Watch it here.
IN THE COMMENTS: Meade said:
Next best thing to a shoulder rub: commiseration over being wire tapped by Obama.That was priceless! I'll bet many people had forgotten that Obama wiretapped Merkel. For Trump to slip in that reference so slyly with Merkel standing right there — that goes on the historical highlight reel of the Trump presidency. Watch Merkel's face as she realizes what he's saying and reacts.
ALSO: Here's the reference video for Meade's joke in the post title:
Posts
274 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 274 of 274PB: "Faux News was Fake News before Fake News was Fake News, as everyone who knows news knows."
Plagiarist! Sondheim wrote that!
"They made the Appalachians what they are today."
The ones who left Scotland did that.
Hahahahhaha. Lack of sarcasm alert!
BTW, the wire tap isn't the only thing DJT could have talked about are commonalities w/ Merkel:
"I always said that winning is somewhat, maybe, innate. Maybe it’s just something you have; you have the winning gene. Frankly it would be wonderful if you could develop it, but I’m not so sure you can. You know I’m proud to have that German blood, there’s no question about it. Great stuff."
Carry on.
Speaking of tacky and embarrassing -- who gave the Queen of England an iPod?
@Drago:
Oh, it's true alright.
Still, there are others the Russians hate more!
Assuming for the moment that that's true, the next obvious question is "why?" It is pretty obvious that Russian antipathy towards Americans is driven largely by American behavior towards Russia. If I were a Russian, I'd be pretty annoyed by American behavior and would want my government to do something to check it. If Russia did in Latin America a tenth what the US has done in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the chattering classes would be fulminating.
And even if Russo-US relations were hampered by a supposed Russian antipathy, that's still not a reason to needlessly antagonize them over useless issues like NATO expansion for Montenegro, missile interceptors in Poland, or supporting and helping to organize violent coup d'etat of friendly neighboring countries.
"If I were a Russian, I'd be pretty annoyed by American behavior and would want my government to do something to check it."
If I were a Russian, I'd be pissed at my corrupt government and its attempts to distract me re problems at home by getting me to fuss about America.
But, I can see how Americans who fall for DJT's BS would also fall for Putin's BS, if they were Russian.
J Farmer: "It is pretty obvious that Russian antipathy towards Americans is driven largely by American behavior towards Russia."
Oh, that's "pretty obvious" is it?
Look dude, if you are number one they are going to hate you.
Period.
Now if you'd like to surrender to them, maybe they can see their way clear to not hate us so much.
The Bear has an ego. Not a normal ego. Beyond even a Trump/obama ego. And they don't have so much to be so ego-ist about. Hence the hatred.
This is a variation on the French who are pissed at us for us saving their asses in such a big way twice.
Plus, French.
Look, this is just the way it is. Get over it and move forward.
Mr. Majestyk: "Speaking of tacky and embarrassing -- who gave the Queen of England an iPod?"
Of his very own speeches!
Come on lefties, it's pretty hard to top that one!
I'm surprised obambi didn't offer autographed pics of himself holding his "well deserved" Nobel!
Hey, remember when obambi thought a box set of 25 DVD's was a cool gift for Prime Minister Brown?!
Good times, good times.
Credit due for making sure the DVD's were close captioned in "Austrian".
What I like most about visiting France:
When that old Trump starts getting me down
And Trumpists are just too much for me to face
I climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it's almost peaceful as can be
And there the muslim riots below can't bother me
Let me tell you now
When I come home feelin' tired and beat (literally beat, or knifed)
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet
I get away from the Charlie Hebdo-killing crowd
And all that Islmaic Supremacist praying in the street
On the roof, the only place I know
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let's go up on the roof (up on the roof)
At night the Burning cars put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me
Up on the Roof...
God grants one wish each to an Italian, an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Russian. The Italian says, "I want Italians to be the world's finest singers." The Englishman says, "I want Englishmen to be the world's finest horsemen." The Frenchman says, "I want French women to be the world's most beautiful." The Russian says, "I want my neighbor Ivan's mare to drop dead."
