McParadigm wrote:
Mr Steele claimed that the Trump campaign was taking this path because it was aware that the Russians were hacking Democratic Party emails. No evidence of this has been made public, but the same day that Mr Trump spoke about Crimea he called on the Kremlin to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.
By late July and early August MI6 was also receiving information about Mr Trump. By September, information to the FBI began to grow in volume: Mr Steele compiled a set of his memos into one document and passed it to his contacts at the FBI. But there seemed to be little progress in a proper inquiry into Mr Trump. The Bureau, instead, seemed to be devoting their resources in the pursuit of Hillary Clinton’s email transgressions.
It's funny and somewhat sad that in the tonnage of bullshit over the past year I completely forgot this happened.
Sure, but the author is leaving out the context in order to forward the conspiracy narrative.
What context am I missing here? I'm saying that I'd forgotten that happened, and that most certainly happened.
If anything, adding in all the context makes the story seem even more insane.
●Trump’s real estate empire relies, though we don’t know how much, on Russian money. Trump says he never invested in Russia or got loans from Russia. But he did get investment from Russia. In 2008, his son said that Russian investment was “pouring in” to Trump properties. Even before that, Trump had a whole series of partners and investors linked to post-Soviet oligarchs and even Russian organized crime.
●Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, spent many years working on behalf of the thuggish Russian-backed Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, who eventually fled his own country. Manafort maintains links to pro-Russian groups in Ukraine. His name appeared on a list of people who took large chunks of cash from Yanukovych. He hasn’t gone away — in fact, he has lived in Trump Tower. There is no secret about his Russian connections. On the contrary, they define him.
●Last summer, Trump operatives at the convention changed the Republican Party platform to soften the language on Ukraine. There was no explanation for this change, one of the few substantive changes made to the entire party platform.
●Throughout the campaign, Trump repeated slogans and conspiracy theories — “Obama invented ISIS,” “Hillary will start World War III” — lifted directly from Sputnik, the Russian propaganda website.
●Finally, and most important: Trump is willing to risk serious conflict with China, to destroy U.S. relations with Mexico, to dismiss America’s closest allies in Europe and to downgrade NATO, our most important military alliance. But he has repeated many times his admiration for Russia and its president. In 2013 he told MSNBC, “I do have a relationship” with Putin, who is “probably very interested in what you and I are saying today” and will “be seeing it in some form.” In 2014 he bragged that Putin had sent him a “beautiful present” and claimed — apparently untruthfully — to have spoken to him as well. Nothing that Putin has done since — invade Ukraine, murder journalists, jail opponents — has induced Trump to change his mind.
And they aren't even including...
●Michael Flynn made multiple calls to Russian diplomats on the day sanctions were announced. Trump team first categorically denied, then admitted to one call, then we learned there were 5 (with some reports describing the contacts as ongoing over a period of weeks). Multiple diplomats and analysts express bafflement. Michael McFaul tweeted: "dealt w/ Kislyak all the time when I worked at WH. Never needed to call him 5 times in one day to make my point."
●Trump continues to imply that sanctions against Russia are probably going away once he's in office.
●At a time when Russia was engaging in efforts to affect our election, Donald Trump called out to them publicly. For help. Which we've heard so much about as to make it feel unremarkable, but is remarkable.
●The Trump team continues to go after or behave in a disruptive manner towards every institution or group Putin considers an enemy. Putin sees the EU as a threat. Trump attacks it in tweets and belittles its legitimacy (irony). Today, we learn this: "Donald Trump’s transition team have called EU leaders to ask “what country is to leave next” with a tone suggesting the union “is falling apart."
●Republican intelligence chairman Richard Burr explicitly states that Trump-Russia connections are not on the table for his hacking investigation. After a closed door 'all hands' with intelligence leaders, he reverses his stance in a joint statement with Democrat Mark Warner the very next day.
●Trump repeatedly disparages US intelligence while literally tweeting "Russia says..." responses to new information leaks.
●Trump is going to be single handedly responsible for Three Doors Down music being played on national and international television, which has to be a war crime.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sat January 14, 2017 9:01 pm
by Orpheus
I would like to offer a sincere and genuine "fuck you" to the people who came into this thread and complained that our big problem was "liberal whining" and downplayed all the horrible shit this man has done and will continue to do. I hope you enjoy your new Russian overlords.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sat January 14, 2017 9:43 pm
by BurtReynolds
I for one welcome our new Russian overlords.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sat January 14, 2017 9:47 pm
by BurtReynolds
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sat January 14, 2017 11:17 pm
by McParadigm
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 12:47 am
by dimejinky99
BEST. THING. EVER.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 2:02 am
by tragabigzanda
FUCK ICE
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 2:15 am
by McParadigm
TALLINN - The Estonian Information Board (EIB), the foreign intelligence service of Estonia, conducted surveillance last year of a meeting in an unnamed eastern European country between an associate of Donald Trump and a pro-Putin Russian MP, Newsweek reported on Wednesday.
While Newsweek could not determine the purpose of the meeting, a Western intelligence official said that surveillance of the meeting was conducted "by or on behalf of" EIB.
At what point are there no other explanations to be had?
