shrill public cries of denial by GCHQ, that in and of itself is effective confirmation, that Obama did covertly request GCHQ do what has been claimed. Otherwise, what is there to 'fix'.
However, none of it can be permitted to be publicly acknowledged because that would open Pandora's Box and demonstrate the true nature of respect for the Constitution, actual Rule of Law or State Sovereignty, even amongst vassal treaty allies, and therefore western Democracy within the Empire, only exists as a convenient facade.
Obama & advisers seriously misjudged & over-reached using GCHQ re a Presidential candidate & associates, but even Trumps own GOP members will not stand up if it risks the Empires dominance nor access to the pigs trough of the MICC for the Congress critters and their patrons, the 0.01%.
It is only going to go down hill from here as this unravels ...
Collect it All, Process it All.
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 21 2017 20:33 utc | 84
@ HW 84
Well Hoarse, I guess we will have to agree to disagree. Maybe those tweets were a hissy fit or maybe they were a calculated effort in misdirection but but they weren't based on anything more than Breitbart and that guy at Fox.
Now when the FBI and DoJ and NRA have all stated they know nothing about any wire tap we are asked, by the faithful to assume that everyone in these agencies are conspirators against the president. That they would all put their reputations and jobs and even freedom in jeopardy at the bidding of a lame-duck president and then lie about it under oath. That they would go to such lengths to fuck a guy like Trump who's perfectly capable of fucking himself with his conflicts of interest. You can bet your ass they are watching that.
Too much of a stretch for me. Trump's too arrogant to own what he did. He even dragged the Brits in. Like a fucking little rat kid at school. I guess they are conspirators too.
Posted by: peter | Mar 21 2017 21:10 utc | 85
@ outraged
I suspect the Russian thing is being pushed so hard at the moment because people are scared that a surveillance operation on Trump will come out into the open. Trump will be doing well to survive though. Too much lined up against him.
Mercouris's take on what come out in the hearing.
http://theduran.com/russiagate-and-the-house-intelligence-committee-analysis-and-discussion/
"In other words someone decided between 22nd and 25th July 2016 – long before any intelligence assessments had been published blaming Russia, and directly after the DNC leaks appeared – that the Russians were responsible, and initiated an FBI counter-espionage investigation.
What this also means is that this investigation was underway throughout the critical weeks of the election, with Donald Trump’s associates, and quite possibly (indeed probably) Donald Trump himself, being investigated and monitored by the FBI and by other US intelligence agencies throughout the election period as part of a counter-espionage investigation."
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21 2017 21:35 utc | 86
@ Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 21, 2017 5:35:43 PM | 88
The first of the fabricated on-demand MI6 serial memo's that became the Fake 'Dossier' & 'Intelligence Report' that never was, started to be covertly widely circulated and 'background briefed' to Congress critters, media, donors, etc, commencing approximately June 2016, did they not ? All purely coincidental, no doubt ...
The Trump-faction is probably doomed, IMHO, given the actions & positions of the senior GOP members in the Hearing, without even considering the various public utterances of nil support and denunciations. The Trump-faction coup within the GOP appears to have become stillborn ...
Comey clearly has zero political nous, expect he will be dumped at the first available opportunity, shunned by one and all . Rogers looks physically near death ... the pallid face, especially the eyes.
How the 'Deplorables' react to likely inevitable future events re removal is the wildcard ...
Dare I suggest, the Empire as an acceptable faux political entity appears to be slowly imploding, reminiscent of a variant of the USSR splintering prior to collapse '89-91 ... we seem to be going through a somewhat parallel situ of the period leading up to '89 ...
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 21 2017 22:20 utc | 87
Even if Trump succeeds in staying in power, the system may still collapse. He may turn out to be our Gorbachev, attempting reforms that turn out to be impossible and bring the whole thing crashing down.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 21 2017 22:49 utc | 88
So they decided to surveil Trump and his campaign at a time when his defeat appeared inevitable?
Posted by: lysias | Mar 21 2017 22:51 utc | 89
The risible trivia generated over a small social non incident...staggering. The Repubs will be delighted. It such a great distraction from what they are doing to healthcare and environmental protection and they didnt have to do anything. By the time the obsession with Trump has run its course it will all be too late to do anything....nothing left to fight for and no legal means to do so even if you wanted to.
Posted by: Andrew Nichols | Mar 21 2017 23:57 utc | 90
lysias 91
Do you think the polls at the time showing Trumps inevitable defeat were genuine?
Also, as Outraged said, the fake dossier was circulated June, so even back then some thought Clinton needed a little extra help.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 22 2017 0:13 utc | 91
Why would anyone dislike Trump? He has all the right enemies. A veritable who's who of every douchebag on the planet.
Posted by: Anon | Mar 22 2017 0:49 utc | 92
Anon 94
I've had several who've pushed that point.
But is the enemy of my enemy my friend?
Or is the enemy of my enemy playing politics as usual?