Putin pretty much wants our mare to drop dead. We can be as friendly and unprovocative as the Trump-is-Putin's-puppet! people think we will be, and he will still hate our guts. If you think the fall of the Soviet Union was a great geopolitical tragedy, it really doesn't matter how much flexibility a president has after his next and last election.
3rdGradePB_GoodPerson
If I were a Russian, I'd be pissed at my corrupt government and its attempts to distract me re problems at home by getting me to fuss about America.
You can actually do both quite easily. One of the reasons Putin enjoys so much broad popular support inside Russia despite the corruption is because he is seen as standing up for Russian national interests. When he stands up to what is perceived as American meddling and bullying, his popularity increases further. This dynamic is quite well known. See how Americans reacted to the revelation of the Zimmerman telegram in 1917, for example.
But, I can see how Americans who fall for DJT's BS would also fall for Putin's BS, if they were Russian.
I don't know about Trump, but I've been arguing for a rapprochement with Russia since before Trump was on The Apprentice, let alone the presidency.
@Drago:
Now if you'd like to surrender to them, maybe they can see their way clear to not hate us so much.
Surrender to them? The last thing the discussion about US-Russia relations needs is more overwrought melodrama. American and Russian interests are far more convergent than they are divergent. It is not surrendering to Russia to abandon stupid policies like NATO expansion (which get us nothing) in exchange for more positive, constructive relations with Moscow.
Oh yes, the DVDs which didn't play on European DVD players! Classy. Still not as directly rude as ejecting the Churchill bust from the Oval Office.
@JPS:
Putin pretty much wants our mare to drop dead. We can be as friendly and unprovocative as the Trump-is-Putin's-puppet! people think we will be, and he will still hate our guts. If you think the fall of the Soviet Union was a great geopolitical tragedy, it really doesn't matter how much flexibility a president has after his next and last election.
No, Putin does not want to live in a world of US/western hegemony and domination. The 90s are widely viewed as a period of national humiliation for Russians, and Putinism is seen as a corrective to this. The US and Russia could have a very productive relationship, if the US were not obsessed with trying to contain Russian power out of every corner when it more often than not is simply the normal exercise of power projection by a large regional power.
You can actually do both quite easily. One of the reasons Putin enjoys so much broad popular support inside Russia despite the corruption is because he is seen as standing up for Russian national interests. When he stands up to what is perceived as American meddling and bullying, his popularity increases further. This dynamic is quite well known. See how Americans reacted to the revelation of the Zimmerman telegram in 1917, for example.
Obama put it better. Russia is a bleak country that doesn't produce anything that it can't suck up out of the ground. These are a bleak people, with a bleak outlook and a shrinking population, who drink constantly, and they provide the popular conditions for a weirdo like Putin who only cares about power to wrench it and wave it about. Russia is a country going nowhere. It shows you that conservatism in America is a spent force when all they can know how to admire are countries and leaders for whom the only thing going is naked nationalism.
The Bear has an ego. Not a normal ego. Beyond even a Trump/obama ego. And they don't have so much to be so ego-ist about. Hence the hatred.
The Bear should celebrating a centenary but instead they have to hide it or pretend it didn't happen. Compare our open celebration of the American bicentennial. Everything positive the modern Russians have achieved -- since the 19th century -- is tainted Soviet.
"Still not as directly rude as ejecting the Churchill bust from the Oval Office."
Still not as rude as accusing Britain of spying on you.
Russia is a country going nowhere. It shows you that conservatism in America is a spent force when all they can know how to admire are countries and leaders for whom the only thing going is naked nationalism.
Hilarious lack of self awareness. Russia is a country that has been savaged by the left for 100 years. What is left is some pride, good mathematics and good poetry.
Everything positive the modern Russians have achieved -- since the 19th century -- is tainted Soviet.
Yup. The only country that is on a faster down escalator is Iran.