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 2:23 am
by wease
McParadigm wrote:
TALLINN - The Estonian Information Board (EIB), the foreign intelligence service of Estonia, conducted surveillance last year of a meeting in an unnamed eastern European country between an associate of Donald Trump and a pro-Putin Russian MP, Newsweek reported on Wednesday.
While Newsweek could not determine the purpose of the meeting, a Western intelligence official said that surveillance of the meeting was conducted "by or on behalf of" EIB.
At what point are there no other explanations to be had?
But Trump says Russia says it never happened.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 2:35 am
by BurtReynolds
Gee I wonder if Estonia has any reason to lie.
lol that was a joke. Of course they do.
They're a NATO country bordering Russia and very friendly to us. Info coming from their spy agency is info coming from ours. It's not a different source.
The CIA removes world leaders and replaces governments for a living, and you don't have to rely on allied spy agencies for that info. Has everyone lost their minds and forgotten this? Maybe Trump is a secret Russian spy, or maybe the establishment is desperately trying to get rid of him before being sworn in (I would). Whatever the case, there is no authority to appeal to here.
There is absolutely no way to tell what is happening. But whatever it is, it isn't good.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 3:19 am
by digster
It's nothing new, but I'm constantly curious by what possible 'establishment' could possibly exist that a New York billionaire like Donald Trump could possibly not belong to.
When it comes down to it, I think the main thing about Trump and Russia is that he's been consistent on Russia pretty much the entirety of his campaign. And this is someone who is not consistent on anything, and will often find himself incorporating two directly opposing positions into the same sentence. Russia is really maybe the only thing he's always toed the same line on, and that's just kind of bizarre.
I have no idea if that dossier is true, but none of it is really outlandish, besides the "everything is connected"-ness of it all. I think the far more likely, and far more ominous probablility is that Donald Trump sucks up to Putin because, in the sense that Donald Trump thinks enough to have aspirations, he aspires to Putin. I would imagine Putin is the type of leader he wants to be.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 3:21 am
by Orpheus
tragabigzanda wrote:My general sense is that everyone more or less agrees that the overall state of US Politics sucks ass hard, and that Trump is a symptom of that. The cause and cure to those symptoms are up for debate, but no one has said that liberal whining was the "big problem," unless I've missed some key posts.
I was referring to the days immediately after when everyone was trying to tell us that bubbles and not reaching out to the working mayun' is what really did us in.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 3:24 am
by Orpheus
It was probably the election thread, either way, it was pretty awful.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 3:41 am
by BurtReynolds
digster wrote:It's nothing new, but I'm constantly curious by what possible 'establishment' could possibly exist that a New York billionaire like Donald Trump could possibly not belong to.
Maybe the establishment that has been trying for over a year to get rid of him? I don't see why this is so hard to imagine. He's got a lot of money, but few allies in high places. And the ones he has, he's had to bludgeon into submission. There has very clearly been a sustained effort by the Republicans, the Democrats, the media as well multi-billionaire interests, both at home and abroad, to make him go away (probably for good reasons, possibly for horrible ones). This isn't wild-eyed conspiracy theory truther stuff here.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 3:50 am
by BurtReynolds
Orpheus wrote:
tragabigzanda wrote:My general sense is that everyone more or less agrees that the overall state of US Politics sucks ass hard, and that Trump is a symptom of that. The cause and cure to those symptoms are up for debate, but no one has said that liberal whining was the "big problem," unless I've missed some key posts.
I was referring to the days immediately after when everyone was trying to tell us that bubbles and not reaching out to the working mayun' is what really did us in.
That's only why the democrats lost the election, not that it was good or bad.
p.s. Saying 'fuck you' and calling them the working mayun' is a poor way to win their votes.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 3:59 am
by tragabigzanda
FUCK ICE
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 4:07 am
by BurtReynolds
tragabigzanda wrote:
BurtReynolds wrote:
digster wrote:It's nothing new, but I'm constantly curious by what possible 'establishment' could possibly exist that a New York billionaire like Donald Trump could possibly not belong to.
Maybe the establishment that has been trying for over a year to get rid of him? I don't see why this is so hard to imagine. He's got a lot of money, but few allies in high places. And the ones he has, he's had to bludgeon into submission. There has very clearly been a sustained effort by both the Republicans, the Democrats, the media as well multi-billionaire interests, both at home and abroad, to make him go away (probably for good reasons, possibly for horrible ones). This isn't wild-eyed conspiracy theory truther stuff here.
When are you and the parrot going to take off your Christmas hats, burt?
When Donald Trump wins the Nobel Peace prize.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 4:09 am
by Kaius
BurtReynolds wrote:
Orpheus wrote:
tragabigzanda wrote:My general sense is that everyone more or less agrees that the overall state of US Politics sucks ass hard, and that Trump is a symptom of that. The cause and cure to those symptoms are up for debate, but no one has said that liberal whining was the "big problem," unless I've missed some key posts.
I was referring to the days immediately after when everyone was trying to tell us that bubbles and not reaching out to the working mayun' is what really did us in.
That's only why the democrats lost the election, not that it was good or bad.
p.s. Saying 'fuck you' and calling them the working mayun' is a poor way to win their votes.
Re: The 45th POTUS - Donald J. Trump
Posted: Sun January 15, 2017 4:15 am
by Orpheus
I am the working man, and I'll talk shit about my own people as much as I want.
