Re: The 47th POTUS - Donald J. Trump

[BurtReynolds]

heh Buzzfeed better have its ducks in a row, or what happened to Gawker will look tame in comparison.

[Simple Torture]

Peepee the Frog?

[McParadigm]

Guardian is reporting that a FISA warrant was applied for by the FBI.

[Simple Torture]

There's a difference between "fake" news and irresponsible journalism, though. I think it's perfectly fine to accuse Buzzfeed of the latter if you'd like; seems like they wanted to get the scoop on the documents.

[Green Habit]

The SimpsonsQOTD Twitter account has been insistent in staying within seasons 1-11, but even he had to make an exception today.

[Norah]

I consider A Tale of Two Springfields the last solid episode.

[Green Habit]

I consider A Tale of Two Springfields the last solid episode.

I took a look at list of Season 12 episodes again and I saw a lot of hits and misses. Notable hits were the Mr. X episode, Homer discovering a crayon in his brain, and Homer protesting moving the Isotopes to Albuquerque (especially sweet since this team now actually exists because of this episode).

Season 13 definitely looks like the jump the shark zone.

[Simple Torture]

SHADE

[96583UP]

just give me the tax cut

then impeach him or pee on him or whatever you want

tax cut first

then do whatever you want

[digster]

I have no idea whether it's true, but the idea that an absurdly rich businessman would go for business in Moscow and hire some prostitutes is about the 588th most outlandish thing I've heard since Trump's campaign began.

[Jammer XCI]

I consider A Tale of Two Springfields the last solid episode.

I took a look at list of Season 12 episodes again and I saw a lot of hits and misses. Notable hits were the Mr. X episode, Homer discovering a crayon in his brain, and Homer protesting moving the Isotopes to Albuquerque (especially sweet since this team now actually exists because of this episode).

Season 13 definitely looks like the jump the shark zone.

Also Trilogy of Error, one of my all time favorite episodes for sure.

[BurtReynolds]

I have no idea whether it's true, but the idea that an absurdly rich businessman would go for business in Moscow and hire some prostitutes is about the 588th most outlandish thing I've heard since Trump's campaign began.

I think it's assumed that he's done some kinky shit at some point.

[Bi_3]

Buzzfeed? Almost certainly. The rest of it seems increasingly to be true.

The FBI following up on this is not an endorsement of the documents, it's the due diligence they are required to do in the case of receiving intel from previously leveraged assets. Remember this was originally from an effort to gather anti-Trump intel to use against him during the election, and yes it appears to have been passed to the FBI a while ago, but isn't that exactly how disinformation campaigns work? Create a narrative that is several true things, followed by something the reader wants to believe, followed by something the author wants the reader to believe. Without the actual context of how this was presented in the classified briefing last week, everything is pure speculation and opinion-based manipulation at this point.

The danger here is that if this is not supported by other evidence, then it will be the keystone that builds the last wall in the Trumpettes minds about the legitimacy of political journalism.


EDIT: Ironically after pizzagate, 4chan now claims to be the source of the "shower" material.

[bada]

He probably would have won the popular vote if this hooker pissing on a bed story came out during the election.

[Simple Torture]

[LoathedVermin72]

ummm

[wease]

Wow. Well, we aren't yet, but he does have 4 years till his term is over. So far, he's got it mapped out pretty well.

[McParadigm]

Buzzfeed? Almost certainly. The rest of it seems increasingly to be true.

The FBI following up on this is not an endorsement of the documents, it's the due diligence they are required to do in the case of receiving intel from previously leveraged assets. Remember this was originally from an effort to gather anti-Trump intel to use against him during the election, and yes it appears to have been passed to the FBI a while ago, but isn't that exactly how disinformation campaigns work? Create a narrative that is several true things, followed by something the reader wants to believe, followed by something the author wants the reader to believe. Without the actual context of how this was presented in the classified briefing last week, everything is pure speculation and opinion-based manipulation at this point.

The danger here is that if this is not supported by other evidence, then it will be the keystone that builds the last wall in the Trumpettes minds about the legitimacy of political journalism.


EDIT: Ironically after pizzagate, 4chan now claims to be the source of the "shower" material.

It's absolutely true that it is inappropriate to draw deep conclusions about what is an unsubstantiated claim. It's also true, in this instance, that the claim has...

1. Existed for some time (even floating around the public sphere for months. And during that same time, an extensive intelligence operation was underway to understand Russia's actions and intent. Clearly none of what they have heard or learned has done anything to discredit that report. In fact, there are elements to it (the timing of Trump's Russian trips, the hotels he chose to stay in, how it all compares to Russian strategies in the past) that would be fairly easy discredibility points.

2. It fits terribly well with so many other stories along the way. Trump aids being in contact with questionable Russian figures, Manafort, Russia's bragging about how "good" Russian/American relations will be under Trump, etc. In what has been a very long running narrative now, there just hasn't really been a single moment that seems to revoke credibility on this.

[McParadigm]

Basically this is where Trump's stupid stubborn arrogance bites him in the ass for real.

"I know this Buzzfeed thing is fake because I am so confident that Donald Trump, from what I've seen of him, would never do anything like that." - basically nobody yet.

And that's for the extremely sensationalist stuff that's probably not real. He's got a far steeper hill to climb on the "honestly I would never lie about Russia blackmailing me" line...and the fact that he helped build the hill just lends it all so much credibility.

[McParadigm]

I can't even