Still not as rude as actually spying on Merkle
Unknown: "Dreamy Justin had to think twice about shaking Drumpf's hand, I bet."
Ah, this explains Inga's approach to world affairs. "Dreamy Obama." "Dreamy Justin."
Elderly Inga drools over politicians like I once dreamt about David Cassidy.
I was 12 years old at the time.
Inga's a old lady. What's her excuse?
How pitiful.
"If I were a Russian, I'd be pissed at my corrupt government"
PB has no problems with our corrupt government and yet he'd be pissed off at Russia's if he was Russian? Oh sure.
No, you'd be cool with the status quo in Moscow, PB.
Hilarious lack of self awareness. Russia is a country that has been savaged by the left for 100 years.
Hilarious bit of self-absorption. It's still conservatives that admire Russia. Maybe they need some more "leftism" in America and then they'll start admiring that country, too.
You really are one heck of a shithead. Couldn't stop reading my comments for too long, could you?
"... has no problems with our corrupt government..."
Yes indeed, starting with the corrupt Trump Administration.
Conservatives don't "admire" Russians so much as Liberals are intent on blaming them for Hillary's failures.
There is still no acknowledgement on the left the Hillary was somehow responsible for her own fate. There is not even a Van Jones level curiosity about the election's "how?" If were a betting man, I'd wager that the DNC will foist Hillary once again in 2020.
As usual, little chickenpoop is getting distracted and missing the point. And pretending to speak for conservatives. Apparently he wishes he were one of them.
This is great comedy, thanks so much toofless.
How's that Anger Management Issue being dealt with?
Grrr. Grrr. Grrrr!
Putz.
Still choking your chicken, Jon?
Never stop. NEVER!
"It's still conservatives that admire Russia."
I am a conservative. I do not admire Russia. Putin is KGB. Are you hinting that the KGB was a conservative organization? They used to kill people who weren't communist enough.
Or was that the Cheka?
I am a conservative. I do not admire Russia.
Tell your party, Lewis. Tell your president.
“We have a lot of killers. Well, you think our country is so innocent?”
-- Republican President Donald J. Trump
“I do respect Putin."
-- Republican President Donald J Trump
Stale.
“I do respect Putin."
-- Republican President Donald J Trump
Obama did not respect Putin. Hence his rejection, in 2012, of Romney categorizing Russia as our adversary.
Give it up R&B, you got nuthin'.
You spend half your time depicting the American people as knuckle-dragging neanderthals, and the other half of your time insisting that the knuckle-draggers wouldn't have elected Trump without Putin's help.
You are barking up the wrong tree, fella, because you don't want to admit that America has rejected your political ideology.
For Trump to slip in that reference so slyly with Merkel standing right there — that goes on the historical highlight reel of the Trump presidency.
Yes, and it won't be long before the Donald will be found spending his evenings alone at the residence playing that highlight reel over and over like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
antiphone sounds: Yes, and it won't be long before the Donald will be found spending his evenings alone at the residence playing that highlight reel over and over like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
How long, antiphone? How long?
Give it up R&B, you got nuthin'.
Nah, I've got a brain. And you're a fuckface.
2012 was a different year from 2016. Putin wasn't even in charge again back then until later in the year. The outlook was less bleak. There were probably less cyberattacks. They had not yet annexed Crimea, aggressed as heavily against Ukraine, agitated directly against NATO, and fomented as much disruption of Western Europe and the EU.
So as usual, you're a stupid dipshit who brings up past events to justify what your party's president is all about in the present, and it's not even a comparable situation.
Russia's neither friend nor foe. Under Putin, they're more foe than friend, but the right-wing disease is to whip up the scare machine. Putin's Russia, like Iran, is more of a distracting psychological threat than a country that we need to either pal up with or growl at.
Go back to stroking Jon Ericson. Not everyone's a knuckle-dragger, but the two of you sure are. So consumed by animus that you can't even read what I wrote or what happened in 2012 before reaching for a personal and political point to fuck up massively, while you think you're setting yourself up for the perfect score.