Or is another agenda at play that has not been revealed yet?
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 22 2017 1:04 utc | 93
Just did a quick scan of the guardian to see what crap they were peddling
First up was...
Bank that lent $300m to Trump linked to Russian money laundering scam.
Deutsche Bank among western institutions that processed billions of dollars in cash of ‘criminal origin’ through Latvia...
But this was interesting... Fox drops analyst who said UK might have helped spy on Trump.
I have seen Napolitano mentioned a few times here but didn't know much about it
From the article.."Napolitano said last week on Fox & Friends he had three intelligence sources who said Obama went “outside the chain of command” to watch Trump."
Ex judge, may well have those sort of contacts. Same as Pat lang over at SST who has stated the same.
I see a few above have joined the sheep, running through the gates, round the corners, and into the pen whenever the MSM barks. Like watching a sheepdog trial.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 22 2017 1:22 utc | 94
Plot thickens in probe of House IT contractors: "A criminal investigation into IT contractors employed by dozens of House Democrats is sparking broader concerns about continuing access to sensitive government emails, amid new allegations of illicit activity beyond Capitol Hill. The investigation was announced last month by the U.S. Capitol Police and purportedly focuses on the contractors' access to House computers and whether they took hardware and made questionable IT-related purchases. A police spokesman, while declining to go into detail, told Fox News this week that the case remains opens and focuses on “the actions of House IT support staff.” But a high-level House staffer acknowledged Monday to Fox News that the probe has raised concerns about emails being hacked. Official documents and multiple sources say at least five contractors -- including brothers Imran, Jamal and Abid Awan -- are the focus of the probe but that as many as six people could be involved. The others purportedly involved are Imran’s wife, Hina Alvi, and Rao Abbas, who is not part of the family. They allegedly removed hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment from offices, including computers and servers, and ran a procurement scheme in which they bought equipment, then overcharged the House administrative office that assigns such contractors to members. Sources also say the contractors, including one who worked for Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had “unauthorized access” to the House computer system. The connection to the former Democratic National Committee boss has sparked questions about whether the contractors could have ties to the DNC hack last summer, which was seen to hurt Hillary Clinton’s ultimately failed White House bid -- or whether Russia or other outside operatives accessed emails that the contractors allegedly put on a cloud server."
RT: 5 congressional staffers in criminal probe over unauthorized computer access: "Five people employed by members of the House of Representatives remain under criminal investigation for unauthorized access to Congressional computers. Former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz employed at least one of those under investigation."
Suspect In House IT Security Probe Also Had Access To DNC Emails: "Imran Awan — the lead suspect in a criminal probe into breaches of House of Representatives information security systems — possessed the password to an iPad used by then-Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz when DNC emails were given to WikiLeaks, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned."
They were apparently all employed by House Democrats.
Posted by: lysias | Mar 22 2017 13:46 utc | 95
Politico: House Democrats fire two IT staffers amid criminal investigation: "Two House Democrats this week fired technology staffers linked to an ongoing criminal investigation, more than a month after the couple in question was barred from House computer networks. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) confirmed to Politico that Hina Alvi’s last day as an IT support staffer in his office was Tuesday. Her husband, Imran Awan, was working for Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) as of Tuesday evening, but a spokeswoman for Fudge said midday Wednesday that Awan was no longer an employee. As of Wednesday, Awan was still working as a technology adviser for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), although he’s been blocked from accessing the House computer system since early February. Alvi, Awan and three other House aides, including Abid Awan and Jamal Awan, relatives of Imran Awan, and Rao Abbas, are all linked to the criminal investigation being conducted by the U.S. Capitol Police."
Posted by: lysias | Mar 22 2017 14:21 utc | 96
Many of the stories are trivial and aren't worth a post - handshake, not the point! Two people in powerful positions who need each other is the point. US politics are so crass and downright stupid at this point whether you're the media or their surrogates (former this former that), Trump or his surrogates (alt facts to well it had quotes around it so it doesn't mean what the word actually means - in Bill Clintoneze, it depends on what the meaning of is is). Instead of these mind bending distortions of language, focus on the promises, the policies and the ongoing wars.
Posted by: Alestra | Mar 23 2017 5:47 utc | 97
Very interesting context for current global developments: Readings from THE AMERICAN ALMANAC
Posted by: ProPeace | Mar 23 2017 14:49 utc | 98
@ Curtis | Mar 21, 2017 9:04:34 PM | 94
You say:
"But is the enemy of my enemy my friend?
"Or is the enemy of my enemy playing politics as usual?
"Or is another agenda at play that has not been revealed yet?"
Well, the enemy of my enemy of their friend of their friend of their enemy of their enemy is my girlfriend.
Posted by: blues | Mar 23 2017 23:52 utc | 99
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because modern reporting is all about superficial gestures and not about substance
Posted by: ralphieboy | Mar 20 2017 15:20 utc | 1