No one's going to you for foreign policy analysis, Wetzel. NO ONE.
No one's going to me, either. But I don't think ignorance is a virtue. So at least I'm an informed voter. You, Sir, are just a douchey, obsessive, over-personalizing score settler.
Take your aggression out elsewhere. Your president's a joke. Don't blame it on me.
TTR: "It's still conservatives that admire Russia."
It's the conservatives that will build up the military and crank fracking up to "11".
Those 2 items alone represent the greatest threats to Russia and it's position in the world.
Pretty straightforward from there:
1) increase fracking
2) build up US military
3) impeach Trump and Pence
4) Election between Ryan and Hillary
5) President Hillary!
Sorry, I had a Sally Kohn moment....
TTR: "Don't blame it on me."
Oh dude. I'm totally blaming you!
antiphone: "Yes, and it won't be long before the Donald will be found spending his evenings alone at the residence playing that highlight reel over and over like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard."
Prior to Trump, it wasn't the Presidency that's gotten too big, its the politicians that became too small.
2012 was a different year from 2016. Putin wasn't even in charge again back then until later in the year.
Medvedev has been Putin's tool since they took over Petersburg in the '90s.
Once again, you are showing yourself to have a strong opinion on a topic of which you are ignorant, R&B.
Those 2 items alone represent the greatest threats to Russia and it's position in the world.
Putin and Russia itself are the greatest threats to Russia.
Why does it not occur to conservatives that there is a third option? Beyond belligerence and alliance, there is indifference.
Countries that are their own greatest threat do not need to be taken as seriously as countries that are rational. Putin is a crackpot. He makes a bigger enemy out of his own people than he does of other countries. His country is a joke. Population decline, economic decline. Read The Future of Freedom. Mineral resource monopolies don't tend to breed it. They breed kleptocracies. The Russian populace is more criminally oriented than domestically oriented. Instead of computer programmers and IT development they stoke up hackers.
Your answer, to become more like them, is not the answer for us, or for anyone. Let them keep veering off the end of the North Pole. Maybe lose a few more nuclear submarines in the polar sea, while they drill and warm everything up. The country is a parody of what modern cultural, national and social/economic development look like. Let them keep up their parody. No need to get intimidated, unless you're Trump and everything all around you seems like a threat. Which it is, if your ego is as over-inflated as his. But that's his problem.
Just like Russia is Russia's problem.
Let's focus on America.
Medvedev has been Putin's tool since they took over Petersburg in the '90s.
And for how long have you been Donald Trump's tool?
I didn't vote for Trump, R&B.
I voted for Darrell Castle, Constitution Party.
Anyway, quick trying to change the subject from your ignorance of Russian-US relations.
The Toothless Revolutionary said...As usual, little chickenpoop is getting distracted and missing the point.
A Toothless Revolution is just the sort of gummy fellatrice that John Lennon sought. Sort of like a wet revolver in the mouth of the West.
Whatever you say, punfucker.
It would be interesting to trace changes in population genetics of Scotland, or other such small countries that have had an extreme rate of migration. Scots were very well known for leaving, to the empire, America, or just down south to England where it seemed everyone with ambition went. This amounted, IIRC, to the majority of Scottish bloodlines, so that today there are far more "Scots" outside Scotland than in it.
After all that, there has to have been some effect due to such an extreme selective filter, of who left and who stayed.
There should be ways of obtaining DNA of reasonably representative samples from bones, for instance, for attested dates.
Indifference is in fact the best response to Russia.
They have just announced huge cuts to their military budget (by 25%), unsustainable with reduced revenues.
A paper tiger.
And Putin was in charge of Russia in 2012.
Medvedev was his puppet.
Thats how they roll.
Russia's always been its own worst enemy.
Much like Afghanistan.
Better off letting them both decay and erode themselves.
Conservatives never learn. Always looking for an enemy to define themselves by.
Y'know, no matter what he says, I just can't get mad at R&B. Look me up the next time you're in Hilo, R&B, we'll grab a beer!
Don't we have a huge cadre of Russophobes in our bloated D.C. "intelligence" community -- the so-called deep state? Would they not fight tooth and nail someone who challenged their privileged status?
I'm thinking of Bill Kristol -- whose crystal ball is not so crystal.
buwaya said...Indifference is in fact the best response to Russia.
I agree...but the DNC must vilify...because...Hillary!
TTR: "Why does it not occur to conservatives that there is a third option? Beyond belligerence and alliance, there is indifference"
There was not a thing in what I wrote that ruled out indifference as an option.
In fact I noted that our differing national interests might very well coincide on specific issues and that we ought to be open to those opportunities.
chickelit: "I'm thinking of Bill Kristol -- whose crystal ball is not so crystal."
Particularly when drinking Cristal.
Lewis Wetzel: "Y'know, no matter what he says, I just can't get mad at R&B."
Yep.
Plus he earned lots of points with his principled opposition to Hillary.
So Obama didn't authorize, or even reauthorize surveillance against Merkel, Chuck?
Trump is responsible for everything anyone in government does since he's President. Obama isn't responsible for anything his government does unless it was done with an official signed letter from Obama directing the action.
Seems fair.
R&B:
"He makes a bigger enemy out of his own people than he does of other countries. "
Wow. I can't imagine having a national leader act like that for 8 years.
I learned it from watching you, dad! I learned it from watching you!
Greenwald:
The principal problem for Democrats is that so many media figures and online charlatans are personally benefiting from feeding the base increasingly unhinged, fact-free conspiracies — just as right-wing media polemicists did after both Bill Clinton and Obama were elected — that there are now millions of partisan soldiers absolutely convinced of a Trump/Russia conspiracy for which, at least as of now, there is no evidence. And they are all waiting for the day, which they regard as inevitable and imminent, when this theory will be proven and Trump will be removed.
https://theintercept.com/2017/03/16/key-democratic-officials-now-warning-base-not-to-expect-evidence-of-trumprussia-collusion/
"It's the conservatives that will build up the military and crank fracking up to "11"."
Presumably the whole supply and demand thingy is still a thing for cons.
IOW, isn't there an obvious flaw re the plan to increase production to levels such as those previously seen during the BHO administration when prices dramatically dropped such that production was slowed because of the free market economic reality affecting private US corporations?
Or, is the con plan to subsidize the corporate losses so production can continue beyond the point of economic viability?
Think of this as a learning experience. Ask yourselves how you could go about aping obviously absurd, economically phony blather that you're being fed by pols.
Think.
That wasn't a shoulder rub, he was checking for a wire!
IOW, isn't there an obvious flaw re the plan to increase production to levels such as those previously seen during the BHO administration when prices dramatically dropped such that production was slowed because of the free market economic reality affecting private US corporations?
You can't beat the ol' central economic planning, can ya', PB&J?
I'll take it, as opposed to the Lib plan to let everyone freeze in the dark.
You don't need heat in the winter! Warm up with exercise by beating one Koch brother to death with the other Koch brother!
Carry on.
"Obama didn't "wiretap" Merkel's phone."
He bugged her.
Regarding the camera noise, a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera WILL make that clickety-click noise. They have a physical mirror that switches the light path from the view-finder to the sensors that record the image. As someone else commented, some are quieter than others (I have a basic Canon which is pretty dang noisy), but I'm not sure if they could ever be made silent.
"The only value that rules in Trumpland is paranoia, and they are probably all paranoid of each other. The career civil servants will bring him down, if they get the chance."
So, the left-wing government workers are trying to stage a coup against the republic, but Trump is paranoid.... liberals are funny.
"The only value that rules in Trumpland is paranoia, and they are probably all paranoid of each other. The career civil servants will bring him down, if they get the chance."
In novels where that happens, the 'career civil servants' are the bad guys.
"Give it up R&B, you got nuthin'.
Nah, I've got a brain. And you're a fuckface.
"2012 was a different year from 2016."
1935 was a different year from 1939. Churchill was wrong warning about the danger of Hitler in 1935..... right?
"Putin wasn't even in charge again back then until later in the year."
Sigh. And this is why Obama used Medvedev as a messenger boy for Putin... to tell him that he would be very accommodating to the regime when he is reelected.
"The outlook was less bleak. There were probably less cyberattacks. They had not yet annexed Crimea, aggressed as heavily against Ukraine, agitated directly against NATO, and fomented as much disruption of Western Europe and the EU."
Russia already invaded Georgia in 2008. But liberals are too stupid to learn the facts.
Oh, and btw, if I remember correctly Russia did break into the White House in 2012, but Obama did not want to talk about it,
"So as usual, you're a stupid dipshit who brings up past events to justify what your party's president is all about in the present, and it's not even a comparable situation. "
Well, back in 2012 ISIS was a mere Jayvee team, Iraq was a free successful democratic country, and al qaeada was defeated. That's what Baja said.
"Russia's neither friend nor foe. Under Putin, they're more foe than friend, but the right-wing disease is to whip up the scare machine. Putin's Russia, like Iran, is more of a distracting psychological threat than a country that we need to either pal up with or growl at. "
But it's liberals who see racists, Russians, islamaphobes, homophobes and global warming under their beds...
"Go back to stroking Jon Ericson. Not everyone's a knuckle-dragger, but the two of you sure are. So consumed by animus that you can't even read what I wrote or what happened in 2012 before reaching for a personal and political point to fuck up massively, while you think you're setting yourself up for the perfect score."
Tell Vladimir that I will have more flexibility after the elections.
PB: "Presumably the whole supply and demand thingy is still a thing for cons."
Correct.
And it is definitely a "supply and demand thingy" for Russia as well.
Now that the US has developed its fracking capabilities to the extent that it has, even in down markets when small and/or under-capitalized Exploration and Production firms go under and re-emerge in "up" markets, the global market will always be forced to deal with actual production AS WELL AS higher potential production when demand surges.
It will all get priced in and it will continue to hurt, as it has already hurt, the Russian.
Think.
On the other hand, forget it. Venezuela is a huge success! Lefties always love hearing that.
If you are still around PB, you might want to take a gander at this: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Has-OPEC-Underestimated-US-Shale-Once-Again.html
3rdGradePB_GoodPerson said...
I know you are but what am I?
3/17/17, 9:47 PM
3rdGradePB_GoodPerson said...
I'm rubber you're glue.
3/17/17, 9:47 PM
Genius, liar! Your best work ever.
That is to say, nothing you have ever posted is any better than that, or will ever be.
J. Farmer, Russia has nothing to offer us, Russia wouldn't offer it if it had it. Not to go into detail, but Russia has had a dysfunctional national spirit for many centuries. They're not like us.
You tell me what you think you can get them to do for us. What you can get Russia to do, is accept gifts given to them, show no gratitude, and give nothing in return. They are superlative at this.
IOW, isn't there an obvious flaw re the plan to increase production to levels such as those previously seen during the BHO administration when prices dramatically dropped such that production was slowed because of the free market economic reality affecting private US corporations?
Due to innovation and efficiency, many frackers can make a profit at a much lower price than a couple of years ago. As the price has dropped the last three months, American production has gone up.
Jon Ericson said...
Stale.
Slate!
Bad Lieutenant said...
J. Farmer, Russia has nothing to offer us, Russia wouldn't offer it if it had it.
Well, they do export the world's finest car-wreck videos.
Fernandinande said...
Jon Ericson said...
Stale.
Slate!
Bad Lieutenant said...
J. Farmer, Russia has nothing to offer us, Russia wouldn't offer it if it had it.
Well, they do export the world's finest car-wreck videos.
3/19/17, 10:24 AM
Okay, that can be added to the list of successful Russian exports which consists of oil, vodka, weapons, and whores. Oh, and the better sort of Russians, who are not dumb enough to stay.
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